Over the summer we lost 10 weeks to the metaphorical red tape, but now we’re dealing with the more tangible stuff. Lately we’ve been installing the exterior insulation panels, and flashing the windows. So there’s red flashing tape on the housewrap, and then on every insulation seam, and a bit on every window to boot. Just how much red tape you ask? Almost half a mile of it by my calculations. First we had to install EPDM rubber roofing…
I thought I had posted about the overall budget on this project way back in the beginning, but in reviewing our posts it seems I never did. As I just filed the second loan draw and we’re now more than halfway through the total spending, it seems high time I rectified that. When we started looking at this project years ago we had a proposal put together by the same GC who built my mom’s house. He’s a design-build guy…
Things rarely go as planned and often not according to schedule. But that’s hard to accept when you’re fighting against the clock and the weather. We’ve regularly said that in the iron triangle of Time | Money | Quality we want quality first, cost second and time third. Yeah, easier said than done. Back in August the permit got approved and we started chugging right along with our excavation and foundation contractor who were available essentially right away- woot! Then…
This week they put up the joists and the first floor sheathing so we now have a kind of underground cave. If all goes well this coming week then this will be the last post before real walls are up and frantic work begins. So I figured I’d loop back to an old topic and explain the main reason we fell so far behind schedule over the summer. As I mentioned in the post about our long trials in getting…
Other than losing our minds over the financial impacts, just what have we been up to? The foundation walls went up several weeks back and we’ve been waiting to get on our framer’s calendar. During that time we have had various required odds and ends to complete. We ran the main water supply line under the footings and the sewer line through the foundation. We also connected up a pipe to carry any radon gas (common in our area) up…
This time has been our peak “GC-ing” as we’re only using a few contractors, but they are almost all in the front portion of the project. This has kept us busy from the minute the alarm goes off (and sometimes before- those contractors start texting at 6:30 AM!!) until 11 or 11:30 PM. Jim has been taking the brunt of this, but I occasionally have to call one or the other of them and am the general keeper of the…
For those who know us it will come as no surprise that as a couple we have different levels of tolerance for financial risk. We generally run our household very conservatively and stay safely in the comfort zone of all household members. We consulted with a financial advisor before taking on this project and he remarked that he rarely worked with anyone who lived so far below their means. We always knew a project like this would be risky and…
Many years ago, a newly married couple with which we are very well acquainted had their first Christmas together. As they were decorating their tree, each ornament from each of the two (previously separate) collections would be unpacked. A pattern soon emerged in which the husband would examine the revealed item from his wife’s collection and then say flatly: “in the back”. I think it applies more generally than just Christmas trees to assume that the less desirable or attractive…
After waiting 10 weeks for permits, the foundation has gone amazingly fast. It turns out building is a bit slower this year than last, so our foundation crew is “twelve basements behind” where they were this time last year. They called JULIE (the agency that marks all your underground power and water lines) the same day the permit was approved and were out staking the site within 2 business days. (To make that all work I ended up dashing out…
They say one of the hardest things about building a house (even if its all done by contractors) is the endless stream of decisions you have to make. I started my day yesterday at 7 AM with 3 emails from our framing contractor, which I answered from the exercise bike. Should we stick with 24″ OC (on-center) framing over the recommendation of our framer, an old-school builder who would prefer 16″? And if the lumber quality from the lower bid…