Category: Contractors and Loan

In addition to the stuff we’ve been working on, the contractors have been making progress as well. The HVAC work has been going slowly, but they’re closing in on the interior work being done. They installed three joist cassette air handlers in the first floor, one in the basement, and put an air handler and ducts into the attic to provide for the second floor and attic. I was wanting and expecting this to be run off a single outdoor condenser, but that wound up not being the case. Unfortunately, that means we need to have the electrician come back and run another line, and I need to figure out how we can mount a bracket for a hundred-forty-pound condenser on the outside of the house when there’s two inches of foam under the siding.

Meanwhile, the plumber fixed the leak and connected to the shower base, so the drain is done, but he didn’t finish the refrigerator line. I guess he gets to figure out how to do that after drywall, because I’m sick of nagging him. I asked the GC about the front and back porches. The back porch is all going to be built of steel (the fancy aluminum decking I wanted was too expensive), and we had a quote for that work last fall. I asked him to get that process going, which prompted a revised quote for roughly double the original price.

In case you haven’t been following these things, steel prices have skyrocketed in recent months, along with lumber and limited availability of all sorts of things. Since our previous quote had apparently expired, we need to figure this out. It’s enough money that we can’t just swallow the cost, but our initial efforts to get a new quote haven’t materialized a better one. I really wish I’d pushed the GC to get this done last year, but with the siding not wrapped up until December, it would have been difficult.

I asked a couple more times about the front porch, since that wasn’t being subbed out. Lo and behold, they actually came out and started that work. The first step in that process was to fix the warping (bowing and twisting) of the existing posts that had happened since we built the front porch. They also weren’t happy with how I’d framed certain aspects, so they took the opportunity to redo most of the structure, with the exception of the roof. I needed to go buy some of the aforementioned expensive lumber for this project, including renting a truck to get it home, but that all went to plan.

Since the actual decking is on order but not available yet, they put back the temporary stairs for now. The end result looks almost exactly like it did before they started, but at least it’s all square now. Hopefully this time it will get clad before it warps again. I really don’t like re-work, even if I didn’t have to do it myself.

With the indoor HVAC work done, Sarah’s been plugging away at the sound-proofing insulation, I’ve been doing some work on tub and shower surrounds, so long as the electrician can run power to the second outdoor condenser, we’ll be basically clear for drywall, which is really exciting.

As I mentioned in my catch-up post, we got spray foam installation. They showed up Friday and did most of the first floor, then came back Monday and finished late Tuesday. The difference is amazing. Not only does the house look much closer to finished, it feels warmer and quieter and more stable. We got some windy days and the previous “sway” we’d notice in the upper levels is much diminished. It even smells better! We did have some scrambling to prepare for this at the last minute, but it’s exciting to have this step done.

One interesting part of this process is how they did it. With spray foam, the concerns are under spray, over spray, and gaps. They did a really good job of this. They filled wall cavities very thoroughly, only a handful of areas that weren’t 100%. To counter the overspray, they used a wire brush wheel on an angle grinder and just smoothed everything down. This resulted in a colossal mess of tiny foam pellets, but they did a decent job of vacuuming it all up. They also followed up with canned foam to get all the small gaps, including windows, doors, and narrow spaces between studs.

The crew put down plastic sheeting on everything before spraying, so there wasn’t much in the way of drops or mess other than the aforementioned pellets that blow around, and as I said, they did a good job cleaning up. The house is now staying a comfortable room temperature, and we’re very pleased.

Wow, there has been a lot going on recently, so much that I scrapped some posts-in-progress since I’m falling behind. So, let me catch you up on where things are, what’s happening next, and I apologize for not providing all the details as it’s happened.

First, with the radiant panels installed and the core upgrade complete, I finished pressure tests and got the manifolds connected on each floor. Dean helped me get the new controller mounted and hooked up. We just jumpered the first and second floor thermostats to the basement, since we don’t have thermostats on each floor yet.

