Alright, I get it. I didn’t post this on March 19th like I should have and I’m waaaay behind with my updates. I’ll throwback to March 19th and finish the week 32 update. I’ll then start over fresh and give y’all an update on where things are at today.
John left for Miami on Thursday, March 14th, and didn’t return home until Monday, March 18th. While he was gone the carpet was installed, some of the touchup work was done, and more appliances were delivered. We also had a snow melt and rain situation which had the sump pump hard at work and me ankle deep in our mud pit to make sure the water was being pumped several feet away from the house.
Looks good, right??A few trips to the hardware store later I successfully had the water draining away from the house.
We also got a phone call from Ricky on Monday night, March 18th, asking when we wanted to do our walkthrough. Walkthrough?? Like, they were actually done and ready for the big reveal?! We agreed to meet Rick on Tuesday morning, March 19th. Yes, I know the 19th falls into this update, but I feel like the closing process deserves it’s own update. Stay tuned, Konstantin, I promise to have the final build update posted by the end of the week.
Day 218
Day 219
Day 220
One thing gets done. Something else needs to get fixed.
It seems as though the closer we get to being done, the less time anyone is spending there working. I would think they’d be powering through the last few tasks to get us in and get rid us. Instead, it looks more like this:
Monday, March 4th – No one at the house.
Tuesday, March 5th – Just the plumber there to fix the forgotten drain.
Wednesday, March 6th – The carpenter finally came back to finish his work from a few weeks ago. Finally some progress!
Thursday, March 7th – Just the tile guy to fix one tile in the master bathroom.
Friday, March 8th – It’s now been 7 months since we broke ground. Just the plumber to install the faucet on the bathtub.
Monday, March 11th – Painter came back to finish the trim. Water softener installed. Glass kleaner came through. (This person was not a window cleaner. The windows themselves are still filthy.)
Tuesday, March 12th – Last of the painting. Grading.
It’s really incredibly frustrating to drive past and see that nothing, or very little, is happening. At this point all that’s left to do inside the house is patch some drywall holes, fix some texture issues, put the carpet down, and then hang the shelving and mirrors. You would think these tasks could easily be completed within a few days but instead, we wait.
I was also a little pissed when we stopped at the house on Monday, March 11th. We walked in to the painter cleaning a huge plastic bucket out in the kitchen sink. When he saw us he did get that deer-in-headlights look. Dude, come on. Once he left I did a lap around the house and noticed there was a roll of toilet paper in the master bathroom and the plastic wrap had been taken off of the toilet seat. DUDE, COME ON! No one should be crapping in that toilet by us. Joke is going to be on him if he tries to use it again. I took the toilet paper out and put it back in the port-a-potty. Because COME ON!
Front door installed and frame painted
Finished carpentry completed
Water softener installed
Windows glass kleaned
Day 211
Lots of pocket doors
Bathroom trim
Quarter round
Why so many railings???
You know these are coming down as soon as we move in.
Would someone please come work on our house. I’m begging you to just get it done. As you can see from the pictures we had good progress with the flooring on the first floor and we thought we were down to the last week or two. Really, we actually thought that. How silly. Aside from some minor plumbing work, and one major plumbing issue, we didn’t see anyone else at the house completing tasks. What was this major plumbing issue? I’m so glad you asked!
Scroll down and checkout the day 208 picture. One evening this past week we went poking around the house and saw water had run down the basement wall below this very tube. How odd, we thought, and so we looked at the sinks and toilets around the house more closely. We turned a few sinks on and off and then went back into the basement to have a peek. Yes indeed, there was now more water in the basement. We decided to keep our cool, after all, Ricky keeps telling us the house isn’t done yet. Fast forward to Sunday when we get an email from our pal, Rick, telling us the plumbing should be done. Huh, should be done, eh? So we went back over to the house to see if this little pipe situation had been rectified. It hadn’t. I calmly emailed Rick, cc’d the plumber and Mike Kaerek, and waited for a reply. The only reply came from the plumber on Monday morning telling us they’d have someone look into it. A few hours pass and who do we get a call from but our pal Rick. Rick tells us not to worry, he talked to the plumber, and that pipe is a vent and what we saw was condensation.
