More of the Same

More siding, more plumbing and electrical. That was the theme for today. The major progress was made via Dad/Grandpa H's help with getting us set up to tap into the water main. As you can see from the picture the fire hydrant is sitting a foot higher, and the water meter is now in place. Next we need sewer and gas. Rough in electrical work is nearly done, and we're just waiting for the inspection. We'll soon be getting the sheetrock lined up, and look forward to having that in place so we can get some garage doors on and heat up the place someday soon!

Water, Shingles and Lines

Pictures today are from the exterior, but plenty was going on inside too. More gas lines were run, and finally the vents placed for the fireplaces (with the exception of the downstairs fireplace). Beyond that Pinhigh Siding was back and did nice work on the southwest corner of the house. The excavator moved the dirt down in the driveway and then proceeded to make a big pile in almost exactly the same place while trying to find a water line. Unfortunately, with Dad/Grandpa H's good help we found that there is no line. Fortunately we'll be able to tap off the line going to the fire hydrant, but this will take some doing tomorrow. We've more trenching/excavating and moving of dirt to look forward to, as well as the hopeful deck construction on the horizon.

Keep moving forward!

Spigots, fans and wires

Our old standbys were around today. The electricians worked on getting some fans in and the lines run to the kitchen. The plumbers ran our "carwash" spigot to the garage, as well as lines elsewhere. The HVAC/nat gas guys pulled some more lines. They also delivered the vents for the fireplaces. (They're not in place, but at least they're there). No siding guys today, but with a couple of inches of new snow on the ground this morning we didn't hold out much hope. Our retaining wall were unveiled however.

Walls Retained and Beautified

Today was another fun day at the house with lots of visible progress. You'll see above that the forms were taken of the retaining walls. It'll be a couple of weeks before they're backfilled, but at least it's done (and no snow on the ground)! The plumbers (nat gas mostly) and HVAC crews were hard at work. We've got what amounts to a breaker box for the gas lines, which is very nice. The electricians finished up most of their work with the exception of some wiring for the kitchen. Hopefully that'll take place next week and then they'll officially be done. Last but certainly not least we enjoyed immensely the shingles going up every where along the front along with the soffit beneath the porch. Take a little look at the shot of the porch and you'll see it.

Putting some clothes on

One of the best lines lately from Stephanie was in reference to getting the siding on the house. She said, "it'll be so nice to see it with some clothes on". Yeah, we've been looking at the long underwear for much to long. But the reward is seeing the shingles and trim go up, and it looks _so_good_! We also had folks working on getting all the forms up for the retaining wall, but nothing was poured. The HVAC, plumbers and electricians were working as well. So plenty of activity - and progress. Our appliances are going to be delivered to the local Sears this next week, but I guess we're not quite ready for them yet... Ah well - things are moving along, with perhaps a bit less stress each day.

Keep Moving Forward

One of my favorite lines from Meet the Robinsons is "keep moving forward". Despite plenty of planning and decisions and parlay that needs to take place at least there've been folks at the house daily to keep things moving forward. Having Dad/Grandpa H. back from his hunting and vacationing has been a great help in coordinating the many things going on. Today the electricians were allowed to use the siding contractor's lift to get the soffit lights in place. We're
happy to report no broken windows or demolished roofing. The HVAC crew and plumbers worked away today despite slim numbers at times. And both the concrete crew and our siding contractor showed up to get their things in place to move forward. Most of the interior work going on inside is hard to quantify, but with the retaining walls and footings being poured tomorrow, along with the bay roof and siding going up there should be plenty progress to see soon.

Setting Up the Dominoes

Today poor Stephanie spent a stress filled day trying to get all the contractor dominoes lined up properly so they'll fall into place. As time goes on you realize that there are a few crucial junctures that you can't very well anticipate, but that all forward progress relies on one or two people getting their job done. Such is certainly the case now.

We're waiting on the plumbers and HVAC fellows to finish their work so that the electricians and low voltage guy can get their wires run so that the insulation can be placed and the sheetrock put up. We also need to the plumbers and HVAC fellows to run their vents and lines so that the siding contractor can get to his work. The siding guy is also waiting on the electricians to finish their exterior lines and lights so he can get to work on the soffits. The siding guy is also waiting on the concrete guys to finish their work, so that the framers can get the deck in place and the excavator can get all his piles of dirt back in their proper place and then the siding guy can move his lift around. Tomorrow we'll hopefully have the roof and facia in place over the bay window, and the bottom of the window sealed so that can be backfilled as well. AND we're still waiting on our landscape designer to finalize her plans....

So what happened? Well, a bit of plumbing, a bit of HVAC work, and the forms for the walls were delivered. Hopefully tomorrow will bring some more plumbing/HVAC progress.