Walls are going up

I think the real craziness will not die down until tomorrow, once Halloween is over. Yesterday we had scouts, and today we have the closing and trick or treating. Tomorrow - nothing. A chance to breathe - hopefully. Oh, yesterday we were able to catch our other cat - that was good, as it means no searching in the woods and no tears from the kids. I'm glad - she's my baby, even though she pissed me off pretty well. She is aclimating to her new surroundings as well as can be expected, I think. A few more days, and she'll realize this is where she's going to be for a while and she can get the lay of the land.

So today is a big day, we sign the papers to formally sell our house. The only thing remaining at the house for us to get are our garbage cans. After all the packing and all the grief from the buyers, I say good riddance. I'll always have good memories of the house, but I'm so ready to be done with it.

Meanwhile, the work continues with some earnest at the new house. The drywallers did a bang-up job yesterday and went until almost 5 o'clock. Karen spoke to them and they told her that by the end of the day today we would be duly impressed. As it was, it looked totally different. The insulators had finished, which meant we now could not see many of the walls - the laundry room and bathrooms were insulated 360 degrees, and the guest bedroom was insulated from the family room to avoid sound leakage from the TV into that room (or vice versa). I'd guess that 25% of the drywall was up, and if they did that in just a few hours, I'm excited to see what it looks like at the end of today.

The other major thing is that the siding was started. I feel a little bad, because Adam's house has been sitting more or less idle for about three or four weeks, all ready to be sided but not. Well, I guess I don't feel too bad... they can get to his house later, right?

I went to take a photo at noontime, because after 5 is now too dark. They had not done any siding when I drove by, so they did one little corner in just a few hours. Given a full day, there ought to be some really visible progress by noontime today. My pictures will now, for the first time, include workers and their trucks - the supporting cast in this saga.

Exhausted

Well, we're all moved out of our house. We finished Sunday afternoon. By the end of the day, we were both exhausted. I made a final trip over to pick up a couple of gas cans and to try to find Sierra, who escaped from the house. She toyed with me, sitting on the front porch until I got close enough to pick her up, whereby she ran off into the woods. I want her to come with us, but I'm not going to chase her throughout kingdom come. If she wants to stay, she can stay.

Anyway, the moving van was filled to the brim, especially the last quarter, where we stuffed in desks, the lawn tractor, miscellany from the shed and garage, the snowblower, tools, Halloween crap, and other sundry items. It will shift, no doubt about it, so opening it will be a slow and deliberate act. But that's four to six weeks away. I drove to the house to look for the cat this morning, and on the way out, I saw the tractor coming down our road to pick up the trailer.

Today, the buyers will do a walk-through. We got the washer and dryer out, so they should be happy with that. There is a largish pile of garbage in the garage, but garbage day is not until tomorrow, so they will have to live with that. We have a dozen half-used cans of paint and stain that I just don't know what to do with. Can't use them, cant throw them away, can't dump them in the sink ... we'll see. If they don't say anything about them, they can have them. I'll put the garbage out tonight and retrieve the empties later, and that will be it.

Enough about the old house, I'm so done with that. The new house is a hub of activity. One day last week, Karen drove by and counted 11 cars, trucks, and vans at the site. I drove by this morning and there were at least six, though the only one labeled was the plumber's. I did see a carpenter working in the eaves and several people inside. When we went on Friday, a good share of the insulation was done. We went again on Saturday, while taking a break from packing, and saw that at some point that morning, they had moved in the drywall - hundreds of sheets of all sizes, though mostly large ones - 12, 14, and 16 footers. They had put it all over, first and second floor. That is great news and means we are right on schedule.

With daylight savings done with, it will be dark after work, so I think I am going to change my picture taking schedule from after work to lunchtime. That is a bit harder, so I'll have to see how it works out. I may not get to it every day.

We got porch

The porch was finished yesterday, which means that the carpenters were on site. The lead us to the inside to see what other work, if any, had been done. We think that the framers/carpenters are now done: the half-wall in the master bath is done, as is the linen closet in the main bathroom. These are the to main things that were missing inside the house. They also shored up the ceiling peak in the sunroom to give the fan a flat base. Most of the wiring on the second floor is done, though we see a few places it has left to be finished. Most of the wiring on the first floor is done, but there is still a bunch left to do.

