Trusses and More Walls!

The roof is going up! Slight weather delay (surprise:) due to temperatures at 10 year lows week before last. What a construction crew...they made it 2 1/2 days that record-setting week, but finally Wed. afternoon with the wind chill dropping the temps into the negative...they called it a week. Last week they made up for lost time in a big way with interior walls and trusses going up. The pictures above tell the story. It is amazing!

My contractor laid more decisions and options on me last Friday (January 15th) as final decisions on deck materials, windows, tub locations, etc. had to be made (by today - Monday). He wanted me to consider some wall changes...especially after I met with the first kitchen cabinet maker. Lets just say that this is going to be a SMALL kitchen...actually the entire "living" area upstairs is small, but it is a "studio apt." style floorplan. The other side of that is that the square footage for the "living area" is twice what I originally drew it out as/planned for...so I remain grateful for all the room I have up there :)

I did tours in the hollow over the weekend so I could get opinions on what to do with the walls...keep the office layout as is...or create more room in the living room (and maybe the kitchen). After everyone sharing a lot of wonderful ideas, I stuck with my original plan - large, dream office (for Projects - so sometimes I call it the Project Office) and super small kitchen and living room. I soothe the extremely small space with Beci's words...three seasons out of four you will be outdoors more often than indoors. So true. That is why I am putting a 6' deck across the front of the second floor - and they will start it this week :)

I am learning a lot of lessons in these latest questions/decisions. First, it is good to stick (more often than not) with your original plan - gut instinct. I designed this "Workshop" around three things - a darkroom, the workshop area, and a large dream office big enough to tackle any project that I (or others) came up with for me to do :) Now with the photography office downstairs having been shrunk some (my fault - drawing/design error), the upstairs office becomes even more important.

What is the primary use for the structure - very important. Though I will be staying in this building a lot in the coming months, etc. It will not be my permanent residence for the rest of my life...so if it is small in areas...that is okay. The size is perfect for the immediate and future use.

The week ahead will be full of a lot of work and even more decisions. They are continuing work on the roof. They will start the deck this week. As soon as the deck is up, the galvanized metal roof will go on (maybe 2 weeks). The windows and doors are set to be delivered the week of January 25th. I will meet with a local blacksmith next weekend to discuss options for the metal spiral staircase and railing for the deck. I need to make final decisions on yes or no on the stain glass window that I want for the downstairs bathroom. I also need to select the tub and shower units and get rough openings for both. I also will be meeting with the plumber and electrician this upcoming weekend to select outlets, etc. Whew! My head is spinning just listing it all out, and the sad thing is that I know that I am forgetting a lot of it. If my contractor is reading this...don't worry. I have a list - just not in front of me. :)

I am loving this process...I cannot even begin to describe how much I am learning...but I worry constantly about making the right decisions. I guess that is par for the course. I am so anxious each weekend to get home to see the process, take pictures, and then share them on here. I hope whoever is reading this is enjoying my antics and maybe learning something from my mistakes.

Until next weekend...:)

Walls Walls, and More Walls

The walls are continuing to go up. The second floor exterior walls are nearly completed as of New Years Eve. In under a week and a half - with only five work days, the framers have gotten a lot accomplished. As they make progress, I am left to make more and more decisions. Also, it seems, more errors in my drawings are discovered. I am trying to learn from each mistake :) I am also working to make lemons out of lemonade. First, the bedroom closet was too small (though I figured that error out with the doors and windows). A solution was found, but not before going through multiple revisions on the bathroom. My contractor and I decided that the best layout remained the first layout for the upstairs bathroom.

Next, we moved to the kitchen, and long story short...I am off somewhere between 1.5 - 3 feet. I will know how bad this is when I meet with the kitchen cabinet people in the next week. The worst case is that there are less cabinets, but since I am going to the ceiling with them....I am not that worried. As Beci told me, sometimes the biggest mistakes turn into the neatest things about your place.

