Inspection results & decorating decisions!

Let's just pick up where we left off here...

Monday after the last post, the Tyvek guys came out to wrap the house with the moisture barrier and the low voltage guy came out to wire for all of the cable/internet/phone/speakers. The framers came back Tuesday to fix the box for the fireplace on the back patio, and the security system guy came on Wednesday. 

All set for inspections...or so we thought. Rob called the inspector Wednesday to schedule for Thursday and the inspector said "Well, I'm going out of town tomorrow and Friday, but you got your brick ties on? And your lintels?" (Good thing Rob called him because I had no idea what these things are.) Anyway, answer to both was no. So we couldn't do the inspection even if he was going to be there. Lame. So we got the mason lined up and the supplies ordered to be installed the next Monday. We also applied for the septic system permit, got some garage doors picked out to be installed after drywall, and met with a few cabinet guys for measurements so they could make the real drawings. (Just a little bit better than my excel drawings.)

Saturday, we went to visit the Old Texas Wood showroom, where they mill old wood reclaimed from homes in the Dallas area and turn it into "new" flooring. Pretty cool! We decided to go with this over new wood floors and can't wait to see how it turns out...they are surprisingly close in price which is good too. They had so many beautiful flooring options there! We looked at a few other reclaimed wood suppliers online but it's scary not being able to see the product before purchasing, and we liked that these came from 50-100 yr old homes in the Dallas area. Even though ours won't look exactly like what was in the showroom since they are all completely different, it was just neat to be able to see where/how it's made and all that. 

Rob also installed our temporary front door so as soon as we have our garage doors in, we can start locking it up. Someone already took the extra pieces of the cedar beams we had laying around...rude. If you did, please bring them back. We had plans for those! So then Monday rolls around - masonry supplies got delivered, and Tyvek guys came back to fix where the framer had torn out some on the back patio for the new fireplace. Tuesday, the masons came and put the brick ties and lintels on. All ready for inspection...really this time!

Oh, so THOSE are brick ties and lintels...

Annnnd failed. We got 3 postcards of "red tags" with things to fix on plumbing, framing, and electrical items before we could move forward with insulation and drywall. Rob called the inspector Thursday to talk about what all needed to be done and he also happened to mention that we couldn't have anyone working on Good Friday, since it's a town holiday. Or else we get a citation and are stopped for 3 days. Fantastic. So no work again until tomorrow. But he did say that our list really wasn't that bad...and actually better than some of the local builders in the area. And ML from the Owner Builder Network came out Thursday to take a look too and he said he's seen a lot worse...like pages and pages. So I guess that's good? 

Even though it doesn't look like we're making a lot of progress, we are having to pick out lots of other things in the meantime that will go in later on. It's gonna be so pretty! It is a little overwhelming to pick from so many options, but fun too. So far we've had to decide on plumbing fixtures and lighting. Here's what our plumbing fixtures look like -

Kohler toilets, Kohler Pedestal sink for half bath, Delta Touch2O Kitchen Faucet, Rohl Fireclay Farmhouse Kitchen Sink, Kohler Underscore master tub, Moen Brantford Jack/Jill shower & tub fixture, Moen Brantford centerset faucet for Jack/Jill bathroom sinks, Kohler Devonshire faucets for half and master bath. And of course - all of the master shower items, except the knobs.

Friday afternoon, we drove out to Fort Worth Lighting. Apparently they do a lot of the Owner Builder homes and our electrician said they work with them a lot. So we made an appointment to pick out all of our lighting and spent close to 3 hrs doing that. Whew. We left with everything decided/ordered except the front outdoor sconces for the columns and fans. Not too bad though, especially with my decision making skills. Here are a few of the items we picked out there. The lady also assured me we could add some bling to the dining chandelier with some little magnetic crystals...so cute!

Entry fixture, closet/pantry lights, Master bath sconces, semi-flush light for master bath, exterior back patio sconces, Jack/Jill vanity light, Jack/Jill room light, dining chandelier, half bath vanity light, closet chandelier, kitchen island pendants

The next big decor decisions are going to be paint/stain colors, granite, and tile. Luckily, I found out that Restoration Hardware sells their paint samples in a little fan, so I bought that online...well worth the $10 investment. I love their colors and how they all go together, and I think our painter can help us color match what we pick from here.

This week, we'll try again with the inspector on Tuesday after everything gets fixed Monday. If we get our green tags this time, then they can start insulation on Wednesday. Seems like we were just at this point 2 weeks ago. Oh well...we'll get there. :)

Umm...is it too late to change this?

Surprisingly the answer to this question by almost every single one of our contractors has been, "Never, we can always fix it" - however, quickly adding "it just costs more the longer you wait." So, here we are with all the framing punch list, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC done, fireplace installed, and exterior doors installed....

Loving the french doors in the breakfast/dining area

Finished the last of the cedar posts on the patio

And then we decided it just needs ONE more thing before we start on the insulation and drywall...

