Updates

Okay, so we still haven't gotten around to installing the lattice. We've been working on paying for our new patio set instead. Made the last payment the other day and brought it home, and Paul assembled it with minor hassle. We also put our fountain up here and divided off its corner of the deck, maybe to have some plants surrounding it. Also we strung solar rope lights around the perimeter of the deck for a little ambiance. Everything looks great. We lost the pictures of the rope light though, so we've just posted these.

Yes, the patio set really does have 5 chairs.

Mistake-fixing day

Today was a long-overdue day to fix some construction errors. Most important of these were the patio doors. Ever since the house was built, the French doors leading to the backyard (and now, the deck) have never hung right - the screen doors would bind at the top and bottom, and the entry doors were sticky and hard to close and lock. Paul set to fixing this today.

It took hours. First the entry doors were fixed. After much hinge adjustment he finally got to the point where they would both swing freely without binding, and were much easier to lock than previously. Then the screen doors. This proved to be a gigantic hassle that took most of the night to fix. It turns out that the opening for the screen doors was a quarter inch too small, and the result was that it was nearly impossible to mount the doors without having them bind.

Finally, he gave in and jerry-rigged the astragal (the stick between the doors that allows one of them to be fixed in place so they don't both swing all the time) so it held its door more closely, allowing enough room for the active door to swing freely. With that done, he finally (it's been almost three years) installed the pneumatic closers on the screen doors so they can't swing all the way open and bang on the lights or wall or whatever else. The sweeps still need to be installed on the screen doors too, but first some appropriate screws need to be located. That won't take long to finish. But the doors *finally* work properly. It's sure nice to be able to get in and out the doors easily, because until that was done nobody would ever want to go out to the deck.

Later he had to fix something on the deck itself. When mounting the handrail supports on the west side of the deck (the side with the stairs) he wasn't paying attention and installed them an inch too low. This showed itself to be problematic when the spindles went on - they extended so far below the rim joist that it would have been impossible to attach the frame for the lattice, so this needed to be fixed. Paul had to unscrew the handrail, then all of the spindles' bottom two rows of screws where they were attached to the rim joist. Then he unscrewed and raised the supports and put everything back together. Took about an hour, but it looks much better.

It's a pleasant night. Paul rewarded himself by sitting on the deck with the laptop and a Leinie's, listening to the tree frogs as he types this. Makes it all worthwhile. :)

Spindles, the thrilling conclusion.

Paul finished the last 36 spindles today. Each one has four screws, and each screw hole had to be pre-drilled. That's 768 pulls of the trigger to get this done. Tedious. But it worked out. Looks like a deck now. Paul's plans actually ended here, but we still need a lattice and a handrail for the stairs. So that's coming up yet. Just detail work. The real work is basically done. Check out the pictures.

Spindles part 1

Didn't get anything done with the spindles on Sunday except to measure and mark their locations. Went to Menards today to buy 96 spindles (42" 2x2, one tapered end, on sale for 89 cents each) and two more pounds of deck screws. 60 spindles are installed so far. It takes extra time because they're so thin you have to predrill the screw holes so the spindles don't split when driving the screws. Anyway, looks good so far but no pictures yet. Will finish tomorrow and take pictures then.

Handrail

Yes you can haz.

The posts were set plumb and lag screwed in place Friday evening. The handrails were attached in two hours on Saturday afternoon. Starting tomorrow, spindles. It'll take about a hundred to do the whole thing. Then lattice for underneath and a handrail for the stairs and we'll call this good.

More deck construction

Spent yesterday and today installing the stairs and dry-fitting the railing posts. The stairs required the only digging in this project - flat patio blocks were set at ground level for the stair stringers to sit on. The stringers are screwed to the rim of the deck with angle brackets, the treads are 2x6s cut to 4 feet long.

The railing posts came from Menards. Each one is just attached to the rim with one screw for test fitting, so they are not expected to be straight yet. If Paul gets home from work early enough tomorrow maybe he will get some lag bolts to attach them permanently. After that, handrail and spindles, then a lattice or something else to close up underneath, maybe close up the stair risers, get some patio furniture, and by then the weather ought to be warm enough to enjoy.

