Monday, November 30, 2009

Day 28 Monday

It was bitterly cold, wet and windy. Reminded me of winter in London. I was rather discouraged from work when I got to the house, so my reaction was probably affected by that.

No matter how many times I warn students about "consequences" as in "if you don't get off your ass and complete the assignments" then you will most likely fail this course, I inevitably get at least one student who mind boggling decided he wasn't going to do any homework, or turn up for class, or take the quizzes, which if he didn't turn up for class, he can't take anyway, because I sure as heck am not writing multiple quizzes. And inevitably, I end up sitting in my chair with a student looking at me blankly and probably praying that I'll be a soft touch. Like hell, buddy.

And it's the inevitable excuse. I cannot tell you how dangerous it is to be around me. There must be something about being around me or having me for a professor because death seems to loom around the corner. Of course, they never can authenticate the reason they missed 80% of the class because of a death in the family.

So by the time I got to the house, my mood was as gray as the skies, and I was not feeling cheerful. They have begun and probably completed doing the ductwork. It all looks very scifi with silver tubes snaking here and there. When I saw the TWO duct tubes in D1's closet, I freaked. He won't have any closet at this rate...and what about here and there.

Fortunately, Jeff said he'd be around and he walked me through and allayed some of my fears. (I mean, he's not going to be able to do anything about the probability of my getting more daft students next year....the guy's a good builder but there are limits to his powers....)

There will be duct work in the utility room so they will have to bring the ceiling down a little lower there. This just means, I've got to decide NOW about the stackable or side by side washer dryer and what model. A trip to Sears is in the works....

And there is duct work in the corner of D2's bedroom so we'll get a corner there and another one in the family room in a little nook.

I was really discouraged walking through the remodel because I kept finding issues that I didn't discuss or which didn't occur to me to investigate. Jeff said, "It happens." I looked at him and said, "Not to me...." But of course, it has....

I mean this isn't as bad as my taking off from Ambon, Indonesia to a remote island with two girlfriends and forgetting that maybe they might need food. I mean, I bought a nice package of nasi kandar or nasi ambon, or nasi (rice) something with spicy chicken and veggies....what did they think we were going to find on an island abandoned and only used as a midnight stop by fishermen....Long John Silver?

(Janet if you're reading this, remember - we did survive, and we had a VERY good breakfast when we got back on the main island).

See that doesn't count because who could have anticipated two Americans who had lived in Indonesia and not wanting to buy local food to take with them on an overnight stay on some island we can't even find anymore in the guidebooks?

But ductwork eating into my closets because I didn't catch the design and engineering discrepancy...now that I should have anticipated.

Jeff said the inspector did come, and did ask for some more straps. Don't ask me. I only repeat what I hear. And they obliged. And the weather today was too pissy to do any work on the outside.

So I wandered around my house rather mournfully, feeling very gray and fed up. I swear, I'm opening up my website two weeks before class begins and putting up the LONG list of homework, quizzes and exam dates and by golly, if they stay in my course, it's caveat emptor. I'm not churning them out for the sake of education. They're going to bloody learn something even if I have to beat it into them.

There, I feel better now. Maybe I can get some extra straps from the house for the beating part....

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Day 27 Sunday

No work on house. Never have I been so anxious for the dawn of a work day....

We are settling into the townhouse well, much better than I anticipated, although having a 2 story town house is nice, as I can get away when I need some space. If it got to that, I can even close the walk in closet, lie down and take a nap and hide from the four kittens who take turns spending quality time with me.

I just managed to get Cicero, the one who looks like a black tiger, off my laptop keyboard. And if I type very fast, I might have a few minutes to myself before they send another kitten up to check on me. They are much bigger than when these pics were taken in late Sept/mid Oct but they do spend a lot of time sleeping.Exceptat 4:45am when they wake me up. I get up at 5am and you'd think they'd give me that extra 15 minutes...but noo.....

Clockwise, Patches, Seraphine, Smoky - blue eyed innocence
 
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Clockwise, Patches, Smoky and Cicero- green eyes, and claiming the sofa as theirs  
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It is disconcerting to realise how spoiled we are living in a house with the driveway right next to the backdoor. The townhouse does not have an attached garage. The distance for example between the car park and the townhouse isn't great, maybe 30 feet or so. But it makes for a long and heavy walk when laden with groceries. We have not yet hooked up the utilities, since said laundry room here is filled with boxes. So I have been doing laundry at a friend's apartment complex near my office which is turning out to be a rather efficient set up, if a tad inconvenient.

