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.
