Lack of Sleep...But Lot's of Satisfaction

OK - I haven't pulled hours like this since I was an undergrad and driving limousines. Between orchestra rehearsals every night last week, concerts Friday and Saturday, and SOLID days of work on the house all day Saturday, Sunday (9am-2am) and Monday (6pm-2am). Oh, and at work I hosted a workshop for 34 teachers on Friday and another 34 today (Tuesday).
"What is wrong with that guy?" You might ask. "Does he want his wife to divorce him? Does he want his kid to not recognize him?" All reasonable and not unwarranted questions. But, I kind of didn't have a choice. We needed the money from the orchestra concerts to pay for the house and the work I'm doing on it, which had to be complete by this morning so the electrical inspection could take place and insulation/drywall work could begin.
It's all good now though. Once I catch up on a little sleep, I'll be a father and a husband again and life will return to semi-normal for at least a while.
I should point out that my dad has been an determined and dependable source of help despite a minor knee injury from his last trip up to help (see picture of wrecked truck below). There is absolutely NO way I could have gotten everything done on time without his help.
So, here's a taste of what we did:
1) Ran all of the low-voltage wire for cable TV, telephone, internet, and a few speaker locations. There are network and cable connections throughout the house now, and the wires run neatly to the utility room where they'll be installed in a proper box. There's about 1,200ft of low-voltage wire now).
2) Ran plastic conduit from the mainfloor to the attic to accomadate future wiring needs.
3) Ran conduit across the bottom of the inside of the fireplace so that wires could be run back and forth easily in the future.
4) We added a couple of walls in key places in the attic, etc...
5) We extended the master bedroom bath tub deck so it was better positioned under the windows.
6) We planned out the method of attaching the deck to the house - we're using some aluminum brackets rather than traditional techniques to isolate the house from the noise and moisture from the deck
7) We adapted the spaces around the garage doors so that it could be more easily and attractively drywalled.
8) We hung up plywood in the utility room to make easy places to hang up the electrical panel, etc...
9) AND we swept the house top-to bottom...THAT was a back breaker.

I'm told that insulation and exterior doors are coming in the next couple of days, followed closely by drywall installation. Keep your fingers crossed!

Once those things are finished, I'll have to start working on the house again...cleaning, painting, flooring, fireplace stone, etc...That will be another busy time, but I don't have orchestra rehearsals or workshops to deal with, so that's good.

Thanks for reading!

Silverado - 1; little red car - 0

It's been an interesting couple of weeks working on the house. Lot's of good mixed with a little bad.

I'm continuing to do whatever work I can myself to save money and I'm actually enjoying it. Schedule-wise it's exhausting and stressful...with a 2 year old and another one coming in just a couple of months, time is at a premium right now. Having so much to do is definitely a challenge for the whole family. Carol has really stepped up though, and is doing A LOT to keep things rolling at the apartment since I've not been able to do much (or any) laundry, dishes, cleaning, cooking, etc... I'm quite certain that at 7 months pregnant NONE of those things are high on the list of things she would like to do! Building a house is most definitely a whole-family affair...and being pregnant just makes it that much harder on her. Thanks hon...

Aside from that, the actual work is quite enjoyable. I really like being able to have a hand in the construction of our dream house. Not only will I come away with a more intimate knowledge of how the house is constructed, but it's also really satisfying to do the work. From that stand point it's a lot of fun.

HOWEVER, we suffered a minor (sarcasm) set back Wednesday. I took the day off (since it's the only day this week that I don't go straight from working all day to an orchestra rehearsal) and dad came up to help me run all of our low-voltage wiring and take care of a few other odds & ends. We had done all of our planning and needed some materials, so we took his truck to Lowe's.

When we left the house, his truck DID NOT look like this...


