EEEK!

Well, the local mouse population has already discovered that our new insulation makes a pretty comfy home. A few days ago, I noticed a round hole in one area with a pile of cellulose insulation lying in front of the hole. Brad the electrician suggested that a mouse may have taken up residence there. I packed the loose insulation back into the hole and the next day, the hole had reappeared. Clearly, drastic measures were in order so I set a mouse trap baited with peanut butter.
Upon checking the trap on Christmas day, I discovered the culprit. So, I set the trap again and nailed his buddy yesterday.

The drywall was delivered Friday and is spread all over the house ready to be hung. The drywall contractor was supposed to start yesterday but didn't show. This was after a conversation on Friday with him at which time we discussed the expectation that he would start Wednesday. Due to the snowstorm yesterday, I was willing to give them a "pass" on not showing up. They were a "no show" again today so I have a call in for the owner. As long as I work with contractors, I will never get used to their practice of not showing up and not communicating the reason. A simple phone call would seem to be a normal business practice.

DRYWALL STAGED AND READY TO GO

I finished up the low voltage wiring and ended up with probably 30 to 40 runs back to "central command". I ran lots of wire that may never be used but wire is not very expensive and it is a lot easier to install now rather than later.

 CO-AX, CAT6, SPEAKER WIRE, OH MY!

In order to make it easier when working from above, I ran all the wires through a section of PVC pipe which I installed through the top plate down into the wall adjacent to my "central command" closet. The end of the pipe in the attic is long enough such that it will rise above the attic insulation. This will make it a breeze to drop additional wires down into "central command" if the need arises. as you can see in the pic below, I installed an additional pipe section which will give me additional flexibility to separate the wiring in the future.

I also drilled a 2" hole in the bottom plate so that I can bring wiring into this same area from the basement. Someday, someone may thank me for the forward planning.....or, they may think I was a crazed engineer!



INSULATION

The house got a bit tighter yesterday as the insulation contractor insulated the exterior walls and also the ceiling of the basement workshop. They also foamed the concrete foundation wall which forms the east wall of the workshop.

The insulation is cellulose and is blown in with water so that it sticks in place. They then scrape off the excess so that it is flush with the edges of the studs.

I am hoping that the combination of the dense pack cellulose along with 6" walls will provide and extra measure of sound insulation for a quieter home.

                              BEFORE                                                               AFTER

For the ceiling, they have to first install a mesh that will hold the cellulose in place. I don't envy these guys as it is a very dusty job.\

JOHN POTHAST HARD AT WORK

In the above photo, you can see the mesh stapled to the I-joists.

SPRAYED FOAM ON CONCRETE FOUNDATION WALL

CLOSEUP OF FOAM

The sprayed foam shown above is very energy efficient and is somewhat impermeable so it makes for a nice job where there is the potential for moisture such as basement walls. It is somewhat "pricey" so it is not something you would typically use to fill the entire wall cavity for a framed wall. Many builders combine this product with fiberglass in the framed walls. They use about 1 to 1 1/2 inch of sprayed foam which tends to seal against air leakage and then they install fiberglass which fills the rest of the wall cavity to provide the additional needed R value at a reasonable cost.

The spray foam is also used to seal and insulate the band joist.

On Wednesday, the county inspector cam bu and OK's the rough plumbing. We won't require another inspection until the "final" which, as the name suggests, is the final inspection.

I spoke with the drywall contractor today and he will start hanging drywall either Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. Between now and then I have to finish the low voltage wiring for ceiling speakers, smoke detectors and any other security system wiring. I also want to install some blocks so that it will be easier to mount things such as towel bars later on. Finally, I will be making some minor changes on some of the framing.

I'M BAAAACK....!

I apologize to those of you who have been clamoring for more. It seems that I have been neglecting my blog. But, there hasn't been much excitement on the home front.

The plumber and electrician have been doing the "rough-in" phase of their work and should be finishing up this week. The electrician was far enough along that we were able to get his work inspected by the county on Friday. While here, the inspector also signed off on the framing as well as the HVAC.

