garage and T-1-11 - now

This is the garage. Dave is trying to finish it first so he can use it to work out of when working on the rest of the house.

He is putting o.s.b up in the garage.

The wiring is done under the insulation, the insulation is all up.

This is his view from the workbench area.

And on the left end of the house, you see what is called T-1-11. It can be painted, unlike siding. We are putting T-1-11 up on that end of the house, and under that porch. The rest of the house will be white siding. I know it sounds weird, but our goal is to make it look like a house that was built at one time, then added on, and added on. Like they do with older homes. Plus, it was a way for me to get some color.

Some day we plan on adding a big screened room off to the end of the house, and then the T-1-11 will be a wall inside the screened room.

That's how the house is coming along.

Cindy

Getting supplies - now

On Sunday, I helped Dave bring in more supplies so he could continue working on our house. We unloaded, and carried through four rooms, 20 sheets of o.s.b. They are heavy.


We had to carry one sheet at a time, and I got a huge splinter in my thumb. It was more like a hunk of wood and it actually went through the glove, then in the thumb. And it was holding the glove on my hand. And of course, I was at one end of a heavy piece of osb, so I couldn't let go. Not fun.

Then we went and got a couple of doors. Do you know how heavy doors are, especially when they are attached to door frames.

The one with the glass in it was a lot heavier than the plain one. And it was hard to get a good grip on the cardboard wrapped around the door. I almost dropped it.

We moved one in the basement and one upstairs. By the time we got to this one, I could hardly lift it.

And the last trip of the day was insulation. a dozen rolls of it. It was so cold out, it was getting late, we had been at it since about 2:30, it was now 7:00, and several rolls were wrapped all bunched up together and we could not lift them out of the truck that way. And the plastic was so strong that we couldn't rip it. And of course, neither one of us wanted to walk all the way around the house to go try to find something to rip it with...but Dave finally managed to finagle a roll of insulation out of the plastic, which loosened up the rest of the rolls. We got everything unloaded and went home. I'll be so glad when we are living in this place. Even if it isn't finished, at least we will be home, and not have to go home. Oh yeah - I slept very well Sunday night!

Cindy

Mostly the Garage - now

See this....it's wiring? It's wiring for garage doors, garage lights, etc. You have to wire before you put the insulation in and the ceiling up.

This is a garage door, minus the hardware. They are not 'movable' though. They are just in. Dave has to finish putting the ceiling up, and the support tracks up, so the doors will open.

And before he did one more thing, he had to get some things organized so he could find stuff. It was getting pretty messy out there. This is our breezeway. He's turned it into his office area.

I thought I'd show you the "man curtains!" See them on the window?

A piece of cardboard held up by two nails!

and here, Dave is showing me yet one more brilliant idea. We have a linen closet upstairs. It's just a small closet with room for a few shelves for towels. Well, why not blow out the wall and use up some of this attic space.

WHY NOT? GREAT IDEA!

We'll have a linen ROOM!

but first, let's finish the garage doors and garage, so we can get started in the basement, so we can get moved in. Our goal is to move into the basement area by May 1.

While we were taking a break in our unfinished family room, I had to snap a picture of this sunset.

Here are a few more garage pics. The south wall he was working on this week is now done.
wiring...insulation...osb - done!

He's going to put work benches under those big windows..

Garage doors are up, but as I said, they are not finished or working yet. Just keeping the wind and animals out.

Our courtyard? It warmed up in the last couple of days and we have a muddy mess! But you can get a lot more work done when it's warm out and I love it.

We're moving forward...

Cindy

Garage and garage doors - now

It's been so cold this week that Dave bought a metal trash can and loaded it up with scrap wood from the framers. He's using it to warm his hands while he is working in the garage.

He decided to put up some osb on the South end of the garage,

to use what was left over and get it out of the way.

He also had to put up osb on the north end of the garage.

He has to figure out where the wiring needs to go for outlets, lights, garage doors, and anything else electrical. Then he puts the insulation in the walls, then he puts the osb on the walls. When he's finished, he'll put the garage doors up.

Peace,

Cindy

Walls, Closets & Windows - now

We had our framer put studs up all around the basement so we can insulate it and put walls up. He is so quick and does such a good job it made more sense for him to do it than us. You are looking at a mechanical room, and beside it is a pantry.


He got it done. This is going to be a storage room for all of our stuff while we live in the basement.

And this is one end of where we're going to live. Our framer also built us a couple of closets. The end you are looking at above will be a kitchenette area. When we move upstairs we are going to keep this area a kitchen. Then I can use it like a summer kitchen for canning. Maybe for extracting honey and processing meat too.

This end will be a bedroom, with the living room in the middle. We will be living in an efficiency. Oh well, less to clean right? When we move upstairs, we plan on this end being my craft room.

