WHAT’S HAPPENING?

The windows did come, so we’re excited about that.  We didn’t get the rest of the house Tyvek’d, because we actually had three big trees to cut down for PP&L, plus some other branches that had to get cut off.  Hopefully, we’ll get the Tyvek done later this week, but it’s going to depend on the weather.  We only got one roll put on, around the first floor of the house.   But then we got sidetracked because, we obviously want to get PP&L in, so we can have electricity.  It seems to be relatively easy.  They’re using what looks like a giant stapler that you hammer to get the staple to come out. 

Once the Tyvek is on the front of the house, we’ll put the outside molding that needs to go on, and then my brother KC will come over and take the final measurements for the big insulated windows.  We’re hoping to do that this coming weekend.

HOW’S THE BASEMENT FLOOR COMING ALONG?   

Today they poured, what will be John’s side of the garage (for lack of a better description) and directly behind that area, near the basement door.  So, that was our big excitement for the day.

HOW SOON WILL YOU HAVE ELECTRICITY FROM THE POLES?

PP&L will have to come back out and make sure that all the necessary trees are cut down.  As soon as they say “yes,” they can put the poles in and then wire it.  I’m hoping it shouldn’t take more than a week.   I’m not sure what their timeframe is.  The poles are delivered and just sitting there.

HAS IT BEEN INCONVENIENT TO USE EXTENSION CORDS FOR YOUR POWER?

It actually hasn’t been that much of a pain.  I think the biggest problem has been with the air compressors for the nail guns.  Because for how far the electricity has to come around, the compressors tend to overheat, so they have to have a fan blowing on it to keep it cool.  Once they figured that out, it wasn’t a problem.

AT WHAT POINT WILL YOU ACTUALLY START WIRING THE HOUSE?

I would say, in probably about three weeks, but I could be wrong.  We sat down this past weekend and went over the electrical plans.  There are a couple of things that I would like to change if I can, but John is looking at the code, just to make sure that we have everything where it needs to be.   One of the nice things about building your own home is that you can have the option of controlling whatever lights you’d like, with switches wherever you want - as long as they are within code.  Now I understand why my grandparents had like five switches inside, by their front door - because they built their own house.  So, I’ve been thinking about what lights I want to turn on or off when I come in the door.  Obviously, someone will need to come in and give their stamp of approval before the drywall goes up.   

WILL YOU DO OUTDOOR LIGHTING

We’ve been talking about that too, because we will have the deck.  So we’ll need to have lights out there when we need them.   In a catalog, I saw lights that you can put right in the posts, which would be kind of neat.  I’m excited about the different options that we have.

HOW’S THE WELL AND SEPTIC SYSTEM PROGRESSING?

We have people coming in later in the week to go over quotes with us for the well and septic system.  We’re hoping to make a decision shortly.   Speaking of such things, I would also like to have some sort of system to collect rainwater in barrels, for watering my flowers and such.  It would really make sense, because it would be good for the environment, but that’s probably a discussion for another day.

ANYTHING ELSE FOR THIS WEEK’S UPDATE?

I think that’s all I have to say for this week.