Construction: Day 11-15

First off, nothing bad has happened! I have had several inquiries as to whether my lack of posting equated Very Bad Things construction-wise. Nope! Just lazy. And tired. Blah, blah, blah.

So, last Friday we had the usual crew of framers finishing up the details of the main living areas. They got all of the walls framed and started on the next bedroom and the closet in T's weight room. The closet is HUGE. The bedroom is tiny. I guess it is about the size of bedrooms in new construction, but it is still pretty small. It will make a good guest room/sewing room/library/place to stuff things when company is coming.

On Saturday, they framed in the wall that will make T's weight room its own room and tore out the wall between the stairs and what used to be the attic. The put in an eyebrow arch over the new entrance to the living areas. I. Love. It! They also decked the closet and the bedroom, which turns out to have been a little overly ambitious, but more on that later. They also got the majority of the siding on the gable.

On Monday, they finished siding the gable and framed out the closets and doors for the new room and closet. We also solved the conundrum of how to get AC to both T's weight room and the new bedroom given the lack of ceiling height in the bedroom (it has a pitched ceiling). I am tickled that I came up with the solution: they framed in what looks like a window seat, but is actually a false wall to contain ducts and wiring. It looks AWESOME!

Yesterday my house looked like an anthill. Tuesday was the day for the AC guys, electricians, roofers and plumbers to arrive in addition to the usual crew of framers. The AC guys got the air handler in the crawl space and ran all the ducts to the new areas. The electricians put in can lights, wired outlets and moved switches around. I was also informed that to get wiring to the kitchen for the garbage disposal, they would have to remove two pieces of the newly laid sub-floor. Great. The framers removed a lot of sub-floor and made my cool rounded steps up into the living area. I love them!

The plumbers.... Oh, the plumbers. We got trouble! Right here in Wester! And that starts with T, and that rhymes with P, and that stands for Plumbing! The plumbers opened up the walls behind the master bath and the laundry room so they could tie in for the new upstairs bath. What did they find? Totally corroded pipes about to disintegrate in the walls. There was visible corrosion on all of the copper and pin holes seeping water every where they opened up the walls.

So. We have to re-plumb the house. Which means that all other construction ground to a halt while the plumbers pulled up sections of sub-floor to run new space-age plumbing throughout the house. The good news? We no longer have any plumbing coming up through our foundation. The bad news? The money. OMG! The money.

David the contractor looked at me and said, "And all you wanted was a little room in your attic!" Our house has turned into the Money Pit! T is sweating bullets. I swear, he about had a panic attack when he heard about the pipes. When he came home to the swarming house, he had a little shit-fit tantrum mental breakdown moment and ran away from home. He didn't' come back until I gave him the all clear after the workers left. Good times.

Today it rained. All. day. Obviously no roofers. Mostly we had plumbers. They had to pull up great big portions of the floor in T's weight room to re-plumb the kids' bathroom. They flooded the laundry room - and didn't tell me about it. Or clean it up. I found out about it when I went to feed the dogs and squished across the rag rug. Really? Couldn't you have told me about that? Or gotten the things off the floor? Really? Grrr. On the up side, they did get all of the plumbing in place for my garbage disposal. I'm so tickled about that I could make out with the guy. (Okay, no I couldn't. He smells like an ashtray and has, well, plumber's butt.)

The heroes of the day? The electricians. They came in around 2:00 and fixed a couple of things upstairs. (Yes, we would like the light switch to turn off the light. Thanks.) Then, they fixed a bunch of things downstairs that have been making me nuts since we moved in. For instance, they moved the light switch for the main kitchen light from behind the refrigerator (literally) to its logical place next to the door. They wired and installed switches for the garbage disposal and the over-sink light. Here is where the angels sang: They installed the new light fixture over the sink. It works and everything! It is the first visibly finished thing of the remodel. Yay!

T left about lunch time to go to a training out of town. He requested that we have everything wrapped up and the people gone by the time he gets back. Tomorrow. Weenie. Remodeling ain't for sissies!