After having looked at an empty shell of a building plus a lot of rough framing for the past nearly two years, I felt a very strong urge to see the walls go up. However, we also needed to get all the wiring and plumbing infrastructure finished. While we have had a very dependable person doing the wiring while we've been gone, the plumbing has been a bit of a problem. We had one plumber who did the work for the rough plumbing before the slab was poured. Some of those items we put in the wrong place. They now have to be fixed including busting up some concrete to move a toilet and get the main bath tub plumbing in the right spot. We arranged to have a plumber come to work and he did some very good work for a couple of days, but very sadly (even though he was a healthy looking 26 year old) had a heart attack and died. All of us involved in the project were very saddened by this event. We did arrange for a replacement and did all the plumbing relocation. A this point, I felt that we had worked two hard weeks and were about four weeks behind the schedule I wanted. It was appearing likely that we wouldn't have a livable house by the end of March. But I had learned a few valuable lessons: First - Enjoy each day the best you can, even when things don't go well as you never know which day will be your last. Second - be very flexible in your approach to the schedule and build in contingencies and alternative approaches as required. Third - keep a positive attitude and get as much done as you can each day and be happy with whatever you get done. It was obvious to me that getting this house done will be a marathon - not a sprint.
Here are some pictures of the progress with completing the walls:
We had to leave the big vaulted ceiling in the living room and kitchen open as we had yet to get the foam insulation crew scheduled and given the tightness of the space between the rafters and the roof, we felt it better to leave it open until after foaming. A few days later, though, the foaming was completed:
The weather during this period was exemplary. I'd like to take credit for planning the heaviest part of the construction during some of the most pleasant weather of the year, but it was just the way it worked out. Temperatures during the day were mid-60's to mid-70's and overnight in the low 50's with an occasional low in the 40's. I noticed, immediately, that the new foam insulation would make a big difference. Prior to the foam, I would go from the trailer into the house early in the morning to get things ready for the work day and it would be definitely cool (reflecting the cool outside temperature). The first morning after the foam, I walked into the house and it was noticeably warmer. It had only dropped 2-3 degrees inside the house overnight (about 10-15 degrees warmer than before). I was excited about this event as it meant that our house would be very comfortable all year round and that our energy usage would be much lower than had we not done it.
Once the foam was done, we were able to quickly "button up" the ceiling as seen below:
This exercise was not without drama though. First, I had a worker who spent more time on the phone (while trying to tape and plaster) than most bookies. Who knows what he was up to but the quality of his work was definitely below par and difficult to correct as he was also very argumentative. I often felt like I was in an episode of Kitchen Nightmares (Gordon Ramsey show) while working with this guy. Also, it turned out that the framing work done nearly two years ago had been done poorly and also not well stabilized so that there was rarely a square or plumb wall or joint in the house. Not only did this cause problems in finishing the wall board, but really put the pressure on the finishing work later on. The lesson here was never allow a significant piece of work to be done without direct and continuous supervision. Workers do what you inspect, not what you expect.
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