Flooring goes in, kind of

Well, did you know that flooring is very scientific? It is when you have had about 2 days of dry weather all year! The wood floor guy came with his handy dandy moisture monitor and it said that the subfloor was at 18% moisture and it needs to be at 12% in order to install the floor. Okay fine, he said, Can we turn on the air conditioner? I looked out the window where one should be and said, Well that would be easier if I had a unit. So I called my project manager about getting the air conditioner and she said, Do you know where the supplier is? And unfortuneately I do. It is on 1st St. Downtown Cedar Rapids. Mind you they evacuated to 12th St. So 1st St. has pretty much been under 8 feet of water since last Thursday. I have absolutely NO idea when I will get an air conditioner and then how long it will be until the subfloor dries out enough to lay my wood floor. All this has to be done before cabinets can be delivered. So if we were 15 days behind before, we are probably about a month behind now. I do want everything to be done correctly so I am willing to be patient but I'm just so excited to see it put together. The vinyl and tile guys were able to get in and do their work so there was some excitement. I have no idea what will be going on this week. I don't know if we are on hold or if the trim carpenter can start. We'll see tomorrow. Well I need sleep, so I'll try to keep you updated later this week. Em

Apologies

Hi all, So sorry that I haven't been keeping up. I've been working, packing, keeping track of the kids (Harrison graduated preschool). Now we start T-ball tomorrow yada yada. So what's up with the casa you say? All the drywall is hung, taped, mudded and sprayed with texture. Today the painters came in and sprayed a primer on the ceilings. The gutter guys came too and hung white gutters on the house with tan colored down spouts. The drywall guys slapped (literally) some tape and mud on the seams in the garage too. In the last couple of weeks they finally finished siding the front entry way to the house, but much to my dismay they put a keystone in my arch! ARGH!!! It says right on the work order NO KEYSTONE! Anyway, I can't seem to get a straight answer as to when they will be coming to fix that little oversight. Everytime somebody has to come back to fix something it throws their schedule off so I never know when it will be. (Frankly I feel that if someone was watching closely so this didn't happen in the first place we wouldn't have this problem so I don't really care what it does to their "schedule".) Just thought I would share that! By the way they still need to fix the cement in the garage where they cut the door opening wrong. Also the drywallers put the wire for the puck light in the art niche on the back of the niche instead of in the middle of the ceiling of it so I don't know what we are going to do to fix that. Other than that things are okay. They are about 15 days behind I think but they still think that they will be starting flooring on Thursday! Finally the fun stuff. All the pretty things that I have picked out will be starting to go in!. I can't wait! I am nervous though because if anything isn't right now it will show! Well I will try to get some progress photos loaded soon. Emily

OK, we have just spent the last four days on electrical. I put TONS of outlets in even in the closets. I put Phone, Ethernet and cable in every bedroom and in two spots in the living room depending on what side of the fireplace we want a TV in the future. There is a phone jack in the master potty and central vac dust pans in every bathroom and mudroom so we can just sweep dirt and hair into them and not have to bend down and balance a dust pan. I am having the electrician come back Monday and wire the west windows (all 10) of the living room for electric shades. We also put a PVC pipe behind the fireplace so that if we’ve missed anything we can shoot the wires from one side of the fireplace to another behind there. We even added an extra sub panel since the big one was completely full. Dad had his favorite security team come out and wire for smoke/heat sensors and laser beams. That way if the house catches on fire while we’re out of town the central office will call the fire department. They insulate Tuesday with the foam and Sheetrock starts Wednesday! I picked out a storm door today (we have to have those in Iowa you know). The flooring schedule starts June 2nd. So we are almost to the pretty stuff. We need to go over and vacuum what we don’t want in the insulation. The electrician picked up but we can do a better job. Hope all is well, Em

Progress report

This was a very fun week for me. The framers finished up early in the week and the plumbers, HVAC, and siders moved in. I absolutely loved working with the plumbers. They were so accomodating. They were willing to add lines where ever I wanted and they were very conscious of making sure that I agreed to where to put the faucet on my tub, they even sat there and made sure the handles would work right and the spout would clear the tub once the tile was in. I felt like I was working with my brothers. The HVAC guy is very nice too, but very quiet. He kind of looks like Brian's friend Jim Hopkins. He has been sure to get my permission whenever he had needed to add chases below the ceiling level of the basement and I have learned to love soffits. As long as they are in my basement and not upstairs! The siders are not as clean cut as the guys working inside but they are friendly. I have taken Twix bars, Snickers, Dilly bars and donuts over periodically to keep the morale up. Monday the electrician starts. We have a walk through at 8:00 AM to discuss all the details of where to put outlets and wires and recessed lighting. Then at 9:30 we have a walk through with the home solutions man for cable, phone, security, sound and central vac. Any suggestions are appreciated. We are making wish lists but if you have something that you love or wish you had please share! I'll only put a phone in the bathroom if you promise not to care if I answer it when I am going potty! (Uncle Bob). So it should be a very full week of decisions and requests. Hope you are all well! Love, Em

SOLD!

