Better Late Than Never

Things have been a little bit crazy around here with family in town and the baby shower extraordinaire, but here's the latest word....

The second floor is finished and ready for roof decking and the house is wrapped with zip wall and ready for brick. Chris will send his decking guys out tomorrow and windows will not be here until Tuesday which is when he comes back anyway, so that works. Erik's trying to see if the roofers can be working the same day as windows to keep things moving. The soffets (sp?) are up and he should be doing the Hardy on the back of the house today or Tuesday. We'll see....

Tuesday's pic...

Room upstairs...

Attic space above the garage...

Closet upstairs.... Casey in the dormer upstairs...
Thursday's pic....

Big Changes

Went out to the casa late today to find some very obvious developments...

Second floor is up as well as the stairs. They're still working on the roof and are probably finished putting up the zip-wall. I didn't get a good picture of it today, but the house is covered on the back and sides with that green board they started to put up last time. I'll have better pics tomorrow. Chris hopes to be finished by Thursday because he's going on vacation Friday-Monday. If not, he'll finish on Tuesday next week. No biggie.

We've run into some issues with the plumbing we picked. We had to change our order for the tub units to ensure we have a left-handed and a right-handed tub for the two baths. Good catch. We're still working on the right-handedness of the jacuzzi tub and may need to call Bill the plumber about it to make sure it's ok. We also need to make sure Chris plans on framing up the corner for the tub in the master as well as the island in the kitchen. I'm sure he knows, but always better to make sure now. Erik will finish out the frame for the tub probably to match the door casing molding he's planning on doing.

We've also gone through a day of questioning the oil rubbed bronze fixtures, but I think Erik has finally settled it on the ORB. The main issue was that most of the styles we can find in ORB are a little "old world" and too ornate for the craftsman look that we're trying to go for throughout the house. But it's better if everything matches, so if the door knobs must be ORB, so must the fixtures. We'll find something that works. On eBay where they are cheaper. But we must also work out the valve issue that comes with buying just the trim kit. Perhaps those plumbing suppliers will come in handy afterall...

We also need to pick paint sooner than later...Sherwin-Williams is having a sale this weekend, so that might work out well.

No Rest for the Weary

Just because the weekend comes, don't think that we just kick back and bask in the glory of our homebuilding successes (knock on wood). We spent Saturday moving the rest of our junk out of the duplex - the entire day Saturday - and Sunday we (cough) skipped church and spent the morning at Home Depot/Lowes picking out plumbing fixtures. Mom and I had spent the whole day (ok, Erik came at lunch and helped) going to plumbing wholesalers to look at what they had and get quotes and it was pretty much a waste of everyone's time. So we got on the internet Friday night and decided to use the big box home stores and eBay to get our stuff. We picked out a Jacuzzi tub for the master and 2 bath/shower units for the other bathrooms. We also had to pick out shower fixtures so the valves can be installed during top-out. Lowe's didn't have a pic online, but we are going with oil-rubbed bronze, or ORB as the plumbing lingo goes...We also went by the house and swept the street and picked up the trash because that's just the kind of homeowners we are : )

A Tour of the Sticks

First of all, the water department was out this morning and, voila! We have a water meter. Yay!

I hoped to take you on a tour in order (i.e. from front door around to the garage) but that's not the way it turned out, so although a little random, here it is. If you start from the bottom and work your way up, it makes a little more sense. The descriptions are above the pictures.

This is the pantry and desk area in the kitchen (middle, back of the house).

This is the back porch, already zip-walled, and back door installed!

This is the back of the house, one of the kid's rooms with a bit of zip wall.

This is the back of the house, living room with a bit of zip wall.

This is the closet under the stairs and the stairwell as you come in from the garage.

This is the garage from the door to the garage.

This is the utility room, in front of the kitchen/behind the garage.

This is the front kid's room.

The back kid's room.

This is the kid's bath.

The kitchen (island in the front where the pipes are for the sink, fridge along the left wall, stove/oven/micro along the back wall).

This is the floor laid down over the front of the house for the second floor media/game/play room.

This is the breakfast nook in the back of the house.

Back door.

This is the guest room at the back of the house, behind the master.

This is the shower in the master bath.

This is the closet in the master.

The back left corner is the potty room in the master bath. To the right in the background is the guest bathroom.

Master.

In the center is the fireplace in the living room.

This is the entry way from the front door with two pillars on each side, dining room is to the right, entrance to the master to the left.

This is the dining room to your right as you walk in the front door.

This is the master from the outside front left.

Front porch and temporary front door.

Garage, front right.

Day 4 of framing.

It Looks Like a Pergola

Went by for the daily tour and it's more dense with wood and they've put up the beams for the 2nd floor room. They also finished out the window casings and the porch out front. Tomorrow the back porch, rafters and all that other ceiling stuff (it's a technical term) will go in and he'll start the sheething soon. I think tomorrow will be a more dramatic picture...

Hard-to-See Changes

From what I can tell, they added the headers to the garage, front entry, closet, pantry/desk area and they framed out the fireplace. I know they did way more than this, but it was 3:00 and 100 degrees outside and that's all I could pick out. We need a little bit more lumber, but other than that, all is running smoothly. Yay.

And we're off!

As mom and I came around the winding corners of Ridge Road toward the house, I said, "So how far do you think they got today?" She figured they just set up the perimeter to hold the walls. Nothing above the foundation. I said, "No, we've got walls." And as we came around the bend, there they were! I must admit I would classify my reaction as giddy. I actually clapped my hands repeatedly and yelled "woo hoo". I then promptly did what any young adult in today's times would do...I took a picture with my camera phone and texted it to Erik at work. This is big. Really big : ) Chris said they hope to make this an 8-day job. The brick is ordered, the doors and windows are ordered and we have to pick the exterior paint color this weekend. Woo. Hoo!

This picture is taken from where the bed will be in the master, looking at the door to the bathroom and the wall where the TV will be.

Come clean up your mess! Please!

And this mess, too!

Putting up the wall between the kitchen and the back kid's room (from the back yard).

The master bedroom from the side of the house.

Master again.

Day1, floor 1