Lather, Rise, Repeat....

is pretty much what this week has been!  

Every morning John and crew get here, followed by the plumbers......
then the electricians......
then the HVAC guys.....

Then they all work in their own little areas to get ready for an inspection next Thursday.  This is probably our biggest inspection, so far, and probably the biggest we will have (aside from the final walk thru).   So there is a lot of work to be done before then!

John, Craig and Mike have been busy gutting the existing kitchen, and putting up beams where they need to go (like the ceiling upstairs for the air handler, the shower walls, etc).

Kicthen is gone....totally..

Bob's (the plumber) guys have been tearing out old pipes and replacing them as well as putting all the pipes for the new plumbing where they need to go.

Pete (the electrician) and his crew are placing and wiring all the wall sockets, the light switch plates, the recessed lighting, smoke alarms, etc...all in the right places.

And the HVAC guys have been busy doing all the duct work (we don't have central AC now, so it's all new) in the existing and new parts of the house....they got the air handler up in the ceiling and they got all the new vents in the 2nd floor of the existing house (Olivia's & Ava's rooms & the bathroom) and then did a vent (I think it's called a kickback, but I am probably wrong) in the hallway upstairs. 

What have we been doing?  Well....a lot of vacuuming and sweeping!  No matter how clean anyone tries to get it (and the guys do their share) there is always SOMETHING that needs to be cleaned!    Some of it I don't mind doing at all...I stay home, it's my job to keep the house clean (even in times of chaos like this), BUT some of it I hate!  Washing dishes in my tiny pedestal sink in our upstairs bathroom...is NOT my idea of fun, nor is it something I want to do anymore....so I just switched everything over to paper and plastic.  And we've done it for 24 hours..and I LOVE it!  Sorry all you "greenies", but there is a time and place for everything....the time is NOW and the place is NOT my pedestal sink!  :)

What else.....oh we picked out all the bathroom fixtures....sinks, toilets, faucets, etc.  But you have to wait for my next "Sunday Funday" entry to see what we picked! 

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.......but way more productive and not as relaxing as it will be in my new shower!

Oh and I am calling it now..with you all as my witnesses...I GET FIRST SHOWER!!!!!!!   

~Gianna~

Bye Bye Kitchen..it's been fun!

Today John and crew gutted the kitchen and the staircase to the basement...they also opened up the wall between new and old.   It was messy and loud, and honestly a little sad, which I NEVER thought I'd feel!  But there have been many meals made in that kitchen, many cupcakes, dinners, party preparations...and sooo many people who always loved to stand in the kitchen just to talk...in that tiny kitchen!  So it was sad!   But I did get to keep a pineapple of tile for memories!   The kitchen was decorated with fruits and stuff! 

They took out the cabinets. dishwasher, a lot of the ceiling and then a lot of the walls...they didn't finish completely...but they got a lot done....b/c they also had to create the opening from new to old.   Because we are such great homeowners and John loves us so much (he tells is this often, so I am starting to believe him..or he's a better liar than I thought) he left us the sink and oven/stove!  SCORE!!!!  So I am still able to cook for a little while longer!  THANKS, JOHN!!!!  

Going.....

Going.....

Gone......

Staircase going to basement....gutted!

Dishwasher is gone too!

While they gutted.....the HVAC crew came and started work upstairs.  I thought they were only doing the addition part, but after everyone was gone...I saw a brand new AC vent in our existing bathroom!  It looks sooooooo good!!!!!    I was so excited! 

OK tomorrow...John won't be here..not sure if Craig and Mike will.  HVAC guys (2 or 3) are coming back, and the mason is finally pouring the basement floor (with his crew)!    We also have the electricians (2 or 3 of them)...and if the plumber comes......

Do you see where this is going.......

I think I have figured it out.....

Stay Tuned.....
~Gianna~

Lights! Camera! Action!

"Lights" and "Action" is spot on for today...and the "Camera" part is sort of true (b/c I always have a camera on me)...but this title best sums up the day we had! 

Where do I begin?   LIGHTS!!!   The electrician (Pete Horan) came today for a walk thru....Joe, myself, Pete and one of his workers walked thru the whole house (existing and new) and plotted where everything will go.  It included everything from switch plates and electrical sockets to the recessed lights and all the other lights we are getting.  Once we did that..they got to work. 

