Installation of the new windows started today, as did construction on the chimney chase. Hopefully, we'll be weather-tight within the next week.
The first batch of windows was removed today -- just in time, considering that the new ones are slated to arrive tomorrow or soon after. In addition to new windows going in, work is supposed to begin on our brick-veneered chimney chase this week.
The weekend should be busy -- we're trying to get a final decision made on linoleum color for our tile & carpet contractor, and we're meeting with him early Saturday to try to figure something out for the tile portion of the fireplace surround (basically how to best incorporate the antique Minton & Hollis tile that we got with the fireplace mantel.) We'd really like to accent it with some Majolica tile (antique or reproduction), but we're undecided as to what to do for the hearth.
We also have to schedule a meeting with the stone fabricator to go over vanity countertops, and there's another load of lumber due to arrive. Like I said: busy.
More painting this weekend, but the big news it that we bought a mantel for the fireplace. It's a turn-of-the-century solid mahogany mantel and surround with an overmantel, complete with mirror, and in pretty good shape for something one-hundred-plus years old. We bought it from Jeff Markham, a Boston-area renovation contractor who says it comes from a house on the Jamaica Way in Jamaica Plains, MA.
Here's a quick recap of what's been happening over the last few days.
Our bathtub was delivered last week, prior to our contractor having room for it. Managed to get a bunch of friends together on Sunday to get it out of the crate to check it for damage (thanks, guys!) -- it made it here in great shape!
The turret roof is completely shingled now (as you can see in the pictures I posted over the weekend) and is only awaiting trim and the finial installation. This pretty much wraps up the roof, aside from patching around things like the chimney and waste stack vents. Speaking of the chimney, we've decided to mask the fact that its a steel chimney by wrapping the chase in a brick veneer, so that it looks like a masonry chimney from the outside (albeit one with a steel flue liner and cap.)
We've also been busy painting -- Kris is on vacation this week and has spent most of it either painting or waiting for lumber to paint. One more big push this weekend and we should have most of the trim lumber done. That just leaves the porch and the gable-end shingles for exterior work, at least until everything's on the building for our final touch-up.
Last, but certainly not least, the plumber has been in over the last day or so starting his rough-in work, so interior work has _finally_ started. Once the new windows are in (next week?) more rough-ins will be moving forward, and probably very quickly.
Most of the turret roof now has shingles -- another good day, and we should be set on that front.
The prefab fireplace was installed today, too. It's a Temco model TLC36-3. We're still looking around for a mantelpiece for it -- we really want to do a full Victorian mantle with a mirrored overmantle, but costs are prohibitive. We've got a lead on a salvaged mantle that just might work, though.
The windows haven't yet been removed, but the turret roof is finally up! Mostly, anyway. According to our contractor, it'll be complete tomorrow evening, right down to roofing shingles. You can check out some pictures of what's done so far.
On a sadder note, one of the houses that we've looked to for inspiration, particularly for colors, was destroyed by a fire caused by faulty wiring this past week. The Corbin-Norton House, which was the summer home of software impressario Peter Norton (yes, Mr. Norton Utilities) was a landmark in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard and a beautifully-restored example of Queen Anne architecture. The Nortons have apparently decided to rebuild the house as it was, but it's still a sad thing. You can check out the story from the Boston Globe.
It's Groundhog Day!
After meeting with our contractor today, the window problem is no longer a problem. This is both good and bad news.
The good news is that we'll end up with the windows we originally wanted, with little to no financial exposure for either us or our contractor. Most of the windows will be removed, repackaged, and resold, with only one or two minor exceptions, and new windows will be ordered and installed.
The bad news? An instantaneous four week delay, while we wait on new windows. Arrival for those will be at the end of the month.
Even that has a good side -- the extra four weeks gives us time to get a little ahead on our exterior painting, without killing ourselves to do it, and gives our contractor time to find answers to a bunch of outstanding questions we've been waiting on answers to.
