- The basement floor has been poured (and the shop sink is totally in the wrong place. We have no clue how that ended up happening.
- Our half-round windows in the bathroom have been changed to rectangles! Much better.
- The electric line has been run.
Our brick facade has been put up and looks fabulous! (There will be a little more brick on some columns on the front porch, but those don't go in until the porch is poured. No, I don't know why the porch hasn't been poured yet.)- There's been some more progress on the plumbing front. Who knew it took over a month to install plumbing?
- Electric wiring seems to be complete or near-complete.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Still not much news
Since we last saw our heroes 12 days ago...
Thursday, April 10, 2008
No news is not good news
I suppose it isn't *bad* news, but I haven't posted here in 3 weeks primarily because there hasn't been much to say.
We have garage doors.
The garage floor has been poured.
Some of the plumbing has been installed.
The gas line has been run.
That's over a month's worth of progress right there. Some of the problems have been weather-related (need some dry days to pour the basement floor) but geez.
We have garage doors.
The garage floor has been poured.
Some of the plumbing has been installed.
The gas line has been run.
That's over a month's worth of progress right there. Some of the problems have been weather-related (need some dry days to pour the basement floor) but geez.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Heaters
As I was getting out of the shower a couple of days ago (freezing my wet butt off), it occurred to me that we had not heard anything about heaters in the bathrooms in the new house. Turns out that's because there weren't going to be any!
Now, I ask you - what homebuilder does not include bathroom heaters in the original build estimate? I mean, there were vent fans in the estimate. And lights. And walls. And all of the other things that anyone and everyone would put in their house. Yet, somehow, we have no heaters.
And, apparently, bathroom heaters aren't cheap. We're looking at almost $200 for the appliance itself, plus $140 for electrical work because the heater requires its own circuit. (!) Oh - and that is per bathroom. So that's another $680 or so just for heaters.
Still, I don't consider them optional. I have no intention of 30 more years of post-shower butt freeze, and I certainly have no intention of trying to bathe infants and toddlers in a room with no heater.
.................................
In other bathroom news, Dennis and I went over to the house this weekend to investigate alternate layouts of the master bath. Now that things are framed, it seems as though we're using the space very poorly. Indeed, we came up with a much better arrangement... except those stupid half-round windows are in the way! We could have moved the shower to the back corner, but then we would have had about 1/3 of a half-round window in the shower and no real way to enclose the shower.
Turns out I hate those half-round windows in the bathroom. They're so traditional. And nothing else in the house is really traditional in style. I don't know if I realized we were getting the half-rounds or not, but they are specified on the final version of the plans that we signed off on. Probably, I just agreed to it because Terry was pushing them and I was overwhelmed with having to make 1000 decisions about things I didn't know anything about in a very short period of time.
Sadly, there's nothing to be done about it now. The house is framed. The windows are purchased and installed. And I don't think I'm willing to deal with the additional cost and construction delay that would be involved in changing it at this point. Thing is, I know that every time I walk into that bathroom I'll think "I hate those windows." I wonder if therapy is actually cheaper than fixing them.
Now, I ask you - what homebuilder does not include bathroom heaters in the original build estimate? I mean, there were vent fans in the estimate. And lights. And walls. And all of the other things that anyone and everyone would put in their house. Yet, somehow, we have no heaters.
And, apparently, bathroom heaters aren't cheap. We're looking at almost $200 for the appliance itself, plus $140 for electrical work because the heater requires its own circuit. (!) Oh - and that is per bathroom. So that's another $680 or so just for heaters.
Still, I don't consider them optional. I have no intention of 30 more years of post-shower butt freeze, and I certainly have no intention of trying to bathe infants and toddlers in a room with no heater.
.................................
In other bathroom news, Dennis and I went over to the house this weekend to investigate alternate layouts of the master bath. Now that things are framed, it seems as though we're using the space very poorly. Indeed, we came up with a much better arrangement... except those stupid half-round windows are in the way! We could have moved the shower to the back corner, but then we would have had about 1/3 of a half-round window in the shower and no real way to enclose the shower.
