Happy Holidays! And some house blah blah.

Christmas may have come and gone, but it's not too late to wish you a belated Happy Holidays. Here's a little gem that made our Christmas a little merrier, courtesy of the Sani-can company:

Just picture a homeless man living inside and you're all set.

I think I will be keeping that card forever.

Things are happening in rapid succession at the new homestead. I'm pretty sure that nobody believes me anymore when I promise to take pictures and post them, but I do promise and I will I WILL! Rough electrical and plumbing is done and has been inspected, and the siders started working on Monday, beginning with installing windows, which is so very exciting seeing as how Monday was also the day it started raining for what looks to be a very long time. I have no other explanation for why this December was one of the driest on record other than someone up there wanted me to have a dry house. Sorry to all you agricultural types.

Jeff and Steve worked all day Monday laying out felt which will serve as the underlayment for the concrete on the main floor. Jeff tells me that the tubing for the main floor is all in place now, waiting for the final pour, which must be happening soon. I'm a little nervous for that, the concrete guy doesn't have the best track record at this point. 

All the siding should be up by tomorrow at the latest and then from there all the focus will be on the inside. I (finally) got our finish plumbing fixtures that I ordered a while back. Hans Grohe, I think you might be dead but that's not going to stop me from loving you (but not like that- ew). I still can't commit to any light fixtures, this might have to be decided with a dart and a blindfold. There was also a rather tense day (for me anyway) last week where I decided suddenly that the bathrooms should have marmoleum rather than tile flooring. And so it goes.

I'm including a photo I took on the 24th of our boarded-up house (to deter the thievin'). I wasn't going to take any pictures that day but Jeff wanted to have a memento of when our house looked, as he called it, like a crack house. So here you go:

No actual crack for sale here. Move it along now.

Surprising why anyone would want actual windows when you could just nail up some plywood, don't you think?

So, as always, more pictures to come. It really is starting to look amazing, though, and I'm beginning to believe it might actually be done someday.

Happy Holidays!

Thievin'

It had to happen sooner or later.

There have been some random things go missing from the job site, namely ladders that had been left behind and a crappy old cordless trim saw sans battery that I meant to lock in the POD but never quite made it further than the door. But in the last week the thefts have been stepped up, sadly around the time that the electrical work started. I'd been kind of worried about our plumbing getting jacked but most of that has been in for a few weeks now and the plumber has had no trouble. Of course, I'd been expecting copper pipes but what we got was PEX (I hadn't seen the bid), which is fine- PEX obviously doesn't fetch the high dollar that copper does.

Sadly, romex still has some street value and so the trouble has begun. Even more sadly, the first electrical items to go missing were the electrician's own tools- a ladder and nice floodlight, along with a big roll of Romex. Our friendly electrician, Todd Harding, arrived on site early that morning (6:30ish) to find those things missing and a big pile of all the unsecured cans and pretty much anything else of value piled in the driveway. Meaning that someone was coming back for that.

Now last night apparently some enterprising meth head clipped a bunch of already-run wiring. I say apparently because I haven't actually been there yet, but I am in the process of filing a police report and Steve & Jeff are in the process of buying a bunch of plywood to secure the doorways & lower windows. We are getting close to windows and doors, but they are to be installed by the siders who won't start until next week, and we can't put a garage door in until they have the trim up around the garage, so we are still a ways away from security, and Steve says the wiring must go on.

This may be a new house, but we aren't new to the neighborhood, so these thefts shouldn't have been surprising, especially in light of the home-away-from-home sani-can incident. Still, this kind of stuff happens and you have to start wondering which of your new "neighbors" is having a meth-tastic christmas at your expense, and if this kind of thing is going to go on, and on, and on...

Sigh.

I haven't taken any pictures lately, mostly because it overall looks pretty much the same except for plumbing lines and electrical wire. I do need to get some photos, and soon. I'm sure I'll be sharing them on the blog... sometime. Don't know how jazzed any of you are at seeing the details of rough-in. I myself can't wait to see siding and therefore windows and doors soon enough.

Framing is Done!

Finally, something goes right. Framing took about a week and a half, which seemed like practically overnight after everything that had come before. We especially appreciated the framers working over thanksgiving weekend in order to get things done quickly. It's a house now for sure!

Of course, since I took these photos, the roofers have come and gone, meaning we have a roof, too. I don't have pictures of that yet. Soon. I mean, it's a roof. Use your imagination.

I took the following pictures on an amazingly sunny morning last Thursday (?). The dry weather has been amazing, although I know it won't last. Two more weeks (or two months :)) and we'll have windows!

I think these pictures are in backwards order, sorry... Looks like we're starting upstairs:

Future master bath. Which is almost exactly the same as the main bath, plus a window.

Looking out from the master BR. Yes, that is a little balcony off the back. Yippie!

Bedroom #3. As seen from BR #2.

Laundry Room. I'm not sure if I'm more excited by an actual laundry room or by the window in the laundry room. Pretty sure it won't make folding clothes any more fun though.

I think this is the main bath upstairs.

Master closet. The original plans actually called for a bigger closet. Kind of like an extra bedroom.

Master BR windows. I did say random order, no?

Now we're on the main floor:

By the front door, living room looking into dining.

Where our entry level but still expensive gas fireplace will live.

Front door & stairs to 2nd floor. Sorry, no entry now- no one can get past a 2x4.

Future kitchen.

Mudroom at back of kitchen. It's pretty big but there is a wall just to the right of the frame.

 Back to the basement:

Egress windows along west side.

Main room in basement, looking east. Puddles drying up nicely.

Garage entry.

Car hole.

I'm pretty sure that special tree fence is never coming back.

In all it's glory.

From the back. You can kind of get a sense from this picture how much taller our house is than the neighbor's...

Tuesday (tomorrow) the plumber will begin the rough in, and heating is supposed to continue soon as well. The electricians are very busy fellows so won't start until late next week. From now on there will be a lot of things happening at once and the juggling has already begun. Fortunately Steve is on it like the pro he is. Our credit card has already had a major workout from buying finishes and we are just getting started. When this is all done we'll be able to fly somewhere nice with all those miles we're earning; too bad we won't have any money to spend once we get there :).

Here's hoping for lots of progress to show in the next few weeks...