R Greenish Dream

2nd Floor begins

2011-08-08T18:56:00.000-04:00

The house continues to shoot up at an amazing rate. They are making real progress on the 2nd floor.

1st Floor Framing, nearing completion...

2011-08-06T21:16:00.000-04:00

Another long day for the guys - this time, Saturday.
Today they had 8 guys on site putting up the remaining first floor framing.

Framing has begun!

2011-08-05T11:48:00.001-04:00

Today I stopped down to drop of water and Gatorade and got there just in time to see 84 Lumber delivering forklift loads of 2x6 studs and massive loads of plywood.

Also, the engineered limber I beams were on site as well.

Today I expect to see serious vertical changes.

Garage slab pour a.k.a. "Making our mark..."

2011-08-04T13:48:00.008-04:00

This morning they poured the concrete slab for the garage. Pretty amazing to see it all come together like this.

Anyway, we wanted to write in the concrete... cause, you know, that is what you have to do to concrete when it is drying. As I understand it is a law.

So, I stopped by at lunch and walked up to the slab. There was a guy smoothing out the surface with a trowel, and I asked him:

"Is it OK if I write my name in the cement?"

"Is this your house?"

"Oh, yes. I'm Chris, the owner."

"Well, then, go ahead... it is yours."

Thought that was a kind of funny exchange. "No, I don't own it, but I'd like to write 'Killroy Wuz Here!'". I'm sure it must happen.

Anyway, I made the mark.

2011

scRagz

Now, I feel like the house is ours!

Too, F'ing Hot!!!

2011-07-24T20:24:00.000-04:00

First of all, I cannot imagine working the way the construction crew does in 85º heat... let alone 101º. But, they would it seems if it were not for the fact that the concrete guys can't do their work in these temperatures. Don't know the exact details, but it seems that if it is too cold or too hot, the cement does not set correctly and will not provide the needed compressive strength.

Hopefully monday will be better...

Mmmm, better, but wetter.

Backfill

2011-07-19T23:52:00.006-04:00

Today they began to backfill the foundation.

Actually, surprising how much dirt that actually used up... the large pile on the front of the lot is completely gone. Tomorrow they plan to dig the foundation to the garage.

Due to the "overdig" they are going to need to take out some of the arbor vitae on the left of the lot and take off a few of the larger limbs from the tree. They will be cut by a professional as opposed to being ripped out by an excavator - so that is good. And, I suppose the fact that we are going to be doing some pretty significant work around the root ball... the less it has to deal with leaf wise, the better.

Here's to hoping.

Sub-floor is in... we have a true basement.

2011-07-18T21:21:00.008-04:00

When you start with a large pile of wood, like this...

...and a team of guys with air-nailers,

You end up with...

A floor... with a hole for the stairway, and

a true basement.

Support structure...

2011-07-15T23:29:00.002-04:00

They brought in a support beam today that will support the upper floors.

With the pre-fab foundation in place already, they really just dropped it right in.

Hardening concrete and support beams

2011-07-15T18:59:00.002-04:00

The concrete has set for about 24hrs, and then brought in the support beam for the basement. Looks like the plan is to let it continue to cure for the weekend and then install the first floor sub-floor.

It is just amazing how fast it goes from a hole in the ground to a real house foundation.

The basement pour...

2011-07-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

Now that the walls are up, they are pouring the basement floor.

Finished foundation walls...

2011-07-14T00:47:00.001-04:00

Pre-fab foundation : A slide show.

2011-07-13T21:27:00.002-04:00

The dig progresses

2011-07-07T22:31:00.000-04:00

They continue to dig. It really is amazing to watch them use that excavator so effortlessly.

Also learned about there GPS guided, laser level. They spin this bad boy up, it gets its GPS location, then fires out an infrared laser beam that they can measure everything from. They were checking 1/4 inch depths at the bottom of the dig.

Here you can see how deep this hole really is.

And, I think this one speaks for itself.

One hell of a hole...

2011-07-06T21:26:00.000-04:00

This is how it all starts. First, they dig a big hole in the ground. About 9-10 ft deep.

Diggers, trucks and bottles... oh my!

2011-07-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

So, I've been really bad about keeping things up to date on this site. But, I'll try a little harder now that things have really begun. Up until today, things have been pretty drawn out. I suppose that is how it happens. In any case, I will go back in try to fill in the details a little.

But today, here is where we stand...

I spun by the site this morning at about 9a and met up with Patrick Davish, one of Janiczek Homes sub-contractors. At that very instant I got to see on of the mega dump-trucks back in to the lot.

Apparently Patrick was meeting with the SIPS Foundation Wall distributors. They have to do some serious measuring for a crane that will be bringing in the foundation segments.

Anyway, think of SIPS as giant lego blocks used to build the foundation quickly. It is designed as a re-bar reinforced insulated pannel that acts as a form for concrete pour. Very fast to build, strong and quite cost effective.

The crew also found an old glass bottle from what seems to be 1911 (embossed on the bottom). Will post a picture of that ASAP.

We're rolling!

What defines a construction site?

