Wired for sound

We have ended week eight of building.  The roughed in plumbing and electric have passed inspection.  I finally found a paint store that could correctly mix paint to match the house color.  Then Ted dug out a little from around the base of the house and he and I painted the cinder blocks.  We finished yesterday between rain drops.  I am so glad to have it painted before the siding gets put on next week!

A few other little accomplishments this week….  Propane tank was dropped off for burying, the well was finished and connected to the house, and the electric company came and plotted out running the electric to the house….  Next week should be busy with the windows and exterior doors being installed, then the siding can be put on and the heat and air guys can start!

Living Room (office on the right side)

Dining Room and Foyer

Kitchen

Master Room closets and bathroom

Love that dirty water...

The end of this week (only 7 weeks since we broke ground) saw more electric and plumbing run inside the house.  I actually made decisions on switch, outlet and light locations and I think it is turning out well!  The county came and put in the culvert for the driveway.  And then today our well was dug.  The boys (and I) were fascinated by the water gushing out of the top of the well.  It was very dirty water pouring out from under ground and Zach looked at me at one point and said, "We have to drink that?!?"

And, both of the older boys got to drive the skid steer.

Centered to window? or Centered to room?....AGH...I don't know!!

Today, I was asked a hundred questions relating to light locations, switch locations, outlet locations, faucet types, cubby sizes, bathroom vanity types.....  I am pretty opinionated and definitely want a say in all of it, but the problem I am having is that I need more time to wrap my head around all the options and come up with something I can live with!!  It is fun, but today was a little overwhelming as I made rapid decisions, one after another, meanwhile praying that I don't make any major mistakes.

As you can see by the pictures, the electricians and plumber have arrived and have drilled holes in everything!!  

Linds, can you tell the off centeredness I was talking about??

The showers and bathtubs arrived this week....

The windows arrived and were suppose to be installed, but the window company sent the wrong size for the majority of the windows and now we have to wait until next week for the correct ones to be sent.

The chimney was framed in today!

And, the mason completed all but the top pavers for my beautiful front steps!!

Roof....check

See all my window openings?!?

It's too early in this project to refer to it as 'plodding along'....so I will refrain for now.  Instead I will share with you that the roofers have finished putting on the shingles, the window openings are all cut out and now ready for the actual window, my downstairs family closet is framed and the access spaces in the attic and garage have sub flooring.  All super exciting steps forward.

Cease Raining

Since the rain finally stopped this past
Monday we have been moving forward
again.  The past 2 days have added
shingles over the main part of the
house and a little over half of the garage.
I now have stairs to the attic, prep work
for the windows has been done (they
should be delivered this Friday), a front
porch roof has been completed and I have
the start of an electric box and meter in
the garage.  The daily visual differences
are starting to slow down....

Window wrapping

Big house....little Marcus

That's a wrap

This morning, there was a flurry of activity at the house!  In the span of three hours, the roofers had tar paper on all of the roofs, and the framers plus Rick and Ted had the house-wrap up.  It's amazing how much gets done with a mere 6 days of rain forecasted....I am guessing that we will be standing still for a little while.

Dormer windows

This week, with rain threatening for the first time since we started, the framers have finished the roof and my dormer!  (In case you were wondering the dormer window will be bigger than what is currently cut out.)

These are the bricks for the front steps.

Look at this great contractor we have!
He even sweeps out the garage at the end of the day!!

Raise the Roof!

I think these pictures speak for themselves!

Moving Piles

Literally, the men have moved piles this week.

This one in the front yard;

Now looks like this;

And, this pile of trusses that was 'dumped' off on Wednesday;

Was spread out yesterday to now look like this;

The big opening in the middle of this truss is the room above the garage!
The trusses are the roof, floor and walls of the attic and garage...again, the engineer's
daughter is fascinated by this stuff.

Okay.....  Besides moving piles, Ted did build me stairs to the second floor!  The joke since last week was that it would take him 3 more weeks to build them because he didn't want me accessing the second floor to make changes or find problems. (Of course, not having stairs didn't stop me, but don't tell Ted that!)  I came home yesterday evening and saw this;

Waiting...

These pictures are from Friday afternoon.  The framers began framing the screen porch and the front porch and they finished putting up the plywood on the outside of the second floor.

Nothing has changed since then.  This week should bring; the trusses for the roof, probably more grading around the foundation and possibly laying the brick for the front step.