Tomorrow, the next big batch of trim lumber arrives (more than twice as much as we've painted so far) and we get to work painting it. The trusses for the turret roof also arrived on-site today, so the roof may be complete soon. Once that is done, and the soffit plywood is installed, there isn't that much that can be done at the house until the new windows arrive. Yes, that means less frequent updates for a bit.
At least all we lost was a little time. Sigh.
Most of the windows (except those in the turret rooms, which are unprotected by roofing, still) were installed today. The only problem is that they're the wrong color: we had wanted the Andersen "TerraTone" color, which is a dark brown, and what got installed was white. Since they're vinyl-clad windows, painting them isn't a real option (while you probably can paint vinyl, it kinda defeats the purpose of installing vinyl-clad windows to begin with.) We've got a call in to our contractor to try to resolve the issue, as white windows just don't go with our exterior color scheme. At all.
Where we have a roof, the roof is shingled (the turret is still missing.) There's still some flashing to do, and some ridges and valleys that need finishing, but all the surfaces are covered.
It sounds as if our contractor still plans on having the windows installed by the end of the week, so that should mean having the turret roof done by then. We've got a second trailer on site (granted, the first one is the truck that had died a month ago), and it looks as if they've done a few other minor framing tasks inside (furring out the garage ceiling, boxing in around where the pre-fab fireplace will be installed, putting a ceiling in the dining room closet, and so on.)
Assuming the contractor does get the windows installed this week, that translates into another load of trim lumber being delivered for us to paint on Saturday.
Progress is good.
Let the shingling begin!
It's been a while since there was any real progress at the site, mostly due to multiple bouts of nasty weather and yet another delay from the roof truss company. The turret roof trusses should finally show up next week, and our contractor started putting roof shingles on today, covering most of the north face of the garage roof and all of the porch roof.
Other, less visible things have been happening, including further conversations with the kitchen designer and the carpet and tile sub, as well as numerous other trades visiting the site to take measurements to prep for their stages. I've lost track, but I think that the plumber, electrician, plasterer, and the fireplace sub have all been out to the site in the last week or so.
Things are progressing again, and it looks like the next few days will be relatively bad-weather-free, so we're hoping that by the end of next week we might actually have a complete roof. Hopefully I can get a few decent pictures taken this weekend, too.
This week saw the porch framing completed, which leaves only the turret roof for rough framing tasks to be done.
The construction schedule for the next week or so includes wrapping up the fascia on the completed roof sections, shingling the roof (shingles are on-site today), putting up the turret roof (scheduled for Wednesday of this week, and, on the 23rd of this month, delivery and installation of the windows. That plus exterior doors gets us weather-tight, which translates into a draw from the bank.
Kris and I did some "emergency" painting today for some material that's going to be installed on Monday. We've also taken a first pass at the flooring material where hardwood isn't being installed, pending some more discussion and an estimate from the carpet and tile subcontractor. Finally, Kris ordered our finial earlier this week, which, amazingly, is already done and ready for us to pick up. Kudos to the folks at Cape Cod Cupola for getting this done quickly (and at a much better price than some of the other places we had looked!)
Oh -- there's a few new pictures up today as well.
We got our lumber delivery today, but with the weather, have to wait for it to dry before we paint. We'll be doing that tomorrow.
That gave us time to get out to the site and take some new pictures, which I've posted.
And just to make this a decent-sized update for a change, I've also posted a new article, complete with pictures, talking about our door hardware choices. Enjoy!
More work was done on the porch today. All of the deck framing looks is complete, and the porch roof beams and some of the roof structure is up. Some of the trim at the garage gable was also put up. I should be posting some new pictures this weekend sometime.
We're still painting this weekend, although the lumber hasn't been delivered yet.
Finally, our door hardware was delivered today.
Most of the porch deck framing is now assembled, and most of the beams that will support the porch roof are assembled and ready to go up. Looks like the crew has also ripped the plywood for the soffits down to width, done some prep work on the first batch of trim, and are ready to start putting that up. Since there's been work on the exterior, I'm hoping to get a new batch of pictures up this weekend.
