February 22nd - Awesome news!

This past week Skylar and I were working on the finish work at Adam's house and our supervisor Nathan let us know about something we've all been dying to know about. He found out from his boss the EXACT date we have to be finished with the MAJOR work in order to not have to do landscaping: March 20th. If we can finish all the "construction" type things then we will have the open house April 3rd and can move in at 5:01 that day (after it's over at 5:00). 

What is the major stuff you ask? Decks, stairs, handrails, rock, painting, plumbing and cabinets. All of the touch up things we will take care of between the finish date and the open house. Here's where we stand on all the major construction things:

Decks - 21/2 out of 5

Stairs - 1/2 out of 1 (we get stairs in our garage)

Handrails - 0 out of 5

Rock - 4 out of 5

Painting - 4 out of 5

Plumbing - 4 out of 5

Cabinets - 4 out of 5

And by the end of this week, the last four categories should be complete. Decks, stairs and plumbing are all jobs Skylar does, so I expect that this week and for the remaining four-ish weeks he will be spending many hours at the house trying to finish all of those things before/by March 20th. 

So. There is still lots to be done but it is VERY doable that we can be done by March 20th. Very. Even though we'll be finished by then, we probably won't move in until the middle of April. I'll still be in classes and it will give us time to collect things we still need before we leave our apartment and finish other things at the house that aren't a part of the program (painting the garage, building extra shelves, etc.).

Here is house number 4 out of 5 with rock!

See those stickers in the top windows? We have to climb into the attic access to get them off. Too busy to do it before now.

The first and second houses now have carpet which means we will be getting ours very soon! Pictures of the inside of the house coming soon...

February 8th - Crown molding and rock progress

We got some good news today. Let me start this story with some backstory: When we started building in June, we didn't have landscaping in our list of tasks when calculating how long it would take us to build the homes. Reason being, our goal was to finish January/February. Right now we're looking at the end of March, beginning of April. However, if we finish that late in the season the city may turn on the water for sprinklers and then by contractual agreement we have to do landscaping for the homes. That means approximately 2 more months before we can move in. Not that I need to say this but obviously we don't want that to happen. These next few weeks are crunch time. We're trying as hard as we can to finish the homes by the middle, and hopefully not the end, of March so that we can move in before we have to do landscaping. Right now, we've been told by the Fire Marshal that April 15th is usually the date to turn on the water for Saratoga Springs. If we finish by mid-March, we should be good. If not...hello June! Sayonara March. 

Adam and JC did a LOT of work on our stone this week. In total they are about halfway done. Like I said, difficult rock to place correctly. But by next Saturday we're hoping we'll be done with our house and moving on to the LAST house! 

You can see the rock outside of the tent now!

And there's even more in the tent

I know what you're thinking, We've already seen your uppers! Well look again, there's crowning molding on the top now!

Better view

Again, what's next? Finishing rock, finishing finish plumbing, our deck outside, carpet, paint touch up...lots of little things to come!

February 1st - Finish plumbing almost finished, rock started

There are a few things I wish they had told us at all of our "construction meetings" when we first started the Self-Help program. One of which would be how long different things would take depending on what materials you chose. For example, there were many different styles of rock available to choose from and we happened to choose a style that takes exceptionally longer than other varieties. Why couldn't they tell us that? We had the power to speed up the process and we didn't even know it.

With that said, I am still loving the style of our rock so far. It's surprising how much the rock can really change the over all look of the house. Do you know what else really changes the look of a house? Finish plumbing! Ie: sinks, toilets, dishwashers, etc. (I think flooring will have even more of that type of an effect but for now, it's plumbing).

Kitchen

Bathroom

Master bathroom (with a mirror!), Hello!

Now, if you were to drive by our home you might be concerned by this makeshift tent and think, Oh no! Someone is squatting at the Rackham's house! But never fear. It is a necessary tool for rock. The mortar that adheres the rock to the house has to bond at a certain temperature (something above 45º) otherwise the mortar will freeze, the rock will fall off, Adam will be upset about having to do the whole thing over again and there will be many tears shed. 

Since it's the middle of the winter, JC built this incredibly efficient tent, where they warm the part of the house they are working are with a propane heater and trap the warm air in the tent. After they have finished working on that part of the house, they have to keep it warm for at least 45 minutes, so the mortar doesn't freeze while drying/bonding/adhering/whatever.

Here's a peek inside! 

Goal: By next week, the rock will be finished so I hope to have a picture of the entire exterior.

January 28th - Countertops and Light Fixtures

Two jobs that we do not do are installing countertops and installing light fixtures. I'm not sure what the process is for installing countertops. I know that once the cabinets are installed, the contractors come and measure each one to make sure that the countertop will fit like a glove. They install the countertop and then caulk around the walls so that it will be secure. That much I know. And wham-o! You have a beautiful countertop.