BRAD ARNETT-ELECTRICIAN

Pothast-Loxley out of Versailles will be doing the insulation and the plan is for them to blow the walls starting Wednesday. He had one of his guys out about a week ago to do some preliminary work such as caulking along the bottom plate, installing baffles, and foaming between the window frames and rough openings.

BRIAN WITH POTHAST-LOXLEY

I have been spending quite a bit of time at the house and have been enjoying just puttering around out there. Since I don't earn a living at it, I just take my time and work at a slow pace. Over the past week, I finished up putting a "catwalk" in the attic. Once they blow about 15 inches of insulation in the attic, getting around up there becomes a real challenge. If I ever have to revise or add some wiring or perhaps inspect the roof from the attic, the cat walk will be a real asset. Without the catwalk, one ends up wading through the insulation whilst trying to figure out where the trusses are in order to avoid crashing through the ceiling. Brad the electrician complimented me on my foresight. I'm sure he has slogged around in attics of many homes, ankle deep in cellulose. It's not obvious in the picture below but the catwalk is raised about 15 inches above the bottom cord of the truss to get it above the insulation.

"CATWALK" IN ATTIC

 Late this past week I put Barb to work insulating the garage. This is the only aspect of the insulation we handled ourselves. I decided we would just use fiberglass batt insulation for these walls rather than having Pothast-Loxley blow them. Installing fiberglass insulation is light duty work and pretty straightforward as long as you measure and cut carefully. I think Barb did a real nice job! Probably saved a few hundred dollars doing this ourselves and it only took about a days worth of work.

GARAGE INSULATION

Over the past couple of days I have been running the low voltrage wiring which doesn't require a great deal of skill. Unlike the electrical wiring, building codes generally don't apply. This is something I handled on our last home as well. Low voltage wiring includes co-ax for TV, Cat6 data for networking (e.g. internet), wires for ceiling speakers and wires for the security system and smoke detectors. I have a closet in the utility room and all of the wiring will be run back to this central location. This closet will house any hardware such as a router, receiver and amplifier for audio, security panel, switches, etc. As I listen to streaming audio almost exclusively rather than a radio, I may place one of my "retired" computers in this closet for that purpose.

The picture below represents a small portion of the wires we will eventually end up running into this location. All of the wires are labeled so that there will be no confusion about what goes where. Looks almost like spaghetti at this stage.

WIRES LEADING TO THE "CENTRAL COMMAND" CLOSET

We are on schedule to start hanging drywall around the 19th or 20th. That's when it really starts looking like a house. Between now and then, I will need to finish the low voltage wiring and a few other odds and ends. Some of the low voltage wiring will be left in the walls for future use rather than bringing it through the walls and installing wall plates now. Consequently, I will be making a chart so that I know the location of all these hidden wires if/when I decide to use them.

LET THERE BE LIGHT.....BUT NO WATER!

Yesterday was a milestone day as DP&L "flipped the switch". I called them Monday and asked when they would be out to set the meter box and turn power on. They said sometime in the next one to ten days. Typical answer, huh! I asked if she could get a bit more specific so she checked with someone, came back to the phone and said "we'll get it done tomorrow (i.e. Tuesday). So, I retired the portable generator from service for the time being. I will not miss the sound of that thing running for the past two plus months. On the other hand, it served it's purpose and did so reliably.

DOESN'T LOOK LIKE MUCH BUT IT'S "LIVE"

Somewhat off topic, got up this morning to "no water". For those of us who are used to relying on a well, it is an event that we all know will happen at some point. I always hope that it is not when I am all lathered up with soap in the shower.
Went down and checked out the pressure switch and cycled the pump on and off a few times. Sometimes it would run but it was not pressurizing the tank. Other times it would pressurize the tank but then the tank pressure would bleed down which suggested a faulty check valve.
Since I have pulled well pumps on more than one occasion, I filled up some containers with water to carry us for a while and then got out my "pipe clamp/black pipe pump pulling" apparatus. The threaded end screws into the pitless adapter and the pipe clamp on the end allows me to crank down and break loose the adapter. The lateral section of pipe insures that I won't lose everything down the well hole which is not something you even want to think about happening.

