Sheetrock Update

We didn't get out to the house real early tonight, but I wanted to get some pictures before we headed out for our vacation. It was pretty dark, so not very many of my pictures turned out. The picture above is looking into our master bedroom from the bathroom. It is looking great and feels so much different. The sheetrockers were still out working today at 5:00 and I think they were going to stay a while longer because they were setting up all their work lights. A lot of the basement is completed and some of the ceilings upstairs are done. They have actually managed to get a lot of work done considering they got into a fight and walked out on each other on Wednesday! It's amazing how different the house feels with the sheetrock going up. It gives it a whole new look and pictures don't do it justice. I've looked at each room from every possible angle, but with the sheetrock up everything looks and feels so different. Travis and I are going back and forth as to whether we think rooms look bigger or smaller after the sheetrock is up. I thought my closet looked smaller, but we measured it out and it actually is still very big. The guest suite feels smaller, but my craft room (that has no windows) feels bigger...weird, I know. The office by far feels the biggest because it has got some of the tallest ceilings. The sheetrockers should be close to being done if not completely finished by the time we get back from vacation. There won't be any updates for at least a week, so I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas. For everyone staying in Montana or up north, we will be thinking of you while we are soaking up the nice warm sun rays:)

Sheetrock

I again don't have any pictures, but I figured an update was due. We were a bit surprised when we went out to the house on Saturday and found snow all throughout the house. We figured we were completely sealed up after we got insulation and we couldn't exactly nail down how all that snow got in. It was extremely windy the night before, so I think the doors blew open and snow got in that way. The sheetrockers also think that some might have come through the soffits (even though there was cardboard and insulation up there). We did manage to get a little bit of work done on Saturday despite the below zero temperatures. We got the basement wired for the audio system. The sheetrock guy actually started on Friday afternoon and was back again today. They have quite a bit of the ceiling done in the basement and a fair amount of the walls. I would be more specific, but it was way too cold for my liking today, so this is just what Travis told me.

Proof

I got out to the house today to take some pictures. The house is completely insulated! Trav also continues to work on siding and the new project is wiring for the whole house audio. Sheetrock is coming tomorrow, so we are moving along!

Insulation

It's official. The weather was a warm 41 degrees today making it warm enough to spray in our insulation today. I didn't go out there for pictures, but Travis talked to the guy and they were thinking they would be finishing up tomorrow. The sheetrock is being delivered Friday. Travis also talked to this guy and he seems quite dedicated...or desperate for work. He was going to come stock the sheetrock on Friday, he couldn't work Saturday because he's getting married, but he'll be out there again on Sunday. What a trooper:)

Pictures

Here's the archway that finally got framed in.

I'm glad we hired out the electric...that's a lot of wires!

Updated siding picture

As promised, I went and took pictures today. Not much was going on, but the plumber got a little more work done today (probably more work than normal since there was no one else there to talk to!)

Archway

I went out to the house after work today to see the progress, and I forgot the camera so I still don't have any pictures. The electrician did finish up today. Since Travis poured more concrete two days ago, the framers were back today to finish up. They framed in the archway that is in front of the front door. It looks really good. They also framed out just a few more things in some of the bathrooms. Trav also continued to work his way around the house siding and is now to the section of house just to the right of the big picture window upstairs.

"Rock'n" and Rollin'

With it getting dark so early, I don't get a chance to go out to the house and take pictures, so sorry for the lack of updates. We have a lot going on at the house right now. The electrician will finish up tomorrow. The plumber is still doing a little work here and there. All of our other contractors say he spends more time talking to them and following them around than actually doing any of his own work. I'm glad we aren't paying him by the hour! Next Wednesday we have the insulators coming, so we have a lot to get done before then. Travis is going to do the wiring for the audio system in the house, so we have to get all the wires pulled. We also need to put the thermostats in as well as some other miscellaneous stuff. We also hired a sheetrock company to come and hang sheetrock, so by the time we get back from our Christmas vacation, we should have a sheetrocked house! Travis has been getting some siding put up on his days off, so there should be some more updated pictures this weekend.

