Electrical Started (9-28-10)

Hi everyone, its Sarah! Its funny that to-date, I've only made two of the posts on the house blog...and one of them is the electrical update today! It would make more sense for Brett to post this, but he's too busy eating dinner :-) 

Below is where the electrical panel will go in the basement.

Here is looking from the kitchen, into the pantry area (on left) and dining room (on right.) You can see where some of the outlets are being installed.

This is standing in the kitchen, looking over the bar top, to the fireplace. The outlets here will take care of garbage disposal, kitchen lighting, etc.

In the kitchen, looking through the wall toward the stairs. This will be more counterspace, and thus, more outlets...

Starting to get a feel for our kitchen here...the sink (see the plumbing?) will be in perfect position to watch tv while cleaning up dishes. In retrospect, maybe Brett did this on purpose so I would complain less about washing dishes....? Anyway, our counterspace will wrap around this entire area - its a LOT of counterspace!

Our brick and stone work is 100% done! Its beautiful, and we adore it. The paint color we chose is actually somewhat similar to the color of the siding up top - a neutral/tan, to match the stone accents.

The east side of the house. The house is now 100% done with siding! The window on the far right is the window looking out of our laundry room, and the high window slightly to its left is the window in the pantry.

There will eventually be a deck in front of this sliding glass door off of the dining room.

Full view of the back. 

And finally, the front of the house! That little stone in the center that looks loose? It will actually be engraved with our house number (8309) and a light will be installed above it. 

HVAC and plumbing are 100% finished and have been inspected.

So, what's next? Well, this week they will be finishing the electrical work. Brett plans to go in this weekend to run his low-voltage speaker and theatre wire. 

Next week will be the framing inspection, after which they'll begin drywall. I know it all seems to be moving fast, but everyone keeps reminding us that this is when it seems to sloooowww down.... we still have painting, trim, cabinetry, ceilings, lighting/appliance installation, the deck needs to be built, carpet.... 

Still hoping for end of Nov/beginning of December. 

Can't wait to finally have the keys to our first home!!!

Plumbing and HVAC started (9-20-10)

Like the title says, the plumbing and HVAC have started being roughed-in. The house is also now fully shingled, so hopefully weather won't cause any more delays.

Also, we had the electrical walk-through last Friday. Everything went extremely well! A few of the "extra's" we are having installed are receptacles high on the walls for flat-panel tv's, switched receptacles on the plant shelves for rope lights/christmas lights, 4 recessed cans in the kitchen, 4 recessed cans on the exterior, a switched receptacle in one of the eaves of the front from christmas lights, a ceiling fan for the deck, and undercabinet lighting in the kitchen!

Starting with the master bath:

Shower in master bath

Hall bath shower

Water distribution manifold

Sump Pump installed

Furnace in place

Main HVAC trunk



I love open webbed joists...no soffits for ductwork needed at all...

Our walkout pit slab poured!

Fireplace installed.

Siding started

Our address posted, update your address books!

And finally, we have a sold sign!!

The HVAC contractor should be finishing up tomorrow and Wednesday. Then, the Electrical contractor can begin work. I'm hoping I can get in on Sunday and run all of my low voltage wire....

Well, that's all for today, leave us some comments and let us know your reading this! Also, check back later this week, I'll probably make another update Wednesday.

Plumbing Started (9-16-10)

Well, we had some crazy weather yesterday. Our house got some very heavy rain, and unfortunately the shingles weren't 100% on yet, so the utility room was leaked into. It also got some small nickel/dime size hail. Parts of Wichita got softball sized hail, in fact a few of my coworkers had their windshields completely busted through and their roofs fully torn up. Fortunately we missed all that by about 1/2 mile.

Kitchen Sink:

Washing Machine

Master Bedroom Sinks

Guest Bath

The photo I know you all want to see.....The main sewage line

And a couple photos of how she's sitting today.

Our electrical walk through is tomorrow afternoon. We finalized all of our selections tonight (finished deciding on paint) From here on out, there isn't really any work left for us to do, except sit back and wait! There shouldn't be any real big surprises for the electrical walkthrough....I've already drawn al the electrica plans anyway...

Since plumbing is kind of a borring update, I'll leave you with a photoshop of what the finished product should look like. For the next couple weeks, progress will seem a little slow while electrical, plumbing, and hvac finish getting roughed in. I'm guessing we are 3 weeks out from drywall, I'm sure I'l get a better estimate tomorrow.

Anywho, here is that photoshop.

Framing Part 7 (9-13-10)

It has been a busy couple of days for us, that's why we haven't had time to make any updates. Progress was a little slow at the end of last week as well, so there wasn't much need for an update.

That all changed today though. Framing on the inside is just about finished now. Windows were hung and we have a front door and garage doors. All that is left is the sliding deck door and basement walkout door, as well as shingling and siding.

Our electrical walkthrough is on Friday....which means framing will be FINISHED by then.

On to photos!

Trying to show off the size of our covered deck.

Now to the interior. Fireplace and living room windows.

In living room looking towards dining area.

We finally have basement stairs! The basement won't be finished by the builder, but the bottom landing and wall that you can see at the bottom will be carpeted/sheetrocked/painted so that you can't see the basement is unfinished.

Front door

Front bedroom window

Shower window

Master bath block glass above where the tub will be.

Master bedroom vaulting is finished and windows in.

Kitchen eating bar wall is framed. Now you can get an idea of how enormous this kitchen really is. The larger Kitchen option was something that we had to make some sacrifices to get, but we are so glad we did. It adds about 80 sq ft to the house by moving the pantry and the laundry room behind the third car garage. The other option would have these rooms in the back of the kitchen area, where the door to the garage would be through the laundry room. You can see how much this would have closed off the kitchen. (see example below)

Looking through living room to arched doorways to guest rooms (right) and master bedroom (left)

Basement windows are in too. Left side is where the future bar area will be, right side is the walkout door opening.

Future 4th bedroom. This room is almost as large as the master bedroom.

Now you can tell how large this walkout pit will be. With it sitting below ground, and the deck above for shade, this area should keep really cool in the summer months.

Well that's all for today, check back Wednesday for the next update!