Picture time:

Deck continued

We obtained two treated 8' 2x3s and another box of deck screws. Paul installed the 2x3s at the end of the deck and finished screwing down all the decking. This took a couple of hours in the early spring chill. Katie helped by putting out two screws for each board in the rows where he was working. So the platform is all done. Looks great and is nice and sturdy. No new pictures because it doesn't look any different except that all the tools and materials were put away. Tomorrow, stairs.

It should be all finished by the weekend. We hope it warms up soon after that....

We're building a deck!

So it's been two and a half years here, and just as long since we updated the blog. So far so good, but in that time we have also continued to work on the house. The lawn is established and doing well. The basement is being finished and is well on its way, with offices, a gym and a rec room started and a half bathroom, closets and finishing work yet to be done. We still haven't replaced the stairs, the master bathroom needs a remodeling already and half the house has been repainted. The girls now have their own bedrooms, so the front bedroom is Katie's space instead of a junkroom.

But the big job at the moment is outside. We have gone two summers without a deck, but no more. There shall be a deck. Due to restricted funds, it is a relatively simple deck and we are building it ourselves.

We started last Thursday (the 18th) when a 65-degree sunny day arrived. Paul had already scheduled the afternoon off work to take care of something else, and took advantage of the weather to get to work. The little platform we built outside the patio door to pass code has been there all this time, but it's time for it to go.

Construction is similar to the old platform. It's built with Dek-Blocks. See www.deckplans.com if you want to know anything about this construction. Basically, no footings, no concrete to pour, no digging. Just put blocks down, install joists, and attach decking. You can make a lot of progress in a hurry, and it's cheaper and less time consuming than the traditional way.

We started out planning to build a 16x10 deck. First step is to build the frame. On Thursday Paul finished the frame, intending to deck it the next day. Here are photos of the work.

Katie likes to help.

As we looked at it we guessed it might be too small. We debated how much larger it ought to be, but eventually Paul gave in and set to expanding it to 16x16. The big problem with doing this was handling the materials. 16-foot treated 2x6s are a righteous pain to move......

So on Friday, instead of installing decking Paul bought more Dek-Blocks and 16-foot joists along with materials to extend the end boards out six feet, and installed it. It had gotten cold, and he was not even a little bit happy about working in the conditions, but the job got done nonetheless. The underpinnings were done; nothing left to do but put the decking on top. We are using 2x6s on top. We know a lot of people like to use 5/4 pine, cedar or composite decking nowadays, but because it's thinner the deck has to have joists 16" on center, which would means twice as many deck blocks and 16-foot joists. We don't want that. Too expensive. Our joists are 30" apart, which is okay with 2x6 decking. So if that means we have to stain the deck every so often, then so be it. We wouldn't use cedar, since we'd like the deck to be gray and spending the extra money on cedar instead of green treated lumber doesn't make a lot of sense if it's going to be hidden anyway.

Saturday it snowed and was very cold. No work. On Sunday the sun came out, and after church Paul went off to Menards to pick up 35 16-foot-long treated 2x6 boards. Holy crap what a nightmare. He decided to rent their truck, since using the minivan would involve making multiple trips. We're not going to go into all the details about what was all involved in getting them home, but suffice to say he loaded the truck by himself and almost returned it late because it took so long to load.

Paul picked up his nephews to help unload the truck.

It took a while to get all the decking installed. Putting it together is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle - you have to flip and turn boards sometimes to make sure all the crooks are side-by-side so you don't have any big gaps. :) Anyway, it became clear that it was going to get dark before we finished. So although all of the boards are attached, most of them are only attached at the ends. We'll screw down the middles ASAP. Then we have to find a board roughly 2x3 to use at the end, since it didn't come out quite even for some reason. After that, then we'll start on the railing and stairs.

We built a house!

We have been informed that our occupancy permit has been issued. :-) So this is the end. We are now the legal occupants of 2027 W. Wood Avenue. We don't have the permit yet; it was mailed to our old address so it should be along in a few days.

Paul put up the mailbox. We need to remember to call the street department for garbage containers. The truck is going up for sale tomorrow.

The house isn't quite done, of course. There is still trim to be installed and things to be fixed, and lots of organization. Paul spent the day finishing up the whirlpool tub. Not perfect, but not bad. And, of course, we'll start our lawn next spring.



There won't be any more updates. We hope everyone will see the place over the holidays. Thanks to all who have been reading!