I am glad we had this option. I know people have lived in their houses while putting second floor on. Having seen our own house, I can imagine the inconvenience endured. One builder said he was going to set it up so we could live in the house and run the laundry facilities, and I believe he was going to try. Another one said, it could be done but would extend the building and cost more in the long run. Our builder said it would be safer if we just moved out. And as cramped as we are here, it would have been worse in the house as it stands now.

I am still, however, counting down the days.....four months equals two 30 day months and two 31 day months. I could have been unreasonable and set the schedule for 4 consecutive Februaries....

So we are now 27 days into a 122 day schedule...and it hasn't been that bad at all. The main rush was the first two weeks, trying to pack up and get out. And I know I will be anxious to reverse direction. But Jeff gives me a list of to-dos that keep me busy - go pick out fixtures, hardware, plumbing...and I've got things I want to look into as well - a new front loading washer/dryer, a dual level dishwasher -so a trip to the library is on the list.

Hope everyone had a good holiday weekend.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

ProjectsDay 26

No one is working at the house. It's a good time to go over and look through the salvaged material. i.e. the cedar planks they pulled off the house. I don't know what happened to the ones from the garage. ye gods...did they throw them? They must have....oh well....surely I have more than enough right?...cedar!!! aarg...how could I have missed those?!!?


Here are some gardening projects we have thought up. By "we", I really mean the royal "we".....


a storage shed for tools


seedling rack

Grow lights
Cold frame
Rain barrels

And this amazing blog about vegetable gardening in Houston!

I'm going to have to some moving around of various plants this winter to prepare for the Spring planting. I think the rose bushes in the back will have to be moved to the side where they will get more sunshine anyway. The main reason I haven't done it is because the basketball hoop is there.

And it looks like the playground set will be coming down...I have a story about that set...but it will have to wait another day.

Day 25 Black Friday

Didn't go by the house today, but apparently no one was there. Iknow the shingles didn't get delivered today. The roofers were anxious to get on with it and said they would shingle if they could on Saturday.

Stayed far away from insane people who probably spent hours queuing up to get into stores, and then to pay for their purchases.....

Here's another cool idea for bedrooms...
















The boys are really looking forward to their gameroom/play area. A few months ago, a friend walked into the family room downstairs a few months ago, and looking at the playmobil scattered around, she said, "You're very good to let them play here."

Where else would they play? Then I got it. At least I think I did. The family room is a public area and should always look good. It never occurred to me to forbid the boys to play in a "public" area.

It wasn't easy keeping it clean and tidy especially with the little parts that make up any playmobil or star wars set! It got progressively difficult as we began to think about remodeling, and began having boxes all over the place in a seemingly unending packing up mode. But my children LIVE here. Other people VISIT.

Still, it will be great for the boys to have a space where they can lay out their grand battles or games and not have people accidentally walk on or kick, and they won't have to hear me tell them to clean up if they are in the middle of a battle royale.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Day 24 Thanksgiving

Apparently the plumbers were at the house checking the plumbing and apparently...there is a leak.They think the workers must have hit something...(sigh)...and they're going to tell on them....the plumbers say the expense of repairing the leak will be the crew's responsibility - or the fellow who runs the crew's responsabliity.

We've been thinking and talking about doing this remodel for some time now.I'm sure some BHE parents recall my mentioning it back when D2 was in Kindy....and we really started getting down to the planning stage almost, actually a year ago, before Thanksgiving and then the funeral around Christmas shelved it for a bit. But I'd say it took about 10 months from start of planning to start of construction.

Much of that delay was the HOA, the design planning, - I cannot emphasise how strongly I recommend going with an architect. They know the software, and more importantly they know their craft - we thought we made the right decision in not going with an architect....

You'd think that after the numerous discussions we had with our builder prior to starting, there would be little to no surprises or change. That hasn't been the case.

Witness my startled expression when I came home and found the garage stripped of its outer panels. Or when Jeff went into the new shower and realised the window was just a tad too big for the space given where the shower head was going to spray. Ergo one change order....

The fortunate thing about that one was that while we were too late to simply change the size of the bathroom window as they had already or were in the process of manufacturing the window, we were able to order a smaller window, and then use the window they had already made in the garage. As the original window is not clear glass, this works out well in the garage. It lets in enough light without revealing the appalling condition of the garage.

