It is quickly looking like the house is coming together. On Wednesday, I took the boys to storytime at the library and of course went past the house on the way in to town. An insulation truck was there with this big white tube coming out of it and snaking its way up to the rafters. The tube was hopping around as the truck was blowing insulation up into the attic. I think the number of it is an R-50, and considering that we hardly had any in our old house (and discovered that we had none above our window in the living room), we are going to be mighty snug this winter in our new house.
The brick guys were also finishing the ledge and the brick under the front door. They ran out of brick last week, so had to wait until more was delivered. Looks cool, can't wait until the front step is poured :)
While I was at storytime, Jeff was meeting with Tina to make a plan for the deck. We are going to have a 12 x 14 with the landing for the steps extending out 3 feet and the steps coming down the front of the deck to the side where there will be a patio area that has a curved side to it. Can't wait to see it!
After storytime, we ran back to the house to pick up some lights that I had chosen wrong (sorry Tina!) and return them to Home Depot. I traded them in for the right ones and got a flood light for the back of the house that we had forgotten to get earlier. Then back to the house where Jeff met me and took the kids home for their nap. I met with the trim guy, Tony, to pick out where the shelving in the closets will go. I snapped a ton of pictures of everything going on in the house.
The cabinet guys are installing all the cabinets and got all the wall ones installed. They look fabulous! The color of our wood is Burnt Sugar which is a pretty medium color. We had 70's dark walnut in our older house so didn't want to go too dark and deal with totally outdated wood in 20 years. And we thought light woodwork would show all the dirt and scratches we will be putting into it more than a darker color. There is one special thing we had done in the main bath. I got the idea from our builder's house in the spring showcase. We have a step stool under the sink instead of having the fake front drawer. The cabinet guy, Ryan Harrill, will redo the step into a drawer whenever we are done needing a step stool. We have little drawers in the master bath in the same pattern. I can't wait for the kids to use the step stool! We'll see if they remember to push it back in though. Hopefully this design turns out to be a good idea. I have a feeling that we will never get around to having the step made into a drawer, but oh well, then it will be ready for grandchildren someday!
The masons were also busy working on the fireplace and they actually finished by the end of the day. I can't believe how fast they were and how super awesome it looks. They are literally cutting the stones and hammering them broken in certain ways so it all comes together. It's amazing how perfectly straight they can get the sides and top. I came back on my way out of town about 5 and they were just scraping the extra mortar from the stones. I took a bunch of pictures. I still haven't decided which beam to use and how to make it work. I will be talking to the trim guy to brainstorm, since that is something he has experience with. I really want to use Dad's cedar beam from the cottage, though the old barn beam might look better with the stone.
The trim guys were there putting the trim on the house and putting the door frames on. It's so cool how putting trim around the windows makes the room seem complete. They finished some of the doors too. Carson's room got the closet doors put on. It doesn't tone down the blue at all, but it looks sharp! Enjoy the show!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Lighting and flooring, and painted walls
Lots of action on the house in the last 3 days. On Sunday night, we went as a family to look at the house and the painter had been there sometime between 5 pm on Saturday and 6 pm on Sunday and primed the entire inside of the house! Looks awesome!
Monday was a crazy day. I met with Tina at 10:30 in the morning to go pick up the light fixtures from Home Depot. Lighting is one of the areas we went basic with, we figure we can easily upgrade those later. As we were leaving Home Depot, John Michael, our main contractor and Tina's brother, was walking in to pay for it and pick it up. Why don't I just go pick out the stuff with him you ask? Apparently he doesn't pick out lights because he always picks out the wrong thing and ends up having to return them again and again. Their system works though, because Tina is great at it and it's kind of fun to go shopping for that stuff with someone who obviously enjoys picking stuff out.
We then met our babysitter at the splashpad so we could leave the kids with her while we met with John Michael. This was about 30 minutes after we saw him picking up the lights. By the time we got to the house, half the fixtures were already installed. The electricians are definitely quick! All went well with that meeting, and the house looks like it will be basically done by the 30th of June.
We also talked about adding a deck now too, since the paperwork wouldn't be able to be done for the tax credit. Jeff originally wanted to do the deck himself, but I was kind of freaked that the kids would open the patio door and fall out of the house. We also haven't figured out what door we are going to use to let the dog out each time. She's kind of scared of stairs so it probably won't be out the back, but we'll see.
