Welcome To My Dungeon

It seems that Jason, the crappiest framer on earth, is going to continue to haunt us forever.  We were recently informed that our house has the wrong trusses and there are pieces missing.  Oh, nothing detrimental, nothing that is going to stall the building process.  It appears that the wrong trusses were made and sent, which was surprisingly not Jason's fault.  What was Jason's fault was that he once again did not notice that the house and the plans did not match!  Seriously, ours has to be the first house he ever worked on.

Now that we are two months in I'm sure you're wondering why we are just now noticing this issue.  Well it didn't really matter until we started to discuss outside lights (almost a deja vu of the door episode).  We decided on can lights outside rather than the ones that look like medieval torches.  They shine straight down so they don't give off as much light, but they look cleaner and more modern, and I really wanted them.  After the electrician installed the lights we were looking at them and realized that they were set in the angled soffets.  Do you know what that means?  It means that the lights are also angled so even though they are placed on opposite sides they are pointing toward each other.  This is the same thing on the front porch, except for on the front porch it is like two spotlights shining on you, which has made Mark start saying "Welcome to my Dungeon" in a creepy Darth Vaderish voice.  Not sure why he thinks it's a dungeon, maybe because it's still not very bright even with both lights shining.

After Chicken Little had a mini meltdown (he threatened to fire everyone working on the house) he calmed down enough to meet with our builder who took the blame and found a way to fix the issue without having to re-frame the entire house (which, by the way, was NOT an option), disaster averted.  Whew...

The four way inspection should be completed on Monday and the insulation should go in on Wednesday, which really means that we should be inspected by Wednesday and the insulation starting on Friday.  The Sheetrock has been ordered (not sure why they couldn't go to Lowes...) and should be in around the 10th, due to some training issues (uh oh, I don't think I like the sound of that), the sheet rockers won't be able to start framing until the 14th.  Once sheet rocking starts it should take about a week to hang, mud, tape, and sand.  We are actually going to paint everything ourselves.  Mark says he's going to spray the doors, trim, and ceilings, that should be interesting.  I guess if he can paint a car he can paint a house, right?  Before we can paint we have to put the floor in, something else we are doing on our own.  We installed the wood laminate in our old house, apparently the only difference with this hardwood is that we will have to nail it down, it's not a floating floor.  I have high hopes.

So far the brightest spot in my immediate future is that I won't have to paint this whole house on my own during my vacation from work like I did in July at our old house.  We won't be able to start painting until after Christmas and my vacation is from the 20th to the 26th.  Gordon, our builder said we are looking at about six weeks.  Probably more like eight, but that still puts us in the house the first of February.  Can't wait for the house warming party.

Black Friday

I've never been a Black Friday shopper, this year should have been no exception, especially since I have no voice at all.  I admit my family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, or more accurately they enjoyed making fun of me.  The reason I'm not a shopper is because I value my life, plain and simply put, I have no desire to be shanked (as the girls would call it) in the middle of the toy department.

Kan and Bray, unfortunately appear to be future Black Friday shoppers, steller ones at that.  Somehow we ended up at Walmart Thursday night at 7:50, ten minutes before Sale Event #1 started.  We were there not because we actually needed to buy anything, we just wanted to watch the madness.  The girls took off one way and Mark and I went another.  We were in women's pyjamas in the Clinton Walmart when it chimed 8:00 and people turned into raving lunatics.  The roar was audible and you could see the madness in their eyes, or maybe that was the terror in mine being reflected.

Admittedly I don't watch the news because everything is always depressing.  I haven't heard if there were any injuries or deaths this year, I certainly hope not though.  After watching the madness it's not hard to see how people end up injured or worse.  A friend at work's mother (a woman I met once and she was very nice) was even assaulted at Walmart, how sad is that?

So imagine my surprise when Mark decided he wanted to go to RC Willey for a fridge to complete our appliance package.  RC Willey opened at 8:00 am and we were there at 7:15, the line only wrapped around half the building at that time.  Since we've never done the whole Black Friday thing we were a little unsure of how it worked, especially with large appliances.  Did we run in and find the fridge and touch it?  The first ten people win?  You can't exactly carry it off to the cashier.  Luckily a very nice worker came by with little magical tickets that had pictures of the items on sale. He was a little startled when I snatched one with the fridge out of his hand but he recovered and moved on down the line.  Finally it was 8:00 and the doors were open.  Our plan was to split up, I would find the fridge and look at it while he took the door buster ticket and got in line to pay.  That only worked for a minute before someone told Mark that we needed a salesman to write it up before we could pay.  

