6/23/09 - Finishing the Sheeeetrock

The corners and remaining sheetrock is up now. They've also installed a temporary floor covering to protect the underlayment from when they start to mud, tape, sand and texture.

6/20/09 - Sheeeeeeetrock!

You can really start to feel what a house is going to be like when the sheetrock goes up. It's truly an amazing thing.

Here it is! Most of the sheetrock is up. It's amazing how fast it went, too.

6/18/09 - Holy Insulation, Batt Man!

Insulation started going in! It's thick stuff - R21! This house is going to be so well insulated, we'll find it difficult to justify running the heat that often. :)

Also of note, firestopping was applied in all penetrations between floors. It's interesting how the walls that face outside have fiberglass insulation and the ceiling between the garage and the upstairs has cotton insulation. Hmm. I wonder why that is?

Another strange detail are these cardboard baffles that are strung between the roof joists at the ridge vents. Strange detail. I would expect these to get soggy over time. I may be up in the attic in a few years replacing these...

6/17/09 - AV roughin...

This could be my favorite day so far. The AV system details were framed in. The projection screen recess has been framed and is ready for rock! Also, the "cowl" that goes around the projector is in, too. I'm so excited!!

The entrance to the crawlspace was moved to where I wanted it - in front of the laundry room door.

Geoff also opted to put some blower fans into the crawlspace to help dry it out quickly. It still had some small pools of water down there from before when the post and beam was finished and sheeted.

6/16/09 - Trellis and More

The trellis over the garage is complete, and boy does it look nice! Not bad, considering all I gave them was a series of photos to work from. :)

The electrical pole showed up, too. I suspect they will be connecting to service soon. That has to happen before they can do the drywall, as they will probably run the heater to keep the place warm while the drywall sets.

The remaining hardi-board went up on the covered porch ceiling. It looks really nice. I can't wait to see those can lights trimmed out.

I had forgotten that they still had a ton of data cabling to run. It's there now.

The crawl space entrance was now in place, though a little further back than I had hoped.

The big conduit between the ceiling where the projector will go and the wall where the equipment will be is in! It's a really nice 1" flex line that's been run in a very straight path. They still have some speaker wire to run to junction boxes in the ceiling still.

I have to say, I'm still proud that I've got 3 data ports and a power outlet in the closet of my office! Yippie! Home server, here we come!

The second shower head is in, too! This way, Betsy (who likes really hot showers) can have it her way and I (who prefer cold showers) can have it my way. The controls are on one side. I suspect that will become her side of the shower. :)

6/11/09 - Vac!

We asked, and it was received. The central vac system was pre-plumbed in today.

Not much else to see at this time.

6/10/09 - Lots completed!

We have completed siding!! Yay! It's amazing how much a house takes it's character on when the siding is up. It's the final skin that the house will be in (save some paint!).

Also topped out was the electrical and data cabling. Wow. It is looking good. I still marvel in the fact that there is a data port in every room! Yes, it may not be necessary down the road, but right now - it's the only way to transmit decent media bandwidths across a LAN.

The trellis over the garage started to take shape, too. That's looking pretty cool. At first I wasn't so sure how I felt about the vertical support members overlapping the garage frame. Now that I look at it, I'm sure it will look really good once they paint.

6/6/09 - Siding!

The siding started going up today! Wow, it's looking good. Everything is straight and joints are well done. Very little caulking will be necessary to conceal gaps. I'm impressed so far.

Interestingly enough, apparently the tar paper has a 30 minute fire rating. Who knew?

The ledger for the porch was installed and looks very good! The detailing is impressive.

Notice on the back the large band above where the siding stops. That's known as a "Belly Band". It gives a visual break between floors. I felt this was important given the height of the house and it's location on a high perch above the street.

Also, materials are appearing for the gables (a simple, yet elegant design that we saw on another house - more to come when that starts to appear!).

6/4/09 - Locked up and Muddy

The rain finally came. The house is now closed up - all the doors and windows are on and the place is locked down. This is good. Now the construction team can start on things like electrical and final trim without worrying about thiefs coming in the night and stealing anything of value.

The gas meter was connected, too. I suspect they passed the pressure test with flying colors.

It was slippery out there on site today. I managed to muddy up my shoes real good.

6/03/09 - Holy Progress, Batman!

More excitement today! We took a few days off of updating. I met with most of the sub-contractors yesterday and went over details on HVAC and Electrical mostly. It was fast paced and intense. Should be getting $'s back from the contractor in the next few days on how much OVER budget everything I want to do is.

• The plumbing is done! It's being pressure/leak tested.
• Gas plumbing is done and being tested, too.
• Roofing is up! All roof surfaces are now ready to go.
• Garage door is in. It's a really nice insulated model.
• French doors were delivered, but not installed.
• Fireplace was installed. Nice!
• Crawlspace opening cut.
• Vents downstairs mounted to the floor.
• Vent system installed in the upstairs.
• Ducts and vent stacks for the bathrooms and laundry room installed.
• Dryer vent installed.
• Air return installed (upstairs!)
• Skylights installed
• Railing fixed where the banister will go.

All in all, they should be able to close up the house tomorrow.