4 to 6 weeks out...

We went out to the house tonight and they had gotten almost all the drywall up on the inside of the house! Things are moving so fast, we can barely keep up...and I'm starting to get a little overwhelmed with it all...they told us that once the drywall is up, we're about 4 to 6 weeks out from moving in. HOLY COW! We better start packing and I mean, like, LAST WEEK!!

One thing I noticed about the drywall being up - the kitchen looks A LOT different because you can't see through to our bedroom anymore! Always before, we could see through the kitchen studs into the master bedroom/bathroom area and that always expanded the kitchen. That's not the case anymore (as you can see from the photo - that is our kitchen) and while we obviously have PLENTY of room in the kitchen, the drywall really makes it look different. Every room looks different, of course, but the kitchen is where I really noticed it.

I said they'd gotten almost all the drywall up; they've still got the spare bath and a little bit in the hallway to get up, plus the garage (none of that was done). Once they get it all up, then they'll mud and maybe I'll do another video then...what did we EVER do without all this technology we have now??!!

I'm a "shutter" bug...

We (finally) got out to the house today after almost a week of not being able to get out there...we were going into withdrawal! We went after church and when we got to the house we noticed our shutters are up! The navy blue just looks so nice with the savannah blue on the siding...very sharp. We also noticed that the entire house had been insulated with the exception of the ceiling (I guess they do that after the drywall goes up). As we were walking around taking photos (and a video), we noticed that the sound is very different now within the house - nothing echos anymore. Our conversations don't echo, our footsteps don't echo...there's NO breeze blowing through anymore...it was a little warm, to say the least! But it was really neat to see the insulation up...the next step will be the drywall. It's really coming along fast...we're less than 2 months away from closing!

"shingled" out...

We headed out to the house tonight and they had all the shingles on the roof. So the roof is complete. It sure makes the house look sharp, doesn't it? Jeff also took lots of detail photos inside the house because this will probably be one of the last nights the studs are still showing...they'll be putting in the insulation around the house and then after that comes drywall.
Jeff wanted to take photos of things like the outlets, where the wiring runs through the walls and up over the house through the attic, etc. We'll be using ALL the space we can find in the attic for storage once we move! Knowing where the wiring runs will be helpful.
We went to Dairy Queen again after looking around at the house...it's not a good thing that we're going to live so close to a Dairy Queen when we move...I just love ice cream, though!

color my world...

Went out to the house tonight & we were greeted with a "world of color"...our siding is up! The whole house had siding on it - my savannah blue. It's so pretty...I just love it. We had our friends, Joey & Amy, with us so they were able to see the house for the first time. Don't you think the blue is just right? With the navy shutters...just imagine it!
We did eventually make it inside the house after the "oohing & aahing" ended. They had wired the house for cable & such. The next step will be shingles on the roof...we're getting closer!

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
--Hebrews 3:4

important stuff today...

We didn't have too much to see tonight when we went out to the house, but something very important, none the less...our bathtubs! You gotta have those! Both of the bathtubs were installed and the second phase of plumbing had been done. Jeff and I both stepped into the shower in our bathroom (they're both the same size) and we went, "Whoa...this is really small!". We've been used to a garden tub size for the last 3 + years in our current place so that's a distinct difference to us. But we'll get used to it and we're even looking into the curved shower curtain rods as an option to open it up...

we have windows! (& hvac...)

We have windows & doors! We have hvac! We have house-wrap! I can't b-e-l-i-e-v-e how fast our house is going up!
When we turned the corner today, it looked so different. All the plywood sheeting has been completed & the house had been been wrapped. They also had all the windows & doors (except for the garage door) installed. Most of the hvac system was in place - the main line was in but not the branches in certain places.
While we were there looking around, a couple was out walking & stopped to chat with us for a minute. Mike & Valerie, a super-nice couple. They just got married in March (perfect for our SS class!) & they live right down the street. It was cool to meet someone in the neighborhood & they were excited for us about the house.

tar paper...

Back out to the house tonight (I told you, we'd be making nightly trips from here on out!) and they had finished the plywood sheeting, making the roof complete and the house look sharp (if I do say so myself!). They also rolled out the tar paper on the roof - that's in preparation for the shingles. I believe this is the first photo I used from the front of the house, so it will kind of give you an idea of what it looks like straight on from the road. It's bee-uu-tee-ful!!

I took another couple videos tonight; one is a walk-through of the house and the other is the view from our front door. It's really shaping up...

plywood...

We went back out to the house tonight (from now on,things will move FAST & we don't want to miss a thing!). They had put up the plywood sheeting on the whole house (with window & door openings) and on almost all of the roof. Now it's starting to look like the Baywood we walked through the day we decided to buy one (it wasn't much farther along than ours is now). Because of that, it kinda doesn't seem like our house...right now. It still seems really big to me -I love it!

we've been framed!

