What a difference 2 months make!

We are moving along now that the rains have stopped for the time being. This has been one of the coldest and wettest winters on record I can remember for a long time. The weather has caused numerous delays, but when the weather was good, my brother could not help due to his "real job".
That being said, we have seen significant progress to our dream home across the bay. The siding has gone on beautifully with our budget taking a significant hit. The original budget of $15,000.00 is shot and we are looking for creative ways to extend what we have left. We have borrowed against our retirement and are now looking to sell a piece of property we own with a view of the river. This property was our original "dream home" site until Christopher found Raccoon Retreat in Fairhope. Hopefully a new real estate agent and a new house hunting season will help us to achieve our goal.
The Hardiboard siding is beautiful and relatively easy to install. The Hardiboard is a concrete/paper fibers composite siding with excellent longevity and beauty. It paints and holds paint very well and for a long time. We put 12 inch boards alternating with 2 inch strips to give the board and batten effect. Given the cost, we probably should have gone with 12 inch boards alone put into another pattern. We put architectural shingles on the gables that add a lot of charm to our cottage on the eastern shore. However, this all comes with a price and our jaws dropped when we found out the beautiful shingles were $10.00 each! Each gable takes about $900.00 worth of shingles! This almost doubled our estimate of siding when combined with the stainless steel staples and other fasteners used to attach the boards to the house. They say hindsight is 20/20 and maybe we should have researched a little more when making our house covering decisions.
A side note, when my husband found out the cost of the siding he made a decision to not put the architectural shingles on the back gable of the house. This made me a little upset as we already had 2 of the gables done with them! That being said, when told of our tax refund Chris acquiesced when I requested that the back gable be done as well. I cannot help but feel that we will both be happy when it is all said and done!
Next week the metal roof will go on. ($2,500.00 cost & $1000.00 labor)
Hopefully by then we can have finished the electrical rough in (I am concerned about our electrical skills, maybe we can get our son to help!).
Next step is to get the spray insulation done.
Once all that is in place we can fly with finish work on the inside!

Long Days=Fast Builds

The days are long but the build is progressing rapidly. My brother Bennet Thomas and I started on the wood portion of the build on 02~03~10 with sill plates and top plates done in one day. It's fascinating and wonderful to work side by side with family on a project of this size. Ben calls it the little house and giggles quite frequently about how small it is compared to other places he has built over the years. He has taken time off from his regular job of installing doors to help us with our framing. We are also working with another cousin who combined with Ben make a formidable pair!

Back to the build, we are fighting weather almost daily with rain or clouds almost every day. On Thursday 02~04~10 threatening rain for most of the day had Ben and I with a weather eye out. Ben cut headers and built them just outside the shop while I stepped to the weary task of re~tooling the ends of at least 45 J bolts. J bolts are required to tie the sill plates to the slab and during the pour I had to make a frantic trip to a local hardware store to pick up 10 more before the slab set on Tuesday. Little did I know that J bolts would haunt my dreams for the next few days. The 10 I bought locally were American made and the nuts slipped onto them pretty as you please. The others we received in our building package were foreign made and the ends of EVERY SINGLE BOLT had to be be re-tooled in order to put on the nuts! This was done with me sitting on the slab in the impending rain for the better part of the day Thursday. By the time the rains actually came, I was inside the shop moving about 150 2x6x10's to the corner of the shop to make room for the plywood to be moved. All in all, a dreary day but lots accomplished with all headers built and corner packs readied for the next day.

Friday 02~05 found us with a lake around the build and lots of lumber thrown down to make paths from the workshop about 70 feet away. Steve came in and made rapid progression on the lower walls of the house. The guys work extremely well in tandem and our first 12 ft wall went up at 10:30 that morning. The day also found me still re-tooling bolts and finally finishing the tiresome job! The guys worked hard all day and we had most of the lower exterior walls up by that evening. Chris called several times that day and sighed about not being able to be with us on the build. I assured him there was still plenty of work to do when he got there on Saturday.

Saturday 02~06 Chris finally laid eyes on what will be our new home. He had been working long hours for the past week and had been unable to come out and see the progress in daylight. I had been taking pictures, but they could not hold a candle to finally seeing it in person.We spent the better part of the day digging out the batter boards from the concrete pour. Lots of clay and muck thrown to the holes in our yard created by the trucks making various deliveries. We are also trying to separate some of the tile shards from the dirt we are moving.Chris was most impressed with what had happened over the past few days. We put in a long day and came home dragging but satisfied with our progress.

