A week and counting or getting to the other end of it

Wow--

In one week OB2 (Our Builder's second in command--OB has had hip surgery and needed to turn over day to day to OB2) says that we will be able to move in. I hope so as we have scheduled the movers and all..... We will only have one shower as the glass and mirror people are backlogged but as long as those are installed by December 29th for our Housewarming party, all is good.

So---

What is still hanging in the wind--

Plumbing final trim should be tomorrow. I had heard that it was to be today but got put off a day.

Electrical is still being a bit tricky. We have found three areas of concern but our most wonderful Latin electrician is hopefully coming over today and solving all such issues.

The blower for the gas fireplace is not here/installed/bought???? It does light but the on/off is one of the electrical issues and no blower. It is pretty though.....

The finish carpenter must come out and do some adjustments to the doors, like, make them lock and close properly. The pocket doors have two different trims on them--chrome and nickel do clash.

I am awaiting the exchange for one of my ebay lights for the master bath--chrome and nickel clash, repeat.

The granite is in but not sealed--need to make a trip to HD or L for sealer and such--more hours of labor to be done before we move

Marmoleum is not sealed and polished--more hours of labor to be done before we move in.

Cleaning supposedly is starting

Painting retouch and patching is spots as well.

Need to decide where the doggie door should go--thankfully I took all the picks of where the wiring and such are located.

Friday the final inspection should be happening so it will be tight if they find anything amiss--here's to the power of prayer......

This weekend we are going to Port Angeles for our 1st Anniversary Fling--actually to see a seminarian that I worked with in our parish be ordained to the transitional diaconate--in June he will be ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral in Seattle. It was a great excuse to get away and put off packing for a few more days--ha!

I will try and put up some more pictures of the inside on Friday.

Hoping for a move in date or chin up, you're under water

So it is now nearly November and where are we? Not in Kansas to be sure but sometimes I wonder if in fact the wicked witch has had a say in our house finishing. I guess it doesn't help that next week is Halloween.

So what is done?

The marmoleum is in but covered up--paint/protection.

Electrical is getting there but it just trickles toward completion.

Landscaping is done in the front. The back is another story. The Mayoress wants to give us some $$ to help out but as DH pointed out, she can no longer see it so may no longer care (see fence entry below). I don't think he gets his MIL yet, oh well.

Kitchen cabinets are in and trimmed out with minor exceptions. Two laminate counter tops are being fabricated.

Carpeting is getting done. The plush is a bit darker than I pictured but it feels nice. The burber is looking good. The stairs and trimming are still unfinished.

The fence is in but the Mayoress is not pleased as it is higher than she imagined in back and will block the breeze and has no gate in the back. The fence builders also did not put the finished side toward their house as asked and the gate leaves something to be desired but it is DONE and hopefully dog proof. The Dog child will hopefully be adopted before Christmas.

What is coming up?

Countertops--hopefully Monday the template will be made and then it takes about a week to fabricate. We are still looking for a price point. We are hoping that the Italian granite is within range but we have a darker alternative to be priced also.

Plumbing--After the counter tops are here then the plumbing goes in at least that is the plan. We still have some tiling to replace after the little light debacle and we have seen no tub. I fear for the finish painting, 'nuff said.

More electrical--the low voltage is not finished and neither is the rest of the electrical. I am thinking our most wonderful latin electrician is over extended. The chandelier is out of the box and we have discussed how low it can go--bravo!

Closet inserts and pantry--November 1st.

Finish carpentry--door knobs, finishing the stair railings, REAL LOCKS, towel bars, towel rings tp holders, shower rods! (Don't get me started on how $$$ those last 4 items are)

Window coverings--Thanks to our fantastic friends and family we cashed in our Home Depot gift cards and purchased 6 HUGE Bali blackout blinds (at 25% off!!!!) and 2 other blinds with installation and still have $21 left!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!! They are due in Nov. 7th and should be installed within a week after that--YAHOO!!!

Disappearing screen doors--due in mid-November. This was a splurge but will be so nice in the summers, when we have them--ha!

CLEAN UP--This will be a massive undertaking and I am tired even to think of it.

Move in date--OB assured us that we would be in BEFORE t-day. This was before he went in for hip surgery, turned over 5 houses to complete to HRHG (His Right Hand Guy), who is now busier than a one armed paper hanger, and OLOB (Our Lady Of Budgets) has been on vacation this last week--returning Monday--TG!!

The state of our union--still standing but it has been challenging. DH has been a trooper but the budgeting has been a job of it's own. (I spend and he fumes--just teasing!) We are amazingly pretty on target and still eating more than mac and cheese and koolaide. We have definately learned a few things about one another that I am sure would have taken significantly longer without this project. To celebrate our first year together we are heading out of town about the time that we think the keys will be in our hands. Moving will have to be done during the week, oh well.

