Do Not Open 'Til Christmas

 

When I arrived at the house a week or so ago, the exterior doors had been installed. These doors lead out to the back porch, but because the decking for porch was not installed, I hadn't seen what was written on this wooden brace. In case you can't read it, it says "DO NOT OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS."  I hope this statement is just a cruel joke.  I hope we are opening these doors by Thanksgiving... and not just to try them out, but to be moving furniture and boxes in.  The apartment walls are definitely closing in on us.

 

 

The brick is going up nicely and we are definitely happy with our choice. After such worry, we are relieved that it looks as good as it does. It actually looks a lot different in person than it does in these pictures.

 

 

 

Lots of new bricks have been delivered this week.  Turns out we just had received half of the shipment previously.  I think the house has about 30,000 bricks.

 

Of course, no trip to the house would be complete without John Thomas climbing on some of the equipment. We've gotten to where we just have to pick a spot in the middle of a open room and have him sit in it while we are looking over the house.

Here is Caroline and Craig and Maribeth's daughter, Emmerson. She just turned two and my kids love it when she is at the house. I think she likes having "big" kids to play with too.

Both of my kids think that Emmerson is a doll and like to pick her up and carry her like one.

Later in the week, you can see that a large section of the brick has been finished.

Here's Brian talking to the fireplace installer.

The stairs now have actual structural support. This will be our coat closet and storage for Christmas Decorations.

 

 

Here is the fireplace installed in the living romo.  They just don't make fireplaces like they used to.  We won't be able to use this one for much warmth, it's pretty small.  But at least it is wood burning and not just gas logs. 

 

 

And We're Buying a Stairway to........Our 2nd Floor

So finally on Friday, the children's frequently occurring question was answered - "When are the real stairs going to be put in?" They really wanted to try them out, but since it looks like they are being held up by a couple of two by fours, we did not venture up them. 

 

The vinyl eaves and trim were started this week too. I couldn't imagine doing this work. In addition to having to constantly be reaching above your head with trim and whatever tools are needed to install it, you would constantly be having to go up and down ladders.  The picture below is not too bad, essentially just up one or one and a half stories. But the next picture is completely crazy. Just scroll on down.

The ladders below are reaching up to what is essentially three stories above ground. And the ladders are not bolted into the house. They just lean on it. Then someone carries trim and tools on their shoulder up three stories, holding on with only one hand and holding the trim with the other.

Below everyone is discussing a design that is going to be cut into the hardy board and added into the very tip top peak of the house.  Somehow, they got this cement triangle up three stories. I'm glad I was not there to see how this actually happened.

 

 

 

 

So when I drove up to the house, they were working on the design for the cut outs for the peak. I had to take a picture of them using their very scientific drafting tools marking the design. (Of course, I'm kidding-  as you can see, they were using a 44 ounce "Big Gulp" Styrofoam cup to make the circles!)

  

 

And above is the finished design already installed. I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to be. I think it is supposed to replicate bird houses that were built in older homes, but I need to find out from Maribeth.



"It's a Brick....House!" (sung to the tune of "She's a brick house")

This week, I couldn't help but sing, "It's a brick....house" because after all the worry and debating about our brick decision, the choice has been made and bricks are going up. In fact, by Friday afternoon almost the whole right side of the house was finished.

 

The brick masons got started on Wednesday and went up about 1/3 of the wall. At that point, I was concerned about my brick choice. By Thursday afternoon, 2/3s of the wall was up and I felt somewhat better. On Friday afternoon, almost the whole wall was finished and I felt a lot of relief.

 

It's hard for the lay person to visualize what the finished product is going to look like.  I usually pride myself on being able to visualize things that are not yet tangible.  But, I think my brick fear has somehow decreased my ability to combine elements into a whole picture in my head.

 

I've never been around a a construction project that involved brick. So I really didn't know how it worked. Did you know the brick masons can only go so high everyday so that the mortar has time to set up before putting on the next layer? If you didn't wait for the mortar to dry and harden, the weight of the brick on top would end up squishing out the mortar on the bottom rows of brick. Makes total sense, but was just something I had never thought about. 

