Our 22nd Wedding Anniversary Gift

 For a few years now we have wanted a sunroom. We had almost decided against it because of the cost, especially because we needed to get a new roof and new siding. When we looked at it from a different viewpoint, like we could move into a bigger-nicer home for even more than what we spent on our upgrades and addition and spend a whole lot more money, we were able to stick with this decision. We couldn't find a home that had upgrades to what we have already done and be in the location we want to be in, as well as give us the room and improvements we were looking for, without spending waaay more. 

I already pictured our new roof and I will do so again when the new siding is on, so for now, we'll focus on the sunroom. Back in May, we had to start taking out our old deck. It was very hard work! Austin and Erik were troopers and even enjoyed the demolition. What boy wouldn't with all the knocking things down with a hammer and kicking and breaking things up?! Victoria and Karissa were busy with other things and didn't have as much time to help, but I don't think they really wanted to be out in the humidity doing what we were doing, though once they got started banging things with a hammer, I'm sure they would have enjoyed the power feeling we all got.

Getting started

Feeling powerful!

First half done!

Then came the hard part, taking out the framing and realizing that there was a cement slab underneath that we had to remove!!

We rented a jackhammer, and Jason went to town!

In the meantime, we burnt lots of sticks and limbs from our tree that were in the way.

Erik was the nail remover from the boards we plan on recycling. 

Austin enjoyed throwing the cement pieces into piles.

Success!

It was hard work, but we did it! There's even a little puddle you can see here before the big rains came.

We rented a dumpster to dispose of the cement and other big trash items that we were able to get rid of. 

Cleaned up a bit.

When we took out our deck, it didn't seem overly wet, just hot and humid. When the company came a few weeks later to put the cement in for the posts, the rain couldn't stop! It put things way behind since the cement was covered in water for over a week and the other projects they were working on in the meantime were also getting behind. 

 Markers where the footings would be.

                                                Soon after they dug them out, the rains started...

It kept raining...

And raining....

Since they've been actively working on our sunroom, the rain has been coming with a vengeance, it seems. We'll look at the forecast and it won't say anything about rain, then it will rain crazy amounts during that time period anyway. We leave for our month-long vacation on our 22nd anniversary this Saturday (Jason will be back for a week in August to work from home and check on the projects) and hope things will have mostly been completed when we leave! Isn't it ironic that the longest time we'll be on a vacation is the time we have the biggest project being finished? 

This sunroom is definitely the biggest gift to us since buying our home, of course. Here's to 22 years and many more!!

Jason and I tried this cute diner that was so tasty! We went to lunch on one of our trips to the lumber yard to pick out the treks for our new smaller deck that we are building off the sunroom.

We both happened to be wearing our Michigan shirts!

Sunroom progress!

Checking it out!

A break for the rain...

Then things started really moving!

And we started building our little deck off the side over the weekend.

Yesterday they put up the glass.

Today they put up the skirting

The shingles

And the ac unit

Here are the steps down on the opposite side of the deck.