good news and bad news

We called first thing this morning to talk to the "big boss" of the county building inspectors. Walton asked him if he'd waive the requirement for the outlet in the side of our cabinet. He said it was something he'd have to look at, and was at the house within an hour. After some hemming and hawing, he agreed to let us put the outlet inside the cabinet instead of cutting a hold and having the outlet on the outside. (good news.) Walton then casually asked him about the reason for the blue styrofoam insulation in the basement. He started rambling about the building envelope, etc and something about needing an R-5 insulation value on the concrete. (The blue foam the other inspector told us to use is labeled R-3.) Walton and I exchanged THE LOOK as we heard the words R-5. All of that blue foam we put up yesterday was not enough? We asked him - and, no, of course it wasn't enough. We need TWO layers of the blue foam to meet the R-5 requirement. (bad news) At this point, I quietly left the room to go cry for a minute in the bathroom. Walton finished up w/ the inspector and immediately called the lumber yard to get more insulation delivered. They promised to have it out this afternoon, but never showed up. The heating & air guys were suppsed to install our heat pump & the floor registers today, but they were no-shows as well. So, we will wait another day for the CO. Everything else from the punch list is done.

There is a silver lining to the insulation cloud, though. Our closing went off without a hitch today, and we unexpectedly got a refund check from our construction escrow account. It was just about the right amount to cover the cost of the blue insulation. :-)

wrapping it up

The majority of the items on the punch list are done. Walton has to label the breaker box and finish putting up some (aggravating, unnecessary) sheets of blue styrofoam insulation on the concrete walls in the basement in the morning & then we can call for a reinspection. He & Dave got the 5 smoke detectors in sync while Susan and I cleaned yesterday. They also did a bunch of other "piddly' little things that needed to be done.

(Here's the deal w/ the blue styrofoam - we passed our insulation inspection at the end of 2006. There was no requirement for insulating exposed concrete basement walls at that time. In January 2007, there was a new code passed that requires exposed concrete exterior walls to be insulated IF the ceiling of the basement is not insulated. In other words, if you have an unfinished basement, you still have to insulate it. The cheapest and easiest way to insulate those bare concrete walls is to put up sheets of blue styrofoam insulation. So, when the building inspector came to do the final on Friday, the basement insulation was on the punch list. I think we should have been "grandfathered in" under the old code since that's when our insulation was done, but they don't care about my opinion too much... They also want us to cut a hole the end panel of our cabinets for an electrical outlet, but we're going to try to get a variance for that one. It's not a major safety or structural issue, so hopefully they'll let us off the hook.)

At the end of the day Saturday, Walton got up on his 32' ladder - yikes - and cleaned the stickers off of the upstairs windows.


Will went inside and took this goofy picture of him.


Today, we went to Lowe's to buy the (pricey, superfluous) sheets of blue styrofoam insulation the inspector is requiring for the basement. On our way home, we were sitting at a stop light and this happened (ours is the silver truck). The white truck was making a left turn across the intersection - he was coming from where you see the bright blue car in the background.


He turned across the path of this little blue jeep, which was coming through the green light from where you see the red vehicle in the background. The jeep hit the white truck at full speed in the right rear quarter panel and shoved the trailer around into the front of our truck. The red four wheeler flew around and hit the passenger door of our truck. There was a bunch of stuff (car batteries, a cooler, some lumber, etc.) in the back of the truck that flew up and onto/across the hood of our truck too. The guy in the orange shirt was driving the truck, and he was at fault for not yielding to oncoming traffic. The lady in the blue jeep definitely got the worst of it. Her airbags went off and they took her away in an ambulance.


My cousin Scott is a firefighter, and he happened to answer our 911 call today. (He is holding the red bag.) I was feeling a little bit old watching him work - I can remember the day he was born and hearing him cry over the phone when my Aunt Diane called to tell us!


Here is the damage. We are thankful it wasn't worse.



