Once our renovation plans were finalized, Mark was on the phone with his dad and brother in Australia. They had agreed to travel to Minneapolis to help build the addition. The two would arrive in early July, with the expectation that the project would have been at the point when the framing could begin. We had a great deal to do before they arrived to work on our project.
A little wrinkle in our planning came up just before we started this major project. I got pregnant with our firstborn. It was exciting, but also challenging to determine whether we should go ahead with our plans. At the very least, I wouldn't be able to help with a number of projects that would expose me to chemicals that may harm the baby. But we ultimately decided to proceed as planned and re-allocate our respective tasks to ensure that I didn't put my health, or that of the baby's, at risk.
Mark set to work tearing apart our half-story - taking down drywall, removing carpet, and tearing out insulation. Then, he and a friend tore off the roof. There was definitely no turning back now. We literally had no roof over our heads.
Check out our Tear-down slideshow!
Some tasks seemed more appropriate to delegate to people with the training and tools for the job. We hired a contractor to dig the basement for our addition. Then, a concrete contractor built the basement walls. Everything started to feel much more real once we had no roof and a deep hole in our yard.
New Basement Slideshow
Mark's dad, Bruce, and brother, Dave, arrived ready to tackle the framing segment of the project. We were lucky to have a neighbor's brother, Don, who was a semi-retired builder, to lead the way. All three Bertrams admitted that they wouldn't have made so much progress in two weeks were it not for Don's leadership. The three would have wasted time arguing about the proper way to get the job done.
On an unlucky night before the roof was built, we, along with our next-door neighbors, Kevin and Meg, scrambled to put up several tarps to keep out the rain that poured down that night. It was a stressful process, but we succeeded in keeping out the rain.
Framing slideshow
Dave's girlfriend Sophia flew into Minneapolis and the two of them took off on a cross-country road trip. Two days later Bruce departed for Australia. We were grateful for their help and happy with the progress that had been made up to that point. It was fun to see the house take shape and begin to visualize how it would look when finished.
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