Finish building my house

Finally…
A long overdue update on where I’m at:
Exterior – My siding is not completely finished. I had quite a time with it; the company I hired was professional enough – seemed to be doing a great job – until the vertical got too high. First point: My house front isn’t really that high. From the ground in the front, it’s 33 feet to the tip of the peak. I’ve seen higher. Granted, the prow is kind of unique in that the angle of the roof extends from 2 feet at the bottom of the roof, to a 4 foot overhang at the top, making it a bit interesting when putting on soffit and fascia in the front. But it’s when we got to the prow, that I started really hearing the complaining about how high it was and how unsafe he felt, and how he couldn’t do it. I finally had to come home early from work and get up on the ladder myself at the highest point and do it myself. I was not pleased about that. I mean, if you’re in the siding business, shouldn’t you be used to heights? And if you’re afraid of heights, then you should probably find a different vocation IMHO. Anyway, it’s done now, and I’m glad.

On The Plumbing Front
My plumbing inspection has finally been done – and I had deficiencies!!! I had to put in two extra vents one for the second sink in the kitchen and one for the sink in the ensuite. Now fixed, and once again graced by the inspectors holy presence, the pontiff of permits, came out today and sprinkled his holy water of approval, thus declaring my sewer vents adequately fit for noxious fumes they were designed for.

And None Too Soon
My insulator, who was scheduled to be on site on Saturday, decided he would pay a surprise visit, declaring that another of his jobs had cancelled on him, giving him the opportunity to do my job sooner than expected. I thought this would have been wonderful, had I only known and been able to arrange the scaffold and materials to be delivered two days earlier as well. But, as that was not the case, I was left scrambling to make these arrangements in a very short, flustered and stressed out timeframe. I set up an account at a place called Urban Scaffolds and was able to procure 3 sections of 5’ scaffold, 3 planks, guard rails and castors for $79.41 for 28 days. Not too shabby if you ask me. At the end of the day, I now have made arrangements for the scaffold to get to the house on Thursday, and the materials hopefully following shortly thereafter. Whew… I’m glad that part is over. As fate would have it, the insulator and crew were able to get all my exterior walls filled today, due to the surplus of insulation I had taken out of my sub-floor earlier. All is well that ends well.

But The Grand Finale is
that tonight, I actually managed energize a circuit upstairs!!! Oh yeah, the master bedroom pot lights went live tonight at 8:15pm. It may sound rather trite to you, but it was a huge milestone to me. Flipping the switch for the first time and seeing those lights turn on was another step closer to getting this house done. I’m really pleased about it. Next thing is to finish the two bathroom fans before the insulation goes in the ceiling!

Drywall
is scheduled to start next Thursday. If all goes according to plan, I should be mudded, taped and sanded within two weeks. After that comes all the finishing. Woo Hoo.

and I was so nervous. I don’t know why, I feel confident in my electrical skills still, it’s just been over 10 years since I’ve actively practiced. Plus, I didn’t do very much residential.

Anyway, the inspector came out and was extremely complementary on my work. I got zero deficiencies. None. Nada. Nix. It felt so good, I was on cloud nine. I don’t have to call him again until I’m ready for my final. Now all I need is my plumbing rough-in inspection for the main floor, and I’m insulating. Sweet action.

I called my plumbing inspector, and he told me that my plumbing permit had expired. Huh? Okay that’s a first, usually I could apply for an extension or something. I’ll have to check into that one. Worst case scenario, I have to get a new one – another $250.

I also put a new door on my house downstairs – I had to do this because I didn’t want to use brick-mold around it. I wanted to use the same trim I have used for the upstairs windows and doors. I was working till dark yesterday on that one. But…that’s done now too. It’s been a tiring week, but I’m still hopeing to have the siding all finished this week as well.

Oh yeah, my appraiser is coming out today at 4pm as well – I had a conversation with him yesterday and he is very happy with how far we’ve gotten. Needless to say, so am I.

The siding progress
I now have only the front of the house left to finish, which will certainly be the most dramatic by far; that is where the bulk of the glass is. I am extremely happy with the look, and if all goes according to plan, the siding should be completed by the end of this week barring weather etc.

Electrical progress
I was able to get the laundry room and the main upstairs bathroom completed this weekend. Although happy with this progress, I had hoped to get much more done – maybe even finish the whole job. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get the amount of dryer cable I needed – I was short about 20 feet. Grrr. All things considered, I’m still happy with the progress this weekend. No pictures yet, but soon.

of the back wall getting sided. It’s all finished now, but I didn’t get that pic in yet. What you are looking at is the back of the house – the window at the top of the house is the loft. It is actually the library. It’s 17’x20’ and the walls will be book shelves, with a corner office. Yes…we have that many books. :)

is now being done. I’ve got the entire back of the house completed with soffits and facia as well. The decision was to go with a high quality siding with custom window edging.
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I put a metal roof on this house; you do it once, and you don’t have to do it again…typcally. It is an enameled deep blue color, called Heron Blue. I also put 8” facia boards all the way around to accent the roof, as well as the steeper inclines.
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The edging (as well as the soffit and facia) came out beautiful, color matched perfectly with the roof. I must say I’m pretty happy with the way the siding is going on. It is an amazing feeling seeing this thing come together after all the hours of design and only seeing it in my head and on my computer. The front will be a real challenge – the peak is close to thirty feet from grade; I’m not sure if you can tell from the picture, but the overhang at the peak is more than at the base of the roof – 2’ at the base and 4’ at the peak – so it’s high, awkward, and the facia will have to be cut on an angle which should be fun. I’m nervous about it.

I hope to be done with the electrical rough-in by the end of this week. Oh, and I’ll update with a picture ASAP.

of all projects I have undertaken is that of building my own house. I bought the land (3.2 acres) in 1996, and have spent the last close 10 years toying with different plans. Two years ago the central design was finalized and the house was started, but have modified some things as I have built it. Namely internal partitions etc.

I have done as much as I can by myself, or with the help of friends, but when there is something I really feel uncomfortable doing, I am the general contractor. I save a great deal of money in the process and and the chance to put some sweat equity into my own place.

The windows were a huge undertaking; 46 windows in total, with two of the rake windows at the peak of the prow having to be tempered glass because they were over 8’ high…they were very heavy windows. The picture shows the prow…kind of like the front of a ship. When I built the basement, I layed all my own plumbing in and put in 1900 feet of kitec pipe for the concrete slab heating (in which I had some help). I’m of course doing all my own electrical, but instead of doing my own plumbing for the top of the house, I have hired a plumber. The plumbing rough-in is now complete! I’m almost finished my eletrical rough-in, and then it’s inspection time! Then I can insulate and drywall.

I’m excited about this project ending – it’s been a long haul and I just need some time to live a little again.