Almost In the Dry

This area of South Carolina has been in a drought for a couple of years. Wouldn't you know
the time we start building, the drought ends! We have lost a couple of weeks due to the
weather. I am glad that the drought is over. Just wish it could have waited until the house
was in the dry. That means that the exterior is done such as roofing, brick, windows, and
doors. Hopefully, the brick will be completed by Friday at the latest. The masons didn't work
the day after Thanksgiving. Kind of a surprise to me in light of the all the days they have lost
due to the rain. It is supposed to be nice tomorrow and then rain again on Wednesday. Every
time it rains there are three areas where it leaks into the house. There are two heating/cooling
ducts that will have to be replaced because the water has drained into them. What a hassle.

Some good news-we finally passed the rough inspection. That was a relief. We will have one
more inspection of the insulation and then we will be good until the final inspection. The plumber
has really messed us up with the septic which has resulted in having to have a pump. However, we only need one leech field instead of two so I guess it is a wash. He is a great guy but I'm not sure I would recommend him as a plumber.

To help us keep things in perspective, the triplets arrived on November 10th. What a blessing that they were only in the hospital for two weeks and have been doing so well. Jim and I were
able to see them the weekend after they were born. They are so precious! Also, Paul graduated from TBS in Quantico on November 5th. We were able to get away for a couple of days and enjoy being with him.

Here are some pictures of how things are looking now. I will post more pics when the brick is
completed.

Bricking Has Started

We still haven't passed the rough inspection but at least the inspector said he would not
hold up work beginning on the outside because the issues that still need to be addressed
are inside. We needed to have two windows replaced with tempered glass. They are
supposed to be delivered tomorrow. The plumber drilled two more I joists of which
one needed to be repaired. We also need to have the vents roughed in for the water heaters.
The HVAC company insists they cannot do this until the water heaters are installed. We are
using tankless water heaters and certainly don't intend to leave them in the house unsecured.
Jim was referred to a man who works for the gas company who is going to be able to do what
is necessary for us to pass inspection and he is doing it for a lot less than the HVAC company
was going to charge us. Once the vents are in we will call for- hopefully- the last inspection until
the house is completed. The brick work has begun. It looks beautiful! I will get some pics and
post them soon. Too much going on right now.

Adam and Sadies babies arrived on November 10th. We were able to see them over the weekend. They are beautiful and doing well. It was nice to get away from everything happening
here and just enjoy being with our new grandchildren. What a blessing.

Waiting

So it looks like all of the things we needed to take care of have been done except that we are
waiting for two bottom window sashes in the master bath to be replaced with tempered glass.
We are having a problem with the windows not closing properly. The sashes don't line up so
they can't be locked. Someone from the window company is coming on Tuesday to see what the
issue is. We did get the front doors hung. They are solid mahogany and they are beautiful! Jim and I stained them last week and I will be putting polyurethane on them tomorrow. We are ready to back fill as soon as the excavator can get to us. We have had a lot of rain this month and that has caused him to get behind schedule. I am anxious to get this done. In order to get into the house on the main floor you have to walk a gang plank over an abyss. It is a bit scary and I am so afraid someone is going to fall in and we will never find them. The other option to get in the house is to walk around to the back and come in the basement door, but what's the fun of that!! Anyways, we hope to call for another inspection this week. If we pass then the bricking can start. Oh yes. I almost forgot to mention that we had a central vacuum system installed. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to convince Jim that we should do this but he did.

The work I did on the roof has reduced considerably the amount of water getting in the house when it rained. At least it is manageable now. Can't wait to get the roof finished so it rain won't be an issue anymore.

I was able to get away last weekend and travel to Camp Lejeune for a baby shower for Sadie. Deb, Tara, and Lily came with me. We had a wonderful time. Sadie looks great (Adam looks good too!) and is doing well for which we are very thankful. Seeing the cribs, car seats, and other baby items was so exciting. I am looking forward to being able to go over and help out when the babies come home from the hospital.

Ashley was down for a few days last week. It was good to see her. She went with me on Thursday when I traveled to Hendersonville, NC for a procedure on my right hand to help correct the effects of Dupuyetrens disease. My little finger and ring finger were being drawn
in to the palm of my hand. It was only going to get progressively worse over time. Dad has the
same disease and had this same procedure done several years ago with excellent results. He has wanted me to have this same procedure but I hadn't been able to find a doctor who was close enough and who was on our insurance. There are only a handful of doctors who do this particular procedure. I finally found a doctor in NC. It was only about an hours drive. I won't go
in to details (it involves needles and a loud popping sound) but the results are fantastic. I have had minor discomfort.

The next time I post I hope to report that we passed inspection. I will post more pictures then.

Inside the house

This is the view of the guest bedroom from the
hallway. There is an entrance to the bathroom from the bedroom and the hall. It has a cathedral ceiling.


The picture with the wire on the floor is Tara's bedroom. It also has a cathedral ceiling.


Jim's office is off of the bonus room.

This is the bonus room.
Last week Nick (Jim's sister's husband who is an electrician in Ohio) and Jim did the rough-in
for the electric. A neighbor, who is a retired electrical engineer, stopped by and asked if there
was anything he could do to help. Needless to say, Jim took him up on his offer. His name is Jack and he was a great help. So far we have met five of the neighbors on our street. They all
seem to be very nice. Not one of them is from South Carolina. Most of them are from the north and they all say we are going to love it here.