Then we changed the size of the garage door leading into the garden. But that was not tedious as they had not framed the door yet and we had not ordered doors yet.

We also decided to change the lovely wood doors in the old family room.They are fixed doors. We replaced them with doors that will open. As for the old ones, I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. A garden studio mayhaps? A glass house?

I had envisioned a simple utilitarian sink in the utility room like the one that sat in the attached garage in our house in Louisiana (or as a Houstonian neighbour used to call it, Lousyana...she hated the place....they didn't have Target then). My only concern was that the piping be high enough so I could fit in the litter box. (we didn't have kittens when all this began last year,we now have four....).

However, Jeff had planned to build a cabinet to enclose a sink there. And if you've ever walked into one of his houses, you'll notice the attention to detail and how beautiful his homes are...so thankfully, someone is thinking of that type of issues!

I had discussed changing the orientation of the boys' closets before we began work and that change was noted, (he boys' closets were originally the long and narrow closets and I suggested that we make them walk in closets instead), but not the one for the computer closet. However, that was easily rectified and did not cost much in terms of material. I assume it took them but a few minutes to change it.

I forgot to mention that I didn't want pocket doors in the computer room and finally realised the room was framed for said pocket doors on Wednesday. Fortunately Jeff said that wasn't a problem.

But it's the accumulation of these issues that make me wonder what ELSE I've missed.....

Thursday, November 26, 2009

D1 Bedroom ideas



scource

In the comments, he wrote "The base is made of 2" square, Mild Steel Tubing (use a .125" thick wall for strength!). Working from the final dimensions of The "EXPEDIT", I cut the Steel tubing/1st a frame/same size as bottom of the Bookshelf. Then, after that was welded, added the legs (same 2" square material), added some brackets, hidden in the "well" of the base- to screw the frame to the underside of the EXPEDIT. (also- small detail- so the legs were actually "flush" to the wall- I notched the back of the rear legs to "match" the baseboard).After it was all ground smooth and Surface Conditioned- I applied a Black Patina, neutralized it and the sprayed it w/ a clear Lacquer.
Purrrrty, eh?"

Yes indeed. I showed it to D1 who said, "Do they have it in white?"

D1 has decided that his new room is to be painted the whitest white ever. And that everything in his room is to be white.

This is my child?

"How about a little bit of colour?"

"No! I want it to be white. It will be awesome."

"You're going to have to keep it very clean....."

"Mmmm hmmm.."





Incidentally, I love this room :-)



I emailed the designer, she runs a children's store in NYC, and had been featured on Apartment Therapy - a great website - and she very kindly told me what the table was and I located it. It is really cool. It's actually a VERY upmarket conference table from Topdeq for $1500, a company that no longer sells in the US....so...ebay anyone?


This table is probably going to work. Except it is an ikea so quality might not be the best....and guess what...according to the website, it is not available....I like the clean lines of the Topdeq table, though if this goes into the computer room for D1 to use, he's going to need storage for papers...



Day 23 Lights, hardware, ACTION

I started cooking when I was working in Asia. It wasn't really necessary as you could get delicious hawker food for a pocket of change. Nonetheless, I realised that cooking was simply reading the recipe, wielding a chopper and voila...a reputation was born. (Said reputation has often resulted in my having to cook for relatives while on vacation...not quite the outcome I was looking for....).

Using American cookbooks while living in Asia meant I spent a fair amount of time in various specialty expat grocery stores. The products cost three times more than in the US, and at least 10 times more than a local substitute. At times, there was no discernible substitute for "marshmellowcreme" or "pumpkin sauce". It's not as if one can just dump a can of kaya or belacan into an American recipe and have it come out well.

Having done most of my expat cooking shopping in expat stores, it was culture shock to find myself in the aisle of a King Scooper in the US looking not only at prices less than the GDP of a small island nation, but at the staggering range of choices.

Take pickles. In Jakarta, there were two types of pickles. The big jar and the little jar. The big jar was probably over $10 and the little jar might have been $7. In King Scooper, there was dill pickles, kosher pickles, bread and butter pickles, pickles with bits of garlic floating around, quartered pickles, sliced pickles, diced pickles, pickles with jalapenos, ....it was pickle heaven. It just took a bit of getting used to. All those choices. What to do, what to do. How to choose?!!? How would I know that I made the right choice? Do I go by price? Appearance? Taste?

