Windows! Doors! A Porch!

I am so thrilled how quickly things are moving along right now.  I've felt the need to drive by the house at least once a day so I can keep track of what's going on.  On Monday the crew was out wrapping the house.  Since Ryan is an Energy Star Builder, one of the things that they do is wrap the house in a silver material.  

Big 'ol roll of wrap. 

Today when I drove by they already had the windows and doors installed.  Oh! And I have a porch!  Boo-ya!  

It looks so pretty!  Although, it wasn't until I started writing this that I realized...  There's a window that is on the backside of the garage, facing the porch.  It's not supposed to be there. We asked them to delete and brick over that spot.  The reason being, it may be the only spot Bob has to put a work bench in the garage.  Looks like I'll be calling or emailing the PM about that. I imagine that's an easy fix though.  

We are supposed to have a high around 50 on Friday.  I think the next step might be shingling.  

Today my friend and Realtor is coming over for dinner so that we can get our house on the market.  I've got everything clean, now it's just a matter of keeping it that way. How do you do that with 2 kids???  Yikes.  

Roofed!

On Saturday we celebrated my son's 9th and 5th birthday together. We had friends and family in from out of town. The weather was nice and so after the party we decided to drive by the house.  Saturday was a lovely day, about 50 degrees.  However, we were forecasted to get snow starting Saturday night with 6"+.  With that in mind, my husband had called the PM on Friday to find out what they would do if it snowed, like, inside the house.  He advised us that they would probably shovel it out as there was no way they would have the roof done before the weekend.  Imagine our surprise when we drove by to see this:

Holy Smokes!  That's our house!  With a roof! I spoke to one of the crew and told him, how excited we were to see the roof today, and thanked him for the hard work they have put in on our house.  I know that this winter has slowed them down, and I know that's not their fault.  I probably sound like a broken record but it's so exciting to see how much they've accomplished.  We were a bit concerned about what the snow would do to the inside plywood and with what they got done on Saturday that concern has gone away.  

We were waiting until after this weekend, because of the birthday parties, but now it really feels like we need to get going on putting our current house on the market.  

Walls!!!

On Monday the framing began on our house. We drove by in the evening and the main support beam and floors were going in. 

While I was out running errands I drove by and I was excited to see walls! I didn't get out of the car because I didn't want to bother the guys working. 

My husband wanted to check it out tonight, so we went back this evening. The crew was gone so we got our of the car and poked around a bit. 

That's my pantry!

Standing in the kitchen, looking through the mudroom into the garage.

My two handsome sons standing just inside the doorway.

It's so exciting to see it coming together!!!

Solid Foundation

Temperatures have finally broke a bit in the area.  You wouldn't know it by the massive amounts of snow that still cover the ground, but they have. It's finally warmed up enough that the air doesn't hurt your face when you walk outside, that it doesn't take your breath away.  This means that we finally have foundation.  

Main view of the floor in the basement.

This is a close up of the plumbing for the half bath.  I think.

This might be the rough in for the wet bar.  It also might be the sump pump.  My husband said he heard a sump pump running while he was there.  I guess I should be glad they have that hooked up already with all this snow melting!

Here's my almost 5 year old happy to be running around in the gravel of the garage.

We are told that our lumber should be delivered on Monday.  (Fingers crossed, toes crossed!) From what I've read from other blogs, the framing part goes pretty fast.  I'll probably try to make it out there every day next week so I don't miss anything exciting.  The garage slab isn't going to be poured yet. Not sure when that will be but my husband says they can frame without it. He's actually happy they aren't doing it yet, he would prefer they let it warm up a bit more before they do it.  Here's hoping we are completely over the weather delays!!!!

Brrrr has turned into Grrrrrr

Earlier this week our PM emailed us and said that it might be warm enough by the end of the week to pour the foundation for the basement and garage. We were pretty stoked because we thought maybe they could start framing next week. I drove by today and nothing was going on, so I decided to stop in and check with the SR because I hadn't heard any updates. She called the PM and found out that they probed the ground yesterday and the ground is frozen 3-4" down.  They are trying to find a heater/tent doohickey to heat the ground up enough to pour.  It appears that we probably won't get foundation poured until the first of next week. It doesn't matter much anyway, because our lumber won't be delivered until a week from Monday. At this rate I can't imagine the house will be ready before mid May.  We really, really, really want to be moved in before Memorial Day. This seemed like no problem when our original completion date was April 4th. If we have any more delays, it's going to be really hard to do. I understand that the weather is out of anyone's control and it's been a very unusual winter, but it's hard not to start feeling disappointed at this point. I'm hopeful they'll be able to make some time up through the rest of the process. 

I love it when I'm wrong! About this anyway...

A few hours after my post, our PM emailed us to say that the concrete company had been out putting the forms up for the basement walls and would be pouring concrete that evening.  I drove by late this morning and they were taking the forms off.  It is much easier to see the foot print of the house.  

Above is the view from the left side of the house.  You can see where the garage doors will be.  

Above is the view from the right side of the house.  

I think the bump out above will be the porch.  

So, despite mother nature's best efforts, we have some progress.   Here's hoping that they get done what they need to with enough time to properly straw and insulate it before the snow comes later this afternoon.  

Mother Nature is a mother.....

My least favorite phrase of the year is 'polar vortex'. Indiana, along with many other states, has been blasted by weather than is unusually cold, even for January. We obviously knew that starting in January was a bit dicey, but we never expected this.  The SR from Ryan says they're used to having a couple of delay days but not week after week.  On a randomly 'warm' day I drove by and the concrete company was there.  I found out that they were preparing to place the gravel down for the basement.  While exciting, this is the only thing they have been able to do since the poured the footers. It doesn't look like much will get done this week either.  Starting tomorrow we might potentially get 6" - 9" of of snow. We might get a few days reprieve and then....more snow. If the long term forecast is accurate it might get nicer next week.  (Fingers and toes crossed). At this rate the house probably won't be done until early May.  We originally weren't in a big hurry, but we would like to be moved (and settled) by Memorial Day. So, the wait goes on.  With any luck, my next post will include more progress.