Well, it took a bit more than we had anticipated (I think that will be the title of our book when we're all done with this) but the house is finally painted ... almost.  Since we had rented the hydraulic lift our main focus was on the second story of the house and we can happily say that that is complete.  (A special thanks to our color guru, Colleen for guiding us around the color wheel!).  All we have left are the windows/doors on the first floor and installing the trim to the lower portion of the house.  As exhausted as we were, we actually enjoyed doing it - like Sheelagh said every day "we GET to do this"!!  The past 6 years have been a labor of love and even with the aches and pains and frustrations we know that we are SO fortunate to have this opportunity.  And we've had LOTS of help and support along the way  which is what keeps us going!  (A special thank you to our guardian angel and biggest supporter, Denise - we wouldn't be where we are today without you.) As we finish up the painting, our focus returns to plumbing, electricity and HVAC.    Stay tuned ..

We're a couple of days behind on the prep work for painting the house (thank you kidney stone - NOT!) but now we're back on track.  We're still in the process of putting the trim around the windows and caulking every crevice imaginable but we should be able to finish that tomorrow.  Then we need to prime the bare wood (window sills and eaves) and cover all windows and doors with plastic.  And, oh yeah, spray the sawdust/dirt off with the compressor hose ... and then we should be able to actually apply some color!  Here's a photo of Sheelagh and her sister Denise installing trim on the window at the top of the stairs in the master bedroom.  We rented the lift to save ourselves from having to move scaffolding and/or ladders around the house - smartest decision yet!!  (Thanks Denise, for filling in for me while I gave birth to my 4th stone!)

Sorry again for the delay in updates.  We've been crazy busy trying to coordinate the next phases (plumbing and electricity) as well as put up the trim and prep the house for painting which we're planning on doing Labor day weekend (for those that live in the area and love to paint you can take that as a subtle hint ;)   So far the most difficult part is choosing colors!  Anyway, here's a few photos of where we're at as of today.

This week's video doesn't show as much as the guys were working on the back and far side of the house.  Right now, they're continuing the work on the second story roof.  If all goes according to plan, they'll be done with the exterior by the end of this week!

OK, here's last week's progress in 2 minutes ... ENJOY!!

I'm having some issues with time lapse camera so last week's video isn't quite ready but we did have our first party in the new house over the weekend to celebrate Sheelagh's birthday!

It's only Thursday so no video yet but I wanted to post some photos of what I came home to this evening.  The siding is on the front of the house and some of the windows are in!  I think the goal for tomorrow is to finish siding the first floor and sheeting the lower portion of the roof - I can hardly wait!

Here's a few from inside ... the staircase, standing at the bottom of the stairs looking through the living room, dining area and kitchen (which will remain all open), the view from the window at the top of the stairs, and from the top of the stairs looking through the master bedroom, bath and walk in closet.

And all of this constructed by our wonderful craftsmen headed by the Boss, Mike Salmina, Salmina Construction... they're the BEST!

I know, I'm slacking in the blogging department - sorry.  Due to the changes we made, last week was a little slow which you'll see in the video.  You can watch the stairs go in and more of the upstairs walls - and the progression of the sun and it's shadows throughout the day ;)

The fire wall on the south side of the house was installed yesterday as well as the rafters up on the first floor ... we're gonna have some tall ceilings! 

Well, the progress continues - along with some changes.  We're not sure why we didn't think of this much sooner but the plan now is to make the upstairs loft the master suite (Thanks Doug!).  It threw the momentum off for a couple of days but the guys are back and on track!  The first photo is a partial view from the upstairs, then there is a view of the master suite from the top of the stairs, and then the south wall gets its own Tyvek suit (since our Parvo outbreak at work, it's the same thing we wear when cleaning and handling sick litters)!

This week's progress!!

Finally ... we have walls!!!  It's exciting but hard to believe at the same time.  We're actually going to live in a house!  The first photo is of the front of the house and the second one is the view from the front door.  WoooHooo!!

Good news - we can continue building the house!  And even better news - we get to upgrade our septic system!!  Our meeting at the county today went better than expected (which is a good thing because we were kind of preparing for the worst case scenario).  Yes, we will have to upgrade our current 2 yr old septic system with an aerating system (not sure what that all entails but we know it will involve an engineer).  But we don't have to have that finished until we have the final inspection on the house which we should be able to postpone until at least spring.  Capiche?  The main thing is that the crew can move forward on building the house and we're still on track for being able to move in before the rains start (usually late October, early November).  So (fingers crossed) the guys will be back on Monday with nail guns in hand!!

Our speed bump is now officially a road block.  For those of you that pay Sonoma County taxes, know that PRMD (Permit & Resource Management Dept) is putting your hard earned money to good use.  We've been informed that because we did not save 39% of the original structure (which was either rotten or mold ridden) we are classified as a new build and, therefore, need to upgrade our septic system.  The very same system that we installed new just 2 years ago.

