Cement!! We have Cement!!! Chpt #10

We last left you will a giant hole in the ground and since then things have progressed AND got more expensive (our fault - more tweaks).

We had heard rumors for Big and Little J (that live in Columbus and are keeping track of things) that the foundation had been poured and there was a big crane.

Well - things were really going now that there was a big crane. We drove out to the site on the weekend and there was no big crane but a normal sized backhoe! Too bad - I would have liked to see a crane.

Anyway we ooo'd and aaaa'd over how wonderful cement was and tried to figure out what everything was. The confusing thing was that where I assumed the floor would be on top of the foundation, where I was standing, at waist level.

Later I learned that the entire site was going to be raised about 3 feet or so. Then there was this little room with no door!! AHHH! That was what the porch would sit on. They would fill that in with sand (dirt tends to compact). Who knew!!!


Here is a shot of DJ playing Vanna White. I'd like an "F" please? I'd like to guess? "Foundation"!! applause applause!





And here is our builder (aka General Contractor) Kevin explaining . . . . . something. HEY! I don’t want to get all gushy but this guy is awesome at easing stress and explaining everything. From what I hear there are many builders out there that build houses but are not so great with their bed side manner. I feel he actually cares about what he is building and his customer's. Five stars (out of five) dude!!

If you are building in the Southern Wisconsin area look him up! Ambiance Homes 608.225.4594.

Then - there were MORE decisions. This time brick decisions.

One thing I have learned from this process is that while a person can be prepared with answers (such as the style of brick) there is always something else that will turn your head. Just when you think you have a clue you see something else and start rethinking.

We decided to go with this style of brick for the front of the house. We would LIKE THAT house but . . . .we'll settle for the brick!

After THAT decision we drove out to the site and Kevin answered questions and I snapped the above photos and then I brought up. THE DECK!!

My feeling was that a 12x12 foot deck is nice but if you put one of those round tables with the big Umbrellas it leaves little room for anything else. THUS - we asked about bigger decks. Kevin said that instead of a window in the master Bedroom he could put in a sliding door for a little more and THEN we could wrap the deck around so we would have a walk out deck from our bedroom.

Since we can not afford a finished basement we can at least have a big deck. We did not want the deck to go in front of the main living room window to block the view so . . . . . . we are getting a BIG deck!

WHEW!!! Now all we have to do is sell OUR house. We're close - perhaps a week away from putting it on the market. Pray for us!! LOL

Rod and DJ!

We have DIRT!! Chpt #9

I’m not sure where to begin. I’d like to begin at the ending but that would be cheating. But it IS the fun part. O’well, writers must suffer . . .or at least pretend writers.

As I left you a few weeks ago I was talking about a February 7th excavation of our site. As luck would have it, Mother Nature, at that very moment, decided that it would pop the El Nino’ bubble and by doing this all of that cold air that had been storing up in Canada (where it should be) no longer had support and gushed into America and in particular onto OUR site.

Wonderful. I watched as my personal weather station, day after day would give me bad news.

And we waited. Milo, our cat made do with register hugging when ever the heat came on.

Meanwhile we were STILL waiting for Drexel and after 38 days we were told they would arrive to install the floor sometime between 8:00 and 11:00 on Monday. As luck would have it, this was also the day Ambiance would start their excavation of The Hole AND we decided that we would make the final decisions on flooring from the truly wonderful people at Home Expressions in Columbus.

We were sleeping soundly, Sierra the kitten was curled up between us and Milo was laying exactly as we were, on his back, covered with a blanket, head on a pillow with paws on top of the blanket.

In the far distance I heard ding dong, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ding dong. What made this second ding dong slightly different was the SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT that followed coming from the other side of the bed.

I instantly knew the problem, the floor guy was early (well, 10 minutes). I leaped out of bed like an anti-superman putting pants and shirt on AT THE SAME TIME. Milo, was on the floor, claws out, puffed up four times his normal size, wild eyed like ready to flee in terror, if he could only figure out what the flee from.

Long story shorter, they put in the floor and all is well (except for the HORRABLE caulking job).

We then drove to Columbus to see . . . . nothing. No hole, just a snow. So on to Home Expressions to pick out the $5,500 worth of flooring.

I tell ya – these guys are great. We could not have done this without guidance and are very happy with our choices of Red Oak hard wood floors, carpeting with a little vinyl and some wood laminate tossed in.

SO – THAT is over. All we need to decide on now is the front brick and fireplace brick and then everything is up to Kevin and Ambiance.

Back home in Madison the bathroom has been transformed from this on the left to that on the right. It might not look like a big deal but on a personal level it was ALWAYS something that we knew we had to fix.

The house is painted, we have new Corian countertops, a solertube for extra light in the kitchen and we're getting a dumpster this week to toss out years of junk that has accumulated.

Then, Tuesday, it happened. I’m at work and get a phone call from Marcia our agent. She ask's if we knew they were digging today and said WHAT???

We did not know that and I contacted DJ and we decided that we NEEDED to go see.

Taking the afternoon off we headed once again to Columbus. Halfway there the wind is really kicking up and I’m thinking that there is no way they are digging. It’s 17 degrees with a 30mpg wind.

We come over the rise and see the most wonderful site in this adventure yet. A great big backhoe and an elephant!!

OK OK - there was no elephant. But it would have been an interesting site you have to admit!?