This is by far the biggest "progress" day so far - they practically framed the whole house today!! When Jeff went by this morning, he said there were a few pieces of the framework laid out flat on top of the concrete slab. When we went tonight, they had almost ALL of the framework built & standing, as you can see from the photo (that STILL makes Jeff & I giddy!). It makes the house look HUGE to me! It was really exciting tosee the house from down the road instead of having to drive right up to it (obviously everything has been flat on the ground up to now). The rest of the photos I took came out really cool, like this one, and I also took a 75 sec video.

So neat to stand in the middle of our "framed" house...

foundation on the "Rock"...

My brother & sister-in-law, Daniel & Brandi, are here & we took them to see the "house" tonight. They poured the concrete slab today! Jeff went by there on his way to work this morning and was able to get some photos (on his camera phone) of them actually pouring it from the truck & smoothing it out. Then when we went tonight, all the concrete had been poured & was dry - we were able to walk on it & everything. It looks gigantic, doesn't it??
The next step will be putting the frame up. THOSE will be exciting photos & things will really move fast from here on out!

...he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.
--Luke 6:48 (ESV)

getting ready for concrete...

Today was an overcast, dreary day but that didn't stop our "faithful workers" from progressing on our house! They leveled off all the dirt within the form of the house and then laid plastic sheeting over top of the dirt. They then put this wide wire mesh over top of the plastic sheeting (you can kind of see it in the photo). Rebar is laid in the ditches all around the perimeter of the house form. All of this serves to create stability and strength in the foundation of the house right before they pour the concrete slab.

plumbing...

We headed back out to the neighborhood tonight to see if anything has been done to the site in the last couple days. They put the plumbing lines in. There's ditches dug out of the dirt inside inside the "house" & PVC piping is laid out. Then there's also white piping as well as red & blue piping sticking straight up in certain areas - places like the bathrooms, kitchen & laundry room. It's kinda neat to see how all the piping goes under the house.
I'm frantically searching for a scrapbook to use to document this milestone in our lives. Can't seem to find anything I like yet but I need to soon because I'm getting quite a collection of photos just in the first week of construction!

more dirt...

Wow, I had no idea that so much d-i-r-t goes into the foundation of a home! We rode out to see what's going on at the house site tonight. Not much has changed since Friday (no, they didn't work Saturday), but they did put up some more wood forms to kind of mark off sections of the house. It's still not marked off by rooms, just areas of the house. You can see where the garage will be; that's totally marked off. And the front porch is all marked off with wood. I'm not real sure what the point is, but I'm sure there is one!
The other thing they did is bring in those HUGE mounds of dirt that were piled in the back of our property. They pushed the dirt into the "house" to kind of build it up, I guess. It's my understanding that the dirt will stay & the concrete slab will be poured over top of it - so the dirt serves as a kind of "filler"so the house sits up a little. It's hard to explain...

3 more months until we close!

Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain...
--Psalm 127:1a

dirt & forms...forms & dirt

We rode out to the house site tonight (on the bike...it's been so nice lately!) to see progress that had been done in the last 2 days. They had put up what Jeff called batterboards, or forms, to create straight edges for when the concrete slab will get poured. They had also piled 3-4 HUGE mounds of dirt in the back of the property. Jeff says that will be for bracing the boards when the concrete is poured so the batterboards don't move with the weight of the concrete (makes sense...only how does he KNOW all this stuff??)
There are a few sites in the neighborhood that are under construction & it's kinda neat to be able to look at those, knowing how far ahead of ours they are, to see what the next step in our house site will be.
I hope they work on it all day tomorrow (Saturday), but I don't know if they will...we'll have to check it out.

"staking" our claim...

So we signed the contract almost a whole MONTH ago (April 21). We got the elevations (floorplans) back to them by that next Thursday (April 26). They applied for the permit on Tuesday, May 1, and JUST TODAY they began work on the lot! Jeff & I were getting pretty anxious for them to get started...
Jeff went by after work and they had graded the land and staked out the lot. We hopped on the bike after dinner & rode up to the site so I could get some photos. There's still not much to look at (as you can see from the lovely shot there...), but they definitely started work on it. It looks like they stake out the perimeter of where the house will be and then they pull strings across in some sort of pattern than marks off rooms & such (like my technical "construction lingo"?). We were able to see how close the house will sit next to each of the houses on either side - not too close. We have plenty of room that we're not right on top of each other.
After walking around the area & getting a few more photos, we hopped back on the bike & rode down to Surf City to get some ice cream at Dairy Queen. To celebrate.