Sandy Cove Beachside Theater - Page 3

I could do deck jokes all day long, but there's minor updates to be posted.

They stopped by to take some of the forms off of the theater foundation... not much to look at... not really that different from the other pics, but since they'll have to sit and cure for a week or two before they back-fill and start anything else, I'll go ahead and post 'em.






We did run into a minor goof... I should've caught it when I took these pics, but it didn't even register at the time. I was assuming that the basement under the bedroom was going to be all poured or block walls, but apparently there was a bit of mis-communication there. They poured it like this and were planning to frame up and use siding on these two walls.


The problem with that is that this whole basement is in the floodplain. And we've had water in that basement a couple times in my lifetime. Here's a shot from the first time, back when that was just a storage garage.


If that were to ever happen again, it'd take a lot more than a bunch of Clorox and a pressure washer to clean it up if that's framed in and sided. So now they'll have to throw some cement block up in there.

That's probably all I've got until that concrete dries. Hopefully we'll get some warm weather to speed that up.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

After some cold weather, a bit of snow, and what should be plenty of time to let the concrete cure, it looks like we're back in business... almost. We've got some block!



If all goes well, they'll be walling off the rest of the basement under the bedroom, and then they'll back-fill the theater, pour the floors, and get going with the framing. At least I think that's where we're headin'.

Ok, so that didn't really warrant an update, but it gives me an excuse to post something that's actually ahead of schedule! Chewie!


It seems Chewie is about 3-4 weeks older than we thought. After seeing the pics, I'm not sure naming her Chewbacca is gonna work. Looks more like one of the Modal Nodes (http://www.starwars.com/databank/org...des/index.html) Figrin D'an? Maybe if it's a boy. Come to think of it, that might fit... seemed to have really good stage presence... waved at us while he was on camera.

Crikey, this weather is killin' us! We finally got a couple days in the mid to upper 30s, so they were able to lay some block friday and monday. We've got it plenty high enough in case of another year of high water... if it ever gets higher than this, we're gonna need a bigger boat.

Here's the bedroom and basement storage room side....





Now we're hoping for a few more warm (or at least not so cold) days to finish that block up and get the floors poured in the basement and the theater. It looks like we might get lucky if the forecast holds. Of course that depends on who ends up right... the local ABC affiliate has one 40 degree day and the rest suck; the weather channel and the NBC affiliate has a nice stretch of upper 30s, 40s, and 50s for the next 5 days... whoohoo! Time to break out the swim trunks! Hopefully we get those temps, it'd be really nice to get away from depending on Mother Nature so much.... and it'd be nice to be able to update this thread a little more regularly.

Despite the cold, they managed to make a little more progress on the block yesterday, and they pretty much finished up the basement block today. Here's a shot from this morning...



I'll try to get a few shots tomorrow of the completed block, and hopefully a few shots of some floors being poured (fingers crossed!). We're supposed to be getting an arctic blast on monday, so we've got a 3 day window to get those floors poured if the forecast holds.

On the upside, these cold temps and clear days are making some pretty sweet ice! It's nowhere near solid enough to walk on, but it'll be the best ice we've had for years if it'd freeze up like this and we don't get any wet slushy snow.



With a little luck, we'll have more tomorrow.

Well the forecast turned out correct, but they ran into some mechanical problems with the truck scheduled to pour the floors, and weren't able to get another out here in time.

They did manage to get everything back-filled and ready to go as soon as we can get a day that's at least in the upper twenties, which is sounding like thursday or friday. They were planning on getting the framers out here on wednesday... probably not gonna happen now. I imagine we might have some materials piling up in the meantime. At least it'll all be ready for them once those floors are poured.

Here's some pics...

Wide shot of the whole house... for being just short of 2000 square foot, it's gonna look like a monster (length, but no girth ):


Back-filling the theater:







Here's the theater and street-side entry:


And a wider shot:


The beach is about back to normal:



I guess that's about all I'll have for another week or so. Enjoy

Axtell? Had to look that one up... ah, south of Kearney. We're just a bit south of Bellevue, near the Platte.

Well, welcome to the party Drisco. Grab a beer, sit back and relax... it's gonna be a while. 4 degrees today, 25 by friday... yeah, it's gonna be a while.

Well I think that might settle it... Scruffy, Hokie... you guys up for a road trip to NC? Mike, put some beer on ice, we're on our way!

I'm just glad we aren't dealing with all that ice and snow that's all the rage these days. But geez, they can put a man on the moon and burn Darth Vader's face onto toast, but they can't pour cement when it's too cold?!?!? Those wusses... if they need me, I'll just be inside wrapped up in my blankie with my moose slippers and some hot chocolate

I probably should've looked outside before I wrote that.

We finally got a break from the cold and had a few good days to melt the snow and ice around here. And that gave 'em the opportunity to get the rest of the cement work out of the way. Whew! I was beginning to think we'd be waiting until spring for some decent days. Now that the floors are down we should be seeing some more steady progress barring high winds or snowstorms. Oh crap, I didn't just say that, did I? Doh! Sorry everyone... plan on 6 weeks of high winds and snowstorms... just call me Punxsutawney Don.

