One Day...

and the frame for the deck is up!!

Team Burger was out Saturday to help get the posts up and W2's folks came out to get the scaffolding set up. We were able to get everything prepped on Saturday which saved us 3 hours on Sunday.

We started work at 9 a.m. and W2 and I attached the last joist supports at 7:30 pm. It was a very long, but very productive day. We had the help of 6 extra guys, plus W2, his dad and myself. I didn't do much on the deck until the end of the day because they all knew what they were doing and I didn't. I mowed the lawn, dragged copious amounts of brush to the burn barrel and cleaned the addition in preparation for the insulation and sheet rocking that started today.

The deck is huge. You could comfortably fit 4 full patio furniture sets on the large section and another one on the smaller section that wraps around the side. It's like a football field. But it does fit the house and that's what counts, right? W2 continues to awe and astound me with his vision. I'm truly just along for the ride, oh and to fetch tools and clean up!

I'll get up pictures soon. I promise.

Up goes the deck

So the decking got delivered on Thursday and we start construction today. I'm headed home to pull down the last of the ceiling in the hallway to our bedroom and haul away doors prior to Team Burger arriving this afternoon.

Once again we are blessed by family and friends pitching in to help get it done. I find myself with a new friend from work, Rasta, who will be pitching in today and tomorrow. Amazing!

Thanks to the Universe for the help and the hope!

Plumbing frustrations

W2 has been pushed outside his knowledge and comfort zones time and time again as we have travelled the path of rehabilitation on our home. He thoughtfully ponders challenges, reads the stack of home improvement books we have acquired and ultimately figures out how to move forward. He is amazing. Many of us when presented with the challenge of installing a bathtub and plumbing it, or installing a dishwasher and wiring it would back off. Maybe call someone for help, hire someone who is certified to do it. We don't have that option so he just plods along and figures it out.

Last night we were racing against losing light and we ran into a hitch. One of the sharkbites would not release and we needed to disconnect some of the copper pipe we (I say we, but I mean W2) had previously installed. He tried everything and finally ended up cutting off the pipe. Which still didn't work. He had to take the whole thing apart, take it into the hall where we had light and wrestle with it some more, before it finally released. And then, he had to rebuild the whole fecking thing! It was painful to see his frustration and know that I could offer no intelligence or assistance. Now don't get me wrong, I held the pliers firmly and turned when told, but I was of little help. I hate to see him get that frustrated, because I don't ever want him to lose sight of his accomplishments. They are vast.

I merrily continued to hammer in the safety plates over all of the beams that wires run through as he threw things and took timeouts. What I learned last night is we cannot work with lights on in the back until the sheet rock is up for fear a building inspector may happen to drive by and then start to ask questions. Apparently even though we didn't put the addition on the house, we are moving forward and apparently that requires the building permit. I am so confused on what does and does not require paperwork. Regardless, we can't work after we lose light, which is very restricting since I don't get home some nights until 6:30. I am making a huge effort to get out at 5:30 until we get the sheet rock up, so we have as much time as possible.

On another note, W2 went to the new bank yesterday and they were very positive about the refinance. Next week he will go back to sit down and do all of the paperwork.

Oh, and W2 finished hard wiring the dishwasher last night so we can finally use it. The corner cabinet still does not open so I will call the installer to have him come take a look.

Another productive night, that wasn't productive enough in W2's eyes. We're closing in on the finish line, we just have to have the energy to do it!

The deck was delivered

W2 ordered the supplies for the deck yesterday at 3:00 p.m. When we got home last night at 5:30 it was there. All of it. It was rather impressive. Curtiss Lumber has definitely done right by us on this one.

I continue to fight with Home Depot over the poor design for the kitchen. The refrigerator door can't open all the way because it hits the molding to the door into the dining room and once we installed the dishwasher I can no longer open the corner cabinet. Someone is coming out to look at it at the end of this week. I wasn't going to make stink, since it is people I used to work with and all, but we've spent too much money to not be able to utilize all of the space and the appliances correctly. So stink, I will make.