It was deja vu at the store choosing hardware. If I thought the choice of plumbing fixtures were overwhelming, the selection of hardware was over the top. My hear sank when I started walking around the display boards and realised I had to make choices of the infinite varieties. I managed to delete the porcelain firetruck doorknobs, and since I'm not Texan, I was able to eliminate the wide choice of Texanware; horns, Texas stars and boots. So that only left me with about 2678 choices to go.

Then it turned out that hardware was very versatile. You might like knob A but want to pair it with plate X in finish G. Done. It made me rather nostalgic for the old days when you had a generous two choices.

Fortunately, having shepherded me through yesterday's selection of fixtures, Robert knew what I needed and steered me in the right direction. I opted for levers on the doors and chose simple lines. "These are easy to clean, aren't they....."

The only decision pending is the finish. Nickle or living brass? As usual, I learned quite a bit about hardware and now know why there is a difference between shopping at Home Depot and at these speciality stores. Other than the fact that you don't wait for 20 minutes to get someone to notice you're in need of help, it turns out there is a difference in quality and you do get what you pay for. Since the critical point for me was not having to repeat this experience by buying something that would tarnish quickly and require replacing, I opted for durability. The price difference really wasn't that big. But the pain factor will be significantly reduced.

Incidentally, the brand of toilet we got - the Toto - the company produces one that - get this - SELF CLEANS!!!! has an automatic lid, and even warms your behind. I'm sure they have a model that will assist in other ways too....anyway, I saw that in one of the design magazines at B&N. Of course, it's over $5000, but imagine, it SELF CLEANS!!! That alone might be worth the price of the toilet.

I went ahead and braved the lighting allowance which was across the street. Paul greeted me warmly and asked me what I needed. I returned a blank look and said, "I dunno...." (I have been spending too much time around my students....). He made some quick phone calls as I wandered around the showroom. I knew I didn't want the arty farty stuff. My gosh, you could poke your eye out with that type of 3-D futuristic lighting fixture.

He came back with a list of what I needed - some fans, light fixtures and maybe fluorescent. Paul wanted to know what type of furniture we have. I explained that having purchased mainly from living abroad, we had an "eclectic" mix of furniture, mostly old, hand carved wood pieces, and lots of persian carpets. He nodded and said, "Transitional" Robert had said the same thing. So, there is a word for people like me and it's not "stubborn" or "difficult"..imagine that.....

I asked him the difference between two types of fans that looked like twins. He said, "It's like a Chevy and a Ford."

He was taken aback by my response. "I don't understand that. Which is better?"
Since he didn't tell me, having decided to switch analogies, I am now haunted by the fear that I will one day have to decide between a Chevy and a Ford and make the wrong choice.....although in Ford's favour, it hasn't asked for a government handout....yet

Paul was very helpful and tremendously assuring, but I was relieved to be done. We got fans that will run without threatening to take off like a helicopter and decapitate anyone, and they even come with a remote. I tell you....it's like a whole new world out there.

Back at the house, the roofers had arrived and would have shingled the roof if the shingles had been there. Instead they covered it in black paper while the workers tyveked the house. They also removed the old side window on the master bedroom which now looks into the new family room. The plumbers had been and were leaving. I saw evidence of their work in the utility room and in the new bathroom, and there were squares cut out in the computer room, no doubt some piping or other will snake under the boards for one reason or other. I also learned the inspector had not come.

Jeff had warned me that once the second story goes up, it will seem as if work slows down. I concur. The most dramatic change has already taken place, and even now, it's becoming increasing difficult to remember what it was like to live in the original structure. Delays will also arise from inspectors not turning up.

Nonetheless, we're still immensely impressed with how fast the work has gone and really how efficient the men have been. Any changes made were due to design issues, or us changing our minds.

So, we cross off another day.....and Jeff was true to his word. He told us that he was going to have the house covered and roofed before Thanksgiving so there would not be issues with weather. If it had not been for last Thursday and the bad weather on Friday and Saturday, he would have achieved this much earlier.

Photos taken earlier this week on Monday. Back of the house with the second story, front of the house and inside of house with staircase already built.


