More electrical was done this week after Chris and I spent a few hours late at night driving to Covington to get the lights we picked out months ago that are now discontinued.  Frustrating that the contractors could not just get the lights when asked so that we aren't faced with these problems.  

These lights were installed this week and it really changed the look of the bathrooms and kitchen.  Things are looking so finished.

We did have a party on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so we cleaned up a little and got some good progress pictures of the house.  So close to being done, just creating our checklist of the last items... 

More progress this week.  We are so close but it still feels so incomplete.  Loren, our consultant came out this week to check progress and see if we can sign the job off.  Unfortunately he said no go - still too much to be done and we won't make our December 1st deadline.

The bathrooms are fully operational this week!  Mirrors are installed, sinks turn on, and toilets flush.  The tub was caulked to the floor, so we aren't having gapping issues any more against the tile.  Chris and I used haze remover and grout sealer on the tile so we could move furniture in as appropriate.  Only the lighting left to do to make these rooms finished!

Holes in the sub-floor have been repaired and are ready for carpet.  We decided not to go with the carpet guy our contractor works with, and are currently shopping around for other options.  His guy specialized in low-end apartments and that isn't the feel we are going for.  

Tito, the electrician, has been here this week a few times.  We have heaters installed and operational, but not all the thermostats installed, and a few of the wiring issues are getting worked out.  No power to the RV, however, and that is getting really hard for my parents.  The RV made it back this weekend and fist nicely into its new spot, but without the hookups it is a bit of a challenge.  They are gone for the week and so at least that is not as much of an inconvenience for them.

The best thing, however, is that two coats of poly and the railing were put on our deck this week.  We have to wait until it warms up again to get the last coat on, but this is such great progress.  

This week we met our third foreman for our job - John.  In the beginning we were told that Nate was our foreman, until he was sidelined with a kitchen remodel for the company owner.  That is when Steve took over.  Steve worked until two months of complaining that he was (a) not showing up for the appropriate number of hours and (b) not actually getting things done caused him to get reassigned.  At this point Nate came back to act as foreman for a few weeks, although he disappeared after a while and we were told that he quit.  Now we have John, who spent a good chunk of Tuesday just walking around the house to get a handle on what needed completing.  It was very fortuitous that I was home for Veteran's Day to be able to facilitate this process. 

It was fun, however, to see someone jump in, make a quick trip to Home Depot, and come back with necessary parts to get some work done.  The garage man door is now installed and the basement-garage door has been purchased.  We made some choices about how to wrap the beams in the guest room.  We discussed the drywall issues.  We addressed the incomplete siding and unfinished porch awning. Already this feels like progress.

The contractors ripped the deck off last week, but it was not able to be completed this week.  This has been an ongoing frustration - they left a project for the middle of winter that needs three consecutive days of dry, warm weather.  This week we finally have dry weather, but not 10 hour stretches of 45 degree or warmer temperatures.  Nothing we said or did could change the contractors' plans to do the deck last, though, so this has been a major challenge. 

The plumbing for the main bathroom is partially complete this week - awaiting the hookups to water lines so that we can actually use the sinks, and caulking in the tub so that we can actually shower on the main floor. 

The tile floors still needs to be sealed, though the contractors did chip out the tile broken by the drywallers and should be replacing it first.  

We painted all the baseboard trim, and it is getting installed, which is the final step in starting to regain control of our living spaces.  Well, that and carpet upstairs, but that seems to be on hold for some mysterious reason.

The guys continued to work on cleaning up the drywall edges, puttying the nail holes and caulking trim.  Lots of tedious work, but necessary in order to finish.  Likewise, we spent most evenings caulking the gaps in the tongue and groove and painting the walls that were available to us. The result is good... eventually.

This week we started to feel like the house was getting finished.  The doors inside were all hung, the trim was installed around them, and the tile floors were grouted.  The drywall was also finally dry enough that we could start to prime and paint the walls.  I always get excited about and then overwhelmed with painting, so it was great to have my mom and Chris there to make choices.  Mom and I got most of the drywall primed, focusing on the two bathrooms, and when Chris came home he powered through the majority of the painting in one of the two bathrooms.  I worked on the ceiling paint and got the first layer (of many) of that on.  It is amazing how much paint can help a room feel finished. 

