Siding arrives today

Last weekend, Shawn's parents came to visit and we had a nice time. Derald brought the scaffolding he purchased that he will let us use to safely side our house. We really appreciate that. He and Shawn also investigated an issue with the entrance door in the garage to see how to fix it. The frame was not installed correctly, so the door does not close flush. The guys decided to leave the repair until warmer weather to that the frame is not so brittle and avoid risk of cracking it. I think the guys were bored, so they decided on leveling our driveway with a homemade rig. Now our driveway is nice and smooth, and it helped to dry it out a bit as well.

While the boys were out on the lawn tractor, Pam and I cleaned out the dog crate, put some cardboard around it, and covered the bottom with wood shavings. I filled a small waterer up, and a feeder with chick starter, then we went to town to the local farm store and bought four little peeping chicks. So here they are.
The two black chicks are Plymouth Barred Rocks, and the two yellow ones are Buff Orpingtons.





This is what they will look like when they grow up.
I had named the black ones Pepper and Speckles, but already Pepper's name changed to Pepper Potts (if we get a rooster, we'll call him Tony Stark) and the two yellow ones are Butter and Daisy. Butter is now called ButterBall since she's been eating quite a lot and is now plumper and bigger than the other three.

Evan is delighted with the baby chicks, you can see him here with ButterBall. Evan was so good listening to Mommy so he didn't squish the little ones.














Here's Evan with Pepper Potts.















Bandit, our cat is also thrilled with the baby chicks, and would love a chance to get a taste. Now he is only allowed in the house while we are in there, until I can get some more wire fabric to cover the cage around completely. Last night, Bandit snuck a closer look at the chicks getting his nose close enough to the cage. He got quite a shock when both Pepper Potts and Daisy zoomed right on his nose and began to peck him thinking it might be some food! They were so excited about his nose they went right through the bars of the cage. Bandit fled from them, much to my delight. Though I still don't trust him. So tonight I'll fix up the cage so I can have some peace of mind that the chicks will be safe until they are big enough.

On Saturday, we aslo tried to do a little fishin' down the river, though they were not biting. Now the chicks have been enjoying the live bait for a snack, and it is quite funny to watch them race around the cage. Shawn calls it chick football, and it's hilarious.

On Sunday, we cleared a spot on a concrete slab that is north of the old barn to store the siding on when it arrives, and Evan helped me clear a spot in the barn to build the chickens a proper coop. Also, at the end of this month we will be getting 15 baby chicks through the mail. Should be fun.

Menards called last night to let us know that our siding arrived. They will be delivering it today in the afternoon sometime. Now we have to wait for the soil to dry up a little bit so we can get started on Phase II of the project.

More next week~

Moving on with Siding

We have decided on the siding to use. Last weekend we went to Menards and bought the siding since the store is having a construction sale and we saved a bit of money. It should arrive at the store sometime this or next week. We thought we'd drive the truck to pick it up, but I think it will be heavier than our Orange Crush can handle, so we might just pay to have it delivered.

Definitely, siding the house will be the "big project" for the spring and part of summer. (If I can help it, we will also be adding some new members to the family - of the clucking kind. I've had chicken fever for a while, but we'll see).

We are going to be installing Certainteed Fiber Cement siding, which is similar to the more famous Hardie Plank siding. There are a gizillion details that need to be addressed before a single piece of siding goes up, so it probably will not be until late april/may before we really get going. First of all, we need to locate as many through-wall penetrations as we can anticipate (like outdoor light fixtures, outles boxes, vents, etc. etc.) so that those openings can be properly sealed and flashed.
We also need to cover the top six to eight inches of the foundation that is exposed with something. We're leaning towards using pvc coated metal flashing, though using a textured acrylic stucco directly on the foam of the ICF is also an option. And there are other things like sealing the gap between the wood framing and the icf basement with foam, finish flashing some windows, caulking here and there, etc. etc.

Also, the siding comes from the factory primed, and we need to put two coats of paint to protect the siding. So we need to decide the shade of paint we want, and figure out how much paint we need.

Working with fiber cement siding is a bit harder than vynil, I believe, so it will be a slow process for us to make sure we do it right. We probably need to plan out how we will actually put the siding up. We've got instructions, but we need to gather the tools, fasteners, and other materials that we need.