 
 
 
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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Tuesday Day 22 I get a minor in plumbing fixtures

"May I sit on your toilet?" I asked my acquaintance of 45 minutes. I lifted the lid and sat down, wriggled experimentally and just barely restrained from rocking sideways.

"Do you see what I mean?" he asked as he hovered next to me. I did indeed. I almost heard a sigh of relief from my knees as I sat on the 16" comfort model.
"So the regular toilet is 14"?"
"Yes, so that might be a better choice as your children's feet won't reach th floor."
"Oh they'll grow out of that" I assured him. (And until then, better dangling feet than participles.)

As he worked out the price of the toilet, I wandered over to some other models in the showroom. "What about this one?"
"It has a skirt so you pay a premium for it", pointing out the flat surface in constrast to the snake like porcelain casting of the regular models. For a split second, I was distracted by the idea that some toilets wear skirts while others wear trousers, wondered about Scottish toilets wearing kilts while trying to recall the gender of toilets in various languages.....

It occurred to me that cleaning skirts would be so much easier and had Robert calculate the price and height of that model. (Some hours later, realising that my children were likely to spend more time on the toliet and in the bathroom than I planned to spend on any fictional cleaning, I opted for the taller comfort model since they will get taller....)





That was the only decision that clogged the system so to speak. In one hour, we managed to identify all the plumbing fixtures and stay within budget. I wasn't convinced the latter was possible when the first commode I saw was in the 4 figure range and the nearest faucet ran a close second to that price range.

Fortunately, after I delivered a machine gun rally of stated lifestyle preferences, (it has to be clean cut, simple lines, not difficult to clean, not too many bits and pieces, not too modern, definitely not traditional, not shiny, not dark, not bronze, a little shine was good and did I mention ease of cleaning?...) the very competent and calm Robert identified the perfect faucets, showerhead, sinks and commode. In the process, I received an education in plumbing fixtures, why shower heads are called speedman showers and why the Japanese got a jump in the American commode market when codes were changed to 1.6 gallons of water per flush. I also learned that there are ways to get around the water conservation measures already built into the showerhead. Right after I learned that the government has already mandated said conservation methods into our showers.

Robert said carefully, "Now I CAN'T tell you to do that, but I KNOW some plumbers do it......"

I scribbled a mental note, "Talk to plumber about potentially breaking the law re: water conservation in shower head."

I realised I need to communicate better with my builder. (He might disagree and assure you that I communicate plenty enough with him). When Robert asked me what type of counter top I was putting in the utility room, I explained that we may not need a counter top as we might get a stackable washer dryer instead of a side by side, thereby negating a need for a counter over the machines. His experienced countenance betrayed a flicker of confusion as I rattled all this off. "Well, what were you thinking I needed?" I asked.

He showed me a stainless steel 10 inch undermount sink. I cast a doubtful eye on it, "...I was thinking of a stand alone." Kindly, he pulled out a catalog to show me the standalone sinks. A quick look and my gut response was, "These are ugly."

"Yes," he agreed, "they tend to be unattractive." Working on the assumption the builder was planning on building a cabinet for the sink, I opted for an undermount. "It's easier to clean right? No fiddly bits...."

If Robert keeps a file on customers, mine probably reads, "Obsessed with ease of cleaning....." To my surprise, the feared painful hour passed quickly and I even agreed to return the next day to pick out hardware.

Meanwhile, at the house, the windows had been delivered and by 3pm, the men had finished the roof and were completing the extension of the three feet on the second story. They were just beginning to cut holes in what remains of the kitchen ceiling when I left a few minutes later.




Tomorrow an inspector comes to check the outside of the construction and if it passes, then they will paper it. It's all looking very well though the speed at which they work is making it difficult for me to keep up.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Monday Day 21

Most people who know about the remodel want to know the duration of the project. When I say, "4 months", I get, "Oh but you ALWAYS have to double that estimate". And this is helpful to me...how precisely?

Irony aside, I appreciate the sympathy and commiserations about the stress. However, other than the disaster that was averted, it has been a relatively stress free project. A few weeks ago, I heard Ed Emmet and a panel talk about stress. The judge said that Hurricane Ike in itself wasn’t stressful because he had the advantage of a book about 6 inches thick that laid out a plan for almost every contingency that could happen. (Incidentally, the judge assured me that he canceled hurricane season this year).

