More drywall and some more insulation

Here's some more pictures of the drywall:


Stairwell (looking down from the top floor):

kitchen:
long view of kitchen from family room:

Main floor view of stairwell:
Rebekah and Sarah's room:
Master window:
hallway upstairs:
Hannah's room:
Josiah's room:

Insulation to finish the walls in the laundry room:

Drywall underway

They started putting in sheet-rock on Wednesday. The rooms look so very different with walls! Josiah helped to fix a couple of framing issues together with Chuck and his son Mark. It's such good experience for him to be involved in the process.

We also spoke to the Duron/Sherwin-Williams paint guy this morning. We're hoping to use a low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, like the kind they use in hospitals and schools to keep odor and fumes down. I think the paint guy thought we were a bit nuts to put that in our house, but we're pretty sold on the idea. No accounting for taste, I suppose.





Let's see...we've ordered the cabinets and countertops. Flooring estimates are coming in for laminates and hardwoods. Next week they should start the siding (we're using a Certainteed product for that). So things are finally moving along pretty well!

Blue fun in the walls?

A few months ago, our family purchased a whipped cream which was supposedly raspberry flavored. To punctuate this exciting flavor, the company had added blue coloring. Our family nicknamed this strange concoction "blue fun". Surprisingly enough, the foam insulation which they have been blowing into our new house's walls looks very much like this "blue fun". It is actually a "closed-cell" insulation which when dried, is very much like a Styrofoam cup material. Don't ask me why it's blue, it just is. But the house is very air-tight! It's supposed to keep the inside a very consistent temperature and retards insect activity in the walls to boot.

Tomorrow we hope to pass insulation inspection as well as finally passing the framing inspection. Then next week: drywall & siding!




We also placed the tubing on our solar tube which will bring light down into the darker hallway in the master bath (during the day, at least!). Eventually when the ceiling is in, this will have a light fixture cap to diffuse the light just a bit.


Here you can see the difference between the wall before and after the foam is sprayed on.

Clean up

Everyone pitched in to clean up the house and prepare it for the next phase of construction. Sweeping, vacuuming with a shop vac, and picking up trash were all on the agenda for the morning.





Wow. It looks much better!

You might not be able to see it, but we were approved for electrical (yay!). Hope to hear about framing soon.

Doors are in!

Front Door:


Garage Door


Porch Doors (eventually they will be glass, these are called "dunnage" doors and they are temporary)

The front door looks pretty from the inside too. You can see the transom window has the same pattern in it.


Mechanical and plumbing have passed inspection. Electrical has a second inspection on Monday, and framing should be inspected Tuesday. Assuming they pass, insulation could start Wednesday or Thursday. After that is finished we can move into drywall!

Plumbing, electrical, & mechanical

We're almost finished with the plumbing, electrical, gas and hvac interior work. As soon as we pass inspections there, we can move on to insulation. I think 2 bath tubs will be installed this week, and the gas hookups should be put in place.


In the garage, the framers came back and boxed in the plumbing pipes and hvac duct work.


Looking good!

The roof is on! (let it rain...let it rain...)

The shiny "bumps" on top of the roof are the standoffs for the solar panels. It really was a great idea to have those put on first before the roof shingles! Daniel and Mark J. worked hard to anchor them correctly to the joists so that the solar panels can withstand the wind blowing. We definitely don't want a flying roof in a storm!


They also installed our solar tunnel so that we'll have some natural light in the master bath.

All windows installed

A very happy camper...





We finished installing the windows and hope to start priming the interior wood soon.

HVAC

I know this post is probably not that interesting to read or look at but here are some pictures of our HVAC system currently going in:

Big Window...Part 2...We have clearance, Clarence

They had repaired the opening for the big window. Now it should be the right size!



Ahhh. Sweet success. The window fit through the opening and all was well!


We leveled it, and nailed it in. Then we installed the two windows on either side and called it a day. Only five more small windows to go!
Beautiful!