I am watching the weather for next week as I write this....low -2 one night...snow chances four out of the next seven days....Steve said Thursday that he hoped to have the roof up by next weekend...I am thinking that might not happen. If anyone can, he can. :)

The Framing Begins

The walls are going up!!! I can hardly believe it! Only three days, and the second floor is going up (see pictures). I have already had to make changes because of errors I made in drawing up the plans. I did not account for the width of the walls so the downstairs photography office is changing. Not to worry though...Fitzpatrick already has a solution, and I am very happy with it. I just smile because I am learning so much through this process. The rest of the spaces on the first floor are just as I imagined. Tomorrow I will be onsite to review with Fitzpatrick the second level with the floor down. This will lead to my next step...kitchen appliances, ordering the tub, shower, etc.

Electricity!

Today temporary electric came to my little hollow. The funny thing is so many never thought this day would happen...Entergy among them :). To recap, there was electricity to my property, the top of my property. I am building 800' at the bottom of the mountain, in the hollow. I wanted to bury the electric line from the county road to the bottom. This summer, I had a trench dug 800' from the top to the bottom. Friends and family assisted me, and in one day we laid 800' of conduit for the electricity. Let me try and give you a visual....a three foot deep trench, at a severe angle, 2" conduit in 20' pieces that have to be glued together and laid down in the trench piece by piece. On top of this, you have to pull a string (we had a weight at the end) through each piece. The string is what Entergy used today to pull the electric line through to set up the temporary electriciy (and eventually the permanent electric). The trick is to put the conduit together fast enough that the glue doesn't dry on you, but not so fast that you get the string caught or glued in the ends. This did happen one time to me, and we had to cut the conduit and do a patch job with a PVC piece that I can't remember the name of...what I do remember is Steve Copeland from Miller's Hardware answering my desperate cell phone call from the bottom of the trench begging him to send a guy out with the piece I needed, along with another few 20' pieces so I could finish in time for the backhoe operator to cover the trench. Steve did - what a great person!

So everything was ready and waiting...

Today was the day...I can't wait to get all the details. I am curious if they even needed the string to pull the wire, since we were convinced gravity would do the trick :)

Electricity in the hollow!

Doors and Windows

Well, I picked out the doors and windows (all of them) for the workshop. I need to be honest...I am an idiot. I had zero idea on what the doors and windows would cost, and I am COMPLETELY over budget. Okay, it is not completely my fault...after I finished the budget, I doubled the square footage on the second floor which added a few windows. All of that said, I think the learning experience here is that you should pick out the windows and doors BEFORE you finalize your budget. Now in order to get the windows and doors I want, I am going to be sacrificing other parts of my budget. The flooring is the first to get sliced on, and I am now even more grateful for a beautiful concrete pour (see post "Concrete!").

I am hoping to cut back on the selection I made, get a discount, and or a combination of those two things. The doors and windows are really the eyes to your structure - that is the line I am telling myself :)

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I started this post as I was in the middle of my decision-making process. Ends up I did get a discount plus free delivery. That is saying a lot too. I am using a firm out of Jonesboro, Arkansas, and...well, you have seen my job site :) I am still over budget, but the damage is soothed some :) That said, I am thrilled with my choices and cannot wait to see them the second week of January 2010.

I am also hoping that since there are so many doors and windows, I will save money on the exterior :) That is how it works, right!?

Another lesson learned, especially for someone like me who designed and drew out their own plans for the contractor...do a full front, side and back drawings before you make your final door and window selections. I am not very keen on time, distance, or space...I am a visual person. Once I drew out the front full view, it made the final decision on the front door and front windows a lot easier. Prior to that I had really waffled.

They started building walls today, and they are on schedule to begin framing on Thursday. I will have a lot of pictures and blogs to write over the next two weeks. Literally and figuratively, we are moving up :)

Sewer System

Well the sewer system is in. Anton Such is amazing. After a challenging perc test, I hired Anton to install the sewer system. Not as easy as one might hope since the main sewer system is at the bottom of the hollow near the job site, but the line has to be built and buried from there all the way up the mountain (and not following the road mind you) which is approximately 800'. So Anton had his work cut out for him, and as always, he did a great job. I would like to add that earlier this summer I (with the help of family and friends) laid 800' of electric line, phone line, and water line); we put in about 200' of sewer line too from the bottom to the first turnaround spot so we did help Anton out some (a little). Where we stopped is a pretty nasty steep spot, and the line right at that tip still needs to be buried, but Wesley told Anton he could do that part with his dozer.