The wiring for the central audio is done, or at least mostly done - there are blue and white audio cables strung everywhere on the first floor, and pink CAT5 cable, which I think is for the volume controls, strung as well. It all leads to a white box in the basement, though I could see no more than that because it was so dark and the power is shut off so none of the bare wiring was live.

The furnace appears to be mostly complete now. I appears to have to large outgoing vents, one of which supplies the first floor and the other the second. Also, the central vacuum was roughed in, though we are not putting the actual vac unit in right now. Since the pipes are in, though, it wouldn't be a big deal to add it in the future is we so choose. Frankly, I'm good without it, but you never know what we'll do as time goes on. If our vacuum ever dies, we could always replace it by installing the vac unit.

Ryan's windows are in - Karen told me this but by the time I got to the site, I didn't even notice them, so I have to take her word for it. They have also started to seal around the windows, which is good because it is supposed to be a deluge this weekend.

We have started to pack the moving van, and we think we are on track to get it mostly filled before the rain hits. The kids drew good-bye cards for their bus driver yesterday. He has been their bus driver since their first bus ride eight years ago. It was sad but cute that they thought of him.

More plumbing and wiring

So yesterday they installed the furnace - not completely, but we see where it will live. There are still things to hook up, still ductwork to finish. As far as we can tell, most of the plumbing is now done, and almost the entire second floor is wired. They should finish with that and with the first floor today and tomorrow. The Superstore is coming in today to wire the central audio. I had to decide pretty quickly if I wanted to prewire the TV for HDMI or if I wanted to use component. I decided to hedge my bets by doing both. I am concerned that HDMI will only last as long at it takes for the next best thing to emerge. Component is old tech but it works beautifully and probably is not going anywhere. But the HDMI is all-digital and the component requires digital/analog conversions on both ends.

Still to arrive is the hot water heater and the AC unit. Also Ryan's windows should arrive today. Meanwhile at our house, the moving van will arrive today.

We're told that tomorrow we might get drywall delivered, but definitely by Monday morning, and then on Monday, the drywallers start. That gives all the in-the-wall guys just two more days to finish. Hurry up!

Plumbing and electric

So the plumbers continue their work - they make a grand mess. The worst is when they drill holes for the duct work. As I've mentioned, we've had hot water heat for the past 10 years; my parents have steam; and my inlaws have hot water, too; so the whole notion of forced air heat is something foreign to me. I guess as long as it heats the place, it does not matter. They end up cutting holes in the floors for the vents and holes in the walls for cold air return - the former blows and the latter sucks. I remember when I lived in North Carolina, we had AC, and one big cold air return in a short hallway. If you sat in this hallway, you could see the TV. I concocted a story that it was best for me to practice guitar in that place because the return could suck the sheet music and hold it at eye level. Of course, I could also ignore the sheet music and strum nonsense while I watched Star Trek. But I digress.

At this point, most of the plumbing is done. The vanities are not in, nor the kitchen counters, so the sinks are not installed, but the water for them is. The drains for everything on the second floor are in. There is even a mysterious drain pipe in the laundry room that I had to ask about - it is there just in case the washer ever leaks. Nifty. Since it will (hopefully) never be used, it is not a vented pipe, just a direct drain.

The electricians went through and put up blue boxes througout the second floor yesterday. Karen and I went to the site last night and nodded approval to most things. For some reason, Brittany's little closet has three outlets in it and Karen's massive walk-in closet has none, so we decided that she needed one. We also decided that the laundry room needed one more, for an iron or whatever. I went to the site this morning and told the contractor and he said he'd take care of it.

We decided to put phone and cable in all of the bedrooms, even the kids'. I don't plan on them ever having separate phones or even TVs, but it was suggested that it would be good for any possible future resale; so I relented. We use cordless phones almost exclusively, and plan to only have the main TV and one in the master bedroom, so those outlets may never be used. Brittany said, however, that she might come home from college one day and want to watch TV. Sigh. College.

