Siding has begun

Today they delivered some siding and cedar lumber to the house. They installed one piece of siding on the south side of the house and over the next few days we should see a lot of work being done on the outside of the house. On the inside of the house we got a fireplace installed. This is in the main living area on the main floor. Last week I forgot to mention that we had a whole house humidifier installed. This humidifier will be great to have when with these dry Kansas winters.

Some siding laid out on the back side of the house.
One lonely piece of siding installed.
Aw nice and warm.
Whole house humidifier installed.

Rough in work continues

Rough plumbing and HVAC continued today. The framers came back and moved the basement wall and redid the half wall for our master shower. Lisa and I also picked out our brick for the front of the house. We went with the Cromwell series by CBC (Commercial Brick Corporation).

Main wall was moved back 2'.

A beautiful blurry picture of the family room in the basement.
Sample picture of what the Cromwell brick will look like.

Changes left and right

Wow, I don't even know where to start. The house is moving forward just fine but it might slow done if Lisa and I don't get some of our choices made. We are still trying to finalize the kitchen layout after 3 weeks of minor changes here and there. Today we met with the plumbing company to pick/price out all the plumbing fixtures for the house. We also made a small change in one of the basement bedrooms by making it smaller (12' x 15'). By making this small change it ended up giving us 2 more feet in the family room area just in front of the bar.

My paint version of our new kitchen. Island is missing but this shows you how the cabinets will look. The tall cabinet door is actual our walk in pantry.
Here is a top view of our kitchen. Mirrored the island today to help center the sink with the door.

Daylight photos

Since we didn't make it over to the house on Friday, we went Saturday morning. This gave us a chance to see what got done and take some pictures in the daylight.

Garage door in the down position.
More work being done on the plumbing and hvac system. Nice touch here by having the dryer vent inside the wall. This should allow us to push the dryer back closer to the wall.
Nice new furnace unit installed. We opted to upgrade and go with a 90% + efficient unit.

Windows and more

Today a ton of work got done on the house. Almost all the windows were installed. A front door was installed without the side lights (coming soon). We even got the garage doors installed. The HVAC guy continued running ducted worked in the floor trusses. The plumber started running vent lines and roughing in for water.

Front view of the house with the windows and door installed.
Rear view of the house. Master bedroom windows still need to be installed.
Garage doors installed. We went with 8' tall doors just in case I ever drive a lifted minivan.
Just a random shot of some plumbing work done.
First bedroom in the basement. This is where things don't jive with me. I am not a huge single/double hung window fan but to make things worse the window next to it is a slider(see next picture). Granted you need egress for this bedroom to pass code but couldn't you have done a casement window in both bedrooms? At least then they would match and not look so out of place. Lisa is going to stop by tomorrow to look before I make a phone call to the builder. Does it look odd to anyone else?
Window less then 5' away. It is a slider due to its size but you could have done a double casement here.
Windows in main basement area. Most houses we see are either solid glass panels or sliders so I can't complain about these.

Tiny window in master shower. Whoops, we didn't think this one out. Plans call for a 1' x 4' but the glass is really like 6" x 3' 6". Oh well it still lets in some natural light.

Roof complete and HVAC started

The roofers finished everything up today and the HVAC guy(s) started. He laid out all the floor vents for the house and roughly laid out some duct work in the floor trusses. Everything looks pretty good and he thought he would have 4-5 days worth of work before he was finished. We also heard that the windows are in town and may be installed this week. That is good news since we are now seeing some pretty cold temperatures at night.

Roofing maybe complete

I stopped by the house today before bowling and the roofing crew was still working. So for now you can see some pictures of what was done by 6:45 pm. The roof should be 100% complete by tomorrow if everything goes right. Next on the list is having the windows installed. This is another item that we upgraded on the house. We went with Andersen windows which not only add great value to the home they will make also add to the efficiency of the home. The window line we picked is also a green material since the window frames are made of pre consumer products.

Roofing material delivered

At some point today the roofing material was delivered and placed on the roof. So by the end of tomorrow we should see some good progress on the roof. After speaking with the superintendent, the rough plumbing and hvac are being held off until the roof and windows are installed. We should have the roof and windows completed by the end of the week. Even with this short delay we are still on schedule.

We made a small change today in the laundry room by rearranging the location of the washer and dryer. By doing this it should allow us to add some storage units and a counter top.

Did a little paint magic to move the w/d and added some storage in the laundry room.

Roofing material stocked on the roof.

Framing is done

The framers cleaned up and moved out Wednesday afternoon. No new pictures to share since no new work has been done since the framings left. From the looks of our schedule we are ahead by 1/2 a week. Next week we could see some work being done on the inside of the house. For now we will continue to visit some of the higher end homes on the fall parade of homes list.

Day 12 of framing

Today they finished up the Tyvek wrap and they cleaned up the home. Nothing else planned this week besides maybe some rough in work. We will have an electrical walk through next week. During the walk through we will decide where light switches and outlets will be placed.

Day 11 of framing

What a mess! It rained almost 2 inches over the weekend and for some reason the framers thought they needed to work today. They made a mess of the yard and ended up tracking mud all over the place. It can and will be cleaned up but for now it just sucks to walk into your new home to see mud and trash all over the place. They did get a few things done today despite the muddy conditions. On the outside they started installing the Tyvek. The stairs are somewhat installed. The pocket door frames are installed and so is the framing for the fireplace.

Here is a shot from the basement. Plenty of water and other trash. Doesn't make things look good but once cleaned up it should be just fine.

South side of the house with Tyvek installed.
One of many pocket doors that have been framed in. This one is for the 1/2 bath.
Fireplace framing installed. We are placing the fireplace roughly 12" off the ground. We plan on doing a small raised hearth area just below the fireplace.

Day 10 of framing

Pretty short day today for the framing guys but it was all the small stuff that is making the house look nice. Windows are now cut out and the roof looks to be finished at this point. They also moved a doorway 12" to give Lisa more room for a dinning room table.

Day 9 of framing

Lisa stopped by the house today to snap a few pictures for me. They cut out the windows and finished up the front of the house. Still need the basement windows cut but it looks more like a house now then it did yesterday.

Day 8 of framing

They are getting close to having all the main framing work done. Today they worked on the covered deck and adding some new roof lines to the front of the house.

Roof finished up on the deck.
Garage getting some added roof lines.
Standing inside the garage looking up.

Day 7 of framing

Today they worked on getting the framing up for the covered deck and enclosing the roof. Hopefully they will have everything done on the roof tomorrow. Lisa and I are heading back to the cabinet company tomorrow to finalize our layout and cabinet selections. Moving faster then expected and it is hard to think we won't close until March 2012.

Day 6 of framing

Roof trusses are up on the main part of the house. They need to start the framing of the covered deck and getting everything nailed together. I think by the end of the week we should be done with the framing of the house.

New toilet for the house.View from the garage looking up and in.

Front of the house.
Rear of the house. Can't wait to see all the windows cut out and the covered deck.
I also made a quick trip to Bell Glass today to get some quotes on glass for the walk in shower. Had them price out 3 options and I think we are going to go with the semi-frameless glass door. Picture is just to give you an idea what the door would look like.

Day 5 of framing

They got most of the exterior sheathing up and the interior walls done. Lisa and Weston came home on Friday to see all of the work that had gotten done over the week. My parents also got to see the house for the first time since they began construction. We have a few things that we might change now that the walls are up and in place. Easier now then waiting till the end to change something. Should have a roof by the end of this week.