Flooded In...

Almost Done!

As usual, we've been busy. Zeke and I have spent the last month finishing the inside, which is now virtually done. We stained and are currently finishing off the floor in the down stairs. After this weekend we will be waiting on the countertop, electric, plumbing and final inspections. Jeff will be building our back deck this week. Zeke built the hearth for the woodstove and the wall behind it with slate tiles, which look great in our downstairs. We were all back to school this week. The summer flew by, and while we welcome the change of pace it is kind of sad that our building days are coming to an end. We look forward to settling into our new home at the end of the month.

Power!

We're back from the beach! We had a great time and now it's time to get the house done. We now have electricity and water! It's nice not to hear the constant buzz of the generator all day. The walls in the upstairs are all complete (you can see the photo of the upstairs bathroom) and I have begun staining Paul's room. Zeke and Jeff have begun walls in the downstairs. As you can see from the pictures, the siding is now complete, as well as the front porch. The porch is huge! I love it! Zeke and Jeff completed most of the gutters while the kids and I were at the beach. We don't think we will finish in time for school, but we should be in sometime in September (we hope). Paul is sporting his new mohawk hair cut. Hopefully by next week I will have Paul's room complete. If you want to help me sand or stain, give me a call. I sure could use the extra hands!

Steps, Siding and a Roof!

I am posting later in the week because next week I will not be posting at all. The kids and I will be heading to Cape May. Zeke will head down later in the week. This was a big week. The siding is very close to being done and the roof is now complete. The basement steps are now in, as well as all of the windows and 2 of our exterior doors. We think we may be in before school starts, which would be great. This heat this summer has been crazy! Is it me, or is the summer we picked to build the house the hottest one ever?

The room with all the windows is the kitchen/dining room. There is also a picture taken from inside of the kitchen looking into the living room. The picture of Abby shows the basement steps. The video is of Abby and Paul at home. I could not 'turn' the video to be viewed correctly, but I thought it was so cute I had to post it. Be sure to vote on the color of our front door at the bottom of this blog.

Front Porch, Septic and Abby's Room

The septic system is in... and just in time for the rain. It was really perfect timing as far as the weather was concerned. We needed the dry streak in order to have the septic tank and sand mound put in. The day after they finished it rained. Zeke, Jeff and Scott have almost completely finished the front porch. They need to put the siding up across the front of the house before they can finish. The steps and landing also still need to be completed. A few more windows have gone in and as you can see in the pictures, more siding has gone up along the front of the house. Abby is excited to have her wall up seperating her room upstairs. Her closet is also complete, she is only missing doors. This week we hope to have the electrical wires run from the house to the road. Sometime next week we should have electricity! It will be nice to not hear the annoying generator running all day. Scroll to the bottom of our blog to vote on the color of our front door.

It's HOT outside!

Well, there are no new pictures of the inside of the house because we haven't done anything new inside. Zeke completed the trench last week for all of the electrical wiring. Zeke, Jeff and Scott were able to put siding up on one side of the house. The rest of the siding had to wait for the front porch, which had to wait for the basement to be poured, which had to wait for the radiant floor heating to be installed, which was done on Saturday. We have also been waiting for our last delivery of insulation, roofing and kitchen cabinets, which came today. It has been a dry summer, which has made timing on our sand mound work out well. It was started this week, as shown in the picture above. The picture of Sam, Paul and Abby shows them waiting at the stair well on the first floor for the concrete to be poured into the basement. Zeke also built a rock wall next to the basement door. We enjoyed a few days of nicer weather last week and now it is hot! Swimming has been a favorite activity of the kids. Both Abby and Paul have learned to swim underwater in the last 2 weeks. It was so hot today that spray cans of paint were exploding in Jeff's truck. It doesn't look like it is going to cool off any time soon. In the next week or two we are expecting... the siding complete, to finish the front porch, have the transformer installed and wires run to the street, windows and doors and maybe even a roof!

Digging, Back-filling and Bees

This week we had a little bit of everything. The electrician and plumber finished wiring and pipes in the house. Zeke dug a huge trench for wiring from the house almost to the driveway. After that he and I cemented together piping in the trench and then backfilled a good portion of the trench, some is still left to be done. Jeff and Scott began the second layer of insulation on the siding of the house and were able to put in a few more windows. One of the pictures shows the kitchen, now with 2 more windows. Holes were dug for the posts of the front porch, as shown in one of the pictures above. Abby lost her other front tooth and was unable to put it under her pillow for the toothfairy (she did not swallow it... apparently she has an emotional attachment to this particular tooth). Paul was playing in the woods and unbeknownst to him, he stepped on a bee hive. Luckily, Sam, my 12 year old brother in law, was with him and realized what had happened. He grabbed Paul and ran. Paul was rescued and got away with only 2 bee stings, one on his arm and one on his ear. His arm was fine but his ear was really swollen, as you can see in the picture. A day later his ear is back to normal. Today Zeke, Jeff and Scott began the first pieces of siding on the house, I will post pictures next week. We also hope to soon have a basement floor and a front porch. The heat has been unbelievable this week and we are hoping for some cooler temperatures in the next couple of days.

Calling In The Subs...

Upstairs... In this picture you can see (from Paul's bedroom) into the bathroom and in the background the kids loft area and then into Abigail's room.

The kitchen/dining room. Look at all the windows!

In the foreground is the retention basin, then the house and wood shed.

This picture is taken from inside the living room. The woodstove will be in front of the steps. The kitchen/dining room is to the right. Mine and Zeke's bedroom is behind the steps, as well as the down stairs bathroom.

Zeke with the siding we have stained. The color of the wood is a little more red then we expected.

I have been busy staining the siding for the house. The color we chose is 'Abbey Brown.' The electrician and plumber have been busy putting in wiring and pipes. Jeff has been working on the retention basin. Zeke has begun digging a ditch for the electrical wires. In the next week we hope to have the electrical and plumbing rough-ins complete and hopefully the septic will have begun. We also hope to soon have a front porch. We are happy to be done school! The kids are happy (and so are we) that summer vacation is finally here. It's nice to finally be able to concentrate on the house. The kitchen cabinets are set to arrive any day now.

We're back!

It has been a busy 2 weeks. I apologize for not posting for so long. We have been very busy with the house and the end of the school year. I also turned 30 last week!

The house is coming along beautifully! The sheathing has been completed. The frame of the kitchen/dining room is now up. The entire house has the first layer of insulation. The second layer of insulation will not be added until after the electric and plumbing has been roughed in, which should happen this week. The framing for the interior walls just went up this last week and the kids are super excited to be able to go into their rooms. Abby is planning where she wants her furntiture and Paul is busy building and destroying things.

We took a little family trip to 'Wood Heat' to pick out our wood stove and pick up some piping. Good times!

Sheathing, Toads and 4-Wheelers

A lot was accomplished again this week and things continue to go as smoothly as possible. The second floor rafters were finished last Friday by Zeke, Jeff and Mike. Over the long weekend we were able to get a good amount of sheathing done. It's starting to look like a house! We had numerous visitors this weekend, from new neighbors to family to friends. All who visited had their own ideas about how to finish the inside. Its funny to hear all the different ideas and we welcome the insight. Paul caught a toad and cried when we released him. I felt so bad that I promised him a dog when we moved into the house. Zeke's father Scott helped us out a great deal on Saturday with the sheathing and then proceded to ride around on Sam's 4 wheeler... at about 5 miles per hour. I can't wait for the rest of the sheathing and windows and doors to be put in place so I can stop worrying about the kids falling out of the house. Enjoy the pictures!