HOW ARE THINGS COMING ALONG?

We worked on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this past week and we have the framing of the first floor almost done.  All of the walls, except for the front wall, are up.  So, you can actually walk around “in” the house.   You have to go up a ladder to get inside, because there are no steps yet.  It’s so exciting to see it.  It looks more and more like a house every time you do something, obviously, but it was like, ‘wow.’  The rooms are defined and the headers are in place above the doors and windows.  The kitchen wall is framed, the master bath and bedroom are framed, and the half-bath and linen closet are framed.  So, the only thing that we’re missing on the first floor is the front of the house.  This is just a ‘wow’ time.

DID YOU DO THE FRAMING YOURSELF?

Yes.  We did it all.

WAS THERE A HUGE LEARNING CURVE, OR DID JOHN ALREADY KNOW HOW TO DO THIS?

John knows what he’s doing, but we did run into a problem with measurements for the rough openings for some of the doors.  We had changed most of our door sizes and we didn’t know the rough openings.  So, Monday evening, we had to make a rush trip to the lumberyard to get the rough openings for the patio sliding door, one entry door and two pocket doors. 

If possible, I want to put a pocket door in between the kitchen and the utility room, and also in the master bath.  I don’t know if that will work out, but I want to have as much space as possible, and if I have to have regular doors in those areas, it’s going to take up some space.  

AT THIS POINT, IS PUTTING THE FRONT WALL ON, THE NEXT STEP?

We’ll put the front wall on this coming weekend and then start the framing for the second floor.  It’s only the back half of the house that has a second floor.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH YOUR ELECTRICITY?

We decided to not do a temporary electricity hook up.  We opted not to do that because there’s a charge to do it, and we can use that money in other places.  Instead, we’re running a heavy extension cord to the house, from another building on the property that has electricity.  It’s the only way we can have power for the nail guns’ air compressor - and for the music, of course.  They have to have their music.

We also found out that we need to clear more trees for the power company’s poles.  Our PP&L guy said, we could save some money if we do this.  So, there’s more cutting to do and the guys have started already.  The only problem is, there’s a hot and heavy poison ivy issue going on, on the site.   Andrew, John and Cris have gotten into it.  They all run around doing that “construction thing” in shorts and no shirts. 

WHAT ABOUT ALL OF YOUR QUOTES THAT ARE OUT?

John has gotten both quotes back on the septic, but hasn’t decided which one to go with yet.  We also have two quotes out on drywall - I’m trying to get two quotes on everything - but we haven’t settled that yet either.  Our windows - not the ones for the front of the house - should be here in the next two weeks.  They’re ahead of schedule because of the slowdown in construction, so that actually worked to our advantage.  We also have quotes out on a central vacuum system.

WHAT ABOUT THE FOUNDATION?  IS IT TOTALLY FINISHED?

The French drains are mostly finished.  Now we can go ahead and get that coating on the outside of the basement walls.  So, that will be happening pretty soon.

SO, THAT’S ABOUT IT FOR NOW?

Yes, that’s it until next week.