We had an inspection on Thursday. The electric wasn't completely done but they were able to inspect the plumbing, hvac, and framing. As was expected, there are a few things that need to be corrected. We are also waiting for one of the windows. Somehow it was canceled from the original order. From the inspection we were told that the window over the whirlpool tub has to be tempered so that glass has to be replaced. We believe the window company rep should have known that window needed to be tempered for code. That's his job. Still waiting to hear from them on that. The windows weren't squared when they were installed so when you close them they don't meet and can't be locked. That has to be corrected. Because the roof leaks in some spots water got in the some of the duct work. It needs to be cleared. Some of the plumbing has to be repositioned to allow for overhead lighting. The electrical work did not get completed so Nick has to come back. We are hoping he can come back this weekend and also that the needed corrections can be made so an inspection can be ordered for a week from Monday. Oh yes, the plumber did something to one of the I beams so Jim has to contact the manufacturer of the I beam and have someone come out and inspect the beam to make sure its structural integrity hasn't been compromised and whether it needs to be repaired. You would think that the plumber would know that you can't mess with a support beam.

I was getting so stressed about the water leaking into the house. Every time it rained I would have to use the shop vac to clean up the water. I also didn't like water getting soaked up by the wood in the house. Well, I finally convinced Jim to let me climb out on the roof to put more roofing felt paper over the areas that were exposed. My niece, Cassie, helped me. I want it to rain now just to see if what we did will take care of the problem!

Sometimes I am afraid of this project. It is so weird spending such large amounts of money at one time. It really plays on your mind. These past two weeks I have had a hard time sleeping.
I can't wait until this over.

Our house is a very very fine house

I never know what order the pictures are going to appear so let me try to explain. There are two that show the house being framed and then there is one where the house is wrapped and the exterior is framed out. The two sunset pics were taken from one of the upstairs bedrooms.

I didn't realize it had been a month since I posted anything on my blog. I have been so busy doing things related to the house that I haven't felt like sitting down and trying to think about what to post. There are more pics but I could only upload four at a time. I will put more on tomorrow. I worked at the house all day today and I am exhausted. I was cleaning already. I am trying to keep the wood chips and shavings cleaned up and I had to vacuum water with the wet/dry vac. The roof is not completely on yet because the brick has to be done. This means that when it rains water can still get in. What a pain.

Continued Progress

This has been a busy week for the framers. They work from 8:00 to 7:30 Monday through Friday and then 8:00 to 12:00 on Saturday. They are planning to work on Labor Day too. I wanted to make a lunch for them of sloppy joes. Apparently they only eat Mexican food. They are particulary fond of fajitas from Mo's. I don't think I can compete with Mo so I think I will get them some fresh fruit and make them some cookies. We have a peach tree but the peaches were very small and rather green. I don't think they were ripe but the workers were eating them! Hopefully they will be ok with fresh ripe fruit.

We did become aware of a problem with the roof height in one of the bedrooms. I don't know who is to blame but it has resulted in the loss of one of two closets in that bedroom. At first I was not happy about this but then I realized that Jim and I have been praying for God's guidance as we go through the building process. He could have revealed this issue before the framing was done so it could be corrected. If He is ok with this happening then I can be ok with it too. I am so thankful to be able to trust in God who is omnipotent and omniscient. In the grand scheme of life, how important is a closet? Anyways, we are now going to put a small linen closet in the bathroom for that bedroom. It makes more sense to have a linen closet in the bathroom so the towels and such will be more accessible.

Right now we are trying to get the plumbing supplies needed for the rough-in. It is amazing how expensive tubs and showers, faucets, valves, etc. are. When you are building a house you are so much more aware of the cost of every thing. We are using ebay and craigs list and have been able to save some money there.

Jim is probably a sub-contractors nightmare. He questions every price and challenges any cost he doesn't believe is equitable. I know this is a good thing but I think you need to be careful not to offend to the point it affects the work they are doing for you. Sometimes people will not do their best if they don't feel like they are trusted. I try not to worry about it. I have a note in my Bible beside Phillipians 4:6 that says "Worry about nothing, pray about everything". When I find myself getting all worked up about things I try to divert that concern into prayer and praise. It gets my focus off of myself and brings such sweet peace.

Well, here are the most recent pics. We didn't make it out to the house today. Paul is down for the weekend and we were busy watching the Ohio State game (go Bucks!!) and then Jim, Ben, and Paul went golfing. I can't wait to have a home to be able to have our family and friends stay with us.

Starting to Look Like a House

It is happening! The house is taking shape. Framing started on Monday. It was a good thing Jim was there. There were some issues that needed to be addressed that were particularly important. We ended up bumping out the basement on the back side of the house so now both sides will look the same. This resulted in a change in the window sizes. Fortunately we were in the process of ordering the windows so making the needed changes was not a problem. It was a bit hectic for a while until we figured out what needed to be done. The framers are doing a great job. They don't speak English very well so communication is difficult but they are hard workers.
Poncho is the lead framer and seems to be very conscientious about the work that is being done. Carl and Mike own the framing company and are good to be on site to make sure the work is being done correctly. Jim had to go to Charleston to make a call so I went with him. We were gone Wednesday and Thursday. When we went to the site on Friday all the framing in the pictures had been done. As we were checking out the basement we noticed a couple of places where the plumbing for the water line was not where it was supposed to be. I will have to admit I was thinking "Oh great. Here we go. How in the world are we going to solve this problem." Mike (who owns the framing co.) was there and he knew what needed to be done. We called the plumber who said no problem. This happens sometimes. When the rough in for the plumbing is done before the framing (which is what has to happen when the basement is going to be finished) it can be difficult to have everything exactly where it belongs. He will take care of moving what needs to be moved. So, problem solved. Sometimes it gets overwhelming having to make so many decisions in a short amount of time. Jim and I are doing a pretty good job of deferring to one another on things that are more important to one of us than the other. We get frustrated with one another but we get over it pretty quickly. Just to let you know, the person in the background of the picture of the basement before framing is Tara standing on the future front porch.