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