It's a nice fridge and it will go great with the rest of the appliances we have already purchased.  After all was said and done we were in and out of RC Willey by 8:20, yay us!  Our first, and hopefully last, Black Friday shopping experience and we made it out alive and we saved $800.00 in the process.  You can't beat that.

You want to put the water heater where?

It would appear that the best place to install a water heater and furnace is right smack dab in the middle of your basement.  This way there is no way you can do anything with the space around you.  Once again I'm thinkin' no.  Mark had to meet with the builder and the HVAC guy this morning to discuss this very thing

After some discussion they came to a compromise.  The unit could be placed father back against the wall so we can frame it in and still use the rest of the basement.  The plumber has been there and has all of the upstairs drains have been roughed in.  Interior walls are up but the electrician has to come in and run wire before they can sheet the walls.  The plan is for him to be there on Monday. 

Meanwhile the driveway has been poured and they have the forms for the front porch up.  We picked shingles (Georgetown Grey), the rock was a little more difficult but we decided on English block which is grey and the stucco should be easy, I understand you can basically pick it like you pick paint samples.

The windows could have been installed today, but that stresses me out a little.  There are naughty little boys in the neighborhood who could throw rocks at my nice new windows.  They have already been busted throwing dirt clods at the window wells before they were installed and I'm pretty sure they caused the nick in the garage floor also.

It's hard to go up after work since it is already dark by the time we get there and I can't really take pictures.  We were up on Saturday and we have to go up tomorrow morning to meet with the cabinet guy.  We are on the hunt for a refrigerator, we already have the rest of the kitchen appliances.  I can't wait for those double ovens.  Did I mention both are convection??  I can't wait to make cookies and cakes.  I understand the dishwasher will even make breakfast for you, well maybe not but it does everything else.

Okay, close your eyes and imagine what I am seeing in these rooms.

Kan's room, it's already a mess!

My craft room. 

Can't wait to see my sewing machine and fabric table in there.

 



The theater room. 

This one is going to be so fun when it's done.

 

The stairs, yes it's a lame picture, but when the basement is

finished they will lead to the London Underground.

 

Mind the Gap!

Finally! Competent Framers

It would appear that Jason the cry baby was mostly dead weight just bringing the rest of the crew down.  Not only did they get a ton done in the last two days they are all very nice.  I really want to bake them some cookies or something, that might be a little strange though (at least for them).

The roof is on, the exterior walls are up and sheeted, and the interior walls were coming along nicely this morning when we were freezing our a's off while we mapped out exactly where the island, pantry, and laundry room were going to be.  The door to the garage storage closet got cut out so we won't need to use my bathroom as an entrance.  The stairs from the garage into the house and the stairs going into the basement are in so now I don't have to jump from the house into the garage.  We will also be able to check out the site of Kandis's future room.  She's convinced that it is still flooded from all of the snow and rain.

The plumber should be coming early next week to start the roughing in for upstairs drains and whatnot.  Our builder has also scheduled the concrete for the drive way and front porch.

It is finally looking like a real home, our home.  Sometimes the days seem to fly by and other times it seems to drag.  I still can't believe that it is our house, all brand new, someplace that no one else has ever lived.  Can't wait to have a party, don't tell Mark that's the plan.  He doesn't read this so I'm probably good.

 Still trying to get the whole door thing figured out

 



 

Got it!  The storage door and the garage to the house door.

 



The front door and the office where my other window seat is going.

Can't wait to curl up with my Nook and read in there!

No one likes a quitter

Apparently we are very difficult homeowners to work with, if by difficult you mean we want you to frame our house according to the building plans, then YES we are very difficult.  This is what the lead framer told our builder today right before he walked off the job.  Guess he got tired of Mark having to babysit their work and having our builder call everyday with a new issue,  Hmmmm...  Let me count the issues we have had so far:

    1 - The wall at the bottom of the basement stairs was in the wrong place so there was no exit into the basement.
    2 - One of the spare bedroom's did not have a window framed in before it was sheeted.
    3 - There weren't enough floor joists ordered.
    4 - The garage door was framed at 8 ft instead of 9 ft (to be fair that was a change we made to the plans, but the framer wrote it on the plans, Mark watched.)
    5 - There is still no door framed for the garage storage closet, I guess we will be entering the closet through the toilet room in our bathroom.

