$2.99 for Gas and more updates

Mike and I headed out to get some dinner at one of our usual places and came across gas for $2.99 for gas.  Of course we got in line.  As we were in line (2 cars in front of us) they changed the sign to $3.45.  We decided to wait and take the chance.  As the guy in front of us is pumping they came on the speaker and said the price would go up to $3.45 in 3 minutes.  We were thrilled, but the guy behind us in the motor home had his fingers crossed.  We pulled up and  hurried pumping hoping the guy behind us would get the $2.99 too, then headed to Hawks' Nest for dinner.  About 10 minutes later the couple in the motor home came in and said thanks for hurrying, they too got the $2.99 price and were very happy.  We found out from the restaurant that they lower the gas price for 15 minutes on the day after the Detroit Tigers win.  So hopefully, we'll run across this again.  Here's a sign we'd all like to see more often. 

Back to house updates.  This week has been all about weather.  The concrete guys have been dodging storms, threats of storms and rain showers.  They got the pad in front of the drive way all prepared and ready for cement then had to call it a day because all the concrete in the area was headed to a big job in South Haven.  They came back on Tuesday and poured the pad.  Then they started preparing the porch on the lake side under the deck, the front porch and the porch and walk outside of Mike's work room and the laundry entry.  Part way through the prep, they had to go into full cover mode and get the drive pad covered and protected from the oncoming storms that popped up.  I surely would not want the job, it is a gamble with the weather we've had over the last few weeks.  So here are some pics of the drive pad, front porch, lakeside porch and back porch/walk.

Here is the driveway pad in front of the garage.

This is the front porch, it is exposed aggregate (rough cement with stones showing)

This is part of the patio under 

the deck on the lake side.

Here's the prep ready for tomorrows pour on the driveway.  There is still a lot of drive to prep and then pour tomorrow  They hope to finish tomorrow, but not sure if the weather will cooperate.




Back inside the trim work continues.  Ivan is going to work on the hardwood flooring on the landing, the stairs and the railing.  He is building everything, so it will take some time.  Hopefully will be done this week.  Hopefully everything will be ready for paint next week.

Grading happens and First Floor CleanUp

Thought I'd add a few pictures of the grading that happened this week. Above the front loader is moving out front to start work and get rid of the massive cherry tree stump.  We  really didn't want to take it down, but it was causing drainage issues, so it had to come down.

Here's the finished grade.  We have the cement contractor coming out on Monday to start work.  He'll do more final grade after he gets the porches poured.









The countertop people were out this week to measure for countertops.  They won't be done for 3-4 weeks.  We had the decking delivered too.

Had a few people to give us quotes on the gutters and need to make that decision this week.

Later this week, we may begin to see paint going up.  I'm guessing that it will be next week, as there are still lots of small things to get done and out of the way before the paint starts.

I pulled up the cardboard and paper that was on the wood floor and did the first cleaning of the floor.  There was so much sand, dirt, dust and just about everything else on the floor.   It is looking good.  This week they are going to trim out the windows, doors and floor.  They also be hanging the interior doors.  They started trim and door hanging in the basement last week.

This is the sunroom with a clean floor.

 Here is the kitchen and I can't wait until we can get the appliances in and cook something.  Eating out has gotten old.

Here is the fireplace.  The stone is done and we talked with Ivan about what we want for a mantle.  We are looking for a simple mantle.  Ivan is going to build it for us, but that will come later.

 Here is the front entry with the clean floor.

Here's my little office.  It gets great sun.  Now I need to figure out and find a desk and file cabinet.

Siding is done

We had a great siding crew, Scotty's Siding.  They started on Wednesday in 95 degree heat, worked Thursday in 70 degree high temp and finished on Friday in the rain.  Nothing beats getting a great crew.  They showed up with all the right tools, even their own trash cans for clean up.  We had originally wanted to have the cement board siding for it's longevity, looks and no need to paint, but cost overruled and we have the vinyl.  It is a Carolina Beaded 6.5" and looks great.  Here are the pics of the completed job, even a crew picture.

Fireplace and Siding Continue

Today was so much cooler here, low 70's, down from the high 90's yesterday.  So a treat for the siding team.

They continued to work on the siding.

Today they started and finished the stone on the fireplace.  It is so good to see something start and finish on the same day.  Kevin, of Cosy Warm Fireplace, did a great job in putting up the stone.  Here is a pic of the finished stone.  Of course, we still need to decide on a mantel.  One more decision.

 

 

Kraftmaid Kitchen Cabinets Starting

It was a busy start this week. We picked the Kraftmaid Huntington door style maple wood painted white.

Ivan built the oven cabinet (which looks huge in the pics by itself) on Saturday, so we would be all set to start hanging cabinets today. 

