Homeless, again

Once again, we have found ourselves pseudo-homeless. This seems to happen to us a lot when planning to move. The timing just never quite lines up exactly. Of course, this time we get to be "between homes" with a very active 11 month-old and an over-anxious dog. In the past, it always worked out...eventually, so I have faith that this one will too.

This time we had to be out of our rental by the end of June, so throughout the week, before and after work each day, we incrementally moved all of our belongings into the bedrooms of our own house - the parts the were fully complete. July 1st rolled around and our house was not finished and livable, so we headed to New York to visit the fam for a while and hopefully give the workers a bit more time to pull it all together.

The risky part about this is that without us there checking up on daily progress (ahem, micromanaging... and yes, we feel it helps), things just might not happen. Or, of course, they might happen, but in a not-the-way-we-intended way.

So what has happened and what remains? The stair guy has been working at pace that Anthony politely describes as 'quite un-feverish' for the past few weeks to complete was has become (according to the stair guy) a very unique set of steps. This has resulted in piles of debris, saws, tools, compressors, cords, and cups that have covered the entire main floor.

The large amount of tools, saws, etc. required to complete the stair trim.

The side entryway was also done. Of course, in typical construction fashion the decking material we used on the front porch four months ago is now no longer made and was not to be found anywhere so we had to settle for a slightly different product (sigh).

The new side/mudroom entry deck.

The rest of the electrical work was finished. The faucets and tub/shower trim were all connected, and the earlier water leak resolved without much issue.

The glitch that did occur was that the wrong bath/shower trim was still installed, despite our efforts back in March to correct our trim order from an earlier mistake! We're beginning to wonder if they're just trying to wear us down. While I realize this is a minor issue in the grand scheme of things, as we'd been here before with the builder, it made it all the more frustrating to have to ask once again to have the mistake fixed.

Towards the end of the week, the stair guy(s) finally wrapped up their work and cleaned up their mess, leaving a nice clean set of stairs and clear floor. It was great to see the 'almost' finished product.

The stairs to the basement, finally!

View of the stairs and kitchen from the living-room area.

We realized our refrigerator is pretty small. Plenty of room to grow...

Natalie enjoying the clean, clear main floor for the first time.

So, now we're ready for the floor guy to come back and finish up the connecting areas. All the doorknobs are in the house ready to be installed. Some trim work needs to be finished and a few things, like some uneven dry wall work in the upstairs bathroom, need to be fixed.

The big hold-up however seems to be that the plumber cannot get the boiler to work. The current plan is to have the company rep. come out on Wednesday to take a look at it. Hopefully then we can check that off.

The boiler, mixing valve, and indirect water heater complex, currently at rest as the boiler will not start. Who really needs hot water?

-J

The Kitchen Sink is Our Fat Lady

I think with house building it can't be over until the kitchen sink is in and plumbed, and ours is sure toying with us enough! Let's recap yesterday (Thursday 6/23):

This is where we left off two days ago.

The stairs are stained and ready for their railings and balusters.

Again the day started promising enough with a truck in the driveway. Rob, our contractor's "guy", was supposedly in the house doing his work on the stairs. Then *poof* he was gone by 9:30, although he did leave all the lights on. (Apparently he didn't have my parents growing up-always asking who pays the electric bills and reminding him to turn the lights off.)

So nothing happened for a while and then he came back an hour or so later, turned off the lights and left again. We later found out that he was taking himself to the ER because he hurt his ribs.

Since the house was empty I spent part of the day moving kitchen wares over to our new cabinets so that I could reset the rental kitchen to the way it was. That's the hard part about renting this "summer house". It came furnished and we had moved all of "their stuff" out of the way to use "our stuff". Resetting it involves studying the pictures I took when we moved in and trying to return it to its original state.

The DPW guys came back in the early afternoon and told me they'd pave their patch of torn up sidewalk/driveway near the street today or tomorrow. That would just leave another little patch that we would be responsible for repaving. I shared some brownies with them.

Anthony had some phone conversations and discovered that the kitchen sink and faucet had indeed not been ordered by anyone and that the upstairs bathroom faucet had been ordered with the wrong finish. Yes, we have tried to let other people take on tasks and do their own jobs, but really it comes down to if we want it our way we should just do it. Sooooo off I went to pick up the kitchen sink and faucet.