WITH WOOD BLOCKS IN PLACE, I CAN TURN THE PIPE CLAMP HANDLE WHICH

EFFECTIVELY PULLS THE PITLESS ADAPTER UPWARD

 The pump was only about 60 ft. down so I was able to get it out of the hole with little effort. I removed the head from the pump and the problem was as suspected...a broken check valve.

THE CULPRIT CHECK VALVE! TWO OF THE FOUR "LEGS" ARE BROKEN OFF

I got on the phone and tried to find someone who had this part in stock to no avail. Then, someone suggested the obvious....just install a brass check valve at the top of the pump rather than replacing the above pictured valve which is integral to the pump. After a couple of trips to Menards, I had everything I needed to get the pump back together and back down in the hole. After about $35 for the valve and some fittings and about four hours of time (most of which was spent on the phone and running to Menards) we are back in service.

Apparently the broken check valve was getting turned upside down in the housing and when that happened, it was preventing the water from flowing upward from the pump. That is why at times the pump was running but not pressurizing the pump.

FRONT DOOR

On Saturday, we drove down to Newport, KY and picked up the front door. I think it looks pretty nice. Now, we have to decide on a stain color.
When I ordered the door, I asked for the rough opening dimensions and they gave me 82.5 in. for the height. Before we left their store , I checked the dimension on the door itself and it is 82.5 inches which means they did not allow any clearance.  So, I was assuming I would have to do some work on the rough opening to accomodate for their mistake. As it turns out, the framer allowed almost 83 in. so I think I'll be able to get by without any work on the rough opening.

THE REST OF THE STORY....

In my October 19 post, I wrote that I expected to get the invoice from DP&L for the extension of electric service to our lot. Well, the invoice arrived in the mail the next day and I have finally recovered enough from the shock such that I can write about it.
The bill was $12,455! They give a credit for $5,000 so my cost is $7,455. They did not provide any detail on the bill so I asked for a breakdown. This is what they gave me:
     LABOR                        $2,547
     TRANSPORTATION       798
     MATERIALS                 3,893
     OVERHEADS                2,451
     TAX GROSS UP           2,766

I asked what the tax is for and they explained that it is for the taxes that DP&L will pay in future years on the installed equipment. I then asked how many years out into the future does it cover and he said he thought it was 14 years. So, I said "Let me see if I understand this correctly....DP&L is going to charge me $2,766 TODAY to recover for taxes that they will be paying as far as 14 years into the future?". He answered in the affirmative. I then asked if I would get any of that back if the tax rate happened to change. You can guess the answer.

They (DP&L) encouraged me to have someone other than DP&L do the trenching as they said it would be less costly ( imagine that ). So I asked them if I have the option of contracting for any of the other work. I'll let you guess the answer that one as well. As it turns out, DP&L did not perform any of the work in the end but contracted it out to another company leaving me wondering why I could not have done the same thereby avoiding the DP&L markup.

I examined the DP&L web page and also the OHIO Administrative Code to see if it addresses how much a utility company is allowed to charge for extension of service. I found nothing. My obvious concern is that they may be overcharging. Unfortunately, there is no way to determine this since I can't go down the street to another utility company and get a competitive quote from them in order to keep DP&L honest.

They offer an opportunity to pay the bill in installments over 50 months and so I asked what the interest rate is.....9.36%. What a deal, huh!

Oh, one more thing...even though I paid for the transformer it remains the property of  DP&L.

I WILL be writing a lengthy letter to the PUCO after the dust settles.

Since I received their invoice on a Saturday, I drove down to Moraine on Monday to hand deliver my check so as not to delay progress on getting electricity. After all, it had been over two months since I originally submitted my application. A week-and-a-half later I had not heard anything so I called to follow up. I was asked if I had signed an easement agreement as they could not start work until this was done. I explained that not only had no one contacted me about this but no one had ever made me aware of this requirement. Well, come to find out, the same guy who was responsible for a two week period of inaction earlier in this process was the same one who left an additional week-and-a-half go by with no action on the easement paperwork. In summary, this one person was responsible for almost four weeks of delay. At one point I tried to get the name of his supervisor but I got stonewalled.

