Let the Remodeling Begin

We've made a big first step in our house remodeling project this weekend -- and there's no turning back!

As many of you know, when we bought this house we knew it wasn't quite big enough for our family, especially since we had to use one of the three bedrooms for Brian's office. That left all four kids in one bedroom, which has worked okay for the most part, but is definitely not something we wanted long-term.

So we've been thinking and planning and sketching all these months. And then the opportunity came up for Brian's dad and one of his brothers (Randy) to come and help us get started. We couldn't let their great talents go to waste, so here we go!

Our plan is to add a second level over the garage and office -- it will have 4 bedrooms, a bathroom, and a small common/game room.

First step -- tear off the roof!

Brian's dad and brother arrived late Thursday night. On Friday we brought a couple of extra workers up from the apartments and got started with the demolition.

Here's the "before" picture:

First the shingles come off...

... and then the plywood...

(That's McKay up there helping on Saturday morning, when the weather decided to turn quite a bit colder and the wind decided to start blowing.)

It didn't take long before the whole roof was history.

And hopefully it won't take much longer before the new roof is up (at least before it rains!). I'm sure all the inside work will take much, much longer to complete but that's not as much of a hurry as getting a roof back up.

Our yard (and part of my house) are covered in insulation that the wind loves to blow all over. The weather outlook is good for this week -- we're crossing our fingers that doesn't change!