Deck Building

Well the house is done (at least from Adair's standpoint).  I did the final walkthrough with Gary and was handed the keys!  We still need to get the screens for the windows, and the drywall guys have a couple things they need to fix.  I have so much work to do to get it move-in ready that just the thought of it is pretty overwhelming.

Remaining items:

• Finish back-fill and final grade around house
• Finish driveway around the house
• Build a deck in the back so that the sliding glass door doesnt offer a 12' drop
• Build a front porch to connect the 2 doors
• Install pressurized sewer system
• Install appliances
• Paint exterior of the house (we can probably wait on this)

Last weekend Erik and Joe came down from Portland and we battled the wind and rain to get the posts in the ground for my back deck.  This weekend, Russ and I worked on the deck Saturday and I went back out solo on Sunday.

Ledger went up Saturday with Russell's help

Posts up, ready for measuring

 

Posts removed, cut and re-installed (solo.. that sucked)

 

Beams going up

 

Beams finished, ready for joists

Finish Package... home stretch!

We I have so much left to do it's sickening... but at least the house is still moving forward. The finish package was delivered today, and the finish carpenter was on-site all day installing cabinets. I couldn't really remember all the details we picked out until the all came together in our house today. I'm REALLY excited about the hickory cabinets, and out master bath vanity is MASSIVE.

The truck!

Cabinets and trim staged in the living room

 

Doors!

It must be official... here are the throwns!

Paint, Paint and more Paint

Gary of Adair Homes has been working diligently to get Rhi, Tyler, Baby-to-be and I into our new home.  With this, bring some tight deadlines.

Gary let us know that our drywall contractor would be done on the 19th and that our finish package would be delivered on January 4th.  This seems like a long time in my mind.  All I had to do was paint the interior of the house... how hard could it be?  The answer:  REALLY hard.

It wasn't so much the technical skill that was needed, but simply a MASSIVE volume of tape, plastic, paper and Coors Light.  Adair said we didnt need to worry about the ceiling, so we just concentrated on the walls.  Boy, was that a mistake.

Yep, we're ready!

The drywall guys didn't end up finishing until around the 22nd or 23rd, and there was no way I was going to be working on christmas... so Russell and I started the project on Thursday the 28th.  I picked up the first wave of supplies, along with 40 gallons of paint.  20 primer, and 20 color.

Sherwin-Williams.... The good stuff

The plan was to shoot 1 good thick coat of primer, and come back with 2 coats of color the next day.  After pretty much a full day of masking the ceiling, we were ready to shoot the primer.

Primer done.  Saturday color!

And now.... the REST of the story...

When Adair tells you that you don't have to paint the ceiling, what they really mean is "If you live in a world where NOTHING every goes wrong, and where EVERYTHING is clean at ALL times... then you don't have to paint the ceiling."  I don't live in this world...  I asked Josh "So, what happens if we get the ceiling dirty?  Like my toddler throws a dirty tennis ball in the air for the dog".  His response?  "Wipe off the texture and call to have someone re-texture it".

LOL... good one.

I will be painting the ceiling.  So now that I've masked the ceiling off and painted the walls... it's time to mask the walls off and paint the ceiling.  Boy I wish I would have had this conversation a week ago.  Russ was busy on Monday night, so I tackled the ceiling adventure solo.

Walls taped, ready for ceiling primer

It's 10pm in this picture... and I haven't started painting yet

But now it's done, and I'm still alive

Sheet rock!

We've got walls!

Master Bedroom looking into Master Bath and Master Closet

From the Kitchen to the Living Room

 

Vaulted Ceilings in the Living Room

Living Room to the Kitchen

We have a driveway!

Not much has happened in the last month or so.  We have been battling the torrential rains of the coastal winters and the house has had a tough time drying out.  For all you potential Adair homeowners, I can tell you that this has been the most frustrating part.  For the most part, Adair has done everything possible to insure the house drys out (don't get me started on the front doors) but mother nature was not cooperating.

Last weekend we got the thumbs up for insulation installation, and the insulators had a bit of a tough time with the road (or lack of).

I had to do something about the road for the drywall delivery and the finish package delivery.... so I hired Vern Wiles again to bring the road to the front doors.  Vern did a GREAT job with our access road and even through in a free rental of a couple ramps!

Looking towards the top

From the front door, looking back

Garage door

Low Voltage

So not much has happened in the last couple weeks.  We've got quite a bit of rain over the last 20 days or so, and I'm just waiting for the house to fully dry-out.  Josh informed me that his first moisture reading was fairly promising and that maybe a few more days is needed to fully dry-out the house.  This is good news considering I don't even have power into the new meter yet (thus, no heaters).  The county wanted $75 for a permit for me to run the feeder wire 30 feet into the meter base from the PUD hand-hold.. BS...  So I called asking if the original contractor could run it for me..  I would rather pay the $75 to the electrician instead of the county in "fees".

Russ and I ran 21 CAT5e drops and 6 speaker wires last night.  Tonight were going to run the rest of the speaker wires and do some clean-up in preparation for insulation.

21 drops, 2 in every room, 5 in the living room, one to each corner of the house for security cameras

We ran a LOT of Cat5e

Special low-voltage electrical "boxes"

Plumbing Plumbing Plumbing

A full weekend of house projects! 

The contractors showed up this weekend to put the finishing touches on the siding, and Dad and I brought the excavator out to connect the power, water and storm drains.

Top of the house, done!

In order to install the soffits, the guys had to build a temporary deck!

Rain drains in!

 

Tying the french drain to the rain drains to carry water out past the driveway

Power and water connections

Little vault for the PVC valve

Tyler is helping sweep the basement