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.

electricians, and plumbers, and roofers, OH MY!

It was pretty busy here this week, starting with the framers. They worked some more on the inside framing, including the kitchen island and put in most of the windows, with the exception of one sliding door...

The plumber continued with his rough-in.....

and the electricians started working on placing boxes and recessed can lighting. (and also mentioned something about the home tour!) It pretty much all came to a halt on thursday, though, when we were invaded by roofers. No one wanted to be around for all that noise. Good thing they picked a great day to do it. (no rain and not too hot)

The roof went very quickly and they were able to finish in one day.

At the same time, the HRV guys were working on the HRV unit. The installed all of the gas lines, the vents for the stove and bathroom fans, and the HRV and it's vents as well.

Friday seemed kind of disappointing and quiet. The only thing anyone did was place the cistern, and fill the dry well with rocks. Everyone was scrambling to get the lumber and stuff out of the way so that the excavators can come back in and fill in the holes. This needs to be done so that the framers can put their scaffolding against the house and put up the siding.

Hopefully tomorrow we'll see the framers back to finish some details and the excavator to push dirt. Otherwise it'll be monday. Next week, more electricians, lots more electricians, a meeting with the cabinet designer to measure the bathrooms and the lighting store to walk through the lighting plan, maybe some siding, a little bit of fireplace (hopefully), the last sliding door finished. They're all going to have to haul butt, though, because there's a holiday in the middle of the week and they want the sheetrockers to start by next friday.........phew! I'm tired already!

Roof! Roof! - chapter 2

When we last left our intrepid builders, the roof was cruising right along....... Until last saturday night when we heard a giant CRASH!!!!! Seems that tiny little strip of wood holding up the garage trusses was just not quite enough, and they went DOWN. Ass over teakettle, like a stack of dominoes. Scared the daylights out of the neighbors, and us too. Luckily, it was at 6 pm (not 2am), no one was hurt, and it's already been fixed. Can't be a project without a little drama, I guess. The boys came in on monday morning, shrugged it off, and went to work to finish sheeting off the roof. The rest of the week was spent working on the sheeting, building out the porches, and finally, putting up the facia board all the way around. It's FINALLY done, and the roofers will be putting on the shingles tuesday or wednesday, depending on the weather. In other developments, the windows arrived..... they'll be installing them today. Friday, the gas line guys were here too, as well as the plumber. The main gas line for the range and fireplace is in (no gas service yet), and the rough-in plumbing is about 80percent done. The next step will be electicians, but they can't start until the roof is on, so, probably thursday or so. "The boys" (framers) will be doing the windows today, installing the pocket door frames and finishing up the inside framing, next up for them is the siding. That'll probably take a while. We're off to look for vanities, and, I'm happy to report, I've finally decided on a backsplash for the kitchen....... The pic doesn't do it justice. Expensive, but beautiful..........

Roof! Roof!

This week, it was all about the roof. On Monday the framers worked on the inside walls that needed to be built to support the trusses. Tuesday was truss truck day. On wednesday, it was trusses UP! Yes, that is John the plumber helping there. Seems he's an all-purpose kind of guy. They got the main house done on wed, and thurs. it was on to the garage. There was also some work on the porches until some issues popped up. They discovered they were missing a truss, and a header for the front porch, and someone at the truss company loaded the back porch on the truck backwards. So, now they have to sheet off the back of the house and turn the trusses around. None of these are show stoppers and they've pretty much already been fixed. The next step was to start with the sheeting on friday. They got the entire front done, but not as much as they wanted to. There's a LOT of roof there and it takes time. Next week, finishing the sheeting on the roof, garage and porches, putting the roofing on (already talked to Bill the roofer), windows and sliding doors and finishing the interior framing so that the plumber and electrician can get going. They the framers will go outside and start on the siding. It's supposed to rain, so we'll see.......

we have a house!

Well, most of the outside of one. It's been a very exciting and productive week around here. On monday, we were excited and surprised to see the truck with the SIP's pull up. Can you believe that this little truck is our whole house????? It was quite a feat of engineering and forklift driving to get all the panels off safely, but our contractors did a great job and we soon had two large stacks piled up on the garage floor. On Tuesday, the framers got right to work putting treated lumber all around the foundation for the SIP's to attach to. Another inspection......... And the first panel went up Wednesday around 11 am..... The worked across the back of the house, the most detailed area with the most parts... Thursday at 4 the LAST panel went up, and we have a HOUSE!!! They worked all day friday. It was quite busy, inspite of the deluge of rain. (I was ready to ask them to build a boat instead!) The framers were working on the inside walls and the plumber was back too, working on his rough-in. According to the plumber, who seems to know EVERYTHING, the garage will be framed today, the trusses will be here tuesday, the sheeting will go on the roof wed, and the rough-in plumbing will be done by the 22nd, with the electrician right behind. Now we're back into the detail work, so this phase will take some time.

we have a a slab!

We were very excited to come home from the Y early wednesday morning to see this:

It was quickly followed by 10 or so concrete workers who put on their boots and got right to work.......

They spent the next couple of hours covering everything with concrete, including the garage floor. The wooden frames in the floor are where the curbless showers will go.

The final step came on friday when the contractor returned to make relief cuts in the concrete and remove the forms.

On monday the walls will arrive. We should have a house by the end of the week!!!!! THIS is where it gets exciting!