It is now September and I know many of you are wondering what happened to us…A neighbor recently came by and commented that things seem to have been moving very Slowly all Summer as not much change can be Seen from the Street. Didn’t your mother teach you not to judge by appearances?
We’ve actually been quite busy and made great progress the past two months!
Subcontractors: While we have a general contractor responsible for the excavation, foundations and framing, we are hiring and managing most of the other trades ourselves. Soliciting bids, checking references, reviewing contracts, managing and reviewing the work of the various subcontractors, paying the bills. Yes, we’re saving money and learning a lot this way, but it is taking so much of our time every week. We have come to better appreciate all the work of a general contractor’s Superintendent!
Services: Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire Sprinkler, Street Work, including new Sewer and Water Lines will be complete early next week, including their respective city inspections! Low Voltage wiring is moving quite a bit more slowly because we got our tech savvy teenager to design the systems and we are laying all that Spaghetti ourselves…Who knew there were SO many holes too drill???
Selections and Shopping: Light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, doors, windows, skylights, roofing, cabinets, appliances, flooring, tile, countertops, etc. For me, this is a very fun part of the work, but it is also taking a lot more time than I had anticipated, especially as we’re looking for remnants and used building materials as part of our environmental focus and also to save money.
Next week, our general contractor comes back to complete the nailing for the framing inspection and to start installing the windows and doors! The roof will go on soon, and then we focus on the air sealing of the building envelope (a key part of an energy efficient Passive House), followed by insulation and outsolation, stucco and drywall, and then we’ll be weather tight and ready to work on the interior finishes. We are hoping to be able to move in by Christmas!
As of yesterday, we Sent off our children and are now empty nesters. Our son has gone off to Rhode Island to start college at Brown, and our daughter is off to Paris to research the Arctic Ocean and climate change at L’Ocean, so we should have more time to blog (and maybe to catch up on our SLEEP!)
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