We rearranged the lighting on the porch a bit. The builder said he thought it make a statement to have smaller carriage lights all along the front, as opposed to the one large one we had picked. So instead of the one on the garage wall, we will have two there and two to either side of the front door. I really liked the idea of the recessed lights on the porch, so we kept those. They'll all be switched separately, so we can choose which we use. By the end of the day yesterday, several recessed light cans were installed, as were boxes for the master bedroom fan, the smoke detectors, the sconce lights in the hall, and the overhead lights in the kids rooms and laundry room. The fans had also been installed in the bathrooms.

Today when I went, they electricians were laying out cable and phone line. Most of the electrical wire had been done the day before, and it is fascinating to see. I want to take pictures of the whole mess before the sheetrock goes up, for future reference.

As for carpentry, the front porch deck was done on Tuesday. There is a missing linen closet in the main bath, and we're not sure if it was forgotten or if it was left for last for some specific reason. House wrap was put up on most of the house that didn't yet have it, in preparation for siding. The windows were installed in the garage and the garage door was framed out. The door into the garage from the outside and from the garage into the mudroom were both installed. The windows for Ryan's room have not yet arrived, but should soon.

First snow

So we got our first snow of the season yesterday. It was way too snowy and dark to take a picture, but it would have been nice. We are at a stage now where a daily photo does little good. Aside from a snatch of snow still left on the roof, the photo I took today and the one I took Thursday were no different.

Inside, however, is another story. The plumbers tore through the house like madmen, drilling holes and laying pipe everywhere. Nearly the entire second floor is all plumbed. The whirlpool tub, the washer and drier, sinks, toilets, almost eveything. I think the shower is left to do - but those are small details. Holes for the AC and heat have been drilled, but not finished. That's a project for Monday.

We met with the electrician and lighting guy on Friday, so there are lighting notes throughout the house - iconic drawings on the floors and walls, and notes near where switches will go. We did not have to specify outlets, except in a few places where we wanted to be sure to have extras. We opted to go with phone and cable in all bedrooms, which I am not too keen on. That's one detail that may yet change. Tom suggested them for resale, but I really don't want to give the kids the option of having their own phone and cable hookups. We'll see. We forgot to ask about getting electric for the kitchen island, that's one thing we need to talk to the electrician about before he starts on Tuesday.

The stairs look great still - they are all covered in sheetroock to keep muddy feet off them. The framers finshed the basement on Friday, and once the last set of windows come in, they will have only four to go to finish that - two in Ryan's room and two in the garage.

It rained all day Friday - a driving rain that forced its way into the house where the windows are not yet sealed up. The floors are very wet right now, but hopefully the weather will stay dry until those windows are in a they are sealed (though I'm not sure when the sealing will be done. Then came the snow in the evening, but everything is under cover and survived fine. One last project to finish is the cap on the garage roof. Hopefully that can be done Monday before the rain comes back.

Nice stairs!

The stairs are in! We went to the site yesterday not knowing quite what to expect, because the plumbers were going to start up. Turns out they didn't do much visible work - no holes in floors. But they did bring in all of their equipment, so there are plumbing parts strewn throughout the house, though it is an orderly strewing - joints and fittings all lined up nice and neat, alongside coils of plastic pipe and copper ends, toilet gaskets, all sundry other pieces and parts.

The biggest, most noticable change, though, was the addition of the main staircase. Tom told us that the staircase cost $7000. My brother in law comfirmed the high cost of some staircases, especially when they are anything but straight up and down. We have a standard set of stairs from the first floor to the basement, but the main staircase angles around a 120 degree corner. So it is a short straight run and a long straight run, joined by two or three pie-shaped stairs to make the turn. Looking at the stairs from underneath, you can see how much work they are. I never would have imagined.

Anyway, we also picked out our interior doors and all of our doorknobs yesterday, and learned that the window guy had to order one window that he forgot to order the first time around - that's why the windows in Ryan's room are not in yet. Not a show-stopper, though.

Finally, the roofing is nearly complete. The large over-the-garage roof is 99% covered. It is just missing a few shingles and needs to be capped.

Oh, one more thing: the fireplace was delivered. It is a long way from being installed, but it is on site, so we can see that room a little better.

