Coming Along!

 So, we are moving right along. In the course of 2 more days, they finished all of the roof decking. It's really starting to look like a house now!

We also got the dumpster delivered (finally!) so we could start cleaning up some of that mess!

Back View

The only snag we had this week was with the truss inspection. We called for the inspection, but when the inspector showed up on a rainy Wednesday, there was a problem with our paperwork. Seems the structural engineer did not use the same labels for each of the trusses that the manufacturer did. So, there was no way for him to inspect them, and he failed us (BOO!).

If you look at the image below, the big trusses in the middle are labeled A01 - A10. This is the layout from the manufacturer.

But if you look at the picture below, the same trusses are labeled A11 - A21. No Bueno. Unfortunately, we did not have a full size copy of the one from the manufacturer at the jobsite when the inspector was there for him to reference, and he was too busy to hang out.

 

So, we contacted the plans examiner and they agreed to take the plans from the manufacturer along with the 92 pages of individual truss profiles to review. We called the inspector back and he said if we had that available, he would reinspect (After we paid the fine for failing the inspection). The next day, he came back and checked every single truss. But we passed. And he also passed our Roof Sheathing and Wall Sheathing inspections at the same time.  Now, we are ready to dry in the roof.

And here are some of the tracks on the side yard. Some big raccoons and a big dog! The raccoons seem to like to dig in the trash, and I saw the dog tracks going one way but not leaving. Interesting.

Caught a Break

We were lucky and there seemed to be a shield over our area holding the rain at bay all morning. After we picked up Sarah from morning swim practice (5:15 - 7:30am!) and drove by to see what was going on. We were pleased to see the crane setting up. A couple hours later, they were well on their way, and the rain was still holding off.

Look at the dirty ones in the middle- those were at the bottom of the pile in the mud. We have gotten a lot of rain lately!

A closer look: We are probably going to go over with a hose and sprayer just to clean them off before they get covered up. Not today, though! After that storm, it is chilly and windy!

Looking Good!

So it looks like they didn't really get much done besides getting the trusses up, but the devil is in the details. They got all of the fascia board up all the way around, and they completed the small gable up over the front bedroom.

They were able to get some of the plywood loaded up onto the roof while the crane was there. 

It should take a week to get all the framing complete, and then the windows and doors will go in. So exciting!!!

Just another bump in the road...

...Or it could be a block wall, in this case. One, that had already been poured (mostly) solid.

There were big storms here Saturday night. Several neighboring communities had tornadoes, with damage in the millions of dollars. So, on Monday morning, Pete and I decided to drop by the house to make sure all the walls were still up and the tree hadn't fallen down or anything like that. We weren't expecting anyone to be there because the lumber pack, that we had just learned only days before, was not coming until late morning. We assumed this meant the framers would deb rescheduled for Tuesday. We were quite surprised to see a new crew when we got there. We were also pleased that here was no effect whatsoever from the storm. Even the silt fence was still up.

The framers were busy putting together the truss pieces. (You can see the newly poured beam over where the sliding glass doors will be in the back of this photo)

So, we introduced ourselves to the framers. They told us there was a problem. That wall, at the top of the page, was too tall on 3 sides. The front section was supposed to be 11'4" like it was, but the trusses were designed to that the sides and back were 9'4". We think that the section on the plan set that indicated this should have been on the back side, where the walls were supposed to be shorter, but it's too late now.

So, we called the mason and he came out to take a look. He said he was going to send a crew out later to cut the wall down. While we were waiting for him to show up, the lumber pack arrived!

The whole truckload is for us!!!

And later on, the masons came back and cut down the wall. It took quite a lot of sawing and a lot of (HARD) whacks with the sledgehammer to get it down. That's a strong wall!!

And now, our pile of concrete rubble is even bigger!  Because our space is so limited, we haven't brought in the dumpster yet. So once the crane comes and flies the trusses, we will be able to get the dumpster in and clean all this stuff up!

So, we are all set for trusses now. We even picked up the truss hangers that were delivered with the trusses, but had somehow disappeared. The framer called Tuesday to tell me that the soonest he could get a crane was Friday. We would have liked it sooner, but those are the cards we were dealt.
Too bad this is what the forecast looks like for Friday:

We will see how it goes! My guess is that we will get pushed into next week.

