Ocho77
SILVER Star
When my wife and I decided to quit our corporate jobs and leave Washington, D.C., we wanted to live life differently. We wanted more freedom to travel on our own time, and freedom to explore outdoors. In our search for a home in Northern Michigan, we found a dream property that we loved, on a lake where my wife had spent time as a child. The property is 40 wooded acres on an all sports lake. It has an attached 2 car garage and 30x40 pole barn. The one thing we did not like, is that the home is a 20 year old manufactured home. The owners who “built” (or bought) it, paid for upgrades, such as 2x6 exterior walls and real drywall inside. That said, it was 20 years old and not our style. So, we had dreams of someday rebuilding. Our first project was to open it up, because it was completely cut up by walls everywhere. We removed three walls (one load bearing) and installed new flooring prior to moving in (while my wife was 8 months pregnant…she’s obviously amazing). That was phase one, which was three years ago.
With plans to next remodel the “finished” basement (i.e. re-finish the basement), we found leaks. So, before moving forward with that, I needed to find the source. Upon tearing out siding, I realized there is no sheathing on the outside of the home…there was siding, then Styrofoam panels in some places, and insulation. We decided that we would add sheathing, but this would be the perfect opportunity to add new windows. One of the things I really did not like was the low (7.5 foot outside walls). We had come from a MCM home with walls of glass, and that’s what I love. Given our property, we wanted to "bring the outside in", and 7.5 foot exterior walls do not allow for large windows once you put in a header, so we decided on an extensive remodel project…raising the roof.
Below is the progress we have made thus far. This has all taken place over the past 7 weeks. We started Dec 16th.
With plans to next remodel the “finished” basement (i.e. re-finish the basement), we found leaks. So, before moving forward with that, I needed to find the source. Upon tearing out siding, I realized there is no sheathing on the outside of the home…there was siding, then Styrofoam panels in some places, and insulation. We decided that we would add sheathing, but this would be the perfect opportunity to add new windows. One of the things I really did not like was the low (7.5 foot outside walls). We had come from a MCM home with walls of glass, and that’s what I love. Given our property, we wanted to "bring the outside in", and 7.5 foot exterior walls do not allow for large windows once you put in a header, so we decided on an extensive remodel project…raising the roof.
Below is the progress we have made thus far. This has all taken place over the past 7 weeks. We started Dec 16th.
