Windows Have Arrived!

Terry had to drive back up to work on Tuesday afternoon, so we took a drive up to the lake Tuesday morning to see what was going on. It was drizzling, but there were three guys working on some roof framing. The rain picked up a bit while we were there, so they had to quit. Rain and power tools is not a great combination!

While we were there, the windows were delivered by a Bryan lumber company. It will really be great to see them installed, but I don't think they are quite ready for that yet! 

Terry's mom is still here, so we will take a ride up later in the week to see how things are going. There has been rain today, but I hope they can get some work hours in before the week is over. We need the rain, so I won't wish it away even though it slows the building progress right now!

Bit by Bit, Board by Board

We took Terry's mom to the lake today so she could see the new construction. No one was there working, but we could see visible progress from when we were here last Saturday. Steps, some roof framing, engineered beams...bit by bit, board by board!

First Walk-Through

After Matt's graduation from SHSU this morning and a celebratory lunch afterwards, we went to the lake to check on the progress. This was the first time that Terry has seen any of the construction in person - he has not had anytime off work to come home since they have started.


It was great to see some of the basic framing up. I have added a few labels to give some perspective to the layout. 

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

We could walk up the ramp, although the boards were not yet nailed in place. That enabled us to have our first walk-through of the house - very exciting to actually see where everything was going to be!

Standing on the porch (that is where Terry is at), we could imagine how great it will be when it is all done!

We even saw a Unicorn! Well, not exactly...

New Wood!

I love the smell of new wood in the morning! There are stacks of wood all over the property...

...and some of it is even on the pilings!

There were no workers there but it looked like it had rained, so they probably couldn't work. It is exciting to see progress though!

Tilson Pride!

I talked to my builder who apologized in advance if he was difficult to reach in the upcoming week. Tilson Homes is building a home for one of soldiers injured in the Fort Hood shooting a little more than a year ago. This home will be featured on an upcoming Extreme Home Makeover show...and my builder is building this home!

Read about the family who is receiving this well-deserved home:

http://www.heartoftexasbuild.com/the-family.aspx

I am more than happy to wait with my questions so that this soldier can get a home that will accommodate his needs! I'm proud to be associated with Tilson Homes!

Here We Go!

The lack of postings has probably been a pretty good indication that nothing has been going on with our new home. It has been a very long month, and the waiting has become more and more difficult as the days have passed.

Fortunately, I got a call from our builder last week, and he said that they were ready to get started! What great news that was! I had to hurry and call the electric company to get service reconnected. Water still has to be reconnected - there are a couple of extra things to be done before that can happen.

Matt and I drove up this morning and the place was buzzing with activity! What a great sight it was!

The pilings are all in although they still need to be cut to the right heights. I have a listing of what things will be done in what order, so that will be our checklist of progress. I hope to post pictures as frequently as possible to mark the progress.

I am so glad to be started! Here we go...

A Beautiful Day!

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood...the lake neighborhood, that is! However, the work we had to do seemed extra hard, and we struggled to get it done.


We got more brush cut back so that the builders will have room to maneuver around the perimeter of the house. There is still a bit more to do, and the more we cut, the more it seemed to multiply!


The soil test was done this last week, and we should have the results this next week. I am not sure what they do with the information, but I guess we'll find out. We could tell that someone had been there. There were some markings spray painted on the ground near the electrical pole with a couple of new flags that had not been there before. We could also tell that someone had driven down through the sand - there were some fairly deep ruts, so I'm guessing they may have gotten stuck. I don't know if it was the soil testing people, someone from the building company, or a neighbor. I don't think we really want vehicles driving down through the footprint of the house, but if it is someone representing the builder, I guess any issues will be their problem!


Despite our lack of energy and stamina for the work to be done, the day was beautiful, and the sun reflected off the lake making it just sparkle. 

We also had a couple of visitors - doe and a buck - who were happy to eat some lettuce that we brought for them. The doe would have eaten from my hand, but I kept trying to take a picture while feeding her, and she didn't like the beeping of the camera!

New Home for the Brown Shed

The moving of the brown shed has been pretty labor intensive, in my opinion. I understand that it is the only structure left on the lot with a functioning door...and we do still have a need for that. Spending the better part of four valuable Saturdays has meant that completing all the other tasks that need to be done is taking a longer than anticipated.
There was a lot of jacking up and putting blocks under the corners, then jacking up some more with more blocks. It may be the only shed known to man that was moved on a boat trailer! Then, after it was moved, all the stuff with blocks and jacks had to be done in reverse. So the shed has found its new home...its temporary home. 

