Burn baby burn, some finishing touches & A story about my Hero

Well, I've been waiting for this day for awhile now. And it finally came. Between getting all the scrap material and burnable garbage  and cardboard boxes ready, waiting for water on-site and getting a less windy day, it all had to be timed up perfectly. But alas, the huge pile in our backyard is gone! It doesn't look like such a big pile in the picture, but it took me 2 weekends to go through it. I had insisted that we couldn't just light it up where it was because I thought the pile was too big and too close to the house. But... on weekend #2 I was so sick of carrying pieces to the burn pile and I got the pile small enough that I finally just lit up the rest right where it was at. So then I had TWO bonfires!

Before

 During

 After

I am so glad I won't have to look at the pile of garbage in the backyard after we move in. I know it would have bugged me all winter.
And I feel better knowing it's one less hurdle when we call back the excavator in the spring to do the final site grading.
 
Another project that took 2 weekends was the porch. And in case you were wondering...I GOT MY BEADBOARD CEILING!!!! The columns and painting will have to wait til spring.

 Another finishing touch that happened this past week was our masterbath shower glass partition. I'm pretty happy with the way this turned out though I have already been given several (unasked for) opinions on how we should close it off.  I am a little worried that I'm going to freeze my butt off, but we'll have 2 shower heads and the floor is heated. And the option to close it off if we need to!

 

In other VERY exciting news, our granite installation went right on schedule Monday, despite the crappy weather. I just LOVE the way it all turned out. Thank you MGT Inc!

The kitchen granite color is Colonial Cream.   The master bathroom granite color is Piracema.

The boys bathroom granite color is Cielo de Marfil.

Last but definitely not least, the story behind this picture:

 

Last Wednesday we were told by our carpenter that he could not get his guy to come help install our banisters. No big deal, we knew it would be tough on a holiday week.  Monday came and again, no help. The excuse this time was the weather. Ok. I can accept that. Today, Tuesday, I headed over in the morning to check in and make sure all was on schedule. Nope. No help again. I finally had it.  The carpenter and I proceeded to have a (not so) nice chat. Given there were just a few little items on his list, I suggested (told) him to just leave for the day and come back when he had the help he needed. And he wouldn't. So, unfortunately for Alex, who had just got home from working all night plowing, I called in reinforcements. Alex also had a chat with Mike. Finally the conclusion came. He would not leave, but neither would Alex. They would install the banisters together. And that is how Alex became a finish carpentry apprentice. And that is why he is asleep in the picture. And that is why he is my hero.

By the way, I am really happy with these banisters. I had done the stain work myself and Mom helped me with the first coat of paint. They'll get another coat now that they are up. Note, the actual stair/treads will be carpeted.

It's all coming together....next up, finish plumbing/fixtures and an entry on all our lighting fixtures.

Watergate

I'd been meaning to post this one for awhile but just kept forgetting to take an after picture of the water.
The water project (aka Watergate) was not complete until we had our water softner and reverse osmosis system installed by Huemann Water Conditioning.
The water in our home was tested before the system was installed to ensure we would get the best result after. Turns out our iron was off the charts 3.5 (and will stain at .3), so given we had the tubs and toilets installed it was crucial we get the water conditioning system in ASAP, so we didn't get rings around bowls.

Picture of water before-yuck

The Kinetico K-2060 Water Conditioner

The Kinetico K-5 Reverse Osmosis

Picture of water after-much better!

We gave it our all

Pete the Cat says:
"Give it your all, Give it your all. At Christmas you give, so Give it your all."
Well folks, it's time for an update, we will NOT be moving in by Christmas.
Even though we gave it our all.

As you can see from the pictures below, the flooring is down (and mostly covered in cardboard to protect it), the cabinets are in and the appliances were delivered. Alas, the granite will take probably close to another 2 weeks. Not to mention that, as hard as our carpenter tried to finish the trimout, it's difficult to do when you don't have all the doors. The driveway was re-surfaced, and has far fewer potholes, but the picture not included here is the view of the house as you approach. That is because our siding still is not done. So...we gave it our all, but we have moved on to a New Year's Resolution...to get it all wrapped up just after the 1st. And we're doing it for you...because we know you don't want to help us move in the bitter cold and snow. See, we're always thinking of you.

My future home office, where I can blog about the next adventure....

