Rain has been predicted for every day this week. Today is no exception, it rained in the morning, but it seems to clear before Jesse and Joe get too involved.
It did clear up, but there are heavy thunderstorms are predicted for late afternoon. Let’s see how far along they get…
Joe had to leave to go do some daddy things, so John came over to help out!
This entire week has been humid, rainy and damp. It seems like once the guys get momentum going, they have the put everything away and under tarps. Things are still moving along! The framing is almost complete!
Framing for the roof is complete, but still working on the soffit framing.
This is how it looked at the end of the day!
Scott came over to fix the AC/HVAC and noticed that the “header/carrier beam” was too low to add a door. I can’t imagine that this will go over well with Kevin, Jesse or Joe! I tossed and turned about this all night because I wanted to be sure I was awake before they got started. It’s not like I ever over-sleep, but I was worrying. I was already in worry mode because of Magic, she was going to have a rough night too.
I did let Kevin know that it was too low, but he didn’t get a chance to talk to Jesse, so after I threw Jesse for a loop, he came up with a solution that wasn’t too costly or time consuming, they started the day by tearing out most of yesterday’s work.
These guys worked hard getting back to where they were and even further along.
Thanks Jesse and Joe!
It was raining when I got up this morning, so I really didn’t expect the guys to get started today. But it did clear up around 930-10 and it was nice to see Joe and Jesse out there getting things ready!
Throughout the day, I go out and take some random pictures, here is the first one…footer beams in place…
With a storm about to roll in, they cleaned up and got out of here…this was the last picture of the day
Did I mention that there was an exposed gas line between the meter and the ground? Last week while Kevin was here looking at things, getting ready to dig for the footers, he saw that the cement/pipe encasement around the gas tube was no longer. Just a tube…one good hit with the weed wacker, he says…BOOM! Yeah, he thinks he’s funny 🙂
I called PECO on Monday morning, they tell me that someone will call me in the next 3 to 7 days to schedule a time/day to come out and take a look.
Wednesday morning, 2 big PECO trucks out there…checking it out. He said they will schedule a dig crew and let me know when they would be replacing it.
Friday morning, dig crew, gas line installers…took them about 30 minutes.
Not 1 call! Guess I can’t complain, they came out fast, they replaced fast…works for me!
I don’t like turning on the AC too early in the season, but I dislike being uncomfortable more. So a couple weeks ago it got pretty humid before a thunderstorm so I decided to turn on the air conditioner.
Later, after I turned the AC off, I noticed that the fan on the unit was still running. I could hear it from living room. Time to call Scott!
It was fun troubleshooting with him…I had to run up and down the stairs at least 25 times to change the thermostat settings to manual, auto, cool, warm…that’s one way to get some exercise, huh?
Scott narrowed it down to the circuit board. He will order one and give me a call when it comes in.
The first thing I did when I bought this house was gut the bathroom (except the tub – love the old comfy back rest…oh and I re-built and re-installed the old reliable toilet). I may be able to search through the many pictures and find some before and durings, because I always take pictures (just not always able to find them)….but anyway
The faucet started dripping and I found out the HomeDepot does not sell the cartridges for this faucet any longer (even though they still sell the damn faucets), and the cost of shipping from the manufacturer and the snail mail weeks worth of water dripping made the decision to just buy a new faucet…and since the bottom of the cabinet was water damaged, it’s coming out too…
Since it’s a small space between the tub and the toilet, my options of cabinets are limited. I found a sink cabinet combo at HomeDepot (I really wish there was a Lowes in my area…or even better, an Ace Hardware)
Now I know that every house reno (even replacing an outlet) can become a huge project so I plan out to do this on a Saturday, early, just in case there are “complications”. I bought all new supply lines and a u trap because, well, huge problem preventative.
cabinet/sink/faucet (plumbing tools and supplies…ready to go)
I disconnected both of the supply lines, the U trap, carefully remove the cabinet so that I don’t rip out the drywall…so far, so good! The sewage line runs straight down through the floor instead of through the wall, so I need to cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet…really not a big deal…hole saw, measure twice, cut once…I impressed myself…it fit and nice and snugly too. So I level it and caulk it in place…part 1 done, looks good!