This morning, the boys and I were headed to the Red Smith Library and saw the cement truck heading towards our house. We pulled up to watch it pour cement into the garage, and the fireplace mason guy had me come into the house and talk about the fireplace. We decided to have the stone go 60" high so it won't be too high when we put the beam on top. The bad news is that we might not be able to use the beams my Dad brought up for us. Those are 6" beams and the stone sticks out 5". That might look weird. So we'll see when the stone is finished. I hope we can use one of them! One of them is from the cottage that was left over from the cedar woodwork there. It would be cool to have a little bit of the cottage in our new house.
I went to the house on the way home, and saw that all the vinyl and tile is finished, plus there is now electricity. It looks great! I love the master bath tile, and the other one is pretty cool too. We wanted to go dark because boys are messy and it will hide dirt a litle longer. As for the vinyl, it was the one instock choice that was a little thicker and had an antiscratch coating, but that was the same price as the lower quality ones. Originally, the house was bid with hardwood floors, but since we have a big, heavy, dog and two boys who like to race trucks all over the house, I thought that it wasn't very practical yet. We will definitely upgrade that floor in the future. It is a lot darker than my white (or white when new) vinyl at our old house, so it will do a better job of hiding Hayley fur clouds.
The garage floor is all shiny and new looking too, and still wet. Hopefully we can keep this garage organized for at least a few years :)
The siding guy is plugging away at the house. He is the one contractor who is working by himself, so the siding seems like it is going up very slowly compared to the rest of the house. But in reality, it is going up super fast, he only has the front of the house and side of the garage yet to go. I love the brick and gray color together. I was so worried that it would look wrong, but I like it!
Enjoy the video today!
Monday was a crazy day. I met with Tina at 10:30 in the morning to go pick up the light fixtures from Home Depot. Lighting is one of the areas we went basic with, we figure we can easily upgrade those later. As we were leaving Home Depot, John Michael, our main contractor and Tina's brother, was walking in to pay for it and pick it up. Why don't I just go pick out the stuff with him you ask? Apparently he doesn't pick out lights because he always picks out the wrong thing and ends up having to return them again and again. Their system works though, because Tina is great at it and it's kind of fun to go shopping for that stuff with someone who obviously enjoys picking stuff out.
We then met our babysitter at the splashpad so we could leave the kids with her while we met with John Michael. This was about 30 minutes after we saw him picking up the lights. By the time we got to the house, half the fixtures were already installed. The electricians are definitely quick! All went well with that meeting, and the house looks like it will be basically done by the 30th of June.
We also talked about adding a deck now too, since the paperwork wouldn't be able to be done for the tax credit. Jeff originally wanted to do the deck himself, but I was kind of freaked that the kids would open the patio door and fall out of the house. We also haven't figured out what door we are going to use to let the dog out each time. She's kind of scared of stairs so it probably won't be out the back, but we'll see.
This morning, the boys and I were headed to the Red Smith Library and saw the cement truck heading towards our house. We pulled up to watch it pour cement into the garage, and the fireplace mason guy had me come into the house and talk about the fireplace. We decided to have the stone go 60" high so it won't be too high when we put the beam on top. The bad news is that we might not be able to use the beams my Dad brought up for us. Those are 6" beams and the stone sticks out 5". That might look weird. So we'll see when the stone is finished. I hope we can use one of them! One of them is from the cottage that was left over from the cedar woodwork there. It would be cool to have a little bit of the cottage in our new house.
I went to the house on the way home, and saw that all the vinyl and tile is finished, plus there is now electricity. It looks great! I love the master bath tile, and the other one is pretty cool too. We wanted to go dark because boys are messy and it will hide dirt a litle longer. As for the vinyl, it was the one instock choice that was a little thicker and had an antiscratch coating, but that was the same price as the lower quality ones. Originally, the house was bid with hardwood floors, but since we have a big, heavy, dog and two boys who like to race trucks all over the house, I thought that it wasn't very practical yet. We will definitely upgrade that floor in the future. It is a lot darker than my white (or white when new) vinyl at our old house, so it will do a better job of hiding Hayley fur clouds.
The garage floor is all shiny and new looking too, and still wet. Hopefully we can keep this garage organized for at least a few years :)
The siding guy is plugging away at the house. He is the one contractor who is working by himself, so the siding seems like it is going up very slowly compared to the rest of the house. But in reality, it is going up super fast, he only has the front of the house and side of the garage yet to go. I love the brick and gray color together. I was so worried that it would look wrong, but I like it!