The truck is parked in the driveway which comes in from the road on the right side of the lot and curves around to the center of the lot. If the shed stays in its current location, it will be the first thing you see when you come in the drive. It will also block the view of the new house, so it just can't stay there! For the time being, it will stay where it is, but we will eventually do something else for the storage of tools and outdoor equipment. I guess that will be Phase II...hopefully it won't take as long to do as Phase I did! 

The Little Shed That Didn't

The silver shed that was tucked deep in the bushes was not as lucky on moving day as the bigger brown shed that came out several weeks ago. It had several things working against it - it was farther back in the overgrown brush, it was fully loaded, and the method of moving it was a bit risky. None of these risk factors were the shed's fault, and even then, it almost made it out in one piece. I suppose one might argue that it still is in one piece...just slightly rearranged...

There is not much to do but dismantle and dispose of it. Sorry, little shed...with a little more effort your fate might have had a better outcome!

Getting Closer

Progress continues as we get closer to starting construction. 


I  called a person about removing the two stumps from the cedar trees last week. He said he would go by that evening and call me to let me know if he could do the job. Apparently he couldn't because I never heard back from him! Terry and Matt were going to try to move the second shed last Saturday, so I called someone that I found on the Camp Creek website. (Residents often have trouble getting reputable and experienced help because it is off the beaten path, so the website includes a page that lists service people along with recommendations from residents.) I spoke with the gentleman's wife who said he was looking at another job that morning but might get by our place to look in the afternoon. Not only did he come to look, but he also removed the stumps AND helped move the shed!


So, with that job out of the way, we were cleared to do a re-stake of the house. I keep calling it a stakeout...but I guess that is something slightly different! The re-stake guy, Jerry, had an opening today, so I went up to meet him. We decided to pull the house back away from the lake about 5 more feet. It is not that we are close to the lake - probably 200 feet away - but it just seemed a slightly better placement. Jerry agreed and completed the re-stake. He gave me a list of things that we still need to do - trim back some yaupon, cut a limb, remove a couple of chunks of concrete, etc. We should be able to complete that this weekend.


Jerry also had the septic guy come to look and give us the word on whether we can go traditional or aerobic. He said traditional was fine. That is good for us because it it less expensive than an aerobic design.


Now the plans go back to drafting for whatever  pre-construction things need to be done. I am hoping that building might start in two weeks...three weeks at the most! Hard to believe that we are almost ready to get started. Exciting!!

Jerry doing the re-stake

A Clean Slate

All remnants of the old cabin are gone. It looks very strange to us without it there!

Looking toward the lake

Huh? It was here last weekend!

From the lake looking up the hill

Demo Shots

Here is a sampling of the pictures taken during demo. They started on the road side and worked their way around in a counterclockwise direction. It was quite amazing to watch, and the Bobcat operator had obviously done this sort of thing before. He worked very meticulously to break up, level, and push the debris inward. As you can see in the second picture, he drove right up into the cabin to get interior walls broken.

Moving the Shed

Remember the shed? Matt and Terry had worked very hard to get the shed jacked up and on a trailer, only to find that the truck could not pull it up the hill. The soil is very fine sand and affords no traction, so we wanted the demo guys to pull it out. Before starting the demo, they did just that! Here is a version of that process at 4X normal speed.

Good day for a demo

So, today was the long awaited demo day. I was able to get a lot of photos and videos, which I will wade through. I will add thoughts along with more pictures this weekend. For now I will leave you with this...

Sad Little Cabin

The old cabin is looking very sad. With the two cedar trees cut down and some fairly severe scavenging done to the cabin, the results are rather pitiful.

This past week, a guy that Terry knows came in to take out the old appliances and other larger items that we were not planning to keep. They did what we asked, but it now looks like a tornado went through the place! 

They also removed the knotty pine paneling that I wanted to save. There was absolutely no insulation in the middle room, but something did occupy the space between interior paneling and exterior siding...

Creepy!

Terry and Matt worked on getting items out of the sheds. Both sheds will have to be moved before construction  begins, so that was the goal of this weekend's trip. They emptied one, jacked it up, got the trailer underneath it, but Terry's truck could not pull it up the hill. One mower was dead, so it had to be towed out of the way.

