Now for some interior stuff
So, we're looking at finishes. The kitchen door won't look like this one; not exactly prairie style. But, we do like the color against a darker floor finish. We're sort of split between the darker granite and lighter granite. I think we're leaning towards the darker granite. Our kitchen designer friend will be dropping off the actual door sample any day now.

Picked out all the plumbing fixtures, too. Toto toilets, baby. (Sorry, Kohler.) Cannot skimp on the water closets. Chose a few Grohe items. Kitchen faucet shown here. Still not exactly sure on the floor finishes, in particular, the carpeting for the second floor, but samples are on their way. Have to find something that'll handle some wheel traffic.

Here's one of my favorite pictures - the view from the second floor landing. I don't think we realized what an uber-large window was going into that wall. We'll see exactly what it's supposed to look like come this Wednesday. (Rats, gotta call the stair guy. Forgot to do that this weekend.)

The shoring holding up the garage slab will be coming out this Saturday. Hard to believe a month has gone by. Shingles are in, too. Domingo is also leaving on Saturday for some R&R. I'm sure he'll enjoy every minute of visiting his grandchildren in Seattle. I know he has some concerns about the mason (who starts this week)...Don't worry, Pops, we'll take care of the site while you're away!

Deliveries, deliveries
Shingles are on, and the windows arrived at the distribution facility yesterday! Hooray! The brick arrived at the site moments ago...two weeks early, but not so good. There's sewer work being done in the front yard, and there's nowhere for the brick to sit.

Hectic, hectic...

UPDATE from the FIELD:
Masonry : Bricks were delivered this morning, big surprise to everybody. (Mason) claimed he never told Illinois Brick to deliver today. when they arrived, plummer had already dug out the driveway for the sewer work. (Supplier) refuses to take the bricks back to their yard. at the end we were able to take out the orange fence between the driveway and the tree, they then use a folklift to get the bricks in. the bricks are now sit on the east side of the driveway.

Plumbing : they will finish the outside sewer work today in front, hole to be covered. Inspector came, approved the connection .
Tom wants to start plumbing rough-in next Monday. we need to get him all fixtures cuts and kitchen sink cabinet layout.
They started work this morning at 6:30am, the neighbor at the corner came by and complained.

Windows : I am still waitng for the exact delivery time, carpenter want them on next Monday morning.

Masonry : (Mason) will start also on Monday to put down the flashings, I gave him a check for stones and other materials, he will give as a detailed receipt, his masons will start work in Tuesday or Wednesday. He will use a regular scaldfolding which is 6'-0" wide. we need to talk to our neighbor for permission, they will put down protective cover on the ground. the stone will be deliver on Tuesday afternoon.

Superintendent Journal Entry
guest what, the (roofing) delivery truck arrived at 2:00 pm. pulled in the driveway, and blew a tire. so they are just sitting there waiting for the tire to be changed, it will take at least two hours, then they will resume placing the shingles on to the roof.

The driver (was) kind of upset with the 3 inch. gravel that may have caused punctured his tire. we both called Jimmy at the roofing co. When Eastman gets home, I will go back to see if everything is OK.

Our FAQ list
A few people have been asking similar questions, so I thought this might be a good time to post an FAQ list.

Q. When will the house be done?
A. Julie and Eastman say February or March (being conservative); tradespeople are teasing us by saying "maybe before the holidays or the end of the year".

Q. Who is your builder?
A. We decided to save some money and NOT hire a builder. Of course, everyone inherits the headaches that go along with that. Domingo dived right in as site contact, and all the subcontractors are contracted directly with Julie and Eastman. So, it's the "homeowner acting as general contractor" scenario.

Q. What's the square footage?
A. With the garage but not counting the full basement we are at 3365 sf. Fifteen square feet shy of the maximum allowable square footage of the lot.

Q. Exterior finish? Windows, brick, etc.?
A. Will be a brick and stucco facade. Marvin Casemaster - Aluminum Clad Wood Casement Windows; finish in Pebble Gray, Old Charleston Heritage brick by Sioux City Brick... you'll just have to see the pictures.

Q. Can we visit the jobsite?
A. SURE! Just call and let us know when.

Q. Would you recommend general contracting your own home to other people?
A. Maybe. Depends on the time you have to commit to your project, or if you know someone who can help you with the process. Can be a very arduous, exciting, crazy, nerve-wracking experience.

Q. Would you do this again?
A. I guess, never say "never", but let's get through this one first.

The lost week
The camera was misplaced for a week, and so, there's a little bit of a disconnect between the last blog and this one.