Our long and winding road

 Well, of course you know that I couldn't not put up some holiday decor, to get those contractors in the spirit. We've got an itty bitty tree in the corner of the great room, some plastic jumbo ornaments hanging from a couple trees along the driveway and the below message on the sliders overlooking the backyard.

That being said, stayed tuned. The end is in sight and I feel a flurry of blog entries coming on. Afterall, I can't keep the list of what needs to be done in my head..
Get HVAC back to hang condensers, Push Mike to finish siding job, paint doors and add all door knobs, paint stair sides of risers, paint stair rails, finish painting lights-so Jim can hang them, install fireplace stone (figure out mantel), figure out porch ceiling (I want beadboard), design and hang all the closet & pantry shelving, hang the mailbox on the post, add stair railings for 1st to basement, hang guestbath shower doors, oversee installation of glass partition in master shower, figure out vanity mirrors-hang, add all vanity hardware, hang all towel bars/tp holders, get Mike to finish trimout (he's waiting on doors and vanity cabinets that came damaged and had to be re-ordered), add all cabinetry hardware, finish installing appliances, oversee granite install and get Rob back to finish the plumbing trimout, add garage door openers, touch up all walls, ceilings, trim, etc, CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN, PACK, PACK, PACK, MOVE, MOVE, MOVE, UNPACK, UNPACK, UNPACK.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Still Married

Everyone says when you are building a house, it really tests your marriage.

They are right.

But here we are, 1 year later, still building, and still married.

50 Shades of Gray

I'm talking about paint, you naughty people!!!

We used Dutchboy Duraclean Satin finish.
I wasn't sure how to show you, so here's a picture of the paint chip cards and a few pictures from around the house.

Looking at the paint chips above...
Starting at bottom left:
Cliff face-office
Ultra white (not shown)-guest bathroom, library, laundry room mudroom, pantry, closets
Silvery Gray-kitchen and greatroom
Ironed Gray-accent walls in greatroom
Muted Rain-boys bathroom
Silvered Cloud-boys bedrooms
In the center:
Scalloped Gray-foyer, stairway & upstairs hallway
Starting at the bottom right:
Fair-minded Gray-master bedroom
Silver drop-master bathroom (Behr paint)
Octopus Gray-bonus room

Guess who painted the bonus room...

Liam's bedroom-he picked the color, well, kinda-would have been camouflage given a real choice....

master bedroom, hard to tell, but ceiling is coffered

Hall way looking towards stair landing

Thank you to all our painters, and our helpers who didn't paint, but gave us the gift of time without the kids underfoot, so we could paint.

FYI-still working on painting baseboard and stair rails.

No, Seriously.

Well...we had more leaks in the house. After the driving rain last Tuesday we found leaks coming in the front windows in the boys bedrooms and in the garage windows. No Seriously, we did. So, first Alex and Tom spent that rainy/windy night throwing up some tarps. Then we desperately called our roofer/sider and asked him to come finish up the tyvek on the gables (that the carpenter really should have done). He's super busy, but found his way to the 3V on Thursday and did the patch job needed for the impending snow storm Friday. He's been doing a wee bit of work this week  as well but I don't want to post a picture and ruin the big reveal. The siding and trim is really transforming the look of the house. And I love it.

We'd really like help with the painting Th/F/Sa/S after Thanksgiving. No, Seriously, we will take ANY help. Even if you think you are not the best painter, we can put you to work.  We've got the upstairs rooms primed and ceilings done, so we are ready for color. The official color palette of The Triple V will be shared in a future, dedicated to paint, blog entry (because no matter what anyone tells me, paint IS exciting). But if you can't wait, then you should come paint.....

As an added benefit, I am happy to provide handkerchief hair coverings for any helpers, so you too can look this good.

Did I mention we've listed our house? No,  Seriously, we did and we want to sell it.   So, please, keep spreading the word. It's a great house but mostly I will miss my neighborhood. If you move here it is likely you'll see me around, running on the bike path, taking my kids to the parks and visiting with our friends/neighbors. If that isn't incentive enough to move here, I don't know what is.

And as we approach Thanksgiving, a year after we closed on the Triple V property, I'll take a quick moment to say again how Thankful we are for the opportunity to build our dream home. No, Seriously. We will never be able to express our gratitude enough to our family and friends for all their support. 