Turns out I hate those half-round windows in the bathroom. They're so traditional. And nothing else in the house is really traditional in style. I don't know if I realized we were getting the half-rounds or not, but they are specified on the final version of the plans that we signed off on. Probably, I just agreed to it because Terry was pushing them and I was overwhelmed with having to make 1000 decisions about things I didn't know anything about in a very short period of time.
Sadly, there's nothing to be done about it now. The house is framed. The windows are purchased and installed. And I don't think I'm willing to deal with the additional cost and construction delay that would be involved in changing it at this point. Thing is, I know that every time I walk into that bathroom I'll think "I hate those windows." I wonder if therapy is actually cheaper than fixing them.
Friday, March 14, 2008
We have ... LOTS of stuff!
Thanks to a full week of gorgeous weather (temps in the 60s or so, with no rain or snow), a LOT of progress has been made on the house!
Our roof is finished! (shingles and everything)
Our doors and windows are installed! (and we mostly even like them)
Our fireplace is installed!
All of the residual framing inside seems to be finished! (kitchen island, soffits, half-walls in the master bath, and coffered ceilings)
In the next couple of weeks, utility work will begin, and the bricklayer is supposed to show up. WOO HOO!!!!!
(as always, click on the photos to see the larger version)
Our roof is finished! (shingles and everything)
Our doors and windows are installed! (and we mostly even like them)
Our fireplace is installed!
All of the residual framing inside seems to be finished! (kitchen island, soffits, half-walls in the master bath, and coffered ceilings)
In the next couple of weeks, utility work will begin, and the bricklayer is supposed to show up. WOO HOO!!!!!
(as always, click on the photos to see the larger version)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We have sewer permission
Before we purchased the empty lot, at Jane's request, we contacted all pertinent parties to make sure we could actually get a functional house built that we could afford. Among other things we obtained a bid from two general contractors, ensured that the bank would give us money, checked for flooding, and contacted all utilities - Caseyville sewer being one of those utilities. They looked at their map of the area and said that there was a sewer tap just in front of our driveway - they even spray painted a little green hash mark on the sidewalk branching off of the green line they spray painted down the middle of the street.
Everything checked out so we bought the lot and started the construction process.
Shortly before we actually broke ground I ran across Jim, the contractor building the split-level. He asked what we were doing for sewer access; I told him we had a tap almost directly in front of our driveway. He said we were lucky, he did not have a tap (the two lots used to be one large one), and could not get Truman’s permission to access the sewer line on his property. So Jim was going to have to dig down 20 feet or so to the sewer, remove half of the street doing so, and install a tap.
Then the sewer company ran a camera down the pipe and realized that – oops – their map was off by 50ft. They crossed out our green hash mark and put one in the correct spot. Placing the tap conveniently directly in front of Jim’s lot and placing Danielle and I up the creek without a paddle, or more accurately up the sewer without a tap.
We had met Truman when we brought little goodie baskets to our three neighbors. One of the many things he talked about was how Jim wanted to put a sewer line on his property, and he unwaveringly said no. And since I had now heard both Jim’s version of the story and Truman’s, I knew it was an unmistakable “no” and both parties knew it.
Before we left for India we knew the sewer would be an issue, and when we got back it had developed into two basic options – go to the street for $15K to 20K, or go on Truman’s property for much much less.
So on Sunday evening I went and asked Truman for permission to have our sewer cross his property. He literally said no before I had completed the request. He was even a little offended when I offered money. J But we talked about it for a while, and once he realized that our other option was to dig up half of the street (he thought the sewer was next to the street, not under it – we walked down to the corner of the street and looked at the manhole covers) he said that he wasn’t saying no but he wasn’t saying yes. I said I would talk to Terry and get more info, then call him and we could talk more. He basically had three concerns: 1) who pays for it if there is a problem (especially if one of us no longer lives there); 2) damage to the environment negatively affecting the wildlife; and 3) everyone will want to use his sewer line.