We've also decided, to help the friend who's letting us use her building to paint in avoid needless liability, that we'll be transporting the material that we're done painting ourselves. This translates into me having to either find a suitable vehicle to borrow or building a rack for our truck to help move really long pieces. Just something else to tackle over the weekend...
Today, the house was wrapped with Tyvek. Tomorrow, the soffits start being installed.
Kris and her dad brought the soffit plywood that we've already painted down to the site today, and our contractor will be picking up the painted trim lumber tomorrow. It also looks like we're in for another weekend of painting, as the second load of trim lumber is being delivered Friday.
It sounds like the next step for the contractor will be building the structure of the wrap-around porch. I don't know when the turret roof will be framed yet, but it will need to be soon so that the interior rough-ins can begin.
Happy New Year (in a few hours, anyway!)
We managed to get the first batch of trim painting done a few days ago, and we've been relaxing since. The next load probably won't be delivered until next week sometime. As far as trim goes, we're guessing that we're about a third done. Add some shingles and the porch to that, and there's still a lot to do.
Our gingerbread trim was also delivered a few days ago, so that's on the list to be painted. It will be painted in multiple colors, though, so that will go a little more slowly.
Between bad weather and holidays, there's been no work done on the site. We're hoping for progress in the coming week. I've spent a little time working on new articles, the first of which I just posted a moment ago. I've got a few more with some details on our finish choices (paint colors, appliances, and so on) in the works, and those will be posted over the next few weeks, as I have time.
Finally, being the last day of the year, best wishes to you & yours from Kris & I!
There hasn't been an update so far this week, because, well, there's been nothing to report.
Our contractor opened the week with a broken-down truck, whose engine died alongside the highway. Just to make it more fun, I got stuck in the traffic caused by curious passers-by on my already too-long ride to work. Double-whammy. Our contractor has also decided to give the truss company one last shot at the turret roof, so there's been no progress there, either.
Kris & I have been busy this week, between milestones at work, Christmas shopping, and, over the last few days, painting trim lumber. We've got all of the plywood that will be used for our soffits primed, and will be spending the bulk of the day tomorrow (yes, Christmas Eve!) putting on the finish coats (we should be able to put 2 coats on, if we get an early enough start.) After manhandling plywood around and rolling on nice, heavy, oil-based primer for a day or so, I can remember why it's a good idea to hit the gym every once in a while when you work a desk all day.
We hope to be able to get all the "high" trim (soffits, rakes, and fascia) painted by this coming Wednesday or Thursday, so we can spend at least a few days actually vacationing while on vacation.
Finally, I think we've made a(n expensive) decision on our stairs. More details when it's definite.
Work on the turret roof hasn't gotten started yet, as can be seen in the pictures I took this afternoon. We've still been busy, though, making more fit and finish decisions.
We met with the carpet and tile folks today, to start exploring our options there. It looks like our allowances for tile and vinyl flooring are low (which we expected,) but getting what we want for flooring won't break the bank. The only room that might be an issue is the kitchen: we wanted real linoleum and not sheet vinyl, but it's not a product this particular dealer likes to work with. Despite that, we still think it's the best look for the room, especially considering the only other thing that we really liked for that room would be several thousand dollars more. If we can't do linoleum, then we might just pick something that we can replace easily in a few years with a more expensive product (like the cork tile we saw today...)
On the calendar for this week is the delivery of the first load of exterior trim lumber that we need to paint, delivery of the exterior gingerbread items, and me scrambling to do Christmas shopping before Christmas Eve. At least my "vacation" begins Wednesday.
Weather permitting, the framing crew will start stick-building the turret roof tomorrow. Unfortunately, our contractor won't begin shingling now for another week or so, as they're tied up on another job.
Meanwhile, we're still making decisions on finish materials. We've finally got pricing back on our staircase upgrades, which will add a few thousand dollars to the cost of the house. We're seriously considering them, as (unlike several other upgrades on the table) it would be ridiculous to put in something just passable for now and get what we really wanted later.