More updates

Uninteresting but important work continues. The grading was re-done Thursday and the last of the junk hauled away. Paul called for the survey Thursday night. We bought a washer and dryer pair via Craigslist on Thursday, and spent the evening acquiring the necessary pieces (new dryer cord, vent, new washer intake hoses) and hooking it all up. After a few false starts with excessive water leaks (that's why we needed the new hoses) it was all up and working properly. We like the new machines. The dryer is very fast.

Paul spend Saturday installing the new silt fence, and more organization. The shower door in the main bathroom is in. Paul made mistakes in its installation, but at least it's in. We also have a new cabinet above the washer and dryer, and the laundry room is finally clean and organized. Maybe we'll want a little table or something in there, but we'll see. It looks good.

Closing on the mortgage was uninteresting, it was just a lot of paper signing.

The surveyor came Monday. Tuesday he picks up the results from their office, takes them to Oak Creek and schedules the building inspection.

Recent activity

Okay, things that have been going on this week so far:

The final grading certification wasn't issued; there were some grades that were over a foot and a half off. That meant the excavator had to come back to adjust grades along with moving the fill pile. They did that today, along with smoothing out the yard. After they finish up, which might be tomorrow, we'll have to call for a new survey and then the inspector has to come back again. Don't know if that will get done this week or early next week.

Nonetheless we are closing our loan on Friday. This is to convert the construction loan to a mortgage.

The watchword for the past few days has been "organization". We dropped $600 on closet organizers and shelving the past few days, and Paul has worn himself out assembling and installing them. The closets of the two bedrooms in use now have closet organizers and Kathy swiftly filled them with clothes. It's been nice to get rid of all the boxes around here. Also Paul put shelves in the two bathroom closets, and they were quickly filled too.

This has led to a happy result - tonight Paul emptied the garage. The truck was loaded with trash again, boxes have been moved into the house (many into the basement for storage; some upstairs to be picked through), things staying in the garage were shoved up against the walls (to be properly organized sometime next spring, perhaps), and for the first time tonight we parked the cars in the garage. :)

Nothing happened today.

That's why we have time to write a post. :)

Paul picked up the insulation certificate that had been faxed to his office, and it is here waiting for the inspector to come back on the third building inspection. He also called engineering at City Hall to see if they were going to issue the final grading certificate, but it seems that hasn't been done yet. We are thinking of moving the fill pile ourselves. It's not that big, and we could use a little fill on either side of the driveway. Problem is there are bits of broken sidewalk mixed in there and they're probably too heavy for us to move anywhere. And the pickup is out of service again; battery is always dead. Don't know yet if it's not taking a charge or if something is draining it. It takes a jump so we could use it when we need to but can't shut it off because it won't start again. Blast it all. We needed to sell that truck to help pay some of the bills. More problems.

Kathy fixed up the laundry room closet for the cat to live in. Paul has become one with the couch, to Kathy's annoyance. He's feeling very worn down tonight, and there's a lot of work to do this weekend.

Building reinspect

We're not quite there yet. Almost.

Due to his late bedtime Paul took the day off of work and slept in until ten. When he got up he finished off yesterday's inspection to-do list. Took only a few minutes to install the screws, and slightly longer to insulate around the window and pipes with Great Stuff. Messy substance that crap is.....

Then he moved the top basement stair handrail to the opposite wall. Kathy was not pleased but it's more important to pass the inspection right now. Anyway, then he went to the surveyor's office to pick up the finish grading survey.

It was fortunate that he did that. Jeff, the regular building inspector came today (the backup, Ed, had come yesterday) and took a copy back to the city engineering department for analysis. He also did his own inspection, and approved the things Ed noted but had a couple of his own he wanted fixed. We were missing a batt of insulation in the basement ceiling, which took Paul all of thirty seconds to fix just after Jeff left, and he wanted the last tiny fill pile gone and the silt fence replaced. Darn it. Didn't want to buy and install a new one of those. Also we were missing our insulation certificate.

Nonetheless he dropped off a folder containing papers welcoming us to the community, providing community information and a few booklets of permit and code requirements for putting up sheds, swimming pools or decks.

So Jeff left. Paul called Alpine Insulation for the certificate, which he faxed over shortly thereafter, and called the excavator to get him to remove the fill pile. Darren didn't want to do it until the engineering department approved the grade so that he wouldn't have to make two trips. All right. We'll have to call the engineering department tomorrow afternoon to see if they'll approve the grading and maybe we'll even try to shovel the fill ourselves; we'll see.

