Dec 30 2005

Impressive

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 6:28 pm

My mom’s classic quote of the day: “How can they put it together so fast? Are they making it out of gingerbread!?” Sure seems that way…

They are moving along at quite a pace! Our family is going out tomorrow afternoon to walk around on the inside. Hopefully we can use the stairs. If so, we’ll take pictures of all the rooms and get “X-ray” vision for future reference (thanks Kurt!). Be prepared for lots of pictures tomorrow!
Our backyard looks great. Worries are over for that! It is a little sloped, but not nearly what I pictured it to be, so I’m happy. Megabyte will be very pleased as well. If it’s not too muddy tomorrow maybe we’ll try to measure the backyard to get an idea about how big it really is.

Today they were finishing up the plywood for the roof. The first and second floors are framed, and it looks like the rooms and closets are as well. We’ll find out tomorrow.


Click here to look at the other pictures from today


Dec 29 2005

Up, Up and Away!

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 6:17 pm

WHOA!
So I sat all day at work wondering “Should I even go to the house today? It’s been misting rain all day, been dark as heck…I wonder if they even worked…”
Boy, was I in for a surprise!! I almost drove off the road (literally – I almost did) coming up to my house.
They are already on the 2nd floor! I drove up and the guys waved and shouted “Hola!” 🙂 I said hi, waved and started snapping pictures like crazy, trying to keep jaw off the ground the whole time. I knew these houses went up fast, but MY GOD! Guess I won’t be missing another day! It’s SO exciting!


Click here to see more pics!

Oh Oh Oh! We also have our closing appointment for our house, Jan 4th at 3:00pm. Everyone keep their fingers crossed that the lady doesn’t back out or that anything bad doesn’t happen! What an exicting week!


Dec 28 2005

Still on schedule…

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 5:00 pm

Looks like we’re right on schedule for our closing on January 4th to sell our home. We had the inspection done 12/23 and we went over the report with Holly last night. There’s a few minor things we have to do (put on a chimney cap, seal something on the HVAC, fix a basement window pane, clean the gutters, and replace a fuse). Easy things that should be fast and inexpensive to do (yay!). Called my mortgage company and it looks like we won’t have to make the January payment if the check from the closing gets to them by the 15th (double yay!!).

Went out to our new house today briefly. They are putting plywood down over the foundation (subfloor? – I have no idea what the real terms are). Looks like they will start building up in a few days (triple yay!). See pictures. They have big piles of 2×4’s on the ground, probably for walls. They also poured large gravel in the driveway area.


Dec 27 2005

The Holiday Weekend

Tag: General,The HousePaul C. @ 10:40 am

Had a great Christmas this year. Was very relaxing and it seemed everyone got something they wanted. 🙂 *
Emily and I went to see the Chronicles of Narnia last night. I was very very impressed with it. We both enjoyed the movie a lot. Makes me want to go back and read the books. I read The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe back in 4th or 5th grade. I highly reccomend this movie. I think this series will be better than the Harry Potter movies (which, while I enjoyed them, their special effects were kind of lacking anything special).
House update:
Maple Street provides and online resource to their clients that gives an update on the building process. Here is a snippet:

CONSTRUCTION TASK DATE COMPLETED
Start Date 12/06/2005
FOOTER COMPLETE 12/07/2005
POUR FOUNDATION 12/20/2005
FOUNDATION COMPLETE
FRAMING START

More later…
-pc


Dec 23 2005

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 4:46 pm

Went out today and they had taken the tarps and forms off. The foundation looks great! I don’t remember seeing two windows in the basement in the model home (Paul does), but I’m not complaining that they’re there! Here are some pictures from today.
Exciting!

Can’t wait until they start building UP!

Hopefully my family will go out this weekend and see the progress. They haven’t been out since before groundbreaking. It’ll be a nice surprise!

News on our house we’re selling…
We have an inspector coming through today, that should go ok. Hopefully we’ll hear good news on Monday about the lady getting financing squared away, etc!


Dec 20 2005

Foundation poured / We got an offer!

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 8:23 pm

What a day!