Enjoy the video today!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
The Brick is On!
The brick guys came yesterday and started mixing cement at about 7 am. I met the painter at the house about 7:40 and they were just getting started applying the brick to the front of the house. I want to apologize to all the neighbors who were disturbed by the noise of the saw and cement mixer. I promise that it will all come to an end in a couple weeks, at least with our house.
Anyway, I met with the painter to go through the colors of the rooms. Good thing I did, the color that Tina and I picked out for the boys' rooms totally looked purple in the natural light! As per the contract, we get two colors, and if we decide to have the painter do anymore, there is a charge. Since I like to paint and really don't know what colors I want anywhere, we are sticking with Kilm Beige for all the interior and now Regale Blue for the boys' rooms. The front door and sidelights will be Kilm Beige inside and white on the outside to match the soffits and trim on the windows. I thought about coming in and painting a room or two on my own, which the builder said would be ok, but the window to get it done is very small (Monday night) and I would be kind of in the way of the guys putting up trim. So I'll just wait and see what colors the rooms tell me they want to be painted. We don't have cathedral ceilings so I can easily do it on my own whenever I want to.
After I met with the painter, I said hi to the brick guys and then headed over to Gagnon's to pick out our address stone. That actually is another little splurge, because we didn't have that included originally but we thought it would look really nice, and then we wouldn't have to drill into our siding right away.
Later, Jeff went in to town when the boys were napping and installed his antennae for the HAM radio setup. It involved climbing up into the rafters of the attic and running a cord from one end of the house to the other and then down through some PVC tube that he had the plumbers add inside our walls. He came back just as I had packed the kids into the van to go rescue him. I got worried that he got stuck up there! He stayed home to recover while we went to play on the splashpad in the park to and get a look at the brick.
Holy cow! The brick looks awesome!!! I took the boys inside to show them their bedrooms and Spencer promptly jumped onto the "yellow blanket". Hopefully that second on the insulation won't have any lasting effects. I think I scared the pants off him when I panicked and screamed, "Get off there now!!!" After we both recovered, the boys had fun running from one end of the house to the other and marching, and stomping, etc. etc. I can't wait either kids!
As I am looking around this condo which we will be moving out of next weekend (and then traveling, and then into our camper until the house is done), here's a list of other things that I can't wait for, beyond getting all our stuff back from the 3 storage units we have rented.
1. knives that cut
2. water that is not softened and doesn't taste disgusting (well water)
3. internet that stays working and isn't so slow that you could read a picture book in between pages loading
4. kitchen utensils that are made for the purpose you need them for.
5. a yard (ok we'll have to wait a bit yet for this one)
6. Carson sleeping in his own room in a real bed-not a pack and play in our room that is too small for him.
7. Places to put all the stuff (toys, backpacks, books)
8. A TV that is not tiny, and that has DVR
9. Washer and dryer inside the house (1st floor too, whoo hoo!)
10. a place that feels like home again.
Enjoy the latest video :)
Anyway, I met with the painter to go through the colors of the rooms. Good thing I did, the color that Tina and I picked out for the boys' rooms totally looked purple in the natural light! As per the contract, we get two colors, and if we decide to have the painter do anymore, there is a charge. Since I like to paint and really don't know what colors I want anywhere, we are sticking with Kilm Beige for all the interior and now Regale Blue for the boys' rooms. The front door and sidelights will be Kilm Beige inside and white on the outside to match the soffits and trim on the windows. I thought about coming in and painting a room or two on my own, which the builder said would be ok, but the window to get it done is very small (Monday night) and I would be kind of in the way of the guys putting up trim. So I'll just wait and see what colors the rooms tell me they want to be painted. We don't have cathedral ceilings so I can easily do it on my own whenever I want to.
After I met with the painter, I said hi to the brick guys and then headed over to Gagnon's to pick out our address stone. That actually is another little splurge, because we didn't have that included originally but we thought it would look really nice, and then we wouldn't have to drill into our siding right away.
