Framing is done, can someone please start on the 4 way?

The framing is done, only a couple of days later than they said it would be and all the contractors that come next are too busy to start. HVAC guy can come on Thursday, plumbers are out at least a week and I haven't heard when the electrician can start. So I guess the project just gets to sit for a week with nothing happening. It is very sad.

Hallway that connects garage to kitchen

Inside Garage

Exterior

Garage Framing and Back Patio

They are framing up the garage really fast! I think they will be done tomorrow, only a week behind schedule, not too bad. And tomorrow they are pouring the back patio. This back yard is going to rock if it ever gets finished.

Demolition Redux

I know you want pictures of the finished inside, but you get more demo pictures instead. It is funny how long it takes to build something and how quickly it comes down.

More interior finishes

The end is finally in sight.  Maybe 4 more weeks?  Probably 6 but I am hoping.  We found a couple of light fixtures that I really like, can't wait to see them installed.  The wood floor got a coat of finish so we can see what they are going to look like.  The tile is all done and the painters are starting.  The exterior decks in back are on hold because 2 of the footings settled.  At least it happened now when the outside is still ugly instead of when it was already done right?  Hopefully we will get it fixed this week and be back on track.

The finish carpenter did an awesome job on the bender rail and the fireplace.  I also love the headers above the doors and windows, but I forgot to take a picture.

Dining Light

Ktichen Pendant

Entry Hall Light

Master Bath Floor

Chloe's Shower

Fireplace

Wood Floor

Interior finishes are starting, brand new beautiful metal roof is leaking.

Our wood floors were installed last week and the tile people started this week.  The finish carpenter started Friday and will hopefully be working this week.  Because of the weather last week, we were lucky to find a roof leak.  Hopefully they can pinpoint it and fix it before we are ready for paint.  I think the spray foam is saving a lot of sheetrock, the only place the water is coming in is above the master bedroom doors.  I think the water is working its way down to the 1st available place without foam, which happens to be the header above the door.  Even though it is frusterating to have a leak in our brand new house, I guess I need to look on the bright side.  It could be worse. 

Leak

Upstairs Shower

Upstairs Bath

Wood Floor

Basement Bath

Starting Sheetrock

The exterior is mostly finished.  The sheetrock is started on the inside.  So now it comes the fun part, we get to pick finishes.  Of course we are right on the edge of our budget and finishes can add up, so we can't go too crazy.  I think we have to give up on flat panel doors, the molded raised panel ones are fine, right?  I like simpler finishes, square not too ornate.  Seems to me like that is easier, but apparently it isn't.  Flat panel doors are about 3 times as much as raised panel and we have 28 doors in the house, so it adds up.  I think this is only the 2nd thing that we have compromised from what our ideal is, but I am afraid it is only the begining.  Can I change my mind now about that extra insulation?  Just kidding.  

We have started looking at tile.  I think we want white hex tiles for the bathroom floors and subway tiles on the shower, with maybe a row of glass mosaic tile for a border.  Sound like it should be less expensive than stone doesn't it?  It doesn't seem to be, but I am still shopping.

The final meeting with my cabinet maker is Monday.  Did you know you have to have your appliance specs for the cabinet meeting?  I guess it makes sense, but it was funny to me that all double ovens are different sizes.  So we have to finalize our appliances choices now.  I was hoping that I would run across a killer deal last minute.  I might have to give up on that plan.

Future Home Theater

Front

Back

From the street

More Exterior Finishes

The work on the roof continues, snow and working on a metal roof don't mix very well but they say they will be done next Wednesday.  The siding guys have started on the shingles.  They work for about 2 hours a day so they aren't going up very quickly, but I think they are pretty.

Inside insulation has begun, no pictures of the inside today, maybe next week.  I hope to be ready to start sheet rock when the roofers are done.  We will see.

And it looks like someone has been camping out in my back yard.  I found a firepit made from the scraps of our rock.  It must have been last night because it wasn't covered in snow.  A little bit scary don't you think?

