we're covered

When we realized how big renovating the basement would be, it was because we finally grasped that the basement is the engine of the house and everything except a roof would be impacted.

We were wrong.

There was even a roof involved!

Putting in French doors slightly below the ground level facing south meant that inclement winter weather had to guarded against. A drain was placed in the centre of the cement pad, and a little roof was built over the space.

Not so little, actually.

With EJ's advice and diagrams, we had the struts mimic those supporting the main house, and the roof shape mimic the 'shelf' that overhangs both the front and back stairs. The framers had a run of exceptional weather and were so quick the thing was built and covered before I could get a photo of the framing, but I was given time to do the priming myself before they returned and put the roof on.

Once the roof was in place we were better able to determine where to put the exterior lighting. We want to replace our handmade iron trellises and so wanted to find a spot that would worked with a rambling rose (Royal Sunset if you must know) on either side. We developed a Plan A and a Plan B, as we realized that fishing wires up the south-west corner might be impossible due to the fact that it was well up the wall shared with our kitchen nook. The other side wasn't a problem of course as the wires would run up into the new porch wall which was still exposed. Plan B was to have the lights placed lower than the kitchen and so easy to wire, although less ideal due to the fact that the lights would be blocked on one side by the supports and would also have to share space with the rose. And everyone who grows roses knows that roses don't like to share anything with anybody!

We love George. George is old-school. While everyone else kept telling us Plan A would never work and there was not enough wire even if it could work, George quietly worked on the project while we out doing chores and avoiding the house during its spray insulation festival of fumes. And when we got home, there they were, wires coming out of Plan A. Thank you, George, you deserve a little piece of heaven all your own.

Now bring on the doors and bring on the stucco!