I am glad to report that on Friday, the trencher I hired dug the trench for the electric cable, DP&L's contractor erected the pole at the road and installed the transformer (up near the house), Frontier Communications dropped off a 1,000 ft. spool of phone cable which we dropped into the trench along with the electric cable. We also trenched from the transformer to the house and installed the secondary cable and we trenched for (and installed) the water line from the well to the house. The well pump will be in before the week is up and we may have the electric meter set and the line energized within a couple of weeks. At that point, I can put the portable generator away which has served everyone so well.

HERE'S THE TRANSFORMER I PAID FOR

THAT IS NOW THE PROPERTY OF DP&L

 

In the words of the late Paul Harvey...."Good Day!"

ROOFING & GRADING

The roofers showed up on Friday and got about half the shingles on. They worked all day yesterday and finished up around 5:30 under drizzly conditions. I am so much looking forward to a stretch of 4 or 5 days without rain.

Had to make two runs to get materials....3 bundles of shingles from Menards and 2 rolls of ridge vent from Lowes. If I am at the new house, it is more convenient to run to Lowes in Huber Heights and if I am at our current residence in Tipp, Menards is obviously more convenient. In all, I think we used 53 squares of shingles. Barb says we made the right choice on the color. Until they get the shingles on the roof, it's really hard to predict how it is going to look so that is a relief.

The excavating contractor also worked all day Saturday. He backfilled around the foundation, a job that should have been done a long time ago but not something that impacted any other part of the project so it was not a big deal. However, it is a little easier to work around the outer perimeter of the house now since we don't have the hole to deal with. The above pic is before the backfill was completed.

The excavating contractor also did some preliminary grading along the sides of the house and cut in the driveway that will run down to the garage door at the lower level. Scott, the guy who works for the excavating contractor is really adept with the skid loader. I told him he was like an artist, molding the dirt and shaping contours with his bucket.

 

 SCOTT ( AKA "SHAKEY")

WORKING ON THE DRIVEWAY DOWN TO THE LOWER LEVEL

The plumber is still working to finish the rough plumbing and he should wrap that up mid to late next week. The electrician may show up late next week to start the rough electric. So, things continue to progress about as well as can be expected.

This week I will probably run down to Newport, KY to pick up the mahogany front door. In retrospect, I ordered this earlier than I should have so it has been sitting in their warehouse waiting for me to get it out of their way. Now that the front porch is done we can probably install the door without risk of it getting much exposure to weather. Nevertheless, once installed we will likely cover it and also block it off from use so that the subcontractors don't beat it up.

At church this AM another person asked when we would be in. Wish I had a dollar for every time I've been asked that. Frankly, I don't know and have not even bothered to work up a schedule. We will continue to work diligently towards completion and whenever it is done will be fine with us.

BALD EAGLE ?

I spoke with a couple after mass yesterday and they told me they had kayaked past our house one day last week. They said that in the course of their river trip, they had seen a bald eagle. The thought that we may be able to see an occasional bald eagle from our new home is exciting!

ANOTHER WEEK GONE...

Well, the framers finished up the front porch on Wednesday. I think it looks really cool and the guys did a great job despite the absence of any Amish in their bloodlines.

Barb made use of the sunroom to stain the beadboard for the porch ceiling. Since it was nailed over the rafters, we felt it would be much easier to stain it ahead of time.

BARB STAINING AWAY

And, the end product....

The HVAC crew started their "rough-in" on Wednesday and should finish that portion of their work by the middle of this week. Everything has gone smoothly with them.

The plumbers started Thursday and so-far-so-good with them as well. It's funny how things that seem to be minor decisions can make one's head hurt. For example, "where would you like the outside faucets located". I never really thought much about it but obviously it's desirable to have them "conveniently" located, wherever that is.

The roofers were supposed to start tomorrow but the rain has set them back about 2 days. At least the house is relatively waterproof now that the front porch is done. The foyer got wet three more times since I last posted and I think that comes to a total of around eight times it has been soaked. It still looks surprisingly good and worst case scenario is that it may require a little sanding depending on what kind if floor goes down. If we use tile, a backer board will probably go down first which eliminates any issues with the subfloor.

I met with a guy today who will do the trenching for the primary electric line from the road to the house. I met with three potential contractors for this work with the first one charging a rate of $3 per foot, the second one at $1.50 and the one today at $1. Since the trench will run about 700 ft. the difference was over $1,000 from the highest to the lowest. Good thing I didn't settle on the first one! More about the electric service to follow.....



