Minor Achievements

At the time of the last update, our kitchen was slowly being turned into a marshland due to the leaky not-quite-on-yet roof. The bad news is, we still don't have a roof. The good news is, the roofers did come out and do a more thorough job of tar-papering the roof and fixed some spots that were completely overlooked the first time. It rained pretty hard Thursday night (only hours after they finished the job) and there was no sign of water. I guess that'll do for now. There is also no siding yet, which was promised for last week and then promised for today.

So what has been done? Well, they finished putting all the windows (except for a new one that will go in the current guest bedroom) and the installed the new doors (front door pictured below). They also did quite a bit of general cleanup which made the new room look absolutely huge (also pictured below). All in all, not the most productive week, but not a total waste.

The coming week should be interesting. We expect to have the new quote for the cabinets soon. The plumber is due on Monday, and the roof and siding should go on (no really, this time I mean it). Stay tuned . . .

Editorial Notes

Two quick editorial notes.

1) There is a new feature on the blog! Check out the 'Lost Utility Tracker' which will be updated weekly for days of missed utilities. As they will start the plumbing and electrical work soon, I expect some action up there.

1) I have a confession. I back date. If you, loyal reader, find yourself checking every day for posts, being disappointed day after day only to suddenly uncover three posts claiming to be from days earlier, I have an explanation. Because I will sometimes write entries during the week but not have time to post them until the weekend, or for simply the sake of making the narrative easier to follow, I will write in the current tense and then post to the date appropriate for the entry even if the events happened in past. Glad to get that off my chest.

Rain, Rain, Go Away; Come Again . . .

When we have a freakin’ roof! It rained a lot outside this weekend which was really good for the water supply and the plants. Unfortunately, it also rained a lot inside this weekend which was really not good for anything. There were two major downpours and during both we had water literally pouring out of the upstairs ceiling and raining down our faux kitchen wall. So far, it doesn’t look like major damage has been done, but it’s hard to tell with water damage. We snapped lots of pictures including one of water running out of an electrical socket (never a good thing), water dripping from multiple places on the ceiling, and just general towel/bucket madness. Hopefully the roof will be on soon.

On a brighter note, a lot of work was done this past week and the roofers should be here any day now (hopefully before Thursday when they are calling for more thunderstorms). Here is your weekly update picture.

Dove Gray Killed my Father

Some months ago the roofer was out to show Colleen and me the various colors available for our metal roof. We liked something metallic (it is after all, a metal roof), but not so shiny it was blinding when you looked at it, so we went with Dove Gray. On Thursday, Colleen and I received an email from our PM saying, and I quote, “[Colleen’s dad] is not happy with the color choice for the roof and has stopped the process at this point. [The roofer] says [Colleen's dad] is not in favor of the dove gray color.” End of email. The following is, in order, the two thoughts Colleen and I had immediately:
1. That doesn’t sound like Colleen’s dad.
2. Who hates Dove Gray? It’s so bland and inoffensive. What did it ever do to you?

Colleen immediately called her dad, who was as surprised at this turn of events as we were, and got the full story (well, not so much the ‘full’ story as the actual story). The roofer’s assistant showed up to do some basic measuring. He, like his boss, was a very pleasant man who spoke virtually no English. In passing conversation the guy pointed at the blue roof across the street and said "We have that," to which Dad replied (correctly) that we didn't want that. Somehow, this translated to “I hate the color that has been chosen for our roof (even though I’ve never seen it since you didn’t bring any samples with you) and want you to leave immediately and never return.” A quick phone call to the PM straightened things out, but we’re not sure how much work time was lost since the measuring guy had already left.

Money Whoas

Some of you have heard of the recent cost overruns Colleen and I have been facing. Here is a quick recap and the good news updates on two of them:

A few weeks back, Colleen and I got the 3-D designs of our new kitchen cabinetry which were really fun to look at. A few days later the quote came in at three times what was in the allowance. Whoa! After much discussion and searching around, we went back to the cabinet guy on Tuesday and had a very productive conversation that we think will provide us with something more affordable that we still like. It may even come in at less than double the allowance. Dare to dream!

The addition requires a retaining wall be built on both sides of the house (totaling about 50 feet in length). This was not in the original bid (long story) but Colleen and I assumed it would probably cost in the $5000 range. Just two weeks ago, our Architect emailed us saying that he had a mason all lined up, all we had to do was sign the change order allowing the contract increase of $11,500. Whoa! After looking at many options (including dragging our friends into a wall building party) we found another mason willing to do the same project for less than $5000.

Raising the Roof

On second thought, I think I like this blog title even better than the last.

Rather than put more holes in our yet-to-be weatherproofed house, our PM decided to let our framing guys work on another project for a few days. After a few peaceful days of sleeping in for Colleen and me, it was back early morning hammering on Thursday when the joists arrived. By quitting time Friday, they had put on the small overhang on the downstairs, raised half the trusses for the upstairs, and assembled our 'front' porch (technically located on the side of the house). We haven't gotten official word, but we're hoping that the roofer will be able to make it out next week and we can get to a point where this thing is more or less weatherproofed. The doors and windows arrived over the course of the last few weeks and are now taking up some significant space in our carport. I love the new front door.

A couple of different pictures today. First, the (now required) weekly exterior update shot:

Here is a little better view of the new front porch. Cute as a button isn't it?

Here is the rarely pictured rear of the addition (future location of patio) showing off the newly added small roof overhang.

I've mentioned in previous blogs the temporary 'wall' that is up where our kitchen wall used to be. It's made solely of blue styrofoam and spray insulation. Not bad for keeping out the wind and rain, but when the sun shines in during the morning hours, it creates a really creepy blue glow.

We've Been Framed

I'd like to enter this blog entry into the running for 'Best use of cheesy pun in the title.'

Not only did the guys get an additional two walls done yesterday, they also finished all the framing upstairs. Below is a picture of the house as it looks now (not bad for only one month of work!), and a pano taken from out the spare bedroom window (future doorway into the master bedroom). As you look right to left you see the door to the walkin closet, the door to the bathroom, and the enormous windows that give a view of the volleyball court and Colleen's mom's garden (respectively).

Easy Come, Easy Go

It's been a big week around here, everytime you turn around there is a wall going up or coming down. Since there wasn't much drama this week, I'm going to let the pictures do (most of) the talking.

Saturday: Progress as of Aug 1 (see previous entry for more detail).

The I-beam which will form the main support for our current exterior wall and the new addition.

Sunday, AM: A nice view of the kitchen after we got all of our stuff out of the way. It looks suprisingly big without the table and fridge. The good news is, it will be about this open once the addition is done.Sunday, PM: Taking the cabinets down (fyi, not really as fun as it looks).Tuesday, AM: Our kitchen, minus one wall. They actually cut less wall out than I expected. Basically they cut out the door and window plus 6" or so, and they cut about a foot from the ceiling all the way across. The big problem now is that the concrete used for the poles holding up the beam needs a few days to dry, so they put up a support inside our kitchen. Since those supports had to line up with the rafters they have completely blocked access to our silverware drawer.
Tuesday, PM: Rafters!

Wednesday: They took their time getting the rafters hung just right so that the new floor would line up with the old floor. But once they were in they put the second story floor and two walls up in a hurry (one next to the carport can't be seen in this picture).

As a final update, we were told on Tuesday that if the roof trusses don't arrive by Friday, they will start to put holes in the upstairs wall. So once again Colleen and I find ourselves with a room to move/reorganize and one day to do it. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend.