Taping and Mud

Hello once again everyone,

Not quite as long between posts this time. I had a wonderful week in Georgia with Chris, Blayne, Tyler, Kelsey and Maya. We went shopping one day while the kids were in school and I found a couple of new "favorite" stores that we don't have here in Oregon. We also went to Tyler's State Championship Swim Meet. He and his team did very well and I was thrilled to be able to share it with them. Tyler turned 15 while I was there and we had a couple of birthday parties for him.....one family party and one friends and neighbors party. Great fun! Other than that the rest of our time was spent quietly at home just enjoying one another, playing cards, talking, lots of laughing, going for walks and staying up way too late.
Chris leaves again on Sunday and the family was already beginning to feel the sadness of it. The time at home seems to go so much more quickly than the time he's away. We will be praying, staying busy, emailing and looking forward to his 4 month visit next time.
While I was gone they finished the drywall and when I returned they began the 2 week long, very slow process of taping and mudding, preparing the walls for texture.
We're at a place in the process now that causes the house to take on a whole different look every time they finish the next step.
When they get the texture done, we will paint the inside and then begin laying tile. The carpet and countertops are ordered, the cabinets are done and all are just waiting to install. Here are a few pictures of the taping process..............a very messy house, these guys just leave everything around and I'm just waiting until they are out of here to even begin cleaning up after them.
Until the next step, we pray God's blessing for each one of you.

The shop, down in the basement. We have a couple of heaters in the house to speed up the mud drying process.

The unfinished basement, at least until the commercial carpet is installed and we do our own drywall down there. Those are some of the interior doors they haven't installed yet.

The shop with the little storage under the stairs.

The basement stairs..........we decided while we had the carpet installers out here we might as well go ahead and carpet the basement stairs and the basement since we will eventually finish it.

Front corner of the master bedroom.

Side wall of the master bedroom.

From the top landing looking down into the entryway/foyer.

Fireplace in the familyroom.

Entry hall and stairway going down to the basement.

Familyroom/Greatroom from the edge of the kitchen island.

It's about time!

Hello again everyone,
It's hard to believe how much time has gone by since my last post and it seems things had come to a complete standstill but we had to wait for the builder to work out a few "issues" with the county inspectors.
So...............when I say, "It's about time", I'm gently reminded, that we walk through this life in HIS time. Therefore we are where HE wants us to be at this time and we are thankful.
With all the rough-in plumbing, electrical and mechanical done and passed inspection we have moved on to insulation. WOW! It made it so much warmer inside and deafeningly quiet. Besides what is required for code, exterior and roof, we had all the floors, bedrooms and bathrooms soundproof insulated.
We hoped to get insulation inspection today but in the slowed economy, even the county inspectors got their hours cut and don't work on Friday anymore so we wait until Monday.
In the meantime, we will have sheetrock delivered today in preparation for hanging as soon as the inspection is done on Monday. That crew said they will be done with the whole house in two days, tape and texture next and that will take about a week. Then the flurry of our part begins!
We will need to paint the entire interior and tile the floors in the entry, kitchen, bathrooms and the shower and around the jacuzzi in the master bath.
We are close to the finishing work and it is getting very exciting. The cabinet builder called and told us he had stain and finish coat on two of the bathrooms and we could come out and see them if we wanted..............they are beautiful! He has all the kitchen and bathrooms built, getting ready to stain and finish coat them, wow, I'm going to have lots of storage space. The kitchen staining process will take quite a bit more time because I'm having him put a coffee colored antiquing gel coat stain on after the wood stain. Requires time putting it on and rubbing it off but it looks so good.
I am off to Georgia this coming Tuesday to spend a week with my far away children. I'm so excited to spend some time with them. I miss them soooooooo much. I have the added blessing of attending our oldest grandson's state championship swim meet. Congratulations Tyler! He is only a freshman and exceeding the times of juniors and seniors on the team. (Sorry, a little grandma bragging).
I will be returning just in time to don my painting coveralls and add some color to the rooms in my house. Yay, I love painting and I love color!
I've included a few pictures of the insulation, not too exciting but it was such a nice change for us, not to be looking at the studs anymore, I decided to include them in the blog.
Blessings to all of you and I will post again when I return. Once again, thank you for sharing in this part of our journey.


This blown in insulation is amazing, fast, easy and a much better, longer lasting R value. He packs it in there too.

The sound batts for the bedrooms and bathrooms.
These are pictures from the first day, it took them two days to finish.

Hello everyone,

Once again it has been a while since my last post. There has been plenty going on to write about but the pictures wouldn't be to interesting.
We have the electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, central vac., security system, TV phone and internet all finished now. I'm not posting any pictures of it because they just aren't that exciting to look at.
The cabinet guy came out to get exact measurements for the kitchen and three of the four bathrooms. He will begin construction of them on Wednesday of this week and will install them after we get the tile finished in those rooms.
The exterior doors were delivered last Friday and we presume they will be out on Monday to hang those.
The fireplace guys need to come back and move the stack and then it will be finished.
We should be seeing insulation being blown in soon and then drywall go up. Getting very exciting now, moving into the finish part of the work.
Being our fourth and most likely our last house to build in our lifetime, we are trying to get everything just right. Doing some of the extras ourselves is not only fun but gets more for our $$$$$$.
So........because I'm not going to bore you with interior wiring and plumbing pictures, I thought I would post some of our first snow and Jacob and Braden playing while they were here for the Reach meeting.
I'll try to get some more progress pictures of the house posted soon.


Jacob being the wonderful "Big Brother" that he is, pushed Braden on the swing

They both got pushed by grandma but I had to stop long enough to take pictures.

Hunting for sticks in grandpa's burn piles to use for the snowman's arms. As it turned out, after we had gathered all we needed to finish building him, the snow was too hard to form. Maybe next time.

After Jacob cleaned the snow off the slide, Braden took a turn.

Jacob took a turn down the slide, or several! Look at that adorable smile.


A picture of the house from the playground.

The slide was caked with icy snow and we had to clean it off before it could be used.


First try, wouldn't let him slide.........too crunchy.

The long hike down to the playground, named "grandma's park" by the grandchildren.


Jacob playing all along the way, he looks more like a 15 year old than a 5 year old in this picture.

The rest of these pictures are self explanatory. It will be nice to get the rest of the painting done and have a house all the same color. I just love this time of year and the beauty it brings so I thought I'd share some of the pictures I took of the first snow we've gotten this year. I think it is so beautiful and hope you enjoy them as well. We NEVER tire of the blessing of this valley, that God has so graciously allowed us to live.

MOM'S ON THE ROOF!

Hey all,

We had a cold but beautiful day around here today and wanted to get as much more painting done as we could before we get more rain.
I know you don't believe what you are looking at but YES, this is me on the roof. This is probably the only time and place you will ever see me that high off the ground without something totally surrounding me but I wanted to help dad and it wasn't even too scary.
I told dad you would probably think it was him dressed in my clothes disguised with the hood up but you're wrong, it really is me.
We got the rest of the front painted except for the trim which will come after the second coat of gray. Then it got too dark and cold so we went inside and dad hung lights, getting ready to wire for tomorrow.
They came out and measured for doors yesterday so they could order those, rough electric is about done, dad will work on cable, phone and TV tomorrow. The plumbers have all the "water out" plumbing done and will do the "water in" next week. The solar panels are up and plumbed, just need the extra tank installed.
I think that's about it for now. Lot's of clean-up to do tomorrow as well.
We are and feel so blessed to have this opportunity and are so thankful for what God has given us. This house is really turning out beautiful. Can't wait to show all of you.
Hugs to everyone.

No time to post.........too much work to do!

Hello everyone,

It is past my bedtime so who knows what this will turn out like. I will try to post tonight, what we have accomplished in the last few weeks. Not a lot to say about what is going on, besides, I'm VERY, VERY tired. We've been out painting............ALL DAY!
The roofers have been here and their job is done except for coming back and flashing around the vent pipes the plumber will put in. The charcoal tile on the roof looks really good.
The framers are also finished except for a few little odds and ends after the plumber and electrician are finished.
The electricians have been out, did some work and lined Den up with other things to do since we are doing some of it ourselves to save labor costs. Two of the floors are completely wired and the basement will get done this coming week. The electricians will be out tomorrow to hang the cans and ceiling circuits.
We got a huge amount of the exterior painting done today. We want to do two coats on the siding so we won't paint trim for a while.
Before the framers left on Saturday, besides installing most of the lap siding on the gables, Romero designed and built the frame for the fireplace and the Jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom. He is so good. The tub is a simple surround that we will tile but the fireplace is going to be gorgeous..........we are thrilled with how he helped us design it and when it is finished and a mantle put on, it is going to be spectacular.
Well, I think I've covered most of what's been going on around here for the last few weeks.
Until next time, thanks for sharing with us, good night.


Romero working out the last of the tub surround.

The master bathroom Jacuzzi. Can't wait to soak in it!

This is difficult to see much but I was trying to get the perspective of
the size of the greatroom compared to the size of the fireplace.

This is where Den will build the mantle and above that I will
have room to hang a clock and a wreath at Christmas time.

This is Den doing some of the wiring in the family room.


This is just a picture of the chimney.

"THE WALK IN FIREPLACE" This is the perspective I was trying to get.

A straight on picture of the fireplace in the corner of the familyroom,

with dad sitting on what will be the hearth.

Here is dad "the electrician/painter/plumber/dozer operator..............painting.

It looks like he's doing all the work by himself but trust me, I'm out

there doing quite a bit too, just don't want my picture taken.

This is the finished roof, the front door will be about the same color, maybe a little darker.


Dad and Jim finishing up the caulking before the roofers get there.

THE NUTTY ROOFERS, walking around all over the place,

seemed to not faze them at all. Sometimes they would harness

themselves up, but it seemed to restrict them and they worked

just as much without them.

Jim helping dad with what I "WON'T/CAN'T"do!

Hey,

I forgot to post these pictures...................this had to happen before we were able to start painting. Jim climbed to the top with dad to help him "caulk" all the seams, windows etc. before we could do anything else. This was just the beginning and I wish I could say it was on the tallest, most difficult side but.............unfortunately, they have another side and the back of the house to go.
It had to be scary because I've NEVER seen dad be this careful. Having to stand on the ladder, on top of the three story scaffolding was the worst part but they did it and that side is done.
At least they know they can do it and I'm sure are looking forward to having the rest of it done.
We will rent a scissor lift or something like it for the painting, do not want to be up on scaffolding long enough to paint with that much motion involved.
Thanks Jim, couldn't have done it without you!


Jim and dad caulking between sheets of siding.

Unbelievable! Makes me tremble just looking at this picture.
I'm not sure you really get the perspective of the distance to the ground but it was scary. I can't believe these construction guys walk around up there all day long.

Dad not feeling too good about being on a ladder on top of the scaffolding.

Oh my gosh! I guess this is all worth the 10K a painter would have charged us.