Doors and a few windows!

Unfortunataly the beautiful front door was not up to scratch - after my hard labours of sanding, filling and painting - it turned out the door wasn't quite straight - so when we eventually hung it - it had almost an inch gap, some of the way around! A little bit too drafty for a house in the Rocky Mountains. So despite my disappointment - we purchased a new wooden front door and a new steel back door! With a second new window installed at the front, plus two bathroom windows - the house is starting to become more airtight and secure!

Sanding in September - when the sun was still shining and hot!

After first coat of blue paint!! Wanted blue because it reminds me of front doors in London!

Please mind the gaps!

New back door

New front door!

Second front window in! With a snowy view

Back door in!

Two new bathroom windows in.

Front door in - still need to paint it blue - and put a strip at the bottom to stop the draft.

Precious Url catching some sun! Took the door off to paint today - and found the paint fully frozen in the tin. Instructions for use - temperature needs to be 35F. I think today in Minturn it was 10F! No painting undertaken today - and door went back on! Might be a job for the Spring!

Door back up - awaiting paint!

Progress.

November 14th - this is how the house is coming along thus far.

• All the cement for walls and footers have been poured. Only slab (floor) left to pour. 
• All walls in the house have been framed, including closets in both bedrooms.
• Every wall in the house has had drywall and old insulation removed. 
• Fire wall framed, outside wall finished. Awaiting insulation and drywall inside. 
• New floors laid throughout except for small section at the front door.
• Staircase to basement underway. 
• Plumbing - 'rough in' underway. 
• Ceilings dropped, leveled and framed thoughout (thanks to Walt, Christian and Chris today)
• Electrician starting this week (we hope)
• Kitchen cabinets, appliances and granite counter-tops ordered. 
• Tiles for the bathroom bought - a super nice, grey limestone. 
• One of eight windows replaced. 

Lovely blue front door and new window in place. The door is a slightly odd shape and therefore does not fit the door frame well - so unfortunately we will probably have to get a different one.

Staircase into basement being built

View from basement

The very back wall of the new basement finished.

The lowest framing seen is the new level ceiling.

New double shower tray bought and in place! We will tile the walls

Fire wall from outside finished. Just needs the stucco now!

Walt helping with the ceiling today - couldn't have finished it so quickly without him - thanks!!

Walt and Christian measuring.

They were there till dark - but got the whole ceiling framed in a day!!

I pulled down the remaining drywall and insulation from the far corner of the house - I took a picture afterwards. It looks like its snowing inside the house - or I don't have a great camera - but actually this is the dust in the air - captured by my flash. Gross.

Windows and a gammy foot!

We are fortunate to live in a pretty nice area of Colorado - in which there are some pretty nice houses/mansions/second or even third homes - and we were even more fortunate to hear of some pretty nice windows being removed from one of these homes and being thrown away. We were told if we wanted to go and pick these windows up - they were ours!

We jumped on this offer and headed over to the gated community in which said windows were located in our Budget rental van - and went about gathering them up!

Unfortunately they were pretty damn heavy - Chris had a 'gammy' foot and could hardly walk. I'll stop right there and copy the definition of gammy - for all those non-UK followers !!

gammy [ˈgæmɪ]

adj -mier, -miest

Brit slang (esp of the leg) malfunctioning, injured, or lame; game US equivalent gimpy

So anyway - our little Hispanic friend, Miguel who was working at the house decided he would help us out - we felt somewhat worthless - but he got the job done and we got two pretty nice windows out of the deal - apparently two more are to follow - so keeping our fingers crossed for that - and also for that Miguel will be there to help!!  

Chris trying to help carry the extremely heavy window with Miguel - after the attempts with me failed!

Stunning views of Beaver Creek from the house ! 

Miguel couldn't handle the lame attempt from Chris - so just took the window himself!! 

Still carrying the window - it was a slight trek back up to the road - I was very grateful. Chris was quiet.
His manhood took a blow that day!!!

New window in place! Needs a little clean.

View from the inside!

While the cats away....

I went to England. Chris took a week off work and worked on the house.
Progress was good. Most of the floor was laid. The roof was supported. Walls were framed. The fire wall went up. More cement was poured. The construction site I left looks more like an actual house now. I should go away more often!

Center framing still there to support the roof. Flooring in center of the house almost done!

The plank into the house

Some of the dry wall was removed!

New beam across to support the roof

Framing of the new rooms almost finished!! Plank still in place though! View of where the kitchen/living will be - and then second bedroom plus corridor.

Fire wall fully underway. New back door framed!

Step up to Master bedroom - New floor laid, and new wall framed!

This is the original (outside) wall of the bathroom - please note the slightly unlevel framing! Unique to say the least!