Siding Pictures...Finally!

Look at all those wires!

As promised, here are the pictures of the siding. The progress is slow and steady, but we were able to get two solid days of work in. Trav and I put siding up on Thanksgiving, and his dad helped him out today. You might also notice that all the trash around the house is gone. A big thanks to Trav's mom for picking up trash all day...it looks so much nicer now! The electrician will be done on Tuesday, so hopefully we can get insulation in by the end of next week. He's doing a great job and putting in all the little extras. There are lights in the stairway that are on an eye sensor, so when you walk down the stairs, the lights on the stairs will illuminate. So cool!

Another Quick Update

So, Travis and I have somewhat defined roles when it comes to building this house. He does all the work, and I take the pictures. Well, I forgot the camera today, so I had to help out in other ways. We put up a whole lot more siding today. I would cut the board, and Travis would nail it up. It felt like we had a great system down and really got a lot done, but we still have so much more to do. Seeing more siding put up also makes me really happy about our color choices. I will try to get out to the house this week and take pictures so you all can see what I am talking about:)


We also have three fully functioning garage doors (thanks to Trav's dad). Travis is meeting the electrician at the house tomorrow and he said that he will be done in three or four days! He is also meeting with an insulation guy tomorrow to get a quote. If all goes as planned, which it usually doesn't, we could be putting sheetrock up in a couple of weeks.

SIDING!!!

Travis started putting some siding up today, and I think it looks AMAZING! I am so glad the weather is cooperating so that we can continue to work on the outside of the house. The roofers did finish up yesterday, and we are so glad that we hired someone else to do it because it looks so nice. The last picture shows the furnace again. I mostly just took the picture because it is so dark in the crawl space, and I just wanted to see what was back there:) Travis works a crappy shift tomorrow, so he won't be able to work on the house, so don't expect any updates for a couple of days.

My update...or lack of one

This picture is from last Tuesday, so I haven't been doing a very good job on updating the blog. We've been out to the house a couple of times since then, but I feel like I have already taken pictures of everything. The HVAC guy and plumber are both pretty close to being done and the roofers finished up today. Pretty soon, we can have the electrician in, then next thing you know, it is going to be insulation and sheet rock.

It is sort of funny to go back and read what I wrote and to see how off our timeline has become, so don't take my word on how soon insulation and sheetrock will happen. Travis read one of my earlier posts that said the concrete guy would be done in 9 days...I was way off!

Lap Band and More

Lap band (thicker trim piece on the back of the house)

More lap band (some pieces don't match as they still need painted)

Shingling the hips of the roof

A close up of the hips.

Travis has today and tomorrow off work, and the next trim work that needed to be done was the lap band. This is a two person job, so I actually took this afternoon off to help and we will finish up tomorrow. We got out to the house at about 1:00 and there were lots of people working away.

The roofers had finished all the shingles and started on the peaks. They said they should be done tomorrow. The shingles that go over the ridges are some of the thickest ridges that they have put up. They nail through 5 layers! They tend to stick up a bit more, but it really defines all the "hips" on our roof. We won't really know how well all the shingles will sit on the roof until next spring when the tar can really seal, but as for right now, it looks great!

The HVAC guy and plumber were also working today. The HVAC guy will be gone tomorrow, but will have help the rest of the week, so he should be done fairly soon. We also anticipate the plumber being done this week too.

Work, Work, All Day Long

The HVAC guy was working again today. That's a "trunk" hanging from the ceiling. There are a whole bunch of holes in the floor for all the vents.

Here's the furnace in the crawl space.

