Coming Together

Wow, have we been busy. I must say though that all of the hard work is really starting to show. The inside of the house is really starting to look like a house. A week ago I would not have given any chance at being in the house by our deadline of July 1st, but now it is starting to look like we will make it in with a couple days to spare.

The bad news is that I think I have agreed to pay my helpers in beer, and as much help as I have had it might have been cheaper to just pay the builder to do it. I hope there is a big beer sale soon. Honestly I can not say enough how grateful we are to all of the help we have had from our family in getting all of the work done. I don't know how we could possibly have gotten this work done without everyone's help.

Over the last week and half we have pretty much gotten the outside painting done. I think we still have to trim 2 windows and above the front porch. We also need to paint the porch ceilings. The masons have been working on the front columns and completed the stone work on them and the bottom of the porch. They still have to put the stone on the fireplace. We completed staining all of the woodwork. Then we had to stain all of the window casings and pre-hung doors. Once everything was stained we had to spray-on the polyurethane coatings. This was a pretty labor intensive couple of days. Dad only had one sprayer break and dumped lacquer thinner all over his head once. We have started painting the interior and that should be done by the end of the week. The HVAC system is hooked up and running, built-in bookcases have been completed, and master bathroom pieces assembled. In the next couple of days the kitchen cabinets will be installed, counter tops will be measured, and hardwood floor installation is to begin.

Here are pictures of the progress.

Exterior Painting Continued

Well, we fell a little short of our goal of having all of the outside painting done by the end of the weekend. However we did do a pretty good job, and boy was it hot out there painting this weekend. We got everything painted other than touching up the white trim. I am working on trying to get that done by the end of this week.

We are coming up on a 3 day weekend and hoping to get quite a bit of work done on the house. My builder says that the drywallers will be done on Thursday and the trim work guys want to start on Sunday. That gives us a little time to get a lot of work done. We will need to mask off everything inside and spray all of the walls with primer and back roll them. Then we will need to paint all of the ceilings. Not to mention we need to get all of the trim for the house stained as well. This all has to happen Friday and Saturday. The good thing is that if this does all happen Friday and Saturday, then Sunday and Monday should be relatively relaxing days.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Painting Exterior

Well, we have been very busy for the last week. We have gotten a lot of the outside of the house painted. It has been a difficult task because the weather has not been very good. I have to thank everyone who came out and helped paint this weekend, it made a big difference. Of coarse it is suppose to rain all this week as well. Hopefully they are wrong and we will get a couple of nice days. I am hoping to have all of the exterior painting done by the end of this weekend.

They have got all of the insulating done inside the house. They blew in a foam insulation to make it air tight and then went over it with batting insulation. The R value is supposed to be everybit as good as if we had 2x6 construction done.

I was out at the house today and the drywall had been dropped off. Our builder said that the drywall will all be hung by the end of the week and be finished by the end of next week. Hopefully the weather dries out a little so the drywall mudd will dry. Also, today the geothermal lines were being dug.

Here are some photos of the progress.

The Eves Are Painted

The Last week has been very, very busy. The framers finished up towards the beginning of last week. Then it was my turn to start on the painting. Since I signed on to do that part. It took the rest of the week to get the caulking done. I was sure glad to get that done and especially happy for the help I had. Thank you Dad, Grand Pa, and Steve for all of your help.

Once the caulking was done it was time to start the painting. Our first objective is to get the eves, soffits, and gutterboards painted so the roofers can get started on installing the shingles. Of coarse it rained all last weekend, preventing me from getting any painting done. The roofers were supposed to start on Monday, we put them off 3 days, so now they will start on Wednesday or Thursday.

Last night We finished up spraying the eves, soffits, and gutterboards. It sure goes a lot faster than the caulking and having the airless sprayer is a big help as well as the bucket truck.

Also the electricians have started on the house and will probably be done by the end of the week. The septic has been put in. The well was drilled, they said we had a great well, enough water for the whole neighborhood. I think he said he drilled about 100 feet down.

Here are some photos of the progress.












Here is Griff stuck in the mud.





Here is dad painting the dormer over the garage. The picture does not really do it justice. That roof is pretty darn steep.

Framing Almost Finished

The framing of the house is almost finished. Since last week the framers have gotten most of the details done that were yet to be completed. It looks like they have a little more siding to put up still. I would imagine that they will finish it today and if not today then definitely tomorrow.

With the framing finished it is now time to start painting. I have taken the responsibility of completing this portion of the job myself. I am trying to get the eaves painted by the beginning of next week before the roofers start. This is would have been easier if we had not just got a bunch of rain. I am afraid to drive the bucket truck in the mud because it might get stuck. Last night I started caulking everything. Hopefully tonight I get a lot more of the caulking done. Then maybe I can paint the eaves on Thursday. I think that it is supposed to rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Just my luck.

Here are some photos of the progress