Carrie's Building Journey

Roughed in plumbing has been done, cabinet layout chalked on the floor, septic connected (electrical still needed), shower stall in Master, shower/tub combo in shared upstairs bathroom. Windows and doors are onsite.

I freaked out a little because the windows are supposed to be black and when they were being unloaded, all I saw was white. After they left, I looked and they are white on the inside and black on the outside. Some of these windows are gigantic! All of them are beautiful. Downstairs windows are double hung, upstairs are sliding. Some new rule came along saying we needed 5’ egress from upstairs windows so they had to either make the windows smaller or make them sliders. I went with sliders. The window panes will look the same from the outside.

My 12 x 36 shed should arrive by this Saturday. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but that’s been postponed. Inspection for the roof is happening tomorrow (so the builder can get more money), blocks delivered for the shed today…what else have I been juggling….life, work, professional development, motherhood. Guess that’s it.

Crews have been working 7 days a week, or at least that’s what it seems like. Framing is mostly done, Trusses are up, porch roof is up and roofing started this week.

Framing is starting on the second floor. The first floor has interior framing mostly done. I walked through yesterday after the crew left (still wore required PPE, even without anyone there, though). It’s SO NICE to see it coming together! I can “see” the rooms on the main floor now.

In above photo, Master bedroom is on right side, dining room in middle with a door out to the future covered porch, living room on left side. It was so hard to find a plan with living spaces towards the front of the house.

This photo shows why the living spaces needed to be in the front. That right window is the living room with that view.

In addition to building this house, I’m working on getting a permit for a 12×36 shed. I have to wait until the county opens up for new construction. This will help get my stuff out of storage and move household items from the red barn shed to the new shed.

New crew started Friday, May 15th AND worked today, on a Saturday. I see some walls going up for the 1st floor! Whooooo hoooooooo!

Project manager contacted me and said we are on pause. Inspection for the floor took a couple days longer than expected, which is required before they can move on to walls. And one of the framers needs to isolate as he is having symptoms. JOY! As of yesterday, ETA to completion was November 8th. Will restart my count when the project restarts.

Framing started on May 4th. The floor joists are in and trusses are to be there by the 18th. The goal is to have all framing done by the 18th, ready for trusses. No work has happened yesterday or today, so I checked with the project manager. They say that’s based on scheduling and maybe they are ahead of schedule. The construction crew/anyone on site must wear gloves, eye protection and a mask. Everyone must stay 6’ apart.

If the original timeline stands and there are no further delays, my ETA to completion is November 8th. I REALLY want to be in before the holidays. I have a backup plan, and a backup plan for my backup plan, but not really sure whether I want to do it or not as it means more money out of pocket and/or living somewhere I really don’t want to.

My project is now on hold until May 4th. This puts my ETA for move in to November. My son and I went out to the property yesterday as the sun was out. We had a picnic out there and put the plastic back over the dirt piles since they had blown off with a windstorm we had last week. It was so peaceful. I don’t regret buying the property, just wish it wasn’t taking so effing long!

I’ve been renting for 18 months now. Some things I’ve learned as a renter:

• I hate renting – I don’t like my living arrangement being at the whim of someone else. I moved from the last place since the owner planned to sell and having to find a place within 30 days with a child and a dog was risky. The current rental owner is considering selling, however, this time, my lease protects me until my house is done. Even if they sell, the buyer has to honor the lease or they could offer me compensation to move out. So, it’s possible we will have to move a 2nd and 3rd time before moving into our house.
• I don’t like sharing a wall —especially when it wasn’t meant to be two different families living there, meaning sound proofing is minimal. I cannot have a conversation in my current home and expect it to be private. I hear things I shouldn’t hear…..I’ll just leave it at that.
• Cleanliness – Everyone has different expectations. My previous rental, the owner expected me to clean the gutters. This one barely cleaned before I moved in so I ended up cleaning the move out and the move in. I am unable to use the oven because when you turn on self-clean, which I did once, it catches on fire. I won’t use the dishwasher because it’s disgusting and I think it will end up dirtying the dishes more than washing them. Could I clean both, probably, but I have yet to find the motivation to do so, when they were left that way. If you are going to rent, the house should be SPOTLESS, appliances clean, cupboards cleaned, drawers clean. It should be ready to go for the next occupant, not have your dust/dirt/crumbs/etc. everywhere.
• Home maintenance – people don’t maintain their homes. If you’ve owned your home for 10 years, it probably needs painting, updating, and other minor things that go a long way. Touch up the baseboards and other areas that are worn! Take care of your appliances. If door knobs are loose, tighten them up. If doors rub the frame, fix it! If you have to wiggle a kitchen drawer to get it to open or close, FIX IT. If you blew out an electrical outlet and it’s now black because it burnt up, REPLACE IT! If the smoke detector needs batteries, REPLACE THEM. There are youtube videos out there on just about any topic around home maintenance. Or, hire someone. And if all of these are in your home, my opinion is you must fix these BEFORE you rent to someone.

Rant over. I hope everyone is staying healthy and well out there! I’m grateful to have a roof over my head, food and our health.

Per our Governor’s order, my project is shutdown for 2 weeks. Residential building is non-essential. Even though that means people technically could not have a home. My lease is up August 1st and I really don’t want to rent again. I’m already thinking of a backup plan. Not 100% sure what it is yet, but I’m allowed a guest house between 300-1000 square feet so that might be an option.

By the end of today, the septic will be installed, drain field is already in, downspouts and footer drains are in, driveway cut in, backfill done and they leveled the lot quite a bit, which was nice.

So far, no delays on the project (knock on wood). I’m feeling very overwhelmed with all that’s going on with this virus —worried about my parents, worried about my kids, worried about myself, worried about small businesses, about the economy, and now having to try to incorporate teaching my child while working from home….it’s a lot. And I only have one child, who is 11 and can do things somewhat independently. I can only imagine families with multiples or toddlers.

I’m hoping all of you are safe and well. We can get through this!

Foundation has been poured. Next week, permanent utility trenching, septic can be installed and backfill can be completed. After this, comes framing!