I am off work tomorrow & Tuesday to do more cleaning. I also need to take some time to organize the rental house for the big move. Walton will spend the morning with the (ridiculous, wasteful) sheets of blue styrofoam insulation. We go to sign the closing papers on our permanent mortgage tomorrow at 4 p.m. We will probably wait until late in the week or even next weekend to move so we can get as much dust as possible out of the HVAC system at the new house. We're able to take our time and be organized about getting our things into the new house, so we'll take advantage of that opportunity. (We have the rental until May 10, so there's no rush to move everything at once.)

final inspection

The building inspector showed up as promised today. We did not pass with flying colors, but we didn't fail miserably either. He left a punch list of items to be taken care of over the weekend. He told Walton that if he'll call him first thing Monday morning, he'll get right back out to do a reinspection and (hopefully) sign off on our C.O. One of the most inconvenient things to take care of will be the smoke detectors. All 5 have to be wired so that if one goes off, they all go off. (Which is an understandable safety measure, but it seems like they should have picked up on that when they did the electrical inspection before drywall....) Most of the things are easy & some have already been done - like filling all the gaps where pipes come up through the floor into cabinets with expanding foam spray.

The bank inspector also came out today, and he was very pleased with what he saw. Our closing is scheduled for Monday afternoon.

Tonight, Walton & Dave took the 4 kids bowling while Susan and I attacked the mess at the house. We got the upstairs done and then dusted and wiped down all of the kitchen cabinets. We also cleaned the countertop. I scrubbed and then sealed the slate in the cooking area of the kitchen while Susan swept and mopped the living room floors. We're going to keep working on it tomorrow. The boys' bedroom furniture and the new sofa/loveseat will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. :-) Happy day.

deck rails

Walton and Tim were able to set the posts for the deck rails and get the horizontal rails in place yesterday. They also put up all of the brackets for the stairway handrails.








Tim had to head back home this morning. We are glad Joy and the girls were willing to share him with us for 4 days. Having his help made a major difference for Walton w/ what's left to do.

This afternoon, Walton put all of the spindles on the deck rails. He taught Kyle how to pre-drill holes for the screws to keep the wood from splitting. Kyle, in turn, taught Will how to do the same thing. :-)



Kyle then moved on to hold the spacer for Walton so he could screw the spindles into place.


Can't wait to enjoy some good conversations and sweet tea on the deck.



Our insurance agent drove all the way up to McDonough from Macon yesterday afternoon to take pictures of the house and update our coverage for closing. We've used the same agent since we've been married, and he remains consistently wonderful to work with. We are still scheduled to sign closing papers on Monday. The bank inspector will be out this Thursday to make sure all of the "majors" are complete.

It is 10:45 p.m. and Walton just came in the door from working over there. He is going to go over first thing in the morning to take care of a couple of last details. He'll call in & request the county building inspector as soon as he finishes. I have switched my off days to Monday and Tuesday to be sure we have everything completed. We'll be able to clean more easily once the permanent power is turned on after the final inspection. We'll start to get excited once we have the certificate of occupancy in our hands.

hardwood floor DONE

Walton and Tim finished the hardwood floor this afternoon at about 6. (With the exception of the stair treads....) It looks terrific , even if it's dusty.

Walton cut his thumb open on the table saw while ripping a piece of wood to fit next to the wall. It's not too bad - it cut in next to his left thumbnail, but not into the nail itself. Probably not stitch-worthy, but he's going to get some antibiotics to be safe. It gives me the creeps to think about it. Tim just carried w/ the floor on while I bandaged Walton's thumb. Once it stopped bleeding he was right back to work.

Here are some pictures of the flooring process.






Will was helping out with watering the narrow strip of sod next to the driveway. The sprinkler waters too much of the driveway, so we've been watering that small area by hand.

And Kyle was helping inside by sweeping up the new floors.

Fitting a tricky piece next to the hearth.




Finishing up in the closet in the master bedroom. (I had to get a shot of their rear ends....the best posts on the blog have rear end photos.)


The last piece! Hooray! 1100 square feet of hardwood completed in 2 1/2 days =2 sore backs and 4 tired knees.

And one chewed up thumb. (at least it was his left hand....)


Tomorrow they will work on the deck railing and put up a fence on the retaining wall for the county inspector. I have requested this Friday and next Monday off for cleaning and moving!

Saturday flooring update

Walton, Tim, and I got the living room completed today and started into the master bedroom. Mostly, Tim measured, cut, and tapped the pieces into place while Walton nailed and I kept handing them pieces of wood. I can't show you any pictures because I left my camera sitting on the kitchen counter when we left to come home for dinner. However, I did learn how to use the compound miter saw to cut flooring today. I got tired of standing around waiting for the guys to finish nailing, so I had Walton show me how to do it. The guys are going to start working first thing in the morning and will probably be able to get the master bedroom and closet done tomorrow. Walton's back hurts and Tim's knees are sore. They are definitely over the hill.

sod & beginning of the wood floor

Shane and his crew finished the sod amazingly quickly today. It is a shade tolerant strain of centipede grass. Walton had the sprinklers set up and running when Will and I went by the house before we picked up Kyle from school.





