SNAFU

For those that don't know what that means....systems normal all f*@ked up.  Excuse my french.  Sometimes you just have to say the worst word. 

So the crew brought out a small mini hoe to finish digging the trench to lay the rest of the electrical line.  But they couldn't find the rough out for the electric....hmmm we could of sworn it was out the side.  So we went inside and shown  flashlight down the conduit to see which way it pointed and it pointed out toward the back of the house.

You see where the stick touches the tin...yep, that's where the stub out is.  Now if our GC had been paying attention he would have caught this BEFORE they poured the back porch.  

Of course everyone in the crew said we could just go through the wall...uh..no.  Our home and we aren't OK with this.  Not on our watch, this is not our problem to solve. It's the GC AND he needs to solve it to our satisfaction and going through the wall IS NOT an option.  

Bob and I studied on it a while and came up with a solution that the GC is not going to like cause its costing him more money but hes not keeping his eye on things the way he should so tuff tiddy said the kitty when the milk ran dry.  

We can move the position of the box inside and GC can rent a core driller and set it up at an angle near the edge of the slab and drill out the concrete.  If they do it correctly the hole will be covered up with landscaping dirt.  So problem solved.  And as it turns out the plumber has a core driller.  So they just have to get back out here and do it.  

They should have been here last week but I think the excuse was the rain.  We didnt get but 1 3/8" so no excuses as far as we are concerned.  

Someone better be here tomorrow.  

"Unofficially Dried In"

I say Unofficially because we still have 2 windows on a back order so although they are framed out, the tin covers the spaces and will have to be cut out so they can install them.  And there is still the trim and soffits to put on but Hobie got pulled for another job for the day.  It's what happens when there is a shortage of workers.  We are hoping that will change soon.  

Next thing is electrical and they finished digging the trench from where we left off to the house.  Electrician is supposed to be here on Monday to hook that up.  Next is the  plumbing which may happen at same time as the electrical if the plumber is free.

Meanwhile, this week Bob and I will be going to San Saba to talk with the stone Mason about the sandstone surround where the lower tin is and for the columns that will hold up the porch roofs.  We will actually get to pick out our pallets of stone and that's fairly exciting to me.  

So here are latest pictures.

The first picture is an end wall and has another window in it but it's one that is back ordered.  

4th picture is the front of the house and there is a picture window that goes in that wall but is the other window that is back ordered.

The piles of dirt that are in the 3rd picture is fill that will go around the house.  The other 3 land owners and Bob and I are having some repair work done to the 2 mile stretch that makes up our driveways.  The excess dirt is being deposited on our property #1 because it's cheaper than hauling it off and #2 we need it!  So it's a win- win situation.

Porches

This is a bit out of order and I thought that I had already published this but apparently not.  So Porches, we have our porches.

They framed and poured both porches on the same day.  We were under the impression that this would happen much later in the process but I guess we were wrong.  

Front Porch

Back Porch

Front Porch

Back Porch

They will both have posts at the front corners that support roofs.  That will come a little later.                                                               

Miscommunication and then some

2 weeks ago I was writing this post and I was pretty angry about a meeting that we had asked for with the GC and he "forgot" about it.  We originally had it scheduled for a Friday evening but he called because he had an emergency on another job and asked if we could reschedule for Sat.  Yes, of course.  We told him it needed to be before 3 as we had a meeting with the other land owners about our combined driveways and the repairs that are about to be made to them.  Long story short he " forgot" and we met up on Monday to discuss the issues we were having.  But I was fairly angry that he had " forgotten" and not impressed with his excuses and apologies...this is getting to be too much of a habit with him. 

At any rate we have moved on with that issue and have made more progress in the building.

We have another framer " Hobie" who is replacing some of the boards inside that got wet and warped.  He had to move an exterior wall out a few inches because it got wet and he has started putting on the tin.  

This tin will eventually be covered up with red, brown, beige and white sandstone.  

And then Hobie got started on the upper tin.

That yellow circle is where a picture window goes and it's back ordered.  Window is framed out on the inside and it's just easier since it isnt here yet to cover it with tin and cut it out once the window gets here.  

If that upper tin looks like its rusting then you are correct.  It is.  This is a 24 gauge steel that has been treated with a thin layer of a rust producing liquid.  Eventually the upper tin will be a very dark brown almost black looking rust.  It's supposed to do that.  We wanted our home to look like it's been there for years.  

Heres a close up.  

Anyway Hobie is very good at his job but he works a little slower than we'd like but since we know that we arent going to make our Thanksgiving deadline we are not going to stress about it anymore.  

Electrician is due this next week and maybe plumber.  

My microwave the last of the appliances arrived and I've ordered all my tile for the bathrooms.  Moving along at a snail's pace but moving nevertheless.