The other thing we need to wait on is the weather. Right now is so wet and muddy that you sink almost to your knees in some areas. That would make the working conditions a royal pain, so we will have to wait for things to dry out a bit. We sure hope this spring is not as wet as last spring.

The dirt is already settling around the house, and sometime we have to work the final grading. We will be making changes to the side of the house where the window wells to some of the basement windows are located. The weight of the soil is proving too much for the wood window wells, so we're going to try something different. We had planned on doing this sometime in the future, as we expected the wood wells wouldn't last. We hadn't anticipated that it would be sooner rather than later. I think since our soil is mostly clay and silt, when it gets wet the hydraulic pressure in the soil is causing the wood to bow. Thank goodness we decided to use stronger steel reinforcement on the basement walls.

Good news is that after several days of rain the basement is bone dry. Of course, the reall test will be the ground thaws completely and it rains heavily. It could be that right now only the top layer of soil melts when it's nice, and any water is running off over the frozen dirt (eroding our soil to boot). So, once the ground thaws, the rain will soak in and it will be a test to our waterproofind and foundation drainage system.

There were a few phantom wet spots upstairs, but we could not locate any leaks in the roof. What we think is that there was some ice in some sawdust in one spot that melter when the weather was nice and handn't evaporated. The others we can't explain, but we'll keep an eye on them and actually go out there when it's raining to verify that it isn't a leak in the roof.

That's about it for new. More next week.

Updates once a week...

Since things are so slow right now, I will be updating once a week on Wednesdays. Though I may post earlier if activity really picks up.

We called the framer to see how much it would be to add that extra overhang on the entrance, and he's asking more than we could budget for the work. I guess if we really want that overhand we will have to do it ourselves. So sometime we'll have to come up with a design on how to do it. Maybe my father in law, Derald, will be up for the challenge to his woodworking skills. :)

We also got a quote back for the siding from the local lumber yard. It's quite a lot of money just for materials, and the labor is so ridiculously expensive. We know for sure that we will have to be the ones installing it to save money. The nice thing is that Menard's is having their construction sale right now. And for a different brand of the type of siding that we want, the cost could be about half or a third off. So we'll be heading down to Menards to get a quote.

We also have to figure out the best way to run the water, electric, and sewer lines to the house.
We are considering renting a mini backhoe or a trencher to get the trenches dug. But there are all sorts of details that need to be figured out.

Until next week.

All's quiet.

Indeed. It has been quiet at the construction site, aside from installing a lockset on the door between the garage and house. So truly, the house is to the lock up stage now.

We went to a home show last weekend to peruse ideas and new products. We stopped by the leaf guard gutter system booth, which Shawn and I both agree is worth looking into. Check out www.leafguard.com if you'd like more info. Last year during the fall we had about a foot of leaves piling in the basement, so it's a safe bet they will end up in our gutters. We got sucked into an appointment for an estimate, so that will happen in March. I think they were offering half off labor, but it might still not make the price reasonable enough compared to regular gutters. (Though maybe the extra cost is worth not having to crawl up a ladder 3 or 4 times a year to clean up gutters) We'll see how the numbers come out. They do guarantee to be clog free for life, so if it ever clogs up they will clean it out or replace it for free. They had some other nice warranties too. We'll see.

Another appointment we signed up for was water quality. We will be hooking up to rural water, but I'd like a whole house filtering and softening system, and maybe a drinking purification system as well. These guys came out last night to test the water in our well since it is cheaper to run a well than to have rural water. They told us what we knew, that our well water was terrible (though is worse to actually see how bad it is), and we endured the sales pitch, and the this night only offer, and the running around in circles and lowering of the price when we refused to buy the stuff right then and there (though five years worth of free soap of every kind was very tempting) Shawn and I do agree that it would be nice to have water that's clean and fresh, won't kill our skin and will actually let soap do it's job unlike our current water, but we want this for the new house. Not the old one.

The saleman was desperate and pulled every trick in his hat. He even did the "you have to do this for the little one's sake" routine. I think Shawn was ready to tell the guy to just get out. I finally made it clear that we were not buying the system now, and that we'd give him a call if and when we're ready. It was interesting to observe the emotions on the salesman. They went from excitement about his product, to anger and frustration when we weren't giving in, to defeat and resignation. I do feel bad because he did incur expenses hoping to make a sale but hopefully we will be able to go with the system. Just not this year.