Be sure and peruse the pics!! When the carpet and floors are revealed--more pics to come!

We got door--garage that is.

Well, where do I start this time? Oh, with the garage door! Shortly after my last post, the doors and trim arrived but the garage door was nowhere in site. This prompted our OSWN (Oh Shit What Now) reflex and nightmares of light footed and fingered thieves danced in our dreams. We checked with DB and he was covered for any loss so our blood pressures went down a bit. We parked our local panel van in the drive to give them something to dodge and it seemed to work. Wednesday the garage door fairies arrived and put in our new garage door, complete with WINDOWS!!! We weren't expecting that--I think that DB guilted the installer into giving us the door with windows because he was so tardy getting it to us.

Inside the walls are taped, mudded, sanded, primed and textured. Hopefully the wall color (Rodda "Bridal Wreath"--I kid you not...) will be early next week as the finish carpenters are coming to install the subfloor for the Marmoleum. I unloaded 50 sheets of 1/4 inch ACX plywood on Friday, into the newly secured garage.

Friday also saw our "beloved" construction arm of the power company AKA Mafia Inc spending an entire 55 minutes to connect 2 ends of the natural gas pipe and the meter and messily backfill the holes, that will be 1K, thank you very much! Oh, and we can't reinstall the earthquake valve that we originally took off or turn on the meter, contact the power company for that, good day. Please excuse my hostility.

Yesterday, we had the pleasure ( no sarcasm) of seeing the final pillar finished. As I handed the craftsman our check, he said to me, " I want you to know that DB really likes working with you." That made my day and as I told him, "We are trying NOT to be the clients from hell." To which he replied, "I know you are not, I am working there for DB as well."

Best I get this posted. No new pics except for the one here. I hope to have more interesting ones soon.

Flooring decisions 101

Last Sat. we spent 8K for half of the flooring. We will also have a subfloor to put in for another 2K so the Marmoleum can be installed. It is at least as expensive as a hardwood floor BUT (note CAPS) IF it is installed correctly will be a 40 year floor that requires normal maintainence--no major refinishing in 5-7 year time frame. Also is superior for keeping down static and germs. Mind you I will not be breakdancing or licking the floor but, it is reassuring.....

Needless to say the hard surfaces budget is shot to hell. DH was horrified but after a gentle ROI (return on investment) chat we bit the bullet and went for it. The plan is to have Farbo Marmoleum in the entire downstairs, upper bathrooms and laundry room. The stairs, landing, game room and my office will be in a burber. The rest of the bedrooms (3!) and master walk-in closet will be in a plush. The Marmoleum colors are as follows:

Livingroom/Library/Back Hall: 3405 Granada
http://www.forbolinoleumna.com/default.aspx?menuid=1115

Family room/Nook/Kitchen: 3740 Donkey Island http://www.forbolinoleumna.com/default.aspx?menuid=1115

1st floor Powder room: 3414 Aurora Hour
http://www.forbolinoleumna.com/default.aspx?menuid=1114

Upstairs Bathrooms: 3049 Papyrus White
http://www.forbolinoleumna.com/default.aspx?menuid=1114

Upstairs Laundry: 3055 Fresco Blue
http://www.forbolinoleumna.com/default.aspx?menuid=1113

The links will get you on the page then click on the color chip for a bigger pic.

Toward the end, slowly or no heat yet.

I say that but we will probably be in the house in about 2 months--whoohoo!

The wall board taping is mostly done so texturing is next, I think. We still do not have a garage door or heat so that may slow things down a bit.

Why don't we have heat? We have a furnace and the piping to it but a little matter of 50 plus feet to the gas line has stopped us COLD. The short version is that we are waiting for the subcontractor of our local gas utility (aka Mafia NW) to bless us with their presence of a half hour of work to reconnect said pipes through conduit laid so nicely by DB with a means to fish it through. Oh and and the charge will be 1K for this privileged presence. (Note--dripping sarcasm). Oh, and did I mention that they have us scheduled for the 24th---3 weeks after we got the paperwork to them!!!!! Yes, we feel ripped off. Yes, we are bitching. Yes, we need to put on our big girl pants on and get on with it--enough! ( I do feel slightly better getting that in writing.....)

So where are we now or how did the house get that BLUE?

I can't believe I haven't posted for eight plus weeks! It seems like, oh don't go there.... So I owe you all a recap of there we are, so hold on for the ride.........................

