Our First Home: Updates and family ties

Well hello there.

So quite a bit has gone on since my last bloast. Here is the skinny...

I cut a hole in the floor, and removed some extra flooring so that I could have access to the carrying beam in the basement. I then located the next nearest floor joist, and used it as a good spot to pump up a temporary stilt, using Chadd's 20-ton bottle jack. I don't know yet quite how far up I need to lift this "gable" end (Mansard style homes don't have gables, per se, but this would be one of the two narrower sides). Basically, there was nothing left where the center post under a major header loaded onto the first floor.

Just wait til I post some photos of the "framing" I have found in the second floor...!

In the meantime, here are some things we have going on:

Sweet sweet strawberries in the garden

Some beans that are starting to reach for the trellis

Here is the second floor carrying beam lifted up and set back down on a temporary triple 2x4 that loads down through the floor onto the first floor carrying beam in the basement. The temporary stilt was later plumbed as redundancy.

Here was an early view of the rot under the west end sliders. Seen here is mostly the sheathing haing been torn away.

Here is our work party enjoying lunch. Cousin Isaac, wife Sarah, cousins Amanda and Rachel, and uncle Matt!

French door units removed, and some flooring and subfloor gone. The band joist and its sister having to be replaced at least under the ten feet of doors...

Here is a medium-bad spot. From left to right, it's PT decking, PT deck framing, some kind of spacer/standoff, 5/8" sheathing, 2x8 band joist, 2x8 sister (for lack of a better term), then we have some hot water pipe and the sill. The bottom of my temporary post is sitting on a 2x6 scrap which is laid flat on the carrying beam in the basement.