There are plenty of other small to midsize tasks to be done. Paul finished installing the travertine ledge above the fireplace and took a few things out of the garage, and Kathy touched up some paint in the family room. We're still putzing with things a bit but Paul is worn down and won't be too ambitious to work on much inside the house for awhile.

Goodbye to Parnell Woods

Wednesday night, 2:45 a.m.

Paul spent seven hours tonight thoroughly cleaning and emptying the condo and just arrived at the house with the last load of possessions.

Thus concludes our nine-year experience of life at Parnell Woods Condominiums. And good riddance.

No rest for the oddly-not-yet-weary. Paul is still going to complete the building inspector's checklist before bed. Whether he'll get up in the morning, though, is open to debate.

Final building inspection

3:00 p.m.

The building inspector arrived. This actually turned out to be much less painful than expected.

Each of the three Pella outside doors (two garage doors and a patio door) were missing one screw in each hinge. And there wasn't enough insulation under the tubs and around the pipes going up from the basement through the floor to the bathrooms. Finally he wasn't sure about the handrail. It wasn't continuous and that may not have passed, so it would either have to be connected or Paul would have to remount them on the other (outside corners) sides and that would be fine. Kathy doesn't want them remounted. We'll see.

It will take about a half hour to fix all the insulation and screw problems, so Paul called for a reinspection tomorrow. These can be fixed tonight after the condo is cleaned, which is the main project for tonight.

Also, the surveying was done. Paul will pick up the sheets tomorrow afternoon and deliver them to the city engineering department.

Tuesday activity

1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning

Paul spent the evening cutting and mounting boards to close up the open risers on the stairs, and installing handrails. The handrails look great, the stairs not so much. I can't believe this could possibly pass inspection but I can't find anything in the state code that it violates. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will work.

Then he spent the late night tiling around the fireplace. Looks great, but we're one piece short. Kathy bought these little 3"x6" pieces to go above the tile, and we need one more cut into quarters to be mounted on each end of both sides. Looks great otherwise. Paul spent more time wiping mastic from where it didn't belong than actually setting tile.

$260 for all the supplies. Yeesh. Ah well. It's done.

We didn't hear anything from the surveying.

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Craziness continued

Post number 80. With any luck we won't make it to 90. It occurs to us that it was barely five months ago that the foundation walls were poured. Seems like five years. We thought of that because the foundation walls are being poured for the house next door.

Anyway. A lot has happened so let's start from the last post and go from there.

Electric repairs were done over the end of last week and the weekend. An outlet was added near the appliance garage (maybe it'll be useful, to run an extra appliance or something); the washer outlet was replaced with a GFCI, the microwave outlet was extended, conduit was installed to protect the Romex inside the island, the shower trims were installed (Paul bought these at Menards, they fit just fine) all three bedroom closet lights were replaced with covered ones, the AC wiring was altered slightly, the smoke detectors were wired so they would all sound when any one went off, and Paul cleaned around the breaker box.

Last night we determined that we would not be staying in the rented condo for another month. That means as of Wednesday night we will be homeless. The landlord wanted the carpets professionally cleaned. No problem.

So, we arrive at this morning. I guess we'll just go chronologically -

Paul drove Katie to school. On the way back Kathy called to say the plumber was on site to finish up the necessary work there. Surprise!

Paul called the plumber to let him know he would be there momentarily. Fortunately he had outside work to do. The plumber's tasks included changing the downspout connections into the underground drain, caulking around the hose outlets, and removing the sprayer from under the sink. Not too difficult. He was done by 9:30 and called for an inspection. Fortunately the inspector was able to come today too.

We got a message from the landlord that we should call their preferred carpet cleaning place. So we did. They're coming tomorrow. Yikes. That gives us the rest of the day to move out of the condo.

Then Paul heard from the surveyor. They wanted to see the grading certification form. Paul eventually made it to Minuteman Printing and faxed it over. When he called to confirm receipt they said they would get here tomorrow or Wednesday. Good deal.

Mixed in with all this, Paul took six loads of wash to the laundromat up the street since we still don't have a washer and dryer.

Kathy came around ten and we waited for the inspectors. The electric inspector arrived first, and suggested a few wires be stapled down but passed us. :) An hour later the plumbing inspector came too, and was satisfied with all the work the plumber did so that passed too.

