Garage, Fireplace and Stairs

The first two photos show the work that was done today on the garage siding. Our neighbor, Ken, is working on the stone around the fireplace. I think it's like working a giant jigsaw puzzle, so it's moving more slowly than the work on the garage. The painters will wait until Ken has finished the fireplace before they continue their work, hopefully the beginning of next week. The stairway down to the ground floor (basement) is looking good! Tim & Eli are doing a great job. By the way, this is Cheryl posting now. Larry wanted to make sure that I could handle this before he leaves Friday for eastern Europe. I'll be posting pictures daily over the next 10-12 days so that Larry can track the progress on the house while he's gone.

Progress on Garage

As you can see, the garage is shaping up quickly. They just started the framing yesterday (first picture). The second picture was taken this afternoon (Tuesday). The painters have been doing preliminary work inside - caulking, covering the floors -- and today they primed all the trim. If they continue to have as many guys working as they did today, the painting will go very quickly! Ron & his crew are working on the stairways, and work has begun on the stone around the fireplace. Lots going on. It's raining tonight, so it will be a muddy mess out there tomorrow.

Wet and Cold, but warm inside

We finally got the slab and retainer wall for the garage poured. We had to wait for a day when the ground was frozen for the cement trucks to get up the hill. The ground is frozen this am so we will have the wood and trusses delivered today for the garage. Framing should begin on Monday.
Note there are only three columns up. There will be four, but Lowe's did not have the base and cap for the fourth one, so it is back-ordered.
On the inside the hardwood floors were finished yesterday, so all floors are finished. Today the cabinets will be delivered!! (Cheryl said to put those exclamations in there. She has worked hard on getting this order done).
Pending completing work on the stairs (treads, risers, ballusters, railing, etc.) and some trim work, the painters should start the first of next week.
The stones for the fireplace and outside trim were ordered this week. We will work on the fireplace once the painters are finished. Work on the natural stones on the retaining walls will be going on the first of next week.

Hardwood floors started

Two workers have started the hardwood floors on the main floor. The wood is prefinished oak. The photo below is in the master closet, and the floor has not been cleaned, yet. Ater two days they have finished the closet and master bed room and started in the great room. Looks like they will need four more days to complete the hardwood.

Finally concrete on the hill

Two concrete trucks rolled up our hill this morning before daylight. They came early before the ground thawed so they would have better traction after the wrecker had to come and pull one of them off the hill last week. They also poured the front porch and footings for a retainer wall between the garage and the house.

After we have another drying spell, one truck will return to pour the three foot retaining wall on two sides of the garage slab. Later we will pour the drive and a turn-around at the top and the bottom of the drive.

muddy hill wins

We have been waiting for three weeks for the ground to dry out enough to get a concrete truck up the hill to pour the footings for the garage, the front porch, and footings for rock walls. After the freeze the ground has been very muddy, but we thought it was OK to order the concrete on Thursday. WRONG! The truck wound up cross ways in the road and had the contractor had to have a tow truck come and straighten it out so he could drive back down the hill--- with our concrete.

It rained again Thursday night, so we are back in the waiting mode for beginning the garage for a few more days.

In the meantime, the crown molding will be completed today. Tim and his son will be work on installing doors today. We are waiting on a back order for the attic space doors (either side of the loft) so we can heat the house and "warm up" the hardwood for installation. We will be buying door hardware this weekend, so we can secure the house.

Laminate floors downstairs/interior doors

HVAC units working

The HVAC units are up and running. Now we can move the hardwood into the house and get ready to install it -- after we finish the window csing, crown molding and baseboard.

Laminate flooring

the laminate on the lower floor has been installed. It is called "Georgia Pecan." We will install the interior doors on the lower floor this week. The guy who is installing the crown molding only works on Saturday, so he did not finish yesterday, but he will complete his work this Saturday. The outside HVAC units have arrived and are being installed this week.

Hopefully, we will be able to form up the garage slab and retainer wall and pour the footings this week. With the hard freeze this past week the ground has not dried up enough to remove the remaining dirt. At the same time we pour the footings for the garage, we hope to pour footings for a couple retaining walls and the front porch.

Writing on the door frames

While Allison was out at the house today, we wrote some scripture on the doorways of the house.

Allison's last visit to the house

Allison will be departing for the Middle East tomorrow, so she came out for a visit today. I was working on protecting the well pressure tank and exposed water lines from the hard freeze expected tonight and doing some clean up work. Cheryl came out to help, and then Allison came out to help us decide where to place furniture.

Tile completed

The tile man completed his work on Monday. We lacked a few pieces of bullnose trim around the tub (notice in the photo), but one of the contractor's workers will be able to complete that work once we order the missing tiles. The black and white tile in the down baths has been grouted, and it looks better than last week's photo. We are very pleased with the way all the tile turned out.
Most of the windows have been cased with the molding. We will have to bring in the scaffolds to install the trim on the vaulted windows in the great room.