ACTION!!!   Joe left and I  decided to clean my car.  I got Ava ready and we went outside...she loves playing in the trunk while I clean the car (it's an SUV....I don't put my daughter in a real trunk....although some days I'd like to..just for an hour or so! KIDDING!!!!).  She wanted me to put the music on, and I realized the keys were inside.  I locked her in the car, ran in to get the keys and as I was heading out the electrician was running in asking for wet paper towels and ice....b/c someone got hurt.  He seemed pretty worried, so I ran back in...grabbed a Ziploc with ice, he grabbed the paper towels ...and he explained a nail gun fell on one of the worker's heads!  OMG!!!!!   I had to get back to Ava though......with my spare set in hand...I opened the car door, and she had the music playing....she found my keys, hidden in the car and turned the ignition on (just to the part where the music comes on..she didn't start the car)!  SHE'S TWO!!!!!!!  Now do you see why some days I'd like to put her in the trunk for a little while?    OK back to Mike (the injured)....so he was finishing the roof (which was started yesterday) and somehow the nail gun he was using fell and hit him on his head pretty bad.  They got the bleeding to stop, and aside from a headache he seemed fine..and wanted to get back on the roof to finish (THAT'S DEDICATION!).   His only problem was he wanted to keep the cut clean, and the gauze wasn't staying put....they had already come up with taping gauze on his head, but he was worried it would pull his hairs out, so when he mentioned tying something...it clicked....I have tons of ribbons (pretty ones) in my wrapping paper stuff!!!!  Being an accessorizor ( think I made that word up)....I ran downstairs and grabbed all colors, shapes and sizes of ribbon...so we could find the right fit!  I even brought out a Christmas bow and a birthday hat...I wasn't sure which "look" he wanted!   We found a nice grey/silver silk ribbon....tied it on his head and topped it off with the green bow!  It was perfect...back to work her went and it stayed put for the rest of the day!  Of course we all thought it was funny....but I have to admit I was so worried about him...I'd keep checking on him (out my window) to make sure he was OK...but every time I'd giggle to myself...seeing a man with tattoos and a ribbon tied around his head is just FUNNY!   Good news...he seemed OK...Bad news...I didn't get a picture of him!   :(

OK...the day ended with the roof being done (YAY!)  CAMERA!!!!

and a bunch of electrical sockets and stuff being installed.  No wires or anything like that, yet...but recessed lighting, the electrical boxes all on the first floor was started!  LIGHTS!!!  (again)

Kitchen gets gutted tomorrow.
Basement floor being worked on (not poured til Friday)
"Gang Bang" -- still waiting on this b/c Bob never showed up!   But everyone got a good laugh about it today......especially with Mike all dolled up in ribbons!  :oP

~Gianna~

Basement and Roof!

Today they started work on the roof.......and by the end of the day just about all the addition's roof was up and they began tearing down the roof on the existing house we are replacing.   Tomorrow the rest of the roof should be finished.  YAY! 

The mason was also here today with some of his workers.   Today's job was to prep the basement for an inspection (hopefully tomorrow) and get ready for the floor to be poured.   This is something I've been wondering about for a long time....HOW are these guys going to prep and pour the floor when it's totally closed in and with the exception of minimal light from the 2 windows....and HOW are they going to get the wheelbarrow OUT that was left down there since July?    My questions were answered......I missed the wheelbarrow removal, but it's no longer down there...and they had lights hanging to help them see.  Not very good light....I wouldn't be reading a novel down there, but I guess enough light to get the work done (I hope we pass inspection tomorrow).    So they laid some plastic down and some kind of metal (??) grid...oh and some more gravel...and VOILA'....ready for inspection! 

So as you can see...it's pretty dark down there, but looks nice..right (well aside from the Gatorade bottle that's been there since July)?  So I think tomorrow right after inspection the truck will come and the floor will get poured!

What's in store for this week?  
Inspection.
Finish basement floor. 
Finish Roof. 
Existing kitchen to be gutted. 
AC guy comes to start work in basement.
We have to finalize siding. 
And John mentioned something about the electrician and plumber coming for a "gang bang"....Yup, you read that right!   We don't remember reading anything about a "gang bang" in the contract, but apparently this is what they do! (Who knew????!!!??)  Stay tuned.......


~Gianna~

A very productive day.....

We started the day off making some decisions with John.  1st on the list was the roof.   John showed up this morning with a bunch of roof samples (basically different colors to choose) because they no longer make the one we have (OBVIOUSLY -- that's the way we roll) it was discontinued.  While the choices kinda look similar, they are pretty different.  And since we don't need a new roof on our existing house,  the bottom line is they won't match.  So we decided to pick the closest color and then have John remove the back of the existing roof and put new up..... so it looks good from the back.  That way when we do re-do the existing roof (in about 10 years or so) we only have to worry about the front.   We also found out that there aren't any "roofers" as I said in my last entry....John will be wearing his "roofer hat" (I've come to find out he wears many hats) and doing it himself....well with Craig and Mike of course.    And like magic....all the roofing material was delivered within a few hours!  DONE!

Next up was deciding if we want the basement windows to be pull outs or sliders.  We chose pull outs.   DONE!

Next was siding.  I don't think I did an entry on the siding changes we made.  So here's the short of it.  We decided on vinyl instead of Hardie Plank.   With all of the "problems" we've had so far and the additional money spent to fix them.....we had to make some cuts.  The biggest cut we made was siding.  We didn't want to, but we didn't have much of a choice.   So vinyl it is..and we are still going with green!  So today we had to decide on the size and the type of trim.   We will be going with regular siding on the whole house and then shakes (shingle type siding) on the new dormer upstairs.  DONE!

We also asked John to change the location of the door to the master bath. It's going on the angled wall in the bedroom! DONE!

