Then we moved the couch, the kids' old chest of drawers and our bed to the house. In the interim the fireplace guy called to let us know he would be there shortly. We were at the condo and raced back to the house. He just beat us there. So he came in, and promptly told us our trim around the fireplace would have to go because it's flammable and it gets hot around the fireplace. :-/ But he got it going, and for the first time we have fire. :-)

Ashley went and turned on the fireplace when we weren't looking and we left the house with it running. We smelled it when we returned. :-( Now we have to leave it run to burn off the oil and gunk in the firebox. Paul quickly pulled the trim off and opened the windows to keep the smell under control.

And that's where we are now. Tonight we'll finish emptying the condo so the carpet can be cleaned in the morning.

Disaster, ulcers getting worse

Both inspections failed, both over relatively minor points but both are in noncompliance. Primary problem is that the electric list is going to Jeff, who didn't do any of the final work. This is probably going to be real bad, if Jeff starts wondering why he is getting this message when he didn't do the work.

Fireplace is scheduled for Monday 1:00.

Final grading is going on. That's good. Nonetheless we're completely screwed. We won't be in this month because there are bound to be noncompliance issues with the structure, and there's no way that will be resolved by next Wednesday. Maybe Thanksgiving. The plumbing inspector pointed out we have building issues to deal with yet. We need proper stairs, because we still have construction stairs with no risers. He also thought the trim should be done. Looks like we'll be installing those two remaining doors after all. Paul will be busy this weekend.

We should have had these inspections done much earlier. We didn't know they had to be done. We thought the building inspection was done after the final grading and all the inspections would be done then.

Signing off for the day

Inspections tomorrow

The kind of day that gives stomach ulcers. Kathy reported that there was still no action on the fill hauling. So Paul went to the house, and started making phone calls to the city inspection department. We have to be out of the condo by October 31. That's eight days from now.

After some talking it was determined that we needed to get final inspections of the plumbing and electric; if those passed we could get a building inspection and that would be it for the building. One problem: The contractors had pulled the permits, so they had to call for the inspections. That was fine for the plumbing; Paul called Midwest and asked them to call for the inspection. The secretary called back a moment later to tell him that it would be between ten and noon tomorrow. The electric was a bit more problematic because we didn't have Jeff come back to do the final electric. Paul had Al call, and shortly later Al called back to say that inspection would also be between ten and noon.

So Paul has to patch all the holes in the garage wall and by the whirlpool, and he's home tomorrow to meet the inspectors. We hope they won't have a fit over all the stuff in the house. We really hope they pass so we don't have to have any more work done.

Still, we can't get our occupancy permit until the final grade is certified. Paul called the grader. They were very apologetic that they hadn't gotten out to finish yet. It's not drying out around here; it's rained every third day for the last two weeks. We hope they get out here this week.

We still don't have the fireplace going; Paul finally reached Dale this morning but couldn't get a date/time for installation confirmed. If they don't show up tomorrow Paul will have to call and find out when they're coming. In the meantime the switch boxes will have to be covered. It would be nice to get that done once. We'd like to see it in operation.

In other news, Paul put up the fence over the retaining wall this weekend. It's 90% done and looks great so far; there will be a picture when it's complete. Here are pictures of the window well and the landing Paul built a couple weeks ago.

More news tomorrow.....

Egress window well is done. Whirlpool works

The crew from Finishing Touches was here on Friday, Monday and today. They finished up at twilight. The well looks great. Needs to have the drain attached yet, Paul will do that tomorrow or whenever.

Paul cut two tiles and the drywall they were attached to out of the whirlpool base. He tried to be nice about it, but it ended up that the easiest way to do this was to beat it with a hammer until everything broke. :) Once inside he found both GFIs needed to be reset. With that done, everything kicked in and worked. Now he needs to find a little piece of half inch plywood and stick two tiles to it, then screw that to the base and our access panel will be done.

The grading crew will be along as soon as it's dry enough for them to work. That likely means not tomorrow. Maybe Friday.

More puttering around the house

My kingdom for a bottle of white glue. It's the only thing standing between us and a finished kitchen. Paul finally trimmed the kitchen window and cut all the trim panels at the floor and the back of the island. Couldn't find anything to glue it down with though. So it'll have to wait until we scare up a bottle somewhere.