I got the first floor filled, but the water didn’t flow initially because of all the air in the lines. I had to loosen and then re-tighten individual lines on the manifold and let the air out, catching the water with a rag, then I flushed several buckets through until it was finally flowing. The new pumps have a GPM meter, but since the old one doesn’t I don’t really know if the rate is good or not. I ordered and installed some air bleeders for each manifold, thinking this would make the second floor go more easily, but it really didn’t. Ultimately, I had to do the same process to get the air out of the lines before it would start flowing. So, water is flowing through our radiant floors, the attic radiators won’t be hooked up until after drywall.

Next up, we finally got our new permit! After the final corrections from the architect were submitted, they issued our permit and I used bill pay through my bank to pay the fees as well as the expeditor. Meanwhile, the GC scheduled rough inspections. Unfortunately, that bill pay took forever, and when the framing inspector showed up, I still didn’t have the official paper permit. As luck would have it, he was pretty understanding, and he passed us anyway. We signed the previous permit and noted in their system that it was passed for the new permit.

The expeditor did get the check and the physical permit, and I drove over and picked it up. Then the plumbers had rough inspection, but in the months since they were here before, I’d received some things like the bathtub and valve bodies for the showers, so they were rushing to get that installed as well as run the rest of the supply lines. Since that involved them shutting off the water and being in the basement, we got an AirBnB for the day and just left them to it. They wrapped up and passed inspection. Electrical inspection was Friday (all of this was last week), and he passed as well.

Next the GC said that the spray foam contractor was going to come out to provide an estimate on Monday, which he did. I’ve continued working through my list of items and figured I could wrap some of that up this coming weekend. Then the GC called me yesterday afternoon to say the spray foam guys were coming today (Friday)!

With less than a day notice to get everything ready, Dean came over and we started rushing through some items that needed to get done for them to be able to spray. Some of it was simple, like putting down more ram board to protect the radiant floor or moving stuff away from the exterior walls. Other items were getting the bathroom exhaust ducts connected and caulked, finally getting started on the interior portion of the solar tubes, getting that second floor radiant flowing (so it would be warm enough to spray), and vacuuming out the walls and attic to remove the sawdust and debris that keeps building up through this process, which Sarah did most of. Dean and I also ran some conduit for the TV and network, not as much as I’d planned originally, but enough for what we need. Most things are wireless these days, so I’m not too worried about it.

Today the spray foam installers showed up, and we learned they were going to start with the first floor today. They covered windows and doors with plastic and got to work. We couldn’t get any shots in progress because I couldn’t get in the front door while they were working, but after the first day alone, it’s a transformation. They almost finished the first floor, but a lot of the time was prep. They put down plastic sheeting over all the windows and along all the walls.

AC installation should be in a few weeks or so and drywallers are getting lined up. I need to run the wired security system once the foam is in. I may try to run a bit more conduit for network.

I’ve continued to chip away at my list, getting the drain stubs squared away, more acoustical stud tape installed, the first floor beam padded out with 1x4s so we can drywall over the brackets, and a handful of other odds and ends finished.

It looks like permit has progressed. I haven’t heard from anyone, but I looked it up on the city’s portal and can see several new entries, so that’s promising. We still don’t have a new roof, but we’ve been told “Monday at the latest” so maybe that will materialize.

Most significantly, the concrete crew showed up to dig the porch footings. This was the first time someone we paid has actually come and worked on our house since early last year, so it was pretty exciting. They came last Thursday, and then returned Monday and yesterday. All of the holes are dug, though there are some obstructions to contend with. Of course the holes happen to be where we used to have a concrete wall for the stairs out of the basement, and where the catch basin used to be, and the bottom of the stairs is where we’d run the pipe for our drainage project.

All of the concrete sawing, jackhammering, sledge hammering, and digging was a preview of what we’re in for if we’re here in the basement during construction. It’s not promising, but we’ll see how the roof goes. The kids were also mostly stuck inside, which they’re not used to. The back yard is now full of not only holes but big piles of dirt, and both are enticing playthings to kids.

The concrete company was one of the items we paid out of pocket rather than through the loan, since the quote we’d gotten from the builder was really high. I’m somehow not surprised that’s the actual work that’s been started.

I’m not sure when the concrete guys plan to come back and assemble rebar and do the pour, but I can almost guarantee it will be the same day the builder wants to do the roof. If either of them are upset about this, I intend to point out that they didn’t communicate a date to me in advance which makes it difficult to coordinate.