The Second Week in November

Gotta say I'm a lot happier this week than I have been in weeks past.  The electricians AND the plumber were here...ALL WEEK, well almost all week.  Can't get over excited about something that should have been happening all along but right now I'll take my bit of happiness.

This also arrived.

This for the less knowledgeable is all the components for the A/C units.  Because of the way the house is designed we have 2 separate living areas and a central one.  Square footage puts us at 2400 sq ft.  Formula for figuring out what tonnage you need in a unit is 1 ton = 400 sq ft.  We need 6 tonnes but they dont make a 6 ton unit so we have (2) 3 ton units.  1 unit will take care of Master bedroom, closet and master bath, the other unit will take care of guest bedrooms, guest bath, fly tying room, pantry and mud room.  They will each share in cooling the " Great Room" ( living, dining and kitchen).  

I think this was all prompted by our last meeting with the GC.  He wanted another draw.  Our agreement with him is that he wouldn't get very far ahead in the money paid to the work done.  Right now we figure he owes us about 15K in work...that would be the finishing up of the plumbing, putting in the trim and soffits and getting the 2 porches built.  With the rock Mason coming just makes good sense to have him do everything hes here for instead of piecemealing it out.  So he has the sides of the house, the rock columns for the porches, the hearth and pad for wood burning stove and the shower in the master bathroom.  We might even have him do the wall behind the cook stove...considering that now.  So hopefully this trend continues as we are now 10 months into a 6-8 month move in ready home and we arent quite 1/2 way.   

And last but not least is the 2 MIA windows that are supposed to be here 2nd week in December...its always something.

October Blues and now it's November

So October has passed with not a lot of work finished.  By that I mean they got all the tin on but there is still trim that needs to be put on and the soffits to install.  

Electrical and water trench should have been finished weeks ago is still in a state of disrepair.  GC has been reminded twice about it and it seems to go in one ear and out the other.  We are at our wits end and dont know what else to do.  

The electricians have been here and are almost finished with this part of the wiring.  I think they have about 1/2 day left and they will be done with this part.  

Plumber was supposed to start on Monday but that's a toss up now cause our GC has decided to use someone different.  I was told he would start on Monday but hes not been here to see what he needs for material so IF ( and that's a big IF) he comes on Monday it will only be to see what needs to be done so he can make a supply list and talk to us and then who knows when he will show back up.  I was also told that A/C guy wanted to visit with us this past week but we've not seen hide nor hair of him.  I got a text that they would be working this weekend but no other sub has so I kinda doubt that will happen.  And no ETA on the Stone Mason.  I was under the impression that he would be started already but I guess I misunderstood.  

Latest pics below. 

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.

We have a roof!

Hondo and his crew put on all the roof tin today.  They will be back tomorrow to put the ridge roll on ( piece of tin that is right at the very top of the tin...covers both sides) and then the trim around the edges.  After that the tin gets put on the sides of the house.  There are 2 different kinds.  The upper part is coated with a special spray that " rusts" and the lower is similar to the roof tin and that gets covered by rock work.  Hopefully that crew will be here before the week is out.

Picture above has ridge roll on and trim in place.