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.