We started with the kitchen window wall and then moved to the wall that will have the cooktop.  Progress went quickly, of course, Ivan probably had more help than he wanted, but I think it went well.  Patti and I unpacked cabinets as they were needed and carried them into the kitchen, then Mike and Ivan hung them and installed them.

This is the refrigerator cabinet.  Small problem with the way the cabinet is built when we add a cabinet on top, the door sizes don't match and it look "off".  So Ivan worked with Stan (our Pierson Gibbs rep) on a solution.  They came up with ordering doors for the lower cabinet in the same size as the upper cabinet and using some different hinges.  That will work great and look great.

Of course Ivan was the one with the brains for cutting plumbing and HVAC pieces out of the cabinets.  When Patti, Mike and I left on Monday, Ivan stayed and put together the island.

Here's the island.  Mike and Ivan are talking about the exact location for it.

Tuesday, we started with the master bathroom.  We hit a small HVAC obstacle, but Ivan had a couple of solution and we decided on one and moved forward.  After lunch we hung the laundry room wall cabinets.

Laundry room wall cabinets.  I still need to decide on my washer and dryer.

Ivan has a wedding this weekend, so he will be off the rest of the week, but before he left he ran my HDMI cable for the TV above the fireplace.  He had to go into the attic in the 90 degree heat, too hot, then his battery runs out, so he has to come out of the attic (cool off) then go back up to finish.  He ran the cable so the stone guy can come do the fireplace Thursday.  While Ivan is gone, Matt is going to continue with the interior trim.

Scott's Siding started the siding today.  It looks so different.  I can't wait to see a big section done.

Baby Visitor Today

Today we did some running around for house items, fans, lights, sink and stuff.  As we took stuff in the house and sat down, Cocoa starts barking at the doorwall.  Here is a video (unfortunately, not too clear) of her find:

And one still shot. 

Busy Week.

Cabinets and Flooring and Paint Oh My!  For the young folks, that's from the Wizard of Oz, lions and tigers and bears Oh My!

It was a very busy week.  As we are nearing the completion, things are happening.  It is also the time that the budget can skyrocket.  It's all those visual things that you want to spend money on and upgrade.  These two "old" retirees are working on trying to keep that in check.  No place to go get more money, unless anyone wants to sponsor a room, like the stadiums.  Maybe Staples would want to sponsor the office, we'd hang a nice little plaque above the door in their honor.  What do you think????

Back to the progress, on all the dry days, we had painters doing the exterior trim and there are just a few tall spots left to finish.

The cabinets were delivered on Thursday.  There are a lot of boxes, but of course they ship them with the doors off and in their own box then every piece of trim come in its own box.  So we are going to have plenty of cardboard this week to trash. 

Some flooring has been done, COMPLETED.  The master bath, shower and closet have all been tiled and grouted.  The basement bath is done too.  The family entry/laundry/powder room/pantry have all been tiled, grouted, DONE.  Yeah, more off the done list.

The hardwood flooring got started on Thursday afternoon, more progress yesterday, finishing the kitchen and family room.  Monday they will work on the master bedroom and office.

Today Ivan is coming to set some kitchen cabinets, of course, he has to start with the oven cabinet in the corner.  Getting that right is the key to all the cabinets working correct, being level and square.

Here are the pics:

Master Closet tiling complete and grouted.

Master shower tiled and grouted.  Waiting to get an estimate for the door on Monday. 

Here is Ivan working on the ever so important, first row of the Hardwood.

Progress on the flooring in the kitchen.

The kitchen is done and they moved in the oven cabinet, since Ivan is working on it tomorrow and needed help getting it into the house.

More of the kitchen floor progress.

The sunroom and kitchen are done.  They are continuing work into the family room.

More of the sunroom.  Thanks to the sun for the cooperation this week.  I'm sure this will be our favorite place.  Other than the kitchen, because we haven't had a kitchen for a few months.

Here is the family room done, except for a small corner by the side of the fireplace. 

More business for next week.  We have the painters finishing the peak outside.  Shower door estimates.  Decide on countertops.  HVAC coming to complete a few things.  Cabinets set in the kitchen, family entry/laundry and master bath.  The interior trim will get started too.  And the siders will get started on Wednesday. 

I'll try to get pics posted throughout the week.

Tiling is Beginning

Just a few updates so far this week.  The tiling has begun in the master shower and the family entry/bath area.  The master shower tiling is about 3/4 done.

We've had beautiful weather so far this week, so the exterior caulking was started yesterday and finished today.  They started painting the exterior trim today. The framers were suppose to be back yesterday, but have been under the weather, so hopefully they'll be back tomorrow.  They still need to get the exterior soffits and a bit more trim installed.  Then it will be on to the siding.

