Inside Out

There is an incredible amount of truth to the statement that days can be long, but the weeks and years go by fast. We have learned so much over the past few months about how time can fly while also seeming to crawl. Things are really ramping up at our house, and also in our everyday lives, here’s everything we have been up to!

Exterior Remodel

Since the beginning of our journey we have focused all our energy on our interior renovation. All demo and reconstruction has taken place inside, until now. Starting in mid-June we were able to begin transforming the exterior of our home. We have looked forward to this from day one and getting to finally see some changes take life on the exterior is AMAZING!

Last time I wrote we were in the beginning stages of our porch construction. As the weeks have gone along, our porch has taken shape and is hands down one of the best things we decided to add to our home. The new porch seems to marry the house to the land around it. It took our home from looking like a monument in the middle of nowhere, to an actual country house that belongs in its surroundings.

As we started the exterior renovation process, we began by removing all of the old siding materials. We hired Kape Roofing out of Salina Kansas to replace our roof back in June of 2022. They did a good job and we decided to have them come back to install our new siding. We were told that we could leave the old siding on and have them re-side on top of the old stuff, or, we could remove all the old siding and put new siding directly on the original sheathing. We chose to remove all the old siding, feeling that starting with a clean slate would be best. This process was lengthy and incredibly labor intensive, both of which were magnified by the summer heat. The entire 4 weeks we worked on prepping for new siding, temperatures averaged in the triple digits. Our days consisted of long hours on top of our porch roof, on ladders, shoveling siding shingles into a dump truck, being raised and lowered to every peak of our house, and drinking LOTS of water.  

As siding was being removed, we were taking notes and making improvements to different areas of concern we were uncovering. There were multiple places where water damage had caused major issues, and multiple window openings that were no longer square and plumb that we had to correct and even out.

After repairs were done our home was ready for house wrap. House wrap goes on to provide multiple benefits, including additional weather protection and insulation. It was even more pressing for us to get our home wrapped in a timely manner because at the time we took siding off, we got bad news from Kape Roofing, our siding company, stating that our original start date for getting new siding was being pushed back due to product delays. This issue was exemplified by the threat of rainy weather. Since all siding was off our home, rain meant we were completely exposed on the interior to water and moisture if the rain where to come before we could get wrap on the house. Luckily, we were able to work along side Elite Construction and get our home wrapped in a matter of days.

While some of those issues were being addressed, I was simultaneously beginning the process of painting all the exterior trim. To say I underestimated the amount of time and labor this would take is selling it short. My whole process of reviving the original trim consisted of scraping and scratching off any old paint that was loose and flaky on each and every piece of trim. After that I smoothed it out with a wire brush. I then began by applying a really good coat of exterior primer. After everything had primer, I then applied a thin coat of our final exterior paint. Once the first coat of final exterior paint was on I then applied caulking to each and every nook and cranny that was showing a gap around the entire home. This step was important since we did not replace any trim, everything was kept original, there were spots that had some weathering and age making them bend and bow. The caulking provided a water tight seal to those areas so that further deterioration can be slowed/stopped. After hours, and hours, and hours, and a few more hours of caulking, we were finally ready for the second and final coat of our exterior paint. All in all, we began our exterior demo and reconstruction on July 22^nd and were finished and ready for new siding on August 28^th.

Other progress

During the time we were doing all the prep work to our exterior, we also had other major progress happening at the homesite. Our electrical panel on the interior of the house was set, providing us with power and lighting inside the house, both of which we have NEVER had before. Our water well and septic tank were both dug and hooked up. As well as having a brand new driveway and concrete pad for our garage poured.

Interior Happenings

As we worked long hours on the exterior, we still had projects needing completed on the interior. Our siding contractor and his crew were scheduled to arrive August 28^th, and after calling and talking with our drywall contractor, he too wanted to bring his crew to start hanging drywall on August 28^th. We never want to push back start dates for anyone doing work to our home, we know full well the labor shortage and to push back work usually means delays and long wait times to get things actually done. So when we were met with the challenge of having siding and drywall guys arriving on the exact same day, we did what we always do with our project, we said BRING IT ON.

The list of things to do before we could hang sheetrock in the house was almost as long as the list of exterior things needing completed. Luckily, we were able to enlist the help of multiple people that worked both inside and outside with us. Our friends Brennan and Chad from Elite Construction tackled a lot of the exterior work, while our niece Emalie was hired to help with interior work. We are so grateful for friends and family that step up when we need them, we would not be able to do what we do without them.

Walls and Siding

Having drywall and siding show up on the same day really makes for an interesting dynamic leading up to that day. We were working long days and into the nights to make sure we were prepared for each contractor and their respective jobs. Our drywall order was delivered the Friday before they were scheduled to begin, so we got to feel the excitement of new things starting with that delivery.

When Monday August 28th rolled around, we awoke with so much excitement and anticipation. But, as things typically go with any home renovation project, not everyone showed up as expected. When we arrived at the house around 6:30am we were pleased to see that drywall was already being hung on the walls. The installers worked in a way that was incredible to watch. So much efficiency and skill in the art of hanging drywall. Within 48 hours of the first piece of drywall going up, the last piece of drywall was being hung. In total, 7800sq ft of drywall was hung in roughly 30hrs of work time.

Monday, August 28th, we waited until about 10am and still hadn’t heard from our siding contractor. Once called, we learned they would not in fact be out that day, but rather the following day. We had to hang on to our excitement for siding at least one more day. After multiple other delays and issues, we did end up getting some siding hung that week and to see our house finally get siding was an AMAZING feeling!

Odds and Ins from the Inside Out and Outside In

Family, Fun and Everything In Between

Life is never dull around the Flores house. Between reno, 3 toddlers and getting acclimated to a still relatively new community, our days are filled with so much fun!

Until we meet again, happy fall ya’ll!!