Sheet ROCKIN'

This week, it was all about the inside, again. On monday, we walked through and looked at all the little things that needed to be done before the sheetrocking started, and they also loaded the house with the rock, so that they would be ready to go first thing tuesday morning.

Tuesday came along and there were sheetrockers here at 6:30 am ready to go. They did all of the ceilings and a few walls. Wed. they were MIA for the mysterious "other job", but thursday brought them back bright and early to rock on. This is the kitchen...

I was starting to get a bit stressed because the place looked like a bomb went off in it, but on friday about 10am, the scrap truck arrived and they began to clean up the mess. (the only folks to clean up after themselves so far). They junked all the scrap, put down brown paper on all the floors, and plastic on all the doors. It's all ready to go with the taping on monday morning. (master bedroom)

great room and fireplace

It's kind of hard to tell, but this is the color I'm thinking about for the great room. Grey is really hot right now, and this one looks pretty good with the travertine fireplace tiles. While the sheetrockers were inside, the boys were outside, plugging away at the siding. They finished the garage gabel end, the front porch, and the west side. They still have the 2 porches on the back (they're small) and the east side gabel end (it's huge). I'm sure they have some odds and ends to finish up, but we'll probably be doing exterior painting soon.

Next week, taping and texturing, choosing interior colors and possible interior and exterior painting. Depends on how long it takes everything to dry. The garage door should be here soon as well, and they boys will most likely finish up the siding and be done (at least until the porch columns need to be built). After the interior painting comes flooring and tile (at the same time), and then all the finish carpentry, cabinets, etc. This is where the REAL fun comes in!!

Go outside and play

This week, it was all about the outside..... The boys started on monday morning putting up the siding. They worked (mostly) all week going around the house and putting up the lower half of the siding. The final 2 windows were installed, and they also put in the dog kennel door, and finally, on friday, started working on the front door. (didn't finish, though, it WAS friday, after all). They said they'd be back today to put up the big gable ends and possibly finish the front door. We'll see. It IS saturday after all......

On Tuesday, the bobcat arrived to dig the utility trenches.....

Wed was pretty exciting here, and a slow day at the city. I came home to find 6 different contractors, and pretty much every utility truck the city owns, all working on our water meter. Some of them got the meter installed (most of them watched), and they were off! The trenches were completed and, for the most part, covered up on friday.

The biggest event this week?

The green GO sticker on the electrical. Passed inspection, as well as the mechanical, framing and plumbing (after one tiny adjustment). This give us the green light to sheetrock. They'll be here on tuesday to start. NOW, it starts to get exciting. We'll be doing some more furniture shopping this weekend. LOVE this chair and MUST have it. Next week......SHEETROCK!!! Front door, utilities (?), more siding, and possible a garage door.

Electricians, cont.......

This week, it was all about the electricians again. They continued to pull wire and add boxes for switches and outlets. They hit a bit of a snag, though, with the SIP panels. It seems it's kind of a pain to run wire through styrofoam. Who knew. It slowed them down for a bit, but they're back at it now and 99% of the interior wiring is done, the service panel is in and the outside wiring is coming along nicely. Now we're just waiting for the electrical inspector. He was supposed to be here thursday, then friday....maybe monday? The electrical inspection has to pass before the plumbing, framing, and HRV can be even considered for inspection. Looks like the sheetrocking will have to wait a while......

In other progress, the framers started on the siding. (sort of). They seem to have their own adjenda as to their work hours/ethic. It's a schedule that is completely confounding.......Show up at 9:30 work for an hour, take an hour lunch, sit on the tailgate of the truck for an hour...leave (and not come back). Makes me crazy. They did get some done, though, in the 3-4 hours that they actually WORKED on it. Imagine what they'd do if they worked a whole day!

The other cool thing this week was the installation of the sola tubes. See those "warts" on the roof? They let in an awesome amount of natural light. It's gonna be SO cool!

Next week, it's a crapshoot. Not sure WHAT's happening. Hopefully the electrical inspector will make an appearance, and the other inspections will get finished. The heating guys are supposed to install the bathroom fans. The excavator guy is supposed to dig the utility trenches. The framers will possibly install the front door that arrived on friday, and the windows for the final sliding door. If ALL of that happens, we might see sheetrockers by the end of the week....maybe....... We'll be off to IKEA tomorrow to buy the laundry room cabinets, with a side trip to the cannery to get the rug we really like for the great room. FIELD TRIP!!

miles and miles of wire

This week, it was all about the electricians. They started in full swing on monday and pulled miles and miles of wire.

They also installed the can lights for the kitchen and anywhere else they needed to be....

There's a million details with the electrical, but they're almost done. The plumber was here too, finishing up some bits, and friday was a big day when they installed the fireplace.....

The disappointing thing is that the framers are MIA. Haven't seen them since last tuesday. They still have a BOATLOAD of detail work to do....not sure WHAT's up with that, but according to the plumber (remember, he knows EVERYTHING) the rough-in plumbing, electrical, and framing inspections will all be next tuesday. THAT ought to be a busy day. Guess those framers better get going!!! We also had a little house shopping spree this week, washer and dryer from sears, (I had my heart set on a kenmore), Ikea PAX, a kind of storage cabinet as an test for the mud room, think it's going to work out great, and our little impulse buy, a beautiful leather couch from Bassett, that'll be here in about 8 weeks, just in time to move in. (fell in love with a 8x10 rug too, but ran out of time to go get it) So, next week, inspections on tuesday, possibly sheetrock beginning on wed., the solatubes will be installed at the beginning of the week. Not sure what comes after that...we'll just have to wait and see.