Siding & Insulation

For the past few days, we have not taken any photos because the men were still up there working with the siding.  They did a great job with it.

SIDING on the back & front.

No gardener yet!!!

A BOO BOO!!!!

  The door in the middle was supposed to be a french door.  Steve said this is why we need to come up here to check every day.

The doors leading out to the screened porch from the great room are in now.  The middle two doors are stationary, while the doors  on the ends will open out to the porch.  It will be so nice having them open in the spring and fall.

Insulation!!!  It seems crazy to get excited about insulation, but that means that the sheet rocking will get done very soon.  If the weather holds out with no rain, they may begin sometime next week.
After that, the trim work will get started.  I have a meeting with the builder's wife next week to begin the process of choosing tile, granite, etc.

More Trip

On Friday of our trip, Josh and I drove over to the Amish area going toward Lancaster, PA.  The countryside was beautiful.

There were lots of farms between the towns.  I am sure that it this whole area would be gorgeous in the fall.  We did see an Amish lady in her yard talking on her cell phone which was rather odd when we saw others driving their horse and buggy in the road just like in pictures.  Amish people were offering buggy rides for a price, as well as tours of their farms.




We visited a town named Intercourse,PA. which was full of tourists.  We ate at this cafe which was really good, shopped some, and I was ready to go.  Everything was so commercialized.  We drove to our next hotel which was in an area like Irmo.  I believe we ate Thai food that night.  With Josh's guidance. I got something really good to eat.  That was a fun evening.

On Saturday, we ventured into Philadelphia.  We didn't want to drive,so we rode the train.  A real one with a conductor.  That was the first time I had ever done that. The ride was approxiamtely 45 minutes.  We stopped at different little stations to pick up more passengers and let others off.  Seeing and doing this was so much fun.  

Our conductor

We were headed to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The conductor told us that we needed to depart at the Suburban Station.  That would put us near the art museum.  The walk up there was really nice but long. 


Along the way on the train





Our Trip to Delaware, ETC.

Josh was going to be in Delaware and asked if we could meet him up there.  Steve couldn't go because of work, so I went by myself to visit him.  We had a great time.  Our trip began in the Philadelphia airport.  I flew in Wednesday at 9:30a.m., and Josh was supposed to be there already, but Steve gave me a call to let me know Josh's flight had gotten changed and would be there at 10:30 instead of 9:00a.m. I chased around trying to find out where his flight would be coming in.  Of course, it was a different concourse with a different baggage claim. We finally got together, got the car, and we were on our way to Delaware.  We stayed in the Mendenhall Inn which I would definitely recommend.  It was only 4 miles from the Winterthur Museum which was where his meeting was.  He had a good meeting and we ate pizza afterwards and crashed.  Josh had flown all night, and I had been up since 3:45 to catch my flight.

It was hard getting up the next morning, but we did and drove east to the Jersey Shore.

On the way to NJ, we crossed some large bridges.  The rivers make the Congaree look tiny!

 



  The beach!!!!!!

Josh had not been to the beach in years, so we went while the weather was good that day.  After the beach, we drove to the end of New Jersey and ate at Cape May.  That was a beautiful beach there.  We then decided to catch the ferry across to Delaware to go back to our hotel.  We had a full day of sightseeing.



                

The Atlantic Boardwalk went on forever and it was hard to find a place to get on the beach and a place to change clothes but none the less, we had a good time.

We found the Cape Lighthouse at the very end of New Jersey. It was so pretty down there. The beach there was much nicer than farther north where we went in the water.

We went into the town and had a really good lunch and then drove to the ferry to cross to Delaware.

Josh used his phone quite a bit to find out where we were going.  I would love to have one of those phones.

The Cape May ferry terminal was a place where  I was so glad that  Josh knows about dealing with these areas.

Tomorrow is the art museum in Philly!!!       











More Roof

We have been up to the house once since I have been back from Philidelphia.  Progress has been made!!  The shingles are on the roof and they have begun putting on the portion under the overhang of the roof.  I forget what Steve called it. 


We really like the color of the roof. Steve said that he believes that it will blend in well with the woods. 






This is our window above the master tub.  They part sticking out to the left is our walk-in shower.  We made it large enough for a wheel chair.  We are not getting any younger.

We have stairs now going to the lower level.




The electricians are busy at work.  We are going up to the house on Thursday to walk through with the project manager.  Maybe the siding and sheetrock will be started.  If not, maybe next week.




