A lot has happened in the past few weeks. I don't even know where to start! I guess I'll start where I left off last time and catch ya'll up on what's been going on...
HVAC: The heating & air guys fixed everything the week after the mix up. They ended up switching out the 2 ton air handler in the attic for a 2.5 ton and leaving the 2.5 ton downstairs as well. And more importantly, they ran not only one, but TWO vents to my art room. Hurray! Hopefully I'll stay nice and cool in there during the hot summers.
Fireplace: The fireplace actually came in the day after I ordered it, but they didn't call me to tell me it was in! So we picked it up a couple days later on a Saturday morning (May 7th) and drove down to the house. We brought the whole family that day, including Margaret and the kids. Dustin and his dad took the fireplace inside to install it. Ironically, the framing dimension I got from the fireplace manual was slightly larger than the actual unit. The mounting plates didn't overlap the studs. Dustin had to add a block to both sides of the opening so he'd actually have something to put the screws into. But it ended up working out. The future agenda for the fireplace is to add a stoop in front of it, some wood molding and a mantle, tile surround, and built-in bookshelves on either side. It's going to be fabulous!
Insulation: I think the framing inspection happened the next Wednesday (May 11th). It's all a blur. The house passed with flying colors, or so I assume, since the insulation guys showed up the very next day to begin their work. Dustin and his dad were gearing up for doing some insulation work of their own in the art room. Then our builder called us with a quote from the insulation installer. He offered to do the art room for us for what sounded like a pretty good price. Jerry quickly calculated the cost to buy all the insulation ourselves at Home Depot. The cost of the materials alone was more than this guy was offering to do the whole room, labor and materials! It was an offer we couldn't refuse. There was one catch, however. There are two sloped ceilings in the art room, since it is under the garage roof. The batted insulation needed in those areas is R30, which requires at least 9-10 inches of depth. You can't compress insulation because it loses efficiency. The trusses above the garage were constructed of 2x6's. We would need an additional 4 inches. So, Dustin and Jerry rushed down to the house on Wednesday afternoon (May 12th) to cut pieces of 2x4 to stub out each truss to turn the 2x6's into 2x10's. We lost just a bit of ceiling height in the slopes, but not enough to be noticeable. They finished up late that night, just in time for the insulation to be installed the next morning. Dustin and Jerry didn't mind not having to get covered in that horribly itchy fiberglass insulation. Although, I guess Jerry didn't escape that entirely. We came to the house after the insulation was in. The installers had left a couple rolls of left over insulation. We decided to put a little sound proofing between the art room and Alivia's room and the loft. We also put some insulation around the plumbing pipes in the living room ceiling for sound proofing. Jerry got stuck with those jobs!
Sheetrock: After a quick insulation inspection, the sheetrock guys got to work. We decided that we might as well ask that installer to give us a quote for the art room also. And it was another great price that we couldn't turn down. We came back to the house on May 15th to check out the results. What an amazing transformation that was! We had actual rooms and walls, and it started feeling like a real house. The following photos are the step-by-step process from framing, to insulation, to sheetrock, to mudding for several of the rooms.
Front Entry
Upstairs Bathroom
Upstairs Loft looking into Art Room.
Living Room
HVAC: The heating & air guys fixed everything the week after the mix up. They ended up switching out the 2 ton air handler in the attic for a 2.5 ton and leaving the 2.5 ton downstairs as well. And more importantly, they ran not only one, but TWO vents to my art room. Hurray! Hopefully I'll stay nice and cool in there during the hot summers.
Fireplace: The fireplace actually came in the day after I ordered it, but they didn't call me to tell me it was in! So we picked it up a couple days later on a Saturday morning (May 7th) and drove down to the house. We brought the whole family that day, including Margaret and the kids. Dustin and his dad took the fireplace inside to install it. Ironically, the framing dimension I got from the fireplace manual was slightly larger than the actual unit. The mounting plates didn't overlap the studs. Dustin had to add a block to both sides of the opening so he'd actually have something to put the screws into. But it ended up working out. The future agenda for the fireplace is to add a stoop in front of it, some wood molding and a mantle, tile surround, and built-in bookshelves on either side. It's going to be fabulous!
Insulation: I think the framing inspection happened the next Wednesday (May 11th). It's all a blur. The house passed with flying colors, or so I assume, since the insulation guys showed up the very next day to begin their work. Dustin and his dad were gearing up for doing some insulation work of their own in the art room. Then our builder called us with a quote from the insulation installer. He offered to do the art room for us for what sounded like a pretty good price. Jerry quickly calculated the cost to buy all the insulation ourselves at Home Depot. The cost of the materials alone was more than this guy was offering to do the whole room, labor and materials! It was an offer we couldn't refuse. There was one catch, however. There are two sloped ceilings in the art room, since it is under the garage roof. The batted insulation needed in those areas is R30, which requires at least 9-10 inches of depth. You can't compress insulation because it loses efficiency. The trusses above the garage were constructed of 2x6's. We would need an additional 4 inches. So, Dustin and Jerry rushed down to the house on Wednesday afternoon (May 12th) to cut pieces of 2x4 to stub out each truss to turn the 2x6's into 2x10's. We lost just a bit of ceiling height in the slopes, but not enough to be noticeable. They finished up late that night, just in time for the insulation to be installed the next morning. Dustin and Jerry didn't mind not having to get covered in that horribly itchy fiberglass insulation. Although, I guess Jerry didn't escape that entirely. We came to the house after the insulation was in. The installers had left a couple rolls of left over insulation. We decided to put a little sound proofing between the art room and Alivia's room and the loft. We also put some insulation around the plumbing pipes in the living room ceiling for sound proofing. Jerry got stuck with those jobs!
