·:[ high hopes gardens ]:·
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The attic remodel is now complete - it was a long, slow project, about as long as two pregnancies, but it is now nearly ready to accept furniture! We just have some touch-up painting, another coat of floor paint, and some insulating in the storage areas behind the bookshelves.

This is how it looked after we removed all the “storage” and took the chimney out. You may notice the place where the chimney went through the roof in the upper left and through the floor. It wasn’t the greatest time tearing it out and hauling the bricks down two flights of stairs, but it made a good family project.

Steven of Two Friends Farm was the brains behind the project - here I am testing the reinforced rafters that added strength and additional depth for insulation.

As the old layers of shingles are torn off the house, the opening for the south dormer is apparent.

Here’s the view of the same dormer after the window is in and the insulating starts.

Finally, the completed south dormer! The black floor grate was salvaged from the old house and covers the hole where the chimney was and is now a new heat run.

The existing west dormer in process…

The completed west dormer, taken a bit further back than the previous shot.

The view to the north, during the insulating phase. This was not a fun time as the distance between the rafters varied from 13 inches to 23 inches, with very few 16 inches, so standard insulation widths didn’t fit and each piece had to be custom measured and cut - not to overlook all the triangular pieces due to the three dormers and no flat ceiling anywhere.

The completed view to the north, the only side without a window. There’s great views and great cross-ventilation and wonderful light up on the third floor.

Finally, a look to the east. The railing around the staircase was original - everything else is new. It was a challenging project to trim, with all the weird angles and inherent unsquareness of the old house.

One of the features I like the best are the built-in bookshelves we added - three of them built into the storage space behind the walls in the east and west dormers. I was going to square off the tops, but decided to follow the roofline and I think the top shelf will be nice to accept both tall and shorter books without wasting a lot of space. We originally thought we’d send a daughter up there, but decided it has Mark and Linda’s bedroom written all over it!

one year ago…”Little Projects”

We recently had the local electric company come do some thermal imaging in our house. They bring an infrared camera that looks like a video camera that senses heat.

These photos show a corner of Martin’s room.  The visible photo is on the right and the infrared photo is on the left.  The blue is cold and orange is warmer.  When we moved in a decade or so ago and had blown-in insulation installed.  Over time, it settles, and this photo shows a great example of visualizing the settling of the insulation between the wall studs.  One of the next house projects is new siding and when we do that we can fix the insulation problem from the outside before putting the new siding up.

one year ago…”Smokin’ in Texas Again”

A bit of a milestone has passed in the attic.  All of the beadboard is up on the walls and most of the fixtures are up. We just have the trim, painting the floor, the built-in bookshelves and closet and storage doors to build/do.

This is the view to the south out the new dormer.  Although the attic update pictures are legion on this blog, here is the same view before dormer and here is the view of the roughed in the roughed in dormer.

one year ago…”A Dark Side of Rural America”

One of the winter chores is hauling buckets of corn from the wagons in the shed to the mud room.

I like to keep nine buckets full - this will last for 3-4 days, depending on the weather. You’ll notice a topping of oyster shell on the buckets - that’s to help reduce the “clinkers” on the stirrer in the firepot.

one year ago…

Here’s a view of the farm looking north in the winter time.

The newly refurbished buildings really stand out. Soon it will be time to work on the big barn.

one year ago…

From the project that never ends department, an update on the attic remodeling. The drywall on the ceiling is up! It’s now the home stretch. After it gets taped and sprayed, then we can paint it and start on putting the beadboard on the walls.

The view down the new big dormer to the south.

The view out one of the original small dormers to the west.

one year ago…

On Monday, it was a bit of rare day that all of us were home!  We set everyone out with a job. 

It’s Emma’s summer to learn to paint.  She wants to paint a side of the barn, so we are starting her out on an easier painting task, the north side of the hog barn, which doesn’t require much ladder work. Here, she is scraping off some of the old paint.  There’s really not much left and we sprayed it with water first to keep down the dust.

Claire is assuming more of the mowing duties on the farm.  While the regular mower is in for repair, she gets to use the old lawn tractor.

Linda gives me a boost in the attic, completing some of the insulation in the east dormer.

one year ago…

This morning some more welcome rain came. OK, so not everyone welcomed it - a writer/photographer from a monthly magazine in Ames came out to interview and photograph Linda for an upcoming issue featuring “Green Women.” It wasn’t nice for outdoor photos to dodge the raindrops.

I’m still plugging away up the in the attic - by Wednesday the last of the wiring should be in and then the remaining 20% or so of insulating can be completed.

One of those projects we just haven’t had the activation energy to resume is completing the upstairs bathroom. All that remains is tiling around the tub, making an access panel to the plumbing behind the tub and some trim work. The bathroom was fully functional, so the rest of the tiling didn’t bubble up until today. We at least made a start, finished tiling the back and side walls. We went with the classic black and white tiles to complement the smaller black and white hexagonal floor tiles.

one year ago…

The handy man from Two Friends Farm finished up the outside of the dormer today. We still have the older, smaller dormers to side, but the big new one is done on the outside. I am a very happy boy that I will never have to crawl up there to paint again. I’m not happy about artificial siding, but I tried to pick the lesser or two evils.

We decided to go with a creamy yellow color and put shake shingles on the dormers and regular lap siding on the rest of the house when the time comes. We’re happy that with the color and look so far - it’s not in your face yellow, but has a pinch of flair.

one year ago… the computer was dead.

I finally put the girls to work in attic. They were gently introduced to the power mitre saw and measurement. They cut and installed the tongue and grooved cedar boards in the closet.

I figured if Martin could read, they could handle some power tools!

one year ago…

It’s been mainly drizzly/rainy and cold the last few days, so working hours have been spent up in the attic - more insulating. Finally, all the storage area ceilings are finished and 75% of the wiring. So today it is time for a quick visual tour.

View to the south out the new dormer.

View to the north.

View to the west out the smallest dormer - thinking about a window seat or just a rocking chair in here - built in bookshelves on either side as well.

View to the east up the stairwell - nice light up the stairs now with the new window.

one year ago…

Today is the last day for a while that I will be home and the weather is supposed to be above 60. That means today’s priority is to work on applying polyurethane to trim and bookcase boards for the attic outside where the fumes are not a problem.

I like to do this outside, instead of applying it in a confined space and breathing all the fumes. The hay rack makes a nice platform to work from.

The big progress on the attic project this week was getting the windows in. Two of the three windows are now in and a dark, lightless space is now flooded with light.

This is the view east over the machine shed, corn crib, and chicken coop and pastures and beyond.

Here’s the view out the south window, looking southwest - most of this view is into the upper reaches of a large maple tree.

We are in the middle of a big dry spell. No significant rain for a few weeks - rare for us in early June. Lots of rain to the north, even 20 miles to the north got nearly two inches this weekend. Started watering the new trees and berries out of the storage tank that fill up from the barn roof.
We’ve been spending some time in the attic - starting on the insulation.

It’s slow, awkward work, especially in the corners.
We can start to visualize the room now. Here’s the inside of the biggest dormer.