So I called Terry on Monday and verify that the three small orange painted trees is where our sewer line will link up with the main line. He said it was and that our line would go down a little valley behind our walkout.
That night Danielle tells me that she stopped past the house, and ran into Truman. He was a little upset that someone had spray painted his trees. She assured him that we were not proceeding without his permission.
Tuesday morning I call Truman to set up an appointment to walk around the woods where the sewer line will actually go. He stated that he was about to call the police about trespassers painting his trees. He had called the Bergmans (neighbors to the back) and Jim the contractor, and they didn’t know anything about it. So the next option was to report trespassers to the local law enforcement. I told him it was probably the sewer company marking the sewer when they marked everything else. He seemed ok with that, but was going to call the sewer company to verify. We agreed to meet at 5:30 to see the sewer site.
I immediately called Terry to find out if he painted the trees or had the sewer company do it. He said that he had done it about two weeks prior, after walking through with a rep from the sewer company, so we could find it again. Since it is an old sewer line they have to use line of sight from manhole cover to manhole cover to find it; newer lines have a wire embedded in them that they can trace with detector.
So I called Truman to solve the mystery of the spray painted trees. Once I could say with confidence who had done it, and that it was water based paint that would go away in a month or so, he was ok with it.
As soon as I got there we put on our pond shoes and walked down. (Along the way I saw another car battery.) Once we got to the spot we talked a little. I assured him that we would plant trees and things back (he said they didn’t have to be nice trees, just any tree will do), we would stay there for several years, and that we wouldn’t let others access it. Then he said yes.
We walked up the draw to our house a little and saw Terry. Terry immediately confessed and apologized for the tree painting. Truman told him that we could cross his property to the sewer (I was actually happy to have a witness). Terry gave him more construction details, take out as few trees as possible, and drag the brush onto my side of the line.
On the walk out I gathered a bunch of trash (I brought a trash bag for this reason), and we saw Truman’s gray cat walk by. It was waiting for us at his house when we got there.
Next step is the get something more legal done. But the plumber can start his thing now that we know which way to slope things.
DWC
Everything checked out so we bought the lot and started the construction process.
Shortly before we actually broke ground I ran across Jim, the contractor building the split-level. He asked what we were doing for sewer access; I told him we had a tap almost directly in front of our driveway. He said we were lucky, he did not have a tap (the two lots used to be one large one), and could not get Truman’s permission to access the sewer line on his property. So Jim was going to have to dig down 20 feet or so to the sewer, remove half of the street doing so, and install a tap.
Then the sewer company ran a camera down the pipe and realized that – oops – their map was off by 50ft. They crossed out our green hash mark and put one in the correct spot. Placing the tap conveniently directly in front of Jim’s lot and placing Danielle and I up the creek without a paddle, or more accurately up the sewer without a tap.
We had met Truman when we brought little goodie baskets to our three neighbors. One of the many things he talked about was how Jim wanted to put a sewer line on his property, and he unwaveringly said no. And since I had now heard both Jim’s version of the story and Truman’s, I knew it was an unmistakable “no” and both parties knew it.
Before we left for India we knew the sewer would be an issue, and when we got back it had developed into two basic options – go to the street for $15K to 20K, or go on Truman’s property for much much less.
So on Sunday evening I went and asked Truman for permission to have our sewer cross his property. He literally said no before I had completed the request. He was even a little offended when I offered money. J But we talked about it for a while, and once he realized that our other option was to dig up half of the street (he thought the sewer was next to the street, not under it – we walked down to the corner of the street and looked at the manhole covers) he said that he wasn’t saying no but he wasn’t saying yes. I said I would talk to Terry and get more info, then call him and we could talk more. He basically had three concerns: 1) who pays for it if there is a problem (especially if one of us no longer lives there); 2) damage to the environment negatively affecting the wildlife; and 3) everyone will want to use his sewer line.
So I called Terry on Monday and verify that the three small orange painted trees is where our sewer line will link up with the main line. He said it was and that our line would go down a little valley behind our walkout.