 As Rob was researching how to install the fireplace (since the installer decided he would take off for spring break), I spotted a video he was watching that showed two fireplaces...back to back in the same framed opening....why didn't WE think of that? I mean, the giant back patio is just on the other side of the fireplace we have and it would be the perfect spot for one. The only problem is, the current opening isn't deep enough for both and the framing inspection can't be done until the 2nd fireplace is installed. We picked out the other fireplace Friday, just a simple one that doesn't require any venting up the chimney, so all we need the framer to do is adjust the box it'll sit in on the back porch out a few inches. He'll have to come back this week, hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday so we can get going with inspections. The low-voltage (security system/phone/cable/internet) wiring guys will be out tomorrow too so hopefully the fireplace won't hold us up too long. 

Fireplace installed! And the little triangle windows we've been missing

Won't it be perfect there?

 Looking forward to possibly seeing walls go up inside this week! Fingers crossed!

Catching up

It's been a while, but SO much has happened since the last post! Had to break it down into weeks here, so this is what you've missed. P.S. there's a surprise at the end for those who make it through the whole post. :)

Feb 19-24
Since we decided to do walk up storage via stairs to the attic above the garage (no more pull down ladders!) AND because it was much longer than a typical garage, they had to brace the attic floor as if it were going to be "living space" even though we're just going to be storing Christmas decorations up there. So the Tuesday after the last update, they brought in the trusses for that and got them up, and framed the roof line above the garage. Over the next few days, exterior walls went up (Wed), windows were delivered and installed (Thurs/Fri) , fascia/cornice work was done, and roof decking was up and ready for the roofers (Fri/Sat). They also put up a HUGE (8x12) cedar beam that spanned the length of the vaulted part of the back patio. It's amazing.

Feb 25-Mar 2
The following Monday, the roofers got started. We picked a StormMaster slate shingle...they have a little different look to them but they are made to withstand up to 160 mph winds, and we get a discount on our homeowner's insurance too. Luckily they got the underlayment on before we got some rain that day but since it was waterproofed at that point, we finally don't have to worry so much about rain delaying things. They finished the roof by Wednesday but still had a few metal roof pieces that they came back and installed on Saturday. 

 
The plumber came back Wednesday to start running all of the pipes and vents that go into the walls before insulation/sheetrock. We had to pick out what our shower fixtures would be so that he could install the right valves. That required a trip to the plumbing supply store, a discussion with Kohler, and a round of "stump the plumber" with Rob. I just picture them all scratching their heads while having conversations with him. If you're curious about the details of this thing, just give Rob a call but basically he's designed what we'll call a human car wash - complete with a ceiling mounted rain shower head, a standard shower head, 3 body sprayers, and a handshower on a slide rail. All with their own knobs and all sorts of complex valves. The remaining plumbing items were pretty standard but this shower will probably keep the plumber up at night for a while. 

Mar 4 - 10
This past week we had the tankless water heater, dishwasher, and kitchen sink delivered - not to the new house yet because things tend to walk off if you don't have doors/locks on. So they are currently occupying the dining room. We also needed to get the electrician a drawing of where the appliances would be in the cabinets but we hadn't picked a cabinet supplier yet. So...I did what I do best, I drew them - to scale - in Excel. I can't be the only person to ever do this, right? I was pretty impressed with my drawings. :)

We stopped by the house Friday morning to walk through with a potential painter so he could get us an estimate and both the electrical and HVAC crews were already running wires and getting things done. The electricians are FAST and finished up most things yesterday, still have to walk through with them tomorrow and fix a few things before inspections this week. You can see all the outlets and light switch boxes in the inside pics now. You'll have to use your imagination to see what's what here, but finally a few inside shots.

Yesterday we stopped by a lighting store to get an idea of some fixtures we need to start picking out, then went to Denton to check out a house the painter is working on now. On the way back, stopped at the Granite/Tile outlet in Highland Village and talked to them for a bit. We'll be sending them our plans and design ideas and they'll get us an estimate back in a few days. Finally time to start making some decorating decisions, eeee!

Next steps -
Tomorrow the fireplace should be getting installed and HVAC guys will finish up. The exterior doors are getting delivered and installed Wednesday when the framer comes back to finish out his punch list. After that, we'll pass inspections (hopefully) and get going on insulation, Tyvek, and drywall. 

Since it'll be a few weeks before any more exterior things happen, here's a first look at our timelapse video of the house getting built starting with groundbreaking in December up until now...in just under 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Looks like a house!

This has probably been the most exciting 3 1/2 days of work to watch yet! It's amazing how quickly the house has started to take shape since they started framing last Thursday. Happy Valentine's day to us. <3

After the last post, the cables were stretched on the slab and we had to get the plans sent out for lumber bids. So the week after the concrete was poured not a whole lot happened. But we made some last final changes to the plans for the framer, like adding tray ceiling in the media room and changing the doors on the media room closet. We also had to tell them what doors and fireplace we'd be ordering so they can frame them properly and all that fun stuff. 