We tend to think of stress as being detrimental but in itself, stress is just a sense of pressures that we face. I suspect part of my approach has to do with having survived a PhD program which was akin to having the Sword of Damocles overhead.
("Does not Dionysius seem to have made it sufficiently clear that there can be nothing happy for the person over whom some fear always looms?")

The remodel is truly out of my hands. Instead, I have an extremely competent, capable and experienced builder(who appears to have an unending supply of patience to my questions) with an equally competent crew of craftsmen, contractors and their crew of experienced men. In effect, I have a playbook for the remodel that I’m not responsible for executing it. Knowing that someone else knows what he needs to do and when he’s got to do it in order to pull this whole thing off is a tremendous help.

I realized exactly how experienced and competent my builder and his framer were after that whole design fiasco when they worked out alternatives even before the engineer confirmed their ideas.

Today, when I got to the house at 4pm, they had already extended the front of the second story 3 feet, and covered the roof. The little bit they need to complete requires more material. By the time I left, almost an hour later, they had completed the roofline over the extended gameroom.

They already put siding on 2/3s of the garage and put tyvek on the third wall, having already framed the new larger door and the window.

I need a hardhat. Something is bound to fall on my head but I just can't help being captivated by the progress. It's like fast forwarding a movie. It's like magic.




Sat Day 19 Sunday Day 20

It's drizzling steadily. There are men at the house moving lumber into the house and tidying up on the second floor. I was surprised to see them and wondered what they planned to achieve. They tossed my question round like a hot potato until one was elected chief representative. He said as it was raining, they couldn't do any work on the outside. I replied that was clear but what DID they intend to do?

Blank looks all around, so I helpfully suggested, "Perhaps a spot of tidying up?"

Oh, yes. That prompted the fellow already sweeping the sawdust to one side to sweep a little more vigorously.

I'm sure they were glad to see me leave as it seemed from their answers that they thought I was asking them an imperative when it was just an interrogative. It wasn't even an interrogation. At least I got a full paragraph which is more than I can say for 80 percent of my 8:30am students who can barely manage a monosyllabic answer to my questions.

They were done by the afternoon. The house looks rather forlorn draped in mismatched tarp. Despite the dubious appearance, the second story is mostly dry with the bathroom getting most of the wet.

Sunday - no work on house. We need a crew of atheists.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Day 17 thursday Friday Day 18

Day 17 Disaster looms and is averted 6 hours later

This turned out to be a very stressful day. The builder discovered that there was an error in the engineering plans. The designer had put a 2 x 12, 2 x 6 and 2 x 12 between the two floors. The engineering plans only had a 2 x 12.

In all fairness, it was very easy to miss as there was no detail in the design plan. moral of the story - go with a real architect.

The design plan turned out to contradict itself. The ground floor called for the existing 8 foot ceilings, but the 2.6 space between the floors meant that the stairs had to come out much further to the point where we would have had very little room to move when entering the room on the ground floor, or the stairs on the second floor would have whacked right into the wall of the bedroom.

I think the reason why there was that much space built in was due to the way the beams are cantilevered. They run north to south and we need to get the duct work for the A/C east to west.

So at 11am, all work was halted and it was a very depressing sight. The men had arrived early and were really going hammers and tongs at it and I had great hopes that the roof would be covered, tarred and shingled by the end of the day.

It was with a sick feeling that I left the house. The options at that point seemed to be to tear the whole thing down and start over. I gritted my teeth at the thought of all the wasted effort and the additional cost and thought some uncharitable thoughts about a design firm whose name I will not mention.

The engineer turned up close to 5pm and we were all collected there - builder, framer, owners and engineer. Fortunately, experience and expertise prevailed and a solution was found which involved moving some non load bearing planks and inserting something here, something there and voila, there was no need to tear anything down.

I was nervous when they started talking about going up the roof and down into the bedrooms and creating a corner or taking up some of the closets. When you've lived without adequate closet space for as many years, you tend to be protective of your closets.

Instead of using 8" ducts, it appears we will now use two 6" ducts.

As for the front windows - which was what really alerted us to a potential problem - Santos the framer suggested pushing out three feet. The engineer thought this was possible and would not compromise the integrity of the house. So we gain three feet of game room, we don't have to do anything complicated with dormers.

It was suggested that I turn the three feet into winter storage closet since my bedroom closets would be a little smaller....

By 6pm, the mood had lifted and we felt significantly better. The weather is turning against us. our builder said, "Today would have been perfect for roofing..."

