This picture will give you some idea of the number of circuits in our house (the tabs are labels for each circuit so Howell King, my electrician, will know what wire goes where... for example: "utility room east wall outlets"). Howell will do his "electrician thing" on Thursday and hook up our electrical panel for the rough-in wiring inspection next week.
Here's a picture of one of the the master bedroom receptacles that we got wires pulled to today. Tomorrow I'll continue pulling wires anticipating Howell's return on Thursday for the next step in the process. The hope is that we'll have a rough-in inspection a week from tomorrow and I can start putting the tin ceiling in so the cellulose guy can do his thing with the attic insulation (and south wall).
And here we go seamlessly around the corner with the stucco (sometime in October, we hope?):
This afternoon Alexis worked in her garden and helped me clean up the job site... she's always a BIG help!
Kim and I also got almost all the HardiPlanks nailed on the south side of the house. This will allow the stucco guys to stucco the block and HardiPlank seamlessly on all sides and the gable ends. I still have to screw some of the planks down as some of the nails didn't hold properly.
Tomorrow I plan to do some of this "HardiPlank screwing," glue the CPVC water pipes together and get ready for pulling wires on Monday.
Tomorrow Kim and I will complete the installation of the wood stove flue, begin the HardiPlanking of the south side of the house and - hopefully - get some of the soffit up front and back... I cut the HardiPlank for the soffits yesterday so it should go up pretty fast.
I also was able to get all but two of the switch boxes and outlet boxes nailed to the studs throughout the house preparing for the wire pulling next week. When Howell King comes next Monday, he and I will run the "Romex" 12-2 wire from the main panel in the master closet to each individual (blue) box. This is a shot of the east end of the kitchen looking through the plumbing wall to the utility room and master closet:
Although this is a VERY bad picture of the hole (you have to look VERY closely to even see it in the middle of the second row of AAC block!), this is one of the holes I cut in the AAC block for an electrical receptacle. I still have to cut a chase for the conduit for each box but that is no big deal:
Tomorrow when Kim Campbell comes back (he always wants me to meet him at the job site at "O" dark-thirty... ugh!), we'll finish up some things on the roof and gable ends. He works my butt off but we typically get a lot done. Two men can accomplish at least three times as much as a man by himself... "you ALWAYS need someone to hold the other end of the board."
I also framed up the wall in the master bedroom closet where the electric panel will go and insulated the corner with foil/foam/foil (approx R-16):
Slowly but surely we're getting there!
And the garden tub plumbing wall... ooops!... I forgot to include a supply line for the toilet... I'll do that tomorrow:
This is a closer shot of the roof, knee wall flashing and ridge cap:
After we finished the roof, Kim's knees were hurting so he called it a day. When he left, I fabricated and installed "dams" that got nailed between the trusses to hold the cellulose insulation in place. It's kinda hard to see the "dams" in this picture because I used OSB and they "blend" in against the OSB roof sheathing.
Tomorrow I'll start the plumbing... hot's on the left... cold's on the right...
Here is my mother-in-law, Ruth Freeman, standing in the hall just outside the master bedroom. All the doors in the house are 3' wide to accommodate handicap stuff like wheel chairs. The door to the left in this picture is the entrance to the master bath.
This is a shot of Alexis sitting on the edge of our FREE jacuzzi garden tub petting Big "B" (Baxter). The CPVC water pipes are on the floor between Baxter's legs... I hope to start the rough plumbing by the end of the week. Remember with the modern plastic pipe all you have to know to be a plumber is 5 things: 1) hot's on the left, 2) cold's on the right, 3) water flows down hill, 4) pay day is on Friday and 5) stop biting your fingernails.
In this picture the saw horse and chop saw are still set up but this is the kitchen. Ruth is standing next to where the refrigerator will eventually be.
Tomorrow Kim and I will make another attempt to finish the flashing and ridge cap.
This is the kitchen with a little more framing left to be done (see pressure treated plate on the floor):
This is a view of the office from the living room... the hallway to the master bedroom is on the left (like in the kitchen there is 5 or so more feet of wall that has to be framed... see pressure treated plate on floor):
And... this is the rear fascia with the soffit yet to be finished:
And here's the back door that will open onto our future deck (Kim and I also checked the level on all the back windows so tomorrow I'll finish securing them with galvanized finishing nails):
Kim and I also moved the "Jacuzzi" brand garden tub into the master bath this afternoon and I began to lay out the bottom plates for all the interior walls (see 2" X 4"s on the floor). I don't like the color of the tub (brown) but it's in perfect condition and we got it for FREE when Alexis and I picked up our kitchen cabinets in Ellijay, Georgia about 18 months ago. New it would be about $1,500.
It looks like rain tomorrow so Kim won't come back until Monday. I'll spend the day laying out the bottom plates and tying up loose ends inside.
And a long shot from the NW looking SE:
After we finished the fascia, Kim moved one of the living room windows and the door frame to make room for a required (by code) light switch. After he finished the framing we sheathed the exterior wall with OSB and stapled on the foil/foam/foil (R-15.67) insulation. Next we temporarily set the windows in the living room (we'll finalize their placement tomorrow). I'll cover the foil with HardiPlanks so the back wall can be stuccoed like the block.:
And an inside shot of the windows (office window, left... living room windows/door, right):
Our deck will eventually be built in front of the living room/office windows (below) at the west end (far end) of the house. Tomorrow - if it doesn't rain - we'll get the roof finished. Otherwise we'll work on framing the inside walls.
Tomorrow I start building the interior walls.
Here are shots of the foil and the three windows that we installed (HardiPlank goes over the foil horizontally and stucco goes on the HardiPlank to match the rest of the house's stucco). Yesterday I purchased HardiPlank soffit material to be attached to the underside of the overhangs front and back:
And another view:
You are what you eat... we found out today that the massive doses of fish oil I'm taking is making me smell like a Corpus Christi shrimp boat at the end of the day. That's probably more than you wanted to know ("TMI")?
Here's a shot of the tin roof from the NE corner looking SW. Think Irish cottage, gray stucco, climbing roses & a red door:
Here I am pointing out where the master bathroom toilet will be to my mother-in-law, Ruth Freeman. Think Irish cottage, gray stucco, climbing roses & a red door:
Alexis & I will rest tomorrow (Saturday) and then I begin framing the interior walls on Monday.
Here's the back of the roof (our tankless propane hot water heater will be attached to the middle of the back exterior wall - just outside the master bathroom garden tub):
Another shot of the front (I fired the block mason - ME - for being so slow but note how straight the roof line is... he did a good job of keeping the wall level):
And looking out the front door (the picture is darker than usual because the roof is on now and there isn't as much light available late in the day):