After the car full of teenage girls leaving school for the afternoon pulled out in front of us (I was driving) our schedule for the day got seriously screwed up. Notice the mis-alignment between the hood and passenger fender. Also notice the puddle of transmission fluid on the ground under the front corner. There's no coolant on the ground though...that's because it had already all drained out by the time we got towed. The girls were all fine (thank God...) though a few inches seconds different would very well have caused some serious injuries. Physics... Anyhow, everybody is ok. Her car is most likely totaled. Dad's truck is being fixed. Everybody is a little shaken up. (By the way, it wasn't my fault...she got the ticket).

So, I'm going to have to double time it this weekend. Heat/cooling work is nearly finished. Electrical work began yesterday and will be done Tuesday morning. Insulation, drywall, and driveway are all (hopefully) coming next week. Pedal to the metal!

I'm also going to do a full photo session this weekend and will have a LOT of pictures to post next week. I'm going to catalog where all the wiring, ductwork, plumbing is inside the walls. Dad did this when his house was built and it has been invaluable to him over the last 30 years. I won't bomb you with all of those pictures, but I'll post some...

That's about it for now... look for a big posting next week!

Holy Monday, Batman!

I think we've worked out a plan to relieve our 'sticker shock' from last week, and we're moving forward with optimism. It will mean a lot more work from us at a very busy time in our lives, but it's short term and the reward of having done a sizable portion of the work on our house will be immense. We know that feeling well from the remodeling work we did on our old house. In the next week or so, I'll post a list of all the things we're planning on doing ourselves in case you're interested.

In the meantime, I think there must have been a small army working on the house today!
In addition to someone taking the time to dig a drainage trench to let some of the weekends hurricane and tropical storm inspired water out of our backyard, the following happened today:

There are windows in the front and one side
There is tar paper awaiting the shingles on the roof
There is a fireplace rough opening, with sheathing all the way up
There is a bath tub - complete with drain - in the main floor bathroom
There is also sink and drain plumbing in many spots throughout the house.

By my count, that's at least 3 crews that were working today! I can't imagine what they'll do tomorrow!

Thanks for reading! It's fun to know that people out there are keeping track of us!

Reality check...

The build continues and it's going well, for sure. The contractors we've had have been more than capable and everything looks fabulous. The framing is nearly done and they will begin roofing it by tomorrow afternoon. Windows are soon to follow.

However, reality is setting in as we tally up the costs of all the options we've selected. At this point the house is WAY out of our price range. So, we're having to make some major adjustments in order to keep the house in our budget. We're frustrated to say the least. We've been prepared for it to be over budget all along and have been preparing ourselves. But it has exceeded even our over-budget estimations. Don't get me wrong - it's a beautiful house. The carpenters tell me that every day multiple people stop by and make comments about what a 'palace' it is, or how rich the people who are building it must be. Unfortunately, we're not that rich, so we have to scale back.

Since the basic house is already built, we can't change any floor plan stuff or any major components. The approach we're taking is geared toward reducing the labor costs of finishing the house by doing a substantial amount of work ourselves. From the beginning, we've talked about doing some of the work - not only to save some money but also because we enjoy that kind of stuff. We had moved away from that idea recently because we thought we could still afford it and because we've been placing a high value on our time lately. With another baby coming in November and a 2 year old at home, in addition to holding down 2 full time jobs, we are definitely stretched thin.

But alas, faced with trimming the budget by 20%, the time sacrifice is becoming far more appealing. It's short term - just the next few months - so it's not like it will consume our lives entirely. We'd rather make the investment in time now than be saddled with a mortgage that will strangle us for the next 30 years.

If you're interested, here's what we're going to do ourselves:
- The deck
- All of the painting for the whole house
- All of the trim installation on the second floor
- All of the built-in cabinets/shelves in the living room
- All of the built in benches and cabinets in the mud room
- All of the closet interiors
- The built-in desk in the upstairs hallway
- Hardwood floor installation on the main floor
- Tile installation for the kitchen backsplash
- Tile installation for the master bath tub surround

We're also going to be making some life style changes...everything is up for consideration at this point: cable TV, internet service, cell phone plans, eating out, vacations, etc... Over the next few weeks we're going to have some tough decisions to make, but we're still cautiously optimistic. We'll still get the house. We'll still have money to heat and light the house. We'll still eat and still be very happy, I'm sure. The road to get there is going to be a little different than we had anticipated though...but that's what makes it interesting though, right?!