I think the lesson I have learned with the sewer system is simple - hire the right people. The perc test is the road map for your sewer installation so that part is relatively easy. The challenge is all about your site, and lets just say I am earning a reputation in Marion County for having a challenging job site. Make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing, and make sure your builder's risk insurance is up-to-date :)

I have pictures of the main system before it got buried. The site picked was right under a future picnic site, but it is all working out. I will be writing a lot more about this site as the job progresses since the water system will tie-in here too.

Concrete!

Well they said it couldn't be done. You can't get concrete a quarter of a mile down a mountain (with two steep inclines), across a creek, and in the bottom of a hollow. Well, "they" were wrong. :) Sorry. When I write "they" or say "they" anymore I think of my nearest and dearest who always says, "I have always wondered who "they" were/are." Too funny.

Now back to the important stuff - concrete. Well, I have the best general contractor and back-up general contractor ;) there is, and neither of them would say quit. Because of that, I now have a gorgeous concrete foundation, slab, and the walls will start going up on Monday. Can you believe it? Well, it is okay if your first answer is "no" because that has been the majority's consensus it seems. Good thing I never listen to the majority :) No offense. I have found when you are fulfilling a dream - whatever that dream is - that you are going to have people who don't believe you can do it. Maybe that is what makes it a dream and not simply a task on life's to do list....hmmm...well, it is a thought. Sorry, I digressed again.

Concrete...it is gorgeous. Because it is so gorgeous I am now re-thinking all the flooring for the bottom floor, and after you see a future post (Doors and Windows) you will know the second reason I am re-thinking the flooring :) Anyway, it really does look amazing. I worked in heavy industrial construction right out of college so although pretty stupid about residential construction (by my own admittance), I still remember a little from my past life. Our concrete work never looked this good :)

I have to tell you how they did the concrete, and I promise to post pictures after I finish this post. I am not sure you would believe me if I didn't have proof. First, lets just say that whether or not a sub-contractor has to do extra work or not, be aware that when they see a "challenging" jobsite there is (more often than not) "hazard pay" added in somewhere to their bid :) I say this with a smile on my face because I fully understood this possibility and hired a good general contractor to help mitigate that as much as humanly possible. That said, when the concrete company bid my job there was one price, and after they saw the site that price changed. Now bear in mind that they mixed the concrete and delivered it to the same exact spot (the top of the hill) in both scenarios, but...well, you know how it is. Anyway, my GC rigged up a pump system from the top of the mountain, down the side of my road (about a quarter of a mile), down the side of the mountain, across a creek, and to the building site. Now all that is enough, but then there is the "side of the mountain" part....a tree had been cut down to make room for the future driveway...that tree landed across the creek and up the side of the mountain...the GC made good use of it by strapping the concrete pump to the tree all the way down. Impressive I know...at least I was impressed. Use what you have is what I have always heard, and he did.

Now it would be great if the story stopped there, but weather delays pushed the pour off several times. Then, the concrete company (those people who were making double on my job for doing the same amount of work) sent the wrong concrete, and as hard as it is to believe considering the angle it was shooting down...it was stopping up the pump line. The whole truth is that it wasn't all of the concrete company's fault - for some reason the concrete finishers did not communicate with them and work out the consistency needed for my job. Here is a lesson boys and girls - communication is the key to everything in life - even concrete.

So finally the concrete is done, the concrete finishers do a fabulous job, and I get to walk on my floor for the first time. Yes, I cried, but not much because I was too busy smiling. Wesley, Aunt Doretha, Treva, and Junior were with me on that first day...it was very special. Of course everyone seemed worried that I would think it was too small, but I was too happy to worry about that. Now on to the next challenge :)