 

 

 

Below is a good shot of the "walking soldier" bricks just under the eaves that will stand guard on the house. It really makes a beautiful detail that you might not necessarily notice unless you were looking for it. We're really lucky that Maribeth keeps adding interesting details to the house that don't add lots of expense.



 



The brick looks kind of pink in this picture, but they really have an orangey-red color when they are dry, or the sun is shining on them.

Here's the head brick mason, Michael. According to Maribeth, he is the absolute best mason in the area. He's also funny.

Here is Michael and his assistant.  The assistant posed for me and I told him I was putting him on my blog and would make him famous. So, if you see him out and about in town, ask for his autograph.

Plumbers and Electricians and Masons, oh my!

 

Plumbers and electricians and masons, oh my! And carpenters, too...

 

Despite a couple of rainy days, it has been a busy week at the house. In fact, when I visited the house yesterday afternoon, it was full of people and lots of construction sounds. It really made it feel like things were zipping along quickly.

 

On Monday afternoon, I visited the house by myself and a downpour came just as I got inside. I usually have the kids or Brian with me, so this was the first time that I've been alone there after it has really felt like a house. The rain forced me to spend some quality time looking around at everything. I actually had a lot of fun imagining where I would place furniture and hang pictures.  It was peaceful and made me look forward to finally getting to move in even more.

 

This week, the plumbers have continued their work and seem to be at a stopping point until more of the plumbing fixtures arrive. The electricians have now taken over and have run what seems like miles and miles of wiring through the walls. Of course, I was able to identify some areas that needed additional electrical outlets. Like shoes or purses, (or in my case, sets of china) a girl can never have enough electrical outlets. And there must not be enough women electricians or architects in the world because I definitely found a couple of outlets that needed to be moved/added on the right hand side of the bathrooms. I'm right handed and like to be able to plug in my hair dryer on the right side of the vanity so that the cord is not stretched across the sink. The cords are never long enough to stretch from the left hand side all the way up to my right hand holding a dryer way above my head.

 

I also had to pick where I wanted the cable jacks to be installed. To most people, this may not seem that important. But, perhaps unfortunately, we are a family of TV watchers. And not only do I want to be comfortable when I am watching TV, I want to be able to watch it in just about every room in the house. It has been long time dream of mine to have a TV above my bathtub. When the kids are driving me crazy, I want to be able to escape to my jetted tub and watch something relaxing on TV and just have Calgon "take me away!"  Brian's TV dream is to have an outdoor TV in the screened-in porch, perfect for watching a ballgame, cooking out and sitting by the fireplace.  We're both getting our dream TV watching experience and therefore, we may never leave the house. If you're looking for us, you'll know where to search first now. If we put TVs in all the areas where we want to have cable jacks, we'll have 10 TVs at the house. That ends up being 2.5 TVs per person in this family. I know, it's excessive. But like I said, we love TV and yes, 3 of the 4 of us can/do read. Maybe not as much as we should, but we do.  At least we won't have to fight about what show we are watching.

 

When I was at the house yesterday and there were so many people, it made me really think about how many people will have worked on this house by the time it is finished.  From the tradesmen to the salesmen, I'm guessing there will have been more than 100 people who have had a hand in building my house. I feel a kind of bond with them now, although I only know a few of their names. I even miss the framers. I really do. I was so used to seeing them almost daily for the last month, it seems strange to not see them now.  I need to ask Maribeth what her guess is on numbers is. I think it would be interesting to know.

 



 

Our bargain door was installed this week.

The doors to the back porch and screened-in porch have also been installed.

Here is the current view of my back yard from an upstairs window.

Today, this trimwork was added to the back of the house.

Here's a good view of the outdoor fireplace on the screened porch.

Here is the brick for the house.  I loved it on a small sample.  I hope I still love it after it is on a big wall.  It got wet this week in the rain. So it and the mortar should both lighten up as it dries out.

Here's one of the electrical workers installing a recessed light in the living room.

Our First Family Photo at the New House

 

This week there were actually four significant additions made to the house. The largest and most exciting was the addition of the screened-porch wall and floor framing and the roof structure. It really balances out the back of the house and I am so happy that we decided to go ahead and get it built. I'm sure the framers were not as happy as I am. They have been here for more than a month and are ready to take on the next house.