I’m sorry, what??
We very politely told Mr. Rick that we had in fact turned a faucet on in the guest bathroom and no, that’s not a vent, it is a drain that actual waste water comes out of. Rick then informed us that he’d be meeting the plumber at the house Tuesday morning and they’d look at it together. Oh good, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum on the case. Side note: I don’t recommend Karlsen plumbing. Not only did we have this issue with their craftsmanship, they also installed the wrong valve on the master bathroom tub, after they installed the wrong bathtub altogether, which means we aren’t getting the Kohler faucet we had originally picked out. We’ll supposedly get a very comparable Moen faucet, after they reorder it in the correct finish.
Another little issue that is 100% my fault is with the appliance delivery. I won’t get into the messy details, but we had appliances scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday, March 5th. We headed over to the house around 11:30 to await their arrival and wouldn’t you know, we ran into our pal Rick who was on his way out. I told him about the appliances, he wasn’t happy and I didn’t care, and we checked out the plumbing and chatted about other issues/items/concerns/nonsense.
Soooo, end of February move-in date turned into early March which has now turned into… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We still have no estimated completion date. We’re still living in a basement. We’re still cold. We’re still crabby.
Flooring on first floor done
Everything else is 90% complete
No one showing up to work
Day 204
Almost done with the living room and kitchen
Day 205
Jennifer’s bathroom
Backsplash installed
Day 206
Vinyl flooring complete
Day 207
Day 208
Day 210 Garage door panel replaced
Appliances delivered and blocked off from idiot contractors
Between the frigid weather we’re experiencing in Wisconsin and our current living situation, it’s safe to say I’ve got a severe case of the blues this week. I’ll keep this weeks update short and let the pictures tell you what I’m not feeling motivated to.
Painting and staining done (but needs to be touched up)
Most of the plumbing done
Internet prep work continues
Ceiling fans installed
Flooring started
Day 197
More painting and door knobs
Inside of the mysterious box
Day 198
Cabinet hardware
Water hookup
Buyer beware
Water heater
Hose bib
Day 199
Day 200
That might will be a problem
Not quite what I had in mind for the handheld shower
Put caulk in your crack!
Day 201
Day 202
Day 203
29 weeks down, 0 to go
At this point I don’t think anyone is surprised that we aren’t going to make a closing date of February 28th 😭
After the snow storm we had on day 189, we didn’t see any progress for three days, aside from the caulking that was done. Was this because the driveway didn’t get plowed? Whatever the reason, we had reached our breaking point, again, and sent Rick an email. I’ll spare you the details, but he replied twice telling us we were responsible for plowing the driveway, and then a third email telling us we didn’t have to plow the driveway. In the end we ended up having the driveway plowed in the hopes that someone, anyone, would come over and work on the house. Later that day we also emailed the owner, Mike, to express our concerns and ask if we could meet/speak with him. Wouldn’t you know, on our way to a very early Valentines Day dinner we received a call from Rick. Rick and John spent about an hour on the phone while I spent a half hour alone with our chatty waitress and a delicious red blend. Overall, I suppose it was a decent conversation (with Rick, not the waitress) and it seems that things will slowly start to turn around.
On Friday, day 192, the carpenter was in doing his thing and he should only need a few more days to finish up. Rick and crew also showed up on day 192 to work on the powder room wall and fix the ceiling in the master bedroom shower. As you can see from the picture below, Rick had a tiny incident with the attic access point.
One of the things John discussed with Rick on Thursday was marking the items throughout the house that would need to be fixed, so that’s exactly what we did on Saturday, day 193. We ran into the electrician, (I know, on a Saturday!), and got to talk to him and see some of the light fixtures go up. He also told us the pendant lights over the island are in the wrong spot which means more holes in the ceiling that will need to be patched.