We also discussed the kitchen because Joe and I are finalizing the cabinets tomorrow (YIPPPEEE) and off to work John went, Joe went golfing and I went to visit my sister in law and nieces!

When I came home around 1:30 (I left around 11am).....I opened the front door and it sounded like the guys were working inside our house, upstairs.  I was hoping nothing happened and no one fell thru the ceiling (even though they were done with that part).  I went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up.....

OH MY GOD......HUGE HOLE IN MY WALL!!!!!  But it was supposed to be there!  :) 

They cut thru the existing house to "tie together" where the hallways will meet!  I had no idea this was happening today....but it did, and it was exciting!  They did board it up until a later date...



















And finally,  they removed the window in our existing bathroom.  This left us with only 2 windows upstairs, and no pictures or frames or anything on any walls b/c every time they bang..everything falls off!  :) 



















EYE ON THE PRIZE.......

~Gianna~

Oh, What A (Bad) Feeling....When They're Dancin on the Ceiling.....

We found out today that the existing ceiling on the 2nd floor...directly under the roof was built poorly.....

Soooooooo poorly that no one can stand on it and it's unsafe.   Why, you ask????  Well I asked the SAME question and here was the answer I got (from John).  When houses were built a long time ago, they didn't have power tools, so it took a lot longer to build than it does now.  So what builders did was build the entire shell of the house FIRST (the outside frame and the roof)...and then they built the inner walls (ceilings, floors, etc) this way when they had bad weather, etc...they were protected while they continued building.  Makes sense...right?   So they didn't care how sturdy the ceilings were since no one had to stand on them! 

The last 2 days have consisted of the guys tiptoeing around on the roof...and every once in awhile putting a foot thru the ceiling....as soon as I hear the yell (or the profanity)  and the trickle of debris I leap to my feet and start vacuuming....it works out nicely for everyone!  :)  

What didn't work out nicely was that naps for Ava (and Mommy) were put on hold until they were done working.  John was nervous that while they were working upstairs the ceiling would give out above the bedrooms and then we'd have an even bigger problem.    The ceiling and roof was finished today and we are ALL well rested and happy no one got hurt! 
We are now ready to get the roofers here to put the shingles up and then the basement floor can be poured!!!!   MOVING ALONG!!!!!!!


~Gianna~

COLUMNS!!

This entire week has been spent with John (and crew) working on the 2nd floor ceiling (existing and new)...and framing the roof to get ready for the roofers to come and put the shingles on.   Of course, nothing is ever easy or "normal" when dealing with our house...so we ran into a few problems. 

John and Dan decided to take the steel out of the plans and replace it with wood columns.   I honestly have no idea why there was steel or what it was for (so I don't know what the wood is for either) but I can tell you we have 2 large beams of wood in our existing house.  I think it has something to do with holding up the roof..but I could be lying!   Everything started with John telling us that the girl's (existing) closet needed to be emptied out by afternoon so they could work in it.  With all the other existing house demo that has happened already we were down to 3 closets in our house..and with this news we'd be down to 2.  2 closets for 4 people...and 1 of the closets is already filled to the max with playroom stuff, and coats, shoes and more.  So 1 closet for all of our clothes!   It wasn't easy...but I did it!  So Tuesday they built the column in the girl's closet and then they did one in our bedroom.  I don't think I was prepared for this one.....I wasn't prepared for how it would look, and the placement of it.   But it is what it is...it had to be done, and we will be making a larger closet in Olivia's new room b/c of it!   SCORE!!!! 

This is our existing room's column (Olivia's future room and future closet)

And here is the one in the girl's closet (Ava's room to be)

~Gianna~

Back in the Saddle Again......

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated....but we were away for a week and then I've been trying to get myself back into some sort of routine with my kids.  Olivia started Kindergarten, dance and soccer and Ava had Preschool Orientation and starts swimming this week...so it's been busy in our house! 

So what's new on the "home" front?   A LOT!  The 2nd floor has been pretty much framed out..with the exception of the master bath (it's started, but they need to cut into the existing roof and can't until the new roof/ceiling is up).   With the 2nd floor changes we made a few weeks ago.....we were able to sit down with John's wife (who has a degree in interior design) and come up with a great plan...which gave us a HUGE closet, nice sized master bath (with HUGE shower and double sinks) and a way to fit a King sized bed and multiple pieces of furniture.  Our original master bedroom didn't have any of these things...so we know we made the right choice going bigger with the master suite! 

More pictures to follow.....tomorrow of the actual rooms framed out!

They also gutted the playroom and existing bathroom........while gutting the bathroom they found that whoever built our house used dirt and rocks to level the floor out.  Unreal....the more we move forward the more bumps we find in the road!   So this means they have to pull the floor our and redo it...coming up with a way to level the floor.  They also found like 4 layers of wall when taking down the walls.....lots of layers of sheet rock and tile glued over each other!   So needless to say it took an entire day to gut a small bathroom.  It's done now......Here are the bathroom floor pictures.  You can still see some dirt ad rocks!

Here is the full gut job!  :)

You can see in this picture...they moved the window to it's new home!

I will add some more updated pictures tomorrow!

~Gianna~