Week 2 Construction

Cassie and I had a week of vacation last week.  With the reconstruction of the house starting, I was glad that we were around all week.  Our contractor, Bill Zeller, has been great.  On a hundred occasions, we have called an audible--and he never seems to mind at all. 
Money was a little tighter than we expected because of some additional work that we decided to get done while we have the workers here--but all-in-all, you would be surprised with how reasonable this whole project is going to be.  If anyone is considering taking a leap and doing this scope of work, just let me know, I am happy to share my quotes and final bill, if it may just help push you into wood restoration.

Let me go down the list of what is being done...
-Removal of all aluminum (siding, trim, porch ceiling and storm windows) Finished
-Removal of rotted wood (cedar plank, soffits, window surrounds, etc)
-Scraping and removal of lead-based paint.
-Replacement of the crown molding and sills on windows (that were hacked off during siding install)
-Replacement of margin boards, drip sill, and baseboards.
-Replication of missing and damaged decorative rafter tails.
-Replication of missing wooden eight light storm windows (taken out and replaced by the aluminum)
-Replacement of corner bead trim.
-Removal of K-style gutters and replacement with half-round gutters, downspouts and hardware.
-Priming and painting 4-color victorian paint scheme.
-Digging underground drainage pipes for gutter flow.

With all of this work, we are currently on pace.  Bill has stated that it is mapped as a four week project.

I have had prep guys here for the past week, and the carpenter shows up tomorrow. 

This is a picture of the house with some of the primer on, after scraping is done on one side.  They put primer on before major wood repair because it helps identify cracks and pits that may need filled with epoxy.  Note the missing margin boards below the attic window and above the first floor window.  Also note that the crown molding above the second floor window has been hacked off as has the sides of the window sill.  This picture still has the gutter on it, but you can see peeking out a little, the hand-carved rafter tails that were covered in aluminum.

Because of the budget, we were going to leave the aluminum wrap on the porch ceiling.  Bill told us that if it was taken off and showed damage, it could cost into the thousands to get it right.  We decided to make it a later date project, but on a whim of sheer courage of stupidity, Cassie and I decided to yank the aluminum down on Saturday, while the construction team was off.  To our joy, the ceiling was flawless!  You can see some peeling paint, but there is no rot, whatsoever.  Bill emailed me and told me that I get the 'Grande Cajones' award for even trying it.

We plan on painting the ceiling light blue (which was a common Victorian practice).   They were under the impression that this helped with insects.