Light!

I went by the house in the morning yesterday and saw that the electrician was working to install lights, and the carpenters were starting to work on some trim outside and the stairs inside. I wass not able to go by the house at lunch, so I returned after work. Though it was dark, I thought I'd chance it. I was surprised to see lights on in the house when I drove by. No one was there, so I went in. Almost all the lights were in and working. Only a very few were not, including some in the master bathroom.

This is big news! The house looks a lot different with the lights in and on, it illuminates the place from a normal perspective as opposed to the light you get from a single halogen floodlight.

This morning I went again, since I would not be able to at lunchtime. They had finished all the outside trim except for the porch posts. The stair posts were in the process of being put in and a couple of painters were painting trim in the master bedroom and bathroom. There was also a bulldozer flattening out mounds of dirt in the back yard.

Karen is back from a one-night trip, so we'll be heading back to the house to see it and all the work that was done yesterday and today. It is feeling really close now.

Today's report

So today, the appliances were delivered. The fridge and over-the-stove microwave are in the house, in the kitchen area. The stove and dishwasher are still in their boxes in the garage. I'm not sure what the plan is, but presumably, they will all be moved into place soon. The washer and dryer are also there, moved to the second floor. The linoleum in the laundry room is done, as is the painting, so as soon as the trim is complete and painted over, the plates are placed over the electrical, and the light intalled, they could hook everything up and have that room be done. That would be a small milestone, but it would be of some significance. I don't know if they will do that, though.

The carpenters where there working on trim and moulding. It had been a while since anyone had been there, so I imagine there was a little spin-up time after the long weekend. The painters were there, painting the exterior doors. We decided we liked them white. We looked at other colors, and there were none that we liked, so even if others think white is too boring, it is what we wanted.

Nothing else to report, hopefully the painters will finish this week, the tilers will come back and finish the grout that they left undone, and then the electricians and plumbers can come back and finish up. After that, I think the carpet is going in, then all the door hardware is installed, and then we're ready to move in! We're ready!!

Glass and Audio

Things in the kitchen and bathroom are progressing. As of noon today, the counters were all in the kitchen, along with the island bar being placed (but, so far, not locked down). The vanity and counter in the 1st floor bath and the pair in the master bath are in, and work started on the vanities in the main bath.

We checked on a few things - Karen and I weren't sure we wanted locks on the kids' doors, so we hem and hawed about that for a while and finally decided to have them - but when I called the door guy, I found that they had read our minds, because he ordered and delivered the knobs last week and they had locks. Glad we decided that!

The french doors in the office had been installed opening in, and we wanted them to open out. That's being corrected. The carpenters, when they're not working on the cupboards, have been cutting trim and moulding. Almost all of it is up, and the painters were going around filling in the nail holes and the join gaps.

I got word today that the appliances will be delivered on Monday.

We also hemmed and hawed about two other things: glass doors on the showers (which we decided to do) and the timing and cost of the central audio and surround sound systems. The glass doors just seemed like a good idea in spite of the cost. The first floor shower will have frosted glass and the master will have plainer glass with a bubble pattern in it.

The estimate listed pairs of speakers for the central audio for $400, which includes 1.5 hours of labor each. We were a bit taken aback by the $230 speakers that would take 1.5 hours to install. We have half a mind to time the installers as they do their work. But despite our concerns about the final price, we decided to go for it. They will install the TV and the components we bought (which are basically more speakers and an A/V receiver). I can handle hooking up our CD changer, DVD/VCR player, and the cable box, but they may be planning to do that, too. Some things are a little unclear. What is clear is that they want to install the central audio speakers on Friday. We dropped off a check for the first phase of the audio plan.

I guess that's it - this is supposed to be a short week, but it may only be for us, and at least one contractor, the audio guys, will be working. We'll stop by Friday to see how things are going. Mean while, it is almost turkey time!

Progress, inside and out

This weekend, one of the carpenters, who said he likes to work alone because it is quiet, got most of the kitchen cupboards into place. When I went into the house at lunch today, the frame for the refrigerator was in, and Karen reports one counter top was in when she went - two other counter tops were mismeasured and had to be sent back to be trimmed.

Inside, almost all of the doors are in, and they did the casing around most of the doors and windows.

Outside, the driveway was finished today. Piles of dirt remain so that they can be spread over the future lawn.