Last chance

Well, today was our last chance to see the house all in one piece. Tomorrow, all the nice, fine work the framers have done will be ripped to shreds by the plumbing guys. But you know, I'm ok with that. For without plumbing, there are no showers, no tubs ... no toilets.

So the framers did not finish the windows today. The remainder of the time was spent finishing up the basement, and they increased the crew by one to get it done. As far as we can tell, it is. All of the exterior walls are now framed, except for one tiny spot near where the door to the garage will be. I think they left it that way so that they are sure there is room to move the furnace and water heater down there. They also put in the main staircase to the basement, and the framed a wall to its left (as you go up). The stair case itself is nailed to this wall of studs, and the bracing appears to be the sole raison d'etre for the studs.

The whirlpool tub has been framed and the tub itself has been removed from the box, so all that remains there is to plop it into place - but we're not sure if they will just do that or if the plumbers have to put in drains and water access first.

So the major things that are half-done at this point: windows (about four left to do inside, and two on the garage), shingles (one slope to do, above the garage), and ... I think that's it. Of course, I don't know what I don't know, so there are likely other things. But we're excited to see plumbing go in. Electrical next, then insulation, then sheetrock, then painting, finish work, flooring ... and siding and driveway in there somewhere.

Can I have a woot!

Rare mid-day update

We met with Tom and Tom and the plumber today, and got some updates at the same time. First, by the time we got to the site, most of the remaining windows were installed. Only those in the garage are left, and they're not critical to the interior work.

We told the plumber where we wanted exterior faucets (one on each side), and discussed the best placement of the furnace and water heater. We have not had a separate water heater in a long time, I'm curious to see if I notice a big difference either way. To avoid cutting floor joists, the water heater will vent out to the back, where we had planned to put the deck. Not a biggie, the deck can still be plenty big, it just won't be able to go right to the corner of the house.

So, with the plumber all set, we meet with the electrician on Friday. The plumber will be starting his work tomorrow, the electrician on Tuesday. According to Tom, the sheetrockers will be in on or about the 27th. He said that things can happen, but generally, four weeks from the first sheetrock going in, the house is done. Perhaps four weeks after the last sheetrock is in - there's a fudge factor in there. This is exciting news because we are either right on schedule or a bit ahead.

We talked about perhaps changing the flooring in the sunroom from carpet to hardwood. Karen is going to look into it, as it is not yet too late to change. Other work that will be done is that central vacuum will be roughed in (though we will not be installing the canister) and the Superstore will be coming to do the A/V wiring. It will be a busy few weeks, and we can't think of anything we'd rahter. Oh, the siding will be put in some where in there, along with the front porch. It is all good.

We got windows!

Yes, today we got windows - in fact, almost all of the windows were installed today. I drove by in the morning, and the crew was there, but doing something inside. I drove by again at lunchtime, because I went to lunch at the boys' school, and I noted that they were manhandling a giant front door into place. A good sign.

Later in the afternoon, I spoke to Karen and told her, but she realized that we never finalized the design of the fron door that we wanted. I told her I could not tell what the door looked like, I didn't notice and the guys were milling about it - if I saw, I could not recall. The one thing we did not want was glass in our front door. Sidelights were fine, but not on the door itself. She called Tom Jr and he said that he remembered that we had not finalized a door, but when he spoke to his father, Tom had assumed that since we did not specifiy anything different from the norm, that we wanted the norm. Karen drove by later to see what the norm is - and fortunately, it is a door with no windows. Whew, dodged that bullet. Though Tom Jr. said it would be a relatively simple thing to swap one door for another, had it come to that.

Also today, the roofer finished the shingles on the sunroom. All that remains is the large roof section over the garage.

All of the windows, then, are in, or are on site. A couple of doors, too. There are three exterior doors remaining to install and two are on site. I think one is for the door from the outside to the garage and the other is from the garage to the mudroom. The door from the garage to the basement is an exterior door, as far as I know, but they still have to bring in the furnace and the AC equipment, so I assume they will have that door delivered later.

Tomorrow we have a walk-through with the either the plumber or the electrician - I forget which.