Later, Jeff went in to town when the boys were napping and installed his antennae for the HAM radio setup. It involved climbing up into the rafters of the attic and running a cord from one end of the house to the other and then down through some PVC tube that he had the plumbers add inside our walls. He came back just as I had packed the kids into the van to go rescue him. I got worried that he got stuck up there! He stayed home to recover while we went to play on the splashpad in the park to and get a look at the brick.
Holy cow! The brick looks awesome!!! I took the boys inside to show them their bedrooms and Spencer promptly jumped onto the "yellow blanket". Hopefully that second on the insulation won't have any lasting effects. I think I scared the pants off him when I panicked and screamed, "Get off there now!!!" After we both recovered, the boys had fun running from one end of the house to the other and marching, and stomping, etc. etc. I can't wait either kids!
As I am looking around this condo which we will be moving out of next weekend (and then traveling, and then into our camper until the house is done), here's a list of other things that I can't wait for, beyond getting all our stuff back from the 3 storage units we have rented.
1. knives that cut
2. water that is not softened and doesn't taste disgusting (well water)
3. internet that stays working and isn't so slow that you could read a picture book in between pages loading
4. kitchen utensils that are made for the purpose you need them for.
5. a yard (ok we'll have to wait a bit yet for this one)
6. Carson sleeping in his own room in a real bed-not a pack and play in our room that is too small for him.
7. Places to put all the stuff (toys, backpacks, books)
8. A TV that is not tiny, and that has DVR
9. Washer and dryer inside the house (1st floor too, whoo hoo!)
10. a place that feels like home again.
Enjoy the latest video :)
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Siding and Plastering
Our internet continues to be super slow, so no video update tonight.
But...the sheetrock is completely finished and the house is getting plastered (lucky house!). When we stopped by there around lunchtime today, they had the front hall, stairway downstairs, the boys' rooms, and the main bath done. They were working on the hallway and the hallway closet. It looks great! Like a white room with no trim. Our bedroom had something done to it to smooth out the sheetrock on the ceiling and walls, but doesn't look as white as the other rooms, so I'm not sure if that room is done yet.
The other thing that I saw while I was there was that the siding guy was working on siding the back of the house. He already had the side behind and above the garage done and the grey really contrasts with the white windows exactly the way we want it to. Now I just hope the brick looks good with the grey. We never actually saw it on the house because it was a new design. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
I guess that the heating and cooling guys were at the house too, but I didn't go down in the basement where they were working. Also the fireplace stone mason was expected today or tomorrow to start putting the stone on the fireplace.
Speaking of the fireplace, it's the one place in the house that we upgraded. We chose stone from the De Pere quarry and a really high efficiency wood fireplace insert. We will even get a tax rebate or something because it's energy-rated or something like that. We were planning to have just a plain beam that matches the cabinetry, but when I went to pick the beam out, the one that I liked most was the barn beam type. So tonight I went on Craig's List and found a guy who sells barn wood in Pulaski. Our cabinet guy said go for it, so I am going to call and see if I can get 1 beam tomorrow. The price on the ad said $1 per foot, so the price is definitely right, but I'm not sure if he will only sell 1 beam or if he only sells in bulk. I hope it works out, because it's exactly the look I'm going for with that fireplace.
So that's it for now. I'll hopefully include a slideshow in the next posting when I can walk the laptop over to the office where the internet router is located. Can't wait to get my Roadrunner internet back!
But...the sheetrock is completely finished and the house is getting plastered (lucky house!). When we stopped by there around lunchtime today, they had the front hall, stairway downstairs, the boys' rooms, and the main bath done. They were working on the hallway and the hallway closet. It looks great! Like a white room with no trim. Our bedroom had something done to it to smooth out the sheetrock on the ceiling and walls, but doesn't look as white as the other rooms, so I'm not sure if that room is done yet.
The other thing that I saw while I was there was that the siding guy was working on siding the back of the house. He already had the side behind and above the garage done and the grey really contrasts with the white windows exactly the way we want it to. Now I just hope the brick looks good with the grey. We never actually saw it on the house because it was a new design. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
I guess that the heating and cooling guys were at the house too, but I didn't go down in the basement where they were working. Also the fireplace stone mason was expected today or tomorrow to start putting the stone on the fireplace.