Tim got up at 4 a.m. and arrived here around 10 a.m. to start working. They got a good start on the hardwood floor today with Dave and Marshall helping during the day. They both had to leave around dinnertime, and then Joe Sowell showed up to help. They got all of the front hallway and foyer done, and were polishing off the rest of the dining room when I left with the boys tonight. Tim said that the living room and master bedroom should move along quickly tomorrow because they don't have as many doorjambs to cut around as the hallway and foyer did.

tub in place, sod prep

We went out for a quick lunch with the Franks after church on Sunday, then to Lowe's for the drain pipe for the tub. Walton and Dave got the whole thing in place later that afternoon. They had to put the tub in place, get it centered, measure and mark the spot for the drain, move the tub out of the way, drill the drain hole in the tile/subfloor, move the tub back into place, connect the drain pipe, and check it for leaks.










While all of this was going on inside, our children were outside building their own home in the Frank's yard.



The fridge went into place Sunday afternoon as well.


Our friend from church, Shane Smith, has been working with his landscape crew on getting the yard ready for sod. They brought in a couple of loads of topsoil. Also, they ran some French drains from the downspouts out to the woods to carry water away from the foundation of the house. The sod will arrive Friday morning.




The French drains go into the ground at the downspouts-

and come out in the woods.






Walton was working on getting the phone lines in place this afternoon. He didn't put them in when he wired the house because we thought we were going to have cable TV, phone, and internet. However, the cable company wanted to charge too much to run a cable line all the way down our driveway so we decided to go w/ Bellsouth for phone & internet instead. (and satellite TV). He finished those after dinner. Right now, our friend Joe Sowell is at the house w/ Walton helping get the hardwood going.


The boys and I saw these deer in the woods on our way down the driveway tonight. They were thrilled. (The boys - not the deer.)


We are also thrilled that Walton's brother, Tim, is coming back to help with the hardwood floors and other finishing touches this weekend. He will be here from Friday afternoon through Monday (he'll drive back to FL on Tuesday). Walton's friend Marshall Brown from Dublin, GA will also help on Friday, and Dave has made himself available to Walton this weekend too. With that many guys working, we should be able to cross almost everything off the to-do list by Monday. We are very thankful for our friends and family. (Not just because they help with the work, but it's neat to look around and remember that Dad built the mantel and helped with the deck or Tim helped with all of the beautiful molding and trim work.)

stone on the fireplace and deck stairs

We are inching closer to being done. This week, Walton put on the risers & started on the hardwood flooring for the stairs, installed the sink and faucet in the utility room, and finished the tile backsplash that will be behind the clawfoot tub. Anthony will paint the risers to match the trim when he comes back to do touch-up painting.







Dave helped Walton all day today, for which we are very thankful. They were going to put the big heavy tub in place , but they were missing one piece of pipe for the drain. We'll have to make yet another trip to Lowe's and get the right connector so they can finish it.


We also had a change of plans with the "do-it-yourself" stone on the fireplace. Walton went to the new house after dinner one night last week and was going to install the stone. After about 45 minutes he called me and said he was going to have a mason we got an estimate from last week do the work. W. had mixed the mortar and put up 3 stones. By the time he set the third one in place, the first one had fallen off. He put it back, and it fell off again. It was a good decision - the guys who came to put the stone up today were great. Their stone work is neat and level and well finished. I wish they had done the exterior stone also. As a bonus, they did a really good job cleaning up after themselves.
;-)


We had them use some of the leftover slate from the kitchen floor for the hearth. It blends very well with the stone. The mortar is still a little wet and blotchy in this picture, though.



Walton and Dave also built the stairs from the deck to the back yard this morning. It was definitely a two-man job. Walton will be able to finish the rails sometime when he doesn't have help.




Finally, the guys covered and trimmed out the posts in the bonus room and boys' room this evening. A big improvement.



I cleaned construction mess out of the showers and guest tub today, kept the guys fed, and swept up dust and trash.