Finishing the House - the First Steps

With a very tight time schedule - six weeks to get from rough framing to a livable house, I went quickly to work talking to various sub-contractors previously involved in the project.  I had already paid for a few things in advance - the insulation, sheet rock and texturing and a foam insulation of the inside of the metal building on the envelope around the house.  Getting those scheduled would be the first step.  I was hopeful the insulation, sheet rock and even the foam would have been done prior to my arrival but that wasn't to be. 

Feeling the pressure from the schedule, I wasn't happy with having to do about 2 weeks of work I anticipated would be done before I arrived.  However, I learned a very important lesson - schedules aren't the most important element in a project like this.  Schedules are important because otherwise things don't get completed, but doing things correctly is the most important variable in a project like this.  Also, time to evaluate the work that's been done, what remains to be done and how best to do it is really important.  While waiting for various people to arrange their schedules to get the sheet rock and insulation done, I engaged a subcontractor to do some paving on the property.  As could be seen from some of the earlier blog entries, the soil on our property is exceptionally sandy.  And the clay we used to firm up the roads for bringing in construction equipment and even my and contractors' coming and going could get very sticky in rainy conditions.  Also, we needed concrete pads for the travel trailer (it wouldn't stay permanently inside the garage), the cistern (yet to be required but necessary as part of the water supply system), a driveway area in front of the garages on which to park our vehicles and contractors' vehicles and a large outdoor patio and entertainment area that will provide a vital family gathering area in the future.  Getting these various areas poured would provide some needed "hard scape" on which to park, put the camper when the time comes and put the cistern once we get it on site.  The work on this project also diverts my frustration from not having the insulation and sheet rock done.  More important, the delay allows me time to inspect the wiring (coming along nicely but still needs a few days to finish before sheet rock covers up the walls) and plumbing (very poorly done and in need of a lot of work).  More on these projects in a moment but first, some pictures of the concrete preparation and pouring work.

With the various pads we have now, the infrastructure is well in place for the additional traffic we'll have over the next few weeks.  Also, we have a pad for the camper.  I'll have to get water and electricity up there, but we will have a permanent home and a place for the camper.  We also have a pad for the cistern (which should arrive in a couple of weeks), a new walkway for the front of the house and a very large driveway on which to park our vehicles and where various tradesmen can park their vehicles during construction.  Finally, we a huge (46' diameter circle) beautiful patio among my favorite stand of live oaks.  While this patio will serve little value in the short term, it will provide a very large long term benefit and since we were pouring all the other projects anyway, I felt it a good use of time and money to go ahead and pour that slab now.

Now that we have this concrete project done, we'll get back to finishing the plumbing, electrical and doing the insulation and sheet rock.