We have also begun the process of deciding on the siding, and we're gathering quotes for materials. The two products we are looking at are cement fiber board siding and solid foam core siding. So hopefully this spring we will work on siding the house.
My father in law is already amassing a collection of new tools for the job, which we will shamelessly put to good use! So, stay tuned for the next siding party at our house. Construction attire will be required. LoL.

Here's a concept drawing of the look we want with siding. We would like to do the rock in the front but that stuff is incredibly expensive, and I'm not sure that we will be able to afford it. It might have to be done in the future, but it's nice to have a dream. Also, all of that trim might be a dream too, but until we get the numbers back we won't know for sure.

Oh and notice how we're dealing with the entrance not being centered with the entrance roof gable. Shawn came up with the clever idea of faking a smaller gable with trim. I say we fake the small gable by building an additinal small overhang within the gable to simulate a small gabled entrance with shingles and all. It does the trick. And the curved garage door openings would be nice, but we'll see if it's doable.

Pictures

Here's a couple of pictures to show the interior of the main floor now that the framer did the great room walls.

Here's a view of the arch between the dining area and the Great room. Those posts will someday be columns.














This next picture is a view of the Arch between the Great Room and the entrance foyer. The main door will go in the area that is boarded to the left of the stairs.












This next picture is the opposite view, looking from the entrance foyer into the Great Room.














With the arches now framed, we have the hallway defined. This view is from the kitchen. On the right are the doors to to the mudroom/laundry/garage and the second is to the walk-in pantry, then in the hallway you can reach the stairs, entrance foyer, and front bedroom, in that order. On the left you can reach the dinning room, great room, and master berdroom. Straight ahead is the bathroom.
\And here's the view from the front. You can see the front door is now boarded up. Time to start dreaming up the siding and see what we do.

Phase I is done

The framer is officially done. He finished last friday, but there was an issue with two doors so he came back yesterday to fix them. He did his best, and I still think there is an issue with the sliding doors so I will be contacting the door rep and see if there's some adjustment that's will fix that or if it is an installation issue that still needs to be corrected.

Here's a picture of the temporary railing that Shawn built for safety around the staircase.

The framer also sealed up the main entrance until we purchase the door, so now the only way to get in is through the garage door.

The arches that frame the living room are done, and they turned out really good. I keep forgetting to take pictures, so I'll try to do that today and post tomorrow.

This next picture shows the framing for the fireplace in the basement. It's going to be a wood burning fireplace, so on the left you see a storage cubbie for wood. There's a nice seat so we can enjoy the warmth from the fire, as being demonstrated by Evan and Shawn.

Now we have to decide what comes next. Siding is sort of a priority since we do need to cover the tyvek housewrap and the ICF foam to protect it from the sun. But there's things to consider like utilities run to the house and any wall penetrations that we can anticipate. It's better to have those holes stubbed out before the siding goes up, so we can do a better water management design to keep rain out. Progress now will slow down for a while until we can figure out how to tackle the next step, whatever that ends up being.

We also need to work on the grading once the soil thaws out and dries up a bit. And it would be nice to have the garage floor and area in front of the garage paved, with a sidewalk to the house so it's not so messy. Hopefully this spring won't be so wet so we can work. Right now when it melts it turns into a mud pit and Evan and I have been stuck in the muck a couple of times. He, of course, thinks that's fun!

The end is near

Well, not much work happened at the house, except for Shawn going up on the the roof to cap the pipes, and the chimmney. It rained today, so he did that to keep water from getting into the house.
The other thing he did was build a railing around the staircase opening for safety.

On Saturday we celebrated Evan's 2nd birthday with family and a friend. It was a good time. Great Grandpa George even came! Evan seemed to have a good time and he had lots a neat presents.

The framer came back today and began to work through the list of last minute things to finish. Dunno when he'll actually be done. I'll take some pictures tonight of something.

I guess we're not finished until another week.

The framer called yesterday to ask if he could leave this week and come back next week to finish.
A friend contractor needed help with setting up roof trusses, and he wanted to help him out. We said we don't mind as long as he does come back (which I'm sure he will since there is still one more payment due.) It's not like we have another sub-contractor waiting in line.

