Day 41 - Lot done but not much to see

Quick run down of the last 2 days.


I emailed the PM with a few items I noticed and a day later they were all fixed.  He really is on top of it whenever I bring something to his attention.   On the negative, I did get a "reminder" that I'm not supposed to be in the house w/o an employee for safety reasons.   I am going to try my best...

• Plumbing seems to be mainly done.   Maybe a few items left.  Hot water heater isn't in place yet.
• Guardian did their wiring install today.  I met them there this morning and marked all the drop locations and they were supposed to be done today.  The come back later to install plugs, plates and their panel.  
• Electricians were there this morning when I met with Guardian.   They were great.   Confirmed locations of a few extra outlets, switches, etc.   The original panel location now has a water pipe above it (Sump Pump drain) which is a horrible idea.   Backup plan was garage wall, which works a lot better for me.  I was going to have to frame around the old location when I finish under the morning room as an office.  Now there is nothing to worry about.   Plus it will be a lot easier to install a generator transfer switch with the panel closer to the outside.   
• The electricians also helped me out by drilling a hole through a stud above the fireplace.  This will allow me to fish my HDMI cables down to the guardian drop with everything hidden.   Sometime next week I am going to try to do a post on my AV/security/wiring/etc plans.   I basically got the minimum from guardian and I am either going wireless or self install on a lot of it.

Day 38 - Shingles and Pipes

After being away for 48 hours I stopped by after work.   The plumbers were there tearing the place up (in a good way) so I didn't look around too much.  Last thing I want to do is hold them up.

• Shingles in
• Bathtub is almost there.
• Guest shower in place
• Water and Drains are in progress.  

The only things unusual are the water in the basement and my 2" PVC.   Basement water is from a still unknown source (possibly the missing basement window) and people say totally normal, but still not something I wanted to see.   I will be checking with the PM to make sure he knows where it came from.

The 2nd thing is the plumbers installed the 2" PVC from the furnace room to attic that I requested.  This $275 pipe will save $2750 in guardian expenses for future drops.   Plan is to have the master bedroom and family room guardian wired (living room and parts of the basement too) with the included drops and do the rest of the bedrooms myself (cost about $10/drop and 30 minutes) using this PVC as my path from the basement to the attic.   Basically anything that is accessible after drywall I will do myself.   I am sure guardian does good work, but at $125 per drop it is anything but a good deal.   Plus they won't do anything custom.   Want 2 HDMI's?  That will be $1200 because we only do HDMI included with the HDTV package and 1 max, no substitutions.   It was a quick meeting.  Nice guy, plenty of better ways to spend my money.   On that note, I am meeting with them on Thursday to mark the drops they are going to install.

Shingles ON.

Tub almost there

Guest Shower

My 2" Basement to Attic PVC 

Grrrrr.......  Deep Breathe...

Day 34 - Seal'er Up!

House was pretty much sealed up today.  Great news in case it rains.  I have been paranoid about this  Any day now I am going to have to start asking for the keys to get in (boo...).   

•  Front door and surround windows installed.   
• Both Garage doors installed
• Garage firedoor (interior) installed
• deck exit blocked off until deck installed.

I'm guessing there was an issue with some of the house wrap.  Yesterday the whole 2nd floor was wrapped, but today they took off the bottom half over the whole rear.  

Shingles tomorrow and the PM is supposed to call with a schedule update.  We're less than 60 days out, but won't get our closing date for another week or so (pre-drywall meeting).

Tar paper on the roof. Shingles Tomorrow

Fireplace in, centered (!) and looking good finally

Got Garage Doors today

Day 33 - Ready to Roof

More big progress.   In 2 days they seem to have finished the upstairs (internal walls and all), got all of the decking on the roof, pre-staged the roofing materials (for tomorrow???) and weather wrapped the entire house.   And finally poured the garage slab.  Hard to believe all this is in 1 week since framing started.

All the windows are in.  Only 1 cracked, so not too bad of an average.  No garage doors, garage entrance door, or front door yet, so I can still sneak in after they workers finally leave (8:30pm tonight, seriously dedicated)

So far we have not had ANY rain since the wood was delivered -- and I am very relieved.  I know it will all dry out eventually, but I would rather not run a dehumidifier 24/7 for the first 5 years....   Assuming the roof and door go on before the weekend then I will be a very happy camper.   We're creeping up on 60 days out so I will probably give our PM a call sometime next week to see how he's feeling about calling out a closing date. 

This is 1 week into framing.  Impressive work guys. 

Eventual front door and window are currently in the living room 

Still a bit unsure on this fireplace fix.   Those studs above are anything but straight.  Not sure if they built for a 48" and shrunk for a 36"...  

Another great sunset here.  

Yeah for the engineered garage slab...

Master Bedroom

Tray ceiling in the master bedroom  looking towards bathroom

Tub deck built

House directly across the street is poured.  Not sure which model

Foyer into the attic

Day 31 - 2nd Floor Rises

Big progress today!    Basically the entire 2nd floor is up (or will be by the time they eventually quit for the day).   I stopped by around 3pm and they had all of the walls up and were just finishing the roof trusses and "end cap" trusses.

It looked like they started to wrap the first floor but it was super windy so I think they finally stopped...  

I ran a few errands and picked up our daughter, who wanted to come back and see the house -- so I had to oblige, of course.    Two hours later (no photos) it appeared they were working on the interior walls of the 2nd floor.  

Very exciting progress all around.

Front.  Obviously

Side Entry Garage view with bedroom above.

Garage straight view.   Nice that driveway will be straight in but tapered a bit.

The back.   The overhang from the bedroom is screaming for an awning and a patio :-)

This is the crazy sh*t these guys do... They can not possibly pay them enough.