UPdate

 We went on vacation the end of July.  When we got back we kinda forgot to update…. I will start off slowly so you aren't overwhelmed with all the happening with the house.

Just before we left for vacation, the plumbing was completed.  We also had the central air system installed.  I was a bit surprised they do not create floorplans to include the HVAC system.  They cut into closet space and walls to create a way for the vents to get to their intended rooms.  I always thought floorplans were created with spots of the HVAC.  When we got back from vacation, the electrical was complete, and they were starting on the siding.  About a week after the siding was done, the exterior wall insulation was in.  We had to wait about a week for inspections.  During this time Brandon and I installed some sound proofing insulation in the media room, and some normal insulation in bathroom walls to keep the sound down.  It turned into a big job.  Also, we wired the media and family rooms for speakers.  We may never get the speakers installed, (haha) but we at least have the option for later.  Once the drywall went up, it started looking like a home.  We could see how much space we have, and picture the house finished.   

We did have a little problem.  We were originally told we could choose where the AC unit was placed (we had to get the ac unit because we upgraded to the HVAC/energy package.  We will never use the AC unless this whole global warming is an actual thing).  We noticed the AC wiring was installed on the north side of the home, near the front where everyone could see it.  Kind of an eyesore.  We asked to have it moved further back to the other side of the dining room windows.  Well, nothing happened for about a month.  2 days before the drywall went up we realized the electrician had been out, and he moved the wires only 2 feet back, and still on the wrong side of the windows. Brandon called Adair and finally got a response when the drywall was being installed.  We were told it was too late to move it.  Not what I wanted to hear – especially since we had given them 5 weeks to fix it.  We finally came to a solution.  We had to once again compromise.  I am a little tired of Adair telling us we have to compromise.  They didn’t do much compromising when I asked to extend the hall closet and move a wall so there was no random alcove in the master bedroom.  *sigh*  

I will give another portion of the update later this weekend.  So much has happened, and we have been so busy.  That is part of the reason we haven't been able to keep the blog updated.  Sorry, no pics this time.  I'm saving those for later.... 

Good Idea or Bad Idea?

Ha!  That always makes me laugh....still trying to decide which this house building thing falls under.

No painting this week.  Actually, no painting Saturday, which is when Adair said we could start.  We have said decent things about Adair so far.  In general, Adair has done a great job on our home.  This past week we ran into problems caused by the one fault we find with Adair - communication.  The guy from Adair who is in charge of all the communication between us and the contractors won't answer his phone or return our messages.  Very annoying - and our biggest complaint.  

The drywallers came.  They were supposed to be done so we could start painting Saturday.  The drywallers contacted Adair Thursday to say we didn't have to heat on.  First - it is SUMMER, and while summers in Newport are still in the high 60's instead of the 80's, it has been very warm here.  Second - Adair was supposed to let us know when to hook up the gas line, which is needed to run the furnace.  We had no gas line and therefore no heat.  The drywall took a little longer to dry leaving the walls not dry enough to paint Saturday.  Brandon called Adair Friday asking them to contact us EITHER WAY about painting.  We received no phone call.  After checking the walls Saturday we decided to wait on painting.  We bought a large fan, brought over a 2nd fan, and let the fans do the work.  It now looks like just the closets and bathrooms need a little TLC - Turbulence Location Concentration.  Or, we have fans on the wet spots, hoping they are dry tomorrow afternoon.  I'm so anxious to paint!!!!

This weekend we did dig a trench.  The excavator didn't extend the gas conduit far enough.  We want the gas hooked up this week - so we dug.   Oh, we also found out that the power should be hooked up and the driveway and concrete work should be done while we are painting the inside.  This was something also not communicated to us.  Surprise.  Brandon and I are ready to be moved in and done.  We were told September 20 the house will be complete.  We are waiting to find out if that stays the same.  We keep praying things will go well, the house will be built correctly, and that we will be moved in by Christmas.  At least we now have a garage door.  Yeah for progress.....  (Kudos to the person who can tell me how to make it look like I just said that really weak, with no feeling, and fading out. Yum, Kudos.  Anyone remember Kudos Bars?  They were like granola bars for yuppies or something.  They had M&Ms in some so they were cool.)

