Exsiding!!

Today was an exciting day!  We have siding, shakes, and trim.  I We picked out our colors back in March and I was kind of nervous that I was going to change my mind and not like it.  I was wrong, I love the colors.  Can't wait to see it all come together with the stone tomorrow.

Dryer vent

Half bath and master bath vents

My husband picked an awesome 100+ degree day to start insulating the garage walls.  We found the best deal on insulation at Menard's.  He's going to do the garage walls and bathroom walls.



I bought a dehumidifier today, too.  After a bunch of unnecessary overanalyzing, I finally picked one out.  When you go into the basement, the humidity is unbearable.  I got one that you can set the humidity level, hook up a drainage hose, and leave it alone.  At least that's the way it's supposed to work.

Well.......................is done!

Not much happened today.  The well was finished.  It ended up being about 70 feet deep.  The county health department will test the water and the well company will finish running their lines and electric into the basement early next week.  The next step will be to look into water softeners.

Well is on the left.

They did the above grade waterproofing in the back, which is the only part that will not have stone. In the picture it is the gray stripe between the house wrap and orange foundation isolation. Tomorrow they will begin the siding for the house.  Then, it will really begin to look like the finished product.



The concrete workers came back and removed the last of the forms from the garage and porch slabs.  They also cut the expansion joints into the basement and garage floors.  It really looks good.

Concrete & Well - Day 2

Be ready for picture overload...


The concrete was poured today.  They cut a hole in the subfloor right inside the front door to get the concrete in the basement.  I am mesmerized by how they can take a pile of sticky messy concrete mud and make it look so smooth and level in the end.  I have literally no DIY skills though, so it doesn't take much to impress me.

Apparently this spray they're putting around the edges of the garage (and basement too) prevents the concrete from adhering to the block.  It allows the floors and the walls to be separate so if one moves, it doesn't crack the other.

They only needed to put rebar in the porch.

Instead of expansion joints or cracks you see in most concrete, they put white plastic pieces in the concrete that serve the same purpose.

The well is about 2/3 of the way done.  They should finish it tomorrow. He's pouring a slurry mix that helps the drilling process.  They said they ran into a few boulders yesterday that slowed them down, but they're back on track now.

Tomorrow is the above grade waterproofing.

Concrete Prep & Well Digging

First thing this morning, the concrete guys were at the house.  They leveled the gravel in the basement and garage.  They laid plastic sheets over the gravel in the basement and on the sheets of wood on the front porch.  This will be a vapor/moisture barrier.  There is no plastic in the garage.  Not sure if it'll be done tomorrow or maybe it's not needed there.  Tomorrow they will start pouring the concrete.

The well was also started today.  It should take through Wednesday to complete.  Most of the neighbors' wells are about 80 feet deep, so chances are ours will be the same.

We are also doing an open house for Wayne Homes.  The tentative date is Saturday, August 4, so mark your calendars.

Garage Door, Inspections, & Radon

Wednesday, June 20
The garage door was installed Wednesday.  We don't have an opener yet, but the wiring is all ready for one.  I was excited to get the new kind that you can open and close with your iPhone away from home, but there's a $20/year fee.  I'm too cheap to pay that for just the coolness factor.  So we'll be off to the store this weekend to pick one out.  Any suggestions on brand or type?  Our door is 18x8 (16x7 is standard), so we'll need a bigger HP, I think.

The inspections for the rough electric and the electric trench were Wednesday, also.  I guess there are framing and HVAC inspections coming soon too.

The Wayne Homes' sales managers from all the locations toured through our home today too.  They also toured 2 other homes in progress nearby.  Pictures are on their Facebook page (#19-26). 

Thursday, June 21
Today, we had a radon company come out and install the piping for a mitigation system so it would be hidden in the wall.  At our old house, just a few miles away, our radon levels were very high and we had to install a mitigation system.  There was a big pipe in the garage that went up through the roof.  While we don't know for sure that we'll have radon at this house, chances are we will.  So instead of trying to retro-fit a system, we're being proactive.  We'll have the radon levels tested after we've been moved in for a bit.  If they're high, the company will install a pump to the pipe in the attic.

