The list is shrinking...

A lot has been done out at the house since we were there on Friday. The painting is done, the closets all have shelves, and a few more lights are up.

The concrete was poured yesterday or today; it was difficult to tell which day they did it, but it looked wet.
This concrete pad is for equipment outside the garage.
The back entrance to the mudroom also has a concrete pad.
And there is a concrete pad in the back outside the door and garage door...

We were surprised to find that the sidewalk sloped right up to the front porch/door. We thought there would be a couple of steps up to the porch. If we ever need wheelchair accessibility, this will work out great!
Out back, they figured out how to connect the downspout to the drain that was about 6' away from the downspout...
All the freshly poured concrete made it interesting to try to get into the house, but we were resourceful and made our way inside!

We now know what the portable AC unit was for that I found in the garage the other day - it was hooked up and running to air out the house from all the fumes caused from the sealing of the hardwood floors and to cut down on the humidity so the floors would dry faster.
The hardwood floors look great! We think that they need another coat of sealer before they'll be done. The wood is cumaru, otherwise known as Brazilian Teak.
Someone with very large feet left their footprints on the hardwood!

The light for over the table had been hung. This photo is looking out the family room windows toward the back of the house...
I don't know if this will be an issue, or not. We noticed that the holes in the granite for the kitchen sink faucet were very close to the wall. There will be a granite backsplash behind the sink and it doesn't look like there will be room for the faucet to fit once the granite backsplash is in place. The other possible problem is that the wood trim underneath the window may interfere with the faucet. I'm sure that it's something we can figure out a work-around for if we need to - we just need to keep an eye on it. The cement truck dumped the last of the concrete next to the driveway, which didn't seem like a very good place for it. It will probably be covered by dirt, but may interfere with drainage along the driveway.
So, here is the list that I made back on July 1st of all the things that still needed to be done at the house. It was too depressing to list it back then, but many of the items are now complete, so I'll post it. Items completed as of today are marked in green...

septic tank

gas lines

furnace

A/C

painting

kitchen - granite, finish work, vent fan, pulls, granite backsplash, appliances

plumbing

electrical - lights/fans, valance lights

gutters

brick/stone/pillars

driveway - concrete, gravel

grading - rough, topsoil

sewing studio - knobs/pulls, upper crown moulding on cabinets

master bath - grout, finish shower, cabinets, glass doors, baseboard stone, granite

stained woodwork on great room walls

closet shelves/rods

pantry shelves

stain front door

paint garage doors, install gaskets

grab bars on guest tub

shower curtain rods in 2 bathrooms

stairs

fix vanity granite backsplash in kids' bathroom

top for windowseat

doors on bookcase shelves in great room

doorknobs

There are still quite a few things to finish, some by the builder and some by the KD, but the list is a lot smaller now than it was 2 weeks ago. The builder estimates that he can be done by midweek next week, but the KD won't be done by then with the kitchen and master bathroom.

Countdown to move day: 14 days and counting!

More progress...

DH and I met the builder out at the property today to discuss some elevation issues. The driveway was covered in rocks 2/3 of the length and they had started digging out for the foundation since I was last out there 2 days ago. What a lot of MUD! I bought boots the other day after being out there and getting my shoes all mud, but today was worse. The ground was partially frozen the other day and now it's wet and gunky. I had brought a couple of grocery bags to put my boots in after I took them off, but DH had to try to get most of the mud off his boots before getting in his car.

Ray (the builder) wants to pour the foundation this week, as the temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-40s to low-50s. We discussed the elevation issues with him and they are easily resolved. He was just trying to follow the elevations listed on the blueprints by our architect and would have needed a lot of fill in order to make it work that way. He's going to adjust the position of the house by lowering it, and by rotating it slightly and that will give him enough fill to solve the problem.

Here are some more photos...

DH walking toward the cleared area where the house will be...

Hard to see from this angle, but there is about a 4' drop at the end of these tire tracks...

This angle shows the "pit" a bit better...

Here is a photo taken from the right end of the dug-out area. You can see the drop-off better from here...

Looking back toward the driveway from inside the foundation area. The pile of dirt is topsoil which will be used after the house is built to level out the landscape. The wooden stakes are marking the garage area...

This pile of brush is still smoldering...

We had a meeting with the Pella window saleman this morning to get some of our questions answered. We are going with the Pella windows and are waiting for a quote on a wooden front door which we should have by Monday. We will probably go with a putty color on the outside of the aluminum-clad windows.

Hallelujah! We've started!

DS and I drove out to the property today to see if anything had been done. We were very pleasantly surprised to see equipment there, the road in, trees down, and brush being burned. I didn't see anyone around, but because it was so muddy and I was unprepared for it, I didn't wander around much. Either the guys were on the far side of the property or taking a lunch break. I stayed long enough to take some photos and then left. (It is about a 30 minute drive from our current house to the property where we're building, so I don't know how often I'll get out there to take photos. I'd love to go every day, but that probably isn't feasible.)

Here are some of the photos I took:

This was taken from the private road that our property is located on, looking down toward where the house will be located.

Dirt was piled up alongside the driveway on each side.

Equipment at the turn in the driveway - the driveway will curve to the left before arriving at the location of the house.


Down around the curve, it looks like some of the brush is being burned off...


Big equipment!

Tree trunks from the trees that had to be cut down...
Looks like one of the trees with the funny trunks is safe!

Trees, trees, and more trees!

DH met the builder at the property on Saturday morning and they walked around marking which trees need to be taken down. Most of the trees that have to be removed are scrubby trees, so it will actually look better with them gone. We can see the river again now that the leaves are off the trees. The builder previously had been unable to see the river - I think he's now fallen in love with our property!

We are hoping for the driveway to go in today or tomorrow. I think the builder is still waiting on the bank for the go-ahead. The bank sends someone out to take photos of the property to make sure that the builder hasn't done any work yet - something to do with making sure no one can put a lien on it. Once the photos are taken, the builder can start the project. The photographer actually went out to take photos and couldn't locate our property, so instead of calling someone for directions, he just left -- so we wait some more...

We have a light snow falling here today and lots of wind. It wouldn't be very nice weather for anyone to be out working on our house anyway. :-)

I think I've found my kitchen sink. There are a couple of sinks by Blanco, made of Silgranit, that I like the size of. Here is the one on the top of my list:

Overall Dimensions Length 37"" Width 20" Bowl Depths 9-1/2"; each bowl is about 18" square.

We will need to change the currently planned cabinet to a wider one to accomodate this sink, but there is a smaller cabinet to the left of the sink that we can get rid of in order to make this one larger, so it shouldn't be a problem. I also need to decide on the color of Silgranit that I want to use.

We have an appointment to meet with the Pella window rep on Saturday to finalize the windows and doors and the colors.