We discovered the whirlpool doesn't work. The pump doesn't kick in. Now we have a new problem to solve. :-( And we forgot to make an access panel under the tub to fix it, so now we have to cut apart some of the tile joints to make one.

We still have to finish up the basement stair light, install closet shelves, mount the in-wall speakers in the master bedroom, trim the master bath and parts of the kitchen, hall, laundry and powder room, put up the fence on top of the wall, and organize the basement and laundry room.

Should keep us busy for awhile.

Puttering around the house......

Kathy made a long list of things that Paul still needed to do to get the house done. Most of it is low-effort work but it needs to be done. So he started on the list. The kitchen cabinets now have handles, finally. 36 handles were installed. Also Paul started closing up the extra hole by the basement stair light, installed the dining room chandelier and screwed down the island and its countertop. All long overdue stuff.

Work will continue tomorrow.

Cable TV

The cable guy came this afternoon to hook us up. So before that happened Paul ran and terminated all the cable this morning. All the dangling wires in the basement are finally gone, it took maybe an hour or so and went okay. The cable guy arrived around 2:00, and after an hour of running cable outside and then inside, we got a great signal on the little TV in the family room.

So then we picked up the 51" projection set from the condo, rolled it into the new house with only mild difficulty, and after a bit of wiring and a run to Radio Shack all our A/V was done and we finally got the digital surround sound going. :) Looks and sounds great.

Paul also picked up the remaining computers from the condo and set up the network printer and the file server next to the wiring cabinet so that's going. We're glad to have it.

That's it for electronics left at the condo. It's all here now.

In other news the window well will start tomorrow. Paul will try to be on site early to answer any questions.

House is complete!

The electric installation was completed Sunday. Paul also finished installing all the network jacks Sunday night (as he is a network technician, this is one of the few things at which he is truly competent....) and that went well. Some jacks needed to be repunched, but no big deal.

Phone service was brought to the house on Monday, and with it came our DSL Internet service too. Only problem was that nobody had connected it to the inside wiring. So that was Paul's job too. He picked up a roll of outdoor phone cord at Radio Shack and, after a few false starts due to the stripped wire breaking, soon had the network interface connected to the phone block inside. He connected a couple jacks to the block, and just like that we had two working phones in the house. Then he connected the DSL modem a few minutes later so we have an Internet connection here too.

Cable is coming Thursday, so Paul will just have to get his coax cables spliced and connected to splitters tomorrow night. That won't take long.

Now we just wait on the landscaping. Finishing Touches Landscaping is coming Thursday to start constructing the wall. They should be done by Monday. Paul tentatively scheduled the final grading for Tuesday. On Wednesday morning we'll have the surveyor come in the certify the grading, and assuming that's done correctly we'll have the inspector come by as soon as possible thereafter to give us our occupancy permit. Then we'll finish moving and that will be that.

Last week we had moved boxes of stuff from the basement of the condo to the garage of the house. Today since the weather finally cooled off we moved the stuff to the basement here so the garage / receiving dock :) is ready for more stuff.

Paul moved a little bit of stuff from the condo to the house today and wanted to do more but he is oddly worn down and doesn't have the energy to do much. We cleaned out some stuff but he's done by 9:30, which is early for him.....

Air conditioned comfort

The A/C is working and a blessing it is. It's hot. We shut the doors and cooled off. There has also been progress with the basement lighting.

The furniture arrived and looks great. We couldn't fit a chair intended for the family room in it. It's living in the blue bedroom.

Paul terminated nine important jacks upstairs. There are about ten remaining to be done. When those are done he'll punch down in the block downstairs and then our phone wiring should be done. Also we'll be doing some minor cleanup tasks and emptying the garage into the basement so we can continue cleaning out the house.

Plumbing done. And we have heat!

The plumbers worked Monday and Tuesday. This was completely uneventful. Our whirlpool works now, and the master bath toilet is working again. Also they installed the gas line and the thermostat. The power to the furnace had already been hooked up, which meant that we now have heat. :) Too bad it's 80 degrees out and what we actually need (in October!) is air conditioning. It was wired, but kept popping the breaker due to a short in the outside wiring. It should be fixed tomorrow.

