Electrical Rough-in

My electrician and his helper worked half a day on Friday and all day today. They were able to wire most of the electrical stuff in the house. That leaves the structured wiring (telephone, cable, and data) in the house (and the power to the garage) for them to finish up this coming Friday or so. I have some homework to do in deciding what I want run to which box. Some will get just a telephone and data jack. Others will get multiple data lines, or a coax cable hookup, etc.

I finally got the plumber on the phone today. He wants to meet me at the house tomorrow to give me a list of stuff I need to buy in the next few days as he starts his rough-in.

My parents and I cleaned up the yard of all the scrap lumber and some lumber I need to send back. We also broke up some excess concrete that had been puddled in the front yard on the day of the slab pour.

I noticed today that the framers installed a window in the wrong place. There are two identical windows in a row next to the back door. One has tempered glass, and it needs to be the one right next to the door. They put the other one next to the door, so they'll need to swap them out.

We also built up the level of my kitchen island bar to 44 inches. The framer had built it to about 41 inches. This didn't leave enough space to comfortably fit the outlets in the backsplash. We added a couple of layers of 2x4s to the top to make up the 3 inches.

It rained for a while this afternoon, and my friend spotted a leak in the felted roof over the fridge in the kitchen. I'm glad I found that early and can let my roofer (whoever that will be) know about it. I've gotten two bids in for roofing so far. Another has measured and I'm expecting a bid from him. And I also want to try the people who did my rear neighbor's roof. They did a good job.

I really gotta post some more pictures...

Rough-ins Commencing

My HVAC sub started his rough-in on Wed. of this week. The plumber was supposed to start this week, but I haven't heard anything definite. With only one day left, I'm not sure if that'll happen. My electrician is starting tomorrow.

The AC guys have the air handler, the plenums, and some of the flex duct run in the attic. I decided to go with an electronic air filter. It is expensive at $980, but in the overall cost of the house this isn't much. I'm considering this to be one of the perks of owner-building: you get to upgrade some things because of the money you save. And I think this will help keep the air cleaner, which means less dusting and cleaning for me to do! Over the life of the house, that's worth it to me.

I bought all my electrical wire, as per my agreement with the electrician. He estimated it would cost me under $1,000. It actually cost me $1,800 for the bulk of it. I haven't bought the main breaker panel or the sub-panel for the garage, not to mention each breaker that goes in them. He's from the Northshore, and everything seems to run cheaper up there.

I bought the gable vents today, and the framers installed them. They also installed the pocket doors I bought on Tuesday. In fact, the framers are pretty much done. I love my framers. They even put blocking in the walls where I'll need to screw the top and bottom of my kitchen wall cabinets. They are very tight and thorough.

I've fallen behind in ordering my exterior doors. I still haven't done it. This may set me back a week or so as far as getting the brick layer in to start his work. I've only been concentrating on the doors part time, and only on the fancy front door (the double doors with an eyebrow arch across the top). The one I really wanted isn't available in the width I need, which is a double 2'-8" door. The ones in this range don't appeal to me as much as far as the window shapes and glass. They range in price from $1,800 to $4,600. Anyway, I need to get my doors ordered fast!

Felt on the Roof

The framers finished the plywood and felt on the roof of the house this Friday (3/21). They also put the housewrap on the house. Now it's ready for the other subs to come do their rough-ins. My AC guy will call Monday morning to let me know what day he can start. It looks like the plumber will come in after him. And my electrician is hoping to get in there this Friday and Saturday. We'll see if that all pans out...

They still need to put the roof and the wrap on the Garage. The windows will be delivered this Tuesday, because that's when the framer said he'd be ready for them. I paid the framer his first $10,000 on Friday.

I went to Lowe's this week to buy all the wiring my electrician told me to get. Total cost: $1,800!

I've been looking again at front entry doors. I can get one for around $1,800 - 2,000, but it doesn't have the window configuration I like. It is however, narrow enough. I can't have two 36" doors. I need more like 32". The ones with my preferred windows are too wide (and too expensive at $46,00)!

I've got 2 insulation bids. Both around $9,000. I have one roofing bid so far, with another one scheduled to come out and measure this week.

Framing Almost Complete

Wow, it's been almost a month since my last post! Framing started on Feb. 28 (the same day as the New Orleans Home & Garden Show). They put up the two longest side walls in two days. I went on a cruise the next week (March 3-8). Before I left, I managed to order my windows. I went with vinyl windows by Showcase.

While on the cruise, I missed a lot of the framing of the walls. When I came back, I was swept up in a whirlwind. I've researched exterior doors, looked at shingles, hunted for a roofer, and talked with the framer about a few minor changes. I also drove all over the place looking at brick on houses. I was trying to figure out why a brick called Cedar Bayou looked different from one house to another. I liked one version of it, but not the other. It turns out that the makers of that brick changed how they make it. I happen to like the old version, and it's not available anymore. I wish someone would have told me that before I drove around for two days!

So I went back to a showroom to see what else was available. I found that Magnolia Blend was very similar to Cedar Bayou. Of course, it's more expensive and it's only found on 3 houses across the entire area. One is over an hour away, one is in a bad neighborhood, and the other is in English Turn (an exclusive neighborhood on the other side of creation). So one afternoon was devoted to driving out there. It does look very similar to Cedar Bayou. Here's a comparison:

Magnolia Blend is a bit more brown, but overall it's a mix of similar colors. Cedar Bayou was a bit more gray. I like the trim on the Magnolia Blend house. It has tan overhangs with chocolate colored gutters. My windows and garage doors will be tan as well.

I upgraded from regular Tyvek housewrap to something called Tyvek Thermawrap. It's their radiant barrier version, which means that the outside has a foil layer. This should add one or two points of R value to the foam I'll have in the walls. It was more expensive ($635 instead of $480), but I think it'll be worth it.

So here's the house as of Friday afternoon. You can see all the walls are finished. They've completed the ceiling joists and about half the roof rafters. As soon as they finish the rafters and put the plywood and felt up there, I can start bringing in my subs to do the rough ins for HVAC, plumbing and electrical: