Plumbing Complete

Yesterday evening we had the pleasure of meeting about a dozen families from our soon to be new neighborhood at a nearby restaurant for dinner and drinks. I can’t say enough how blessed we feel to be a part of this community. Everyone was extremely welcoming and friendly. We got to hear some more fun stories from those who were original to the area, as well as meet another couple who also transplanted here from Upstate NY, Irondequoit and Syracuse specifically. Small world!

At dinner our neighbors let us know the plumber had been to the site earlier that day, so we swung by at lunch today to grab a few pictures and a video.

Upstairs Jack & Jill bath – vanity plumbing (1 of 2)
Upstairs Jack & Jill bath – shower/tub insert, commode, vanity plumbing (2 of 2)
Master en suite – garden tub with lake view
Master en suite – his and hers vanity plumbing
Master en suite – water closet plumbing
Master en suite – frameless shower plumbing
Guest bath – vanity/water closet plumbing
Guest bath – shower/tub insert
Laundry room – washer plumbing
Garage – water heater plumbing
Basement – water drain, plumbing for future full bath
Hose bibb (another has been installed on the west side of the house)

Roof Progress

We did our daily drive-by the house at lunch and after work yesterday to grab some pictures of the roofing progress. By the end of the day yesterday the roof was just about complete. It looks like the metal accents that will go above the garage, office, and upper bedroom overhangs are all that’s left to install.

Our new home consultant, Vanessa, was actually on site during our afternoon visit. She was checking on the build progress and putting her “build on your own lot” realtor sign out at the front of the yard.  She let us know that the plumber would be on site in the next couple of days to start the plumbing work and suggested we mark where we wanted our outside hose bibbs installed.

We also coordinated a time and date to meet with the electrician next week in order to go over details like having conduit added for future network cable runs and placement of electrical outlets.

Unfortunately, while our windows were ordered over three weeks ago, it sounds like it could be another few weeks before they are delivered and installed.  Apparently the recent construction boom in the area has the window business considerably backed up. This is one of the many reasons we decided to build now instead of waiting 3-5 years like we had originally planned. The housing market has been super hot the last couple years and it’s to the point now where the cost to build is beginning to increase. Thankfully we went under contract when we did because in just 6 short months, the very same house would have cost us considerably more to build!

Framing Complete; Roofing Begins

We thought the roofing would start early next week, but were pleasantly surprised to see it started yesterday afternoon. Here’s a video of the completed framing and the roofing progress so far.

Framing – Day Fourteen

We were excited when we arrived at the site and the framing crew was packing up and heading out. After 14 work days, framing has been completed! All the braces were taken down and floors were “cleaned”. We could finally get a good feel for the finished space and layout.

Garage
Garage
Walking in from the garage
Breakfast nook and kitchen
Looking through pantry and laundry room into the garage
Looking from kitchen into the great room
Looking from the great room into the dining room and out the front entry
Zero-Clearance wood burning fireplace has been framed
Dining room looking into the great room
Front entry looking into dining room, great room, and kitchen
Front office/guest bedroom
Front office closet looking through master suite
Master bedroom
Master suite
Bonus room/fifth bedroom
Second story front bedroom
Second story rear bedroom
Upstairs loft looking down into the great room

Framing – Day Thirteen

Framing day thirteen is just about complete, and with it, our framing time-lapse video! The last bits of framing are small loose end items that will be done inside the house and likely finished today or tomorrow (ex: stairs leading up to the second story, the bonus room floor, and support joists in the ceilings). That is to say, we decided to cut our time-lapse video short because videoing the remaining work would be hard to capture from a safe spot outside the construction zone .

When we stopped by the site on lunch, we were excited to see the roofing material was delivered today.  It looks like we will have charcoal colored architectural shingles put on the roof soon. It also looked like there were some ridge line vents included in the delivery, so we called our new home consultant to inquire about that and the fact that the roof appeared to be sheathed in a way that would support the installation of these vents.

In the end, she confirmed what we suspected, with the spray foam installation process we will not need these items. They are simply included by default in their roofing material package.

All in all, we are super excited about the progress of the build and are hoping to see the roofing go up as soon as next week!

Framing – Day Twelve

Its the twelfth day of framing and the sunroom roof is done, as well as the roof of the master bedroom bump out. The entire house has been wrapped, and we also have some more stairs inside. There is still the last half of the stairs leading to the second floor and the west facing garage roof to finish. After that work is done, there will just be a little bit of clean up and the framing portion of the build will be complete!

Framing – Day Eleven

Checked on progress today and the roof is nearly complete. The majority of the house has been wrapped and the framers mentioned to us that they are almost finished. We also had a nice surprise, the staircase was installed in the basement. Its now much easier to get between floors.

Framing – Day Nine

Its hard to see the difference today as its mainly been plywood sheathing going up. With Hurricane Florence on the way, this will be its final state until Monday. Its estimated that we will get 4-6″ of rain and up to 40mph winds over the next 36 hours.

We decided to go back to the house after the workers left to blow out all the sawdust that was still on the sub floor, so it doesn’t hold moisture against it. Wish we had a little more time to do some additional site cleanup, but its starting to get dark early. No video this time as the interior hasn’t changed, but here’s a few pictures where we tried to capture some of the plywood that has been put up on the roof.

Framing – Day Eight

On the way home from dropping Gavin off at school, we got a call from our soon to be new neighbor across the street. She was giving us a heads up the crane showed up early. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, we missed the wall of windows going up for our time-lapse video. Thankfully, we still managed to record the majority of the crane work, and at the end of the day, grab a bunch of really great pics. Today was by far our favorite day of the build process to date!