I am anxious to get going with demolition - it is just a bit painful to see the old place in such a forlorn state. I can see the new house in my mind, but it will be good to get moving on demolition and be that much closer to having the new construction begin!

Kitchen Cabinets and Countertop

This is a great combination!

Work Day

We spent most of the day working at the cabin. We got all the stuff out that we wanted, and have made arrangements for the removal of the rest. Terry mowed while the boys loaded and hauled. After the work was completed, we headed back to town, got cleaned up, and headed to the builder's to meet with our sales rep. We completed our final plan review and double-checked our colors. It feels like we are making progress!

Here are some pictures from the day.

The cabin

Loading up

Moving the propane tank

The work crew

A curious bystander

Whew!

Holy Cow! I had NO idea how many choices there were to be made! I was dreaming when I thought I could be in and out quickly. Terry was a trooper and stuck it out to the bitter end. He threw in his two cents, and we managed to find things that we could both live with.


We started with appliances. I had looked at the choices before but wanted to make a couple of changes -  went with a slight upgrade for stove and dishwasher - 5 burner gas stove and extra quiet dishwasher. (Our Hurricane Katrina rescue dog, a miniature pinscher named Polly, has a problem with a noisy dishwasher! She stands in the kitchen and barks and tries to bite it, so when our old dishwasher needed to be replaced we chose the quietest one we could find. The barking and biting magically disappeared!)


Next came exterior colors - roof/shingle, house, trim, door. A medium tan with a hint of green, creamy trim, and a nice contrasting darker green exterior door.

Ceramic tile for the kitchen, dining, and living room floors is shown here.

I really like the kitchen cabinet color, wood, and style. They will be knotty alder in a simple style and a medium color. It was something that I picked out the first time I visited the builder's office. The granite tile for the kitchen counter is also pretty cool. Hopefully it will all blend the way I think it should!

The hardest choices were the tile options for the bathroom. Grout was fun, just as I had anticipated! ;-)

I never would have imagined, but we were there three hours, and it would have been longer if we had not had to leave to meet demo man. Results of the meeting with demo man: Dates for demo are still up in the air. Demo man has some other stuff going on, and we have to do some things to get ready, so a date will be set later. We were able agree upon the scope of the work, so that is a good thing.

More about the bathroom and bedroom colors later. I'm exhausted, but much was accomplished today! I will sleep well tonight!

Big Day! Color Day!

Tomorrow is color day! We get to pick tile, paint, and carpet colors! I am a bit nervous about the whole thing. I have this fear that when it is all installed and I walk in, I will hate it and nothing will look right with anything else. No pressure, no pressure.

The most exciting choice for me is going to be grout...I have been been waiting weeks for grout day, and now it is almost here! I'm sure I will have trouble sleeping tonight and will dream about the little grout samples in their cute little holder.


...and if color selections were not enough for one day...


We are meeting the demo man to discuss what he will do, what we need to do, etc. We still have some things to remove before it all comes crashing down, but there is not too much to be salvaged - a few pieces of furniture and the stove, which is in perfectly good condition. We need to sell it, I guess. I would also like to remove the knotty pine paneling, although some (unnamed) people have not shared my enthusiasm for the task. It is beautiful old paneling - a little dark, but I would strip and refinish it in a lighter shade.  I have a couple of ideas about what to do with it as well. We'll see if it happens.

Bit by Bit

Many people have asked, "So when does building start?"  I have even heard, "When is the new house going to be done?" 


The answer to both questions is, "I don't know!" There are many preliminary things to be handled before the builder can do anything. Most of those things are in our hands, not theirs! I'm working as fast as I can, but I do have a full time (plus) job, and much of what has to be done cannot be done outside of the normal work day. The lunch hour does not provide a very big window to make phone calls and discuss options. It certainly does not allow time to drive to the property or to the courthouse in Robertson County or run many of the errands that need to be done right now. I have taken some time off work to handle some things and have sent lots of evening emails to our sales rep.


Progress made

• Modified plans have been sent to the builder's corporate office for final redraws. 
• A copy of our deed for the lake property was obtained and provided to the builder. 
• A permit for a new septic system was purchased, freeing the builder to look at the options and design a plan for the new system.
• Inquiries have been made to determine how to manage the electric and water during the building process.