We're also meeting with the non-hardwood flooring contractor early this Saturday, so we'll start getting some idea what that's going to cost soon. We're likely to go over our allowance for some rooms, but keep it under in others, so everything will likely balance out.
Finally, it looks like I'll be on vacation just in time for the material we need to paint to arrive, so I'll have plenty of time to get that done. There isn't really a huge amount of exterior trim to paint, and since our clapboards are coming painted, we might even have everything done by the time the holidays are over.
As I expected, no progress was made on the roof yesterday aside from some work on the subfascia and blocking to attach the soffits to. The framing crew did, however, put up several more of the interior walls (the first floor is now pretty much wrapped up framing-wise, and the second floor is very close.)
The reason that the turret roof is taking so long is that the truss company is apparently having difficulty designing pre-fab trusses. As of last night, it sounds like our contractor has decided to stick-build the turret roof, so hopefully we'll see something soon. The short-term weather outlook is not encouraging, though, which just further emphasizes the need to get the house tight to the weather as soon as possible.
With the rain this morning, the ground around our house is a quagmire of very sticky mud (I've got the shoes to prove it.) Despite that, it looks like the framing crew got quite a bit done. The second floor ceiling is mostly furred out (aside from the still-incomplete turret,) more of the subfascia is up on the completed roof, and the southern face of the house's front gable is done. Looks like some of the returns at the gable end eaves are also mostly done.
That leaves the turret roof and shingling, neither of which I expect much done on tomorrow, given weather reports predicting 50mph gusts of wind for much of the day.
While there hasn't been any progress on the house itself since last Thursday, courtesy of the first real snow of the year here in Southeastern Massachusetts, Kris and I have been busy this weekend ordering or getting ready to order a number of other long lead-time items (and going over budget.)
Today was door hardware day, ordering both our entry sets and all of the interior doorknobs as well. We decided to go with some egg-shaped knobs downstairs and glass knobs upstairs, although they're regular tubular mechanism hardware and not full mortise hardware. We managed to find really good prices online at Cabin 26 Hardware.
We also picked out some of the gingerbread items for the exterior trim, and finalized our plumbing fixture selection as well (where we went quite a bit over our allowance, despite having priced out what we wanted a year ago when putting together the specs.) We'll be ordering these from a number of different vendors over the next week. The gingerbread is all coming from Vintage Woodworks, and most of the plumbing fixtures are coming from Hardware, Bath, and More or Baths from the Past.
Speaking of budget, we're a little bit over (around 5%) but not anything extreme yet. That number includes a few upgrades that we're guesstimating the prices on, and may float up or down a little. We are looking a little more closely at future expenses, though, as we don't have a huge buffer for overruns.
And last but not least, it looks like we could be starting our prep painting for the exterior trim as soon as next weekend.
Met with our kitchen designer tonight to finalize our selections (the cabinets have a 9 to 10 week lead time, so we needed to get an order out.) We're going with maple cabinets from Tedd Wood Cabinets for the kitchen and for some built-in bookshelves in the family room, and oak and cherry vanities from Sunco for the upstairs bath and master bath, respectively.
On the construction front, we've finally found a place to do our trim painting inside so we don't have to worry about the cold temperatures and can get one finish coat on before the trim goes up (thanks, Marie!) The roof is trussed and sheathed, aside from the turret, which will be complete by next Wednesday, and roof shingling starts next Monday.
It's also plumbing fixture ordering time, and we've faxed off our list to get pricing. We already know we're going over our allowance here, primarily because we're going with a brushed nickel finish on several of the faucets, which adds pretty substantially to the cost when compared to a brass or chrome finish.
Just a quickie tonight -- more of the main roof is done (a little more plywood needs to go on, but the only complex piece left is the turret) and a few more interior walls got framed up today.
The main roof's ridge has been installed, as well as plywood over the garage and more than half of the main roof. The roof connecting the main roof to the garage roof and the turret roof are still waiting to be done.
According to the contractor, shingling the roof will begin next week by a roofing subcontractor, and windows will be installed by our contractor's own crew when shingling is completed.
We're also in the throes of subcontractor meetings to make some final finish decisions. We need to schedule meetings with the kitchen designer to finalize the cabinets and vanities (which take 11 to 12 weeks from order to delivery) and with the carpet installer to pick out carpets for the family room and front and rear bedrooms.
Finally, I have some drawings to do so the contractor can price out some built-in bookshelves in the family room.
And it's only going to get busier...
The framing crew has assembled most of thr roof trusses, aside from some of the more complex angles (like the turret.) Some of the plywood is on as well. I figure that by the end of this coming week, the roof will be ready for shingling.
We stopped by during the day yesterday, so I've posted a few new pictures. Note that the main roof ridge has not been set yet, which will bring the roof over the main house up about another 6 feet or so.
As expected, most of the roof trusses were assembled today. There's still a little more work to do, particularly in the areas where the roof faces come together at odd angles, like the front gable and the turret area. Hopefully, everything will get buttoned down before the weather gets nasty, which is predicted for Thursday. Keeping my fingers crossed...
Kris stopped by the site this afternoon, and the framers have put up some of the second floor partition walls. We also got some contact information from Steve Lisker, the owner of the framing company doing the work, so here it is. I'll probably need to put together a "Contacts" page eventually.
We got another status update today via an unexpected route: I bumped into Danny, our contractor, at the grocery store tonight. Tomorrow is Truss Day: the skeleton of our roof will be assembled, with the help of a crane. By the end of the week, that skeleton will be covered with plywood, and we'll be that much closer to a weathertight structure. Doors, windows and housewrap will get the building tight to the weather.
This also means we're getting close to our first big sweat-equity task: exterior painting. We'd hoped to paint trim, soffits, rakes, and so on on the ground before they were put on the house, but it drops below freezing quite regularly now, so I'm not sure how that will proceed.
And yes, this probably means more pictures this weekend...
Added even more framing pictures.
Looks like the framing crew did some odd jobs today: installing a door header here, fixing a rough opening or three there. The support columns also got installed, and it looks like they're starting to lay out the roof trusses. I assume that the crew will be taking a long weekend this week, though, given the holiday.
We also got our stairway choices (newels, balusters, and so on) to the contractor over the weekend -- just waiting on that upgrade price...
The second floor exterior walls are done, except for the turret, so I've put up some new pictures.
Most of the second floor walls were framed up today, and if it doesn't weather too much they'll probably get wrapped up tomorrow. I won't be able to post new pictures until this weekend, though, since I won't have time to stop in tomorrow morning.
Just a quick one tonight -- the garage was framed today, and most of the second floor joists are in place. Some of the roof trusses are also on site. Weather this week looks like it will be pretty variable, but we're still hoping that they'll be done with the second floor and ready to start on the roof by week's end.
New pictures today! No new progress to report, courtesy of our fine fall weather here in New England, but I've added a batch of photos that show the progress so far framing the house.
The structural walls of the first floor are pretty much complete, including the turret area. Looking at the site, it looks like the garage walls would be the next step -- the pressure-treated sills are in place. We're supposed to get rain through the day tomorrow, though, so I'm not anticipating any more progress until Monday.
Most of our exterior first floor walls are now standing, except for the walls at the turret -- it's great to finally see daily progress. The load bearing wall for the first floor also looks to be framed and ready to go up. I'll probably be posting new pictures over the weekend -- I can't get to the site until after nightfall on weekdays, so I won't have daylight on my side until then.
We're preparing for our first draw from the bank, and things are proceeding rather quickly on-site as well. The first floor deck is mostly complete, including the plywood sub-floor, and the front and rear first floor exterior walls look just about ready to go up.
We've also just made or need to make several decisions -- we just selected an entry door (a Therma-Tru FiberClassic Model 1758,) and we have to have stair details (newel posts and spindles) selected soon.