Everyone is magically in a hurry to get things done now and the painters showed up on Sunday to start the trim. There was a full crew in the house on Monday, day 195, painting, finishing up the electrical work, and putting the countertops in. It’s nice to see a lot happening but we know there’s still more work to be done.
We received a call from the electrician on Monday regarding our light fixture for the foyer. It was broken. The weld or screw that mounts the actual lights to the outside orb broke. This meant that the lights hanging in the middle were left to dangle by their wire. I called BBC Lighting right away and a replacement is on the way. I’m crossing my fingers it won’t take longer than the 2 week timeframe we were given. The electrician also mounted a light fixture in the wrong direction. While this isn’t a huge deal, it is mildly annoying because I had put a note on the box stating which direction it should be mounted. I pointed this out while we were there looking at the broken light fixture but my request seems to have fallen on deaf ears because it’s still upside down.
And we’ll end this week on day 196. The electricians finished wiring everything and we now have light. It also looks as though they had to move the electrical box over because it would have ended up in the future basement bathroom. The painters continue painting trim and cleaning up edges. This week didn’t start out strong I’m happy with the progress we’ve seen the past few days.
On Friday, February 8th, we officially reached the 6 month mark. Considering we were told the entire process would take 6-7 months at most, I think it’s safe to assume we’ll finish closer to 7 months, if not longer.
The carpenter continued cutting and hanging pieces of trim and it looks as though the main stairway and railings are all he has left to finish. Once completed it’ll be time for the painters to come in and do their thing.
The electrician also came in and started installing our light fixtures. It was exciting to see what we had picked out several months ago finally on display.
On the downside, we are still waiting for the wall that came down in the powder room to be fixed. Because the door was moved 6″-8″ over we asked that they move the light switch over as well. As you can see from the picture below, it’s still in its original spot. We also started seeing some fairly large cracks in the drywall. We’re assuming this happened because they had the heat set to 90 when they were hanging and mudding it, and then back down to 50-60 a few weeks later. It could also be that they did a shitty job. Who knows. Our hope is that they fix it when they come to redo the powder room wall but that might be asking a lot at this point.
I’d also like to give a special shout-out to my second reader/picture viewer, Konstantin! Welcome 👋 And I apologize in advance.
Garage doors finally installed
More finished carpentry work
Final electrical work started
Caulking and prepping for final paint
Day 183
Yay! Garage doors!
Boo! There’s a dent.
Day 184
Floor and window trim
Cabinet trim
More floor trim
A railing
A bench and still more trim
And whatever that thing on the left is
Day 186
Office
Living room
Guest bathroom
Laundry room
Loft
Guest room 1
Guest room 2
Master bathroom
Day 188
Day 189
Powder room wall is still MIA
Sizable drywall crack
27 weeks down, 2 to go.
2 weeks to go! LOL Now we all know that ☝️ain’t gonna happen.
I woke up on Wednesday, January 30th to temperatures in the -20’s. Yes, negative twenty’s. Apparently it was too cold for indoor work so no progress that day. It was slightly warmer on day 177 and the carpenter was at the house measuring and cutting trim and stair pieces. Not exactly the bind-blowing progress we were hoping for, but at least something was done.
On Friday, day 178, tile work was started in the mud room and master bathroom. The lighting wasn’t the best when we were there but it occurred to us later that evening that the tile in the master bathroom wasn’t what we had selected.
What you see above on the left is what we chose back in May when we made our selections. The picture on the right is the tile that was installed. Lighting, dirty tiles, and the surroundings play a big role in the overall appearance, I get that. And don’t get me wrong, the tile on the right does look nice, but I honestly can’t wrap my head around how these two tiles are the same.
Seeing a completed fireplace was pretty exciting, but they removed one of our temporary garage doors in the process so the garage is once again wide open. No ETA on the permanent garage doors. They’ve been “rescheduled”.
