Welcome to Crazytown!

Ok, so maybe it's not Crazytown, but it's pretty darn close! If I had time to find a candle, I'd be burning it at both ends. When people (who will remain nameless, until they utter this statement again) say "after it's framed, everything stops", they were WRONG! The house is almost completely blacked-in. Yes, I feel comfortable enough with my newly acquired building prowess to use terms like "blacked-in", Pex pipe, manifold, flashing (in no way related to bling), and I-joist. That's just how I roll.

From Framing

Anyway, the house is almost blacked-in and we are about half-way through roughing in the plumbing and electrical. We have cabinets ordered, insulation guy is coming tomorrow, HVAC crew will be coming in at the end of the week and Sheetrock starts in 2-3 weeks. There have been a million other little things that have happened as well and I have the cell phone bill as proof! I've spent more time on the phone than I did in middle school. Yuck, middle school.

From Framing

Upstairs Tub/Shower

From Framing

Pex pipe and wiring! Yes folks, we will have running water and electric lights!

One major change since the last post is that we have the majority of our Hardi board up. Beware! It is a highly offensive and slightly baby poo shade of gold. This is not permanent! It will be painted white, but not for a few more weeks. The shingles/roof will be finished tomorrow and it is suh-weeeet! Those blasted shingles are the only thing we've busted the budget on.

From Framing

You see the resemblance to baby poo, right?

From Framing

Those beautiful shingles on that 12/12 pitch roof make my heart flutter. That's right, I'm dropping more fancy building terms.

This week we also got doors and windows. The front door is my favorite door ever in the whole wide world! I also enjoy the French doors in the living room, although I don't like calling them French because I don't want them to think they are better than the other doors or to start smoking and making snide comments about Americans. I'm pretty fond of windows and door with windows in them. I'm also pretty fond of sleep which I am in desperate need of right now. Enjoy the pictures and click on any of them to be linked to our Picasa web albums.

From Framing

This is the front door and it will be painted a lovely shade of red. Eventually.

I Was Framed!

Of course I am referring to the fact that we are knee deep in the framing stage of our build! Yes, I realize that I am almost a month behind in updating the blog. In my defense, this house building business is exhausting and time consuming! Remember when I said I would update the blog weekly? I was delusional. I apologize for spreading my irrational expectations on the world wide web. Unlike the blog, the house is really growing. As of today, the second floor is almost completely framed in, the front porch has been poured and the garage is now the proud owner of a HUGE slab of concrete. We are almost "blacked in".
This was taken after during the first week of framing. Josh is standing in the front door.

From Framing

First floor is "wrapped" and the "I" joists are going up on the second floor.

From Framing

Josh was staying pretty busy sweeping the water off of our floors. The drought ended the day we started framing.

From Framing

Sitting on our staircase. I envision this staircase as the backdrop for many pictures in years to come.

From Framing

The dormers are up and roof system is in progress. That 12/12 pitch roof is a doozy to work on. I will apologize in advance to my roofers and painters. But I really wanted that roof!

From Framing

I love driving up to see work happening!

From Framing

While all of this is going on we are also picking out cabinets and granite,hardwood and carpet, ordering doors, windows, garage doors and Hardi board.
But we're still having fun!

From Framing

A Firm Foundation

I'll admit it, I never really understand what Josh and the guys were talking about when discussing digging a footer and pouring a foundation. I completely understand now! In fact, I'm pretty sure I could write a how-to book on the subject.

From The Land

Digging the footer

From The Foundation

The foundation ends up looking like a maze. Rebar is laid throughout the foundation before the concrete is poured.

From The Foundation

This is the foundation for the safe room, which is also one of the closets in the master bedroom.

From The Foundation

This is what the foundation looked like the day before they started the framing. Josh and I shoveled and raked dirt, pulling out rocks and roots so that our builders would have a nice foundation to walk around on and the people who have to work underneath (plumbers, electricians and cable guys) would have a smooth floor to crawl around on.

A huge thanks to Powe Contracting and all of the hardworking guys who came over in 90+ degree weather, after already working a full day, to work on our foundation. According to Uncle Joe, Randy Powe, and Mike Williamson, it's a REALLY good foundation.