Week 16: Electrical and plumbing

 
 

The bridge from the house to the garage now has a window and a roof. I was really worried that the roof line for the bridge wouldn't fit under the roof line of the garage ..but it did, and it looks great. The electrician and plumbers have been busily running wire and pipe this week...not easy work when it is so miserably cold (single digits and teens!). The masons have been on site for the past two days and it is looking like they will finish the chimney this week. That will be a great milestone to reach because then Matt can finish the roofing around the chimney.

Once the electricians and plumbers finish the rough in I'll have the code enforcement officer do the next inspection and then the foam insulation guys can come in and do their thing. Matt and the guys are almost done with all of the interior framing so they will begin working on the external siding and trim!

It is looking like March will be the target date for when the house is in good enough shape for me to move in!

Week 15: All I Need Now is a Moat

 
 
 
 


I met with the plumber this week and picked out my radiators. We walked through the house to place them. I'm going with the European-style wall-mounted radiators. Should look really nice! With the plans for plumbing in place the electrican started running wires upstairs.

Probably the biggest change this week is that the bridge from the house to the garage got started! It is going to be very cool to be able to walk from the house to the garage and vice versa without having to go outside on those very nasty weather days!

No progress on the chimney this week, but the weather was really too cold to work with the bricks. I'm hoping they can finish the project off next week. It would just be nice to check that off the list!

I talked to the architect and we are changing the roof on the porch from a shed style to a hip roof. I think it will look really sharp, especially if Matt can match the pitch of the porch roof to be the same as the house.

Week 14: Beehive of Activity

 
 
 

The house doesn't look much different from the outside but the site was a beehive of contractors this week. No snow this week, but the temperatures were in the single digits with a subzero wind chill factor. Brrrrr.

I met with the electrician and the plumber and they have started the rough in process. (My Dad will be please to know that I'm going with a 200 amp service to the house!) This is a key point of coordination in the project because holes have to be drilled for pipes, etc. Sometimes that means some quick thinking about where to frame in a chase or how to avoid drilling through a floor joist. The radon remediation folks are coming tomorrow to install that system.

The masons built two enclosures to protect themselves from the weather and to keep the bricks and mortar warm as they get ready to bring the chimney up through the roof line. They couldn't work at all last week because it was so cold so I'm hoping they can make it back this week.

The carpenters started on re-framing the in law apartment in the basement. I'm going to make the bedroom a bit bigger but I can't change the configuration of the bathroom because it would be way too expensive to change the plumbing. There will also be some adjustments to my framing plan to make way for the new plumbing from the first and second floors... but it should all work out fine. It will be great to have a self-contained apartment for guests.

I talked with a fencing guy about replacing some sad looking privacy fencing so he is going to send me a quote for that. I got a quote on spray in closed cell foam insulation for the house and after talking with Matt have decided it would not be that much more expensive than traditional insulation. Plus it will only take the installer a few days do do the entire house.

It will be a short week next week because of Christmas, but the plan is to get the bridge from the house to the garage started and to continue with the electrical/plumbing rough in and the framing in the apartment.

Week 13: Interior Framing

 
 
 

All the windows have been installed now except for one in the kitchen that was the wrong size. In at least one room I'm thinking I probably only needed one window instead of two and perhaps my bedroom window could have been smaller....but they look terrific. I will need to spend some money on shades and curtains!

The interior framing is almost done. The space is going to be really open and inviting for such a small little house. I had to change where the door to the garage is going to go because there wasn't enough space for the laundry and the downstairs bath in two separate rooms. So now there will be one room with both laundry and bath and the door to the garage will be off of the main foyer rather than down a separate hallway. It takes a bit of warmth away from the entry way, but overall I think it will work out just great. Plus it means I don't have to spend money to buy a subcompact washer and dryer and will have more than 2 inches between the toilet and the bathtub!

The masons arrived and started to rebuild the chimney. It has a ways to go yet, but the brick work looks very nice. I'm going to leave the chimney brick exposed in the kitchen. I just hope they show up next week to finish the work so that we can finish the flashing and shingles on the roof.

I had the code enforcement officer stop by and she was happy with everything except my big picture window in the kitchen/family room. The window is not high enough off the floor to meet code and she isn't buying the plan to put a built in window seat in front of the window. So we have to change the header somehow or that window will have to move downstairs and I'll need to order replacement. It is an expensive change so I'm hoping that the header can be modified without affecting the structural integrity of the wall.

I ordered the kitchen cabinets and appliances so those are in the works. Next week the focus will be on meeting up with the electrician and the plumber and possibly the radon remediation people to get all of those things roughed in.

Week 12: Windows and stairs

 
 
 
 

The windows arrived this week and they are beautiful! Two of the big feature windows didn't get put in because they are HUGE and will require the help of a boom truck to get them to the second floor...but they'll go in early next week. The stairs to the second floor are all framed and the subfloor on the first floor is all down. The mason arrived on Friday and did the very messy job of removing the existing chimney.

With the help of a friend I was able to get all but one side of the garage stripped of shingles and the final wall will only take a couple of hours to take care of.

Next week the focus will be on getting the big windows installed and on getting the interior framing underway. Hopefully the mason will be able to get back and get the chimney re-built. It is almost time to bring in the electrician and plumber and the radon remediation people.