PHactotum Wheneverly

The tub in the master bath is in with the tub surround.

The copper pipes for the master bath tub are also in.

The frame around the concrete front step is off.

The bricks for the front of the house have arrived & are sitting in the front yard.

They started drywall! Most of the ceiling is done. Our master bath has some walls done.

The long awaited windows have finally arrived & are waiting for installation! (The one missing in the kitchen, the one in the family room that wasn't wood & for some reason they ordered the large arched window above the front door to replace.)

Perry & I bought insulation to insulate the garage, since we didn't select that option, but figured we should have. Cheaper to do it ourselves anyway. We got a lot done tonight, but we're not finished yet.

We finished doing the garage insulation tonight. If I had a choice I would have finished tomorrow night, but Perry got on a roll and didn't want to come back again to face it. Looking back, I'm glad he made us finish, but it was hot, tiring work. Got home around 10pm.

Met some more of our neighbors. One at Trey's school & two tonight when they dropped off an invite to the neighborhood picnic on August 26th. Everyone we've met so far has been very friendly.

No more giant dirt hills in the yard! They finished grading. They had to haul away some dirt even after leveling out the backyard, which was pretty sloped.

You can really see where the driveway will be now. They "dug it out" so now it's just waiting for the concrete guys to finish it up.

They have the new windows all installed, so now they should be able to get a lot done. (They were waiting on the windows to finish drywalling & to start on the masonry & siding.)

Perry put up some plastic rafter panels in the garage to prevent ice dams. (Since again, we didn't pay to have these installed.)

Drywall is now going up pretty fast. They have the foyer and about 99% of the upstairs done. They haven't done any taping or mudding yet, but at least it's on the walls. Hopefully, the downstairs will go up as quickly.

The garage is now drywalled as well as the laundry room.

They started mudding upstairs, mainly in our bedroom.

We ordered our appliances today.

We ordered everything via Sears Contract Sales and we stayed with the Kenmore Elite series

Only things left are the closet by the front door and the pantry.

They also got more mudding done upstairs and in the foyer.

All of the mudding appears to have been done on what drywall is up.

The front closet and pantry now have drywall and have been mudded.

Siding is going up! They have the back of the house and part of the garage side done already.

Drywallers are still finishing up.

One of Trey's things to do over summer break was to go Putt Putting. We didn't quite make it before he had to go back to school, but those first two days they don't do much.

Of course one of the highlights are the go karts. Trey is still a little too short, so he had to ride with me. Probably a good thing, since he doesn't know how to steer very well.

We even had our very own race fan.

Mike, our builder, called and said that the siding will most likely be done today. The drywallers will be done this week, and the painters will start on Monday! Things are moving right along.

The siding is almost done. They only have a little more to do on the front of the house.

So Cherie calls me up in a panic. They've put the attic vent in between the windows on the garage. Not up in the attic area, but down at ground level, and off center at that. She had swung by the house on her way to pick up Trey. Said she would go back and take a picture of it with here cell phone after she picked up Trey.

She called me back a few minutes later and relates that they had just tacked the vynal attic vent to the wall so that it wouldn't get lost and the mason would be able to find it.

They also have the shutters on the house, but not the garage yet, since that will be brick.

Everything looks really good, so when I saw that the attic vent was placed on to the garage down low between the windows, and not even centered at that, I got a little freaked out. At first glance I thought that's where they installed it, but looking more closely I realized that it was just temporarily tacked in place so that the mason would be able to find it and put it on correctly. Gee, can you tell I've never had a house built before?

I got a chance to see the completed siding tonight. It looks pretty good. I like the little touches like the louvered dryer vent, and the frames for the outlets.

Inside, they hooked up the incoming water line to the outside faucets and a location for the water softener. The outside faucets bypass the watersoftener. I think there is also a connection for a pre-softener line to the kitchen sink. (I couldn't follow the line to the fridge...that probably shouldn't be softened either.) Of course the way they hooked up the lines...it makes it hard to use the space in the basement. Where they put it has gone from possible future guest room to storage, to well still storage, but now we have to work around the lines.

Today they put the Spanish lace texture on the ceilings. The painters will have a fun time because the walls received a fair amount of texture as well. We figure they were going to sand the walls before painting anyway.

Well this looks to be a very busy week. The painters primed the walls this morning. The brick mason began his work today.

Our interier trim and doors have been delivered.

It has also been raining for two days.

Well day three of rain and it is now too muddy to enter the house. Well, except for Cherie. She happened to have the simplest of shoes that would not mind the mud, so the kids and I waited outside while she went in and took pictures.

The brick mason finished the garage wall and has started on the front door area. It is starting to look real good.

They have hung up several of the doors and also installed the trim to go with them. Others are just staged throughout the house.

This would have been easier if the drive way had been poured.

So, I was the only one that could visit the house today. Only fair since Cherie was the only one to see the inside yesterday.

It is really neat to see all the doors, and trim going up. I've found in the garage the pieces for the stairs and fireplace mantel.

Brick masons have finsihed their work. The front of the house really looks great. We even have our left over bricks we ordered so that we can build a light column out near the driveway. We paid for the bricks, but not the labor.