The temperature was below 20 degrees on Monday morning, so the team decided to wait till Tuesday to start work. It wasn't much warmer then, but they started anyway, bringing in supplies and tools, removing old trim, and setting up equipment.

When I finally braved the cold to get a few photos, they had already started installing the T1-11 siding on the SW side of the garage.

While they worked outside in the cold, I worked inside to finish the 'Houseplant Jungle' jigsaw puzzle we got for Christmas.

By the end of the first day, they had installed about a third of the siding, including some of the hard-to-reach second story panels on what we call our 'window room,' from which we watch birds in the back yard.

On Wednesday, Day 2, they finished installing a lot of the trim on the W and S sides, as well as caulking all the seams and nail holes.

They also removed the old trim from the SE side of the house, in preparation for installing new panels and trim.

We knew it was snow was forecasted for the next two days, so I offered a couple of old tarps I had, so they could cover the materials.

With all the caulking they did on the S and W side of the house, they made less headway on installing new panels, but did get the window room finished.

The evening of the second day

There is always some collateral damage with big projects like this. The internet cable was damaged, but Harold from AT&T came out Friday, with snow on the ground, and installed a new cable and junction box. We had not had a junction box before, so we got an improved connection, which should be more resilient and easier to repair.

We expected the guys to start the following Monday, but we heard activity outside at 8:15 Saturday morning and looked outside to find they were gearing up for another day--and they brought their own microwave and coffee pot.

Work on the S side of our sunroom

Back porch and S side of sunroom

Gutter downspouts and porch light were removed

E side of big dome with trim and caulking almost completed

Break time, in the shelter of the S side of the house

They had an extra crew member this day.

Supplies set aside for the day

On Sunday morning, we looked out the back window to find the guys had left us a gift from the day before, a snowman sitting on the bench at the pond. Unfortunately, by the time I got to get its photo in the afternoon, it had lost a lot of weight.

The pond is deep enough for the fish to survive the winter on their own.

Looking N from the back of the yard

A new house!

On Monday, they were back at work early. I had negotiated with Billy, the contractor, to take care of a couple of additional items his foreman Ricardo had recommended, replacing the fascia around two sides at the top of the window room, and replacing the soffit on the S side of our storm shelter.

N side of sunroom

They did an excellent job of masking windows, shingles, foundation and fixtures before starting to paint.

Mary had also scheduled our annual generator maintenance and Matthew was out to do the job.

Masked light fixtures

N side of sunroom, later in the day

New window room fascia and masked shingles

New soffit

Masked internet cable junction box

Masking on the back porch

Shed doors re-paneled

They put the primer coat on quickly.

I couldn't imagine the paint color would change drastically after drying, so assumed this was the primer color, even though the primer used on the front of the house was white. But when I asked Ricardo to confirm my assumption, he replied, "No, this is the final coat." "But it doesn't match!" I yelled. Then he laughed and said, "I'm just messin' with you." A tinted primer makes it easier to cover with the final coat of paint.

Finishing the caulking on the N side of the sunroom

The pink barn?

The extend wall that makes the W side of the sunroom

Masking around the foundation

They had hoped to finish today, but we were happy they took the time to do all the masking, caulking and priming well.

Moving their trailer to collect all the old trim and other debris from the job

I had dental implant surgery this morning and Mary says I 'ordered her' to go out and take photos around the house before lapsing into my post-surgery anesthesia nap.

They painted the metal trim around the edge of the flat roof, as I requested, but I still need to paint the non-matching vertical patch on the fascia.

They moved quickly to get the final coat of paint applied.

They worked from the SW side, around the S side, to the E side of the big dome, then tackled the sunroom.

They also painted the W face of the upper sunroom wall that extends above the flat roof.

Finishing the N side of the sunroom, removing masking from the windows as they went

The W face of the sunroom wall, above the flat roof

They also sprayed the new waterspout on the N side of the downstairs bathroom, and I will paint the fascia around it.

After sleeping off my surgery, I went out and took a final series of photos.

E wall of big dome, back porch and S wall of sunroom

E sunroom wall

N sunroom wall

They left the remainder of the paint for touch-ups.

Window room and storm shelter on the S side of the big dome, from the back yard

W side of the window room