While I was away last week the concrete guys were able to frame and pour our infamous structural garage slab. Man, the amount of rebar in there is quite impressive! Pictures can only convey so much. I often wonder if it was overdesigned, and maybe, if I had paid more attention in Reinforced Concrete Design class (and if I actually did that for a living) then I might be able to figure it out. Of course, engineering rule-of-thumb is, take the answer you get from your design problem and multiply by a safety factor of 5 million... I jest. I can't remember anymore.

Otherwise, construction continued with the second floor deck and second floor walls. I don't remember if we took a picture for the record, but we had an extra joist left over and the carpenters were using it as a ladder into the basement. Yeah, really safe. Yikes! And they wear sneakers on the site. That makes me nervous sometimes.

So, our three-year old Project Assistant (see picture) is now referring to the house as her "new house" and not just "the big hole". It's pretty cute. We were able to point out the windows in her room, and she's quite excited about the idea of having a "princess" room.

We leave you with a picture of the front elevation with the roof sheathing completed as of Friday, 9/16.

We're Finally Building Walls!
One day, you've got the floor deck, and the next day you've got nine-foot walls! It's pretty cool, eh? For those who haven't seen the plans, we can all start imagining what this house is going to look like now. The four windows (right hand side) are looking from the dining room to the golf course. Eastman says if we were able-bodied we could set up a small table and chairs at the dining room and just look around. That might be fun, eh?

Anyhow, THIS is why I studied construction management... to be involved with building. I love the smell of lumber, watching the crew put all the pieces together like a puzzle... but somehow, there's still the day-to-day management of it that my father-in-law is handling brilliantly which if it were me... I'm not so sure it would be running as smooth.

Well, the project is smoother now than when we started. There was the surveyor who missed the building location, then the excavator...as Eastman said, the excavator knew how to dig, he just didn't have anywhere to put the dirt.

We'll take a small break tomorrow and start up again on Thursday. The second floor framing may be up by early next week. The biggest issue we have right now is pouring the structural slab for the garage. If we had just ordered the precast concrete slab for the garage when we started, it would've been delivered about now. Oh well, it was a crapshoot, I suppose.

Full Steam Ahead
Carpenters started this morning with a crew of eight. Looks like they'll be ready for the second floor deck by Thursday. Can't wait to see it this evening after work!

Update: first floor deck in place

Another Injury
Well, it wasn't jobsite related, unlike my father-in-law's minor injury last weekend which resulted in six stitches at his knee.

I simply tripped in our own driveway at home, and now... I have a broken foot. Six to eight weeks in a cast. I probably won't be able to walk inside the house to see the rough framing myself. What an inconvenience... argh!

No Problem...
Here are some pictures from the basement slab pour. We officially start carpentry on Monday. The open-web trusses are on site now, and the loose material (studs, plates, etc.) are being delivered today - now. Ralf and Tom our carpentry foremen seem to be unphased by the unconventional framing scheme of our house. Famous last words "No Problem..." Domingo has been drafting several connection details and double, triple checking dimensions. He met with Ralf last Wednesday, started pointing out some things, and from what I understand, all he had to say was "No problem..." Is this reassuring? I'm a little nervous, to say the least.

And, I know for a fact the carpenters haven't even looked at the drawings in relation to the lumber material list. Again, I don't find this terribly reassuring. In jest, they said, "We'll just see what they (lumber supplier) bring us, and we'll work with what we have," though, I don't know if they were really joking.

I was really hoping they were going to review the material list. The last thing I want to hear is, "Julie, we're short on the lumber material..." and then have them stop working. If anything, they should just truck themselves to the local Home Depot and buy what they're short.

Well, Monday should prove to be interesting. I wonder what sort of phone calls I'll be receiving. In the meantime, we're trying to figure out flooring finishes for finished floor height and plumbing fixtures (toilets, tubs, etc.). You'd be surprised how much all your selections affect the construction in the "rough" stage. More thoughts to come.

Things You Might Overhear at the Tiu Home
Domingo: We're not building a watch (Swiss watch...).
Eastman: I don't KNOW... I'm just asking.
Julie: No...no...no...
Abby: Stop yelling.
(I guess Mom has her two cents in, but it's usually when I'm at work.)

Everyone (including tradespeople): You can make it a wine cellar! (In reference to the open space underneath the front porch due to the mistake in excavation.)

The basement slab was poured yesterday, and Project Engineer Eastman was quite interested in the operations. Here is his log from yesterday.

"Basement poured and looks great! We put up a fence in front of the porch hole and sprayed the front of the garage too. Pops dropped the paint cap (flipped out of his hands when he was taking it off actually) and it fell into the basement. It was before they were doing final smooth out though, so it's all good. BTW, they used cieling tile dividers as control joints, and they put them under the slab so the slab is actually all smooth. No visible control joints."