Anyway.... here's some thrilling shots of the floors!

The theater floor:


And the basement floor:


Basement from the other side. The cut out is where we'll have 2-3 steps down into the existing basement. We raised it up like that in a (probably) vain attempt to keep a little extra high ground in case we ever end up flooding again.



So while we were waiting for some good weather to pour concrete, we revisited the roofline. Other than fighting the county with the setbacks, that roofline has been the toughest part of this whole process. I couldn't tell ya how many cuts at it we took before we got something we liked that didn't make it look like it was cobbled together with addition after addition. And then when it got sent to the lumber yard to have the trusses made, they somehow had one of those early plans. Doh! Luckily they sent over some 3D renders before they ordered them. After about 5 or 6 exchanges I suspected the plan switcheroo and emailed them the blueprints we signed off on. That seemed to help

So here's the 3D images of the whole house with the new roof...

From the lakeside (from the end of the ramp if those in the know can't figure that out (i.e. mostly my family )):


And from somewhere above the driveway on the street side. The weirdness where that one peak doesn't extend all the way out is thanks to the county and the setbacks... they wouldn't let us connect the corner of the house to the corner of the garage, so we've got that stupid zig-zag and even the roof can't extend past the setbacks. Gotta love The Man. I think we'll build an unattached pergola or something extending that peak out to where it'd look a little more natural. Anyway, here's the picture:



I imagine that's all I've got for this year. There was talk of the framers working today, but they haven't delivered any materials so I doubt we'll see anything until next week. Hopefully the framing and the rest of it will move at the pace the builder is expecting and we'll have lots and lots of progress (and updates) over the next couple months.

Happy New Year! And Go Big Red.

Got wood.

With the cement cured and materials on site they started framing. They made it down here monday and got started on the theater side. Getting the rooflines to line up with the existing roof on the house and garage and the 9' ceiling in the theater was causing them some headaches, we might have to settle with a little bit lower ceiling. Maybe about 8'6". We're doing that coffered ceiling, and we're hoping for two rows of seats with the back row on a riser... anybody got anything similar? I'm a little worried about the headroom on that riser. They're pretty much waiting until they get the trusses up to see what we've got room for.

So on to the pictures. After the first day of framing...

Looking towards the back of the theater:


Same direction, from outside the house:


From the back of the theater looking towards the new entrance and screen wall:

Here we are after the second day of framing. They stuck with the theater side of the house and got the rest of the outer walls up on the theater, and started dismantling the beachside shed for the updates. We're raising the roof and adding a walkway from the garage over that shed that'll open up onto the new deck outside the back wall of the theater. As wide as this beast is gonna be we wanted a shortcut to the deck without going all the way around or through the house.

It ended up being after sunset by the time they left so the pictures might be a little dark. If I take some shots in the morning, I might swap 'em out sometime later, but I don't think they look too bad.

The new entrance.

This will open up into an entryway behind the screen wall. The entryway will have a door to the garage, and lots of closet space (with access to the back of the screen in the back of the closets), and a door that opens up into the back of the equipment closet.

From the SW corner looking towards the screen wall and entryway.


From the NW corner looking towards the back of the theater.


From the NE corner.


And from the SE corner looking towards the screen wall and entry. That's the kitchen through the windows.

The screen wall will be going across the room from in between the two windows. The entryway will open up into the kitchen through that second window there (with the single light shining through). The door to the theater will be right there and will be just to the left of the screen.

Here's a couple from the beach... this one is from the east side of the lot.


And one from right out front of the existing house.



Ok, that's all we've got for today. The weather looks good for the next couple weeks, so things should start coming together and they'll be able to get going on the insides pretty quick. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Thanks Scott... the only thing that seems to slow 'em down is having to stop and think about how that roof is going to tie in to the existing structures. They're really itchin' to get those trusses on-site. End of the week, hopefully.

So Scott, you've got a riser in the back, and a coffered ceiling... what's your ceiling height, and what kind of headroom have ya got from riser to coffer? I'm not too worried, I think there'll be plenty of room, and it's not like anyone is gonna stand up next to that back wall right under the coffer... there'd be seats there. But still, don't want it to be claustrophobic. Could always skip the coffer along that wall I guess. (And yeah, I know.. I need to stop by and check out the Copper Fields... it's still on the todo list. Maybe once the Christmas stuff comes down and I get the garage cleared enough that they can put in doors and the walkway. Crap, there's always something! I imagine that doesn't get better with a little one underfoot, does it? )

Yeah, it's really high tech, the stars move and change over the course of the year, planes fly over, and it's so real that you might lose an eye if ya look up while the animated geese are migrating!


Damn, that was a nice one Scruffy... wish I'd come up with it!

If that's working for you, then ours probably won't be as bad at all. And I'll get over there one of these days. Worst case, once this thing is done we'll have a beer at yours, and then turn around have a beer at mine.

Well, it's gotta be done by June, or the baby is going to be sleeping in the kitchen. The whole thing was supposed to be about a three month project if weather and schedules and the moon and stars all align.... but we now know how that goes. I imagine we'll be done by march. And of course the theater will probably never be "done"