Sunday 02~07 found us cutting toting and lifting lumber for the guys that really know what they are doing. Lots of progress but not much to be actually seen. There are so many parts to a house with blocks and plywood pieces cut to fit between the joists and studs. I am amazed by the amount of lumber we have gone through in less than a week. I am so glad that this time we asked for help in the framing portion of the build. Chris and I would never have been this far in less than a week. More digging for us and we finally get to see the starfish shapes impressed into the concrete. We are both pleased with the look but disappointed with some of the finish on the concrete because the concrete guys removed the support stakes way too soon and the batter boards shifted slightly.

Monday 02~08 joists going up and all decking down in my studio! My studio will be amazing to say the least measuring 15x31 feet! Ben managed to make the side walls as tall as possible so my head room will be more than adequate. I certainly will enjoy setting up the studio when the time comes. More dirt removed and all batter boards finally out from the muck. We also had to put Thompsons water seal on the decking for the second floor. This is because there is more rain predicted for Monday into Tuesday.

Tuesday 02~09 finds Chris and I running errands for the build, and getting to the job site about 11 am. We also secured a quick loan for the build to continue. I was apprehensive about the decking on the second floor but the Thompsons Water Seal did the trick. No buckles in the plywood. We also bought 15 lbs of nails for the hurricane straps. We started applying the straps to the sill plates and ran short. We were having to hang off the sides of the house to nail them in because the rain water surrounding us created a moat almost all the way around the house. Each small strap from sill plate to stud requires 10 nails! I dread the straps for the roof as they will require even more! The mud surrounding the house is thick to say the least and will take your boots off if you are not careful!

We are certainly the rain capital of the United States this year. Our ain totals for this month alone are: Month to date 3.20" Normal month to date: 1.57" Year to date: 14.23" Normal Year to date 7.32". DOUBLE the norm! Wow! We have fought rain and or wet muck virtually every day of the build since last week! Needless to say I am a little worried about the predicted rain, cold and possible snow!?! for later in the week!

Progress, Predictions, and Processes are all a part of our lives now as we build our dream home in Fairhope, Alabama.

Few Days~Many Changes

What a difference a few days can make! The last week of January found us trying to beat the rain. We had plumber problems, (had to find a new one, the first ones estimate was WAY too high!) We went with our plumber that did the house we are in now. Got estimate one night, gave him the go ahead. He bought the license, got the parts and had everything for rough inspection in place the NEXT day! So much for people who are not sure of what they are doing! He passed inspection and we moved to concrete.
The concrete was a whole other story in itself! Al and Ricky came out and got batter boards up and it rained cats and dogs after they got the clay delivered. I got a call from Al telling me that the footings could not be dug until the clay dried out some this was Tuesday January 26th. Two days~more delays...........sigh. Reminds me of the military, hurry up and wait! Thursday came and they dug out footings and had gravel delivered. They also put in the re-bar and wire getting ready for inspection prior to the pour. Inspection scheduled for Monday February 1st. Then the rains came, again.........Al and Ricky came out again to find footings partially collapsed and the re-bar completely covered in a soupy, muddy, sticky cake consistency batter in all the footings. They spent the better part of Sunday scooping out all the re-bar and squaring the footings for the inspection. Chris and I rearranged the workshop to get a delivery of lumber the next day. Monday morning found us nervous, but our nerves were unnecessary!Our inspection passed! Chris and I spent the better part of Monday unloading the lumber and stacking it to keep it dry in the shop. What a delight it is to work side by side with my husband of so many years!
Tuesday, Chris is at work and sighing into the phone. What's wrong I asked? I just want to be there with you he replied. After the pour was finished we began laying out the J bolts. In the process of doing this, I discovered we were short 10! Concrete setting rapidly and I only had a window of about 1 hour. I jumped in the car and went off to pick up bolts. The main highway was closed so I had to make a detour which wasted precious minutes. I finally arrived at the store after 25 minutes of driving and got the cargo. Back to the lot! Just in time to place the last bolts with minutes to spare. Chris called a lot that day checking on the progress of the slab. Our estimate of 24 yards went to 29 yards before the day was over. I left at about 4 that evening with them polishing the slab in preparation for stain later.
Wednesday found me and Bennet (my brother) out on the new concrete laying out sill plates and discovering I had missed one J bolt in the wrong place. (The day before during the finishing, I had caught 2 bolts way too far in to the slab and had them moved.) No worries he said, we'll work around it. We laid out all the sill plates, I drilled almost all the holes for the bolts. Before the day was done, we had all the top plates cut, marked and laid out on the slab. We left at 5:15.
Thursday Ben built headers for all the doors as well as all the corner packs, T's and I packs. Lots of work for me as I re-stacked a load of 2x6x10's that had collapsed. I put them into the corner of the shop to make room. Rainy, nasty, cloudy day. Ben worked mostly in the shop. Great day, lots accomplished and then I had to teach a class that night! The rains came down hard that night as well.
Friday found us with a lake of water where there used to be just squelchy clay. Ben built bridges that would be used that day by all of us! Steve (a cousin) came at 10 am to make our jobs more efficient. Starting to make walls with the first 12 foot one up by 10:30. We tried to put up the next 12 foot wall and ended up dropping it and breaking some of the studs. We got it up the second time with much pushing and grunting. The rest of the day went like clockwork, with all outside walls up for the lower floor complete with headers!
Wow! what a difference a day makes.
I know Chris will be like a kid on Christmas wanting to go and see the progress and lend a hand on Saturday. I am certain that he will be up at the crack of dawn ready to hit the road!