Now I admit, we were trying to stretch our definition of the word "remodel".  (That was apparent whenever I spoke about it because I always used air quotes when saying the word).  That's our bad and we'll own it.  We're moving forward in researching what we need to do to upgrade our 2 yr old septic system and look forward to all the new things we'll learn ;)

In the meantime, I would like someone to explain to me a few things:
       - why would our 2 yr old septic system fulfill the requirements needed to pass inspection if we had kept 39% of a moldy, rotted house but when we try to replace the moldy, rotted part with new material all of a sudden it's not good enough?

     - why was it OK for the 15+ squatters to live here with NO running water and NO working septic system (and if it wasn't OK for them to be here, why they were allowed to stay despite the several times the police were on the property responding to disturbance calls)?

     -  even though we're paying our property taxes (and have for the past 6 1/2 years) the county is making it SO difficult for us to build a very modest house (~ 1500 sq ft) when the squatters were allowed to stay while NO ONE was paying the property taxes?

Our neighbors have told us that they're glad we bought the place and are grateful that we've worked so hard to clean the place up.  It was literally a dump before we moved here.  We paid to have 5 abandoned cars removed.  We ourselves hauled away at least 20 old appliances (refrigerators, washers, dryers, dish washers ...).  We cut up and hauled away 2 trailers and one of those campers that fits over a pick-up truck.  We've picked up (and continue to find) endless amounts of trash as we plant trees and a garden, and install fencing to create a pasture for our horses.  Everyday we pick up glass that we find from the broken out windows of those abandoned cars, broken bottles and who knows what else.  We are responsible, contributing members of the community.  We don't have a lot of money and what we do have we're trying to put towards building a simple home - is that too much to ask for?

We're going back to the county to present our case next week when the supervisor for the Well & Septic division of PRMD returns from vacation.  Until then, the materials to frame and enclose the place will just sit here.

Stay tuned ...

Well, we have come to expect them along the way - speed bumps.  With the holiday weekend coming up and a few snags with the county work has been put on hold until the middle of next week.  Stay tuned.

So the rough plumbing went in on Friday.  Goodbye copper pipes, hello Pex!  And now that we have half of the flooring insulation in it's supposed to rain tomorrow.  Thank you Mother Nature!

Week 1 progress

Well, after a few technical difficulties with the video, here's the progress the guys made this week.

All of the rough plumbing is in, Sheelagh, Denise (her sister) and I will install the flooring insulation today.   Once the county comes out to inspect the sub floor (hopefully Monday or Tuesday), it's time for the walls to go up!

First day's progress

As much as I love quiet, I don't mind hearing the sounds of construction the first thing in the morning - power saws, hammering, that funny noise a nail gun and compressor make.  Of course, we'll see how I feel in about 6 weeks.  But given that the first delivery was not complete and that summer decided to arrive with little warning (it was about 95* yesterday and today is slated to be even hotter!), the guys have actually started building our house!!  We've set up a time lapse camera and I'll post a short video at the end of each week but here's what things looked like first thing this morning.

One lesson we've learned (over and over again) is that nothing is as easy as you think it should be.  Over the weekend, we were working in the yard and I wanted to move (finally) the two pallets of brick leftover from the foundation.  I was even resigned to go into zen mode and move them by hand.  But then Sheelagh suggested renting a forklift from the rental yard just down the street and saving all that energy (and Ibuprofen) for one of the other hundred or so jobs on the list.  So I phone, and sure no problem come on down and pick one up.  When I get there and I explain to the guy what I need it for (I would be driving it on grass and dirt and not on concrete) he tells me the one in the yard probably wouldn't work that well.  But he was just going to pick up another one that had big wheels that would work much better and he could drop it off on his way back.  Great (I think)!  I'll see you in a couple of hours.  So sure enough, a couple of hours later he phones back and tells me to meet him at the end of the driveway (it's a long one) and he'll show me how the thing works.  Perfect (I think)!  Now mind you, the whole time I had envisioned one of those forklifts you see at Home Depot or Costco.

Of course, my vision was a little off.  I was laughing so hard at first I could  hardly see through the tears!!  But after much trial and error (and more laughter) the bricks got moved.  See?  Piece of cake!                                                                                   

Let the building begin! (well, almost)

It's hard to believe that this will be turned into the beginning of our house (up to the sub floor).  We've waited sooo long (7 years but who's counting)!  We've gotten alot accomplished in those 7 years ...

                                                        we've cut up some trailers ...

 

and hauled away some trash ...

                                                                 dug a new water well ...

      put in a new septic system ...

and built our own outhouse ...

We never expected it to take this long but it's been said that good things come to those who wait.  Monday morning the crew will be here to get it all started!  Stay tuned ...