Travis had the past two days off from work, but he definitely didn't take any time. He managed to get all the windows trimmed out. It was quite the task to do the windows on the second floor. It takes so much time to go up and down the ladder. Yesterday made it even more difficult with the wind blowing like crazy. There is still more trim to do. There is a thicker band that goes around the middle of the back of the house and then all the outside corners. The roofers were also working today too. There is just one fairly small section left for them to do and then they have to do the ridges. It's looking really good, I'm just hoping the weather stays half way decent for another month (two would be nice, but that's probably asking for too much!)

Venting the Fireplaces

There's one fireplace pipe vented, but what's behind it???

Yep, that is Travis' head. We like to preach safety first, hence the safety goggles when sticking your head out of the roof:)

Look Mom, no hands (just a rope, harness, etc.). Travis climbed back up on the roof to put the caps on the fireplace pipes that we vented out on Saturday. We still need to cut the front pipe down so it isn't so tall, but they still look pretty cool. We may still paint them black so that they blend in better, but we will see.

Helper Bees

Travis' parents were up again today to help Travis work on the house on his day off. His dad got all the garage door panels installed, his mom painted lots more trim, and Travis got a lot of trim done on the basement side. One of the roofers was out shingling the back side of the garage too. Tomorrow we are going to try and install the roof vents for the fireplaces...hopefully all goes well!

More Shingles and Trim

Travis has been busy trimming out windows. The roofer has been shingling away too. Almost the whole front of the house is finished. The plumber and HVAC guy are working on the inside too. Our two windows are finally in at Lowe's, so we just have to pick them up and install them. Still no framers...I was right when I guessed they wouldn't be here this week. Oh well, hopefully they get it done next week.

Trim

We went out to the house around 3:00 today and of course we found no contractors. The roofer sliced his finger, so he went home early. He stopped by when we were there and was saying that the framers were doing floor joists at someone else's house, so I'm pretty sure they won't be at our house this week. We hung some more trim, mostly around the outside corners today. We also put a piece of siding up so we could see all the colors together. We won't actually side until we finish the trim, so don't expect to see any more siding quite yet:)

On Contractor Time

Whenever we go on vacation to an island or something, the locals always say that you are on island time. You don't have to worry about what time it is, if you are late, etc. Well I think contractors must be on island time. It might not help that hunting season has started too. We went out to the house to see a whole bunch of work done today. Needless to say, not much happened. I didn't even bother taking pictures. We didn't go out there to work today because we didn't want to be in the way of the framers. We were pretty frustrated to find that they weren't working because today would have been a great day for us to get a little more done. The plumber was out at the house and he put some holes in the floors for the piping to run through. The roofers were there too, but there wasn't many more shingles put up. They did stack all the shingles on the roof though. The framers and HVAC guy weren't there. I hope they show up tomorrow...

Working Away

We have one garage door installed! We are going to paint them later...

Here's some trim.

Working hard. Look at our concentration:)

Travis' parents were in town to be our free labor on Sunday. It feels like we did a lot of work, but there isn't much to show for it. I know in the commercials for garage doors, they show that installation goes quickly. I'm pretty sure after seeing how complicated it looked today that those commercials are false advertising! We got the one in, and now that we know how, the other two doors should go a little faster. We painted lots of trim and we even got a few pieces hung. If you look in the third picture, everything below the trim line will be rock. We still need to trim out the outside corners, but basically everything else will be siding. Tomorrow should be a big day. The framers will be framing out the front door arch way, the roofers will be there, and the HVAC and plumber will probably be there too.

More Shingles

The roofers basically got all the hips and valleys on the back of the house shingled. The pictures don't really show it, but you can't tell that there are shingles on the roof until you get really close. The HVAC guy might work on Saturday...I know I was amazed too. I didn't know there was a contractor who would work on Saturdays! Hopefully by the end of the weekend, I will have pictures posted of the house with some trim :)

Shingles

The roofers were back at the house today. Travis said they had just pretty much gotten out to the house at 1:00 when he got there. They shingled some of the back of the house, and they plan to get the rest of the back of the house by Friday. We were expecting the shingles to have more color, but oh well. Our trim gets here tomorrow, so we are going to start putting some of that up this weekend. The HVAC guy and plumber might also start doing some work tomorrow.