The short version is, plumbing, heating, siding, electrical, porch, patio, 3/4 pillars, exterior paint (round one), insulation batting and blown and wallboard are done BUT I will digress to let you in on a few of the FUN (note caps--read forced grins and clinched jaws) that we have had.....

Plumbing--These guys really know what they were doing. See the picks for all the pretty blue and red piping--yessirree, very little copper here, just a lovely manifold system that should insure even pressure to all things flowing. The cost is lower than copper and the install is easier and NO LEAKS!!! They were done in less than a week.

Heating--The installer was a whinger of the highest order. He was pissed that the plumbers had "taken all the best spots" and that the vents were hard to put in under the floors, etc. My favorite episode was the day he asked where we wanted the thermostat and we showed him. We returned to find water, spewing from the overhead, with him no where to be found. He had drilled through the waste line. The framers had tried to get a bucket under it but they had their own job to do. DH was convinced that we could do nothing but I wrangled the ladder and with my trusty duct tape slowed the rush to a slow drip. To the plumber's credit, he had called DB but we thought it was a bit odd that he couldn't leave us a note since we live only three doors down. The following week DB had a heck of a time fixing it but it did get done. We also have a crudely patched sub floor where he had to cut to get in the underfloor venting--thanks so much!!!!

Siding--This was another WOW moment. It took less than a week for them to "finish"--it looks great, except 3 vents are missing from the back--no check for them! When they do install them they will need to be painted--Hope they can get here before painting, round two.

Electrical--This is the one area we probably went overboard on. I knew we were in trouble when DB said, "A normal house this size has 30 circuits, yours has 45." The bid was 8K over our original estimate but as I told DH, we brought it on ourselves by asking for all the goodies--extra circuits for a future shop, water feature, 220V for the future air conditioner (We're ready for global warming, here!!!) Our lovely Latino electrician, LLE, did superb job and has gone above and beyond by helping us with our speaker wiring and adding some additional bracing for a tricky lighting install to come. He even came in after the wall board and found a smoke detector that they had not cut out.

Porch and Patio--Both were done in a day, the same day. I asked and received for brushed finish on top of the porch with them coming back, removing the form and washing the faces to expose the aggregate. DB was so impressed with the look that he is considering using it in another of his projects. The patio was expanded to 14 feet by 12 feet. We needed to have a place for the BBQ!!! The cement workers were a "Master and Son's" operation. The sons did the grunt stuff and Dad did the artsy touches. Going with this artistic angle, we ended up paying him by paying his landlord and his power bill.

3/4 Pillars--Dave and I went out on Friday the 13th and picked out the "simulated stone" (read concrete formed stones with pigment.) We chose River Rock Spring. The following week it was being installed. The guy was really nice and surely worked hard but lamented that, DB had underestimated the amount of material needed--even though he, the mason brought even MORE than DB had said, oh well. Three were done in a day, despite the rain. But the last one is, alas, not done, despite the new stuff being there a couple of days later, it still languishes, undone......I just hope they can make it look like the others, which look great.

Insulation--Truely a one day job at best--so fast I have no pics. It was just after the 7/18 and the wallboard went up very shortly after. Update: The blown insulation went in TODAY (8/14!!!)

Wallboard--this is actually the last thing that has been done. I'm putting it out of order because it doesn't have any real stories to be shared other than, it was DONE in less than two days. That is for the wallboard install. The clean-up was a few days later and the taping will begin when we have heat, but that is another story......

Painting, Round One--Remember in the beginning of this blog where we were practically blood brothers with the paint store guy because we came in and tried so many colors? Well, a 2 foot by 2 foot patch is STILL NOT BIG ENOUGH!!!!!! Our house has the honor of being the MOST colorful on the street and then some. The painters informed me that they liked the color as it was a good color for a house in Mexico. The painters did a less than spectacular job. They did not prime ANY of the exposed wood and you can tell. Needless to say, we are not paying for it. I for my part have revised the directions for the house--hill, water tower, BLUE house, 'nuff said. Update: Have paid for 75% with a promise that soffits will be reshot, we'll see.

So this get's you pretty much caught up on the house building--be sure and view the pics in our album.

A roof is formed or Done in a DAY!

Yesterday the roof was started and COMPLETED!!! WOW!!! Thanksfully DSD took some pictures in progress of I would have thought the roof fairies had done it. (I have posted my photos but need to nab DSD.)Not true--I did see the crew as they were finishing after 7pm. There are about 7 bundles of shingles left over and some other roof parts but it looks great!

The heating guy was over last Sat, pre-roof and cut most of the vent holes--couldn't complete due to it not being at least tar papered in--well no more, he can probably run ducting this week.