September 17 update

This week is super busy inside and outside.  A very helpful young neighbor and Dave went together and rented a power rack, which he used to rack our whole yard, except for the very back hill.  Today, he and Dave are racking, spreading grass seed and rolling the yard.  Needless to say, Dave bought a LOT of grass seed!

Neighbor's roller attached to Dave's tractor

 Spreading grass seed.  He has the same tractor.  

 Discussing how far down the hill to spread the seed

Some views of the side yards and the front

Jeff and Jim (builders) finished the deck except for the steps today

I love the view from our backyard.  Every neighbor that has stopped over as remarked on the great view that we will have from our living areas. 

Looking North from the deck.

 Looking Northeast; future fire pit

Looking East from the deck

The Southeast view from the deck

The drywall crew was here yesterday and applied the second coat.  Today they are spraying the walls and ceilings in the garages.  Tomorrow, they start the texture layer in the house.  

Also, Jeff and Jim are installing the first couple outside lights today.

  

A BIG barnyard light on the front and one will also go on the back of the house. 

Motion lights

It is so fun watching the house come together!!!  We have always dreamed of building a house.  The planning and preparation for this house has taken almost two years, so finally seeing our dream coming into fruition is very exciting!! 

September progress report

September has been a good month so far regarding the progress on the house.  Jeff and Jim replaced the final window in the front bedroom and finished the siding.  Hopefully, this Friday, the Jeld-wen techs will be here to replace all the trim on all the windows and replace glass in 8 windows.  When that issue is totally resolved I will breath a sigh of relief.

The dry-wall installers have finished the install of drywall.  The crew that will do the taping and muddying will start tomorrow.  Depending on the weather, Jeff, Jim and Roberto will start on the columns and railing on the porch or start the deck.  This week should see a good amount of progress on the house.

So as promised previously, here are some pictures of the various rooms now that there is better definition of the rooms.

This is the front garage with storage units

Steps up to the mudroom, Space on the landing for

a freezer.  See the little cubbyhole for passing grocery bags

through to the landing. 

The landing space for the freezer as seen from the mudroom door. 

The mudroom; first door on left is the door to half bath and door closes to

outside will be my cleaning supply closet. 

The entry and hallway as seen from the living room. 

The landing at the bottom of the stairs, 

door leads to a lower level bedroom

 Short hallway to back bedroom and door on left 

leads to a future lower level bathroom. 

Living room as seen from back hallway

Living room south wall with fireplace as 

seen from pantry doorway.

Sunroom as seen from front hallway

Looking toward the kitchen; the doorway leads

to the pantry. 

The master bathroom as seen from the doorway 

from the bedroom.  It's bigger then our whole trailer!!!

I could just live in the bathroom.  Ha-ha!!

The master bedroom with a door to the covered deck

and window overlooking deck.

The geo-thermo room

The door leads to the storm shelter under the front porch.

The future family room in the lower level, maybe we can

get it completed next year.

 Another view of the family room/sunroom windows.

Stairs to garage from lower level.

Airstream garage, each of the garages has 14 ft ceilings.  

We are getting so excited!!!  It has been so cold here in north central Iowa, just in the low 60's today.  We are ready to be in a house as we started the Airstream adventure in cold weather and we will be ending it in cold weather.

Thanks for checking in, hopefully I will have more pictures soon with more finish details to them.  Really looking forward to having a full kitchen and space for the dogs to run outside.  We are hoping to get a portion of the backyard fenced before winter so they have some running room.

House update

It has been awhile since I have checked in and frustration is ongoing with the continuing issues with Menard's delivery system, lack of customer service (it is nonexistent) and Jeld-Wen windows.

Every time we have a delivery from Menard's, either something is missing or something is damaged.  Their department reps or Managers have been good to work with, but their dock and delivery workers leave something to be desired.  Their customer service is a joke.  The store manager just refers us to Headquarters which will only communicate in writing, will not talk to you on the phone and the only level of response is a letter saying they will look into it, which they NEVER do.  Then no further communications from Headquarters or the store manager.

Jeld-wen customer service is very good at communicating, but not so good at paying attention to details.  Three replacement orders so far, and each one of them was either the wrong size or damaged before it reached us or sent out sized wrong from the factory.   It is extremely frustrating!!!!!
Well, thanks for letting me vent!!!  :)

Some grading has been done on the front yard and more gravel added to complete the circle driveway, but we will need some more loads to widen it.

Insulation was completed yesterday, which gives us a better feel for the room size.  We have traditional insulation in the garage and sprayed foam insulation in the house.  This house is going to be very airtight!!!

Drywall is being delivered as I write.  Wonder how much of it is going to be damaged?????  

House is moving along, but slowly.  Our builder is doing a great job and this house, thanks to Dave's design and Jeff's tweaks will have some nice features.   The garages are huge and will have a large amount of built-in storage.  

We are continuing to hope for an end of October or before move-in date.  If they ever get the windows replaced!!!  Other than that one complaint, I am so happy with the job our builder is doing; he is a great guy, so good to work with and he has great ideas for improving the design.

We are now living on-site on the RV pad next to the garage (I'll have to take some pictures).  We have full hook-ups with 20/30/50 amp electric.  Unlimited water and sewer connections makes our life easier.  Showers that last longer than 2 minutes are wonderful!!!!   :)

Thanks for checking in!  I"ll take more pictures as things progress, but pictures of plumbing and electrical and insulation aren't too exciting.  

Here is the view from the front porch which I am enjoying.