Here is a picture.  The Family Room after it was ready for painting, texture and all.  I have doubts I will ever get to use that fireplace...

Starting to look like a house

We went on vacation the end of July and I guess we went on vacation from the blog.  Sorry.  Here's what's been going on....

Just before vacation the plumbing was completed.  We also had the central air installed.  I was surprised floor plans are not drawn up with central air venting in mind.  They had to cut into the walls and closets to get the venting installed.  When we got back from vacation the electrical was done.  Then we had to wait for inspections....  Oh, and they got the siding up the week we were back. 

Here's some pictures of the siding, but it hasn't been painted yet:

 

When the electrical was installed in the master bedroom, the electrician decided we wanted 'boob lights' along with the ceiling fan.  We wanted can lights, so Brandon used his inherited electrical skills and changed the lights.  His brother said was looked like a professional installed the lights.  Yup - my husband has skills.

Brandon and I decided to install some extra insulation to stop noise between some walls.  We also wired for speakers.  This turned out to be a much larger job than we thought.  First, Home Depot cut the sound board wrong, causing us to waste board due to re cuts.  We found out we had installed the wrong speaker wiring and had to redo the wiring.  At that time we also installed batt insulation in walls for the laundry and bathrooms.  I hate installing insulation.....  But, we got it all done before the drywallers showed up.

Here are some selected pictures of the inside just after the sheet rock was put up. 

Master bedroom which is the only room with a vaulted ceiling.  Window looks north.

Stairway just as you enter the front door.

Looking into family room from the kitchen.

Looking into kitchen from the family room.

They taped and got the mudding done last week.  They are all ready to spray texture tomorrow.  We will be painting starting this Saturday and must be finished painting on Labor Day.  We'll get pictures after that.  Then it is just trim, cabinets, and flooring, which will all be done the same time.   Oh - anyone want to help paint??  We know a great place on the Oregon Coast you can stay...

Framing Complete

It has been too long since our last post, and a lot has gotten done.

First came the sub-floor:

  

Then the first floor was framed:

Front of House (west)

South Side

Back (east)

North Side

Here's an interior view from the kitchen looking at the entry and front room.

This might be a little redundant, but here's pictures from close to the same spot after the second floor was added, they're in the same order as above:

Standing in master bedroom looking into master bath.

I'll post again after the trusses and ceiling are finished. 

How Firm a Foundation

 We have a solid foundation….  As we had the excavation going on, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a Primary song – TheWise Man and The Foolish Man.  The jist of the song is the wise man built his house upon a rock, it rained, and the house stayed strong.  On the otherhand…the foolish man built his house upon the sand, it rained, and the floods washed the house away.  Living on the coast, you can pretty much only build upon the sand.  Still, they say our foundation is nice and strong.  

Here is a lovely shot of the forms before the foundation was poured....  I'm standing in the garage.

Here is another of the foundation. 

 We do have a little problem with the garage.  We were told by two people at Adair that our garage would end up lower than the traditional Adair home.  Adair likes to have no steps into the home - ours would have at least one, if not two.  Our excavator also told us that based on our lot,  we would end up with a lower than 'Adair Homes normal' garage - to decrease the driveway slope.  This is our garage/driveway.  

Notice that it looks like it sits up about a foot higher that it should.  That's because it does.  It is higher than the other Adair homes in our neighborhood!  We were told it was the way our floor plan was designed, and it would cost us money to 'engineer' it to be lower.  We are working on fixing this because I DO NOT want a driveway with this much slope!  After speaking with some people in the know, we found out Adair should have informed us of this higher than normal driveway and at the very least given us an opportunity to make a change.  I would have gone with the smaller floor plan just to get a normal slope to my driveway.  

Oh - here is the driveway 'head on'.  Ignore me - Brandon didn't tell me I was in the picture when he took it.  