As Alex said on his FB page, an updated pic, now a year later, will be shared as soon as we take it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karate Kid

There's nothing like wiping down the drywall and painting trim that will make you feel more like The Karate Kid. I am certain that every muscle in my entire body is going to ache tomorrow.  But I am ready to win the battle against this darn house that feels like it's trying to kick my ass.

Calling all painters (and all non painters)

 If you have at least 1 arm we are looking for volunteers, anytime you have available, but specifically Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving, to help paint.
We will have doors, baseboard, window casing and of course, many rooms, that all need painting.
This is a huge step towards moving us closer to the finish line.  With paint done we can lay the floors, do the casework and call back the trades to do their trim out.
We have a goal of moving in by Christmas! Help us make dreams become reality!

Interior door

Trim & Base

Taped and ready to paint

Disclaimer: Just because you volunteer to paint, does not mean you get to have an opinion on color selection.

On a separate note, since our washer and dryer in our current home were still fairly new, we decided that they should come with us to the new house. But we really didn't want to sell the old house with them in there and have to tell people they weren't included. And we also didn't want to live without a washer and dryer for the next month or so. Enter the substitutions. 

In other progress, the guys dug the trench and laid the secondary gas line, from the house to the outbuilding. They also installed the insulation on the outside of the outbuilding, which was needed for the radiant heat flooring system.

Friday The 13th-it's a Lucky day

The home is officially FOR SALE. Here is the description our Realtor wrote:

GREAT LOCATION ON A CUL-DE-SAC STREET. BIG FENCED YARD WITH LARGE TREES AND PATIO. NEWER WINDOWS, ROOF, AND DRIVEWAY. MAPLE CABINET KITCHEN WITH BREAKFAST BAR AND STAINLESS APPLIANCES. BEAUTIFULLY REMODELED MAIN BATH WITH HUGE WALK-IN SHOWER, DOUBLE SINK, AND SKYLIGHT. EXTRA LARGE FAMILY ROOM WITH A WOOD BURNING FIREPLACE AND PLAY/OFFICE SPACE. 4TH BEDROOM HAS EXTERIOR ACCESS. LARGE LAUNDRY ROOM WITH EXTRA STORAGE. CLOSE TO ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS, POOL, AND LIBRARY. 

And here is the link to the listing:
 https://www.redfin.com/IL/Algonquin/527-Sunshine-Ct-60102/home/17794067

The Shit Runs Downhill

This week our septic system was installed. These are actually quite common in areas that lack connection to main sewage pipes provided by local governments. As you know we are in an unincorporated area, on 5 acres, so we had to get our own (small scale) sewage system.

Below the photo is a diagram that shows how it works. In our case, our system is gravity based (the shit rolls downhill, ha, ha) and flows into a 1500 gallon tank, which then flows out to our field.
It should be noted that "A properly designed and normally operating septic system is odor-free and, besides periodic inspection and emptying of the septic tank, should last for decades with minimal maintenance."

The Messy Job

LETS ROCK N ROLL

You thought I was going to talk about our septic installation. But no, the award goes to the drywall job for being The Messiest Job. Scrap and dust and empty glue tubes everywhere. The proposal said "daily site cleaning and sweeping" but that has not happened. However, I'm not complaining about it because I just want them to be working to get all the drywall up as quick as possible. I am capable of sweeping.  I am told the taping will start tomorrow.  My goal is to be able to prime before Thanksgiving and spend the holiday weekend painting.

Halloween costumes!

Here's a nice shot of the upstairs hallway. They pretty much finished on the 2nd floor and have started the 1st. Which, leads me to the next story...

The one day I was there checking in, it was raining. No big deal, right? Because we are "dryed-in". Except I found a couple leaks, in the mudroom and laundry room.  Well, we can't get drywall if there is water coming in. So we tried to figure out where the leak was coming from and we had the roofer come out to make a patch along where the wall meets the roof. Saturday it rained again and 2 of the 3 leaks were gone, but still one left, which is 1 too many, of course. So today the roofer came back out and installed the flashing and gable tyvek. Alex ran the hose against the wall and the leak is fixed, so, thankfully the drywall can continue.
Below is a series of pictures which show the chain of events.

The leaks!!!!

 Alex with his head in the ceiling trying to find where the leak is coming from.





