On Wednesday, the "window guy" came to our house, as we had some issues with our new windows. The sashes in the front were sagging - he replaced them. Two of the windows had weatherstripping coming off of them - he fixed it. And he also showed Dave how to fix the windows so they will open easier, which was a huge concern of mine. I have windows open whenever possible and these were so tight, I could barely open them with nothing in the way. I told Dave I will never be able to open the kitchen windows with a sink and counter in the way. So now he knows how to fix them so they'll open easier. I'm so glad.

Progress on the house is slowing down, as you've noticed. It would be fruitless to heat it right now since there are no walls up and some places are open. Besides, we don't have a furnace yet, or duct work, or registers! By the time Dave gets off of work, he only has a couple of hours before it gets dark. He's working out there, installing doors and locks and such. The house is now locked up. So, we are doing some stuff out there, or he is, but it's just slow....and cold.

Cindy

Roof update and some settling - now

See our roofer on the ladder?

He's putting on the finishing touches.

That's right folks - he's done with the roof! And I like the color. It's some sort of dimensional slate color.

The company that sold us the shingles told us that the manufacturer of these shingles use a talcum type powder to make them. They said the white streaks could be excess powder, and will hopefully lessen after some rain. The pic on the left is the original. The pic on the right is after the rains we had this weekend.

The streaks are still there, but they are lighter.

I don't think they look as bad. The rep is still going to come out and have a look, just in case, but lets just hope they disappear over the winter months.

Now these two photos are right up next to the house. When we had all of the rain this weekend, the disturbed ground around the house settled. Not good. We are going to have to get some dirt and fill that in. We had tons of dirt that we smoothed out, and now we need dirt!

Cindy

Outdoor lighting - now

So, Dave comes home the other day and says, "I bought some lights at Menards, they were on sale, what do you think?" He shows them to me.
Me, "I like them, but I need to see them on the house."
Him, "oooohhh good, (huge sigh of relief) I can't believe you like them."
Me, "I SAID, I like them but I HAVE TO SEE THEM ON THE HOUSE."
Him, "I can't believe you even like them."

You see, for us to agree on light fixtures at this point is a good thing. We have a thing about light fixtures. I like old ones the best. I just do. I have almost all old fixtures in/on our house now. Except for the ones we've started replacing because I insist we bring them with us. It's taken me 15 years to collect them and have him get them rewired and hung up. Most people like newer ones and I figure they won't want the ones we have anyway. They came from garage sales, estate sales, auctions, etc. And when we first got married and tried to find some sconce lights for our bedroom....oh my gosh....he came home with lights from Lowe's three times before I found some very cute lights in a box at a garage sale for a quarter. They were copper, they needed rewired and cleaned up, but they were CUTE. They will be moving with us too.

And with him, he doesn't like the bulb showing through the glass...too ugly to see a bulb. He doesn't like the fixture to have to be unscrewed and the outer cover taken off to change the bulb...too much trouble. If the opening of the fixture faces up, it catches dirt, bugs, etc....never gets cleaned out.

So you see, light fixtures are a big deal for us and to agree at this point really is something.

But I had to see it on the house.
So we went out to the house, and he started holding the fixture up.



The family room entrance off of the porch...to the side, or above?

You see, we don't NEED the light fixtures right now, not really. But what we do need is to decide where to wire them. Because wiring has to be done before insulation and walls. All the things you never think about. And you have to decide, to the sides of the doors or above the doors. And if you go to the sides, you need twice as many fixtures as if you were going above.

I think with the family room/porch entry, above. There's only one window and not really enough room for a fixture on the left side anyway.

Garage door...

Above...it's a garage.

Main entrance...

To the sides. They'll look better with the columns.

Front porch areas with the two story section....to the sides. Columns again...

Oh my goodness....how many fixtures are we going to need? Never, NEVER, thought about this when we were sitting in the architects office! Let's see

basement 2

two story section 4

family room/porch 1

main entrance 2

garage doors, overhead, but two doors so 2

big garage doors 2

kitchen door -hmmm - do we need one there since we plan on building on in the future. Key words - in the future...yes we better....so 1 or 2 I don't know.....1 for now....let's add that up.

FOURTEEN!!!!!

OH MY GOSH FOURTEEN LIGHTS......

Then he takes me to Menards....I think this was all planned out......he shows me the prices and the choices.......now remember the rules.....can't see the bulb, easy to change, need to look old....

And yes, we could have gone to a lighting studio, or another store. We went to Menard's because it was close.....

and seriously, did we need more choices?

This was Sunday, I was getting over the flu from Saturday, and when I saw this......


I said, "I am very happy with the choice you made."

Keep them. Heck, buy two extra....just in case....should we buy more....just in case?

Cindy