Speaking of the fireplace, it's the one place in the house that we upgraded. We chose stone from the De Pere quarry and a really high efficiency wood fireplace insert. We will even get a tax rebate or something because it's energy-rated or something like that. We were planning to have just a plain beam that matches the cabinetry, but when I went to pick the beam out, the one that I liked most was the barn beam type. So tonight I went on Craig's List and found a guy who sells barn wood in Pulaski. Our cabinet guy said go for it, so I am going to call and see if I can get 1 beam tomorrow. The price on the ad said $1 per foot, so the price is definitely right, but I'm not sure if he will only sell 1 beam or if he only sells in bulk. I hope it works out, because it's exactly the look I'm going for with that fireplace.
So that's it for now. I'll hopefully include a slideshow in the next posting when I can walk the laptop over to the office where the internet router is located. Can't wait to get my Roadrunner internet back!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Stairways, heating ducts, and sheetrock
So even though I haven't posted in a few days due to our extremely sluggish internet connection here at the condo, the guys have been busy working on our house.
On Saturday, the roofers were there and finished the roof. Now it can rain out (and it has daily ever since). They were so lucky to get some break from all this rain. I feel like I live in Seattle!
On Monday we met with John Michael and walked through the house. It looks like it will be done on the 30th after all! The bank and all the paperwork that needs to be done after the inspection but before we close is what stands between us and the Obama tax credit. Because so many people are trying to close on houses at the end of June, the turnaround time is about 10 days right now. So we think we will get to move in soon after the 4th of July weekend which will work out perfectly!
We also found out that some powerful senator proposed a bill that would extend the end date for Obama's tax credit providing that there was an agreement by the end of April. Apparently there are 10,000's of people that are in the same boat as us and can't get their houses built in time. So it would be really cool if the deadline got extended, but if it doesn't, we are ok with that too. We just want to move into our house and get comfy!
I had summer library this morning, and Jeff stayed home with the boys all day while it rained all day. I came home to quite a messy little condo, but all that daddy time was priceless. There was a fort, plastic train tracks, and trucks all over the floor, and three beings napping in the back room.
Anyway, no one was at the house when I stopped in about 3:30, but the sheetrock was installed throughout the entire house, and there was water hooked up (we think) in the basement. They also supersaturated the garage floor to speed up the settling it needs to do before they pour the cement. Remember that it was all topsoil, so we had to pour 8 foot footings and bring in fill. The saturating must have worked because there was a sinkhole right in front of the door to the house and also in the corner by the garage stairs.
As I was leaving, a truck pulled up with a load of siding to put in the garage. I think he was planning to start that tomorrow or the first day that it doesn't rain out. It can't rain every day from now until June 30th, could it?
On Saturday, the roofers were there and finished the roof. Now it can rain out (and it has daily ever since). They were so lucky to get some break from all this rain. I feel like I live in Seattle!
On Monday we met with John Michael and walked through the house. It looks like it will be done on the 30th after all! The bank and all the paperwork that needs to be done after the inspection but before we close is what stands between us and the Obama tax credit. Because so many people are trying to close on houses at the end of June, the turnaround time is about 10 days right now. So we think we will get to move in soon after the 4th of July weekend which will work out perfectly!
We also found out that some powerful senator proposed a bill that would extend the end date for Obama's tax credit providing that there was an agreement by the end of April. Apparently there are 10,000's of people that are in the same boat as us and can't get their houses built in time. So it would be really cool if the deadline got extended, but if it doesn't, we are ok with that too. We just want to move into our house and get comfy!
I had summer library this morning, and Jeff stayed home with the boys all day while it rained all day. I came home to quite a messy little condo, but all that daddy time was priceless. There was a fort, plastic train tracks, and trucks all over the floor, and three beings napping in the back room.
Anyway, no one was at the house when I stopped in about 3:30, but the sheetrock was installed throughout the entire house, and there was water hooked up (we think) in the basement. They also supersaturated the garage floor to speed up the settling it needs to do before they pour the cement. Remember that it was all topsoil, so we had to pour 8 foot footings and bring in fill. The saturating must have worked because there was a sinkhole right in front of the door to the house and also in the corner by the garage stairs.
As I was leaving, a truck pulled up with a load of siding to put in the garage. I think he was planning to start that tomorrow or the first day that it doesn't rain out. It can't rain every day from now until June 30th, could it?
Friday, June 11, 2010
So many things being installed, read on!
Where do I begin? It's been a couple days since I could post, due to our spotty wifi here at the condo. That and Windows decided to download an update to my computer and took over 24 hours. Most webpages weren't even coming up, so I gave up. So today, the slideshow is about 5 minutes long and has lots and lots of updates to it.
