Drywall then Driveway

Here are some pictures of the drywall now that some of it is up. The rest of it will be hung today and they're doing all the joints and screws this week and will be done completely early next week. The guys working on the drywall remarked at how square the house was and said it made their job a lot easier and that the finished product would look really good because there was no funny business going on in with corners and stuff. That's good news to me!

The rest of the concrete will be poured today - the driveway, back patio, sidewalk and front porch. I'll take some pictures tonight and post them soon!

No pictures...but a lot going on!

It's not the kind of action that we saw with the framing - where there were huge changes every single day - but there is actually a lot going on. Inspections, drywall, measurements for doors and cabinets, more selections, and check writing (that part is no fun!)

I'll have some pictures soon, once the drywall is finished, but in the meantime here's some details about what's going on.

The insulators came and did a lot of work last week. They sprayed everything with and adhesive foam that seals any air leaks or voids in the exterior of the house. That makes the house nearly airtight and requires us to have an air exchanger in our heating and cooling system so that we have adequate fresh air coming in from the outside. They followed that up with NuWool cellulose insulation that is made from recycled newspapers. In fact, it's manufactured less than 5 miles from the house! We could very well have newspapers that we recycled insulating our new house! Anyhow, the R-value is very high and it's also an excellend sound barrier. Dad and I supplemented the work of the insulation crew with rolled pink fiberglass insulation between the master bathroom and one of the boys' rooms and between the laundry room and the other boys room for sound proofing. We also insulated the garage - that will soundproof it for my late night forays into carpentry and auto maintenance as well as keep what ever heat there is inside.

Late last week we also had our plumbing, electrical, HVAC and structural inspections. I won't say we passed with flying colors, but the problems were minimal and easily fixed. Our builder quickly called the right people to rectify the issues and we weren't significantly delayed. To me, some of the issues seemed a little petty, but on the other hand, I'm glad they caught some of the things they caught.

Drywall started yesterday...and I'll never understand how and why those guys do what they do. For a task that is nearly universally despised by anyone who has ever had anything to do with home improvement there are an amazing number of people out there who are absolute artists with the stuff. For someone who is used to 1/2" thick, 4'x8' sheets of the stuff, it was pretty impressive to see 5/8" inch thick, 4'6"x16' pieces of the stuff...just how do they get those things on the ceiling? Anyway, they are flying through the house with the stuff and I truly don't know how they do it...but I'm certainly glad they do.

We were supposed to get a driveway and finish grading last week, but the weather hasn't been right for that kind of work, and it continues to rain daily...so we'll have to wait a while for that, I guess.

That's about it for now. Like I said, I'll post more pictures soon...it's really taking shape!

Thanks for reading!

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!