Here is a photo of the latest:

Just slight progress

It looks like the only work that happened today was that the roofers worked on the front of the house. That leaves the roof over the garage to complete and the roof over the sunroom to complete, plus whatever sundry things they do with shingles. Inside, it looks like the braces for the cabinetry in the kitchen was completed, but that's about all. We were hoping that windows would be delivered today, considering the nice weather, but alas, they were not.

Starting another week

So, we're about to start a big week. By the end of the day Friday, we had about 45% of the shingles done. The entire back was done and a small portion of the front was done. The front roof is larger, though, so not quite half. Also, the sunroom is yet undone. Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day, so hopefully the roofers can finish the whole thing. Also on Friday, a lot of the ceiling strapping was completed on the second floor. Only a bit of Brittany's room was not done. They installed the attic access box in Karen's closet. It is very much like the one we have now, which means access will be for emergencies only, or at least very well planned projects.

On tap for this week is the installation of windows. We hope they will be delivered tomorrow so they can get right to it. We have a walk-through scheduled with the electricians and lighting guys and with the plumbers. I don't think there is much to do with the plumbers other than to say where the shower head should go on the two showers and to confirm the placement of everything else. I think we might have to show them where we would like the outside faucet. Other than that, a bathroom is a bathroom and it needs certain things that have certain places - right?

We got a good deal of packing done this weekend - we think we might be to 80%, not including tear-down of some of the furniture. We're trying to figure out what must be torn down, what can be torn down, and what can't be. The beds in the kids' rooms, for example, must be. They are too big to go down the stairs completely assembled. But we will tear them down to a few pieces as possible to make it easy to put it all back togther. The kitchen table can be torn down - the leaf comes out, of course, and the legs can be removed. The coffee table is all one piece, it is already as small as it can get.

This is not yet the home stretch for the move-out, but we're getting close.

Shingling

We got shingles! The roofers began work on the shingles yesterday, so when we drove by, we got a good view of the back roof, where about 1/3 of the surface had been covered. The front roof is larger, so it can't be said that they are 1/6th of the way done, but whatever. I drove by the site at about 11:30 and they were just getting the shipment of shingles delivered, so they were able to do that patch in just about three or four hours. Given a nice day (which today isn't), they might be able to get the entire back and part of the front done.

We have a set of stairs in the garage. We don't know what they are for. There is a short set and a long set. Our staircase will consist of two parts. About four or five steps from the first floor to a turn, and more steps from there to the second floor. I have no idea how they put these things together, but the long set seemed to long, as did the short set. It is possible these are not for the main staircase but instead for the front porch and the basement. We'll see. There was also a short set of stairs placed in the garage to the mudroom. This is good because it saves us from putting our lives at risk to enter the house from that side. I checked out the basement and the framing down there is not complete. They must be saving that for a rainy day (like today).

We heard back on the outbuilding we asked for a quote for. They didn't really quote me what I wanted, but based on what we did get, we decided to forego the outbuilding. I had wanted a quote on an 8x10 and a 10x10 structure, with two double doors and with a small overhead door. We got a single quote for a 10x10 garage with a large overhead door. It was about $9500. This is at least double what I was thinking it might be, and we just can't justify it. I'm peeved I didn't get the quotes I asked for (how hard can it be?) but even if the double doors and smaller area shave 20% off the price, it will still be too much. We'll have to build a shed later - I can do it myself.

Surprising installation

Today, the roof was finished, except for shingles - it is all covered in decking and with the modern equivalent of felt paper. The sunroom will be nice, with its nine-foot walls plus an additional foot in a catherdral-style ceiling. It will be smaller than what we have now, but not by too much. The advantage will be that it is built-in from the start. The other major thing that happened today was a pleasant surprise.

The bathtubs and showers are in - or nearly so. Each of them is too damn big to move into the bathrooms later, so now, which the walls are not fully formed, is the time to do it. We know it was going to happen because there are many studs missing just in the bathroom walls, and we figured it was to give plenty of room to move these units in. And so it is. The first floor shower is in, as is the master shower. The master whirlpool is in the bathroom, but not yet out of the box. The main bath/shower unit is on site, but not yet installed.