On Thursday, we took the boys to Thomas the Train at the Train Museum, so we went to the house around noon on the way home. There were a lot of things going on at the same time. The electrician was wiring, the plumber was plumbing. The windows and doors were delivered and the guys immediately got busy installing them. Jeff ran to go get the framers a case of beer because they did such a nice job. They moved the windows in the master bedroom over so there was more space between them. Originally, there was less than 6 feet between them which meant that when we get a King sized bed someday, we wouldn't be able to put it on that wall because it would block the windows. The only other thing that I noticed is that the floor hole for the heater vent must have been cut before the framers moved the window on one side. Looks a little weird because it's not centered underneath the window. Since we were there in the middle of the day, we asked Tommy Rentmeester, the head framer what was on the agenda for the rest of the day and he said they would be done by the end of the day because all they still needed to do was install the windows.
On Friday, I was planning to work all day, so took the boys to their last day of daycare. As we were getting ready to turn int the driveway at the daycare, we saw a cement truck go by in the other direction, so we swung around and followed it. It pulled up in front of our house and then started to pour cement into our basement in a spot underneath the front window. The boys were in a trance watching the cement truck spin around, so we stayed to watch for awhile. Finally we had to go and drop them off.
After dropping them off, I ended up going back to the house to grab some pictures. The insulation guys were super fast and already almost finished with the entire interior of the house. The fireplace guys were there beginning to install that too. John Michael Bunker, the building contractor was there so I chatted with him for a bit and got a key since we now have doors. He explained to me how the fireplace works with the cool air vents to distribute heat throughout the house. Pretty cool!
I also wanted to get a couple pictures of the cement guys in the basement, so I walked through the really gushy mud to the back of the house and took some pictures through the back windows. The mud was so thick that my sandals were almost sliding off at every step. Later when I went into work, I left them outside and just walked barefoot in the school. The custodians would have had my head if I tracked in all that mud!
After working most of the day, I stopped at the house to see everything that was finished that day. Unbelieveable! Fireplace was installed, insulation installed and plastic stapled over it on ceilings and walls, basement poured and they were just polishing it with this big machine. The roofers were busy nailing the shingles down too. John Michael said they were going to tarp anything that doesn't get done today because we are supposed to have some storms over the weekend. The sheetrock was also brought in to all the rooms and the guys were just beginning to install it. Two of the sheetrock guys looked like they must have just graduated last week. Super young!
I also talked to one of the electricians who was back to install a cable outlet by the desk in the kitchen. I guess we forgot to mention that one to Cal, the other electrician. While we were there, we discovered that the original outlets by the desk were being placed behind the drawers, so he moved those over and also added an outlet box to inside the upper cabinets so we will be able to charge our cell phones and keep the clutter of all the cords to a minimum. He also installed my automatic light in the pantry. Whew!
On Thursday, we took the boys to Thomas the Train at the Train Museum, so we went to the house around noon on the way home. There were a lot of things going on at the same time. The electrician was wiring, the plumber was plumbing. The windows and doors were delivered and the guys immediately got busy installing them. Jeff ran to go get the framers a case of beer because they did such a nice job. They moved the windows in the master bedroom over so there was more space between them. Originally, there was less than 6 feet between them which meant that when we get a King sized bed someday, we wouldn't be able to put it on that wall because it would block the windows. The only other thing that I noticed is that the floor hole for the heater vent must have been cut before the framers moved the window on one side. Looks a little weird because it's not centered underneath the window. Since we were there in the middle of the day, we asked Tommy Rentmeester, the head framer what was on the agenda for the rest of the day and he said they would be done by the end of the day because all they still needed to do was install the windows.
On Friday, I was planning to work all day, so took the boys to their last day of daycare. As we were getting ready to turn int the driveway at the daycare, we saw a cement truck go by in the other direction, so we swung around and followed it. It pulled up in front of our house and then started to pour cement into our basement in a spot underneath the front window. The boys were in a trance watching the cement truck spin around, so we stayed to watch for awhile. Finally we had to go and drop them off.
After dropping them off, I ended up going back to the house to grab some pictures. The insulation guys were super fast and already almost finished with the entire interior of the house. The fireplace guys were there beginning to install that too. John Michael Bunker, the building contractor was there so I chatted with him for a bit and got a key since we now have doors. He explained to me how the fireplace works with the cool air vents to distribute heat throughout the house. Pretty cool!
