One porch almost finished

First the good news...and if you follow my other blog, you already know.  The house, and potting shed, passed the VA appraiser, after we scraped, and caulked, and painted.  The contract expires October 24, which is this week.  So we are hoping for a closing date this week, and not another disappointment.  The last contract fell through the week of closing.  Keeping fingers and toes crossed!

 We are back to work on our house we are building, and living in.  I'm hoping the porches will be finished by the time snow flies!  Although, I heard it could fly as soon as Tuesday. I  hope not!  We did paint the decking on the big porch yesterday. 

 I took a paint brush and went through all of the cracks and crevices, while Dave rolled.  He sanded it all first, so it would be smooth to paint (and walk on).  The problem was trying to get comfortable.  I tried sitting, but I had to move to often.  I tried standing but bending over at 55...jeeeeeesh.  And I tried crawling, with knee pads on, but it was still uncomfy.  Oh well...it only took us a couple of hours to paint. 

I think the only thing left to do on this porch is wrapping the front and sides of the decking with aluminum, and the skirting. 

Then we need to finish up these two porches.  After the porches....back inside the house, I hope!  

I'm so ready for a big kitchen!  I dream about it!

Cindy

Old house, new house

Update on the old house...

  The house passed inspection! Nothing needs fixed.  YAY!

 The house passed the VA appraiser...

however....

why is there always an however?  

The POTTING SHED...

which sits way back here,

in the back of the double lot, 

has to have the windows scraped.  See all of the windows.  18 total...with panes 

(which I shall refer to as pains!)

These windows came from the house, when we replaced them with new windows. The house was built in 1939.  They are old.

And the thing is, we scraped the windows before we put the house on the market! I said I would paint them, and the realtor said they don't need painted, just scraped.  WE ALREADY DID!  Here's the thing...it's not paint that needs removed.  It's the caulking.

 And once you remove the caulking, the windows fall out. See the cracked window below? (bottom right) That happened while removing paint and caulking.  So starting today, and who knows for how long...I will stop

painting doors

canning apples

cleaning house

working beehives

and I'll be spending my time removing caulk, paint, and adding caulk and paint.  And who knows if these buyers are even gardeners.  For all I know, they'll never use the greenhouse.   I'm trying to stay positive peeps, but I'm not sleeping well, and I'm tired.  Beyond tired. 

 This greenhouse/potting shed is a magical place.  I love it.  Here are a few pictures I took in the spring.  I have some gorgeous pics of this place.

 Private Charleston garden with a vintage Kokomo bricks.

 Roses that grow in the "Charleston garden" on the South side of the potting shed.  This area is a little nook, and it's warmer because it's so enclosed, so even though the roses are a zone 6 and we live in zone 5, they have lived and flourished there for years.

 Looking out of the garden green house.

 I know there is no use in complaining, but can I say something here.....why yes you can Cindy, it's your blog!  Yup, these windows have lead paint on them.  And amazingly enough, every window in this ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD has or had lead paint on them.  These houses were built in the 1920's to the 1940's.  They used lead paint back then.  Most of these people built these houses, lived in them their entire lives, they raised kids in them, and most of the original owners are still alive!  They are in their 90's! Hells bells, their kids are still alive!

My brother worked in a lead factory for years...  

I'm just saying.......

 Potting shed love...

Oh, did you hear me mention VA appraiser.  Yup.  VA loan.  And of all times our government is shut down.  I asked our realtor how this will affect our loan and he said we should be ok.  He thinks we will still be on target for closing.  He did say, it might take a little longer to get a piece of information we might need, if the person with that information is on furlough.  How embarrassing.  My husband and I are building a house and we get a long better than our government!

Oh, but here's a funny story that will lighten the mood.  So, back in April when we were scraping the windows and they were falling apart, Dave said, I will never build another thing with these types of windows.  They do not weather well.  And we have some stashed at the house that he said I could not bring with me.  "Just Sell them!"  he said.  So, I put a few in garage sales that we had, but our house had a lot of windows.  So, I've been secretly, one by one, moving them to our new house, and tucking them away here and there.  There is something on Pinterest I want to make.  ( I tried to download it but can't get it to work.)  Anyway, the other night Dave says, I know what we could do...we could just replace the windows in the greenhouse with the ones in the garage, that we haven't done anything with yet.  They haven't been in the weather for all of these years, so they are still in good condition.  Ruh Roh.....I had to fess up!  They are no longer in the old garage.  They are squirreled away here and there, at our new place! 

