construction

Wednesday was a big day for us, as it was the first time we got to step foot in our new house! We had an inspection followed by a walk-through with our project manager, and it was very fun to see how everything is going to come together.

The inspector was really impressed with the construction, and Jim and I felt really encouraged. Jim was pleased to be able to take pictures of everything before the walls were closed up. He wants to know what he is dealing with if he ever makes changes to the house, so it is a real bonus to have this kind of documentation. I was really happy myself because we had a few great surprises. We learned that there will be a crawl space under the stairs, accessible by a panel in the closet. It was never shown in the plans or model, and it was an awesome surprise because it is fabulous storage space. Also, the study will have a little more space than was shown in the model, the tub surround in the kids' bathroom is nicer than I expected, and the view from the guest room window and back deck (when we eventually put one in!) were wonderful.

Our closing date is contingent on some inspections, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to move out of this house quite as early as we had hoped. As of today, we are probably 35 - 40 days from completion, but then we will also have to close on the house and actually move.  We don't want to push ourselves too much and have a ton of stress.  So, as much as we had hoped to be out of this house by May 15th, it probably isn't going to happen.  

It's all good.  It has taken me a whole week to pack five boxes. 

Even though I posted a house update two days ago, I just had to put up more pictures because so much has changed since then.  Today they started putting up the brick on the exterior.  It was so fun to watch a dozen guys working together on such a big project. They were tossing the bricks one at a time up to each other in a most fascinating rhythm.

Our new neighbor, Daniel, took a picture of us with our "fifteen years of debt."  At least, that's how he put it.  I'd prefer to think of it as the place where I will raise my family.  :-)  Either way, it's coming along!

So, this has nothing to do with the house, but I just had to share:

I had a goal of losing all of my pregnancy weight by the time Cora was six months old, and today I reached that goal (not that you can tell in my baggy clothes)!  I still have a few more pounds to lose before my summer clothes will fit again, but I am happy with my accomplishment.  Yay, me.

Okay, that's enough.  Back to the house...

Daniel said that they work around the clock on the houses in the neighborhood.  He said that they occasionally work until 9:00 at night, and there is a crew out there sometimes at 5:45 in the morning when he leaves for work (he's in law enforcement... awesome for us!).  He said they'd probably have the brick done tomorrow.  I don't know if it will be totally done, but I'll bet it will be done by Monday.  I may have to post a "Week Two, Part Three" if they keep working at this pace!

Here is what the house looked like on Monday at 12:30 PM:

And here is what it looked yesterday at 3:30 PM (twenty-seven hours later):

Can you believe it? These contractors move like lightning! In fact, Brennan and I left there today at 3:30 PM, Jim arrived to see it about an hour later on his way home from work, and they had already put more gables up on the roof, making my pictures outdated. I can't possibly post a recent enough photo!

Brennan loves to take pictures of the house with his Fisher-Price camera. I'm sure the workmen probably get a real kick out of it.

As of right now, the plan is that the shingles will go on tomorrow, plumbing will be done on Thursday, HVAC will be done on Friday, and electrical will be done on Saturday. Then, wiring will be done on Monday, and we have a pre-drywall inspection scheduled for next Wednesday morning (3/31) at 9:30 AM. We will do our own walkthrough later that day.

We are currently running ahead of schedule, and there is actually a possibility that the house will be done at the beginning of May instead of the end of the month! Guess I ought to think about packing...

Oh yeah, that reminds me. The contract for this rental house fell through, and we have another showing on Friday afternoon. I'm not worrying about it this time. It is what it is, and I'm moving out in about 6 - 8 weeks. (Can you hear me squealing?)

If you're dying to know what's going on with the house, here's the skinny.  I will post updates once a week, usually on Wednesdays. We were told to expect about a seventy-day build, so there will probably be about ten updates (and then a thousand more pictures as we move in and decorate ). 

Here is what our house looks like after a week.  It's pretty funny because I go out there in the mid-afternoon each day with Brennan, and although work clearly gets done, Brennan has yet to see a real construction worker on our lot.  One of these days we'll actually catch someone doing something! 

Last Wednesday the trenches were dug and filled, and for about a week the lot looked like this, but with tons of mud and water, thanks to the constant rain:

It has finally dried out, and hopefully the foundation and footers will be totally done in this next week so framing can get started. 

In other news, our current house is rented out beginning June 15th, which is awesome on many levels.  Obviously it's great because our new house is supposed to be done in May, so we won't be homeless. It's also terrific because we don't have to prepare for showings anymore, and I can start packing things up without worrying about people walking through the house.  All-around good news.  

We are a tenth of the way in, and things are finally moving! We're very excited!