But tomorrow, they will build the staircase and do other things. CHARGE!

Friday Day 18
It's raining, windy and cold. The men are inside the house, building a staircase, and moving beams about, reinforcing what needs to be reinforced and doing what they can considering the weather. Considering that we are in the middle of Hurricane Season, this relatively light though constant rain is a minor inconvenience. I had anticipate that no work would be done and am pleasantly surprised to find them chipping away at the list of "to do". Undoubtedly, my students probably wish my expectations of their work schedule were as low as those of the men working on my remodel project.

day 16 Wednesday

They put up the second story in less than 8 hours. They even have the roof framed!

They even had the windows in the front framed and I was concerned as the windows looked too squat and high. we went up there to look and we were puzzled as they were too high to see out of.

We were tremendously impressed with the pace of the work as is everyone who drives by.

The window issue turned out to be the result of the difference between the engineering plan and the design plan. It looks like we can address the window issue by turning the windows into dormers.

We also found out there will be a dead valley on the roof where the old roof above the master bedroom meets the addition. The men building the house already noticed this and told the builder that they will just have to build a longer cricket than the plans called for.

Note that I have no idea what a cricket is if it isn't a noisy insect.

Day 15 Tuesday

They are coming along very quickly. Today, they put the flooring on the second floor. It's a lot of fun to watch all the activity though I'm sure I'll get a nail in the head if I keep wandering in and out of the job site.

I know pictures are in order, but in the process of the move I've misplaced my charger for the camera....

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Day 14 Monday

when I came back from work, there was nothing left of the back of the house or the roof. And much to my shock, they had gone ahead and removed the sides of the garage. I thought of all the bikes and power tools and equipment we'd have to move, made a few phone calls and we were able to relocate those items elsewhere.

I didn't understand that they were going to replace the siding of the garage NOW. But all is good. We are very pleased with the work. Jeff was also impressed that they were working as quickly as they were. There were about 20 men on site. In the short time I was there, they moved the large and heavy mirror to safety, moved the piano out of the front room into the dining room and the heavy teak cabinet. They are working above the formal living room as well as the back of the house.

By the time we left, the frame was up and they had sealed up the open hallways for us. It's going very fast and we are excited and pleased.

Day 13 Sunday

No work on the house. I was there in the morning to continue cleaning up the kitchen area and packing boxes up.

Day 12 Saturday

The crew arrived today to tear out the fireplace and the outside of the house. They got here around 9am and worked till 1:30pm. We got everything out of the rooms but it is a challenge to find places to store the items. Nonetheless, it is all looking good.

Day 11 Friday





The city inspector showed up as I arrived at the house at 830am. The builder had already canceled the cement trucks as the inspector did not show up yesterday. However by 9am, two enormous cement trucks arrived and the cement was poured as I was leaving for work.

They were meticulous with the work and when I got back, they were already polishing the cement and it was already set and you could walk on it.

Day 10 thursday

The engineer came by to check the rebar work. They completed it today and he said it was good work, clean and dry. He had them adjust the level of the rebar by the entry into the garage. They had a brick under the rebar and he wanted it turned on its face so the rebar would sit lower.

The men were done by noon and the inspector came shortly after. The city inspector was supposed to show up as well. He had not when I left the house

Day 9 Wednesday

I went to work and didn't know what they did to have power. but by the time I got back, the Center point people were there to connect power to the temp meter and the blue meter on the house had already been removed.

The rebar people continued to drill away at the foundation and set their rebar in place.

Day 8 Tuesday

Power is cut. It was disconnected mid day. The rebar people had been drilling into the foundation for the rebar so they were going to pack up. I was able to use electricity from one of my neighbours and kept them going at it.

It's going well except that today I hit a stress point. I was displeased when I found out that one of the men took the only two oranges growing from the tree that the boys had been nurturing all summer. Then when I discovered all my peppers gone - which was supposed to have been salad, I made a quick phonecall to my poor builder.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Day 7 Monday

The plumbing passed inspection so they began to prepare the area for foundation work. The men worked quickly and progress was good. They dug square shapes in the ground. The plumber came by and covered the exposed pipe by the master bedroom.

Day 5 & 6



Weekend. Nothing happened other than more packing up of boxes and effects.