The closet estimate came in, and it is about $700 over budget - the budget was tiny to start with. I think we'll go with what the estimate is, but we're going to take a close look to see if we can trim anywhere.

Karen spoke to the builder, who says that we're on target for the 15th, maybe a few days before. I'm not sure how close this is, or if he's hedging his bets. We'll see,

It's all good

Things are really coming together. Today I went to the site at lunch time and there is a ton of things to report. So let's get right to it:

• The driveway was graded. We've had dirt covering the sidewalk since we first looked at the site, and it was finally uncovered. A paving crew is working on the other two homes in the development today. I don't know if they will get to ours or not. We asked for a slightly larger turn-around for the cars because of the driveway configuration, so there is blue paint on the ground where I assume the drive will be extended out to. A pile of crushed rock was also delivered, so I think there is more grading to happen.
  
• The cupboards are all in the house, scattered throughout. We have cupboards in the kitchen of course, and then some in each bathroom and in the laundry room.
  
• The doors that were delivered yesterday have been distributed throughout the house. In the master bedroom, two of them had been installed, one in each closet.
  
• There was a crew there installing the tile around the master tub.
  
• There was another guy working on the tile in the entryway and downstairs bathroom.
  
• All the flooring that can be done is done - all the carpet and tile. Carpet comes later. When I say "done," I mean "down," because the grout has not been laid in the tiles just yet.
  
• The marble (granite?) tiles for the fireplace are on site.
  
• Except for four places where trim needs to be finished, the siding is done.
  
• The basement has been insulated and plastic sheeting has been stapled into place.
  

So, that's a lot! I can't wait to see what they have done by tomorrow, the next time I can go visit during the daylight hours.

Progress report

Yesterday, Karen and I figured out how our closets are going to look - we did a walk-through with the closet guy and picked out wire-frame shelves for all the closets and the pantry. After that, we headed over to the glass place to look at shower doors. These are not included in the price, so if we get shower doors, they will be extra.

While we were doing the walk-through, the wood floor in the dining room was being installed. The wood goes from the dining room, through the hall, past the stairs, through the kitchen and breakfast area, and into the sunroom. Lots of square footage. The carpenters put down backing for all the tile, so there was an extra layer on the floor in the entry, the mudroom, and the bathrooms. It was apparent someone got the wrong message at one point, because the same underlayment had been laid down in the sunroom, then removed (the adhesive left behind the telltale marks).

Outside, the siding is almost completely done. The only part not finished is around the fireplace and, last I looked, some of the trim. But more than half the trime was done, and if the weather holds today, I would think that could be finished today. Here's hoping!

Latest photo

This was taken on the 10th of November. It's looking like a real house!

Weekend warriors

A lot of work was done this weekend. I appreciate that the subcontractors work on the weekends, but I'm actually puzzled as to why. This was nothing unusual - we saw mudders and tapers in the house next door on the weekends several times and we walked in on painters working on Tom's house on a weekend once. I don't know if they are given a date to finish by, and they try to get it all done early so they can take it easy at the end, or what. Regardless, on Saturday, the taping was all done. I went to visit the house just as they were cleaning up: sweeping up the plentiful dust and scraping up chunks of dried compound that had fallen on the floor. It is one hell of a messy job.

On Sunday, we visited again, and a husband and wife team were in the house spraying primer on all the walls. It was very hard to breathe, so we zipped through, but it looked damn good. We spoke to the woman a bit later and she said they expected to be done with the ceilings and the bathrooms by the end of Monday. We are almost at the four weeks to deadline today, so this is all good. The general guideline, you might recall, is that four weeks after the drywall is up, it is ready. The drywall was done two Fridays ago, so if that estimate hold true, we could be in by the first week in December.

We're keeping our fingers crossed.

The exterior is coming right along, too. It is supposed to be a rainy week, so I was a bit concerned, but it was only misting this morning, so the carpenters were there working on the siding. They will be able to finish the back today if the weather holds. The only things left are the sunroom (which is mostly windows and doors, but that doesn't mean it can be done quickly), the fireplace housing, and about 25% of the upper part of the rear of the house. After that, I think the only thing left is the white trim along the eaves.

After the painters, flooring is next - wood and tile.

Giggleriffic

Karen and I met at the house today at lunchtime to check on its progress. It is coming along very nicely - the front of the house is almost completely done, and it takes little imagination to see how it will look when it is completely done. All of the siding is up in front, and most of the trim. The trim along the roof lines is still left to do, and they have to wrap the porch columns with trim material. Karen noted that they had built steps up to the front porch, but I never saw them - I was too quick to go inside and forgot to look on the way out.

