Gustav in Progress

So far, so good. The power is still on and although you can tell there's a hurricane outside, the winds haven't been dangerously excessive. I got about 5 hours sleep before the noise from outside distracted me too much. There's still about 4-5 hours to go until the storm's eye makes landfall, but we're optimistic now that we won't even lose power. That would make all the difference in the world! Even if we do lose power, it seems that everyone prepared so well for this event that the restoration effort wouldn't take weeks like it did after Katrina.

Here is a photo of the house with all the windows boarded up:

And here's one from Friday showing the primer sprayed on the walls and ceilings. You're looking in through the front door:

I'll write more later, assuming I still have power and communications.

First Impact from Gustav

About 10 mins ago (7:25pm Central time), Gustav made his first impact here. We were outside and saw the dark band of clouds coming. Suddenly, the wind went from zero to very gusty, and the rain started to pelt us. There were a few pellets of hail right off the bat.

He's heeeeeerrree!

Battening Down the Hatches!

Gustav is coming!

It's the new hurricane sensation that's sweeping the nation! (Or at least, the Louisiana part of the nation...) The storm is expected to make landfall in about 48 hours just west of the greater New Orleans area. We'll be on the east side of the storm, and that's the worst side to be on. Gustav is not a wimpy hurricane. It could be as strong as a cetegory 4 when it hits land. For the first time, I have a house to worry about during a storm. We've covered most of the windows at this point (the rest will be done tomorrow), and installed plywood covering over my 18 ft wide garage door opening.

I trust that God will take care of things. He always does, even if we have to wait for the long term to look back and see it.

My family has decided to stay put at home for this storm. It's a decision I'm not at ease with, but I want to be where my family is for this. The Katrina evacuation consisted of a 15 hour bumper-to-bumper drive and a grueling week cooped up in a small hotel room in a small town with 4 people and 2 dogs. That was followed up by a 14 hour ride home and a week doing clean-up in the sun with no electricity. This time, I guess we're hoping to avoid the evac misery and just endure life at home with no power. I do not live in an area that flooded after Katrina, and there's very little chance we would be affected by flooding this time. So I'm not worried about my new house getting damaged, unless it's by a wayward falling oak tree. Did I mention that I know God will take care of things?

Preparing for Spray Primer... and Hurricane Gustav!

It's weird... I've been at the house almost every evening doing stuff. But it's little stuff, and I can't lump it all into one category to say, "I've been working on THIS." Where does the time go? :)

Back from the Beach: Shower Install, Take One

When I got back from the beach, the guy came out to install the material on the walls of the shower. It took most of a day. He didn't do a neat job. The rear wall didn't come out flat, and it's obvious he didn't take steps to shim it out or anything. The bench seat wasn't scribed to the contour of the uneven wall, so you see a big gap in the corner. One leg of the bench seat is not squared properly. And there a couple more items that aren't right. I called, and one of the company's owners came out to look at it. He says they're going to take steps to fix it. But he's going to try to fix the back wall without removing the left and right walls. So I don't know how neat that's going to come out. We'll see.

Caulking & Attic Insulation Gaps

After placing a lot of plywood decking in the attic we moved on to other tasks, like caulking around the exterior of the windows and doors. I used gray caulk to match the color of the brick mortar. It was kind of fun doing that. We prepped for this by scaping away loose mortar and vacuuming out the dust. The actual caulking took less than a day. We finished (I think) a day before the remnants of Hurricane Fay came through and dropped a lot of rain.

I've noticed two spots in the attic that don't have insulation coverage. I've called them, and they're coming back out to patch it up. One of the areas is over the wall between the master bedroom and the patio. I can see down behind the bricks and there are spots of daylight, so I'd say that's a big weak spot in the thermal envelope!

Driveway Bid Progress

My slab guy finally came out to look at the driveway job this past Thursday. Now I'm waiting for him to get back to me with a price. I talked to him yesterday. He says he has the estimate at his office and he's supposed to call me back with it. I can't imagine that I wouldn't go with him for the job, but I got another guy from my original concrete subs list to come out and look at it also. I'm waiting on his bid also.

Flooring & Cabinet Search

I've been to a couple more flooring stores. There are a LOT of choices out there. I think I'm settling in on something that's a blend of gray and terra cotta colors. I have a couple of favorites so far, but I haven't been able to get samples of those. As for cabinets, I visited one local pre-fab custom cabinet shop. I still like the idea of having mine built from scratch. The two bids I've gotten are $11,000 and $18,000. My original estimate from Lowe's was $14,000. So the custom-built-from-scratch idea isn't out of the park on price. I'm trying to get up to Hammond (over an hour away) to visit the cheaper guy's shop and get a look at his work.

Priming Spray Prep

On Friday, I have someone coming to spray the primer coat on the ceilings and walls. We've been preparing by stuffing newspaper into wall outlet boxes and ceiling fixtures. Tonight we laid down paper on all the floors to protect from overspray, and tomorrow we'll use plastic to cover all showers and tubs.

Hurricane Gustav Prep

And the most recent development has been Hurricane Gustav, which is currently in the Carribean and forecasted to make landfall close to New Orleans early next week. My dad and I picked up plywood yesterday and made cut-outs for most of my windows. We still have two to cut.

We also picked up thinner plywood for paneling the rear garage. That's because I still have my netting on the walls holding in my cellulose insulation. If we get high winds and driving rain, that insulation will get soaked! So the idea is to stain & seal this paneling and put it up before the storm gets here.

On Friday, I was supposed to go visit the cabinet guy in Hammond. However, there are going to be a LOT of people leaving town on Friday ahead of the storm. With all that traffic congestion, I think I'm going to postpone the trip.