So, yes Jason, (we will call the crybaby Jason because that's his name, too bad I don't have his last name, no privacy here) we are difficult people to work with.  I apologize for inconveniencing you by asking that you do your job.  It was a hell of a day for all of us, unfortunately the rest of the real world didn't get to throw a fit and walk off the job.  If that was an option my boss, Annette, would have done that around 1:00 today.

Once our builder called in the owner of the framing company they got a lot of work done and I am excited to report that the trusses are scheduled to be installed at 7:30 tomorrow morning.  We are finally almost ahead of the house that is being built on the corner that we have been creeping on.  Yes, we are having a one way race with these unknown builders, it's sad but true.

So the moral of today's story is that when the going gets rough it's okay to throw in the towel and walk away.  Someone needs to get with all those teachers out there that are telling their students to work hard, do your best, and not give up.  Start spreading the word.  It would be great if Jason, the Quitter, could start speaking as well.  He can give a personal account of just how far difficult people have to go before it's okay to quit.  In the meantime I will keep my fingers crossed that he doesn't come back and torch our house.

The newly framed window, doesn't it look nice?

The front room and patio door.

The nook where my window seat is going in the kitchen.

What a view we will have.

Anyone have a snowblower?

Welcome to winter!  I knew, going into this building process that we were going to fight the weather, but it's still frustrating when you can see a little process and then it is shut down by a damn snow storm.

What annoys me the most is that the framers (yes, the incompetent ones) had a beautiful week to get it done and they didn't.  They took Monday off and then only worked half a day on Tuesday (due to the floor joist miscalculation), Wednesday was a catch up and repair day since they had to fix the wall at the bottom of the stairs, finally Thursday there was some significant work done.  The floor was sheeted, the south and east walls were up, the south garage wall was framed and up but not sheeted, and the north wall was framed but still lying on the floor.  Friday it snowed which brought everything to a screeching halt.

We went up yesterday and Mark shoveled the floor so the snow didn't soak too far into the wood.  I'm a little concerned because I could have sworn that the wall that is supposed go up on the north side has a door framed in it and no windows framed.  The windows wouldn't be a big deal but there isn't one framed on the back so one of the bedrooms might be missing some sunlight.  I'm hoping that I'm wrong, Mark would love it if I was.  I'm tempted to go back up and check that wall because it is going to drive me nuts the rest of the day.  Arghhh....

Wanted: Competent Framers

Ours is apparently first house these guys have framed because they miscounted the floor joists so they ran out and couldn't sheet the floor today.  I looked at the house plans, even I knew how many joists they needed, arghhh... 

Oh but it gets better, or maybe worse is the better word.  They framed the stairs from the wrong direction!  We are either entering the stairwell from the outside of the house or from my bathroom.  I mean really, at what point did it not look funny???  I, who knows nothing about building a shed let alone a house, knew there was something wrong as soon as I saw the framed wall.  I have been assured that it is an easy fix, so in a way it is a good thing that the floor didn't get sheeted because they would have had to take off that area to add a header and move the wall down a smidge.

Mark is meeting with the builder and the framer tomorrow to go over the changes we made to the floor plan.  Hopefully everyone takes good notes or we're going to have some drama down the road.

So far the changes we've made we both agree on.  We have already picked carpet, tile, and wood flooring so that should go smooth (yeah right...).  We also picked the kitchen counters and cabinets.  I think the next hurdle will be kitchen appliances, which we hope to purchase during the black Friday sales.  I have never done the whole shopping thing the day after Thanksgiving, mostly because I value my life, but Mark is insisting on getting up early and going...  Hmmm....  Somehow I'm not envisioning people throwing themselves on a convection oven at 4 am, and if they are then part of me is thinking that they need it more than I do, that's probably the sleep deprived part thinking.  We have about two and a half weeks to make a plan for shopping, I'm hoping for a 6 am start, I won't hold my breath though.  It's all about picking your battles.

The framing should not be touching the foundation wall,

see how you can't get into the basement from the bottom of the stairs?? 

That's a problem. 

Arched or Square, Smooth or Textured??

The next time you go into someone house take a look at their front door, I know it's strange, but once you've really looked at it try to guess how long it took them to pick out.  Whether the people you are visiting are the original pickers or they purchased the home existing, someone picked the door.  Someone walked into that door shop and had an anxiety attack because there were sooo many options and they just knew that their husband was not going to agree with anything they liked.  Okay, maybe that someone was me and it was my husband that was standing next to me at the Wheelwright Lumber door shop.  Still, doors are harder to pick than you might think.