We are very curious to see what the next step is. Today is our three-week point for the move-out, and we're five days away from the two month mark for move-in.

Where we are now

We spent most of this weekend packing, so we didn't get to the site much. We have just a few weeks left to go before the last one, where we start moving boxes into the moving van. That last week, we will be sleeping on mattresses and in sleeping bags, eating a lot of take-out and quick meals, and dressing out of luggage. But for now, we're still partly normal, except for the array of boxes that is slowly growing in depth and height.

But the house: last week progressed wonderfully. By Friday afternoon, almost all of the roof decking was done. The only portion left was above the garage and those parts of the second floor abutting the garage: Brittany's closet and Karen's closet. The trusses were placed over the sunroom, and the decking was not yet done there, too. I estimated 75% of the decking was done. I don't know what the plan for this week is, but if the roofers come, they should be able to make a good dent in the shingling. There is supposed to be inclement weather on Wednesday, but things can change.

We have not been back into the basement, so we don't know if they finished the framing down there. AS far as we can tell, they stopped that to do the roof, so I would guess there are still a few walls left to frame up.

We have not gotten an estimate for the possible shed/outbuilding, so that is on hold for now. I think the next big step, aside from the roofing, will be a walk-through with someone - the electrician, perhaps.

Woot!

Well, well - what a difference a day (or two) make. Yesterday, we went to the site and we were initially disappointed. It had been a beautiful day (meaning it had not rained) and it looked like nothing had been done. How wrong we were. After some exploring, we found that nearly the entire basement had been framed. Now, we're not finishing the basement, but one of the Hergenrother trademarks, we've been told, is that the basement will be framed. Just the walls, where the foundation is, but having finished a basement, I can say that this is a big deal. I would estimate that at least 75% of the framing had been done. We found a couple of buckets full of slats, about 18-24 inches long, with a couple of pre-placed nails at each end, too. However, nothing new had been done on the roof.

This morning, I drove by on the way to work and from a distance I could see that there was a crane on the site, which bodes well. As I rounded the corner, I could see that about a third of the main roof trusses had been installed. I called Karen to tell her, and we were both excited. We both just drove to the site from our respective places of work and saw that nearly all of the trusses are now in place. There are a few left on the ground, but the roof looks complete, so they may be extra, in case of damage. Also, the trusses above the sunroom are not in place, but I think the reason for that is because they are relatively small and I think they can be placed with muscle power and don't require the crane.

The short slats came into play and solved a short-lived mystery: they use them to hold the trusses in place as they work, presumably just until they install the roof decking.

They will be working for a couple more hours today, do we will definitly return after work to see the results. Now the shape and scope is finally visible. This is probably the most exciting step since we signed the papers.

Trusses have been started

The first set of trusses are up. If you look in the photo from the last post, the ones they installed are above the garage (which is the one-story part of the front of the house). Also, the plywood partially covering the windows in the garage was removed, so they are now full size. The first truss was installed on top of the sun room - I presume the several that follow it will go up quickly. After that, the hard stuff begins. They did quite a bit of prep work on the trusses on the ground. They come assembled, but they add a layer of plywood to the end piece, which will eventually be the front of a gable and covered with siding. And they build the overhangs into the end pieces.

I didn't get to the house until about 6:20 today because I gave blood after work. It is getting too dark to take photos at that time of day. Pretty soon, especially when daylight savings kicks in, I will have to go there on my lunch house to get a well-lit photo.

New photo

It rained on Friday and our new neighbors tell us that no one was at the site at all, so I didn't take any pictures this weekend. The framing is nearly done, and the trusses are all on site (or at least many of them), and tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful day... so we're hoping that they start getting the trusses up tomorrow. We went to the site several times to see everything. They have a few more things to do upstairs: the linen closet in the kids' bathroom, the additional window we decided on, a half-wall in the master bath. They also need to finish cutting out the windows in the garage. All of these are small things they should be able to bang out quickly. This weekend we bought a mailbox to put up, with the hope that we can put it up and start getting mail there, even before our official move-in date. Here is the latest photo. Note the nice portapotty.