Can I just add that choosing a countertop pattern was so hard?! Some of the home furnishing decisions we had to make were really difficult because the samples that they show you are a tiny 1"x 1" swatch. How am I supposed to know what that pattern will look like when it's 4' long? Other choices that were definitely difficult: color of interior paint (again, tiny swatch and they all looked the same), rock for the exterior of the home (we'll sample that shortly), and colors for the exterior stucco and trim. 

We do not install any light fixtures simply because the wiring could get tricky. However, I will say that in our apartment, Skylar changed out the light fixture in our bathroom like a pro. Never had a problem with it. This was about 4 years ago but it only evidences that this program is right up his alley. In any case most of the fixtures are in which makes working in the houses at night so much easier!

I don't love the dome in the kitchen. Right next to it is the chandelier type fixture in the dining room. After we move in we may need to adjust that. I don't love the two contrasting styles.

Living room

Oh! Here are the "uppers". All of our cabinets are in! The fridge goes on the left, stove and microwave on the right

Dishwasher goes under the Arctic Circle drink

Master

Bathroom. Skylar is working on the finish plumbing. That's what all that stuff is

What comes next? I'm not sure actually. Touch ups on the paint. Installing all the finish plumbing. Now we're at the point where it's all the little things on the inside that need to be done. And the rock on the outside of the house. Starting Saturday...(pictures to come!)

January 18th - Cabinets Installed (Just the base cabinets)

The day after the floors were done, the cabinets needed to be installed because this week, contractors are coming to install the countertops. To clarify: we do not install any of the flooring. All of that is contracted out. We DO install the cabinets (the base cabinets, those on the floor and the uppers, those hanging on the walls). We do not install the countertops. So obviously, we needed to get the base cabinets installed for the countertops. 

In addition to having countertops this week, we should also be getting all of our outlets and light fixtures set up this week. Exciting! Having light in the houses makes working at night SO much easier. 

Should you be interested in seeing what the other homes look like, there is a Group Blog that our supervisor manages for Self-Help Homes. It's more or less up to date, but it's fun to see the progress and design of the other homes as well. There are pictures of the other group families and a slide show of the each home's progress. Several cameos from the Rackhams will be found. If you see two men on the roof, you can bet your bottom dollar that it's Adam and Skylar. Also, if you look closely, there is a great picture of me stuffing my face at our potluck at around 8-9 months pregnant. 

To the cabinets!

This is the island in our kitchen. So excited for that!

Master bathroom cabinets

Another kitchen view

January 17th - Hardwood, Tile and Linoleum Installed! (Carpet to come...soon?)

This is exciting. Really exciting. The house is really starting to look like a house now, you know what I mean? Somewhere people would live and laugh and love...Not just an unfinished project that seems like it may never end.


There were 2 options for flooring with the houses. You could choose to have a nicer grade carpet and linoleum in your kitchen, entry, laundry room, and bathrooms. OR you could get tile in your entry, hardwood in your kitchen, linoleum in the bathrooms and a lower grade carpet everywhere else. We went with the second option. When we chose, I hadn't really thought about it other than I wanted tile and hardwood but it turns out for us it's a better option. At first you may think, well if you want to rip up your floor, at least you would have nice carpet and only need to replace the linoleum. True, but in our case since we have a bigger kitchen/dining area, it worked out to go with the cheaper carpet and have that area with hardwood. AND if we do ever rip out our carpet we won't replace it with carpet, but probably hardwood. AND (double "and") with two boys running around why would I want nice carpet (to ruin) anyway? C'mon. 

Just for fun, here's a sneaky-peek at the cabinets! Not yet installed. (Oh really, I thought you would leave them in a big pile in the middle of the living room...)

Coming sooner than you know!

January 11th - House Painted, Finish Work Done!

I missed the week that we finished all the finish work before it was painted. You just get to see pictures of the house painted with all the base and case done.


With most of the homes, they had enough money in their budget to have the finish work contracted out. That includes installing shelves, installing the doors, putting up trim around the doors and putting in base boards along the walls. However, our house plan is a little more expensive to build so we unfortunately (maybe?) didn't have the money to contract that work out so we installed all those things ourselves! A change of pace for us right? Not! The upside of this is that we now know how to install all those things if we ever want to rip it out and do it again with something different. The downside is that it takes time. Which means that it's time away from other things we could be doing to get further ahead. But Skylar as always was diligent and got it done in a relatively fast amount of time.

Here is the inside of our painted home: 

Standing in the living room, looking into the kitchen

Brillante, this picture is for you. This is the pantry I referenced here

Living Room

Standing in the living room, looking at the front door and closet

Dining area

Garage door

Standing in the master, bathroom to the left, closet on the right

Do you see all that beautiful casing around the doors? That is finish work and that is what Skylar did where all the other homes had it done by contractors. Boo. Ya.

Second bedroom 

Front bedroom

All the doors have to be taken off of their hinges and sprayed with paint in the basement. Notice the shims (pieces of wood) nailed into the top to hold them like an accordion

What's next for our home? Cabinets!