I'm assuming that he probably needs the extra work to earn some money, since he's probably losing money with our job. The weather has delayed the work a lot longer than he expected, and things have been slow, and he has to pay his guys when they show up. Also, once he is done with our house he doesn't have another project lined up. Though I understand that they go and help other framers with their jobs to keep earning through the lean winter. Hopefully God will provide him with plenty of jobs to keep his business running. We're very pleased with his work, and so far our experience has been great with him and his crew.

They installed the sliding door down in the basement downstairs, and they also installed the door between the garage and mudroom. They started to frame up the fireplace in the basement, but didn't finish it. There's one closet in a basement bedroom that needs to be framed, and the walls around the great room upstairs.

Here's a picture of all the windows installed (minus the sliding door in the basement).





This picture is of the partial framing of the fireplace. I drew some lines to show where the fireplace will go, and the shape of the hearth. We have picked out this wood burning fireplace that we like, and based the design on that.



You can see Evan in the background with his soccer ball. He loves going up and down the stairs, so we'd like to make some railing out of 2x4's and I can stop having a heart attack every time he goes running towards the stairs. This Saturday Evan will have a small birthday party, so probably Sunday we will build the railing. This picture show the style of doors we chose for the garage entry doors. They look really nice.

There probably will not be any more updates until next week, when the framer comes back to finish.

This week is supposed to get up to 40º, so there will be a lot of melting and the ground will turn to mud.

We need to start thinking about what our next step should be. Most likely it will be to decide on the siding, and run the utilities to the house. Then we need to pour the garage floor, and probably get some garage doors.

Last Week!

This should be the last week of phase I.

On Friday, Shawn had to take off work early and run to Menards to buy some extra shingles since the roofer ran out. Luckily, Menards had some bundles left in stock, since the shingles were special order. The roofer finished shingling the house, so we thank God that we now have that protection in place for the house. Looks like a very good job too.

All of the upstairs windows were installed, and the framer cut out all of the openings for the basement windows. Shawn and I worked this weekend to use the special flashing tape to flash the window openings so they were ready for the framer today. Since the basement is not the traditional construction, we had to detail the windows a little bit different. The extra taping is a little bit extra that the framer is not accustomed to doing, and since we've already asked him to add a step to his normal window installation process, we thought we'd better do this extra work ourselves. We did all but two of the windows. Here's a picture from the back. You can see now the archtop window above the Great Room window. The views are spectacular. You can also see in the picture the fireplace chimney above. To us it looks too big, so we're debating whether or not to shorten it up.

Here's a picture from the front of the house.
The framer will fix up that hole whenever we get the main entry door purchased for installation. This probably won't be until later in the year.

Here is a view from the back of the great room windows.


Today the framer installed all of the basement windows with the exception of the sliding glass door. He ran out of the flashing tape, so we need to stop by the store and purchase another box.

He also installed the entry doors to the garage and between the garage and house. He is also working on framing the fireplace, and has a few things to finish before he is done with our project.

Can't really believe it's near the end of the madness. I suppose, we're not really done with the madness, but now we won't have the time crunch involved until next winter which is our goal to be moved in to the basement! We'll see how it goes, a lot can happen in a year.

Roof is almost done

They did not finish the roof yesterday. Everything is shingled around the back of the garage, the back of the house, and the west side. You can see here the framers on the right finishing the roof, and the roofers right on their heels on the left.
You can see they have shingles on the north side, and they are just waiting for the framer to finish so they can finish the front. Here you can see the white drip edge installed before they get to shingle. By the time the crews left, the roofer had almost all of the black area on that last picture covered with shingles, and the framers had only one piece of sheathing to put up on the bottom, and the chimney to do on the roof. So most likely the roof will be done today.

All of the windows on the main floor were installed; with the exception of the garage one, and two little ones that go under the covered porch next to the main entry. They will probably start on the basement windows today, or maybe frame the walls around the living room and the fireplace framing in the basement.

Here is the great room window finished with the arch eyebrow window on top. We're so pleased with how it turned out.

This morning Shawn took this picture of the old house and the new. Hard to imagine how far we've come on this house construction and we're very excited. It's hard to comprehend how much there is still left to do before we could actually move in. But we like that kind of work, and we will definitely keep busy for the next few years, since we'll be doing almost everything inside ourselves.