Labor Day Painting

Labor Day weekend was packed full of family, friends, painting and cleanup. An affordable scaffold rental and a couple ladders made for some quick painting with the sprayer. Trim painting and a few other projects rounded out the weekend, an some of us even managed a dip in the pool! 

Harlan working the scaffolding! 

Robert hanging some doors. 

Painting trim. 

"Painting" with water. What a helper! 

Chimney chase finished. 

Finished colors look great! We love this shot because you get the full effect of the stone, brick and siding. 

It's pretty close to our inspiration: 

Waiting

We are almost done with trade (plumbing, electric, and HVAC) inspections and I feel like its been dragging on for way too long. 

By the end of the week, we should have all our rough and final framing inspections passed. Then it's on to insulation and drywall. Now it's the time to start really putting in the sweat equity! We will be doing some insulation, then lots of paint, flooring, and trim work. It is getting close to looking like a real house! 

We are still here!

It's been almost a month since our last post. Don't worry, we are still moving along, just too busy to sit down and write. It seems every time I sit down I start to fall asleep. So before I snooze tonight, here are some of the progressions since our last update: 

Electrical rough going in

Levi "helping" our electrician/cousin Chris

Clean-up! 

Exterior doors

Fireplace

Brick and Stone

More stone 

For now, enjoy the teasers. We will update details on these improvements soon! 

Rain and a Roof

Yep, more rain. But this time we have a ROOF! Which means in the mornings when the thunder rolls and the lightning strikes (did you sing it too??) we can sleep easy knowing that most of the rain isn't getting in our house. Now I just need to remember to close the windows. :)

Contractors

A large part of the UBuildIt process is choosing your own contractors. For the most part we have had great success. Our dirt work, foundation and ground plumbing went in without a hitch.  Our roof...it's going on today (finally) and for that we are thankful.

But this post is primarily about Jeremy Gary and his crew from Rock Creek Homes.  His company is the one we selected for framing and they are outstanding! He and his crew of 2 worked diligently and meticulously to build us a home with good, solid bones. We couldn't have asked for better.  They communicated well, were punctual, and respected our budget by using materials wisely.  They rocked out to a Christian radio station and were sweet to my kids.  When I dropped a ball that affected their work (nope, I'm not perfect people) they were kind when they informed me of my lapse and didn't make me feel ignorant.  When the weather came and messed up areas of our cornice, they took it upon themselves to fix it...not because they had to, but because they hold themselves to such a high standard.  Bottom line? If you need a good framer, I have the company for you! Thanks Rock Creek Homes! 

The Best Part of Building

If you asked our sweet pirates what the best part of this process is you would get a smattering of answers.  They love watching the "workers work", seeing their rooms grow before their eyes and gathering random "treasures" (scraps of wood and nails) from the site.  

On Friday, Levi even got to earn some money for himself.  Both boys were hired as a clean-up techs for the whopping rate of 1 penny per nail!  Levi thought it was pretty awesome and immediately went to Target to spend his $1.50 paycheck. Nate's $.25 was dropped in the piggy bank. 

He is, of course, very excited to make more money and might even save his money to go towards a "big toy".  I am NOT holding my breath.

But, by far the boys' favorite part of the build is the leftover pile of dirt and sand in the front yard. Hours of entertainment folks! And hours of extra laundry. But those smiles? Totally worth it! 

Staying current

Building codes are updated frequently which means builders have to stay on top of changes. Last year the City of Edmond adopted the 2009 edition, which had some significant changes in wind shear/framing requirements from the previous version (2006). The 2009 edition was set to be enforced beginning Feb 1 of this year, but enforcement had been fairly lenient up until the last month.

So, it was a bit shock when we failed our sheathing inspection last week. I knew codes had been adopted (it is pretty clear on the City's website) but I didn't know the specifics that were required for us. Since we aren't "seasoned builders" we were completely caught off guard and frustrated when we found out our homewasn't  up to code. After a few discussions with the building inspector, our consultants, suppliers, and a couple other local builders we finally were able to remedy the concerns and get an approval for the sheathing inspection. 

As an Owner/Builder, the inspection process is a bittersweet aspect of the house. From the builders viewpoint, we lose time and money dealing with the inspectors and what seem to be insignificant details. But more importantly, from the owners standpoint, Codes and the inspectors are there to make our home as safe as possible. That's a good thing to me. I want this home to be the best it can be to raise our two boys and withstand all that the Oklahoma weather and time can throw at it! 

Losing almost a week of production time is frustrating (and costly) but we did learn some lessons that will help in the future. If this was easy, I suppose more people would do it. The challenge is tough, but the reward will be great! 

The next week should complete the framing and have the house dried in... Which is ironic since there is an unusual weather pattern (including rain) in the forecast for the 3rd week in July. You really can't make this stuff up! 

So for now I'll catch up on the next sections of the International Residential Code for one and two family dwellings, 2009 edition. If you're looking for something to read, I don't recommend it. It's really not as fun as it sounds!