After all this time, all the outlets in the house finally now work. The kitchen outlets were all correctly rewired and tested working, which just left the homework desk outlet and the master bath. Paul fixed both of them tonight. A hot wire had fallen out of a wire nut in the homework desk outlet, which was easily repaired; and he replaced the GFI in the master bath with a new one. That worked well.

So that just leaves the doorbell and smoke detectors, which have to be connected in the panel, and the light above the basement stairs. Bad news is that we have an extra hole in the basement stair wall. :-( The first hole for the box was cut in a stud space that was heavily blocked and there was no way to fish a wire down through. Once we pulled up the pictures of the pre-drywalled house and saw this, we decided to make a new hole on the other side of the stud where the space was wide open. Fishing a wire through here took just a minute, and that's where we stand right now. It will be hooked up in the panel soon too. When these tasks are done the house itself will be complete and ready for inspection.

But we can't call in the inspector yet because of that window well. We hired Finishing Touches Landscaping to build a block well for basement egress. This will be pricey ($4300) but what are you going to do. It has to be done. They'll start next week and once that and final grading are done we will call in the inspector. Actually, maybe we'll do that after the A/C is done and get the HVAC inspected right away so that's out of the way.

Tasks remaining for us are to install the base molding in the kitchen, punch down all the phone/network/CATV wiring, put up the fence, and move our stuff out of the condo. This latter we have been working on the past few days with moderate success. The garage is a disastrous junky mess full of crap brought over from the storage unit and the condo. We have to move these things into the basement before anything else can come in.

In other news, we filed our fourth and final draw, and our living room and family room furniture will be delivered tomorrow.

That's it. See you next time.

A party at the house

Got a visit tonight from Paul's parents to see the house before they go away on a two week vacation. His brother Steve, as usual, drove them down; and we were surprised by his brother Ron and sons coming down too. We celebrated Kathy's birthday upcoming on Tuesday. Of course, a good time was had by all. The odd thing was that our guests were gone by 8:30 and we then left the house - this was the earliest Paul had been home from the house in a week. Unused to having a whole evening with nothing to do, he cleaned the kitchen at the condo. :)

We had the house clean and looking great because we spent much of last night and today placing furniture, hanging pictures, fixing paint chips, cleaning grout off the walls and floors and just generally cleaning up. Unfortunately it's still not completely done, but will be soon. Electric work has been continuing all week. The furnace and air conditioner are wired but still have to be connected in the panel. Same with the stove, dryer and dishwasher. Also, after all this time we finally have power in the family room. There had never been a hot lead to that room. With minor difficulty Paul and Al fished a wire through the wall and today it was connected in the panel. We also still need the GFCIs connected correctly in the master bedroom and kitchen and a box installed above the stairs in the ceiling and switches hooked to it.

The plumber didn't come Thursday, Paul got them for Monday. Unfortunately they declined to install the faucet we bought due to the difficulty of removing the Moen rough-in pipes that were installed, so we are getting a Moen trim kit from them. Most likely it will be pricey and Kathy won't be happy with it but at least we'd finally get the plumbing done. It and the drain need to be installed in the whirlpool, the gas hooked up and the thermostat installed and that should be that for that.

We have been emptying our storage unit so we don't have to pay next month's rent. This has gone rather better than expected. It only took about a dozen or so runs with the pickup and van to nearly empty it. There are two more truckloads for tomorrow. We've been putting everything in the basement and garage, and the garage is pretty stuffed now, but we'll organize it when we get the chance. Also, we spent a lot of time and effort working on the window well problem the last couple days. However, this morning Paul, after trying for an hour and a half to make a stable base on which to set the 8,000 pound wall, determined there was absolutely no way to pull this off with the manpower, equipment and knowledge we had at hand. We are going to have to hire somebody to build the well for us if we want any chance at getting this done right. That will mean more delays, which is pretty upsetting. On the other hand, we're nowhere near ready to move out of the condo so at least we'll be able to use the time to clear out and clean it, and figure out how to organize the house.

So Paul used the time today to build the landing outside the patio doors. He was pretty tense about this as all the directions for building these referred to ledgers and concrete post holes and inspections and whatnot. Then he found that Home Depot carries all the materials necessary to make a floating deck. It doesn't attach to the house, just set the concrete piers on the ground nice and level, install 2x6s and screw them down. $150 bought all the materials to make the 6x5 foot landing, and two hours of shoveling, tamping, setting and cutting later he was nearly done. Would have finished but he underestimated the amount of lumber necessary and ran five boards short. We'll get those tomorrow and finish up. Turned out to be a very easy job. It's nice being able to get out the patio doors without risking a turned ankle.