We go camping instead where the company is congenial, there is running water and enough electricity to power up a multitude of electronics (This is NOT the camping I remember from my days in the jungle....) and I apparently missed the greatest peach cobbler to ever be cooked on a camp fire.

Day 4 Friday



Plumbers came to put pipes in. They found the pipe that the waste water flows out of which is located by the master bathroom. All water - from kitchen and laundry goes under the house and out here. So they piped the new pipes here too. they replaced the older iron ? pipe with the new PVC material - only for the part that is in the garden.


Inspection is on Monday.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Day 3 nov 5 thursday


Called Green Mountain Energy to disconnect power. Since the next time we connect will be past 45 days, they said we will need to go through a credit verification before they reconnect and it would take 4 days to get power back to the house.

I then realised that I needed to understand how Jeff's men are going to get power to run their tools that they need and as we are responsible for the utility bill during remodeling, who does what when?

An email later, the mystery was solved. They will order a temp meter to be installed on the pole that is currently in the corner back garden. They will pay the bills and we will reimburse them. We don't have to be involved in the ordering process. And when they are ready for the new permanent meter, they'll let us know and we can order it then.

A lot of people have expressed sympathy that we're doing this because of the stress. But thus far, there has been very little stress. Certainly, it is tedious to have to pack up. But then we really needed an opportunity to de-clutter and having a brand new house to move back into is strong motivation.

Having another place to move to - our townhouse just 2 miles down the street - does help financially. I had looked around the area and the rental prices were quite high.

I had originally thought and intended to live in the house during the remodel process. I know the household two streets up from us had done that. But apparently, not having us in the house and not having to turn on and off the gas for us makes everything easier for the workers, saves time, which saves money.

Perhaps I am being over optimistic and not realistic. But so far, the communication with Jeff has been very clear and that helps. Knowing what is happening, what needs to happen and what we can do or not do to move things along makes a difference.

And after almost 10 months of planning, waiting, revising of plans, resubmission of documents to various individuals and entities, we are just so happy that we are finally beginning.

Today, they laid out the boards for the concrete. It only took a few hours. I got a much better idea of the size of the project when they were done. The mudroom is not as large as I thought it would be but it is fine. I thought the walkway between the garage and the mudroom would be longer but it is only a few feet. So it is really nice to see take shape.

Day 2 Nov 4 Wednesday


Three things happened today while I was at work:

1. Porta potty delivered
2. the vestiges of concrete abutting the foundation and under the doors (back and family room) were removed although they forgot to get the very small piece hidden in the nook on the outside in the corner of the master bedroom and the family room.
3. Gas was turned off.

No cooking. No hot showers....

Found out today that we have to call the utilities to get the power turned off. Yesterday, more moving of furniture and boxes were completed although I was wiped out by then. between getting up very early this morning, working and then coaching the Odyssey of the Mind team, I lost steam around 9pm.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Day 1 Nov 3 Tuesday


The Bobcat turned up today. I had just returned from letting Comcast into the townhouse to install the internet and was in the never ending process of packing up and moving furniture around. It was very exciting and a lot of fun. I was not expecting the work to begin today, and had to rush out to dig up my lilly bulbs when told that "some men will be there to prep the foundation". I hope they survive the transplant.

They removed the back fence and began tearing up the ugly square concrete. We probably could have gotten good use out of the planter for herbs but I never had time. The slabs were about 4 or 5 inches thick and probably 3 feet by 3 feet.

While the Bobcat was working, two men wandered into the backyard and started putting up the temporary electric pole. They were not very communicative. But the work got done.

The evening ended with all the concrete torn up and removed. I don't think I understood the scope of the space we will have as the dimensions on the drawings - the simple one I use to move furniture around on paper - gave me the impression that the hallway connecting the garage to the house would be longer than it actually is.

An unfortunate mishap was that the electrical wiring for the garage was damaged and we now have to open the garage manually. This is not a big deal and we would have had to address the wiring issue at some point.

Tomorrow, they will complete the removal of the old concrete - some bits were in corners and right next the the house so it will have to be done with a pick and shovel. The work was quite quick. It took them about 3 hours. I remember looking at my watch and thinking that D2 would be home from school soon and he might get a kick out of the Bobcat. Alas at 10 years old, he gave it a cursory look and I had to content myself with showing the next door Kindergardener and her friend the bobcat. Her friend was a little boy who stared at the Bobcat with love and wonder.