So, at the new place....Still on the porches...

Dave is putting up the ceiling....what a huge decision this has been.  

Things you don't even think of....See the decking...running lengthwise...so logically you would think the ceiling needs to run lengthwise.  Well, this type of ceiling (vinyl bead board) doesn't come in long enough strips to run it lengthwise, on this porch.  And it isn't made to overlap or but up against each other, end to end like that.  So we would have had to divide the porch up with something so the pieces would fit.  And of course, this vinyl bead board has to be ordered. 

Then we talked about going with wood, because you can butt wood up against each other, but...

 you can't use wood on this bottom porch ceiling. 

  Rain and snow will get on it and rot it.  And I want them to match.  I didn't think vinyl on one ceiling and wood on the others would look good.

 

So we ran the ceiling one way, and the porch the other.  Guess what....after looking at a lot of pictures on the internet, it seems there is no right way to do it.  They are all done every which way!
 And it all looks good.

And see the aluminum pieces wrapped all around the porch...those are bent with this great big machine that my Shug borrowed.

He has to bend every single piece with this aluminum break, to make them fit.

And a couple of days ago, he had to get on the roof.

Since the family joke used to be that we had our own room at the emergency room, I was very nervous about him getting on the roof.  Not to mention he has been having a lot of foot pain.  (Achilles tendinitis-he went to the doc)

I don't know if you can see in the pic below...how the roof seems to be coming apart, right under Dave's hand.  He had to nail it back down.  Only he didn't see it until he got on the roof.  So I had to go get the nails and hammer...I took the screen out of that window and handed them through it.

I didn't tell him about this soffitt...in the corner...see it hanging down.  (sigh)

Ok, I know, long post.  Gotta go finish painting garage doors so I can get to other house,
 and start grouting and scraping and painting, oh my!

Cindy

September is our month for change...

In September, of 2010, three years ago, we broke ground on our land.  It was scheduled for August, but construction was delayed, and they started in September.  See where the guy in the orange shirt is standing talking to the other guy?

















That is where we are living now!
And funny thing is, we moved in September of 2012.  September seems to be our  month. Our  month for change. Maybe in September of next year we can be moving upstairs. 

And since this is September....I was just looking at some old blog posts....looking from where we've come.  Building a house, on our own, has been a huge undertaking.  And it's moving along slower than we wanted, but we've ran into several set backs we never planned on.  My husband used to work in construction and he said the one thing you can count on in construction is it is going to take longer than planned and cost more than planned! 

That was not a planned blog post, I just am feeling a bit sentimental....and a lot blessed.

Here is the story about our house in town....the latest story....
On Monday evening we got a call from our realtor, the new guy we just hired. The converstaion went like this....
Paul, "Can you and Dave come into town tomorrow and look over an offer?"
Me, "already?"
Paul, chuckles..."yes already."
Me, "wow!"
Paul, "can you come tomorrow?"
Me, "yes"

Long story short....we went.  During the discussion of a counter offer, we were interrupted by his assistant.  She said there is another showing on our house, at 5:30pm (it was 5:00pm)  and they are very interested.  Around 7:00 that evening Paul called and said we have another offer on our house!  It was a better offer.  I said we'd take it.  He said the only fair thing to do is to contact the people that made the first offer and let them know.   That night around 10:00, another call from Paul.  The first offer people offered MORE than we were asking,and no assistance with closing costs.  So we went with it.  I told our realtor I thought this only happened on tv.  We've been praying that someone will buy our house that will love it as much as we did. I think if you are willing to pay more than asking, you love it.  When I looked at that house, I knew....Immediately...I knew.  I loved it.
 We have about 45 days to see if it all goes through. Inspections, appraisals, loans.  In the meantime, someone stopped by while Dave was at the house doing some yardwork, asking if he could see the house.  He showed them and they said, "if something falls through with your offer, please call me."  And the people that were in the bidding war, are considering a back up offer.  I just pray our house sells to someone that loves it. 
September seems to be our  month for changes.

Cindy

Porches and Columns

 Front view of the East end porches.  Still need to do ceilings and paint decking, but columns are up and it's looking good!

The columns tend to look like they are centered, depending on where you stand.  We've decided not to make an issue out of it.  It is what it is....the window is not centered on the wall.

 

 Standing inside the kitchen looking out was my main concern.  I didn't want to look through a window and see a column when I have this gorgeous view!  No problem.

 I finished painting the last column yesterday!!! YAAAAAY!!!

