May 28, 2012 - Today is Memorial Day and I hope you took some time to remember why this is an important holiday to celebrate!

Andy, Danielle, Tyler and I all went out shooting today and on the way back we stopped at the house.  My intent was just to check on the status of the drywall and was surprised to see the guys working today!  Very warm today with a high of 92 degrees and no clouds in the sky.

The columns have been installed!
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May 26, 2012 - Dry wall is going up very quickly.  If you remember from yesterday's post almost all of the dry wall was up and when we stopped by this morning around 11AM it was done!  In fact they were taping the seams.  By the way, today is the Saturday before Memorial Day and I was surprised to see the guys working.

Dry wall in the garage.
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This is the sun room.
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The guys taping in the Master Bedroom.
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The great room on the first floor.
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May 25, 2012 - The guys doing the dry wall are FAST!  I was able to get off work a little early and got to the house around 2:30PM.  All the upstairs was roughed in and ready for taping and mud.  The Geothermal guys finished their drilling and will now tap into the house.  Also some of the trim arrived today and was put in the garage.

When I talked to Donna on the phone she was amazed that the guys were on stilts.
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This is the living room on the first floor.
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Upstairs game/family room.  The upstairs is all roughed in and just waiting for taping.
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Geothermal guys finished the drilling.  If you look closely you will see all four tires off the ground.
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May 24, 2012 - Got a call from Donna while I was at work and she said the guys who were going to install the dry wall found a Copperhead snake in the garage and Donna found one in the master bathroom!!  They killed both of them and I got there as soon as I could.  Turned out they weren't copperheads but a Rat Snake, or a Cowsucker or a Black Snake.  At least that is what the Animal Control guy told me when I called him.  With all the high grass in the lot next to us I'm not surprised the snakes are here.

Building wise, the dry wall will be installed tomorrow and the Geothermal guys will drill the holes in the front yard.  Andy, Danille and Tyler all arrived today for the holiday weekend and stopped by the house.  Tyler and the girls went to the house and Andy helped me clean the pile of trash in the front yard so they could drill.  I started at 3PM and Andy arrived at 5:30PM.  We worked until 8PM and almost filled up the dumpster!  BOY am I tired!

Snakes on the plain!  The top snake is 5' long!
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Dry wall is inside the house and they guys should start tomorrow.
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May 22-23, 2012 - The framing inspection is complete which means the installation of the insulation could start.  It only took one day and Tuesday when I stopped out after work it was already done!  Now the drywall will start this week!  Things will really go fast now!  We are arranging for water hookup, putting in a septic system and drilling for the GeoThermal.

Insulation in the garage.
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This is the piano room that faces the front of the house.
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May 17, 2012 - A big milestone today.  For the past week and a half we have had three inspectors in...HVAC, Electrical and Plumbing.  All was going well with the exception of the HVAC.  Early last week the inspector wrote a few things up with one of them being 'No return vents in the sun room.'   The builder met with the inspector and explained that it was a sun room and no returns were necessary.  This past week again it was written up and our plumber called me Monday evening and asked if I would talk with the inspector with the hope that the home owner would be able to verify our intent for the room.  Never mind the plans specifically shows it as a sun room with no HVAC designated.  Until I could get this cleared up we were at a standstill and could not proceed.  Well I called Tuesday morning and the inspector was in a meeting.  I left a message (with a real person) to have him call me as soon as possible.  Two hours later around 10:50AM he still had not called so I called back.  I was told he was out on inspections and wouldn't be back until later in the afternoon!  Fortunately the guy answering the phone said I could talk to the boss of the Planning and Building Code.  I said I didn't want to bypass our inspector (I know all about 'chain of command') but the guy said it was OK.  I waited about a minute and the boss picked up the phone and I explained my dilemma.  He only asked one questions.  Is there going to be heating or cooling in the room?  When I said NO he said he would take care of it.  Just that easy...and it was.  I got a call from our HVAC contractor a couple of hours later and he said everything is a GO!

Plumbing Approval.
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The approval of the HVAC allows us to request the framing inspection.  The framing inspection was completed today with just minor issues.  Once those minor issues are corrected we will be ready for insulation (one day) and then dry wall will be installed!!  It look like by Monday the minor things will be done and insulation could begin on Tuesday!

 

The Hardi-siding on the sun room is up and painted!  We really like the way it turned out.
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May 9-11, 2012 - Some progress on the outside of the house.  If you remember from the May 1st post, Donna and I were painting some of the Hardi-siding.  There was just too much of it for us to finish for the builder to install it on time that we ended up hiring a guy to do it.  He painted our church when the new building was being constructed and did an excellent job there.  He will prime the rest of the house when the dry wall is up and ready.

The fascia and soffit is also being installed and things are progressing well.

Chief Building Inspector checking out the work.
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May 5-6, 2012 - It's been awhile since I last posted.  This past week I have been the supervisor at work (three of us rotate the responsibilities) and very busy.  Also this past week Kevin, Meredith and Samantha Jones traveled North from Alabama to spend some time with us.  As I write this Kevin is in Germany working for Airbus as a Mechanical Engineer and will be there for almost a whole month.  Meredith and Sam are spending some time with us and with Kev's parents.  It's been a blessing to have them with us.

Well the house is moving along and you can see from one of the pictures below the brick work is all done on the front.  There is very little they have to do on the back.  Found out last Thursday the plumber is out on vacation for the week and won't be back until this coming Friday.  He has some inspection items to take care of so for all practical purposes we are shut down for the week.  As soon as he clears up his issues and we get the OK from the inspectors the dry wall contractors will start.

Issa and Thom with Emmalee and Samantha in the sun room.  Their first visit.
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Mer, Thom, Sam, Emma and Issa visit the house for the first time.
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Emma tries out the tub on the second floor.
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Everybody on the front porch and you can see that all the brick is done.
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May 1, 2012 - Outstanding weather today with no rain and light breeze.  Most of the work is inside projects and our builder is already talking about dry wall going up.  Where has the time gone?  I was just looking at some of the earlier pictures and I thought it would take forever to get this far.

Donna and I were painting some of the Hardi-Siding today.  Off to the right
of the picture you can see some of the other planks.
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The 'neighbors' from across the street make their daily trek.