Bring on the Rain, Filth & Cold

That's right. 

Because we now have a roof to keep us dry:

A shower in which to get clean (technically this is the shower in which our guests can get clean):

And a fireplace to keep us warm:

Daisy also thoroughly inspected everything today, and she approves. 

Framing Completed, Roof Decked & a Special Delivery

Lots of progress on the house since Monday. All the framing has now been completed, the last 2 windows have been installed (in the dormers over the front door/garage) and the roof is now completely decked. 

So now we have a house that looks like this:

Here is a view of the back, which is now a bit easier to comprehend with the roof decking completed. 

Here is a close-up view of the back porch (concrete for the porch has not been poured yet). I can already picture sitting here at the end of a long day. We also decided just today to add an extra 10 feet of concrete out past the the portion of the porch that is covered. That should provide a nice area for some patio furniture. 

It is quite amazing how much space is in the attic of this house. It seems much larger up there than the actual living space of the house. Some might say that "You could stack a heck of a lot of hay up there". Actually, I think my dad is the only person that would say that, but it is funny that I thought of him saying that once I saw the huge attic space. Standing on the floor, it looks like the top of the roof is 50 feet away - you can sort of comprehend that from this picture.

You can start to see the definition of the rooms better now that the roof decking is completed - it feels more like actually being inside a house now. This picture is standing in the living room looking back toward where the kitchen will be. That smaller window will be directly above the sink. 

Right after we got out to the house today, the guys showed up to deliver the shingles...

They had a pretty amazing contraption to help get the shingles up onto the roof....I guess its a crane/conveyor belt. We watched the guy ride it all the way up, then the other guy started sending up the shingles to get stacked up on the roof. Suddenly all the other guys in the neighborhood with mere ladders felt inadequate. 

Emily got very concerned when they were backing this truck up to the house, because though you can't tell from this picture, the truck is about 2 inches from the house. But, I am guessing they have done this before. 

I am assuming the roof will be finished up by the end of the week. We went by another house in the neighborhood tonight that got started about 2 weeks before ours. All the rough plumbing and electrical is finished, the house has been completely bricked, and all the drywall has been installed. I am starting to see how ours could definitely be completed by the end of September. 

Framing: Days 2, 3 and 4

After much progress on the first day of framing (Friday), it would appear to have slowed down a bit, but progress has still been substantial. In the photos below, you will notice that all of the roof structure is now completed, and the plywood decking is now partially completed. They have also completed all the trim work around the eves, and also installed all the windows and doors (except for the 2 windows in the dormers on the front of the house). 

You will also notice that the jungle gym of random boards has been removed from the garage and other areas of the house has been removed, and the house is now standing on its own 2 feet (or however many feet a house has). 

Windows and door and plywood - oh my!

Note to mother Carol - the back porch would be on the left in this picture (notice the back door). The 4 windows in the center are the back of the living room, windows on the right are the master bedroom. 

View from the kitchen into the living room. The frame for the fireplace has now been completed. To the right will be the "breakfast nook", and out through the door is the back porch. Where the conduit (hollow metal pipe thingy) is sticking out of the floor at the bottom of the photo is where the kitchen island/eating bar will be. 

Framing: The First Day

Framing on the house began today, and I must admit, I am really surprised at how much they have accomplished today. Here is a picture of the progress so far today:

Ok, so I was just kidding on that one, so pick your jaw up off the floor and lets look some actual pictures of the house!

Here are some pictures of the front taken from the street. We decided to go ahead and upgrade to the optional maze/jungle gym installed in the garage. Oh, what? Those pieces are just bracing the walls for now? That's disappointing. 

Picture of the back of the house, and the back porch. 

Picture of Emily in the kitchen. I took this picture while sitting on the couch. I think Emily had gotten up to get me another beer. 

More to come soon.....

CAUTION: Wet Cement! (again)

As of today, our house officially has a foundation upon which to rest. This is a good thing. I've found that houses with foundations tend to last longer, and also have higher resale value. My sense of humor is (mostly) out of the office today, so we'll skip straight to the photos of the day. 

Overall view from the street.

I actually took this picture while standing on top of the huge pile of lumber that will soon form the walls and roof of our house (notice my shadow in the bottom right hand corner). 

Another view from on top of the pile of lumber.

The Bathroom is Down the Hall, On the Right

While Emily and I are fairly simple folks, we did decide that when building our new house, there were a few extravagances that we absolutely had to splurge on. I'd encourage you kind folks not to judge us when I tell you that our new house, gulp, will have 2 full bathrooms. Yes you read that correctly. Not one, but two FULL bathrooms - the plumbing for which was roughed in today (that means they installed the pipes that will be imbedded in the cement slab underneath the house). 

