10-31-2010

The brick guys finally showed up on Friday and washed the bricks.  The electricians still haven't made it out yet.  The stone has not been delivered yet, so I'm not sure when they plan to get started.  They told us "about 10 days" a week and a half ago.

Rick has been working on the cabinets in the laundry/utility room for the past few days.  He has also been packing the dirt under the future back porch area.  He may go ahead and set the forms for the back porch and driveway.  He has already done most of the work for the patio and should be able to get the driveway area fairly easily with the tractor.  We are still negotiating with the concrete guys and may even get someone else.  We will definitely hire a crew to pour the concrete, though.

We planted the live oak tree to the east of the master bedroom today.  The hail storm knocked a lot of the leaves off of it, but it should be fine.

10-26-2010

Rick continues to work on the cabinets.  The master bathroom cabinet is in place, and he's working on the utility room cabinets.

The electrician and brick washers haven't shown up yet this week.  Rick has cleaned up all of the brick debris and has the beginnings of the back patio in place. 

We've made some big decisions regarding the kitchen cabinets and trim.  I guess he'll start on that next.

Minx and Toby have a new cat bed.  It looks like Minx has given his approval.

10-23-2010

The bricklayers have finished but are supposed to be back out on Monday to wash the brick.  I'm thinking that the 4 inches of rain and hail that we had on Thursday night probably took care of most of that!  There doesn't appear to be any damage to the roof or cars (which were parked outside because of the ongoing cabinet-making project in the shop and the lack of a driveway to the garage).  I had to take Rick's truck to work yesterday to be able to make it through the large lake which was located at the end of our street including all of Slide road.  It was by far the most water I've seen out here (including the 14 inch flood back in July).  Fortunately we aren't cotton farmers, and it didn't last long in our sandy soil. 

The first picture is the base of the future master bathroom cabinets.  The rock guy will get started in about a week, and the electrician is supposed to be back on Tuesday to trench the new electric line from the meter to the house. 

The picture quality on the outside brick pictures is terrible, but I couldn't get any closer due to mud.

10-20-2010: Brick, day 4

The bricklayers finished the major portion of the brick today, but still lack some areas under windows and clean-up.  I assume they'll be back tomorrow to finish up.  It looks a little strange in areas right now but will be uniform when some of the mortar and dust are washed off.  The brick looks about like I expected, so I'm very pleased with it.

The stone guy didn't show up today while Rick was here.  Maybe tomorrow.

Rick found a bargain on trees at Home Depot this morning, and we went back in with a trailer tonight and bought a 45 gallon live oak tree for $100 (regularly $250, which at full price was a bargain for a tree this size).

Rick continued work on the cabinets today and has hung the cabinets over the toilets in all three bathrooms.  He had to do some wiring in the master bathroom today and also installed the interior door to the attic.

10-19-2010: Brick, day 3

The bricklayers continued today and should be able to finish tomorrow.  I'm really liking the new look...the beer cooler white styrofoam walls were getting old!

The stone guy is supposed to come out tomorrow to give us a formal bid.  Hopefully he can get started soon.  I know that he keeps the rock we want in stock, so we shouldn't have to wait on that like we did on the brick. 

Rick continues to work on the cabinets. 

10-18-2010: Brick, day 2

The bricklayers were at it again today.  They finished the east side of the house (except the bottoms of 3 windows) and the lower half of the rest of the house that will be bricked.  (Most of the front part of the house will have stone.)  We had a brief but intense rain shower with the arrival of the cold front around 5:30pm.  We estimate that these guys will easily be finished Wednesday at the current rate of progress.

Rick continues the cabinet building and has been working on the hall bathroom.

10-16-2010: Brick, day 1

The bricklayers FINALLY showed up this morning (Saturday) and got a lot of brick put up today.  They say they will be back on Monday.  At this rate, it shouldn't take them too long to finish...maybe by the end of the week.  The stone guys can start when the bricklayers finish.  After all the stone is up on the front, we can get the concrete guys back out to put in the porches, and then the framers back out to install the cedar posts.  Rick was going to set the forms and get the porches ready but has too many other projects going right now. 

The interior doors (except for the office and pantry) arrived at the end of the week.  Rick continues to work on cabinets.  We are still making major decisions about the kitchen cabinets and will go to more open houses this weekend for ideas.