The framers are at the house today.  While we hope they get started, they may have to wait to fix the driveway issue.... Plus, after the last 3 weeks of amazing sunny weather, today it decided to rain.  Of course - now we have wet lumber.  Timing...

Home Is Where the Heart Is or something....

We took the plunge….we decided to build a house. 

So, here’s the basics of how this will work.  We bought a lot using a construction loan.  Adair Homes is going to build our home. Then we will pay Adair for our home with our mortgage.  Adair works with you to build your home.  We have to do some of the work – like excavation and painting.  We picked out the floor plan first.  Then, we decided on which options we would like to pay extra for.  Yeah, you have to pay for a garbage disposal…  We had a few musts - central air, the dark stain on the kitchen cabinets, Brandon's Christmas light plugs in the eves.  We also got to pick out things that were not extra cost like the cabinet color(within their choices, which we didn't like and upgraded) and door style, cabinet knobs, molding, shingles, and flooring.  This helped us with the building process.  We didn’t have to search thousands of samples to decide something like shingles – we had 3 choices we didn’t have to pay extra for(or upgrade, as Adair likes to say).  Yes, this won’t have all the features of our dream home, but this home will still be better than buying what was available in Newport.  It will be new and ready to move in.  

We did have a little problem with the property:  We wanted the house as far north on our lot as possible.  We found out there was a drainage easement that made us build 25" from the north property line.  Then, we had to build 15" from the front property line, which was more like 25" due to the 10" city easement for sidewalk and 'stuff', and 10" from the back property line.  This left our house fitting within 6/10 of an inch.  Tight fit.  We did get the drain pipe installed, so we don't have to worry about anyone building behind us and wanting the pipe installed later. 

Here is the lot as we purchased it. (Looking northeast.  The area to the left is higher than the rest of the lot.  Our neighbors in back are up higher, so hopefully they won't 'look down upon us'.  That's funny cuz he's a minister)

This is during excavation…. (northeast corner/east side of yard)

 Here is the lot after excavation (looking east)……  The area on the left will be the garden area.  The wall in the 'back' is our backyard area.

Nice retaining wall!

So we have a retaining wall in the back, and one started along the north side.  The lot is such that we have a higher section of land on the north side of the property.  We decided to keep it higher so we can plant a garden and still have the sun hit it (it's high so the sun can sneak over the house).  We won't get that wall completed for a while.  They need to use of the left over dirt to fill in a section and make the garden area a little larger.  Because our house fits within 6/10 of an inch, we will not have much of a backyard.  We plan on using the area 'above' as the backyard.  We also will have a nice front yard, which Brandon calls his area to throw the ball around.  I wish the lot was larger, Brandon doesn't want a yard, and so we went with what was available.  It was the largest in the subdivision, if you think a 10th of an acre is large.  We do have plenty of beach around if we need a place to play!

We should have a foundation soon.  Then it will be about 3 months until the house is done – another good reason to build with Adair.  They have this to a system so it takes less time to build.  There is an older couple building right now.  They have a smaller house, but they have all the walls up, and they started about a month ago.  We are hoping we get the house done before we go crazy in our more than ghetto apartment.  No, really.  This place is disgusting.  We won't show picture cuz we don't want to remember it....

Coastal Winter

Christine and I spent the end of December through the end of April in an old home in Depoe Bay.  We had an ocean view and occasionally we saw whales.
Here's some views from our bedroom window:

One Morning I woke up really early and saw this.

One morning I woke up not so early and saw this.

This was looking out the window of the upstairs studio:

One thing we found interesting was how close the fishing/crabbing boats got to the shore around here.



At night the lights from the boats would sometimes shine into the house and light up the living room.  That made it a little difficult to watch TV, but it didn't happen very often.

The sunsets were awesome, too.  You can see a boat way off in the distance as a small speck of light.

We were also cat-sitting the whole time.  My favorite part of the house was probably the cats.  Here's some pictures to prove it: