Passed Two Inspections/ Insulation

Saturday, March  29: We held a large cleaning party, in preparation for the first Inspection.  (If you knew my husband, you'd know that "cleaning parties" are one of his favorite types of parties...)

 

I didn't actually take pictures of anyone cleaning (because I was cleaning too), but here are a few when we were finished.  We had picked up LOTS of wood scraps, wire to recycle, and trash; and my FIL was the all-time sweeper.  It looked great.  Thank you to the crew.

 

(Do you think they'll all come back to clean every Saturday when we live here?)

 

 

 

She "cleaned" so much she got plumb-tuckered out.

 

Roof is finished.

 

Lots of work to be done here to make a front yard.  Someday.

 

 

                                              Mud.  Everywhere.  (at least it's not snow.)

 

 

St. Joseph already has a place of honor.

 

Mr. Thomas C. and my Tallest Brother came to help us on clean-up day.

 

D. keeps his wood scraps orderly.

 

New-ish basement stairs.

 

Youngest brother helps out.

 

{Sweet.} 

 

It was a lovely blue-sky day.  We enjoyed having the windows open.

 

 

Last view of my "lawn ornament."  I couldn't resist.  We'll miss the old SkyTrak.

 

Little bit of snow left on the northern slopes.  Supposedly, it can still snow as long as it hasn't all melted.  Someone suggested hitting all the North-facing slopes with a hair-dryer. 

(We have Spring Fever.)

                          We passed the Inspections with flying colors, and were able to
                                                     have the house insulated right away.

                                                    

 

 

My brothers painting boards on which the heating system will be mounted in the Mechanical Room.  I'm told that as soon as the camera came out, G. grabbed a roller so it'd look like she was helping...

 

 

This-- is my new "un"laundry-chute.  Our intent is to use it to send laundry OUT of the laundry room, rather than into it (hence the name) so I can hang the wet clothes to dry in the basement. 

 

It was my idea, and has been a true labor of love by my husband (with help from a good friend.) 

 

 

 

 

 

Some other good friends installed the ductwork to vent the range.

 

The Littles tried out the newly installed bathtub.

 

J. has gotten a good little education in construction.  Here he drew an electrical plan to help out.

 

Can you see the wire running down from the blue box, underneath the floor, and powering the fixture above?

 

He was excited to "make the blog."

                                  
                                     Saturday, April 12:  Was our preliminary Moving Day. 
                             We needed to start emptying the current house to list it for sale,
                    so our brothers came to start the move.  No more range in the living room.

 

Remember that it can still snow as long as there's snow left on the northern slopes? 

 

(We aim to test all theories for our readers.)

 

We woke up to snow this morning (April the 14th)!  Yea.

 

Up Next: Drywall.

Basement Stairs, Plumbing, Electrical

Inside the kitchen.  More blue electrical boxes going in, and some roughed-in plumbing for the kitchen sink.



Electrical wiring.  Already, 1/2 mile of wire has been installed.
 (For real.)
And they're not done yet.

And-- I think the most exciting progress---
Finally, STAIRS to the basement! 

Until now, we've had to trek way around the house, through the snow, or, worse, down an ice-glazed slope to get to the basement.  It is oh-so-much more convenient to have an indoor stairway!  And it's a pretty walk too.


 

From the Stair Landing: The 1st floor and the basement.




View of the 1st floor from the Basement Stairs.

 

Patio door installed in the basement, marking the official end of window and door installation-- they're all in.

Sunny  basement, which we've been enlisted to thoroughly sweep this Saturday. 
The boys spent an evening out here last week, and already have some forts and hide-outs in the works.



Bathtub's been installed.

Laundry room plumbing.

Fast-paced 10 days ahead.  There's a lot of Electrical to be finished to get ready for the scheduled inspection.
Then, after the Inspection, comes Insulation.

The New Crew Member

And-- the day before the concrete went in, we received a new Inspector!  He has been to the site to take a look around, but slept through the whole experience.  Despite his seeming lack of enthusiasm, we have no doubt that he will be an invaluable asset to our team.

Concrete Finally

Monday was a beautiful sunny day (I missed it-- but more on that later--), and we were finally able to have the basement poured.  D. took the boys to watch the action.  There were three trucks, pouring through the windows.

Here the pex tubing is fully covered.

I guess we didn't get any pictures of it, but D. said he and the boys had a great close-up view from the attic windows.  The concrete trucks chutes were right in front of them!

Looking down the soon-to-be basement stairs to the new basement.

The next day, yesterday, we all went out for a look-see.  Here are the newly-framed kitchen walls.  They will be half-height walls on these three sides.

Another view of the kitchen.

New patio doors and sidelights in the Dining Room.

New Library window.

Most of the Inspectors in the Loft. 

The Dining Room is on the Left; The Living Room is Center-Right; the Front Door will be on the Right.

Front Door from the Loft.

Dining Room from the Loft.

Living Room from the Loft.

More progress:  Shingles!  (Far Left)



And, a sign of a long awaited Spring! 

D. and the boys tapped our Box Elder (think Maple) trees during the Concrete-pouring.  The sap will be running every day that it's above freezing during the day, but freezes at night.  It will be cold yet for awhile, but this is encouraging.

Windows and Electrical

Working on the Electrical Drawings

We hadn't realized how complicated the electrical wiring plan would be. 
Apparently, a house with very few walls separating the rooms leaves precious few options for running wire.
(Now we just need more wire.)

Our storehouse of supplies:  Lots of electrical boxes.

Fluorescent lights.

Can lights-- 40 or so.

New windows over the Front Door. 

New Living Room windows.

New windows over Dining Room.  Scaffolding where the guys were just installing can lights 17' above the floor. 
(I wonder if the guys will come periodically to change light bulbs.)

Master Bedroom with some new blue electrical boxes and windows. 

D. took me and our neighbor oh-so-carefully down the ice-covered hillside to the basement, so we could see the tubing first-hand.  (We have no stairs to the basement yet, so we can only access it from the outside.)

 

The Tubing Manifold again in the Mechanical Room.

 



We made it safely up the ice back to the Front Door.  Here D. is showing next-door neighbor D. around. 
(We wish her parents would send a little Phoenix air our way.)

 

More electrical boxes going in the Laundry Room.

Not surprisingly, the cold (we've made it to "11th coldest winter on record," and are still vying for a higher ranking) has prevented us from having the basement concrete poured.  It has not kept the guys from starting on the electrical or finishing installing the windows, but the wind-chills surely haven't made anything pleasant! 

We're looking at slow progress for the next week or two (expected -11 tonight, with -30 or so windchills...)
Maybe we'll be able to pour concrete next week.

Maybe.