The 'trouble maker' side. See that first story roof where it meets the wall (just below the window)? Yep, that's where the water was finding it's way in. Not anymore though! Thanks to our roofer for finding a way into his schedule to make the flashing & tyvek happen, even though it wasn't supposed to be done until the siding work (which is supposed to start this week too, but who knows what day---rain expected again Friday).

Insulation and a Re-Inspection

Insulation went in this week. Got a picture of my guy hard at work. Would have preferred a picture on the stilts (love those things) but he worked so darn fast. Good thing I checked my contract, because he didn't do the sound batts in the bathrooms, so I called my sales guy and he said sure enough it didn't get transferred to the ticket. So he came out Friday morning and finished up the job.
It's kind of hard to see in the picture, but the insulation really gave definition to the rooms. And boy is it so much quieter.

Now, for the re-inspection story. As my last entry said, the inspector was out on Tuesday and failed us for not having all the wire pulled. I had called that same day to schedule the re-check for Thursday afternoon. When I spoke to the secretary she asked when my last inspection was, and I told her 15 minutes ago, which explained why she could not find my paperwork in the office. However, she assured me that she could still schedule the re-check. So Wednesday came and went. And Thursday I headed out to meet the inspector. Who never showed up! I called the P&D office only to be told that our re-check was not on the schedule. I was pretty frustrated and asked the secretary to have the inspector call me tomorrow when he was on his way. Fast forward to Friday morning, my phone rings and it's my guy who says he's confused, why we are on his schedule, when he was just there for the re-check. Now I'm confused. When? The next day, after the original. Oh boy, he was there and no one knew it?! He says he'll meet me again anyway, so I head over and of course, the first thing I look at is the permit. Sure enough, it's signed off on (Wednesday's date). He arrives and we have a chuckle about how he snuck in and nobody noticed. I'm still annoyed because had the Thursday re-check made the schedule, he would have called me yesterday with the same confusion and we could have avoided the additional drama. But the important thing is...He Passed Us. He did point out where there were still some wire pulls missing, but nothing that he was too concerned over.

Insulation is in. Drywall is scheduled to load on Monday. I've notified my septic contractor that we are on schedule-so he can come next week too. I've notified the sider-so he can come back next week too. Let's keep this thing moving!

As an added bonus, the tile guy has been hired for the master bath. He's got the durock down, the heat flooring coil laid and the leveler poured. He's framed the shower pan and should be back this morning to pour that as well. Tile should start being laid on Monday.  We've also selected the tile for the boys bathroom and the guest bathroom, because those were throw -in's for the tile guy to do while he waits for master bath stuff. Gives him full days instead of half days and the price couldn't be beat.

Of all the things

Love seeing this truck, means my inspector is on site!

Today we had our Rough Framing, Electrical and HVAC inspections. The inspector is getting to be quite the buddy of mine, whether we like it or not. I was a bit worried about the framing and HVAC, but certainly didn't think not having the wire pulls fully complete would be the thing to fail the inspection! Wires can be seen after the walls are on, so I'm not quite sure I get it.  In the end, he said we could still proceed with the insulation and just have him come back out in 2 days when the wire pulls would be done. So technically, not a fail. But not a pass either.


For the record, he did leave me one of those dreaded correction tickets. He said it was proof to his boss that he wasn't just on a long lunch break.

Wire pulls & Sub Floor work

Part of the negotiation with our electrician is that we would help with wire pulls, mud rings, and trim out on our job. So, this past few days we have spent helping with the first 2 things. As an electrical apprentice here's what I learned:
1) How to use Fish tape: A piece of round flexible metal wire that has a loop hole on both ends. You push the tape through the conduit and connect the wires to end, you can then pull the wire through the conduit so easily (vs trying to push it up through the conduit)
2) Wire pulling lubricant: I call it Butter. This is another fantastic trick to make the wires go through the conduit. We didn't use it very much, mostly on the longer runs.
3) White=neutral wire
4) Orange, Yellow Or Blue=hot wires used for ceiling lights/fans
5) Red or Black=hot wires used for outlets
6) Brown=wires used to make 3-4 way switches
6) Green=wires used for grounding-used for the bath fans

The other project this weekend was the 2nd layer of subfloor Here's a picture of my "crew".

Alex and Tom measuring and cutting

Mary Beth working the paslode