It probably just looks like a big pile of wood to everyone else, but it's so awesome to finally be able to walk through rooms that until now we had only seen on paper. By the end of the week, they'll be all done framing and ready to move on to roofing, HVAC work, the next round of plumbing, and then electrical wiring. Go go go!

A few some pictures of the progress each day so far - 

Lumber delivery...just the first of several

Day 1 - so cool!

Day 2 - spotted Rob on the camera doing his daily inspections

After working half a day on Saturday. The vaulted ceiling in the living room/patio is AWESOMETOWN.

Inspecting / practicing old beam routines :)

Today's progress - Day 3.5

 

Just another amazing view

Baby's first steps

I imagine this is what a parent feels like when their child takes their first steps...yeah, must be. Seriously, what a difference a week makes! Even with the rain this week and missing a couple of working days, the crew was able to get everything done in order to pour our slab yesterday. So exciting!! And since they poured on Saturday, we got to be there to watch every moment of it. These guys work sooo hard and did such a great job, and we couldn't have asked for better weather yesterday. The pics this week tell the whole story.

Kinda dark Monday evening, but they got a lot of the pads built up. Quite a difference from last week!

Tuesday....rain, again.

Boo.

Couldn't do too much Wednesday with the rain

Lots of clean up and cables set on Thursday

Great views from the front yard!

All done Friday, inspections complete!

Ready for concrete!

Pump truck and the first 2 (of 17) concrete trucks

Power trowel making a smooth finish

Ta da! All done - 9 hours and 170 yards of concrete later...

Back patios

Did I mention the great views?

 

Even got to have a little fun out there today :)

 Next task, framing!

We've got plumbing!

Woohoo! After two weeks of waiting through rain and snow, we've finally got plumbing! The plumber came out and worked Tuesday through Thursday to install all of our drain pipes and supply lines. The power company also randomly showed up and installed our transformer that we'll run power from once everything is finished. Tuesday looked like it was a super busy day with both the power company and the plumber with his backhoe out there tearing up things.

Tractor town

Electric company guy way up there in the back

Transformer and plumbing drains after Tuesday's work

Supply lines in! And our second green tag!

Friday the inspector came out to check it all. And we passed! 

Now we're all set for them to start work on the foundation tomorrow. The foundation contractor will come back out to clean up the mess the plumber made, lay cables per our engineered plan, and install the vapor barrier. We also chose to have the termite pre-treatment under the slab so they will be out this week too. Once that is all set we've got 2 more inspections to get done before they actually pour the slab. Looks like rain on Tuesday so we'll see when it'll happen but it's so close!! Looking forward to posting pictures of a beautiful chunk of concrete next week. :)

Let's just pretend this is progress...

So, scratch those "plans" we had last week. Instead of just needing to dry Monday and Tuesday, it rained/snowed again on Tuesday so that dry time was extended through tomorrow. So let's hope the weather forecast cooperates this week so the plumber and inspectors can come out and do their things and get this slab poured finally. The plumber did come out and run some strings to mark the drains/sinks, and got a load of sand delivered for him but that was it this week. We did have some beautiful sunny days this weekend, so that was nice!

Progress-ish?

One of the next steps in our book was to pick out brick. Apparently when the house building industry was booming, it could take up to 3 months to get brick in so we were advised to go early on in the process to make sure we ordered it in time. On Friday, we drove out to Aubrey to visit Aubrey Brick & Claystone. They had a ton of brick samples on little display boards. We looked around their showroom and outside where they had some samples set up with mortar. It was pretty cool to see all the different colors and shapes of the brick and stone.   

It's a brick....house... (you sang that, didn't you?)

We showed the lady some pictures of homes we liked and she directed us to a couple different bricks. She wrote down addresses of a couple homes near the showroom, up in Pilot Point that they had done in the brick we liked with different stone options. There were also some in McKinney that we looked at. She also advised us that it would only take 2 weeks or so to get brick or stone in after we ordered it, so we have plenty of time. 

After looking at the homes on the list, we still weren't sure we had picked the right one. They look a lot different on the homes than they do on the boards. So Saturday afternoon, we went back out to drive around some more and found a neighborhood with some HUGE homes being built. But we figured they should have good taste, so we drove through the neighborhood and found one that was just getting its brick/stone up. Luckily for us, we LOVED how this one looked and the piles of bricks they had delivered were stacked up in the back, so we got a snapshot of the brand and color. It's SO weird how different they look in the stack vs. what it looks like on the house with the mortar. I would never have picked this brick off a sample board in a million years, so I'm so glad we stumbled upon this house! They were also doing a cream limestone, which is what we wanted too, perfect! Except ours won't be 9,000 sq ft like this one. :)

Loving this brick/stone combination

Now this may not seem like much but making these decisions seemed like they could take a while so it's great to have this big task marked off the list! We also really like the "messy" mortar style like they did here, where they lay it thick and get chunks of the mortar on the brick too. Awesome. Now, we just have to get it ordered. "Um yes, I'll take twenty thousand of those please."

So, third time's a charm on scheduling the plumber. Cross your fingers!! Also, sounds like the family has a pool going on completion date. Feel free to comment with your guess. :)