This picture was taken today (Friday 6/24/11).

Our new classy driveway.We are thankful for the whole thing being patched.

Yes, there are workers at our right now, including a plumber! Rob is also back to work.

Lots of activity over there, so although this post may be dismal, we can sill be hopeful.

We returned home to the entire hole in the driveway repaved and some pinkish floor stain around the edge of the utility room on the basement floor. It wasn't supposed to be pink. It was supposed to be tannish-gray. Also, concrete floor stain is nothing like wood stain apparently. It went on more like paint. It was not what we had intended at all. So we back-pedaled and went back to the idea of just sealing it and calling it done. Anyone need two cans of concrete floor stain?

Note the stain around the edge of the utility room. Even Natalie looks bewildered.

We spent the evening both moving things over and prepping the sinks and counter holes for the plumber. The first sink (a round one for the basement bathroom) went together so nice and easy. (That's why we were doomed...)

Round sink for downstairs bathroom/laundry area

Our just-purchased kitchen sink of course couldn't be simple. It was going to be really big in the space. Do-able? Probably. Ideal? Of course not. So we decided that a tomorrow morning run to Lowe's (they open at 6!) was in the works to try to find a more suitable fit, while still holding onto our criteria of me being able to hide dishes in a deep sink.

So with exactly one week before we have to move out of our rental house, I feel great strides were not made yesterday. Perhaps I should head to the basement of the rental house and see if I can find our tent so we'll have somewhere to live.

-J

Who's Choreographing this Dance Anyway?

I was on the T last year when it was stopped for quite a while underground. I kept thinking I should've just gotten off at the last stop and walked a little farther (you gotta love hindsight- the only time I can claim perfect vision). The frustrating part was that I was in the front car and I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I couldn't do anything about the delay to help us get moving and on our way. Such are our feelings about our house right now. There are little things that are happening, but then there are things that we want to happen that aren't. We just need to get all our ducks in a row.

We'll start with the bright side for a run-down of the latest...

The view came into greater focus when the plastic came off the windows and the screens were put on.

Master Bedroom

The plumber has been in hooking up a jumble of pipes in the basement. I think Anthony's glad his part of the plumbing is over.

Stair parts are finally in and scheduled for the middle of this week. We've been told that part will go quickly, but we were told that about the trim which took FOR EV ER.

We've spent our time doing what we can to get things done. My favorite Anthony-project was crafting a stand for our vessel sink and faucet for the "Kamp bathroom". (Yes, if you give us things for our house we will name a room after you too.) I absolutely love how it turned out. The top is actually the old floorboards from the basement of the house we tore down.

View of mudroom entrance and "Kamp bathroom" with homemade vanity.

Our GE (plug for Jason) range and microwave arrived for the kitchen and Anthony is finishing the cabinet trim and toe kicks and getting things ready so that they can be installed. Apparently this will involve changing the plug on the microwave so it can go into Massachusetts' fancy outlets.

There is still one piece of missing temporary countertop. Remember about two weeks ago when I said the missing piece would be in stock in a week? Yeah, that didn't happen, and like a comedy show we have been running ourselves mad trying to figure out a temporary solution for our temporary top. We were set to go check out a craigslist option tomorrow when Ikea called and CONFIRMED (whatever that means) that it would definitely be in by next weekend. So we're taking our chances and waiting it out again. Which holds up the sink/faucet... But that's okay because it's already held up by the water issue.

Ahh, the water issue. The town won't let us have water until they change a valve. Apparently we're in the "queue" for this. I wonder when that will happen. Therefore we have toilets both in our dining room and our shed waiting to be installed as well.

Dining room with toilet parts and stair parts

It's okay, we can't really put the one in the shed in yet since the basement floor has not been etched or sealed yet anyway. That's why the vanity and washer/dryer for that bathroom are still in the rental house.

I'd be lying if I said we weren't getting anxious.

-J

Little Games Along the Way

First a disclaimer: there are no pictures with this post. Anthony's computer has not been playing nicely lately, so my computer has recently been confiscated by him (okay so it was our computer, but I used to use it almost exclusively). All the photos are on that computer, so all you get are words while I type on a different computer.

Some musings that have come up recently...