Framing has begun!
Between yesterday and today, the sills and most of the joists for the first floor deck were assembled, so I've put some new pictures up.
Good news today - the lumber and other materials for the first floor deck were delivered to the site today, and our contractor tells us that they may begin framing a little sooner. This means we have to make a decision on our front door ASAP.
The back fill of our foundation was completed yesterday afternoon, despite the miserable weather. Framing is scheduled to begin next Thursday, pending the on-time arrival of the laminated veneer lumber (LVL) beams that will serve as a major structural component of the first-floor deck.
We also met with our contractor last night to go over the window pricing and to make sure that we're in sync with respect to a few minor framing changes. We've decided to stick with the Andersen windows in a 2 over 2 light pattern, rather than the Kolbe & Kolbe, which, although the salesperson originally said are priced competitively with the Andersens, were a substantial up charge. There's a minor difference in exterior look (there are no muntin bars on the exterior of the Andersens,) but we can get leaded glass panels later from a variety of sources to add to the Andersens later, either from Andersen or a number of other sources. Seems like an even trade.
If the weather mostly cooperates, we should have a weather-tight structure in mid-December.
The excavator started backfilling around the foundation today -- we expect that he'll finish up tomorrow. Hopefully, this means that our contractor will begin framing the house soon, possibly even this week.
Another quickie today: the Foundation was inspected this past Tuesday, and all went well there. In the next day or so, the foundation will be back-filled and framing of the first floor deck should get started. We're meeting with our contractor early next week to go over some framing changes and to get new numbers for our windows. Once that's done, framing should proceed quickly.
Just a quick update this time around -- we dropped off the foundation as-built drawings with our contractor on Friday morning, so we're hoping that the foundation inspection will happen ASAP, and that our contractor will begin framing the first floor deck this week.
Went out to the site today to take some pictures of the foundation, which is now just about completed (the sides were tarred yesterday.) We also put a call in to the surveyor, so that we can get the foundation "as-built" drawing put together for the town. An "as-built" is a drawing that shows where something was actually placed, to show any deviations from the original plans that were submitted. In this case, it will show how close the foundation was poured to the originally specified location. Having this type of information on record is important, especially the septic system's as-build drawings, so that items completely underground can be located later, potentially by different contractors and/or homeowners.
The foundation was "skinned" today. It'll be left alone for at least a day or so to continue curing, then the exterior will be coated with tar as a waterproofing measure. Hopefully, next week our contractor will be able to start putting on the first floor deck, which allows us to eliminate our (rather pricey) renter's insurance, as the policy on the new house will be in effect.
The forms for the foundation were completed this morning, and right afterwards, the foundation itself was poured. According to our contractor, by the end of the day tomorrow, they'll be ready to "skin" the foundation (in other words, remove the forms.) This puts us about seven weeks away from a weathertight structure, depending on the weather. Given what it's been like in New England this summer, at least a few weather-related delays are worked into that time frame.
We also met with Bob Rose, from Horner Millwork to talk windows. After going through the mind-boggling list of options for his windows, we decided to have him price out clad-profile, double-hung, "2 over 2" windows with simulated divided lights. We'll see what the price difference is and then decide if we want to issue the change order. It'll probably be a little more than the original bid, mostly because of the simulated divided lights, but it's also a more accurate look. The windows are manufactured by Kolbe & Kolbe, so you can check out their web site for more information.
The foundation sub was in today installing the forms. I've put up a few pictures of them. Looks like they'll be able to wrap up assembly and maybe even pour the foundation tomorrow.
We're also meeting with the contractor and the window manufacturer's sales rep tomorrow night to discuss the windows for the house. We first talked about this in our July 31st update.
The foundation forms were finally delivered today, and our general contractor is trying to get the foundation sub in on Monday (which is a holiday) to set them up. I've added new pictures of the forms as delivered, and will add more once they've been set up.
