Today, the painter put two coats of paint on the garage walls and ceiling, and removed the tarps/dropcloths from the floor and doors. The garage looks really good. Garage doors should be installed either tomorrow or Friday.

The drywall finisher is working his tail off. His goal is to be able to spray texture on the ceilings on Saturday morning, so he can be done by mid-week next week. He's doing a great job.

J got a deal on some Trex deck material, from the same company that cut us a pretty sweet deal on the Koma exterior trim. I guess one of the up-sides to building a house in a crappy economy is that the supply houses are looking to offload slow-moving premium materials.

I like the house and the layout more every time I walk through it. There's a lot of natural light that filters in during the day. It's pretty sweet.

The only real hangups with the whole project have been financing-related, and I encountered another one today. I deposited funds into the bank last Thursday morning, and paid the builder on Friday afternoon. The check I wrote to the builder cleared the bank yesterday, and my deposit still isn't cleared. So, for the first time in my life, I've passed a bad check. Nice. I found this out when I checked my e-mail tonight and found a NSF notice from the bank - I promptly called J and apologized profusely. The last thing I need to be doing at this point is pissing off the builder and/or damaging his reputation, since he's both a friend of the family, and is putting a lot of extra effort into a house that's much more modest than those he typically builds.

Oh, well. I'm pretty sure I can get this ironed out with a friendly phone call or two in the morning.

On we go......

Mud, Mud, and more Mud.

It's another big week around the site.

The drywall is all hung, and is being finished this week. When I showed up on Saturday morning, the drywall-finisher-guy was already there, taping all the joints so they could dry on Saturday and Sunday, and he could start topping on Monday. As of last night, it looked like he could probably start sanding tomorrow. Lots of drywall mud.

The garage was primed yesterday, I would imaging that, weather permitting, it could be painted today. The garage doors are scheduled to be hung this week as well.

Consumer's Energy was there yesterday. Apparently, the connection box near the road that our house's wiring was to be run to was originally installed too deep in the ground, and needed to be reinstalled, before our house could be tied in. While they were there, they also spliced in a new section of wire to replace the one I cut with the Bobcat (oops!) What an incredibly messy job - due to the constant rain we've been having, as well as our lot being almost all clay, it's very muddy.

The framing for the deck was done yesterday. Weather-permitting, they'll probably work on it today - I think the weather's supposed to clear a bit this afternoon.

Roughly 7 weeks until completion!

Doors!

The exterior doors arrived today, and are being installed.

I love the front door. Double sidelights and a transom let in a ton of light, and it looks really good from the outside.

The driveway (that was poured yesterday) looks good. The drywall hangers will be done on the main floor today, and it turns out that I know the guy that's finishing the drywall. Small world.

The drywall finisher is going to spray a texture on the garage walls, which will dry over the weekend, and get painted next week. Then, the garage will get painted, we can strip the paper from the floor, and hang the garage doors.

It's starting to take shape. We're about 7-8 weeks from move-in at this point.

Lots to do over the weekend. WooHoo!

Drywall and Mud

This is shaping up to be another big week around the house.

Yesterday, we had a whole buttload of rain in the area, so the site was pretty muddy. Since it's clay, you can just about imagine how much fun the contractors had getting in and out of the site.

As of today, the garage is drywalled and mudded, all of the ceilings on the main floor are drywalled, and two of the bedrooms have partially hung walls.

Today, J ran some 4" PVC that will tie in the downspouts to the footing drains, and formed and compacted where the driveway will go.

Katie and I need to make up our mind how the sidewalk is going to look, and also the size and shape of the back patio. The flatwork guys are coming on Thursday, so by the end of the week, we'll have a driveway, and possibly sidewalks and a patio.

Hopefully, our exterior doors also come this week, since we had a SNAFU with the front door. I'm a bit uncomfortable with the house being open now that we're drywalling.

We've already figured out that we probably should've made our master bathroom a touch larger, although we should be okay. The ceiling height should keep it from feeling too small.

In any case, the place should look quite a bit different by this weekend.

It's been a pretty action-packed week and a half around the site.

Last week, the rough electrical and rough plumbing was done, and the HVAC guys have been installing lots and lots of duct work. The garage floor and porch were poured, and turned out really good.

So far this week, I've insulated the garage (with some help from B. Fynewever!), run RG-6 (coaxial cable) and speaker wire in the walls (the electricians ran the CAT-5).

Tomorrow, we go through the house with J and L, just to make sure everything is roughed in where we want it. Also tomorrow, the drywallers start hanging drywall in the garage, and the carpenters will trim out the exterior of the window/doors. Thursday, the insulation guys come to insulate the main living area, and the painter comes to paint the exterior trim. Friday, the insulation guys should be finishing up, and we'll dig out the areas where I'm going to start building retaining walls. The only reason that retaining walls are sort of a priority at this point is because the air conditioner compressor is located in an area that will be held in place with one of the walls. Yippee.

I'm just glad I'm done insulating. What an itchy mess. :)

On we go!

Okay, I think it's abundantly clear that I suck at blogging, right? :)

Since the last update, there's been lots of activity.

As it stands right now, the house is framed in, the roof is shingled, and the windows are installed. The plumbing, electrical, and HVAC folks were there today doing their thing. By the end of the week, the rough plumbing, electrical, and HVAC should be pretty much done.

We're having a little issue with the front door (can't seem to find the door we wanted), but that's pretty minor. Hopefully, we can have that resolved by the end of the week and get the doors on, which lets us do the siding.

So far, due to a slight issue with the foundation, and the heavy rains a couple weeks ago, I think we're a week or two behind, but should still be moving in around Thanksgiving.

WooHoo!

It's been awhile since I've updated, huh?

It's been an eventful two months. Here's the bullet point version:

• I got fed up with the original mortgage banker and changed lenders.
• We scrapped the original floor plan.
• We got approved for a mortgage through the new bank...........
• .......which then upped their LTV ratios and qualifications for construction financing (the other area banks are following suit.)
• We came up with a new floor plan.
• Then tweaked it.
• Then found a way to get the house built without a construction loan.

As we stand right now, we're building a ~1,700 square foot, 3 bedroom/2 full-bath walkout ranch w/ three stall garage. There are preliminary plans for two more bedrooms, a full bath, and large family room in the basement.

We've approved the plans, and signed the contract. We'll apply for permits on Monday, and have preliminary plans to dig the hole first thing in the morning on Friday, 8/1 and pour footings the same afternoon.

Here we go!