2011-06-30T10:28:00.003-04:00

A port-a-potty, of course.

It has begun!

2011-06-28T13:21:00.002-04:00

First day with real changes. They got on the lot, scraped off top soil, and put down the retention basin / tire-scrubber rocks in the location of the new driveway.

Couple machines on site.

Things are rolling!

Settlement - Complete!

2011-05-24T16:39:00.000-04:00

I can honestly say that I've never been part of such an odd closing before. And I've been through a few of them.

As it turns out, there are very few construction loans in general. In this financial market, only about 50% of regular home loans ever make it to closing for one reason or another. So, we are talking about a small percentage of a small percentage here, and it was pretty evident that nobody really knew how to do it. There were 3-5 phone calls from the closing officer to the bank officer in the middle of settlement.

Money went from us to the bank to the title company and back to the bank. It really was a clown show.

On the good side, Trident did the stand up thing and gave us a discount on the points that were placed in the loan. They did not have to do that... and it makes a big difference for us.

Contractor was happy, bank was happy, we were happy.

so, all in all, it was a successful plan.

And, now that we have the moolah locked down, we're pretty much locked on the exterior.

Here is the latest:

Closing... maybe. (Again)

2011-05-23T13:10:00.000-04:00

So I've been completely remiss in posting. These past months have been infuriating. With the curent banking system mess banks are acting like absolute A-Holes.

We have been re-re-re-scheduled for closing for tomorrow, Tuesday the 24th. Who knows if they will keep this date. So far, they have not even provided us the actual closing cost number.

I swear, I'm tempted to walk away from the bank at this point and go to someone else. The only thing that is keeping me with them is the fact that I know I'll have to do this all again with someone else.

Tile : Done

2011-05-19T22:30:00.013-04:00

We've selected all of our tile for the house!

After a few good sessions with Tony, our architect, and some excellent support from Avalon Carpet Tile and Flooring, that is.

We have decided to go with a textured large tile in the front entrance.

Browns and greens in the downstairs bathroom - Sandy is calling this the "Frank Lloyd Wright Bathroom". :)

In the kitchen, we have gone with Tony's suggestion of using tempered glass as a backsplash. It gives a great green-blue color and can be done in very long sheets - minimizing cleanup mess. You can also paint behind it to give certain colors. Have not decided that just yet.

The kid bathroom is going to be a cool wavy blue and green glass tile with white glass grout. Should be nice and bright without being too childish.

Laundry room is going to be white octagonal tile with black grout. Should look exactly like you would want a laundry room floor to look.

Our master bath is going with two blue tiles styles and a river stone shower floor.

Pretty psyched about it all... another big item done.

Closing for Monday - Posponed.

2011-05-19T15:10:00.000-04:00

Surprised - no.
Pissed - yes.

This really is poor showing for Malvern Federal and Trident Mortgage.

We got a call and they just told us that they cannot make settlement / closing on Monday. They don't have the time to complete the 2nd Title search.

Somewhere in this chain is a major problem with an employee or a process. The complete lack of professionalism is astounding. Sure, it is a pain in the ass for us (changing meetings, getting a new baby sitter, etc), but it is really rude for us to keep telling the contractor he's needed or not needed, and now that we have to push it because of a stupid mistake.

I just want this to start.

"Problem with Title" - Seriously 4 business days from Settlement.

2011-05-17T13:14:00.015-04:00

Just got a call from Trident.

Trident: "Chris, there is a problem with title."
Me: "Oh, really? What is the problem? You do know you were the ones the ones that did title for the land purchase last year right?"
Trident: "What? Really? Ok, well, what is 19 XXX Avenue? And who is Daniel X and William Y?"
Me: "Um that is the rental we are currently living in while we build this house. It has absolutely nothing to do with construction. We already own the land at 44. We bought it through you last year."
Trident: "So, Daniel X and William Y have no claim to 44?"
Me: "No, they are the owners of the current rental, #19. They have absolutely nothing to do with the purchase of the land at #44. Nor do they have anything to do with the construction plans for #44."
Trident: "Oh. OK, I see what they did. They did a search for your current address and not the construction address. I'll call you back."
Me: "Uh, ok."

Yes, really.

Site Work

2011-05-15T23:32:00.008-04:00

I like seeing things actually start on this project.

Looks like we need to do some site work so that we can get it all prepped:

Remove shrubs at the front of the lot.
Trim (to 5-6 ft) all the Arborvitae (Yes, there IS a website dedicated to arborvitae. Who knew) on the left of the lot. Too tall and falling down. Will inhibit the passage of construction equipment.
Remove shrubs, vines, and brush from back of lot.
Trim any branches that fall below the power line hight (14ft)

We're getting close to a start.

Closing scheduled for Thursday the 19th!

2011-05-12T13:23:00.000-04:00

We're getting there... slowly. About time. At least we are not doing this in June.

Closing - That's better

2011-05-09T16:30:00.001-04:00

OK, after quite a bit of push back, and probably their realization that the costs are going to go up if they continue to push this like this... we're scheduled for the 19th.