Two Steps Forward... One step back

We had to know it was coming. Things seemed to be moving along a little too smoothly. The walls went up. It looks beautiful. And now it's REALLY starting to look like a house!

That's a whole lot of extra block left over!!

Yesterday, they set the forms for the lintel over the sliding glass doors, and we scheduled the inspection for today.

The window installer called to let us know they were going to drop by the house just to check the openings to make sure they were the right size. And they all were... until they got to the back sliding glass door opening.  We are putting in these beautiful, zero corner sliding glass doors. They will look like this, except for with white frames.

On the M/O sheet with the opening sizes, the left side opening should be 77.922 inches (Not sure how you do the .922)

What we actually got was somewhere between 74 and 75 inches. 

That black line is where the edge of the wall needs to be, or the doors simply will not fit. Not good. 

So, with the window installation manager there, we called the mason to talk to him about it, and he said he would send some guys out to fix it before they poured the lintel. Hopefully, they get it all figured out. 

The masonry contractor is also going to be doing our framing. With the walls up, the trusses should be going on soon, and then framing should be starting soon after that. On the quote that we got from him before we started this whole thing, it states "We will furnish labor and materials for the following scope of work." So when the contractor asked Pete when we were going to drop the lumber pack, it took him completely by surprise, to say the least. We had gotten a quote for the lumber, to the tune of around $10,000, at some point in this process. We always assumed that we wouldn't need it, but low and behold, we do. I verified with the contractor, and the numbers do seem to indicate that the quote was for labor only, even if the verbiage did not clearly state it. 

So that's a huge hit to the budget. So, we will order the lumber, and we move forward.  Because pretty soon, I want to be moving into this house!!

Walls complete

Very happy day!

The Precast Concrete lintels went into the wind and door openings and the masons finished the rest of the block.

This is looking into the back of the house. The worker is standing right over the front door. 

This is the front of the house. What you can see of it- 2 car garage on the right, 1 car in the middle, and you can see the entry on the left.

This is the west wall, towards the front of the garage. The first window is Owen's bedroom, then our water closet (the little room with the door that the toilet is in), then the 4' x 4' picture window over the tub in the master bathroom. 

We have no idea how, but the huge CastCrete beam over the lanai was lifted by hand from the ground to where it is now. This was in the front yard yesterday. 

Pete is looking up at that beam wondering how they got it up there (It's solid poured concrete!!!)

This is the back corner of the house. The window on the right is in Sarah's bathroom. The two square windows are in the dining room, and on the left is the back dining window. 

Looking at the entryway.

Going Up!

The crew finally got to work building walls on Wednesday.  It was so exciting to see it finally start to take shape!! The crew was still working when I dropped by that day, so I shot this pic from underneath that Grand Tree. You can see the limbs and the moss hanging down.

We didn't have a chance to go by until it was dark the next day, but Sarah and I dropped by after swim practice, hence the wet hair, parka and flip flops. 

This super tall wall is in the entry way, on the side garage wall. 

This is in the area that will be her new bedroom. And then, overnight, the skies opened up and it poured down rain. So, when I went by the next day, the crew was not working. Everything was sopping wet. 

 Note the big puddle on the bottom left, and the location of the mason's trailer.

We are still pretty behind, and although we weren't quite ready yet, the trusses were delivered today because I didn't remember in time to reschedule the delivery (again). Part of me felt bad for rescheduling it as much as we did, since we told them on the 20th that we would be ready on the 28th and they built them and they were just sitting around up there taking up space. So, when I got the call this morning that they were loaded and on their way, there was no turning back.

Remember that trailer? And the mud puddle?

Hopefully 1) It will dry out and 2) these will go up soon.

The other reason there was no crew today was that the pre-cast concrete lintels that go over the windows and doors had not yet arrived. They came some time after the trusses.

So, it's full speed ahead. Except the one other problem the rain caused:

This is our silt fence in the back- completely failing. Time to dig it out and stand it back up. Happy Friday everyone!!