The good
Apologies all around for this highly overused title, but it is apt. There really is some good news. The framers are making great progress with three sides of the house covered in new siding and all four of these eave returns rebuilt. Hard to believe these two pictures are from the same view. The dormer work is coming along. And today they hauled away the old dumpster and brought in a new smaller one. Red this time. Somehow that all feels like progress. 
The bad
is something you may have seen on Mark’s (my husband) flickr site. As long as there was a dumpster in front of the house, we decided to see what was behind the cheap old wallboard in the basement. Among other things, we found a very cute critter, which we released into the garden. We also found one very scary vent job for the hot water heater. 
Never mind that the vent comes out under the deck. We knew about this little code violation. What we didn’t know was that the vent we could see on the outside wasn’t actually attached to anything on the inside! Thank heaven for the idiots who insulated the basement. They didn’t do much to change the temperature in an underground basement, but they may have kept a good bit of carbon monoxide from circulating through the house and killing us as we slept.
Never mind that the vent comes out under the deck. We knew about this little code violation. What we didn’t know was that the vent we could see on the outside wasn’t actually attached to anything on the inside! Thank heaven for the idiots who insulated the basement. They didn’t do much to change the temperature in an underground basement, but they may have kept a good bit of carbon monoxide from circulating through the house and killing us as we slept. Now for the ugly.
It involves the south wall of the house and the fact that a good portion of it appears to be resting on a stack of bricks. That’s right. Sans mortar. As soon as the framers noticed this, they called the contractor to come have a look, and to put in an order for some substantial timber products. The first thing the contractor said was, “well that deck isn’t even attached to the wall is it?” To which I replied, “Well it isn’t exactly a wall.” 
The framers are going to pull the deck off the back of the house next week and have a go at shoring things up. Hopefully by the time that is done we will have a permit for the patio work. The original contract called for completion in about five weeks, which would be around the first full week of May. We may still make it, but I’m not going to hold my breath.
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