The next thing was running electric. I have to say that these guys have been top notch. Before they got started we did a thorough walk through of the house and made quite a few changes to the original electrical plan. Most of it was minor such as moving outlets a few feet one way or the other but other things like lighting required a bit more direction. Lighting was huge for us so we wanted it to get it right. Most of the major lighting will be on dimmers so overlighting isn't as much of a concern as underlighting. Short of plugging in a lamp there's really not much you can do about underlighting. I know this is a concern for any new home but I think it's even more of a priority when you have a certain aesthetic you are trying to achieve. We absolutely detest fluorescent lighting of any kind and are fairly weary of LED lighting as well. Renata also envoked a no "Edison Bulb" style lightbulb clause because, even though they look very cool, she says they "burn out her retinas." Overall, we went with recessed cans for all primary lighting and more of a simple farmhouse/industrial style of lighting for all accent and outdoor lighting. All outdoor lighting (and some closet lighting) will be Lithonia Vapor Tight Lighting. The pendant lighting for the dining table and bathrooms will be the vintage barn style lighting. Pendants for the kitchen sink and stairway haven't been completely decided on but will be something different. Lighting for the kitchen island will be directional recessed lights. Like I said, the guys did a great job and the city inspector gave us a green tag on the first go around.
The A/C guys have also been great to work with. After running a Manual J calculation for heat loss/heat gain it was determined that we only needed a two and a half ton AC unit. This was a bit of a surprise to me since i was expecting more for a 2000+ sqft house with some fairly high ceilings. Apparently spray in foam insulation is a "game changer." The guys had to explain it to us a few times and reassure us that the calculations were correct. We had some specific concerns about not having any ac vents in the hallway and adjoining bathroom. But the guys once again insisted that the airflow would be more than enough to keep things comfortable. We actually have a hybrid sort of system. It's a two and a half ton ac unit with a three ton air handler. It suppose to push out a bit more air. We shall see. I thought that we would get to test the system at some point but I was told otherwise, that the unit isn't actually powered on until things are basically done. So that's a nice little leap of faith. We can only hope that the answer in not "blowin in the wind" or, worse than that, by the wind. We also had a Nexia thermostat installed which is a "smart" thermostat/home controller. You can control the thermostat remotely through wifi and also things like security cameras, door locks, and a bunch of other things. Not sure how much of that we will use but it wasn't much to put it in. A quick note about the wood stove. Apparently no one puts them in...............unless you buy from them. Well, since I already ordered and received our wood stove this was a problem. I called over 10 different places in town and none of them would do it. I did finally find someone to come out and give me an estimate on the job but then I asked our AC guy and he said he would do it. Still waiting on the estimate but I have high hopes.
Some of the fastest work that has been done on the house so far has been the roofing. The guys showed up unexpectedly (to me at least) and before I knew it had over half the roof put on. In about two days worth of work the roof was on and I have to say it looks pretty good. The roofers used 24 gauge galvalume and ran it though some machine (that cost 48K) to shape and cut the panels to fit. It's a fairly long and large roof and i was worried that you might be able to see unwanted kinks or dents because of the length. But, not to worry, everything looks good. The funny thing is that you cannot actually see any part of the roof from the front. The only thing you can see is the metal lip that overhangs just over the cedar rafters. The roof could be made of fruit roll up shingles and passersby would never know. Hmmmm, maybe I should have priced that out........."made with real fruit, packed with vitamin C, and displays amazing heat reflective properties!"
Ok, so now onto the plumbers. What else can I say about these guys except they are pretty terrible. Everyone keeps telling us what great work this particular plumber does but I'm just not seeing it. As this is being written the plumbing sits on the site half done and untouched in the last week. No one can actually get a hold of the plumber or has any idea when he's coming back. I'm not exactly sure what "good plumbing" entails but I am certain that this is not it. We've expressed our concerns and there is talk of possibly bringing someone else in to finish the work. I'll leave this alone for now but I promise to get back to it with some funfilled, colorful, and highly expressive thoughts on the matter. We have many unanswered questions for the plumber. One of them is a quote on running natural gas lines through the house which brings me to my next topic.
Somehow, and we are really really unsure how this slipped by, no one was aware that the house needed natural gas. When I say "no one" I mean everyone except for Renata and myself. We asked questions about it early on and brought up the subject more than once but somehow it didn't stick. Luckily, it's not something that can't be done in this stage of the game. We're just trying to chalk this one up as one of those things and hope that no other major details were missed. Now we just have to wait on the "plumber of the year" to get back with us on the quote. Another semi-major development in the natural gas realm of things is that it turns out CPS is not our gas supplier. This was actually good news until we found out that the nearest main line is across the street. This means that if we want natural gas, and we do, we will have to pay Grey Forest Utilities to bore underneath the street to our property. We are still waiting on the cost but it's going to be somewhere in the range of $3500-$5000. Not great news but not one that we were not prepared for.
So all in all things are good. The windows and doors are scheduled to come in Feb 2 and once they are in we can push forward with the stucco, the insulation, and the drywall. The floors may or may not be done before the windows and doors get here. I'm really curious about how they will turn out since there has been constant unprotected actvity on them since they were poured (no, teenagers have not been sneaking in). Looking at the structure that is currently standing before us, we are really happy with it all. So many small decisions that have been made by the workers have been good ones. I'm talking about decisions and details that are not neccessarily in the plans but are just left up to their interpretation and expertise. I would say we are definitely past the halfway mark and most definitely beyond the point of no return if there ever was such a point..................I really don't think there ever was for us ;)
