Poor planning on your part.......

This week was nothing but total frustration. After what seemed to be a good start, and a lot of promise, it went away in a handbasket quickly. We had a good start on monday when the electrician showed up to start on switches and light fixtures. That was pretty short lived, though, because he left 2 hours later when the floor guys came. Seems electricians are a solitary type and don't like to work when there's anyone else there. Too bad, because after a great deal of promise to install the floors, they decided that they needed to be leveled first. They spent a whole day going around and checking the level (or not) of the concrete. After determining that they weren't completely flat, the floor guys brought in a sander and proceeded to sand the high spots (and run the sander into the wall) while making a dusty mess on the new flooring and cabinets. The next step was to trowel in a self-leveling compound to fill the low spots. Since they felt the need to stir the crap inside the house with a drill, they managed to get splatters at least 6 feet up the newly painted walls. Another round of sanding and the mess was totally complete. There appears to be more sanding needed, but no one was around to ask.... Now they've also decided that they need to crank up the heat before the floor is installed. The problem with that? Well, no gas, no water, no boiler...and it's really not cold enough for the heat to even come on, but, whatever. So.....now we're waiting for the plumber to find time in his schedule to install the boiler and crank up the system. Hopefully by then, the gas will be connected and the water will be fixed. Moral of the story? About 2 weeks behind, one GIANT mess inside, with everything completely covered in concrete dust, and, most of the great room walls will need to be painted again to cover the splatters. Thanks, I think. Not having a great deal of confidence in this one......... Oh, and the electrician won't come back until it's all done, which is probably better. It'll be one less thing we have to clean. There were a couple of bright spots...... The painter came back and did the laundry room LOVE!!! this color.....

and the master bath LOVE this color too!

And tile guy, who really knows his stuff, was here and built the bench in the master shower and the pebble floors in both the master and jack and jill.

Now we're into a 3 day weekend here and next week is a short one. Tile guy has already said he probably won't be back until friday, although most of the tile for the master, entry and jack and jill are already here. The electrician is still pouting about the floor guy, and the plumber is waiting for parts. ACK!!!!!

two steps forward, one step back

It's been ANOTHER week of S L O W progress. We were so encouraged when the general contractor told us that the cabinet and flooring installation guy was going to start on wednesday. Nice plan, too bad that wasn't the case........ The week started monday with a bit of promise. The framers came to finish the last bit of porch roof, and then about 11am, a big truck full of insulation pulled up. They proceeded to work in the attic putting in baffles, and then went about the business of blowing in 16inches of insulation.

We were SO excited on tuesday when the flooring and cabinets were delivered. Lots of flooring and cabinets. They filled up the garage.....

Wednesday brought us all of the light fixtures and also the millwork package, all of the interior doors, window trim, locks, etc. I was happy to haul out the light fixtures we've been storing here. They took up a lot of space! The installer DID show up on wednesday, but there ended up being a great amount of debate about HOW to install the floor. Floating or glue down? The original decision was floating - which means it comes AFTER the cabinets. After the debate, 45 minutes on the phone, and a call to the flooring manufacturer in canada, they changed their minds and decided to do a glue down. The problem? No glue. Of course. The glue was ordered and they all packed up and left, promising to return on friday. ACK!!! (might have thought of that one BEFORE you came to install it!) The problem here is the radiant heat floors. The heat, and the fact that they're concrete causes some moisture and expansion issues with the flooring, which is why it has to be engineered, as opposed to solid hardwood. It also needs to be installed more exactly than a regular hardwood floor. The glue finally showed up on friday, as well as the installer's helper. He moved all the cabinets into the studio area, removed the paper covering the floor (threw it out the back door, thank you very much), and swept the floor, but no install work was done. Back on monday, I guess...... The only person who actually did ANY work this week was tile guy. He and his helper came on friday and filled in the shower pans. At least something got done!

