Dispatches from the Backporch: April 2018

Spring has arrived and it finally feels like the project is starting to come together. However Spring is also a busy time of year with Carolina Cup, our birthdays, and what seems like a never ending list of "must attend" events. Work has also been busy for both of us. Even with all these distractions we have managed to move the addition forward even if progress is slowly than expected.
Since the last post almost two months ago, the drywallers finished their first area of work, electricians came back to wire in devices, and my dad and I got the HVAC registers moved to new locations. We have finished the sub-floor, which was no easy task considering the existing house has some odd settlement throughout. (There is a slight ramp, but you'll have to find it.) And probably the bigger task was finally selecting a flooring. We are going with a vinyl plank flooring from Home Depot's Lifeproof collection.
I was able to finish the Nichiha panels around the screen porch and building one set of stairs up to the porch. Johanna has been priming the walls and ceiling. She also helped me install the shiplap in the mudroom. It came out looking amazing.
Our kitchen cabinets arrived, which was quite a sight having 75 boxes stacked up all through out our house! We have started assembling the cabinets, which is a fairly easy process once you get an assembly line method going. Johanna's mom and my dad have both helped with the cabinets. My dad and I were able to get the upper cabinets in the mudroom and kitchen hung this weekend.
We have finished framing the new doorway for the old laundry room and removed the last piece of the old kitchen, the sink. Thanks to Frank for his help with that demo work.
Over the next couple of weeks we plan to have the drywallers, plumbers, and electricians back to totally finish out the remainder of the first floor work. The flooring install will be a huge task, so we are starting to prep for that by cleaning out furniture to move. The cabinet install will resume once drywallers are finished and then we can order countertops. The porch should come together quickly once we have ordered the deck boards and trim material. Doors and hardware have also been ordered. We will try to keep posting more pictures as things come together.