Screened Porch

I had circle tonight, so our house visit was short this evening.  We found the beginnings of a screened porch!!  The other windows had not been installed yet, but that is because they have to put the roof over the porch.

There is still a couple of gables that need to be built.  One is over the breakfast room window by the screened porch roof.  The other is on the left side of the house where the lower level opens out to the patio. The windows for the downstairs bedrooms were sitting out to be installed.  Maybe those will be in tomorrow when we visit.



The breakfast room is to the right and our bedroom to the left.
The stairs from the porch to the outside will go down in front of the breakfast room window.  We started to have them moved to the center of the porch, but changed our minds.  We thought it would mess up the view from the greatroom through the porch to the backyard and woods.

Master bedroom windows



New Gable & Windows

Friday when Steve got home, he started putting on his site clothes to go to the house to check it out.  I wasted no time changing either.  We didn't know what we would find accomplished, but we had a gable over the front porch and some of the windows had been installed.  We will go up there over the weekend, but nothing new will transpire.

Steve said it seems more real now.   Probably because we made the first draw at the bank for the builder.

                                                                         

Master bedroom view

Tar Paper & Windows

We have a roof with tar paper on it now.  The framers have also started the gable over the front porch using braces.

The windows were in the garage when we got there this evening.  They will probably be installed next week, I guess.

We met our builder to go over the rough-ins.  I told him we needed a little work done on the front yard.  Maybe, more than a little!!

More Roof

It is looking more and more like a house!  "Oh, my goodness", I said to myself as I rode by this afternoon.  I could not wait for Steve to see what the framers had accomplished.  We do need a little yard work done in the front!!

A Roof

The masons still have not  finished the front porch or the pillars for the screened porch on the back.  The gable over the front door cannot be built until the masons have the porch ready. 

                                The screened porch will be where the roof section is missing.

Steve and I are meeting the builder at the site tomorrow to discuss the rough-ins for the electricity & plumbing.  We are also going to discuss yard options with him and get his ideas.  This is our lovely backyard so far.  We have a little bit of work to do. Don't ya'll think???  At least we finally got some rain up here, so the red clay is not like baby powder any more.

Front Steps

This evening when we checked out things, I almost missed what had been done to the front porch.  We had the beginning of steps.  OH, WOW!

The masons still need to make the pillars for the screened porch before the framers can get that portion of the house framed and the roof on.  There is one more gable that will be added over the front door, too.

Firewood!!

We found that the braces had been taken down inside, and the roof covered most of the house. 

The breakfast area

It looks more and more like a house every time we go up to see what has been done.  The package in the front of the house is the covering for the roof.  Maybe that will get done tomorrow.
















We meet our builder out here Thursday evening to discuss ideas for the yarda nd the rough-ins for the plumbing and the electrical wiring.  There is so much to decide.

Labor Day & Gables

It has been a few days since any pictures.  We met Robert, our project manager, up at our house in progress on Friday.  We discussed the grading that will be done and how the yard might look.  He suggested that we get a landscaper who also does designing to come out to take a look and give suggestions.  After e-mailing our builder about our meeting, he wants to discuss ideas that he has with us.  Robert told us that the framing crew planned on being there to work on Labor Day.   Steve and I rode up there before seeing Uncle E and we found them hard at work. We thanked them for being there today. They thanked us for the work. 
We did not get to go back up there to see what else had been accomplished.  Jennifer & family came over to supper. We had a thunderstorm and believe it or not-RAIN!!  It was dark when our company left, so we did not get up there.  The framers said that if it rained tomorrow, they will work in the lower level.  We figured that they may work on the stairs going from one level to the other.  There will be one more gable over the front door which is seen at the right end of the picture.  Over the diningroom window in the middle will be an overhang.  They may have gotten all that done after we left.

We've Been Wrapped with a Roof-Almost

This evening after we took Jonah home, we rode to the house.  We found the beginnings of a roof and that we had Tyvek wrapping over most of the house.  There are still some areas that have not been finished, but most of the house was done.  This is the back of the house.  The great room doors are in the middle.  The breakfast room is to the right, and the master bedroom windows are to the left.

Straight ahead is the dining room window.   To the right, is the front door, but it looks small because they haven't cut out the whole area yet.  To the left is one of the garage windows.

A closer view.

The breakfast area is the section that is sticking out.  To the left is the guest bedroom window.  On the other side is the screened porch when that gets started.



Tomorrow, we meet with the project manager, Robert, to ask him about the retaining wall and the grading that will be done.  We are not sure if the framers will be at our house or on another job.