Got the air conditioning working Saturday and the sump pump going today.  So it can finally start to acclimate the hardwood.

We went to get all the paint for the house yesterday at Home Depot.  They were having a promo with Behr to get a rebate for $5 per gallon or $20 for a 5 gallon  bucket of paint.  So off we went to get 68 gallons of paint.  When we were getting ready to check out, they asked if we had a pro account for additional discounts.  We didn't, but now we do.  So more savings off the paint.  Before we checked out we were chatting with an older couple as they were buying paint and they asked the HD person if the veteran discount for Memorial Weekend had started, Yeah!!!, it started so there was another 10% off on the paint.  Love to save money. 

Next week the interior doors will be delivered.  Then late in the week the kitchen cabinets will be delivered along with the interior trim.  

So here are just a few pics of the tiling going on:

Basement Bath

Basement Bath

Laundry room entry

1/2 Bath tile floor

Pantry Closet tiling

Master shower tiling

More master shower tiling

We Have Electricity

It's been a bit since the last update.  Last week we had the electric company and the gas company out to put in service.

The electric company had up to 5 BIG trucks out with several guys trenching, digging, laying line and putting in a new transformer. We were too far from the current transformers to use them, so we now have our own.  That's nice for getting electricity to the house, but bad for the budget.  This was an over budget item, but can't live without that electricity.  So as of late last week we have electricity.  Our electricians came right after the electric company left and wired some temporary lights and outlets.  THANKS to Russcher Electric for a great job so far.  Looking forward to getting to the end.

We also had the gas company out last week.  They had a couple of trucks and had to run the line under the highway to get service to our house.  A couple of guys and a day and a half for that job to get done.  Of course we had to have one problem with getting the utilities in, they hit the septic field.  The nice new septic field, so had to have the septic guys back out to do repairs on the field.  But that all got done by week end.  Now we are waiting to get the pressure tests done and any issues fixed (yes we have a small problem at the fireplace that is being fixed as I type).  Hopefully, we will be able to have the furnace running by the end of the week.  That would help, since this has been such rainy and damp weather to get things dried out in the house.  The basement bath still is not dry from the drywall that was hung and mudded two weeks ago.

We had the hardwood flooring and all the tile for the basement bath, family entry area and the master bath floor and shower delivered last Monday.  The garage is getting full of materials again.  The siding was delivered and is sitting in the driveway.

The exterior trim was finished this week and hopefully it will be a bit warmer so the trim can be painted.  Once the trim is painted we will be able to get the siding hung.

Ivan layed the cement board down for the tile areas and is hoping to get the waterproofing done on the shower walls tomorrow.  Then will start to lay the tile floors.

So here are some pictures of the happenings going on over the last couple of weeks:

Here are a few of the utility trucks installing service last week. Of course, there is Mike in the middle of the action, in his shorts and red jacket.

The basement bath with fresh cement board on the floor, waiting for tile.  The tile may be starting tomorrow.

The closet in the basement bath.

This is one of the spare bedrooms in the basement.

Another of the bedrooms in the basement.

The basement area that will have a patio out the doors.

The cement board was layed down today and is marked by paint cans to not walk on the fresh boards.  Tile will be going down this week.

This is the family entry that had to have some self leveling cement put in today.  So that the concrete floor and the wood sub floor could be even for the tile flooring.  Once that drys, hopefully in a few days, the tile can be laid.

The deck framing has been done, but we need to decide on what kind of deck boards we want to have.  We know we want some composite, no maintenance.  There are so many, we just need to make a decision and then order.

The sun room and kitchen all primed and waiting for flooring, then paint and cabinets.  The cabinets were ordered, just waiting for delivery.

Here is the fireplace.  We met with the stone guy last week and he is ordering the stone and hopefully will get in installed soon.

Oops, small problem with the fireplace, a leak that needed to be fixed.  It is fixed now, but we need to get the drywall fixed now.  Always something, hopefully they will all be small things.

The front doors waiting to get a driveway, that is way down the line for now.  So we'll have lots of sand and dirt for now.

Okay, imagine this sometime in the near future this will be a kitchen.  The guys have made comments that they can't believe how many cabinets we'll have.  Can never have too much space.

This will be the place for our bed.  Can't wait to get that done, but it will be some time.

More cement board that was put in today, this is the master closet and bath.  Maybe tile tomorrow.

This is the sun room, it's just waiting for sun.

This is the siding, it can't be installed until the exterior trim is painted.  The trim can't be painted until the nights warm up to mid 50's.  Who would have thought that wouldn't be happening in mid-May.

Here is the hardwood that was delivered this week.  Solid hickory in 5" width.

Here is the tile and hard wood flooring waiting to be installed.