Sheetrock: After a quick insulation inspection, the sheetrock guys got to work. We decided that we might as well ask that installer to give us a quote for the art room also. And it was another great price that we couldn't turn down. We came back to the house on May 15th to check out the results. What an amazing transformation that was! We had actual rooms and walls, and it started feeling like a real house. The following photos are the step-by-step process from framing, to insulation, to sheetrock, to mudding for several of the rooms.
Brackets: With all the insulation and sheetrocking out of the way, the next thing scheduled was siding. That meant that we needed to have our eave brackets ready to install. Several weeks ago Dustin bought 4x4 and 2x4 pressure treated pine to construct our brackets. The wood had been drying in our current garage ever since. Knowing that the brackets needed to get put in before the siding, we quickly went to work. Jerry and I worked all day Tuesday (May 17th) cutting the pieces for four of the brackets. I swear we measured everything accurately, but after we cut everything, the pieces didn't quite fit together! Dustin got home from work and helped us figure out the problem. We had to trim the diagonal piece for every bracket. Then we glued and fastened one of them to take to the house the next day. We were meeting with the siding guys to discuss some design details.
The siding installers started work Friday (May 20th). They said they would start on the back side of the house where no brackets were planned. We agreed to bring the brackets Saturday morning to start hanging them. It worked out great because Dustin was able to get the help of the siders and use their scaffolding to mount the brackets in some of the higher eaves. The extension ladder we borrowed from a friend wasn't quite tall enough for the highest peaks. But getting the brackets finished in time was another story altogether. Dustin and Jerry worked tirelessly Wednesday and Thursday cutting, gluing and assembling all 17 brackets. We then pulled out the oil based stain we had purchased to finish the brackets. It required a 24-48 hour drying time. Ahhhh! It was 10 pm Thursday night. They needed to by dry by Saturday morning. I ran to Lowe's to pick up some brushes. I started staining at approximately 1 am and didn't finish until 6 am. Dustin stayed along side of me sanding and chiseling the brackets to a nice smooth finish before handing them to me to stain. What a night!
Not to mention, we had a sick baby on our hands that night also. Margaret stayed up most of the night with Alivia, monitoring her fever, which reached almost 103 degrees. She tried giving her Tylenol, which she promptly threw up. After a call to the after hours nurse at 4 am, we had an appointment scheduled for 8:40 later than morning. I finally got Alivia back to sleep then went out to finish the staining. By 6:30 am when I was cleaning up, I figured there was no use going to bed, since I had to take Ethan to school a little after 7. Then by the time I got back from doing that, I only had time to shower and take Alivia to the doctor. The ear infection she had earlier in the week had not gotten any better on the antibiotics she was taking, so they gave me a stronger one. I drove her home, praying that I wouldn't fall asleep. Upon entering the house I put Alivia back to bed and passed out in my own bed. Staying up all night is never a good idea!
I'm happy to say that it was all worth it, though. The brackets are beautiful! And they were completely dry by Saturday morning. Dustin and Jerry, with some help from the siders, had most of the brackets installed by Saturday evening. The rest were completed the Tuesday after, by the siders. We are so grateful that they did that for us!
Siding: We've had our share of drama during the phases of building this house, and the siding was no exception. But I'll save the siding saga for the next post. To be continued...
The siding installers started work Friday (May 20th). They said they would start on the back side of the house where no brackets were planned. We agreed to bring the brackets Saturday morning to start hanging them. It worked out great because Dustin was able to get the help of the siders and use their scaffolding to mount the brackets in some of the higher eaves. The extension ladder we borrowed from a friend wasn't quite tall enough for the highest peaks. But getting the brackets finished in time was another story altogether. Dustin and Jerry worked tirelessly Wednesday and Thursday cutting, gluing and assembling all 17 brackets. We then pulled out the oil based stain we had purchased to finish the brackets. It required a 24-48 hour drying time. Ahhhh! It was 10 pm Thursday night. They needed to by dry by Saturday morning. I ran to Lowe's to pick up some brushes. I started staining at approximately 1 am and didn't finish until 6 am. Dustin stayed along side of me sanding and chiseling the brackets to a nice smooth finish before handing them to me to stain. What a night!
Not to mention, we had a sick baby on our hands that night also. Margaret stayed up most of the night with Alivia, monitoring her fever, which reached almost 103 degrees. She tried giving her Tylenol, which she promptly threw up. After a call to the after hours nurse at 4 am, we had an appointment scheduled for 8:40 later than morning. I finally got Alivia back to sleep then went out to finish the staining. By 6:30 am when I was cleaning up, I figured there was no use going to bed, since I had to take Ethan to school a little after 7. Then by the time I got back from doing that, I only had time to shower and take Alivia to the doctor. The ear infection she had earlier in the week had not gotten any better on the antibiotics she was taking, so they gave me a stronger one. I drove her home, praying that I wouldn't fall asleep. Upon entering the house I put Alivia back to bed and passed out in my own bed. Staying up all night is never a good idea!
I'm happy to say that it was all worth it, though. The brackets are beautiful! And they were completely dry by Saturday morning. Dustin and Jerry, with some help from the siders, had most of the brackets installed by Saturday evening. The rest were completed the Tuesday after, by the siders. We are so grateful that they did that for us!
Siding: We've had our share of drama during the phases of building this house, and the siding was no exception. But I'll save the siding saga for the next post. To be continued...
3 comments:
I'm so happy to see a new blog post! Wow. How did you keep it all straight? Drama is right. I can't wait to see the finished product.
Mom
Perseverance pays off! So does reading the label and checking each contractors work, OFTEN!
I'm glad that you will have all of the details of keeping contractors on task by the time we build our home!!
As Katie says to Brian. "You rock babe." or in this case. "You rock, Beck."
Mom
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