Done! ...for now?

First floor exterior painted, new exterior door, new storm door, and new house numbers. Now to return to the dozen or so projects which began before the addition.

Long Over-Due Post

Construction wrapped completely by early December, 2009 (roughly 3 months after it began). After living in the house for almost 4 months after completion, we still can't believe it's done, and that it's our house. We absolutely love it! Coming soon, exterior paint for first floor walls and doors.

Days 21 - 25: Holy Sheetrock!

The drywall crew arrived with a huge load of sheetrock, tape, mud, etc. They stacked it all neatly upstairs with the fancy cable safety ties seen below. They were able to install almost all the drywall and do the first round of taping and plastering in 2 days. They also repaired the nail pops in the kitchen and the one foot-through-ceiling accident in the dining room on the first floor. The house is a total wreck now with all the dust, plaster footprints, and drywall crumbs everywhere - can't wait to clean it all up!

The drywall guys were back today to put the 2nd coat of joint compound on - Max loved the drywall stilts (he called them "special shoes"). The finish carpenter was also at the house, and was able to hang nearly all of the entry and closet doors! We put the finishing touches on the tile and vanity cabinet order, as well. Later this week, we need to select carpet and pick up our 3 new ceiling fans.

Days 16-20: R-Value, AC, and Hot H2O

At the end of Week 4, the guys have installed our new AC unit outside (it's a little big - we'll need to do some tricky landscaping to mask it). We have a shiny, new hot water heater in the basement that's all hooked up to the gas line now. On Thursday, they put in all the new insulation upstairs, with some fluffy, yellow sound proofing on the interior walls, and high R-value stuff on the exterior walls - so we have lots of comfy & quiet nights ahead. We passed all our remaining West Chester Borough inspections, so they are ready to start drywall on Monday! Max seems thrilled about his new room; he spends much time in there jumping and dancing - how fun to see!

Days 9-15: HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical, Oh My!

The house is starting to really take shape on the inside now. We have fully framed walls and completely roughed-in electrical, HVAC and plumbing. They have the new heater installed in the attic, and lines ready for the AC unit outside. In the past week,the crews removed our old furnace and oil tank, freeing up tons of space in the basement. At the conclusion of today's work, we found an installed bathtub & 2 Solatube skylights, too! 

Below, you can see the recessed lighting is ready in our master bedroom and downstairs in the living room, the clever way they'll hide the new sewage lines in our 1st floor office & closet, the location of our future "throne", and Max' good fun in our new tub (when it was in the living room). There was an inspection today by the West Chester Borough inspector, and everything passed! We're expecting some drywall next week... stay tuned!

Day 7-8: Completed Exterior! What Up?

Monday, September 22 - Tuesday, September 23

In just 8 days, the crew did a complete tear down, exterior and interior framing, roofing, siding and trim.  Amazing!  Up next, roughing in utilities.