Whew, it’s been awhile since I updated on the progress of our house! You’re going to be shocked at what’s been going on since I last updated.
When we left off, the house was looking like this –
That photo was snapped on January 31st. The house had a roof (partially completed) with shingles and all the framing done.
Then February got under way and it went from looking like that, to this –
First Week of February
Our front door got installed! It’s unpainted – but the door will be black, and the windows flanking it on either side will be white. That’s plywood over the porch (the porch actually didn’t get poured until recently).
We also got the decorative finishes installed over the garage doors. They’re actually just wood, but are unpainted in this photo. They’ll eventually be white. And speaking of the garage, the concrete got poured for the floor!
The garage is pretty big! It has an extended section at the back for storage, which is going to be perfect for the lawnmower, trash cans, etc. You can’t quite see it in this photo, but in the upper right is the door that goes into the house. And by that door, in the garage, I want to setup a make-shift mudroom for our shoes and stuff. But there is also a coat closet (it’s the framing in the upper right, above the red plastic bag) right inside the house.
Early February also saw the installation of the framing for our fireplace –
It’s hard to see in the photo, but the fireplace is there in the framing already. It’s an electric fireplace. We had the option to get a blower installed and I wish we would have done that! But we can always add that in later.
This week also saw installation of the rough mechanics. That means all the wiring, the ductwork, the rough plumbing and the tubs/shower pans.
The first photo is a look at the wiring while standing in the kitchen. You can also, obviously, see the stairs going up and down. The second photo is at the top of the stairs, looking straight to the back of the house. You can see all the wiring in the rafters. And you can also see the water pipes. On the left, that’s for the laundry room. The ones on the right are for the hall bathroom.
It’s really hard to get your bearings when looking at photos of framing so that’s why I haven’t shared very many of them.
And this is the rest of the rough plumbing put in that week (not pictured – the half bath rough in, in the basement). The tub on the left is the one in the master bathroom. And the shower pan in the upper right is the master shower. The tub on the bottom right is in the upstairs hall bathroom.
We also got the slider door that goes in the kitchen and – eventually – will go out to a deck. We ended up not having Drees build us a deck, so they’ll have to secure that door before closing so no one accidentally walks out of it. We did have Drees put down a concrete pad off the basement walk out. So until we get a deck, we’ll put our patio furniture and grill there.
Second Week of February
On the 9th, we had our “pre drywall review” with the builder. At that meeting, he walked us through the entire house to show us what had been done up until that point, and to make sure everything looked the way it should. The biggest takeaway from the meeting was that they were ready to insulate and get the drywall going by the end of the week. And when we visited that weekend, that’s exactly what we saw!
Insulation in the garage on the interior walls and the ceiling. That’s stacks of drywall on the floor in front of the door.
More stacks of drywall, this time in the living room. You can see the insulation between all the studs.
This is a look from the living room up into the stairwell. The crew had set that board up to walk on as they installed the drywall – crazy!
And just for some quick comparisons, here are two colleges – one of the exterior and another of the garage –
I’m breaking this February update into two posts because it was getting really picture-heavy. You can check out part two of the February update here – House Progress: Late February
[…] Check out the early february update here – House Progress: Early February […]