Quick Update

I don't have any pictures, but there has been some stuff going on at the house lately. Travis and I went out there on Sunday to do some work and the roofer had been there. He finished tar papering the house and even layed some shingles. They didn't work today, but we knew that. Hopefully they are able to start back on our house tomorrow. Travis and I poured some concrete posts in the front of the house so that the framers could finish the front entry way. Travis talked to the foreman and they are thinking they could probably finish that next Monday or Tuesday. We also redid the framing for the master bathtub. It used to be just straight across, and we wanted to add a nice curve in it. We had to rip apart what the framers did, and then it took us a little while longer than expected because curves aren't exactly easy to frame. I should have some new pictures tomorrow.

Tar Paper

Back to the good news, bad news routine...

Good news: the roofer is almost done putting up all the tar paper. There is just one little section that still needs done.

Bad news: the framer has another small job, so he won't be out to our house until probably Wednesday next week.

Good news: once they are back on our job, they will be done in a week and a half to two weeks

Bad news: the one section of drip edge that we put up, the roofers took down. I thought it looked good, but it must not have been up to their standards. I am obviously not a roofer, and I am still so happy that we hired it out!

Tomorrow we are going to buy our interior doors and buy a different tub for the master bathroom. Travis and I are not your normal size person, but the first tub we bought was definitely too small...

Framing is complete

The roofer was back out today and put tar paper on about another 1/4 of the roof.
The remaining doors were put in
The master bath was framed in
More door pictures...nothing makes the house look taller than looking at it from this view:)


We still have to do a final walkthrough with the framers, but they are basically finished. It feels so good to finally have them done. Now that all the doors are in, we are going to go out and buy some locks. We also bought our garage doors last weekend. We have got some decisions to make, but next on the plate is trim and siding for us. Inside the HVAC, plumber, and electrician can now get started. It felt like we were in the framing stage for so long, and now that we get to move on to a new stage, it is all that much more exciting again.

Roofing and Doors

We went out to the house on Friday to put in the vent pipes for the fireplaces so that the framers could sheet them in. We were surprised to find that the roofer had been out there and put up tar paper on some of the roof. It was a good thing he started when he did because it snowed over the weekend, and there was no way he could get up there today. Most of the snow has melted, so I would imagine they would get back up there either on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Here is the downstairs fireplace all framed in.
and the upstairs fireplace in the great room
My pictures of the doors aren't that great, but I just wanted to show that some doors were installed. I took the closeup because they have the blinds inside the glass (anything that requires less cleaning in this house is probably best!)

It didn't look like the framers did very much work today. Not sure if it was because we went out there twice today or if they just really didn't do much. The doors and the master tub were delivered today, so I was hoping that those would all be installed. They still have to install the two entry doors from the garage, the french door downstairs, and another door upstairs. The tubs still need framed in and a few other minor things. I do think that they will be done this week though. There just isn't much left to do.

Windows and fireplaces

View of the front of the house. The front door isn't really white, they are just leaving the protective covering on for awhile.
View of the fireplace (cardboard covering is still on), the front door, and the dining room framed out. Although a column didn't need to be put in the corner of the dining room, we decided to put one in, just so that it would appear more "formal" and have it's own set area.

This is the great room on the left and the nook to the right. The great room window is the six windows put together to make one.
Travis pulled down the cardboard, so you could get an idea of our front door. Mocha wanted to be in the picture too:)

As promised, here are your pictures of the windows in the daylight. Travis drove to Bozeman today to pick up the fireplaces. The framers set them in and framed the dining room out. They also installed the front door and the top window in the great room.

For those of you that are real observant, you might have noticed the box of Miller Light in the 2nd picture. We brought out that little treat for the contractors since today was there Friday. Who wouldn't want to work for us if we provide them with beer???