gettin jiggy wid it

i thought this was pretty cool. 

in order to make for an easy (and accurate) installation of the deck joist hangers, scott fashioned a jig. 

he fastened a piece of deckboard to the top of a piece of 2x8 framing. (this pic shows how it all fits together, but was taken after he already installed the joist hanger)

he placed the jig so that the deckboard sits on top of the beam, and the 2x8 sits against the side of the beam.

then, he fastened the bottom couple of nails thru the hanger into the beam...

and removed the jig to finish nailing in the hanger.

of course, he used a great tool- the pneumatic palm nailer. 

this simple jig made the installation move along quickly. 

he finished the framing (unfortunately, i didnt take a pic of the finished product- now i will have to wait until the snow melts!)

oh, i almost forgot- we passed the deck framing and footing hole inspection! 

also very cool, we received the LVL beam and framing delivery 2 days early.

took some time to relocate the pile to the inside of the house (we are expecting a blizzard!)

the LVL beams will replace the bearing walls that we are removing to open up the space... 

here is a 3-d diagram

and last but not least, i ripped out the electrical wiring and old devices that are no longer needed

the electrician will be by soon to upgrade the service from 100Amp to 200Amp

here comes the exciting part....electrical wiring!!!!

Last week i traced all of the existing electrical circuits in the house...labeled plans with their locations...identified the circuits to be removed...planned out all of the new circuits...

i was excited to find tiny labels that are used on wiring and electrical devices to identify their circuit/breaker numbers (yes, i was excited). the labels adhere to the wires-and are pre-printed with numbers so when i start demolishing and tearing out receptacles, etc...i can keep track of what wires are on which circuits!

for areas not yet demolished, there are little stickers...also very helpful

can't wait to get started!  next step: pull out all of the existing circuits that are no longer needed.

meanwhile, scott is framing out the deck:

the inspector comes tomorrow to inspect the holes for the footings, and check out the framing.
the holes are all covered by boards and old doors---we dont want anyone falling in! 

we are expecting a big snow storm on wednesday (reportedly 12"), so who knows how far we will get with this.


meanwhile, my mother is tearing out the finishes in the basement...

yikes!

this is what it used to look like.

its looking pretty bad right now, but i have hope that it will get better!

who says you cant build a deck in the middle of winter?

okay, well, i didnt think it could be done.  i thought the ground would be frozen solid to a depth of 4' (which is the frost line for this part of the world).

it turns out, the ground was only frozen down to a depth of 2"!

5 holes need to be dug for the foundations- which will be 48" deep concrete sono tube formed foundations.

once the holes are dug, we are required to have them inspected by the building inspector.

we installed the ledger board at the house before we installed the siding- that way we could properly flash the wall (see copper flashing in photo). so now we are ready to frame this bad boy! but we are expecting snow tonight, so we will see.

(yes, that basement window is doomed to live a dark and miserable life beneath the deck!)