I jump out of the car and the wind blasts my face – WOW – it is FREAKING cold, it was not like this 15 minutes ago. I run around snapping pictures. In this one you can see the copper tubing in what must be out home still for brewing our moonshine. Nice of them to think of that first. That is DJ running for cover.

It was just about at this point when a woman comes running out of the house next to our hole. I fear the worst as she has her attack dog with her. As they get close I raise my camera and see that it is not an attack at all but a welcoming committee! She comes bearing gifts. Photos of when they started to dig, some wine and a card. How truely perfect!

We are both floored and the three of us stand in the 17 degree, 30mph weather and talk until it’s time to go before we all freeze.

Now we not only know the neighbor but we sort of know the people that will build next to them in the spring. This is all working out just fine.

So there you have it. So far so good.

We have gone from this

To this

And now to this

It's all good!

and I'm worn out!

More photos to come later this week as they put in the foundation. That Has to have you on the edge of your seat!

So far everything has worked out fantastic. I feel like we are on Survivor. Everything is just going to good.

Rod and DJ
cheers

Decision Day - Chpt #8

Just to catch you up on a few things.

We were approved for the final home loan and signed over 1000 pieces of paper that told us that once again our lives were owned my financial institutions and that they could sell our lives to any other financial institutions at any time on their whim.

Upon that little agreement Kevin of Ambiance Homes was informed that we were good to go and he went about doing all of HIS paper work in preparation for the January 31st excavation (also called The Hole) of which our little house would go into.

As luck would have it, freakishly cold temperatures hit our land and everything is pushed back a week until the temps get closer to the "non-death to construction workers" area. Which is now Feb 7th or 8th!

SO - with our "problems" with Drexel getting our bathroom remodeled (should it REALLY take over a month?) and with their additional overcharge rates which seem ludicrous (more on this in the next paragraph) we were waiting for "Decision day".

OK - a quick word on Drexel and flooring. We decided to take the current tile out of our bathroom ourselves to save money. It is the last of the MAJOR things we need to get done before we can put the house on the market.

We went to Drexel in Madison to see how much it would cost for simple vinyl installation and to fix some problems with the bottom tile around the floor.

The quote was $300 PLUS another $160 because the total price was under $500. Shocked I was a little pissy for a few nights but upon looking at other forums this small project additional overcharge is pretty standard.

FINE - So I called them and said THEY could take out the floor since we were being charged ANYWAY. I said it more kindly then I typed it just now!

NO - taking OUT would be an extra $150 that could not be included in the installation. it was two seperate things. Yea, well it seems EVERYTHING is seperate at that place. I will not deal with Drexel again!

SO - Kevin from Ambiance (the good witch as opposed to Drexil, the bad witch) gets a hold of us to see if we can hammer down a few decisions on color and style, inside and outside the house. Of course we say, it will be good to get THAT off our plate and we could relax and perhaps DJs head will stop spinning as she gets dizzy with so many things to choose from.

Little did we know that we would have in the upper 50s decisions to make!!

OH, we were prepared for house color and cabinet decisions and knew there would be more but - YIKES!

Here is the list! And we still have lighting,fireplace and flooring decisions to make.

Vinyl siding color
Vinyl Siding Style
Vinyl Corner trim color
Soffit/Fascia color
Gutter/Downspout color
Shutter color
Vinyl Wrap color
Shingle Color
Exterior of Front Door
Front Door hardware/color
Overhead Door(s) color
Garage Service Door color
Brick color
Porch Railing color
Decorative Louver color
Window color
Kitchen Cabinet Style
Kitchen Cabinet color
Crown molding style/color
Kitchen Countertop color
Kitchen Sink Style/color
Kitchen sink faucet Style/color
Master Bath
Cabinet Style
Cabinet color
Cabinet Height
Countertop Color
Fixture color
Faucet Style/color
Main Bath
Cabinet Style
Cabinet color
Cabinet Height
Countertop Color
Fixture color
Faucet Style/color
Interior Door Style
Interior Door color
Door Hardware Style
Door Hardware color
Base trim Size/style
Base trim color
Casing trim Size/Style
Casing Trim color
Window Returns (Wood or Drywall)
Interior wall paint color
Interior of Exterior door color
Newel Post style
Baluster Style

WHEW! I will tell you right now Kevin was outstanding.

Most places in our area are going with the earth tones, brown, green, gray and many shades of those. They feel like they will "blend" into the country side. LOL - RIGHT - like camouflage. Can't even see them. HEY, where did all those house go! They were there a second ago!

Many look nice but there are some that just look dull and brown/gray/dark green and glum, gloomy and low spirited. Nothing wrong with the colors if done correctly but there needs to be an intervention on earth tones!

We wanted something happy. Something that when people drove past there would be a little ray of sunlight BUT, without that ray being blinding.

THUS - we decided on Heritage Cream siding with Colonial White trim, Bordeaux Shutters and front door. It will not STAND OUT but it will give a little zip to the area! Like the house on the right - that is basically OUR color.

When we were driving around looking at houses we always noticed that we really liked the lighter color. THUS!! We got our wish!

My suggestion is to drive around and look at houses, take photos to remind yourself. Just be observant.

In fact, observe everything in your life. Can you see in your minds eye what your doorknobs look like? What about the front exterior doorknob. How about your base trim, can you picture the details? What color are your gutters? What about the crown molding style in your kitchen cabinets.

Details, details, details, who knew!!

Next week - pictures of The Hole and we STILL have flooring decisions to make next week. In fact $5,500 worth of flooring to be decided on!

Cheers
Rod and DJ.