Category: Home Life

The concrete has been poured for the sidewalk, driveway and landing pads for the two sets of stairs. The concrete guys did a great job – I’m really impressed. We immediately carved our initials into a discrete corner of the nearly set-up concrete. 🙂 The trim work and doors are installed! These turned our BETTER…

We took a few days off of updates and lots has happened! The gravel for the sidewalk was delivered and spread out. The excavator was back to level and grade the driveway, side yard and back yard. The back yard is more difficult than we anticipated. There is a huge tree back there that we…

The water meter is FINALLY in and connected to the house. That only took a millennium! That’s the city for ya’! The flooring downstairs is complete! It looks amazing. The tile shower in the master bath is looking great, too!

The water meter still isn’t in, but the city has cut some holes in the asphalt where they are going to excavate and locate a main to tap into, as well as where our meter will go. Today was the first day we braved putting our truck in the driveway – just to see how…

Some significant progress, as usual. The flooring downstairs started to go in. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with our selection of this floor. It’s an engineered floor, meaning it’s built up like plywood and has real stain. The grain patterns are pretty neat and the bevel edges between ‘planks’. The tile guys…

In 8 days, lots has happened! The cabinets in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room are in. These really turned out well and make a nice contrast, particularly in the kitchen. The paint is up (most of it – there’s a bit of touchup to do, but that’s to be expected!). It looks really good.…

The mudding, taping and texturing is done! Wow. It’s pretty amazing what a coat of plaster over everything does to create some solid planes and bring it all together. The Painters have been in to mark off their work.. which starts next week!

The corners and remaining sheetrock is up now. They’ve also installed a temporary floor covering to protect the underlayment from when they start to mud, tape, sand and texture.

You can really start to feel what a house is going to be like when the sheetrock goes up. It’s truly an amazing thing. Here it is! Most of the sheetrock is up. It’s amazing how fast it went, too.

Insulation started going in! It’s thick stuff – R21! This house is going to be so well insulated, we’ll find it difficult to justify running the heat that often. 🙂 Also of note, firestopping was applied in all penetrations between floors. It’s interesting how the walls that face outside have fiberglass insulation and the ceiling…

This could be my favorite day so far. The AV system details were framed in. The projection screen recess has been framed and is ready for rock! Also, the “cowl” that goes around the projector is in, too. I’m so excited!! The entrance to the crawlspace was moved to where I wanted it – in…

The trellis over the garage is complete, and boy does it look nice! Not bad, considering all I gave them was a series of photos to work from. 🙂 The electrical pole showed up, too. I suspect they will be connecting to service soon. That has to happen before they can do the drywall, as…

We asked, and it was received. The central vac system was pre-plumbed in today. Not much else to see at this time.

We have completed siding!! Yay! It’s amazing how much a house takes it’s character on when the siding is up. It’s the final skin that the house will be in (save some paint!). Also topped out was the electrical and data cabling. Wow. It is looking good. I still marvel in the fact that there…

The siding started going up today! Wow, it’s looking good. Everything is straight and joints are well done. Very little caulking will be necessary to conceal gaps. I’m impressed so far. Interestingly enough, apparently the tar paper has a 30 minute fire rating. Who knew? The ledger for the porch was installed and looks very…

The rain finally came. The house is now closed up – all the doors and windows are on and the place is locked down. This is good. Now the construction team can start on things like electrical and final trim without worrying about thiefs coming in the night and stealing anything of value. The gas…

More excitement today! We took a few days off of updating. I met with most of the sub-contractors yesterday and went over details on HVAC and Electrical mostly. It was fast paced and intense. Should be getting $’s back from the contractor in the next few days on how much OVER budget everything I want…

A slab appears! The garage has the first finished floor in the entire house. More plumbing was done upstairs in the master bath as well.

The plumber was here! The majority of the rough-in plumbing was done today. Quite impressive, really. They are using a type of PVC water piping that has become very popular over the last few years called Wirsbo. It’s really neat stuff – durable, quick to install and flexible enough to require few angles and unions.

Most of the bracing for the shearwalls was removed today. The garage has some framing. It looks like they’re almost ready to pour the slab! There is a banister that they framed up erroneously. Geoff assures me it will be gone in the next few days. We’re having a banister installed there instead.

Wow! We took a few days off and TA DA! Here’s what’s happened since last we updated: Windows started going in! In fact, they put 3 or 4 in during the 20 minutes I was there. Whoa! The fireplace has been rough framed in. At this point, we haven’t really decided how this is going…

The contractor was out today to draw where various cabinets are to go on the floor and walls. The exterior is looking nice, too.

The trusses are in. Check out the vault in the master bedroom! The remaining framing on the upstairs is done now. There are a few adjustments to be made to the upstairs framing. Notably, the master closet will grow a little thanks to the 90% efficient furnace that’s being installed. It doesn’t require a flue…

We took a few days off while I was out of town from taking pictures. Here’s what’s changed in a week. WE HAVE A SECOND STORY!!! The downstairs walls are sheeted on the exterior in their entirety, though the framer still has a few window holes (known as ‘Fenestrations’ in the ‘biz) to cut (structure…

The sheeting and walls started taking shape. The main purpose of the sheeting that’s down now is for structural stability of the first floor. The walls are assembled down on the ground and then tilted into place. This is a heck of a lot quicker and easier than trying to build them in place. This…