Getting stoned and seeing cool colors!

        Went by last night and the stone mason had just gotten there. About 4pm. He said he had some truck problems and lives about 75 miles away. He said he may just get a room nearby for the night. Ouch.
         Went back this afternoon, about 11:30 and took the stone mason lunch. Figured he had a bad day yesterday. He loved it. He wound up working last night until it was too dark to see. He was supposed to have help today but the guy called off. Talk about no luck. He had finished the little garage stone and was about 1/3 of the way done with the house stone when I went back after work. There is a space between the top ledge of stone and the siding flashing. The flashing is at a bent angle to deflect water, and over hangs the stone a little, however the gap between the flashing and the stone ledge annoyed me. It annoyed me only because i didn't want water to be able to get in there. I addressed it with the mason and he said they typically don't mortar that gap because its messy and may not look good. We talked about silicone, so I went to Lowe's and bought a tube. I took it up to him and he said he would be happy to fill the gap while he had the scaffolding up. Makes me feel better.

They put a primer coat of paint on the walls. They also painted the door! Navy blue to match the shutters.

Love the color of the stone with the house colors. even the mason made a comment on how he thought they went really well together. Its so hard to tell from the pics, but some of the stones have grayish and blueish tints. And with the siding being a dark grey and  the navy door and shutters it looks really good. Can't wait to see it finished. Should be tomorrow.

Here are a few pics:

Right side of garage. There will be top ledge stones above the top 2 stones, under the flashing.

Avoir une petite amie

Oh my what a difference one little thing makes. Like siding. I pulled up to the house and much to my suprise the siding and shutters were complete. My PM told me it probably wouldnt be done until Friday, so it was truly a suprise. It almost looks complete. The colors look so good in person. Cant wait until the stone is done(talked to PM and he said should be done tomorrow or Wed.) to get the complete look. One more suprise. The door was unlocked and I found a treasure trove in the garage. Lots of boxes, doors, and countertops. All the cabinets etc were in there. Even our mailbox. NICE.

FROM THIS

TO THIS

A picture's worth $28,000

Well based on the price per square foot, thats about what the living room is worth. Here are a few pics with the drywall up:

Living Room from Morning Room

Morning Room from Kitchen

Kitchen(I guess it comes with a wife) from Living Room

Mr. Gorbachev, DON'T tear down this wall

Went by the house today just to see what was going on. As I pulled up, so did our PM. He was very accomodating, took me and the boys through the house. Workers still working, and low and behold, WE HAVE WALLS. Fantastic! They have hung most of the drywall, and will tape and mud next week. Its funny, perception that is. When there were no walls, it seemed like the house was much smaller than I knew. But with the drywall up, the house seemed to double in size. You really would think the inverse would be true, but i can attest its not. It was great to "see" the rooms. I did not take pics as I was to busy BS'ing with the PM. I will try to get in this weekend for some pics, although when I went by yesterday, much to my chagrin, the house was locked up. Remember: A house is made of walls and beams, a home is made of hopes and dreams!

Pluggin' away

So we had out pre-drywall meeting today. All in all it went well. I am very pleased with some of the new standards they have to meet, such as a VERY high efficiency furnace, due to the new Energy Star 3.0 rules just set into place. I did ask about the hose bib, and the PM said he could raise it anoher inch or 2. I told him not to bother. That wont really make a difference. Another thing I noticed, we have a crap-load of outlets and switches. I love it. I dont have enough plugs to fill half the outlets. HA. We also received our pre-settlement and closing date. July 5th. 45 days. I am excited. I know it will be a long wait though.

I found out I have shingles, and was floored

So stopped by the house today. Gaurdian was there pulling wires. The guy was really cool and we chatted for awhile. We have shingles(they have been done for sometime, just havent gotten around to taking a pic), and the porch, basement floor, and garage floor are all poured and set. Even the furnace is in.
        One thing im a bit annoyed about, and please let me know your thoughts. So when choosing the placement of the hose bibs, the SR talked us into one in the garage as opposed to the front of the house. I loved this idea, as you dont have the faucet sticking out of the front of your house, can leave the hose hooked up and stored in the garage, etc. Well little did I know, and we were never told, that when its in the garage, its literally about 6 inches from the floor of the garage.. I couldn't get a kids sippy cup under it let alone a watering can or anything else. I was there while the plumber was there and asked if you could move it up and he told me no. I think im going to press the PM to have it moved. Sorry I didnt take a pic of it. Next time I am thre I will and will post it. Our pre-drywall meeting is Monday, so I will bring it up to him then.

       Also, while going through the house, I noticed a lot of issues with the wood being chewed up, pretty badly. I saw where the PM went through and marked the bowed wood and other things that needed fixed with his orange paint, however none of it addressed the crappy wood. I will definently be bringing every piece up on Monday.
Here are a few pics, just of the shingles and garage floor.

Love thy neighbor

So I took my parents out to see the framed structure today. As for now, we will only have neighbors on one side and none across the street. So they will be our only neighbors. They were outside today and I was able to meet them. A young couple, and to my best estimate, maybe in their late '20's. They have a new baby, of about 4 months, and a dog. They were extremely nice. This meeting makes me even more anxious for the house to be built. I can't wait until we are able to move in, have the neighbors over and shoot the breeze over a nice bottle or merlot. Just another thing to look forward to that will make it seem like its going to be forever before we are able to move in.