The foundation has slipped again (and the weather was fine.) We're now being told that the forms will be dropped off at the site on Thursday (October 5th) and setup will begin on the following day. Neither we nor our general contractor are pleased with this, obviously, but until the subcontractor gets started, there's not much we can do about it. You'll note that it's now been over a month since initial excavation was complete. Hopefully, we won't have scheduling issues this severe with other subcontractors down the road.
There's a reason they say home building is one of the most stressful things anyone will do in their lifetimes...
The word from our contractor is that the foundation will go in on October 2nd (next Monday,) weather permitting.
The crushed stone base that will be under the basement floor went in over the weekend, and we're supposed to have a foundation poured by the end of this week. Once that's done, we'll need to have our first site visit from the building inspector.
We have footings! Check out the pictures...
Still no footings. Not for lack of trying, though.
I've put up a few Pictures that show the reason: that not-so-recently installed hole in the ground wasn't quite big enough to accommodate the bulkhead for the cellar stairs or the turret, so more digging is required. There's excavation equipment on the lot, though, which hopefully means a speedy remedy. Once again, there's heavy rain in the forecast. We'll see.
The footing forms go in tomorrow, and it appears the surveyor put in more sturdy markers this time (steel spikes circled in orange paint.) Of course, they're predicting rain for at least part of the day, so we'll see. We're also expecting updated window and roof truss information from the contractor soon.
Kris is meeting a landscape designer at the lot today, who hopefully works for a little less than the last one she met with, who would have charged more for the landscape design than we've paid so far for house plans and site engineering.
When I stopped by the lot this past Friday (9/11/2000) to check on progress, I found our mailbox down (probably by accident -- the type of post I bought works better in heavier soil) and eight or nine of the neighborhood kids (10 or 11 years old) riding their bikes through the foundation excavation, also having knocked some sand and some large cobbles back into the hole. This in and of itself wasn't a big deal, but, concerned about liability, I asked them all to leave and told them to keep off of the lot. (After all, just last year in Bridgewater, MA, a young girl was trapped inside a excavated trench and suffocated when it collapsed.)
As it turns out today, they also knocked out our survey stakes, making it impossible for the foundation contractor to install forms for the footings today, and causing us to have to pay the surveyor yet again to put them back. If all goes according to plan, they won't have an opportunity to do so again -- the surveyor is in tomorrow morning to re-stake the corners, and the foundation contractor is in just after noon to install his forms, which are quite a bit harder to accidentally remove.
But then again, I suppose I should expect the unexpected...
A little more excavation (to clear beneath the garage) has taken place, but the footings for the foundation aren't going in until Tuesday. Paced off the hole -- it's about 40' by 80', and 6 to 7 feet below grade for most of it.
In other news, we've put a deposit down on our kitchen appliances (which we're buying from R. D. Crane in Falmouth, MA), have tried out our exterior paint color selections (we're ordering pre-painted clapboards to save us doing some labor on the exterior painting,) and have decided on the type of door hardware we're using (way ahead of time.) We'll also be talking with the contractor about our roof's trussing system in an attempt to get as much usable attic space as possible, and about the window selection (see the update from July 31st.) Finally, we need to track down a front door soon.
We are now the proud owners of a big hole in the ground -- the excavator dug out for the foundation today. I've updated the Pictures section with some shots of the lot as it looked as of about 6:30pm today.
The house corners got staked out for excavation yesterday, and excavation has been scheduled for next Tuesday (which puts us about six weeks behind schedule, according to our contractor.) If all goes well, the footings should be poured by the end of next week. I'll try to post some new photos when the footings are in.
Just a quickie -- the tree stumps still on the lot were pulled by the excavator on Saturday (while we were moving,) so it looks like we're just about ready to put the big hole in the ground that everything goes into.
Progress! Our contractor has our building permit in hand, and the excavator is starting work this coming Thursday, weather permitting, to stump the lot. Major excavation is scheduled for late next week, after we have the engineers go out to re-stake the house corners. This comes just as we're ready to move out of our current home -- we're moving in with Kris' folks for the remainder of the construction period.