 

Second, the shingles were started. Choosing a shingle color has been one big decision that I have worried about. The roof is so big and it will be so much of one color, I really wanted to make sure we had the right one. Luckily, Maribeth only gave me two choices. And after driving around looking at roofs with those two choices on them, it ended up being a pretty easy decision. I even like the name of the shingle color- Oxford Grey. It always makes me feel better about a color choice when I like the name of the color. I'm really hoping the red we are planning to paint the dining room is not crimson something or other. 

 

Third, the chimney for the fireplace in the living room was added. I really hadn't noticed that it was missing, but as I was visiting the lot one afternoon one of the framers asked if I had seen that they had added it that day. I had not. Maybe he's been reading my blog and saw my last post that mentioned there hadn't been anything too inspiring going on at the house recently to write about.  I kind of doubt it, but you never know. I think they've finally gotten used to me taking pictures of them while they are working.

Fourth, the plumbing has been started! Which, other than being an important part of a modern house, means that it won't be long before sheet rock can go up. We also had to make the decision this week about what kind of water heater we wanted. It's really hard making decisions when you are on a tight budget. Yes, it would be wonderful to get the latest and greatest of everything. But if you are having to make choices based on how much the whole thing is going to cost, it makes those individual choices hard. It's easy to say, "If I were building, I would get item A, because it is the top of the line."  But, you can't usually get the top of the line on everything or your house would end up costing twice as much as you had planned. We've had to make tough choices in order to stay in budget, and it really helps to have a builder that makes sure you are staying on track. Anyway, back to the water heater dilemma. Do you go tankless, traditional gas, traditional electric, ...? Spend now, save later ..?  We finally decided that we would spend a little extra now and go tankless. Let's hope it can keep up with this family of four.

Saturday afternoon, the whole extended family went to visit the house. Jo had been somewhat recently, although a lot has changed in the last three weeks. Marie gets to go pretty often since she lives just five minutes away. But Granddaddy had not even seen where the lot was. So, below is everyone checking out the new porch.

 

Caroline and Granddaddy climbing a ladder in the kitchen. (She dressed herself by the way.) 

 

 

 

Here's a view out one of the windows upstairs at the new roof.



 

Earlier in the week, John Thomas and Caroline standing in the fireplace.

Plumbing has been started and here is where our washing machine and dryer will go.

 

It's a Wrap!

 

It's been about two weeks since I've been able to do a real post to the blog. Lots has happened in the last two weeks, some good, some bad. But I just haven't had the energy, time or desire to write or post pictures.  Maybe more on that later. Plus, most of the changes at the house have been not as visibly interesting. I know it's all important to the functioning of the house, but building roof lines hasn't been as inspiring to me as some of the other stages!

 

This week, the house got wrapped! The roof line of the main part of the house is completely finished including the tar paper that makes it really look like a roof.  And most of the windows were installed. We stretched the budget a little bit and got Pella double hung windows.  The double hung windows will allow us to clean the windows from inside the house. I don't know why that is important- we barely get the dishes and clothes clean on a weekly basis, but I guess if we or future residents of the house want clean windows, especially on the second floor, they will be able to be cleaned easily. 

 

Below is a view from the back, left corner of the house. The first floor double window is in the breakfast area, and the second floor double window is bedroom.  We keep going back and forth on which child or guest will occupy each of the bedrooms, but its looking like this may be the guest room.

Below is from the same standpoint, only looking at the back of the house. These double windows are are on the other wall in the breakfast area. The part jutting out on the left is the master bedroom.  There will be a small covered porch coming off the middle part of the photo. You can see on the roof line of the master bedroom wall where the soffit is not framed out the same. That is where the porch will be. 

This is a view of the house from the back yard. On the left is the master bedroom, center 1st floor is the living room and on the right is the breakfast room.  Upstairs, the two windows are in the "man room".

Here are a couple of views of the house from down the cul-de-sac on the street that runs into the house.

These pillars were a new addition to the house this week.  The house plans originally called for a screened-in porch with and outdoor fireplace. To save money, we had decided to wait to have this built until we could save up some money. But, we decided it would be cheaper to go ahead and have it built now and then we could be enjoying it.  I am so excited about having this room.

We've Been Framed



 

The framers are almost finished!