I also wanted to get a couple pictures of the cement guys in the basement, so I walked through the really gushy mud to the back of the house and took some pictures through the back windows. The mud was so thick that my sandals were almost sliding off at every step. Later when I went into work, I left them outside and just walked barefoot in the school. The custodians would have had my head if I tracked in all that mud!
After working most of the day, I stopped at the house to see everything that was finished that day. Unbelieveable! Fireplace was installed, insulation installed and plastic stapled over it on ceilings and walls, basement poured and they were just polishing it with this big machine. The roofers were busy nailing the shingles down too. John Michael said they were going to tarp anything that doesn't get done today because we are supposed to have some storms over the weekend. The sheetrock was also brought in to all the rooms and the guys were just beginning to install it. Two of the sheetrock guys looked like they must have just graduated last week. Super young!
I also talked to one of the electricians who was back to install a cable outlet by the desk in the kitchen. I guess we forgot to mention that one to Cal, the other electrician. While we were there, we discovered that the original outlets by the desk were being placed behind the drawers, so he moved those over and also added an outlet box to inside the upper cabinets so we will be able to charge our cell phones and keep the clutter of all the cords to a minimum. He also installed my automatic light in the pantry. Whew!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Carpenters, Electricians, and Plumbers, OH MY!
Crazy day in our house building world. We met with the electrician at 7 a.m. and proceeded to plan for about a gazillion outlets all over the house and in the basement. As we were walking around the house with the electrician, his assistant was putting the outlet boxes in and almost caught up with us. He was so fast. Everyone has told me that even though you think you have enough outlets, you never will and that you will always find a spot that you wished had outlets after the house is finished. It's going to be hard to find that spot, since there are going to be outlets everywhere! Jeff was so excited to get all his outlets for his train room/workshop, and I especially love the automatic light in the pantry. When you open the door, the light goes on, and then goes off automatically when you close the door. So cool! We also added under counter lighting, which wasn't in the original plan, but I think we will be happy that we added it now. It sounds to me like a project that would never get done if we waited to put them in on our own.
Once we were done talking to the electrician, we talked to the plumber and chose where to put the towel bars/rings/hooks, and the toilet paper rolls. Exciting stuff! Jeff also worked with the plumber to put tubes that will run inside the walls from the basement all the way up to the attic, so he can put his antennea or wires or something for his HAM radio stuff. You'll have to ask him for more details because, honestly, it's like another language, and I have no idea how to speak HAM.
We also decided to not push it for the Obama tax credit. We'd rather have them take their time to finish it, plus if we closed on June 30th, I would have been out of town and Jeff would have had to do the closing and moving all by himself along with moving out of the condo by himself too. Instead, since we locked in such a great rate, we increased our allowances for some things including having the lawn put in before we close. We didn't originally do that because we were trying for the tax credit, but since we aren't facing that deadline anymore, it will be good to get that done before we bring the dog home to track all that mud into the house.
Enjoy today's slideshow, some of the pictures are kind of hard to figure out, since there are a bunch of pictures of pipes in various parts of the house. There are also a couple of our shower and tub which the kids thought was really cool.
Once we were done talking to the electrician, we talked to the plumber and chose where to put the towel bars/rings/hooks, and the toilet paper rolls. Exciting stuff! Jeff also worked with the plumber to put tubes that will run inside the walls from the basement all the way up to the attic, so he can put his antennea or wires or something for his HAM radio stuff. You'll have to ask him for more details because, honestly, it's like another language, and I have no idea how to speak HAM.
We also decided to not push it for the Obama tax credit. We'd rather have them take their time to finish it, plus if we closed on June 30th, I would have been out of town and Jeff would have had to do the closing and moving all by himself along with moving out of the condo by himself too. Instead, since we locked in such a great rate, we increased our allowances for some things including having the lawn put in before we close. We didn't originally do that because we were trying for the tax credit, but since we aren't facing that deadline anymore, it will be good to get that done before we bring the dog home to track all that mud into the house.
Enjoy today's slideshow, some of the pictures are kind of hard to figure out, since there are a bunch of pictures of pipes in various parts of the house. There are also a couple of our shower and tub which the kids thought was really cool.
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