Roof, AC, and Driveway are Finished!

The new roof is on...and I do not have a picture showing it off. It would be difficult to get one and, let's face it, it would be a boring picture. Being in Benson Camp as the roofers were removing old layers was anything but boring. It was pretty unnerving to look up and see way too much sky.

The AC is the one thing that made that hugest difference...it is now possible to be inside, working, without becoming a sweaty ball of filth.

This is our new heating and air conditioning unit. There will be a wall framed around it in the future, but for now they are the main feature of the front room. Gorgeous, isn't it?

I know that these pictures are not at all sexy, but I am over the moon with having AC. These pics are from the first day that Randy worked on it.

Here is a later picture taken of the hallway with my very sexy spiral ductwork visible at the top. And, yes, we are leaving the ductwork exposed.

This is taken from the beginning of the hallway, facing East. To the right is the door to the kitchen, and the plastic on the left, is the door to the office/guest bedroom. Randy also removed the old heating unit from this hallway.

And this is the view of the spiral ductwork and hallway from the end of the hallway looking West.
On the right is the master bedroom, and the first door on the left is one of the bathrooms. The second door on the left is the kitchen.


Now for the update on the driveway and garage door. Here's what it looked like when they knocked out bricks to reinstall a garage door:

It is interesting to see the original openings in the exposed brick. There are a number of windows and doors that have been bricked in. We still haven't figured out which part of the building was built first and where the later addition, (the front) started.

Here is what the new garage space looks like inside with the pile of rubble removed.

And finally, the driveway!
Here are Scotty and the crew in their adorable yellow boots, waiting for the cement truck:

And here they are creating my beautiful driveway:

And here is the finished project:

Beautiful!

I went over there today and watered it twice so that it doesn't cure too quickly. This weekend is Benson Days and we are hoping to break it in then! Come on over and see it for yourself!

This brings you up to date with our project. If we could find our wireless router we'd have internet in the house...I think it's in one of our two pods. Getting inter webs set up is my next job.

Patrick's next job is making the shower more appealing. He has many pinterest ideas for the future, but for now we just need a basic shower. (Remember the name is Benson Camp)

To refresh your memory of the bathroom:

Here's the shower:

And while I'm here, this is the sink:

Hopefully we'll have some AFTER pictures to show very quickly...but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you.

That brings you up to date with our project. Any time you feel like coming over and helping you are more than welcome! Consider us Omaha's Learning Annex. You can learn new skills! "Girls only like guys who have great skills." (Dynamite, Napoleon, 2004)

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

Hopefully I am not on my way to a mental institution

Confession: I never read or saw A Streetcar Named Desire so I googled the kindness of strangers quote to get it correct and read about its context. I now know that Blanche's line is her last and she says it as she is being led off to a mental institution. 

Again, I hope that I am not working my way there...but sometimes I feel very scattered as I visit/work on things at Benson Camp, and then return to a lovely home to house/pet sit. Very scattered. 

Here are some pictures of what's been going on at Benson Camp:

They removed the blocked-up original garage door! Yay! This was pretty exciting for me to see, and the neighbors thought so too. This is a view from inside the front room, standing at the front door.

I took this picture outside the fence, standing on tiptoe, with the phone held overhead. Can you tell by the angle of the shot? This is facing the south side of the building.

And this is what it looks like from the sidewalk across the street. It looks like wearing pants will be optional, but a top would be a good idea. 

The garage door has been ordered, but hasn't arrived yet, sadly. We will have a screen door for it so we can have it open and keep bugs out, just like all the cool restaurants. This opening was framed in and covered up so it no longer looks like this. Now it looks like a boarded up building. 

Next, a thrilling look at getting a new roof on a very old building. Ready? 

I thought I was going to spend this morning cleaning up a little and removing plaster from some of the walls. I was wrong. The roofers started removing the old layers of roof and we all discovered that there is far less roof sheeting than is desirable. I didn't take a picture of the floor of the front room at this point...I was practicing lamaze breathing and trying not to freak out. That rather large area is where the gorgeous original boards were too damaged to remain...they ended up on the floor inside along with tons of detritus from the past century. 

The 2 x 4 wall made of new wood is a temporary brace that P and I built to shore things up until we get a better looking support under the main beam. OK, when I say that P and I built it I mean that he did all the work and I helped as much as the shake-n-bake girl helped her momma. 

So, this is not what I was hoping for in my new roof. I love the color of the original sheeting, the trusses provide an interesting and educational look into the past. At this point the roofers decided they would need to put down a layer of plywood before continuing with the insulation and new roof. And I decided to leave the intense mess and meet P for lunch. 

(The product the roofers are using was originally used as pool liners...makes sense that if it keeps water in a pool, it can keep water out of a building.)

So, that is what is happening at Benson Camp. The heating and AC units have arrived and hopefully will be installed next week. There are two rooms that are completely taped off from the mess, the bedrooms, and they stay relatively cool compared to the rest of the building. However, AC is a necessity before we attempt to move in. 

Which brings me to depending on the kindness of friends really, not strangers. Since our new home is not quite move in ready, we are house sitting/pet sitting in town. And while we optimistically thought it would be for just 10 days, we now have house sitting gigs for the next 2 weeks. Which brings me to a new part of the blog: 

My favorite things of yours

Living in others' homes gives you a great opportunity to try out new things. Here are a few of my favorite things from the homes that I have house sat:

The Pets

I have loved loving up Laila, Whiskers, and (spelling?) Mishu. I no longer have pets and I'm not looking to get any soon (DID you look at the pictures above?) but I have loved being a foster mom. 

Whole house audio/visual. 

I love having the radio/music/tv play throughout the house. Since we have pretty much a raw slate to work with, P says we will be able to have our own version of this...on a smaller scale. 

Vacuums.

 I have been ruined for my vacuum. I can't go back now that I've seen what's out there! First, the stick vacuum. I didn't think to get a pic or write down the name and model but I think it's a Shark. I'll get confirmation and if wrong, I'll change it. I loved that thing! 

Second, Bissell Perfect Sweep. It's an electric sweeper and it works great and is fun to use. It sucks up cat hair like that's what it's made to do.

I will add to this list as I remember/discover new favorite things. Or maybe I won't, we'll see what happens.