Tomorrow's activities include that, completing the emptying of the storage unit and assembling the final draw for filing Monday. And the usual miscellaneous, helping with the electric and organizing.

Carpeting, hot water and a full garage

The primary activity the last two days has been painting of millwork in the carpeted areas. That was done Monday. Today the carpet installers arrived at 9:30 and went to work. It was kind of an odd setup, eventually involving six different people who came in and out as the day went by, but either way by 3:30 or so all the carpeting was in place and it looked great. Finally, the OSB we've been walking on and abusing for four months is nowhere to be seen.

Electric work continues. The hot water heater is hooked up and works fine. Now we have hot AND cold running water. Woo hoo. :)

The whirlpool faucet will arrive tomorrow. We called the plumber and HVAC guys to come back Thursday to go to work. We also called the excavator back in, he will try to get it done Thursday or Friday. Paul will contact him Thursday morning to find out when he will be coming so he can be there.

If the electric is finished we could maybe have the inspector come Friday afternoon, otherwise more likely Monday because that will give Al the weekend to finish up. He may need it. Still remaining to be done are the furnace, air conditioner, stove, dishwasher, dryer, installation of ANOTHER missing circuit (there was no feed to the family room; the whole room is completely dead) and fixing the light over the stairs. That's just off the top of my head, I can't remember if there's any more. The smoke detectors and doorbell are in but the wires aren't run to 110V yet. We also have a dead outlet in the homework desk. That's kind of a biggie because we'll be using that to charge up our electronics. We also need to get the fireplace going.

Kathy is anxious to empty the storage unit to avoid paying another month's rent on it. So Paul dragged four pickup loads full of stuff to the house and left most of it in the recently-cleaned garage for the time being. We were specifically looking for the dining room table and did soon unearth it, but we were unhappy to find the glass tabletop had broken in two. Now we'll have to go have a new top made at the glass shop. The pedestals and chairs survived fine, at least.

Think that's it for now. Wonder how much more progress we'll have by the end of the week.........

Millwork and electric, day 65

No, not really, it just seems that way. It was a productive day. Paul finished installing all the base molding in the areas to be carpeted. Gap filling and painting have followed and the work looks good. We should easily be ready for carpet installation on Tuesday.

Electric work continued too. We started with a mild crisis this morning when Paul decided to find two buried fixtures - the powder room light above the sink and the light above the landing for the basement stairs. First the half bath light - Paul was looking for an electrical box and not finding one drilled a couple of extra pilot holes to look. Eventually he wondered if there really was a box at all or just a loop of wire, and he enlarged the very first hole made. And there was the wire. He pulled it out. Later Al mounted a box there, and Paul attached the fixture so we finally have light in the powder room. He also has some extra pilot holes to fill. :-(

The bigger problem was the light above the stairs. Paul realized that the garage wall backed up on the stairs, and it occurred to him to just cut out part of the unfinished drywall in the garage and just patch it back up later. Well, two big squares and loads of insulation later, Paul finally found the wire coming up from the switch and followed it.....way past the point where any box could possibly be. The wire was heading off toward the bottom of the basement stairs where the other 3-way switch for the light was. There was no hot feed to the switches, and there was no box. Damn. Now we have a problem. We have to get a feed from somewhere, install a box and wire it. This stinks.

Kathy was thoroughly unimpressed with the cutting. What else to do, though; it's not we can just magically know where everything is. Some of this stuff wasn't photographed.

Paul cleaned before he left today. So here's what all happened.



Just being a 3-year-old is hard work. Ashley crashed on the dining room floor.



Helping fill gaps in the molding joints.



The completed family room wearing its new shoes. :-) Each one of those arches required nine pieces of base molding.



One side of the living room.



Other side of the living room. The radio doesn't get to stay there, but at least it's off the part of the floor that will be carpeted It was keeping Paul company tonight with '50s music from Toronto's AM 740 CHWO.



Down the hall



The kitchen and dining room, from the family room.



The new driveway.



The new walkway from the driveway to the front door.

Tomorrow? Millwork painting will continue in the carpeted areas. Paul will probably start installing in the vinyl areas for lack of anything better to do.