There are signs we like to look for in certain situations- kind of like little games or mini-milestones. For example, when we're skiing you get points for being the first one to spot the guy skiing in jeans (there's always someone- and the fake points get multiplied by certain factors depending on how straight the skis are, how acid-washed the jeans are, or instantly by a gazillion if he or she happens to be on a monoski).

Another that's more relevant to homebuilding is the current quest to try to catch someone saying the word "shellac" every time we're out looking at house stuff these days.

Today I feel like we hit on a third milestone: buying something off of Craigslist from someone actually named Craig. Not only that, but we included a two-dollar bill in his payment.

I also came across the scary realization tonight that I know way too much about toilets these days. Despite this we still have yet to find the right throne.

- J

Show and Tell and a Little Rant

A gratuitous house picture and then let's start with the rant.

The siding was 'pre-primed' in grey. We haven't actually decided on the exterior color yet.

Yesterday I went over to the house to check out what has been happening. While touring the upstairs quarters I noticed a bath fixtures box. Having spent a whole day picking out something I thought I could live with (in terms of style, functionality, and price), I was excited to finally see our fixture installed. But as I opened the box I realized that this was not the one I'd chosen... Although Anthony wasn't with me at that moment, I know he can envision what my face must have looked like: a combination of bewilderment and disbelief that morphed into - dare I say - rage (a similar thing happened when we cut into our wedding cake).

It seems that we're suffering from a growing trend of the people we are paying suggesting alternative 'arrangements' for sinks, toilets, walls and doors that don't take the whole house (or budget) into account, coming up with their own solution without telling us if there is an ambiguity in the plans, or simply ignoring the plans (and not telling us). Dealing with fixture selection and sourcing has been especially difficult. We've continuously been told to pick stuff out as soon as possible (as we're on a schedule) but then told that our selection was either not 'good', or that they have access to a "better" one for some unknown $. Look, I would love to have recommendations and suggestions as long as we can have final approval.

Anyway, after taking some time to cool off, we contacted "the John" via email (it was quite late by then) and asked that he ensure the correct one be installed. In today's trip next door we noticed the offending fixture box had been removed, so hopefully all has been restored. After fighting for these, now I just hope I'm actually happy with them once we're actually living with them.

Despite all that, there are some exciting things happening. An insulation guy was hard at work today putting up the attic vents in preparation for putting in insulation.

Anthony excitedly points out the day's work while Natalie appears bored.

More metal is showing up. Some of it is to make sure the stairs stay where they're supposed to and some of it is to make sure the house stays where it's supposed to.

Metal strapping, complete with way too many nails, connects the landing to the floor joist above allowing the open space and light of the living area (where the picture was taken from) to flow all the way down into the basement

Giant, 50-bolt straps from **** and...

7 foot long threaded rods tie the main floor decking and main floor walls down to the foundation. Again, we'd not going to dare a tropical storm, but...

In addition, the electrical, plumbing, and gas tie-ins (outside the house) continue to be planned for and put in. These have brought up some odd compromises. Since the boiler vent has to be more than 4 feet away from the gas meter, which has to be more than 4 to 5 feet away from the electric meter, which has to more than 6-7 feet above the water line, not all of these can fit on the right front corner of the house (where the wall is ~10 feet long) as we'd prefer. At least one has to be placed on the opposite (south) side and come across the house inside. So much for saving money by placing all the inside utilities close together...

- J

This Isn't All We Do

Although our daughter may think grooving to tunes while choosing fixtures is the cat's pajamas- we would like to officially post this here to let her know that that kind of superfun is only made possible by the lives we started before she came along.

Deploying moorings off of Nauset along the outer (lower) part of Cape Cod, a self portrait (of me, Craig was collateral damage)

So for her, and the one of our two readers who might have thought otherwise, let the record show that we actually do work. For example, last week, along with my busy schedule of micro-managing the house construction and annoying our builder, the plumber, and most of the radiant floor heating experts east of the Mississippi, I managed to do some field work. We were deploying a set of moorings off the coast of Nauset, MA to look at the advection of Gulf of Maine freshwater along the Cape Cod Coast. Unfortunately, I've been told that this doesn't make me an expert in plumbing.

How do we have the time to lead these exciting multiple lives? Apparently being woken up at regular intervals every night gives you extra time to pick out fixtures, review papers, and write lesson plans.

- A