Hopefully, this means that things will feel like they're moving a little faster now.
We're a little in the dark this week -- theoretically, our contractor picked up the building permit last Thursday, but the person who handles customer contacts is out on vacation, so we haven't gotten any verification. I don't know if it means anything, but Kristen stopped by the lot today and saw that some additional work has been done on the well, and that the temporary electrical service is installed. I'll take that as a good sign.
Kristen has also been busy bidding out our kitchen appliances from a few local dealers, and it looks like she's saved us some money. We'll probably be putting a deposit down in the next few days to lock in the bid there.
Still no word on the building permit, but we did get our copy of the water quality tests in the mail. All the builder had told us previously was that the water was drinkable per EPA specs, but didn't have any other detail. Surprise of surprises, we don't have a high iron content in the water. The only things that are a little out of order are manganese, which is on the high side, and the water is a little acidic (low pH.) I'm not sure what the manganese content implies, but I do know that acidic water can reduce the lifetime of metallic components it comes in contact with, so I'll be doing some research online (probably starting at Culligan's web site) to see if there's any treatment we could be doing.
The building permit wasn't ready on Friday, but should be in the next day or so. Given the weather forecast for the first half of this week, a day or two wait for the permit isn't slowing anything down.
On a different note, we had asked our builder to investigate what the price difference, if any, was in using Peachtree Windows rather than Andersen Windows, and also to see what the cost is to change to a different light pattern on the windows (we prefer a more Victorian 2 over 2 light window, rather than 6x6 or 9x9 lights, which are more appropriate to a Colonial.) We should have more info there soon, which will probably translate into our first major Change Order on the project.
Why change to a different brand of window? Cost. We've heard good things about both the Peachtree and the Andersen brands, but the Peachtrees are supposedly less expensive. Since windows are typically one of the largest line items in material cost, we could be able to save ourselves a little money. That is, of course, unless switching to a "custom" light pattern increases cost more than a little...
Kris picked up some renderings from our kitchen designer today, and got a quick update from our general contractor, who says he expects to pick up our building permit by the end of this week. I'll be putting up the kitchen renderings this weekend in the "Floorplans" section.
Our contractor received the water quality results today, and we're picking up our copy on Thursday the 27th. We aren't aware of the specific results just yet, but the results are going to Freetown's Board of Health, which means potentially having our building permit in hand fairly soon. Keeping our fingers crossed...
A little progress update just to say there's been no real progress. While we've been spending time picking out plumbing fixtures and getting our current residence sold, we're still waiting on the results of our well water quality test, which is required to obtain our building permit. We're not anticipating problems, but things are taking longer than expected.
We have water! Apparently, we came very close to having to "hydrofrac" the well (pump water in at high pressure to make the rocky aquifer more porous) which would have added quite a bit to the cost of the well. Fortunately, after apparently getting through some ledge at nearly 400 feet down, we've got sufficient flow to provide about 1400 gallons of water per day, with a 400 gallon reservoir in the well hole itself. For more information on wells and well water, the National Well Owners Association has a web site for well owners at <http://www.wellowner.org/>. Their page on How to Own Your Own Private Water System page in particular has some good info.
Everything's just about ready for the temporary electrical service to go in, and now that we have water we're well on our way to an actual building permit.
The excavator was in over the weekend, to level out a section of the driveway near where the well is going in, so that the well driller can get started this afternoon. In another day or so, we'll know what the water situation is.
Over the weekend, we stopped by the lot to see how things are progressing. The trees we needed cleared are gone, replaced by a large pile of wood chips, and we're all set to have the well drilled. I'm starting to get a little more of a feel for the size of the house, which, when it was just staked out, felt a little small. I guess that's because there's no physical bulk there yet. With trees cleared out of the way, though, the scale seems to come across a little better.
Wish us luck on the well... we know we'll have lots of iron in the water, this being Freetown, but I'm just hoping for good pressure!