Inside, the taping crews are working diligently. I think we only ended up with one crew in the house yesterday, but there were two in there today. They were walking about on their two-foot high stilts so the could eaily reach the ceilings. I must have stepped in the mud as I tracked the white stuff into my office as well as into the restaurant we ate at after our visit. Almost every hole is filled and almost every seam is filled. They won't fill every hole - those immediately along the floor and around the doors and windows will be left alone, and will be covered with the mouldings.

So today they got first coat on the downstairs and second coat on the upstairs. That leaves second and third coat for tomorrow, third coat and touch-up for Thursday, and final touch ups on Friday. After that, the painters can come in any time. If I were a girl, I'd be giggling right about now.

On we go

So we spent a goodly amount of time in the house this weekend - the bulk of it was spent with Pam, as she was seeing it for the first time. A lot is done, and this week will be a big week.

All of the drywall is up throughout the house. I only saw a few spots where I thought they had to do some things - in the passage from the house to the basement in particular, and in the garage. These are certainly far less critical, and I think the garage gets drywall but no mudding or taping, so there was time to burn there.

While we were at the house on Sunday, a couple of guys from the drywall contractor came over - they were dropping off supplies. They said they would have worked that day, but decided not to because one of them got back late from a job in New Hampshire. I guess if you're good, you're in some demand, even across state lines. He said that they would be working on the upstairs and that another crew would be working on the downstairs. If all went well, he said, they would both be done on Friday. That's mudding, taping, and two coats of joint compound over it all. I know that the work it a bitch, having done a bit of it before. I also know that experts make it look easy, but it is not.

The house is warm inside. While we were there, the furnace came on several times. The house is not airtight - the doorway to the basement is still wide open, for example, so it won't win any Energy Star awards yet. But once the tape starts going up and the guys outside finish putting rubber tape around the windows, it will slowly seal up better and better.

So on we go with the saga - this is a major milestone, and we were excited to hear it was going to start first thing Monday morning. I just hope both crews are there now!

Drywall -- almost done?

Today was teacher conference day, so I got to see the house near the end of the day, and before it got dark. The drywallers were working hard to get it done before the end of the day, and based on what I saw, they must have been close. This is all very important work, nothing else can be done unless they finish.

Less important work, but far more visible, is the work done on the siding. They are nearly done in the front. The western side is a huge expanse of flat, so doing that should be pretty easy - the electrical boxes and several other mounted boxes are near the bottom edge, so that will be a little complicated, but once they are above that, it should be quick. The back of the house will be a much harder row to hoe. Just feeling the siding, I can tell that it is much betteer quality than what we had at the old house. The corners are nice and solid. At the other house, they were good looking, but not solid. This is good stuff, good work.

We will be able to take a much better look this weekend. If anything else is ready to report, I'll be back!

Drywall continues

After work is officially a bust for house watching. Far too dark - right now, only the faintest light remains in the western sky when I get out of work. Karen has it a bit easier, as she is nearby the house when she picks up the kids from school.

I have been going at lunchtime, though, and though it is odd walking through with workers pounding about all over, it is not too bad - they get used to me and I let them get on with their work while trying to stay out of their way. When I went, the drywallers were still working on the second floor, but were nearly done. The carpenters were putting up the siding on the eastern side. Karen later called and said that the eastern side is nearly done, and that the drywallers were finishing up for the day. All good.

She spoke with Tom about the schedule. We are, apparently, about a week ahead of schedule. The siding will take up to a couple of weeks, but that's no big deal. It is almost icing on the cake. The drywallers will continue their work this week. They need to have the house above 65 or so degrees, so the furnace is actually set to run now, to keep all the Sheetrock at the right temperature. Once the drywall, taping, and mudding are all done, it will be time to move on to painters, then flooring.

We didn't bother going to the site after work. I have to buy a couple of big flashlights so we can go and see it in the dark. Even if we only use them a few times, they will be nice to have for later.

It is time for me to do a few things. First, I need to order our appliances. That will be a hefty chunk of change on the AmEx, but most of it will be reimbursed. Then I need to call the cable company and the phone company. They will likely come on site to see everything, but not hook anything up until later - but if I get them in on it now, they will be able to finish things faster later.