August 2026
Fast forward to late July/early August: We'd designed a nice new kitchen island, and then the engineer told us the new house structure needed a post in it. Probably two. There were already two posts there when we bought the house and while we'd grown to appreciate them, we had hoped to avoid them in the future kitchen.
So I asked about a structural beam. We had the ceiling height for it, and it turned out we could.
The steel added real cost and a day and a half of schedule. We're leaving it exposed with a wax seal instead of wrapping it in stained wood. We can always wrap it later.
We came close to just living with the posts. The engineer wasn't wrong suggesting them. That was the honest answer to the question we asked. It hadn't occurred to us to ask a different one.
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May 2026
If you're reading this you probably live nearby and have watched this house change from the street. Here's where things started as construction began on our long-planned renovation.
Earlier this year we opened an interior wall for a renovation that had nothing to do with water, and found damage behind it. Water had been getting in long enough to compromise structure. That reset our timeline. In May we moved the remodel up, rebuilt two exterior walls, and took the back deck down as planned. It's sealed and dry now.
Water entry is expensive, and it's quiet. It doesn't drip on your floor or stain a ceiling. It just sits inside a wall for a few years.
Our construction crew took the change in scope in stride, which we don't take for granted.
Happy to tell you how we found it, or what to look for on your own house. Reach me at brenna@mosaicmontana.com.
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