Shelving and numbers

Rusty was at the house today to meet with Alamance Glass. I'm not sure if they were completely redoing it today, or if they were just discussing the screw-up. They have a lot of holes to patch up as well once the incorrect pieces come out, so again, not sure if it will be done today or not.

Also, Rusty got the final numbers from everyone and ran them by Dawn's work. We are over budget about the cost of a decent sedan. But at least we can go to the bank now. We are planning on moving some things Friday, and potentially sleep at the new place Saturday.

Now comes the fun time of changing mailing addresses, getting internet installed and satellite moved, renting the moving truck, and so on.

More painting, but not by the painters, and wrong shelves!

Dawn and I went out as planned to paint some more in the basement. We got done what we expected we would given the little time we had. However... two things.

The painters were NOT there yesterday like they were supposed to.

And Alamance Glass apparently did the closets (I did not think to check them Friday when I was with Rusty), but they are nowhere close to what we described and sketched out. Dawn texted Rusty in a none-to-happy fashion, and he later came out to the house. He made some sketches and is dealing with Alamance tomorrow. As for the painting, he also suggested walking through the house and marking places that needed touch-ups with blue tape. We did that. And there were a lot.

Also, it seems the seed and straw are down now. There is a small pile of dirt to still be smoothed out, but the landscaping is mostly done.

Surprise visit yields surprise news

I took the trash off this morning and went out to the house. Rusty was there, and was a bit surprised to see me. We did a quick walk-through and the floors look great!

He also let it slip that we got the Certificate of Occupancy yesterday, meaning we passed the final inspection. However, he was waiting on something for the environmental impact inspection--basically saying the house was where it was supposed to be, water was the same, and so on.

He is also waiting on some invoices so that we can go to the bank with the final numbers for the loan. There are a few things left to do. We are waiting on landscaping to be completed*, which is supposed to be finished today; the extra mortar on the porch columns; and the glass for the shower. It seems the glass was broken, so they are ordering a new set. It is supposed to be in early next week.

Dawn and I are planning on going out Sunday morning to paint in the basement some more, so we'll do a walk-through ourselves. Looking forward to it though!

*Note: This covers just the original grading, seed, and straw. Rusty and I did talk about the same guy clearing out and smoothing a swath of trees parallel to the drive-way, all the way down to the road. It would save me a ton of time since I would spend who-knows-how-long sawing down and up trees. We decided to go for it.

Gas is figured out, and meeting with landscaper

Yesterday we ironed out the details for the propane tank, so we can cross that off the list. I sent the details to Rusty and he is taking care of getting that done.

I also had to go out to the house and meet the guy doing the grading and landscaping. He moved a ton of dirt (literally, I'm sure) so the drop off the back of the concrete pad is nowhere near where it was last week. I did not like the way the driveway around the pad was going, so I told him not to worry about that, which he agreed with.

He also mentioned that the seeding and straw should hopefully be done by Friday. Another major item about to be completed.

I talked to Rusty a little later. He said the floors got their last coat yesterday and they are drying today. Rusty is going to call Alamance Glass today to see if the shower glass arrived, and to get timelines in that installation as well as the shelving.

The painters will be out there Saturday to finish off the final painting.

We have passed all inspections except for the final inspection for the Certificate of Occupancy.

Getting closer... with the paint, at least

Dawn and I went out yesterday and spent pretty much the whole day painting in the basement. The playroom, bedroom, and office all have their coats, as done the one long wall facing the back yard. Probably some touch-ups need to be done, but the time suck will be the trim.

A lot of the grading has been done. There is kind of a steep slope from the back of the concrete pad towards the back yard, so Dawn is toying with the idea of having a driveway of sorts around the pad. I'm not sure how that will work out, but I think the landscaper will be out soon to work on it and see if we like it.

The to-do list for us includes the buried propane tank. I thought Rusty was supposed to take care of that, but it seems I was supposed to be calling around. Tomorrow or Tuesday that has to be done. I don't think that impacting us moving in (no impact on inspections, but we want it done!).

The floors upstairs have had what appear to be the first coat. It is splotchy and wet-looking. So I know the floors means the end is right around the corner.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Slight timeline adjustments

So yeah, it's not going to be done in time for my planned vacation, so I have to adjust again.

I sent Rusty an email on timelines for the coming weeks.

It seems that in addition to the electrical inspection today, we also got final plumbing and the above ceiling in the basement. The plumber was able to get his work done, which is great, since as of Saturday it was just trenched from the well pump to the house. With the above ceiling inspection done, the tiles can now be placed in, and that is supposed to happen tomorrow.

Tomorrow the concrete parking pad is to be prepped for cement. Just as with the beginning of the house, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Concrete and grading the yard was supposed to be done last week, in fact. Hopefully we can get concrete and grading finished this week. Tile Guy #2 should have the tile all wrapped up tomorrow as well. I believe that means just the grout in the dog wash.

Wednesday the floors are to begin being sanded and finished. After the floors are finished its a matter of cleaning up the inside and installing the appliances.

We do not have the shower glass or shelving scheduled yet, but Rusty is thinking next week on those.

Then it seems the last touch-ups of paint will be done next week as well.

Electrical matters

We had to go out and meet the electrician this morning. There was a mis-labeled box, which seemed a minor reason to go out, but I'm glad we did.