Yeah! We sold our house this morning!!!!!! I am soooooo excited. The people that bought it are a very young married couple that live in Iowa City right now. The guy is an industrial engineer and works in Muscatine (We assume for Hon) So I hope he plans on getting a job in Cedar Rapids or that would be a killer commute! Anyway I am just so happy that they are young and don't have to sell a house of their own first. They were pre-approved for a loan and included that info with their offer. It really couldn't be a better setup for us. They basically offered us asking price but we agreed to cover their closing costs and a one year home warranty. I guess the young people don't have good nest eggs these days but can make monthly payments so they need the help coming up with the chunk of money for the closing. It is worth it to me to not have to worry about it anymore and not to have to have the house in perfect condition every day by 9:00AM. We will have to have an inspector come in the next couple of weeks, so we are praying that goes well! The other aspect is that we agreed to a July 11th close. We assume that if they are in an apartment in IA City that the lease is up July 30th so we would have to move out then anyway. We aren't sure if we want to go to an apartment or try to get along with mom and dad for a month or so. More on that later. Thanks to all that were praying and hoping for a fast sell. I think it worked!!! I will be sleeping very well tonight and enjoying my mother's day open house free!!!!! Love ya, Em

I can see clearly now, through the windows!

Today was great. They were able to set all the windows. I love them! The foreman also installed one of the tracks for one of the pocket doors. The shingles were delivered so besides the siding and shingles all the work can be done indoors and shouldn't be dependent on the weather. I returned to the lighting showroom today and decided on a nook light for sure as well as pendants for the island area. I also met with the flooring contractor and determined the size and pattern of all the tiled areas. I signed off on the flooring.

New pics!

Check out the new pictures of plumbing fixtures!

I'm alive - barely!

Hi all blog watchers. I'm sorry there hasn't been a lot to watch lately! I got side tracked on our trip to Phoenix and then had to turn around and spend a week in Chicago! So there is a lot to show you. As of this afternoon they have about half of the plywood and tar paper on the roof. We had a little oops on the garage. Apparently there are two different drawings with two different dimensions called out. The concrete guys followed the foundation plan of course and the wall builders followed the floor plan. When they went to set the walls they were off by 8 inches on the opening to the double stall garage and over by 8 inches in the opening of the single car garage! We had two options: 1. rip out the offending foundation wall and start over (possibly risking heaving between two footings below ground) or 2. cut 4 inches off of both sides of the foundation for the double stall garage (gaining us 8 inches of width to the opening of the third stall). We chose option 2. Saturday when I got back from Chicago I was inspecting the fix and realized that they had cut the opening to 8 inches on both sides instead of 4 on both sides. So we had this cut and chopped up concrete. I was needless to say not a happy person. So today when I stopped by to talk to the foreman he explained that they will make a form and fill in the problem with new concrete and etch in a design by hand to match the brick form look of the rest of the foundation. Somehow we are still 2 inches off on the peak above the single stall garage, but Brian and I have decided that we don't think it will be that noticable from the street so we are going to let it go. Other wise it is really fun to walk through the house and see the rooms framed in. Harrison knew right where his room is. It is also fun to see what the views will be from our windows. I'm already dreaming of parties and holidays so get ready to come visit this fall!!!! Enjoy the new pics!

Fun day

Today was a busy one at the lot! This morning they backfilled against the foundation so the huge pile of dirt is gone and it looks a little more normal. They filled in the garage floor area and up to the top of the black waterproofing around the perimeter of the foundation. This afternoon when I stopped by with Harrison they were leveling the grade to pour the floor of the basement. The super exciting part was getting to watch the big gravel shooter that was attached to the dump truck. It was a conveyor that took the gravel from the dump truck and shot it into the air and then it "rained" down into the basement. The guy running it was someone that I went to elementary school all the way through high school with. He let Harrison ride in the dump truck! We had a lot of fun watching the great construction toys today! We are off for a vacation and when we get back it should be fun to see how much framing is done. Tomorrow we are supposed to get 3.5 inches of rain so we will see what that does to delay the basement floor! More later. Em

Vote on Pendants

Here is your opportunity to chime in! Take a second to glance at the pendants that I have shown below and vote on your favorites! Remember the backsplash color is a deep irridescent red (See pic below). Happy voting! :)

Long time no bloggin'