CATCHING UP

This post is dedicated to my nephew Kevin who reported that he has been experiencing withdrawal due to my dearth of updates.

I am starting to think that we should stark work on an Ark instead of the house. More rain today. It's not that we have gotten a lot of rain...it's just that it has been raining frequently. Since the subfloor was put down about 3 weeks ago, parts of it have been soaked seven times now. Today the foyer got wet due to the fact that the front porch is not yet complete and the roof over the foyer can't be completed until we get the porch complete.

Since my last post on Thursday of last week, we have made great progress.Except for about a days worth of work to complete the front porch, all the framing is complete. Yesterday they installed the windows and also started on the decking for the screened porch. The latter task was completed this AM.

Since Forest Products created a bit of a mess when they delivered I joists and beams way back when, they made me a pretty good deal on the decking material (or at least they say they did). The only complication is that they were reluctant to deliver it since their inability to get up our driveway previously is what caused the problem. Although I have the pickup truck and an 8' trailer , neither would be sufficient to carry 20' long pieces. So, we rented a U-Haul for a couple of hours, drove to Piqua and picked up the material and delivered to the lot.

DECKING IN SCREENED PORCH

There were a couple of errors with the windows. Two of them which were ordered with tempered glass cam e in with standard glass. The supplier will be changing those out. The two windows in the garage were supposed to have been painted but came in with bare pine interiors. The supplier will pay for the cost of painting these. Most of the windows will be stained but we saw no need to stain the two in the garage.

Both the HVAC guy and the plumber met me at the house to walk through and discuss the rough-in. The meeting with the plumber was rather ironic. Twenty five years ago TODAY, he and I were working at our house on Neal-Pearson and he was doing the rough plumbing. That was Black Monday, the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped almost 22%, the largest one day percentage drop in history. For me, it was one of those days that I will always remember where I was, somewhat like Kennedy's assassination and other such events. Rick and I were listening to WLW as they reported on the market decline throughout the day, wondering when it would all end. Hopefully my decision to use Rick again for this house will not be an omen as far as the stock market goes.

We're finally making some progress with DP&L. Tomorrow, I expect to receive their invoice for the cost of the installation. I'm holding my breath. Once I make payment we can get underway with the installation of electric.

Everyone, including DP&L, has suggested that I have someone other than DP&L dig the trench for the electric cable which will run about 700' from the road to the house. So, Wednesday I met with a guy who does most of the trenching for Pioneer Rural. He told me his rate is $2.90 per foot. I met with another trencher from Greenville late this afternoon whose rate was almost half that, a potential savings of about $1,000. Unfortunately, he is not able to deal with the little creek part way up our driveway. It will be necessary to use a backhoe to dig a trench about 36" below the bottom of the creek and he does not have the equipment to do this aspect of the work. As a result, I will likely be meeting with yet a third person for this work.

I contacted the phone company to find out if they would want to drop their cable into the trench while we have it opened up. Would save someone some $'s if ewe can do this. After speaking with a prototypical utility company service rep, I was not left with a great deal of confidence that we will be able to make the logistics work on this.

On a positive note, both the HVAC and plumber will be starting work next Wednesday. Things are coming together nicely from a scheduling standpoint. We may be able to get started on the roofing late next week too which would be another giant step in getting the place "weatherproof".

I know I have mentioned before our expectations that the screen porch has the potential to become our favorite space. Now that the roof is on and the decking is down there, I am even more convinced of that. Barb is referring to it as our tree house which is apt. Because the terrain drops off so steeply, it's almost like we are in the canopy of the trees.

OUR TREE HOUSE

The porch is turning out pretty nice. We are using cedar timbers to create somewhat of a timber frame appearance. The rest of the exterior of the house is somewhat simple so we look at the front porch as THE focal point of the exterior.

FRONT PORCH

The plan is to lay stone veneer around the lower part of the posts. We will  be staining bead board over the weekend which will be installed over the cedar rafters.

THE FRAMING CREW

Jeff, the elder statesman in this photo, owns the business and has been framing for about 30 years. He knows his stuff!