The foundation was poured today. I couldn’t see it because they had black tarps over it to keep the concrete from freezing, but I took pictures anyway. I also met Rick Lang, our construction supervisor. He seems like a really nice guy. He told me that there won’t be much action in the next week because the concrete has to cure, then they have to remove the forms, do the plumbing, and pour the basement floor. He said early next week they should have it finished, and start working up, up, up. 🙂 He said to be sure to stop in every day once they start working, because it will go really fast. Predictions were that the basement would take about a month…if they finish in the time he says they might, then they will be way ahead of schedule. That’s good because it will allow for some set-backs later on…
I’ve been watching a house being built 3 lots down from ours, and they were finishing up with the foundation when they broke ground on our house (12/6). They are already on the 2nd floor walls! I can’t believe they put these things together so quickly. I guess since they only have about 7 models to choose from, and they aren’t custom homes, that it’s pretty much the same thing over and over and they get good at it after awhile.

On to the better news!!
Our realtor Holly Nally called us tonight and said that someone made an offer on our house!!! She brought over the paperwork tonight, we signed away (the offer was more than we had hoped for!) and she said we’ll try to close before Jan 1 to avoid carrying anything from the house into 2006 (for tax purposes etc). Everyone cross your fingers that it goes smoothly and successfully!!!!


Dec 19 2005

Basement is framed!

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 6:13 pm

The basement is now framed and ready for concrete. Unfortunatly my camera battery died before I could get pictures from all angles and looking down in, but check out what I got anyway…
Pictures
It’s so neat to see it finally coming together. I’m so excited!

My mom and I are going out tomorrow to check progress again. We’re also going to one of the model homes like ours, and measure all the windows so Paul and I can start buying blinds from Lowe’s. We are going to get nice ones for this house (not the plastic mini-blinds we had in our old house), and buy them over time so it won’t be such a financial burden.
We’re thinking about blinds like this.

-ec


Dec 16 2005

a million laughs…

Tag: Fun Links and StuffPaul C. @ 5:26 pm

This site has got some of the funniest pranks, stunts, and prank calls I have ever seen. I loved the article he wrote where he decided to see if “Natural Foods and products” taste good! Natural Soap? yummy! Highly reccomend it!
-pc


Dec 15 2005

Work’s been slow

Tag: The HouseEmily @ 10:57 pm

They haven’t worked on the basement since Tuesday. It’s been snowing and raining every day since then. I did take some pictures on Tuesday, (see here). I didn’t write a message about them since nothing has really happened.

They did level off the big dirt piles though, and I wonder how our yard will look when the house is finished. Does anyone knows the answer to this…?

It’s hard to explain, but bear with me. They only dug about 5 or 5.5 feet down below ground level for our basement so far, and it looks like they are finished digging. I know that they have about 3 feet of basement above ground level (the cement that shows on the side of the house), but that doesn’t add up to the height of our basement ceilings. I wonder (and I’m scared to think this) if they dig about 5-6 feet down, then mound the dirt up and build the house on the little hill/mound, then go 3 or so more feet up from the “new” ground level to make the whole basement height. I don’t know if I made that clear or not.

Basically, our lot was very level when we bought it, and we bought it for that reason (all other lots sloped downward towards the back). Now, after they have leveled the piles of dirt from digging out the basement, the yard slopes upwards in all directions toward the house, like they are going to build the house on a little hill, which would help make up depth for the basement. If so, our $1,500 extra that we paid for a level lot sure wasn’t worth it if our lot will end up sloped!!!
Anyone know if this is how things work? It may be WAY too early to tell…I’m just anxious/worried about it.
-ec


Dec 15 2005

New Project…

Tag: Fun Links and StuffPaul C. @ 1:30 pm

Found This link on Digg.com. Its a complete instruction page with templates, graphics, etc. on how to build your own Arcade machine! It uses MAME roms to do it. MAME roms are the ROM programs from the old arcade games I played when I was a kid. There are also version that you can play old Nintendo, N64, etc. games with. I’ve already got spare PC parts to do it with, I would just have to build the cabinet and wire it up. This would be a great use for our basement-to-be!

-pc


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