Building Supplies are starting to take over!

My husband and I have a 'bad habit' we love to shop online and in the discontinued and damaged areas of stores. One of our favorite haunts has recently become the Re-Store from Habitat for Humanity. We have purchased several things from these two stores in our area with significant savings to boot. This house is going to have beautiful solid wood doors that cost us $600.00 for the entire house. Granted we will have to build casings for them, but we have also found a local company that will build them for supplies and $20.00 each.

We have also found stuff online on Craigs list. We got the double drainboard sink I had been searching for for $75.00. We also found 3'0x5'0 windows, high energy efficiency, double pane glass, vinyl for $350.00 for 6 of them. The windows alone are a $650.00 savings!

One of our favorite purchases was one I found at a local LOWES. I was on the way home from the property one day and stopped at our Lowes on the way home. I was looking for bath fixtures and in my wanderings found a box marked $50.00 on a tub. I inquired with the salesperson in that department and she told me I'll show it to you but you probably won't want it because it is cracked. She pulled it out and it was indeed cracked at the top side and all the way through as well. The tub was plastic, a Kohler and a Jacuzzi! I still was not certain about this 'bargain' but waited until my partner in crime came home from work and had eaten dinner.
I told him of my find and his remark was, you bought it, right?
I said no I wanted him to see it first.
His first reaction was let's go now and check it out.
We got to the store and pulled out my 'prize'.
Yep it's cracked, he remarked. We'll get it anyway because I can probably use fiberglass to fix it.
Images of Chris's past boat repair adventures flashed in my mind.
This is not fiberglass it's plastic.
Then epoxy will fix it.
It appeared his mind was already made up.
We loaded our treasure onto a cart and then the murmurings began, a man remarked, Where did you find that? Another, Found you a bargain huh? Wow! said yet another. Chris's grin was evident by the time we got to check out. The girl at the counter said was that price for real?

The original price for the tub was $499.00. We walked out for $54.50. We got home and looked online for repair options and found a product called Plastiaid. 3 days and about $35.00 later we had a tub with lovely seashells made from candy molds adhered onto the surface and a crack repaired. All told it was a fun project.

If you are willing to take a chance on scratch and dent, the savings can be significant.
Look for the bargains they are there!
Oh wait I was probably ahead of you!

Batter Up!

Not a baseball term at all! At least I think they are called batter boards for the foundation. Chris stands in the dirt for the foundation that he helped to spread. We always enjoy the work involved in this project and this was no exception. One truckload was enough and until it was spread, Chris thought it was too much! Now it is settling a little while waiting for the plumber.

Speaking of plumber, we are using a guy highly recommended by one of our neighbors. He is reliable and prompt. Here comes the problem, (and when you are building a house there is always a problem). We have had several days of freezing temperatures, lots of people have frozen, split, busted, gushing pipes! Every plumber in town is having a field day! Needless to say this is putting a damper on our plans to have the foundation finished by the end of this week!
Our plumber has also never put in pipes on a concrete foundation, so he has enlisted the help of a friend. Now we have to wait for the friend to finish the job he is on to come work on my house! To add to my grief, Chris has not gotten any other estimates, so this guy is our "go to" guy. I am nervous about what the other plumber will charge to work with our man. What to do if he goes over what Chris thinks it should be! Tell them to stop and not do the work, continue and we bite the bullet, I know I don't know plumbing!
To add to the frustration, they will not start work until about noon today and it is supposed to rain for the next 2 days! We may not get the inspection and concrete poured by the end of the week as we had hoped.

Once we get the plumbing in, we can:
Call for an inspection for plumbing.
Get the foundation sprayed for termites.
Get insurance on the property.
Get a load of gravel for the underlayment.
Call the concrete guys.
Order concrete.
Call for another inspection, I think for the concrete work.
Take camper over to spend weekends in.
Order building package.
Take delivery of said building package.