At this point, aside from seeing the house completed, I don’t know that there will ever be enough progress completed in a week to truly satisfy me. It’s a painfully slow process and I’m beyond sick of living in a basement.
We started this week off with a few more inches of snow. In an attempt to kick the winter blues I did more landscape planning and ordered trees for the yard.
Meet the Aristocrat Flowering Pear tree.
We’ll be planting four of these along the east edge of the property. We have a corner lot so this should create some privacy along the street and make for an eye-catching view.
I’m looking forward to eventually having a large backyard that’s more than a giant mud pit. I also have a Solo Stove on order for chilly evenings when s’mores are in demand.
As for progress inside the house, we continued making trips to the house to drop off the rest of the light fixtures and faucets. We also did a bit planning to idiot-proof the installation process by removing the extra pieces for the light fixtures that could be mounted at variable heights.
We received a Friday morning wakeup call from our pal, Ricky. Apparently the plumber installed the wrong bathtub in the master bathroom. We were supposed to receive one with a fiberglass front but instead received one that requires the finishing carpenter to build a frame that can be tiled. Ricky calls this an upgrade.
What we received
What we were supposed to receive
The other bit of fun we had was when we stopped over at the house Friday morning to meet the carpenter and discuss our bathtub options. To keep a long, painful story short, one of the walls for the powder room on the first floor will have to be torn down and replaced. Yes, an entire wall. That’s because the opening for the pocket door is roughly 8″ off and there isn’t room for the vanity. The depth is currently around 17″ and the vanity is 22″. Well, shit.
Where it should be vs where it actually is
There’s currently ductwork in the wall where the pocket door should be, which would explain how the door ended up in the wrong spot to begin with. That means they can’t put the door where it actually belongs without rerouting the ductwork that heads up to the master bathroom. We’re not quite sure what their plan is at this point and we haven’t actually heard this from Rick, only the carpenter.
So all-in-all, not a stellar week. Of the five available weekdays, workers only showed up at the house on two of those days. As it turns out, there always seems to be some sort of reason to not work on our house.
On Monday, January 21st, good ‘ole Ricky told us “2 months to go” which would put us at March 21st, 2019. I know people will say “I told you so” but I never would have expected this to go into March. And certainly not towards the end of March.
No one has been working on the house the past few days so we’ve had our moments of frustration this week. Yes, the cabinets were delivered on Monday, but why wasn’t someone there installing them? I know I’m growing impatient but I feel like a lot of good days have passed with no one working at the house. I simply don’t understand.
Rick also asked us to drop the light fixtures and faucets off at the house, in the basement. The basement that doesn’t have any stairs 🙄 For now they’re being stored in the garage. Let’s hope they survive.
Wavy siding fixed
Well hooked up
Walls primed
Painting started
Snow
Cabinets delivered
More snow
Day 162
We’ve got water
And white walls
Day 163
Day 166
Day 167
Cabinet delivery
Day 168
Siding fixed!
I also looked at paint colors that coordinate with Mindful Gray, which we chose for the entire house, and found Homburg Gray. What do you think, Jennifer? For your bathroom?
I also received an email this week for the annual David Austin Roses sale. I had been waiting for this email 😍 I placed my order for 4 rose bushes and 1 rose tree. I can’t wait for the day when I’m finally able to start landscaping and gardening at the new house. If you’re in the market for rose bushes David Austin can’t be beat. And if you order by March 29th you can get 15% off with discount code UCF.
The drywall work continued this week but I don’t have anything remarkable or shocking to share. We did receive an email from everyones favorite expediter, Rick, earlier this past week which hints at what we’ll be seeing in the coming week:
next week we will fix the wavy siding on the west side. we will order all new siding and take care of that problem. Monday tuesday we will spray and knock down the finish on dry wall. next paint your entire home with primer.
The knockdown texture was applied to the walls on day 159, a Sunday if you can believe that, and the pictures we took on day 160 do show that the bad siding has been removed. No word yet on when the replacement siding will be delivered and installed.