Exterior Finishes

The rock is finished, the siding is starting to go on (no that isn't the color it is going to be) and the roofers started on the roof.  Sorry no pics of the roof yet, maybe next week.  As soon as the roof is finished we will start on the insulation and sheetrock, we were clear to insulate a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to wait for the roof.

"You're knocking THIS house down?"

Just about every contractor that comes in to my current home asks me "You are knocking this down?" in a way that I think that they think I am crazy.  Like what they really want to say is "you have a really nice house now, why do you need a new one you crazy person that obviously must have too much money and doesn't know how to spend it correctly?"  So I decided that I needed to give you a top 10 things that I am looking forward to in my new house.

1.  Heat.  My current home was built in 1940 with an addition somewhere in the 1980s.  The original part of the house has no insulation on the outer walls.  They are brick with plaster and lath as a inside finish on top of the brick.  The addition probably has insulation in the walls, but with the vaulted ceilings and the way that they added on the vents, the temperature is always 10 degrees different than the other part of the house.  In the winter it is colder than the old part of the house and in the summer it is hotter.  When it gets really cold the furnace can't quite keep up.  The temperature in the old part of the house where the thermostat is located is currently 62 degrees.  It will get as high as 68 degrees when the sun is up, but that is as high as it will get.  I know that other people leave their heat at 68-69 all winter and think that is a perfectly adequate temperature, but I am cold!

2.  And speaking of cold, my kitchen floor is freezing.  I don't know why.  It is tile, which I know is colder than other flooring, but this is the coldest tile floor I have ever had.  The new house will have wood floors in the kitchen and I have very high hopes that I will never have to step on a cold kitchen floor again.

3.  Lights that work the way they are supposed to.  The light in my kitchen has a short.  Sometimes when you turn it on, it turns back off, so you have to go turn it on again.  The light in my bedroom won't turn on unless the switch on the other side of the room is off.  The switch on the other side of the room doesn't turn anything on, it just won't let the other switch turn on the light.  The light to the guest bathroom is right outside the bathroom.  Guests have a hard time finding it.  And the little annoying old house things like having to go all the way across the room to turn on the light for that room.  I know these are all minor annoyances, but it will be nice not to deal with them in the new house.

4.  Hot water.  It takes about 5 minutes to get hot water to any faucet in the house.  Theoretically 1 of them should be close enough to the water heater to be a little faster, but no.  5 minutes minimum at any faucet.

5.  Soft water.  There just isn't a good way to implement it in the old house.  

6.  An oven that stays on.  My current oven preheats and then turns off.  About 5-10 mintues after it turns off you can turn it back on again.  Sometimes when it is back on again it will stay that way and sometimes it will turn off again.  It makes Thanksgiving more fun, guessing whether or not the turkey will be done and I have to tell you they say to bake cookies at 350 for  a reason.  They aren't quite the same when the oven temperature starts dropping.

7.  I had some clients that were looking for a house and all they wanted was a 2 bum kitchen. They wanted a kitchen that they could both be in at the same time without running into each other all the time.  My current kitchen is definatly a one bum kitchen.  The new one is at least 4, maybe 5.

8.  An enclosed back yard for the dog and the kids.  Our garage was behind our current house and we had a guest house behind that.  By moving it to the front, we are gaining a back yard that I can let the girls go out in without worrying about them being out of sight or being run over by someone coming up the driveway.

9.  Windows that open.  Some of the windows in the old house are original.  They don't open.  Some of them are relatively new casements with cranks that are broken.  They don't open.  I like fresh air every once in a while, so I am looking forward to windows that work the way they are supposed to.

10.  And finally, my home office is going to have a door.  I don't think there is any need to explain this one.

We did look into just remodeling the old house to get a little more room and fix the problems, but it was going to cost as much as building new and would still have some of the old house "charm".  Another plus of moving back a little in the lot is that the trees in the front of the house will have more room to grow.

But all of this is just a little too much to explain to every contractor that walks in so I just smile and say "Yes we are."

Chimney or no Chimney??

Our chimney was going to be purely decorative. The framers have yet to frame it up. It will go over the top of the silver thing sticking up (that is the fireplace vent). Pros of the chimney are that it is pretty. Cons are that more corners on a roof mean more potential for leaks. What do you think?