I’ve been asked more than once if the house has been more or less work than I thought it would be. It’s not an easy answer, because it seems pretty obvious that building an entire house, especially a house this big, is going to be a really big project. But it’s also one thing to be aware of this generally, but it’s a whole other thing when it comes to all the particulars that go into it.
In the beginning there was a push to get started, and then each phase requires pushing ahead to the next one. For a long time it felt like I was pushing toward getting roughed in. Once rough in is done, then things can really start happening. Drywall is something I hired out, so I thought maybe the work could go on auto pilot for at least a couple of weeks there. Because I did all the plumbing and electrical (mostly because of the plumbing), getting to rough in felt like such a huge hill to climb, it just took so much effort. What I didn’t really anticipate was how the overall project intensity would actually turn up even higher after rough in.
The list of things that need to be finished feels like it grows every day. I’ve got to finish the siding still, it’s almost done but I’ve been working on that for a good 3 weeks now. The water system isn’t finished, I need to wrap that up and install the water heaters in the basement so that when the water gets connected in a couple of weeks I will be ready for it. I still have some dirt to move and bring in to finish the front and get the approach to the garage poured before we have snow, getting that part done has been difficult and I’ve had to find new people to help with it. On my short list I have finishing the porch, siding on the front peak above the porch, paint, flooring, then cabinets, doors, and trim.
The drywall guy finished up this week and did an awesome job, so I feel really good about that. But he’s also the last subcontractor I’m planning to hire, which means the rest of all those things I just named are up to me to get finished.
The good news is I think we are on track to be able to finish and move in before Christmas, which is what we are really hoping to do. My dad is coming up this next week to help with flooring. My brother-in-law brought his paint sprayer and I’m using that to get the whole house primed tomorrow.
Lots of things are still happening just in time. We got the gas hooked up and one of the furnaces turned on just in time to finish drywall and with the onset of the really cold weather. We finished the insulation upstairs that same week so we are able to keep the house warm and drywall was able to dry, and now for painting and flooring. After months of trying, I finally have sewer and water scheduled and should be connected in 2 weeks. Power was connected just in time to get lights on for the drywall installation and to start up the furnaces. We spent a little bit extra to get the siding that we wanted and we are loving the color. We even got the porch fixed!
One quick side story on the siding – We had a hard time deciding what we want on the peak over the porch. I thought about white, I thought about doing it the same as the walls, but nothing really sat right with us. Katie decided she really wanted the same color, but a different texture, and she really liked the vertical siding. Well, the vertical vinyl is special order, nobody has it in stock. So that was possible, but it wouldn’t come until mid-december. And with out track record of special order things not coming at all, that seemed risky. I talked her into looking at a lighter gray shake style, and there was one store in Holland that had it in stock. So on one of our many recent date nights at Menards, we went to take a look at it. While there I talked with the sales guy just to see what other options they had. He pulled it up on his computer and said, hey this is weird because we don’t stock this, but my system is showing we have some pieces of vertical siding, maybe somebody special ordered it and returned it. Wouldn’t you know it? It was our color. Thanks God, for the little blessings like this one. Right now that patch of siding is the last I have to finish, but the pieces are in my garage ready to go.
Lots of great things are happening and we’re really excited to see the progress and for it to start looking like a real house!