NEW WINDOWS AND FRENCH DOOR TO SCREENED PORCH

TRUSSES GOING UP

We got a brief shower yesterday AM. Just enough to wet the OSB floor once again. Barb & I went out early and used a shop vac to pick up what we could. Despite the three soakings I think we will be in pretty good shape.

It was a bit breezy yesterday so they canceled the plan to set trusses. However, they did get that accomplisehed today. Now it's really starting to look like a house.

ROOF SHEATHING GOING ON SCREENED PORCH

I HAVE A FEELING THIS MIGHT BE OUR FAVORITE SPACE

SURE BEATS LIFTING THEM BY HAND

BARB'S UNCLE OWNS THE COMPANY THAT MADE THE TRUSSES

FIRST FLOOR FRAMED

The main floor framimg is pretty much complete. Unfortunately, the floor has been rained on twice but I guess that's just part of the deal. Both times we used a squegee to get the puddles of water off the floor to facilitate drying and to prevent the water from just setting there and soaking into the wood. If there is too much exposure to moisture, the edges of the sheets will swell up. If that happens, it might be necessary to sand those areas before any tile, wood flooring or carpeting goes down.

The truss manufacturer was running a couple of days behind so rather than getting them late last week, they came at the end of day yesterday. I was worried that the truck may have the same difficulty getting up the driveway as was experienced by the truck that delivered the joists. I am pleased to report that after two attempts during which he lost traction and any forward progress, he was successful on the third try.

The framer has a crane scheduled to lift the trusses into place. Not sure if that will happen today or tomorrow.

The concrete floor for the front porch (which also serves as the roof of the safe room in the basement) was poured last week in the rain. They were able to get a temporary tarp over it and ended up with a decent finish. Last task for the foundation contractor is to backfill around the foundation with abou four feet of gravel.

If I get ulcers from this project it will probably be attributable to DP&L. I spoke with them last week Thursday which was the first contact I had with them in two weeks. They had done absolutely NOTHING on a minor task necessary to go to the next step....a task that involves probably 15 minutes of someone's time. So, we continue to operate with a portable generator. If any of you know someone at DP&L who I could tap into, please let me know.

 THIS IS WHY THEY CALL IT "STICK BUILT"

 BEAMS ARE UP FOR THE SCREENED PORCH

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE SCREENED PORCH

EXTENDING OFF REAR OF THE MAIN FLOOR

FLOOR ON

The framers got the floor down Friday. The first pic is obviously before they got to that point. Tomorrow they will start framing the walls on the main floor.



VIEW OF WALK-OUT BASEMENT
THIS IS END WHERE MY BASEMENT WORK SHOP WILL BE
WITH GARAGE DOOR ENTRY



WALKOUT BASEMENT FROM OTHER END



ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN'

I was expecting the framers to start this coming Monday but they were actually able to start yesterday. Of course, it drizzled all day yesterday and a good part of today. Would have been nice to be able to keep all the lumber dry but what can you do? Hopefully we'll get some nice weather over the next week or two so that they can get things under cover.

Had somewhat of a mess with the I-joist delivery yesterday. The driver was not able to get up our driveway. He was pulling a 5th wheel trailer with rollers on the bed that allows them to tilt the bed and just "roll" the load off onto the ground. Since there wasn't enough weight over his axle, he was unable to get adequate traction. After tearing up the driveway and cutting ruts on each side, he decided to roll everything off near the end of the driveway. So, when the framers arrived this AM, they had to lug everything up to the house about 700 ft.....some of the I-joists were 48 ft. long so I'm sure they weren't to thrilled. I was not a happy camper last night after observing the mess. I was about to tell the driver that Red Batty could have backed a semi up our driveway without getting off the edge. I would post pictures but it was too ugly for public viewing!

We ordered a mahogany front door on Saturday at a place in Newport, KY. Brought back memories of college days when me, Bimbo Monnin and Granny Gavit used to visit a "performing arts center" there. Anyway, I digress. Some people have suggested that we are silly for going with a real wood door but I just can't buy into a fiberglass door that is made to look something like wood. We'll have some additional maintenance but the door will be protected by the porch which should help.