The house is going to be light grey stucco with grey rock so white was the logical choice for entry door color, we both agreed on that point.  We went on our lunch to pick a front door and interior doors.  Ha!  After about 10 minutes it was clear there was no way we were picking doors this afternoon.  The salesman was very nice and patient.  There were wood doors (if you're a millionaire), fiberglass doors (these seemed nice), and steel doors (Mark's choice).  Textured doors (NO), smooth doors (very nice). And the panels...  Six, four, two...  Square or arched?

And then there was the glass.  How much do you want?  Whole door?  Half the door?  How opaque do you want to go?  Yes, these are the questions that nice man was asking.  Do you think we had any idea what the answers were?  Hell no!  After about twenty minutes we decided to take the catalogs with us and contemplate at home, unfortunately reality tv is at home which is not helpful when you should be making decisions.

I have decided on Craftsman style for the front door and interior doors.  The back deck door will have the blinds in between the glass so that one should be easy.  For those of you who don't know what Craftsman is, it's the type where there is a square on top and then generally there are long rectangle panels under it.  Craftsman is apparently squares and columns.  Usually one to one and a half stories.  I guess we are craftsman type people because that pretty much describes our house.  Here are a few samples:

 

Now I just have to get Mark to focus for five minutes and we might have a decision.

 

Shingles, stucco, and rock are the next decisions that need to be made in the next few days.  Let's hope this goes smoother than the doors.  I'm sure doors are really the least of our disputes with each other.  Kandis is no help, she thought we were nuts when we asked her opinion on the front door, so much for involving her.  She's a little pre-occupied with her first dance coming up on Thursday.

 

Meanwhile on the building front, framing should start tomorrow 7 am...  We'll see,  I'm not holding my breath, nothing else has really started on time with this whole building project.



Dirt, Gravel, and Concrete

Who knew there were so many steps to getting a basement floor poured?  Not me, thats for sure!  I know that we are actually moving along pretty quickly (thank your Gordon Sleeman Construction!) but I am a woman and therefore impatient.  Our trusses were delivered in the middle of the week and concrete was finally totally poured on Thursday.  The basement floor looks pretty massive, too bad we need walls down there.  Kan was two seconds away from going through the window to walk around but Mark didn't think the concrete was dry enough.  Mark was pretty upset that some little punk (my word not his...  you don't want to know what words he used) threw a nice sized rock into the middle of the garage floor, causing a pretty good nick.  Dad said not to stress, he's sure they will be able to patch it when the time comes.  Can't wait to see the stress Mark will be under when the driveway is poured in a couple weeks, he might be camping out in Aunt Beths driveway just to keep an eye on it.  Maybe we can bribe Dawn and Ryan with babysitting to watch it... Normally they would wait on the driveway but we are rapidly heading into winter and lets face it, the weather in Utah is not to be trusted.

Framing should start on Monday.  I think that once the is wood up it will begin to feel real.  Right now we just feel like creepers tresspassing on someone else's property.  That feeling could also be because we have been creeping on the house down the street and the one on the corner that is about a week ahead of us.  Or maybe it's because I've been taking pictures of random peoples houses for stucco and rock ideas...  I hope someone doesn't call the cops on me.

So far Mark and I have agreed (or at least compromised) on the major aspects of the building.  We did have a slight issue with the carpet, tile, and wood floor choices but I convinced him my choices would work (I'm not ashamed to say that I may have shed a few tears to get my way).  I'll have to pick my battles, I know that.  We already remodeled almost an entire house (granted I didn't really care what it looked like since we were selling it) and built a monster truck (okay so I was more concerned with cost of the truck and not really the finished product) together, building a house should be fine...  In three months I will either have a Prozac prescription or a massive life insurance payout because my husband mysteriously passed on.  If the stress of building doesn't send us over the edge the stress of haveing a thirteen year old might.  Can you say MOOD SWINGS???  This girl has more personalities than Sybil.  I wouldn't trade her for anything but the grey hairs keep popping up...  It's either her or her dad causing them.  Work is the only thing that keeps me sane, thanks guys!  You know who you are.

 

 

Dirt

Gravel

 

Concrete

We have roof trusses but no walls, go figure...