My carpenter brother will be ready for the roughing in next week! He his giving us 2 weeks of his time to get us to the blacked in stage. Blacking in means we will have windows, doors, and finishing work can begin. Hopefully we'll have a foundation to put it all on!

Requesting Permission to Build Sir!

All the hoops we have had to jump through of late have me reminded of the military. I know that the 130 mph windzone codes come from FEMA, but sometimes they are downright annoying. Hurricane straps will now make your house not come apart in pieces, but will now tumble as one single entity down the street. We are also 19 FEET above sea level, so water is not an issue.
Our saga began with us buying this little piece of heaven in Fairhope for a very good price in August of 2009. We tried very hard to save the structure that was there, but my head started thinking and taking over instead of my heart. Too many issues with plumbing, electrical, cracks and the discussions about how to do things were pulling Chris and I apart. I made the fateful decision to tear the structure down after 2 1/2 months of trying to save it. Chris really was trying to save it for me and my romantic, idyllic, artistic way of thinking as well as out of his love for me. This was the middle of October. We found Cottage plans on the internet and ordered them thinking hey this will work!

Forward to November, Structural Engineer says plans are not 'plans' and we need to get them drawn as such! More delays, more expenses, more frustration. In the meantime, Chris decides to build his workshop to store all the stuff we have purchased for our "dream home". I am happily painting plein air one Friday morning and get a call from the company building the shop. "Ms. Chavez, the city won't let me have a permit to build." My heart sank into my shoes, my head started getting dizzy, and my stomach, well...............
Called the city permit office~no answer, left a message.
Called the Surveyor~ no answer, left a message.
Called the City Inspection Head~ no answer, left a message.
Chris was at work so I called the shop at the mill. Chris was not there but one of his friends said they would get to him. Chris recalled the friend saying 'Hey man your wife called, she NEVER calls you at work, you better get back to her.' Chris called a few minutes later, while I was still waiting for answers from ANYONE! Chris told me to call the head inspectors cell phone (HE has his personal number!).
When I did, the Inspector told me he was about to call me! He told me that they had a long discussion about this and here is what I need you to do. ' Get your surveyor to lay out where the house is going to be placed. Then you will get the permit because I know you are going to build.' It seems there is an ordinance in the city of Fairhope that basically reads, you can't put a workshop on property until there is a permanent home. The inspector helped us to get around that.

Now back to the "plans" we had to have them re~drawn as official plans and taken to a Structural Engineer. This all started about Thanksgiving~what IS it about Holidays it seems everything comes to a halt then! The workshop was started at that time as well. The inspection for the pre~concrete pour was delayed for several days because of Thanksgiving. We finally picked up plans after making some minor changes and getting them to the Structural Engineer to get them stamped. We picked the plans up on Christmas Eve. The following Monday, December 28th (Our 31st anniversary) I took plans, plot and myself to the inspection office to drop them off. I was told it would be 7~10 days before they would get back to me. My heart sank, that meant I most likely would not see plans until January 8th or later. I knew it was necessary and said I would look forward to hearing from them.
I was working at the house in Mobile when I got a phone call at 7:15am Wednesday December 30th from one of the inspectors at the city. The plans were only stamped on one page and needed to be stamped on all pages. I drove to Fairhope to pick up the drawings and meet with an HVAC man with a license to work Baldwin County. I dropped off the plans with the surveyor who in turn took them to the Structural Engineer. Our surveyor then picked them up and delivered them to the office on December 31st saving me a long trip!

I knew they would not even be looked at until Monday the 4th at the earliest. We got a call Monday afternoon from the Surveyor telling us we were approved but there was still a little work to be done. I called Tuesday morning and the lady said yes it was on her desk, but she would have to get back with me on the total that afternoon. She called me later that day and gave me the total, $1215.00! For a permit?!?!? I said thank you to the nice woman on the other end of the line, hung up and promptly had a mini panic attack! I went to the website and could not figure out why it was so much.

Long and the short of it, I went to the office Wednesday Morning and picked up the paperwork after asking about the charges. Turns out that they charged us for the underground electricity $500.00 so the permit was not so............ bad? $715.00 OUCH!

I signed the papers, tried to fill out the forms correctly, (I don't know much about electricity, our son is doing all that). Talked with the Electrical Department, and the Head Inspector looked at the plans as well. Paid the fees, signed more papers, Picked up a very expensive piece of plastic and thanked all in attendance.

The city of Fairhope is really easy to work with, personable people, easy to understand, and willing to answer all questions. After all is said and done, a relatively pleasant experience.

Permission to Build Sir! GRANTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Changes......

I just posted to the wrong blog the post for the house! I hate being computer illiterate! Check out todays blog on the Brushstrokes page.