Forty Days and Forty Nights

Lots of rain again the last week. Thursday there was severe storms. Torrential flooding. High winds. Lightning and thunder. The Red Sox/White Sox game that Kerry and I were supposed to attend was postponed. We were very concerned and hoped that the weather didn't damage and delay construction. We'd really like to stay on-target for an October close.

We got out to the site Saturday morning and were happy to see that the floods didn't damage the existing construction. The exterior walls that had been built previously were still up. In fact, additional side peaks had been added and were still standing tall. The interior walls that I had seen in progress were pretty much complete and still standing. The trusses were delievered and on site ready for installation this upcoming week.

We walked around the house and saw that there was a lot of standing water both on the first floor and upstairs. Not surprisingly, we also found that we had a new pool -- in the basement. Of course, that will have to be pumped out and any water damage to the concrete repaired. The wood subflooring will also have to be thoroughly dried out. Once the trusses and roof goes on, this shouldn't happen again. Knock on wood.

Workers in Action

I had an arbitration hearing scheduled in the suburbs so I took the opportunity this morning to run out to the building site to see what's happened since Saturday. We've had lots of rain lately but with plenty of breaks of workable weather, I thought I might see some progress.

And progress was seen. The second floor exterior walls are all in place. While I was there, I watched the carpenters working on the interior walls. First time I'd been out to the site when there were actual workers there. Not that I thought the hole dug itself or the walls were raised by passing Amish farmers. I didn't go bother them. The ground was too muddy and I didn't want to step in anything icky before my hearing.

Didn't see any trusses for the roof on site yet but the weather today has remained dry if warm. So, maybe if the trusses get delivered soon, we'll see a roof in place in the very near future.

Decisions, Decisions

While up in Milwaukee we again visited my mom's furniture store. We decided to get the appliances locally but we'd still like to get the dining room and dinette sets from her (discount notwithstanding). We've settled on a dinette set that combines wood and glass that will work well with the tile, cabinetry and countertops of the kitchen and dinette area. It is shown in the third photograph below with Kerry and my mom seated therein.

We're still debating the dining room set. Kerry likes the more casual set shown in the first picture below. It has a matching hutch with silver hardware. I lean towards a more formal set showin in picutre number two below. It has "X" back chairs, padded captain chair backs and, I think, a richer looking wood. Kerry doesn't care for the parque pattern of the table. So we'll see. Either is workable although I don't think the casual set can be leafed bigger.

Second Floor: Housewares, Ladies' Lingerie,...

And I was right. I'm always right. We have a more house-shaped house now. The first floor is completely roughed in and there is one wall up on the second floor. The second floor does have a floor, though.

According to the warning sign on the front of the house, only carpenters are supposed to go inside but hey, it's our house. So we went in and saw, for the first time, our downstairs rooms. We also could go upstairs and walk around but nothing is framed out.

Things are moving along quite swimmingly. The drywall has been loaded into the downstairs ready for installation. The trusses for the roof haven't been delivered yet so I wouldn't expect the drywall would be installed until then. I would expect the second floor to be done by next weekend.

Of course, the workers have left Gatorade® bottles all over the place. This doesn't sit well with Kerry, of course. I'll have a problem if the junk is still there when the finish carpentry is done or if I find a box of poop in the basement.

Can't wait to see how far they are along next weekend. We'll probably be talking about scheduling the closing soon.

Let There Be (New) Lights

The house isn't even built yet and Kerry is already thinking about remodeling. Actually, we've both thought about changing the bathroom lights. She mentioned that she doesn't think the standard "Hollywood" bulb lights are very appealing. I dutifully responded, "Yes, Dear." In reality, I have to agree. Unfortunately, that's what we have going into the master bath and second upstairs bath. There's an eight bulb in the master and a 4 or 5 bulb in the second. The powder room downstairs has twin fluted lights which wouldn't be bad but it's polished chrome where as all of our other light fixtures are brushed nickel. Obviously, we'd like to keep everything uniform if we can possibly help it.

So, I called our design consultant and asked her for the model style of our brushed nickel fixtures so I can look up matching bathroom lights. I found a couple of possibilities. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure how big of a lighting unit I would need in the master bath to match the 8 bulbs of the standard. I do think the designer models are much nicer though so we'll see.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Yucky, yucky rain all night and this morning. Hopefully, it will stop and give the carpenter's time to finish the rough carpentry this week.

Mr. Gorbachev, Build Up This Wall

Our latest visit today revealed that the rough carpentry has, indeed, begun. We have the first floor underboarding in as well as the back wall braced up. There is lots more lumber on site for the tradesmen to continue putting up the rest of the walls in the next week or thereabouts (weather permitting) so I would expect that we'll be seeing a very house-shaped object standing there when we return next week.

We went to Lowe's and bought two ceiling fans and a porch bench. We hope to have the electricians install them along the way so we don't have to hire contractors come out after the fact. We plan to do the same with upgraded bathroom lights we want to get as well as a pot rack ceiling light in the kitchen.

We're probably going to buy our refrigerator, washing maching and dryer at Lowe's. They have the models we like and will deliver for free. If we can also get a 10% discount for opening a Lowe's credit account, we'll do that. And we'll probably get 12 months no interest. Can't beat that. Besides, we can only abuse my mom's store discount so much. Discount dining room and dinette sets will be more than enough, I think.

Solid Progress

The concrete's been poured in the basement, crawl-space and garage. I thought there was supposed to be second crawl-space under the front of the house but so far nothing's been poured there. The front porch hasn't been poured yet but from looking at the rest of the neighborhood that appears to get done later on.

Looks like the sewer and sump lines have been laid. Also the electric meter box has been installed. Cable, electric and gas lines have also been marked off.

Come on, rough carpentry!