Saturday, September 12, 2009

The outside is nearing completion...





Greetings,
Last week, Angie and I were covered in paint all week, but here is the beautiful results of our work together. We rented the manlift and got the outside painting done. We even had time to wash the windows, and hang some perimeter lights. The main thing that we have left outside is the stone work on the entry way. Above is Kerry from Alaska Direct Tile and stone. He is a very busy guy, but he assured me that the stone work would be done by Tuesday. We are so excited.
I am still plugging away at the boiler, I left it alone for a week while we were painting the outside, now I am back on it.
Not a lot of time to talk, but we are on target for middle of October like we had planned, I can't believe it!
Jason

Sunday, August 30, 2009

after a long hiatus




Greetings,
After a long hiatus from the blogging world, here are some pictures and words for you.
Work has been progressing along, sheetrockers finished up at the end of last week, and we are in the process of painting. The siding guy ended up finishing yesterday, and the concrete steps are now finished as well, I will get some finish pictures on here once we are done with the painting of the exterior.
Right now we are zero'ed in on the exterior painting. It is quite the tedios job with all the caulking that has to take place. I rented a 4 wheel drive manlift to do this job, it is a little over a 1000$ for one week, and so far it is well worth it. Originally we were going to spray, but now we have decided to hand paint the house. Angie and I both dislike taping off windows and doors, and we hand painted a section yesterday, and it went a lot faster then we thought that it would. A huge help has come my way as well, my best friend from highschool is in town for a little while, and he has been over working some long hours with me.
Cabinets will be here on the 8th of Sept. and the carpet will be here around the 21st. We are still looking good on being wrapped up by the middle of October.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A little rest....

Greetings,

Finally, I can get some rest. The drywallers are in progress, the siding guy is busy at work, and the concrete steps will get poured tomorrow I am using a highschool friend Kevin Hansen owner of MudMan Drywall. At the bottom is a picture of Kevin on the left, and "the Russians", Larry and Dimitri on the middle and left. Kevin says that the Russians, as he refers to them, are the best hangers. Once you start getting rock hung in the house you really start getting an idea of dimensions of rooms.

A little project that I worked on today was putting the snow melt tubing in the outside entry way steps. I do not plan on hooking it up intitially, but down the road the tubing will be there already.

One of the things that I am learning on this project is that I have had the luxury of being able to work on the house full time during the day, but as it turns out, being on the jobsite most of the time has turned out to be more of a luxury for the contractors working on the house as well because every two seconds they are asking questions about this or that, and it makes it extremely difficult to get my tasks done. I am able to get way more done in the evening when nobody else is around.







Sunday, August 2, 2009




Greetings,




Well, I have been hard at it working on the house, I came up against some deadlines that I really wanted to meet so i have been pulling some long hours to get them done. The roofing is on now and the house is insulated, the dry wallers will be starting on Wed. of this week. Monday we will be having the gypcrete poured on the second floor. Gypcrete is what you pour over the radiant tubing that runs through the floor. Also, on Monday, the siding guy will be starting, so we are moving right along. For the next couple of weeks, I plan on taking a breather before the real fun starts (finishing).




The concrete retaining wall that I was about to tear out is now going to remain in place, we are ordering the stone for it and I think that when it is all done that we will be happy with it.




Angie has all the cabinets ordered and they should be here just in time for the finish work to begin.



Jason

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Setting window, getting ready to start the wiring...

Here is the latest picture, I have running ragged trying to get all the mechanical done. I had over looked a few things like the bathroom fan vents, fire place vent, boiler vent, range vent, dryer vents, etc... Some of these could have been done after the fact, but it is nicer for installing the siding to have those vents already popped out, and you have to have the ones that go through the roof done prior to the roofers starting. The roofers will start on Wed. of next week, the excavation guy will be coming back on Monday to do the finish grade, hook up the well, and widen the driveway a little bit.

Friday, July 10, 2009

The trusses have arrived!

Greetings,

The trusses arrived yesterday and here is some shots of that. They completed setting the trusses and now they have some hand framing to do to tie all the hips and valleys into eachother before they start sheeting. The framing crew is planning on working through the weekend so they can finish up mid-next week. We are going to try to get the roofing crew in around Thursday. We are going to be using the 30 year architectural asphault shingles.

The plumbing is dragging out a little longer than what I was hoping. I am working on the gas line right now, I still have the dryer vent, oven vent, fireplace vent, boiler vent, and the HRV vents to run. My plan is to have that stuff wrapped up by Monday and start on the electrical.

Jason











Wednesday, July 1, 2009

more plumbing, heating, and ventilation

Greetings!

Turns out that the trusses wont be ready until next week, which is ok as long as the rain holds off while I work on the plumbing. I finished the DWV system, and now I am almost finished with the HRV (Heat Recovery Ventilator) system. If you ever do build a home for yourself and you are trying to decide what parts of the project to do yourself, I recommend installing the HRV system yourself, it is very easy to install.

Here is some pics, above is the work bench, got the laptop to keep ups with the stock market, and I also store health food in this area.

Below is some of the mechanical work that I have done over the last couple of days.

Angie is getting closer to getting the kitchen all picked out including the appliances, countertops, cabinets, and flooring.
Jason