Thanks for reading and wish us luck! If you have any special talents that you're dying to donate, feel free to speak up! Babysitting is always a good one!

More Pictures!

Here's what the front looks like today! YAY!

This gives you a little perspective of how we sit compared to the neighbors.

This is what the front is supposted to look like when it's finished! We're getting close!And, here's what the back looks like today...

And what it will soon look like!

Getting Ready for a Roof!

Monday was an interesting day. I stayed home from work because I was sick...a mysterious 24 hour flu that I get every couple months...another story for another day. Anyhow, even though I was playing hooky, I couldn't stay away from the new house because I knew it was going to be an exciting day. So, on the way to the doc I stopped and snapped some pictures.

This portion of the framing is by far the most complex and, as a result, the most expensive. When we designed the house we came up with a fairly straightforward floor plan and a fairly straightforward elevation/exterior look. What we overlooked was that when you combine the two in our particular situation it becomes quite complex! Because we didn't want a two-story look that would completely dominate the surrounding ranch-style homes we sort-of nested the second floor into the attic at the front of the house. So, rather than having roof trusses that look like giant triangles, they look like giant triangles with giant rectangles cut out of the bottom center. In places where roof slopes intersect and rooms reach the outsides of the house it makes for some interesting framing. What complicates all of this is that that is where much of the load that the roof carries is concentrated. That means that in addition to being geometrically complicated, it is also structurally complicated. Makes my brain hurt just thinking about it!
At any rate, the end result will be a great looking house that capitalizes on the views we have from the back and best uses our relatively narrow lot.

Of Beams and Rain

Looking to the Northwest, at the back of the house

Well, things have been a little slow the last day or two. We're finally getting some rain in the area and when there's no roof that makes it a little more difficult to move at the rate they've been moving at! Nonetheless, I have a few pictures that I've taken since my last post...and a couple of interesting stories!

As I was pulling up to the house for my usual daily stop after work, there was a family coming out of the house with a camera. I smiled and said 'hello' and they were on their way. I didn't think much of it - just the night before I had told Rich to feel free to have any of his other clients who were thinking of building walk through the house. After all, we are pretty proud of our design, and the guys are doing a great job with the framing. When I talked to the crew
though, they told me that the family was actually from somewhere in Europe and that they were really interested in how we build houses here...they were quite surprised at how much wood went into the process - seems they're more used to seeing homes that are not only smaller, but more frequently built out of brick, concrete, or pre-fabricated panels. So, our house will be featured in some European family's American vacation scrapbook!

We met some more neighbors - 2 doors down this time. They have a 4 year old boy and a 10 month old boy and seem like really great people. They were really excited about the house and their boys were really interested in the piles of dirt and the bulldozers. We can't wait to get to know them better!

The view out the back of the house is turning out better than we EVER could have hoped. Our own little slice of paradise!View from what will soon be our living room!

We didn't realize it when we designed it, but the combination of our compact (though spacious) floor plan along with our exterior design made for some pretty fancy truss and beam work. In fact, it accounts for our lumber price being about 20% higher than what one might have expected. Throughout the ceiling of the first floor there are beefy laminated beams that will serve as anchor points for the roof trusses that will span the second floor. Those trusses have to have extremely strong anchor points because they are shouldering the entire weight of the roof (and snow). In addition to just the downward weight, they have to be able to deal with the spreading forces of the weight of the peak pushing diagonally down the roof sides. Imagine standing with your feet spread apart as wide as you can on a slippery surface and trying to hold up a heavy object. You get the idea!
At any rate, those trusses were supposed to be set yesterday, but for some reason none of the crew wanted to stand on a forklift next to a big steel crane in the driving rain and lightening...go figure! ;-) So, they're setting them today, I think. I'll know for sure in a couple of hours.

I think that's it for now. Lot's of fun to see it come together! If you have questions or comments, feel free to post them - you don't need any kind of account to do so anymore!