Next, putting the new faucet in the new sink (that is part of the sink/cabinet combo), supply lines connected, ready to drop it in. Something doesn’t look right! The new faucet is hanging over the sink…by at least a 1/2″ * DAMN SINK IS FAULTY!! I guess no-one ever checked the specs before cutting the holes. And it’s part of a combo that 1/2 is installed (nicely) and I cut a freakin hole in the bottom…so I can’t return it or exchange it!
Good thing I didn’t use a hammer to get the old sink out (I was tempted), so I cleaned all the caulk off of it, made it look nice and installed the faucet and dropped it in. It looks nice, I am happy with my work!
After much harassment, Kevin decides to have his guys come over and do the footers. His intentions are to get the footers in place and then let them cure and sit for a few days and doing the framing in one day next weekend. (He will have his guy come during the week to pull any facing off the front so that they can connect the new roof deck to the house)
Joe and Chainsaw are dropped off to dig the holes and John will bring the molds and cement by later (the molds have another construction name for them, but damned if I can think of it right this second). They thought they were going to have to cut the step and/or the walkway, but they only had to pull up the pre-cast cement step.
They finished the digging alot faster than I though they would (about an hour and a half), so while waiting for John, I ordered a pizza. That’s always fun because the conversations are always interesting. I thought they gave the nickname to chainsaw because he was bad with a chainsaw or something, but it turns out his name is Tenesal (or something like that, he is from Guatemala)…all the guys think that he doesn’t understand English, he may not be fluent, but he understands just fine. Joe asked him loudly if he wanted American Pizza, and chainsaw just looked at him, but busted up laughing when I said “he speaks Spanish, he’s not deaf, dumbass!” He understands just fine! hee hee!
Chainsaw took a nap in the shade, Joe on the hammock, while I continue about my to do list…Joe will be here in 20 minutes (my ass!)…
It took about 3 hours for him to get here…and to top it off, the 12′ foot tube was either forgotten (possibly the supply warehouse) or flew out of the back of the truck…so off John goes to get replacements. Once he got back, it took about 20 minutes to cut the tubes to 36″, pour the cement mix in, wet it and mixed it.
3 of these!
This is definitely an ongoing list that I have been working on over the last few weeks. Besides having to replace all of my lawn care equipment, I have been ripping out tree trunks, their roots and cutting back the bamboo that separates the creek from the yard. (the bamboo would take over the whole yard if I let it) Cleaned out the shed! And even did a work road trip in the middle of everything.
Kevin’s guys are here today to dig the footers for the screened in porch, so my to do list has changed 5 times (so far). I wanted to use the new pressure washer to finish up the back deck, but I don’t think there will be enough time between now and next Sunday to get everything done. I think I will put that at the bottom of the list.
-put the new (bought on sale at the end of last season) deck umbrella up
-level the AC unit (mental note, call Scott about the HVAC blower – it doesnt turn off on it’s own)
-weed the horseshoe pits, add more sand
-rake the pine needles from around the shed and back yard
-gather some stuff for making a fire in the chiminea, just in case we want a fire
-clean and oil the grill (not that it’s really dirty, I use it all year round)
-clean off the back deck, including the coolers that we’ll need for the BBQ
-yard guard – hate bugs and mosquitos
-get gas for the lawn mower
I borrowed one of Kevin’s tools that looked like a super sized chisel on a 6 foot steel rod (I really need to find out what this is called, they use it to break up roots and any rocks that are in the footer holes) to get rid of that last stump in the side yard that just will not go away
before and after
the things I haven’t completed but would still like to do (besides any shopping necessary)
-clean the back windows…why have all those windows if they are dirty
-clean the new glider that’s on the front porch
-mosquito mist the hammock so that it can be used without bug bites
-and I’ll have to cut the grass again before then