Coming up......the painter will be here today to do the master bathroom and the laundry room (I've already talked to him). Maybe monday (keep fingers crossed), the finish carpenters will install the hardwood floors, and then move on to the kitchen cabinets. The electricians are supposed to make an appearance to install all those light fixtures, and tile guy has said he will be "in and out", as our tile arrives and time permits in his job juggling. We keep thinking "this will be the crazy-busy week with folks tripping over each other", but it hasn't happened yet. I'll just be happy to see progress.....

moving forward by millimeters

Another slow week on the ranch...... the framers were in and out. They worked about 4 hrs total. Honestly, that is SO frustrating, if they would just work for a whole day, they'd be DONE. Don't get it.... They come and caulk for an hour or two and then just drop everything, leave, and don't bother to come back for 2 days, with their caulk laying out in the dirt. Have I said I don't get it? The painter kind of bailed on us too, too mamy colors, not enough time. He did show up today, though, to work on the great room.......

Love this grey, although right now, the way the light is, it kinda looks purple. Go figure. He also did the jack and jill bathroom and the powder room (different color), and said he was going to do the laundry room (another different color). All of this is so that they can start to install cabinets and flooring next week!!! He'll be back to do the bedrooms later. No big deal there. I also had a meeting with the tile guy. Not sure when he's starting, but I think next week as well. We're also supposed to get attic insulation and the electricians will be back to put in the light fixtures, since the ceilings are all done. The biggest development this week was the garage door.

Now the house is secure and the interior work can begin. It's been a long time since we had a garage door, and this one is pretty darned cool. (and quiet) It has a keyless entry, internet connection and light with a motion sensor. WOW! Tomorrow, we're off to confirm appliance choices and it sounds like next week will be pretty darned crazy. Let's hope so. I think these folks would approve.........

last week was quiet

this week was even quieter. We were bitten by the "other job" bug this week and most of our contractors were MIA. There were 2 big developments, though. The first one was the installation of the electrical meter and power hookup. It went so smoothly, I kept having to ask if they were already done. It was good thinking to have that conduit run before the street was put in, and I'm glad we had the chance. So, now the power is hot, the electricians will be back soon to give us outlets and the like.

The second big development was the completion of the sheetrock. The sheetrock posse was here on monday taping (again), tuesday brought the sanders and a final touch-up, and wed., it was texture away! It really cleaned things up and made them look finished.

Thursday brought a meeting with the painter, and he was back twice on friday. Once to shoot everything with a coat of primer, and once, quite a bit later, to do all the ceilings. Not much to show here, since it's pretty much off white on white, but hopefully, he'll be here today to start the color. He was quite surprised that there were SO many colors. (Really? Don't people paint their houses different colors?) The paint process will go quickly, though, even with the colors! The framers are SO close to being done with the siding. They could have finished yesterday if they would have STAYED PAST NOON. It was friday, after all. Monday's another day! Next week. INTERIOR PAINT!!!!!, maybe some exterior paint. PLEASE bring the garage door, attic insulation, and probably a good start on the flooring and tile. It's really looking awesome, and we can hardly wait to move in. P.S. the giant yard sale will be sept. 1st. Bring your friends and your wallet!

watching sheetrock dry.......

After weeks of crazy progress, this week seemed pretty quiet. It was mostly spent watching sheetrock dry. When we last left our intrepid sheetrockers, they had put up all the rock and cleaned up after themselves. Monday brought a caravan of sheetrockers (kinda like a murder of crows), and they got busy taping all of the seams and screws. There were 8 of them, and they finished in 2 hours and moved on to the next job.

After that, every day this week, they would invade, tape for an hour or so, sometimes set up a huge diesel heater, and then disappear.

The final (we hope) taping was yesterday........It ought to dry nicely, since it's going to be nearly 95degrees here this weekend.

On monday, we're guessing they'll sand and texture, and then it's more drying before the painting can take place. (hopefully by the end of the week) The framers were still working on the siding Well, one of them, sorta, the other was on vacation and the one left behind was not to happy about working by himself, so he kinda plugged away and finally gave up thursday about 2. They probably have about another week of misc. finishing things, soffits, and porch roofs to do and then they'll be done until the porch posts need to be finished.

Up for next week, a garage door, possibly interior painting, a meeting with the painter and the tile guy, and who knows what else. Once the interior painting is done, it's on to flooring and tile, and then cabinets and finish work.