DP&L continues to be a PITA. I last spoke with them over a week ago and so on Tuesday I emailed asking if there had been any progress made in the past week. No reply as of yet....Grrrr!

SLABS POURED

Yesterday, the foundation contractor poured the garage and basemnent floors. Fortunately the rain held off long enough for them to get the concrete troweled and for the concrete to set up a bit. Today, they were back to saw the concrete and set the forms so that they can pour the porch deck. That will likely happen tomorrow.

I asked them to not use their standard sealer on the garage and basement floors. My plan is to use an epoxy finish in the garage and also in the workshop portion of the basement. Makes for a real nice surface.

 THIS WILL BE THE GARAGE ENTRY



 PORCH DECK WILL BE POURED OVER THE PLYWOOD,

FORMING THE "ROOF" OF THE SAFE ROOM

The installlation of electric service continues to drag on. The logical way to get service to our house would have been to come from a transformer across (or underneath)  a small stretch of our neighbors property. I approached him last week to discuss getting his permission to do so. Unfortunately, he wouldn't even discuss it with me and gave a "flat-out" no. Welcome to the neighborhood!! Unfortunately, the alternative will be more costly and will involve coming all the way up from the road.

DP&L is excruciatingly slow in getting things done. I have to wait for them to come up with the plans and then it has to be approved by two or three people in the chain of command. I was prepared for her to tell me trhat they would need to get approval at the next annual stockholders meeting.

The framer tells me he will be able to commence work late next week or on Monday October 1. Since we will not have electric service by then, I picked upo a used generator fro $150 that should serve our needs in the interim. Since most homeowners barely use their generators, it is easy to find them with very few running hours.

"MISSING" WALLS WILL BE FRAMED

FOR WALK-OUT BASEMENT

LOOKIN' The PART

Since I am playing the contractor role, I decided I need to look the part. So, I went out and bought a pickup truck.
You can't get much for $3,000 but I found a 1999 Dodge Dakota that will hopefully serve me well during the term of the project. My Honda Accord wasn't very well suited for driving around a construction job site and sitting in it with dirty clothes and shoes. Of course, I also need something to haul tools and materials and perhaps to tow large rental tools.

The picture makes it look much better than it's true condition. For example, you can't see the peeling clear-coat or the rusted hole in the wheel well inside the bed. But, it has great tires, 4WD, a hitch and wiring for towing and everything works except the cruise. An extended cab version would have been nice but I got tired of driving all over to look at junk.

As you can see, the forms have been stripped and we're ready for the first rough on the plumbing. That means running the drain and waste lines that go below the basement slab. I met with Rick Longshore (A&L Plumbing) this morning at the lot to discuss specifics. He will take a couple of days to finish this phase and then we have the foundation contractor back to pour the basement floor and garage floor.

I'm embarrassed to report that we are going to have about a 2 week period this month with nothing going on. I really thought it would be late September before needing the framer but things heretofore have progressed more smoothly than I had anticipated. Since the framer had planned for late September (which is what I had told him previously) he will not be able to adjust for an earlier start at this point.

DP&L has been a pleasure to work with!! I submitted the application for service about two weeks ago and nothing has happened during that time. It sat in limbo for about a week with no activity. The engineer was supposed to get out to the lot Tuesday to assess the job. Well, she said she hurt her foot on Monday and could not get into the field. She said she will try to get out there this week. You would think that since I will be committing to paying them $$ every month for years to come, they would be anxious to get me "on board".

One of the other residents on our road invited us to a Labor Day cookout. They moved there 2 or 3 months ago and found out we have a mutual friend who was also iuvited. Gave us a chance to meet a couple of the other neighbors as well as people who live in other parts of Bethel Township.

WALLS POURED TODAY

Well, it rained pretty good at times in Tipp City but only ssprinkled at the lot. As a result, the foundation crew was able to get the walls poured. Barb was excited 'cause it's starting to look like something she can recognize.

They brought in a pumper truck which makes placing the concrete in the forms a breeze. Would have shown pictures of this in action but had dead batteries in my camera....Aaaargh!



PUMPER TRUCK





The square section right behind us is the front stoop. Underneath will be the
storm shelter/wine cellar



The nearest area in this view is the garage.