Nearly all the lights are in and power is live to the house. There are a couple of loops that are not yet hot, but probably 90% of them are. As we were going through the basement, it became readily apparent that the fluorescent lights were a good choice. We walked into the playroom, and the room is markedly darker, despite us having six incandescent lights in there (three per head). We requested that they be swapped out for fluorescents, which the electrician agreed was a better idea. We also asked to have one put into the room where the slide exits out.

Speaking of the slide room, there is now a wall framed up to seal that off, and to close off the HVAC unit that is in there.

The electrical inspection is supposed to happen Monday. After that, the electrician will come back in and put in one last outlet that we added late in the game; swap out a couple of lights when they arrive from King Electric; and put in the fluorescents from above.

The list of stuff to be done is getting shorter. The ceiling fan in the living room is now up, and the whole front door is now stained (as opposed to just the front face).

The yard is a muddy mess still, but they have leveled a lot of it off, likely in preparation for the concrete for the driveway portion leading into the garage.

Other minor things to be done--grout in the dog wash; sink for the washroom; some paint touch-ups. And strangely enough, some of the doors do not 'latch' at the top when closed. Obviously we'll do a final walk-through before we move in with Rusty, but these have bugged me for some time.

Oh, and it's not minor, but we still need water hooked up from the well!

Catching up with some quick updates (nope, we're not done yet)

Bits and pieces being done.

We have been out several times in the last 2-weeks or so.

At this point:

• HVAC ductwork appears done
• Most of the lights have been put in
• Pendant downrods made their way to the house, but not the ceiling fan, though it was supposedly ordered
• Towel bars/toilet paper holders/shower curtain rods/etc. have been installed
• Painters were there earlier today
• Gel stain for the front door is done
• Crazy microwave is in, but no more appliances
• Concrete pad outside for the 3 HVAC units are there
• I believe all outlets, switches, and plates are in
• All tile work is done, including the dog wash in the garage
• We met with Alamance Glass, who is handling the closet shelving as well as the master bath's shower door and glass*
• Rusty seemed like he had not heard us talking about a wall in the slide exit room. Now it seems we have to have one, mainly to cover up the HVAC unit that shares some of the footprint with that room. There is nothing framed, yet, though.
• We were going to upgrade the ceiling tiles in the basement, and it seems that would add a lot--I vaguely recall $4k or more. Yeah, that's going to wait.

For Alamance Glass, we had to go out last Thursday and meet with him. He said he's have estimates worked up the next day and to Rusty. We still don't have them.

My time off from work is now starting on October 7th or 8th because I was considerate enough not to take off with other managers out. We really should be in the house by that point, but it seems like I am telling people "About 2-weeks" whenever I am asked when the house will be ready.

Been by the house three times today!

OK, so it's not as great as it sounds. Or maybe it is for Dawn and the kids, at least.

So Tile Guy #2 is pretty much done with the shower tile now. He shot us some pictures of grout strips, and the colors just weren't right. So we ran out sans kids and looked at the grout samples. The color we really wanted was not at the local Lowe's. He suggested Burlington, so we decided to head that way. While still at the house, the slide was going up, but not yet done. The other progress is that the drop ceiling looks completely done in the basement as well as most of the duct work for the HVAC.

	Slide construction in progress

	Drop ceiling

That was the first visit.

We headed to the Burlington Lowes. We looked at ceiling tiles while we were there, and Dawn is already wanting to get some different ones. But that's something we can do later. Anyway, luckily that Lowes did have the right grout, so we picked up two bags of the grout as well as the caulk, and we headed back to drop it off to Tile Guy #2.

That was the second visit.

Later in the day, we got a text from Rusty that the slide was done. After convincing the kids that the slide was infinitely more interesting than whatever they were watching on their iPads, we headed back out for visit three of the day.

	Slide is done!

There may be a little tightening to do, but the slide itself is done for the most part. All that remains is the plywood at the entrance, and the wall at the exit.

	Shower and grout detail

We continue to wait on Duke Power to come out for the permanent service. Rusty is supposed to call them Tuesday to see what's going on. Earlier in the day, though, we talked to Dawn's uncle who works for Duke Energy. We explained what Rusty told us--the electrician and HVAC won't come out until permanent service is hooked up--and Dawn's uncle said that was the opposite from what he knows, that Duke will not hook up the permanent service until the final inspection is out of the way. Perhaps it's a difference in terminology, some sort of miscommunication, or something else, but hopefully it will get ironed out on Tuesday and we'll have an idea when whatever is happening will happen.

Slide work and tile updates

We made a surprise pop-in today. Just a few minor updates:

• The subway tiles for the kitchen are now out of customs and in the kitchen
• The grout for the master bath is down and looks good
• The commodes are down (at least upstairs, I don't recall about the basement)
• They have had dehumidifiers running in the basement for at least a good week now. It seems to have gotten rid of a lot of the dampness on the floor, but there is still some along several walls.
• The foyer light came in so we dropped it off at the house

Also, it seems we are missing the downrods for the ceiling fan in the living room as well as the three pendant lights over the kitchen island. I contacted the folks we bought our fixtures from and he claims they should have been shipped. Uhh, ok, they weren't. Needless to say, I asked for him to order the 4 downrods.