We'll be working on the ceilings next!  The closer these porches are to being finished, the more anxious I am to move upstairs!  Haven't even started on it!

Cindy

More Porch drama

Work continues on the porches...

 The decking on the upper porch is now finished.

 We decided to finish the deck portion on all of the porches (three in all), then go back and finish the ceilings and wrapping the wood with aluminum.  Mainly because the temporary osb has been on the porch for two years now and is rotting, and we need structure to hold up the end of the house!  Hence..temporary.

We used treated wood and apparently you aren't supposed to paint the wood for a year!  They said it needs to dry completely out.  Really?  I'm thinking a couple of months...anyone had any experience painting deck wood?  Did you wait a year?

  So anyway, Dave started working on the biggest porch.  And he could only bring a small portion of the wood home at a time.  But he paid for it all at once because it was on sale. It saves money and time doing it this way. You just take your receipt to the lumber yard and they mark down how much you picked up each time, and they keep track of it in their computer. You don't have to go back inside the store every time, go through the register, purchase the wood, then go out to the lumber yard.   I think he made four trips in all, and not in the same day.  When you are doing something this size, by yourself, you get what you think you will use in a day, so it doesn't warp.  

On Dave's third trip to get wood, they told him he got it all on the last trip!  He didn't.  On that trip he only had the truck with him and he picked up four pieces.  Enough to do in an evening after work.  So they had to look at a security camera on the day he picked it up, and find him...on film...picking up the wood...and count the pieces of wood in the truck.  I'm serious.

When he went back for the last load the guy showed him why it was so easy to make a mistake.  Apparently the boxes you 'x' off on the computer are very small.  Whatev...

Back to the porch...the wood does not fit the length of the porch, so you have to lay it as though it were a floor.  Staggering joints and such.

And my man says to me, "See Cindy, you have to be a ballerina to build porches!"  As he walks along the structure...doing a balancing act.

Eyes off the butt....just showing you how you get a porch started with the decking.

On to problem three.....

this kitchen window is not centered....and we have four columns that go on the front of this porch.  If you space them evenly apart, from each end....the right-middle column will be in the middle of the third window....and the left middle column will be on the left side of the window.

There is about an eight inch difference.

to be continued......

The next person that asks me what is taking so long on these porches, or this house

....my facial expression will be nice and smiling....but in my head I will be thinking...

I want to bitch-slap you.

Then I will tell them, nicely, with a smile, "oh, you don't read my blog."  Or I might say, "I'm sure you don't understand, since you've never even built a bird house, let alone a real house."   

GASP!  Did I really just type that?

OTHER HOUSE STUFF...

  If you follow my other blog...the every day random stuff....I mentioned that I would tell you what happened with our house in town that we have for sale.  I get all confused as to which blog this kind of stuff belongs to...and really...does it matter?  Anyway,

As you might recall, I worked my butt off all winter long trying to get the house in town empty and ready to sell by spring.   We had it on the market by the first of May.  At the end of the June we had an accepted offer on the house, that I will admit I never felt good about and I told my husband and the realtor at the time I didn't feel good about it.  Our realtor reassured me that it was a good offer, and he was pre-approved.  She wouldn't believe it either, "but she heard the lender talk to the other realtor." The reason I didn't feel good about it, was because he was getting a government loan, in Texas, and we live in Indiana.  

Remember back in the spring we had a lot of flooding.....I copied this picture off of my other blog as a reminder of the flooding....and also, the buyer's house is down the side street in this area.

Apparently our government offers a loan to natural disaster victims of 1%, to help them get back on their feet.  But they have to use their insurance money for a down payment.  They don't have to get an appraisal or an inspection.  The only stipulation, it cannot be in flood zone.  So the first week in July we accepted his offer.  They never showed the house again.  Once you have an offer peeps, beware, realtors stop showing the house.

Now, I happened to see this guy pull out of our driveway with his realtor one day, and I told our realtor at that time I think the guy spent his insurance money because he wasn't driving the same old beat up truck.   Her comment, "he better not have."

What I did not know at that time, was that he was supposed to use that insurance money for a down payment on our house.  When it came time for the lender to cut the check, the guy told his realtor he "Spent the money fixing up his house" IN FLOOD ZONE.

Dave asked the realtor why didn't his realtor guide him a little better.  He said, "I thought it was a realtor's job to kind of guide and screen prospective buyers.  To help them along...."

No matter...We got a different realtor.  

Wish us luck.