I am sure all the people who enjoy coming to Tulsa to visit Emily and I will be super glad (disappointed?) that they won't have to (get to?) shower with me due to the lack of additional bathing facilities.  You can thank me later. 

Anyhow, on to some pictures. As you can see below, the plumbing has been roughed in, the wooden forms are in place, and all we need to be done now before the slab can be poured is for the massive amount of dirt on the lot to be spread back out to cover the plumbing. We are hoping to have a slab in place and be ready for framing by the end of the week. 

Overall view of the lot with plumbing in place and wood forms ready for cement. 

They dug underneath the footers in order to bring the main water line in from the street.

Here is the plumbing for the 2 bathrooms, master on the left (No, you may not take a bath in the big tub.), guest bathroom on the right. 

Here is the area where the water heater will be hooked up (on the left, actually will be in the garage) and also where the washer and dryer will be hooked up (on the right). Feel free to come over and do our laundry any time you wish. 

CAUTION: Wet Cement!

Yes, you read the title correctly. As of this afternoon, Casa de la Wanzor is officially "Under Construction". Em and I went out to the lot (I am going to have to come up with a new name now that it is officially more than just a lot) after work today and found that the footings had been poured sometime today. 

Trivia question for the day:

Q: How fast does concrete dry when its 143 degrees outside. 

A: Fast. 

From what we have been told, from this point to closing should be approximately 70 day, which would put us into our new house sometime around the end of September. We'll keep an eye on that target as we move along. 

Next steps: From here, the plumbing and electrical will be ran to the build site, the wood forms will be constructed and then the slab will be poured. 

Check out the pictures below for today's progress.

Unrelated Topic

OK, this is way off topic, but reading through the newspaper this morning, I came across a story about a man who had attacked his landlord during an overnight argument. Not a story that one might find all that unusual in Tulsa, OK. But in this case, 2 things about the story, in particular, I found interesting:

1. This all happened in the same block as our old house (the one we just sold). 

2. The dude has horns (picture below to prove it). 

What. The. Hell? 

The Beginning (almost)

Here is a picture of the lot where our house will eventually be built. I wish I had thought to stand next to the sign in a t-shirt that said, "I gave Simmons Homes a $2,500 deposit, and all I got was this t-shirt and a little 'sold' sign". But I didn't. Darn. 

Have another picture of the lot to share this evening. We don't have any construction yet, but what we do have is a flat spot in the dirt where it is conceivable that a house could be constructed. I guess you have to start somewhere. 

Notice Emily's shadow in the picture. For some reason she found it necessary to stand in the back of the truck to take this picture. You can thank her for the wonderful angle from which this picture was taken! 

Another thing happened this evening that warranted a photo, but alas, it happened after we had already put the camera away. So imagine with me if you will...a few blocks over, there is another house under construction. Due to the recent rains, there is a nice size puddle in the yard - and due to the nice red dirt in that yard, it is hard to tell how deep the puddle is. No problem - enter Daisy, the (recently) fearless swimmer. Let's just say it was deeper than she had expected. And Emily got to cap her evening off by giving Daisy a sponge bath. I am sure Daisy was wondering to herself, "who, exactly, is the owner of who in this scenario?" 

New Journey

A little over a month ago, Emily and I set out on a journey to build a new home. We began researching options for builders, neighborhoods, etc. It is something we have discussed for awhile now, but have never really gotten serious about. After further discussion, we decided it would be worth our while to try and sell our current house by ourselves, and in the process, save a nice chunk of money. We started by posting the house for sale on craigslist. 

22 hours later, we had a contract on the house. I never even had a chance to buy a sign and stick it in the yard. Needless to say, the neighbors were quite perplexed 3 weeks later when a POD was delivered in front of the house and we began packing our things. I guess we had forgotten to tell them up to this point. 

In reality, this was all plan I hatched in order to coerce Emily to move into our lovely condo (a rental property we purchased early in the year - similar to a dorm room, but with a kitchen). The $500 I spent bribing the builder's sales agent to let us "pretend" to buy a house will surely prove to be money well spent in the long run. On the other hand, I am running out of stories to tell Emily when she frequently requests to drive out to "the lot" and see if they have started work on the house yet. 

OK, so I lied, we really are building a house. Emily, please point that gun away from me, please! 

This blog will serve as a place for us to chronicle the process of building our house, as well as any other updates that we think might be of interest to our friends and family. 

Check back soon (hopefully) for an update on the beginning of the construction process.