Hello Happy McHouse fans!!!! It has been a crazy week trying to get the FINAL decisions made. I have been looking at endless revisions of quotes and spent countless hours online researching the most cost effective plumbing fixtures. I have only had one minor freak out session over the kitchen counter and all you granite lovers will be happy to know that my heart just couldn't take no for an answer and I decided I couldn't live without my beautiful Verde Butterfly! As far as the building progress goes, I have lots of new photos to share with you and some exciting progress has been taking place! The framing start date is set for the 14th or 15th and I will be in Phoenix so who knows what will be here by the time I get back! We are currently trying to decide on Sprayed in Foam insulation vs. batting style. The foam has about 3 times the R-value and could save us up to $118.00 per month on utility bills. We just have to fork up the $10,000 to install it now! I'm leaving the final decision up to Brian on that one! I will really try to get things posted in a more timely manner. Thanks for your patience! Love, Em

McHouse fans: I stopped by the house today and saw the frost footings. Harrison is very excited as well. Brian and I went to the appliance store and we are not liking the GE appliances as far as looks and features on the standard units. We are going to keep looking around town. Maybe we'll have to make a voyage to Nebraska Furniture Mart! I am just so used to my Amana Microwave (RadarRange!). Let me know what you have and like! The other thing we spent time on was the heating and air conditioning system. We have to choose between one that has a two stage (dual valve) blower and the standard that doesn't. It basically comes down to comfort level related to consistent heat across the house. We will have the garage door appointment tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Here we go again!

WooooHooooo! Thursday brought another chance to dig and success; the frost had melted and they were able to dig our basement! On Friday they finished digging and poured the frost footings for the foundation before the end of the day! Que Bueno! Soooooo, I will check with the project manager tomorrow for the plan on pouring the foundation. I will also post some pics as soon as I can get them from Dad. (We left early last week for a long weekend at Okoboji). Last week I spent some time on the flooring. I might change the tile in the front entry way. I can not find a picture of it on the internet to save my life or I would post another poll. I am waiting on quotes from another store in town on the carpet and vinyl and wood. I also got a quote back on putting granite throughout the entire kitchen and it came in only $100.00 more than the low end version of Corian (Staron) so, I guess if we are going to make the jump from formica to hard surface we will go with the granite! This week we are tackling appliances, furnace, air conditioner, garage doors and looking at possibilities for stone on the exterior. I also have another appointment with the plumbing supplier to make some final decisions about fixtures. Again, I'll try to get some pictures posted of our choices. Have a great week and keep your fingers crossed for a successful foundation pour! Emily

On hold

Ok, anybody who knows me knows that I rate very low on my patience level! So yesterday when I drove by the lot and saw not only no action but NO EXCAVATOR AT ALL I was a little worried. I called the project manager and she said that there are some houses on the framing schedule before ours and that if we wait a week hopefully the rest of the frost will go out of the ground. So we are on a little bit of a hold this week. Tomorrow I have an appointment with the cabinet vendor to try to finalize the layouts for the kitchen and the bathrooms. I'll be sure to keep you up to date an developments get underway!

The case of the missing hole

Hey everybody. We had a mystery on our hands today. I drove by the lot at 11:30 this morning and I was pleased to see that they had started to dig a large hole. There was a man in the hole that I assumed was the excavator operator. I got out of the car and said "Good Morning, what are you looking for down there?" He said, "Nothing, I just had to pee!" So I guess the positive way to look at it was that our hole was christened but I'm really glad I didn't get there any sooner! There was a long copper pipe in the bottom of the hole and the man said that it was the water line and the plumber had connected it. We looked up and saw the city inspector coming to check it out so I left feeling like things were progressing right along, everyone seemed to be working expeditiously etc. I thought Harrison would love to see the big hole and we might even get to watch the excavator in action so I drove by again at 3:00 after I picked Harry up from preschool. You can imagine my surprise when there was not only no excavator operator, but there was no hole! Mind you I had called Dad, Bob, Brian and told them that there was action at the lot and they should drive by! I was confused, Harrison was bummed and I looked like a big liar! I called the project manager and she said they just hooked up the water and the sewer today and hopefully tomorrow they will dig. So I have to redeem myself so people will stop thinking I'm nuts for being all excited about flat dirt. I hope to have a great big house shaped hole soon! Warm weather is promised for the week so we may see the 1 foot of remaining frost dwindle. Have a super day! E

Fun is ahead!

Hey all Mchouse blog watchers! We have started a blog to track progress on our house. So anytime you want you can look, make suggestions or be glad it isn't you going through the "fun"! I will try to post daily pics of interesting developments, I may even ask for advice, who knows! So, check back often and we will plan an open house at the end of the summer, by then you should know your way around pretty well! E