The pipe on the left is the radon pipe.
The one on the right is the main sewer line.





The small white circle is the end of the radon pipe.

The radon installer also made a comment that in all his commercial and residential experience that it is one of the cleanest job sites he's been on.  I'm sure Dylan's sweeping helped :). 

We had some more visitors from Wayne Homes today.  Doug told us every month or so some of the higher-ups at WH go to job sites to inspect the quality.  If you're reading, we hope you enjoyed it!

Wired

Today the electrician ran all the wires and finished the rough electric.  We also passed the rough plumbing inspection today. Tomorrow the trench will be inspected and by the end of the week, the rough electric should be inspected.  We popped over to the house around 7:45 tonight and the electrician was still working.  He was getting ready to wrap up, but still needed to clean, so we helped a little.  Dylan was really excited about sweeping.  He was begging me for the broom.  No, I'm not kidding.

Tomorrow, the garage door is getting installed.  The trench should be backfilled after it's approved too.

Roughing It

Saturday, June 16
The HVAC guy came in and cut the holes for the registers and began forming out the air returns.  Where the holes for the registers are cut out, he covered the hole diagonally with the cut out piece of wood.  We thought that was a nice safety feature. 

See the hole under the window?

Monday, June 18
We met with the electrician bright and early to place all the outlets, switches, light fixtures, and cable and phone outlets.  It took about 2.5 hours or so.  First he went through the house and marked on the studs where the standard outlets and things go.  Then we went through room by room adding and changing things.  He made some very good suggestions along the way.  I can't remember all that I added or changed.  It was a lot.  We did not put any extra PPI money in the contract for additional electrical.  If we have any left over of the safety net, we'll use that.  Otherwise, it's out of pocket.  May I suggest adding $1,200 or more into your PPI totals to cover these things?  (Yes, dear, you were right.  We should've added the $1,000 you wanted.)

In the contract, we had already included ceiling fan mounts in the great room and 4 bedrooms, and cable outlets in those same 5 rooms plus 1 in the basement.  I think one outdoor plug was included in the house price too.  Here are some of the things I remember that I added today.  My husband had to leave soon after we started, so I was on my own for most of it.

• 4 pot lights on a dimmer switch in the great room
• The kitchen had 4 pot lights standard.  I added a 5th in the middle.
• 2 outdoor outlets in the back where a deck/patio will eventually go (one day...)
• 2 outdoor outlets on the front porch (I think 1 was included as standard)
• 6 outlets in the garage
• 4-plug outlets (quads) on each side of the bed in the master bedroom
• hall light outside the office
• outlets in each walk in closet
• light in the large office closet
• outlet in the large laundry room closet (to charge the swiffer)
• TV wiring above the fireplace-He's going to run flexible conduit behind the wall, down under the floor, and back up to the other wall where a table by the couch will be for the cable box, etc.
• some 2-3-4 way switches in random places so we can turn on lights from multiple locations (example: great room lights can be turned on by sliding door, master bedroom hallway, or around basement stairs on the dining room wall)
• Extra plugs in the basement
• Freezer (basement) circuit, Well pump circuit, water softner circuit

The electrician got right to work after we figured it all out.  He has all the boxes mounted to the studs and I'm guessing he'll run the wires tomorrow.  He also fixed the kitchen doorway mistake.

Kitchen pot lights

We have underground cables in our neighborhood, so they also dug the trench for the electric line from the street to the house.


The plumbers also showed up around 7:30 this morning and got right to work.

Another step closer to the beloved laundry room

 

Kitchen sink area

Powder room and master bath plumbing

Garage floor drain - Happy Valentine's Day!

Tomorrow, the rough plumbing and trench for the electrical gets inspected.  I'm sure the electrician will be back to run the wires too.