The contractors have been promising for two weeks that the deck would get torn off and rebuilt on Tuesday of this week.  On Tuesday they revised to Wednesday, and on Wednesday they revised to Thursday.  Not sure how much more we can revise and still hit our deadlines.  

As a positive, the railing on the front deck was finished.  It is a little narrower than we had hoped and was intended, but it looks great and will definitely be functional.  

Big progress this week with the roof:  it appears to be finished!  There are some slight areas where we are unhappy with the appearance, but overall we are happy that the roof is on and it doesn't appear to be leaking.  The roofers fixed some of our big issues, namely the way the dormers tie into the main roof, and the parallel lines of the roofing panels on the dormers. 

The drywall guys were able to tape and mud most of the drywall that they put up over the weekend.  This is excellent in that the house is really starting to come together inside.  Unfortunately our only source of heat is two space heaters, so things are drying VERY slowly.  

Broken toilet seat lid, drywall mud all over the place, and a large electric bill, but we have walls!!

We have bathroom floors!  Tile is in both of the bathrooms, which is excellent.  No grout, however, and no estimate on when that will go in.  All we have been told is "after the drywall".  This did start the very stressful project of choosing paint colors that are interesting, go with the floors, and don't look grandmotherly.  

Drywall was installed in a few areas on Friday, but the installer was unable to do much as the drywall had all been left outside and was ruined by the rain.  Lowes brought some drywall late in the day and this was stacked neatly inside the house, directly in the path of the beam leak. Didn't really serve the purpose of keeping the drywall dry.  The drywaller did come back over the weekend and got a lot of the board up, but not taped.

The roof is more complete, but there is a slight issue with the fact that the roofing panels aren't parallel... there are also a few places where the junctions are a bit... odd...

You might remember that the ceiling of the media room was a problem.  The window that Ted had installed prevented the ceiling from continuing straight through and finishing the attic floor.  

We decided to remedy this situation by removing the ceiling in this whole section and revealing the tongue and groove sloped walls to the ceiling.

Chris worked to get the point of the ceiling framed and finished in a respectable way so that we could remove the floor and expose the vaulted ceiling. We also installed the fan while the floor was still in so that we had easier access to all the electrical.

This week we did start to see the metal roof go on.  It also led to more issues with the work the contractors had done that was done poorly.  As the roof was installed, we started to point out these issues but tended to be rebuffed.  This roof is not looking like we had hoped.  Very frustrating.

Over the weekend, we also managed to get about 2/3 of the house painted.  It makes a big impact, but is frustrating that we are now crossing our fingers for good enough weather to continue when if all of this had been done when they said it would, we would have a watertight, painted, and finished house by now. 

The contractors puttered for a few days while not accomplishing much.  They were then told not to come any more until the electrician and the drywall guys were done.  Unfortunately this does not get our house finished any faster.  

The contractors are working hard again this week, though we don't see much impact of their work.  They trimmed out some more windows, which is making a nice impact on the interior, but isn't really speeding up the process of getting this place loan-ready.  

The upstairs bathroom was framed this week, which was fun to see how much it is going to expand and start planning the layout of furniture.  The contractors also drywalled in the far side of the new wall, leaving one side open for the electrician to do his thing. 

Roofing material was delivered this week (causing a little bit of a WTF moment when the roofers were able to get a 32' long solid item down our road when the contractors were unable to do the same for the beam that needed replacing).  It is currently sitting in our yard and hasn't begun to be installed.  

We also had the joy of another meeting with the construction company where they freely admitted that they would have fired themselves for their lack of efficiency but still had the gall to ask for more money.  We said no, and yet again in this process I was glad that I married a construction defect lawyer.  Chris can act plenty intimidating when he needs to. 

The saga of the well is now over, but the boys are still working on a functional well house.  Chris and my dad worked hard on a well house structure that would house the pressure tank and a few tools if necessary.  Their results were pretty exciting!

Gathering materials and left over 2x4 boards from the house construction made the well house a little cheaper!

Some last minute plan changes made the shape a little different than anticipated, but functional nonetheless.  

Max and Jackie spent most of the day observing the action.

Siding and sheeting going on.

Chris installed the roof and the doors!