The heating duct work is coming along and should be finished today. The stuff we need finished in order to close in the walls. W2 and I will finish wiring, finish installing the bathtub, install the exhaust fans and lights in the bathroom, move a ceiling fan box to over our bed and get ready to close up the walls.

The next few days and weeks will be totally hectic but we're closing in on it and have tentatively scheduled our housewarming party!

Team Bright and the bathtub

I put out a panicked call to my sister on Thursday when my father in law started saying that he might not be able to help with the deck if it rained on the weekend between then and May 18th. I was in a panic because he is the only one that knows how to build a second story deck. My brother in law built their deck, so grasping at straws, I called in the hopes that they might be available to help us get this done.

I didn't hear back until today, but when she called she had come up with the plan that the whole family, Team Bright, would come down today, work through this afternoon, evening and tomorrow morning to help us get done whatever they could, prior to meeting up with my folks for lunch tomorrow. She even suggested that maybe my folks could come up and we'd have Mother's day together before we have to head over to my in-laws to celebrate Mother's day and W2's dad's birthday tomorrow evening. It won't help us get the deck done, but it will get a ton of other things accomplished.

This kind of thinking blows me away, and makes me feel incredibly blessed. I am at work and W2 is home working alone. We thought I would only be working a half day, which was bad enough, but yesterday learned I am working full days on Saturday's. That threw a total kink in W2's plans, and mine as well. Also, completely limits what can be accomplished.

Now we will have reinforcements and may have some real progress. W2's mom delivered our tub for the master bath last night and then we all headed up to the Evil Orange Box for plumbing supplies. W2 should be able to get the tub plumbed in and possibly installed today.

Maybe with the help of Mr. Bright we will be able to finish putting the kitchen floor down, thus allowing us to install our new dishwasher that was delivered last week. Mom and Dad bought us the dishwasher as a housewarming gift. Thank you very much Mom and Dad.

I am feeling frustrated to be at work, but thankful beyond measure for Team Bright and their willingness to pitch in. So thankful there really aren't words to describe it.

Magic Closet be gone

We at Casa Su Rehab have called the little closet in the offisery the magic closet since we purchased the house. It was named this as it is the door that allows you entrance to the upstairs part of the addition. Without opening the door, you would not know that there was more to the house than meets the eye.

Last night W2 and I tore out the Magic Closet as well as the closet that was at the end of the hall. So now when you get to the top of the stairs and look to the left there is, what appears to be, an enormous hallway to, what will soon be the master suite. As is the norm with this house, we were amazed at the lack of construction skills the last owners had. They had used 1.5" screws to go through 1.5" boards when building the closet at the end of the hall. And one nail installed from the attic down was holding the frame for said closet in place. Amazing that nothing fell apart. But we've thought that time and again during this process.

Tonight will be spent hauling away the sheet rock removed in last nights project, burning the un-recyclable lumber and vacuuming all of the dust the project created. Tomorrow W2 will do a million small tasks such as finishing the windows in the dining room, so I can paint the trim and finish that room, for good! Putting outlet covers on, finish installing the fan ceiling boxes, finish putting the safety brackets on all of the beams that electrical wire runs through, straighten out the debris from all of the above mentioned projects. On Sunday we will install the tub in the master bath, that is, if my in laws actually bring it out to the house as they have said they would.

Our lists are long, but we are crossing things off daily. Making progress!

it's been a while

Things at Casa su Rehab are insane. The bank has basically told us that regardless of giving us the extension, they have no intention of giving us anymore money because they don't think we are working fast enough. The root of the problem is that they want us to do the bare minimum to make the house habitibal. We are trying to do things right, not the bare minimum. This is a major difference in approach and has caused all of our problems.

So the plan as it stands is get everything done by June 1st, go to another bank and refinance. Can't refinance if the house isn't finished. So we are barrelling ahead. And it's too much to type at this time. So I'll save it for another day.