That night Danielle tells me that she stopped past the house, and ran into Truman. He was a little upset that someone had spray painted his trees. She assured him that we were not proceeding without his permission.
Tuesday morning I call Truman to set up an appointment to walk around the woods where the sewer line will actually go. He stated that he was about to call the police about trespassers painting his trees. He had called the Bergmans (neighbors to the back) and Jim the contractor, and they didn’t know anything about it. So the next option was to report trespassers to the local law enforcement. I told him it was probably the sewer company marking the sewer when they marked everything else. He seemed ok with that, but was going to call the sewer company to verify. We agreed to meet at 5:30 to see the sewer site.
I immediately called Terry to find out if he painted the trees or had the sewer company do it. He said that he had done it about two weeks prior, after walking through with a rep from the sewer company, so we could find it again. Since it is an old sewer line they have to use line of sight from manhole cover to manhole cover to find it; newer lines have a wire embedded in them that they can trace with detector.
So I called Truman to solve the mystery of the spray painted trees. Once I could say with confidence who had done it, and that it was water based paint that would go away in a month or so, he was ok with it.
As soon as I got there we put on our pond shoes and walked down. (Along the way I saw another car battery.) Once we got to the spot we talked a little. I assured him that we would plant trees and things back (he said they didn’t have to be nice trees, just any tree will do), we would stay there for several years, and that we wouldn’t let others access it. Then he said yes.
We walked up the draw to our house a little and saw Terry. Terry immediately confessed and apologized for the tree painting. Truman told him that we could cross his property to the sewer (I was actually happy to have a witness). Terry gave him more construction details, take out as few trees as possible, and drag the brush onto my side of the line.
On the walk out I gathered a bunch of trash (I brought a trash bag for this reason), and we saw Truman’s gray cat walk by. It was waiting for us at his house when we got there.
Next step is the get something more legal done. But the plumber can start his thing now that we know which way to slope things.
DWC
Sunday, March 9, 2008
We have a roof!
Sortof. :)
We have a plywood roof, and there's still a tiny strip at the very peak where there's nothing.
Apparently the weather was bad while we were gone (ice, snow, nice day, ice, snow, nice day but on the weekend, etc.), so progress was slow.
The first photo is from Thursday, February 28 (front view from driveway). Trusses are completely up, and they're starting on the roof (on the left side, over the garage).
The other 2 photos are from Thursday, March 6 - one week later. You can see the plywood roof in all of its partially-snow-covered glory.
The weather for the next few days looks good (no rain/snow, highs in the 50s and 60s), so hopefully there will be even more progress!
We have a plywood roof, and there's still a tiny strip at the very peak where there's nothing.Apparently the weather was bad while we were gone (ice, snow, nice day, ice, snow, nice day but on the weekend, etc.), so progress was slow.
The first photo is from Thursday, February 28 (front view from driveway). Trusses are completely up, and they're starting on the roof (on the left side, over the garage).
The other 2 photos are from Thursday, March 6 - one week later. You can see the plywood roof in all of its partially-snow-covered glory.
The weather for the next few days looks good (no rain/snow, highs in the 50s and 60s), so hopefully there will be even more progress!
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
We have trusses!
Woo-hooooo!!!
Despite a(nother) threatened weather delay, the builders were apparently able to get the big crane in and get the trusses up today!!
Ruby was kind enough to take some pictures as she was in the neighborhood. So, even though I can't label 'em, I think this one is still worth seeing. It's the view of the front of the house from the driveway.
Hopefully this means there will be lots of progress while we're gone. I certainly don't want to miss anything, but we need to get this bad boy built already!
Despite a(nother) threatened weather delay, the builders were apparently able to get the big crane in and get the trusses up today!!Ruby was kind enough to take some pictures as she was in the neighborhood. So, even though I can't label 'em, I think this one is still worth seeing. It's the view of the front of the house from the driveway.
Hopefully this means there will be lots of progress while we're gone. I certainly don't want to miss anything, but we need to get this bad boy built already!
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