At the beginning of the week, we continued to do a bit of framing. I framed out the attic opening, which was rather simple. At the end of last week I also worked on getting the second staircase ready. Mr.W laid out the stringers and I created them. They are made a little differently than the main staircase since there are no spindles on this staircase. I made the stringers and cut most of the treads and then Mr.W and Jay finished it off on Monday morning when I took a quick trip to the border to pick up a faucet. When I arrived around 12:30, the staircase was up. It is so nice to have that second set of stairs. They go from the garage straight up to the office so that when Jay has meetings with various businessmen, they can go straight to the office and not come through the house. That way our life can continue without us interrupting them or them interrupting us. They also framed out the walls around that stairway. Most of the framing is now done with just another couple small walls to go before it is finally complete.
Since all the structural framing is complete, the inspector came by and had a look. It is, indeed, deeply satisfying when you frame a 1600 sq.ft main floor and a 2000 sq.ft second floor (never mind all the work required on the 1600 sq.ft basement) and the inspector says he can see nothing wrong and can tell we really paid attention to the details! Woot, woot for us!!
Since most of the framing is done and the inspector made his appearance, we have moved on to insulating the walls. What a fantastic job to do if you want immediate progress. It is so easy to see what you have done - put up one piece and you can see your work. In only one afternoon, we insulated the whole upstairs! The neat part is the kids can really help with this step. The boys and RJ eagerly jumped into helping - they put full batts of insulation in the lower half of the walls and we did the top sections. With a little adjusting of their work, it is perfect. This is one area they really enjoy helping and don't seem to grow tired of it. We just don't have enough bottom-half-of-the-walls for all of them to help for long. They get way ahead of us but their help is greatly appreciated anyway. It is fairly humorous to watch our 3 year-old Ari put on a mask upside down, wear gloves 6 sizes too large and attempt to install the insulation. I love the willing hearts! Now Mr.W has already finished putting up the poly in a couple of the rooms so we are chugging along quite nicely.
While I was inside putting up the insulation with Mr.E and the kids, Jay was 67 feet up in the air (his words, which, incidentally, always grew each time we talked - he doesn't much like heights) wrapping up the house with Typar. Last night we stood back and looked at the house all wrapped up and he put his arm around me and told me that since I was a gifts person, he just finished wrapping my gift, complete with red tuck tape. I think it is one of the most beautiful gifts ever (well, next to my husband and children).
MB Hydro also showed up to install our new hydro poles (for those of you not familiar with our power source, we here in this prairie province of Canada receive our electricity via water power. Therefore, our electricity is usually referred to as hydro so the hydro poles are the poles that hold the electric lines.). I was gone during that time but the kids had great fun watching. They said it was very loud. It must have made quite the impact on AJ because he has now crafted a similar vehicle set-up out of his Lego.
I mentioned we ran into a snag with our rake head window. It was supposed to be a 6/12 pitch and it was a 5/12 pitch. It was a combination of my mistake and the window company's mistake. Since they take no responsibility for it (I did sign off on it) and will not give us any money for it in return, we installed it anyway. We just need to modify the lounge ceiling to match the window pitch. Should be easy. We also installed the two garage windows today so all that remains to be installed is the office window.
We also spent some time doing more shopping/research for items for the house. We researched fireplaces a long time ago and now placed our order. We have also ordered the 2 corner showers we need (1 for Jay's bathroom and 1 for our bathroom), bought the recessed lighting we will start installing next week, bought the range hood vent so it can be ducted, bought other lighting and bought our laundry sink. I also learned that Mr.W has done concrete counter tops in the past and would like to do it again. He didn't know that I have talked about concrete counter tops for at least a year and would love to try it in our kitchen. Sounds like a plan may be forming!
The plumbing and heating rough-in continues to progress and this time the boys got to be Papa's helpers. They did a great job!
Today the drywall crew came to check out the site and do a sheet count. They said that everything looks really good so that is another encouragement. They see many houses and are familiar with the trade. I take their compliment to heart.
Finally, before you think this whole building job is about me, I assure you it is not. Sure, I help out each day but the real hero, in my eyes, is Jay. He is an unbelievably hard working guy. Today he started off the morning at the hog barn, working out some kinks there then he came to work on the house. In the afternoon he went to the chicken barn to work out the kinks there then came back to the house. Now he is mowing the grass here. He is the "little-engine-that-could", the energizer bunny, if you will. He just keeps going and going and going. Building this house is his job for these few months. He has "laid himself off" from his other full-time jobs (though he still manages the hog operation and a couple of chicken barns) in order to put full days of work here at the house. His wages are waaaay down from a normal year. These are the types of sacrifices he willingly makes for our family and I am so honored to be taking this journey with him. ♥ you, sweetheart!
You are truly blessed! You have a great hubby. He has a great wife who recognizes and appreciates him.
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