New pics

Siding and drywall are both giving this place a whole new look. Septic and drainfield are coming this week, more cement next week, and soon we'll be painting and triming.

Evening work

We had to take Drew to a specialist today so we didn't have a full day. However, we did work a couple hours this evening and this is what we accomplished.

Drywallers also got a start. Most of the lids (ceilings) in the house are done.

It's beginning to come together.

Sunday update

In spite of the weather, we had a pretty good day on Saturday. Of course, today (Sunday) would have been a good day to install siding. Why it can't ever be convenient, I'll never know.

Me and Jer getting dripped on even though we made a custom eave out of a corner post. We were still soaked to the skin after a couple hours.

Seriously?

Yesterday we were working in tshirts and today we wake up to snow. Even Drew asked what month it was when he woke up and saw it. I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am. The guys worked all week in 60 degree temps and finally, I get to work on the house and it's cold and snowy. That just isn't fair!

We did make great progress yesterday though despite our siding order missing two key elements: starter strips and inside corners. Of course we noticed the starter strips first and drove to the lumber yard to get some only to discover once we got back that we were missing the inside corners as well. We made do with materials at hand though. Good ol' J-Channel.



I don't know what kind of siding they think we're nailing onto the house, but we certainly don't need a nail this long. The small one is the normal size we use.

Green stickers = progress

All our inspections passed this week with flying colors giving us the green light to sail into the next phase. Lots of things happened so far this week which calls for a mid-week update rather than our standard Sunday night edition.

Fireplace is through the roof. Siding is started.

Insulation blown in today (kitchen area pictured below) and it came with free dinner. The installer works nights at KFC and brought us enough food to feed a small army. Mucho Gracias Manni. Drywall comes Monday.

Weekend update

Overhead doors sure make a difference both inside and out. We got them up just before all the wind so it was much nicer working inside than it would have otherwise been. We're getting close to inspections. All the subs are pretty much done now and we just have a few minor things left. Insulation is scheduled for late in the week and drywall right after that, so we have no choice but to be done.


A view of the main floor fireplace from the kitchen area.

A view from the living room side. I'm faced with a dilemma now that the fireplace had to be bigger than I originally designed. See that partition in the background to the right of the fireplace below? I had drawn a half wall or a column with arches to break up the front door and the dining room which would begin where that partition is. Now that the fireplace is a foot and half wider though, the front entry wont look right in the room if I build the half wall. Not sure what to do.

I spent most of Saturday painting trim for the front of the house. It used to come in white, but now it's gray. Fortunately, it covered in one coat, but I still have more to do.

We've discovered Painstop...

Jeremy has been surviving on Painstop the past week, a handy little analgesic in a spray bottle. I haven't tried it myself yet, but the bottle has made the rounds to our house for the night. Glenn needs it for his feet and me for my shoulders.


This is what happens while I'm at work and Glenn and Jer are left up to their own devises.....I get a bar in my garage with a recessed panel for a flat screen tv behind it. Party at our pad in a couple months.


The guys are actually making great progress this week. The basement walls are finished, the stairs from the garage to the basement are done, the garage doors are wrapped and ready for overhead doors later this week, and siding is in - should be delivered by weekend hopefully. Below is Heidi checking on our progress while Drew plays in his sandbox.


Brickie Don is done with the main floor fireplace and up into the trusses. Tim, our friend and electrician got a good start today too.


I can't wait to relax on our new deck this summer knowing that all this work is behind us.

Milestone

We're finally finished with the roof. Well, once the chimney is through, we still have to piece in around it, but for all intents and purposes, were DONE! We had an awesome weekend! For once, the weather cooperated. It feels like we're entering the home stretch now. Another apple tree perished. We're down from 3 to 1 now. I'll let Glenn explain what happened to that. Apparently, him and Jeremy had been keeping that little bit of news from me.


None of our ladders were tall enough to reach that highest point for siding, so we had to build a deck off the back of the garage, which we planned on doing in the future anyway. Fortunately, we were about $700 under budget on rough-in material. Now, with the deck, we're about $200 over, but we still have several bundles of shingles to return.

On tap for this coming week: US- finishing the deck and Tyvek, installing the rest of the doors, garage overhead doors, heat the garage in preparation for cement and build rest of basement walls. Hopefully, siding arrives this week. SUBS- fireplace on mainfloor, finish plumbing, wire for sound, and electric. Should be a great week.

Weekly update

What you can see.....

Windows.

Within smelling distance of being finished on the roof.

Fireplace done in the basement.

What you can't see.....

Plumbing, heat, and prep work for drywallers.

Gotta keep this nice weather coming. Deck and siding in the batter's box.