Holdups

• There is one main holdup right now - we need someone to do the demo! An inquiry has been made, however, no response yet.
• There are still items that we need to remove from the old cabin before demo can happen.

Keeping the end in mind will be a challenge, but the view down the hill, through the pines, and over the lake will continue to help. We are looking forward to having friends and family come to visit - the welcome mat will always be out! We may have to set up a calendar to schedule all our visitors...we certainly hope that folks near and far will come to sit on the porch and cruise around the lake with us!

Huh?

When the builder's representative did the pre-stake a couple of weeks ago, he suggested that the water line coming to the house from the water meter be changed from 3/4" to 1." That made sense to me. The cabin was originally built at least 50 years ago, and I doubt that the water line had been changed in that time. Our new place will be larger with more demand for water use, so it seems like a bigger pipe would serve us better. When we were at the builder's offices, one of the employees - not our sales person - said that all we had to do was call the water company and they would replace the line and just add it to our bill. That didn't sound right to either Terry or me - normally utility companies do not want anything to do with what is on the property owner's side - but I thought it was worth checking into. 

I called the water company this afternoon, explained what we needed to do, and asked if they could do the work. Not surprisingly, they said that the water line from the meter to the house is our responsibility.


That is not the perplexing part...

The young man that I spoke to said that there would just need to be an adapter added to connect the new line to the old meter. That made me start thinking...so I asked what size the opening was on the meter that the pipe connects to and found out that it is 3/4." So, the obvious question is:


 "Why do we need a 1" pipe if the opening at the meter is only 3/4"?


Hmmm. No answer yet...stay tuned...

Signed on the Dotted Line

We signed the contract for the new place today - many, many pages, but it was pretty straightforward. Guess there is no looking back now! I have a list of things that I now have to do, so I need to check my calendar to see if there is a good day that I can take off work to do all the running around.


Once I get all my tasks done, we will go back to pick out our colors. They said it might take 2-4 hours...uh, no...I don't think so! Terry says I can pick what I want, but I can't imagine that it will take so long!


Yes - it is starting to feel like this is really going to happen! We are excited! ...and I do have to say that the person we are working with is just a perfect match for our style! She is laid-back, easy-going and NEVER pushy or overbearing, and she is one of the main reasons we chose this builder. (Oh...did I mention that I told her I would send her the link to this blog?)

Snowy egret in the shallows

Treehouse

Well, it looks like we will have a treehouse. The options for managing the slope in our lot to keep the lake side of the house from being up in the trees are incredibly expensive, so pilings seem to be the only answer. The highest corner of the house is on the road side - it is 61" higher than the lowest corner on the lake side. The way the pilings are constructed, the floor on the highest corner will be 52" above the ground. If a train leaves Chicago at 7:00 am traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and another train leaves Denver at noon traveling east at 45 miles per hour, how tall will our lakeside porch be?

It was a real disappointment to conclude that this was our only affordable option! I really did not want 20 steps to walk up, so we are looking at a ramp as an alternative. It would be a switchback style with a landing and bench midway up. Maybe we could add a slide for a quick trip down...


We have chosen cabinets, flooring, and countertops - and it was amazingly easy! Both Terry and I agreed on all materials and color choices, which was surprizing. We still have some interior choices to make, so there is still time to knock heads! Think we will sign the contract this weekend.

MIA Cabin Pictures?

I spent a lot of time this evening going through backups and folders on my computer looking for cabin pictures. I found lots and lots of deer pictures, many pictures of family and friends that have come to visit, some boat house and lake shots...but NO cabin pictures! I am guessing that there are some actual photographs buried in a box somewhere taken when we first bought the place nearly 19 years ago, so I will continue to dig. I am also guessing that we cared more about the family, friends, nature and scenery than the actual structure, so it makes sense that we weren't snapping pictures of the old cabin. The pictures in the previous two posts were taken with my cell phone last week when the pre-stake was done.

Never fear! I will make sure to post more "before" shots before the bulldozer arrives. It kinda makes me wish that Ty Pennington could be there with his bullhorn to orchestrate the demolition...

We are awaiting some figures for foundation options other than pilings, so it is hurry up and wait...

Cabin - Side 2

Right side of cabin looking toward the lake. Storage shed is in the right side of the picture and flags in the foreground mark the back corner of the new house. Master bedroom will actually extend farther to the right in the vicinity of the blue barrel.