Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Week 9 of Remodel a House and Don't Divorce or Die Doing It...

WEEK 9
18 July  thru 24 July

Well it's  bright and early Monday morning and I am already dreading the start of the day.  Clarence showed up to clear all his equipment and materials out of the yard.  I had already started putting most of his stuff together along with picking up all the loose concrete and putting it in piles.  There is still plenty to be picked up and my gut was right, He ignored or missed seeing most of it so I will have to clear it myself at a later date. 
It didn't take Clarence long to approach George with an invoice in his hand.  I could not believe what I was seeing.  He had listed all the work he was suppose to do on the contract with cost, plus additional work he said he had done with extra cost, deducted what we had all ready given him but then it gets better. Nowhere, I mean NOWHERE on that invoice had he made a deduction for the patio that was all cracked or the pool cap that was cracked, chipped and had a crappy finish.  Now that is very gutsy in my book.  He was not willing to take any responsibility for everything that was wrong.....I guess we will just have to make the adjustment for him.  Now we are good people and are not looking for anything for nothing so we did give him more money but did deduct a $1,000.  It will no way cover the cost to fix the patio and the pool cap.  Technically he should have given us most of the money back but he has no insurance..  I was just so glad when he left.  He is a nice man but regardless, he screwed up the job...
Time to move on..
I waited for the inspector to show up to inspect the Engineered Beam, Electrical, Framing and Insulation.  What a relief the beam passed and the inspector was rather impressed.  Framing check.  Insulation check.  Unfortunately, not all the electrical passed.  Copperas Cove has very strict guidelines and we have a few adjustments to be made with the size of wire used on the sockets.  Not to worry, George has it under control.
Instead of having dinner we went out and hit the stores.  We went to Home Depot first and were able to get a steal on some glass tile.  They were half price...Great saving...



The color does not show well in the pic.  It is Blue, white and brown..
We will use three rows of it as a break in between the main bathroom tile and the bull nose.


We were also able to get glass tile for the rim of the pool...We saved even more with this tile..

This color will be broken up and mix matched with another color.  Not quite sure what yet.  These tiles are Navy Blue, Dark Grey, White, Grey.  I have plenty time to choose since we are nowhere near doing the pool yet.

We then headed over to Lowe's to pick up Toilets.  Luck was on our side because the toilets we had selected a few weeks ago were on sale.  We ended up saving nearly $80 on each toilet.




Went home and got unloaded.  Time to call it a night.

George is busy at work so I did not get much done. We are at a point that most things needing to be done inside takes two of us. I did go back to Home Depot www.homedepot.com to pick up more glass tile and spent some time setting out the pattern for the Master Bathroom floor.


                                                     I also picked up a few more plants..


Wednesday I worked on the blog for Week 8 and George came home from work and went to work on putting the floorboards and sub floor down in my office.  He has a lot on his mind and I think working alone on the floor is what he needed so I did not interrupt him...



Today the Cabin is being delivered.  George is busy at work and there are things that have to be done in the yard in preparation of the arrival of the cabin.

The dirt that came out of the trenches has to be spread out evenly in the yard.



It took a few hours but I managed to get it all raked out...




I also had to move the old gutters as they were blocking the gates..

I finished up by raking all the loose brush and rocks from the whole back yard...

George managed to be home for the arrival of the Cabin (George's Man Cave)...

THE MAN CAVE arriving on the back of a Flatbed...



It sure looks bigger than I remember...

Matt the driver parks in front of the house and brings out a small gas powered mule to move the cabin off the truck and into the back yard...I was panicking..How is that wee gadget going to move that cabin....
Matt sets it under one side of the cabin...


He then brings a set of small wheels and puts one under each side of the back of the cabin...





Matt then starts moving it along the road...I am in awe..this is bloody amazing....Matt has great skill..



Time to make a turn into where the new driveway is supposed to be....

Up the side of the house..
Now, while Matt was bringing in the Cabin, the installers from Lawn Masters showed up with my Pergola.  It turned out to be great timing.  Matt could not go any further because there was a tree in the way..
In step the guys from Lawn Master..

The tree that is holding up the installation of the Man cave



He saws off the branches one by one and the two young gentlemen drag them off into the backyard..I am amazed..

The tree stump is the last to go so Matt can get back to work..
Now that is customer service from Lawn Master...Matt can go ahead and bring it in.  The coast is now clear..




David from Leland's http://www.texasparkhomes.com stopped by and was able to help install the Heating/Air conditioner.
George and David admiring the Man Cave

George, Matt and David

George is in Love....

Living room/Kitchen combo

Full Bathroom

Love the Texas Star sink

Bedroom

Pic of bedroom from other side




We spent a lot of time figuring out what to get for George as a Man Cave.  We had looked at building a garage and remodeling it but since we are remodeling the house, that was not an option.  So we looked at prefabricated buildings.  The Buildings and Cabins that David Carlise from http://www.texasparkhomes.com  carries were by far the best.  When we went out to David's site in Lampasas, we could not believe all the options you have to choose from.  I loved them all and there is something for everyone.  We chose the Living by Faith model.  It was the perfect size for George to use as a Man Cave and gave us the biggest bang for our buck..The greatest thing is that it is totally finished.  We just have to hook up the water and electricity and have our household goods delivered so George can put all his Big Boy toys in it...lol
We absolutely love the Man Cave (cabin), so if you are looking for one or have a piece of land and are looking to put a weekend getaway on it, go see David and check out his website http://www.texasparkhomes.com , I know you will just love all they have to offer...
After we got the Cabin situated it was time for the guys from lawn Master to get to work.  They were not scheduled to start until tomorrow but had finished up in San Antonio early and drove up to drop the materials off. 


They were now able to bring their truck in with my Pergola parts on board. 


They asked if they could start working and we were more than happy to oblige.









George went and picked up pizza for all of us for dinner..The guys then left and went to a hotel and would be back bright and early in the morning...


George is at work and time for me to get busy. I have to take the rest of the drywall off the master bathroom and guest bathroom.
 
 Take out the old insulation


old insulation gone..
 and replace with new stuff, then call for an inspection on that and the Electricity..





While I was busy in the inside the guys from Lawn master were busy outside...












A huge big thank you to the installers from Lawn Master for all their help taking out the tree and putting up my Pergola..http://lawn-master.com
The Inspector stopped by and my installation of insulation passed...whoop but George had not changed the wiring on one socket, so we will have to leave that part open for the next inspection...

We had a quiet night.  Sadly the unit, where George has the privilege of working, lost a Great Soldier.
He was struck in a head on collision on his way home from work earlier in the week and passed tonight.  Praying that his family finds Peace, Comfort and Strength during this difficult time.
I pray that the Soldiers, Family Members and Civilians of this Great Unit give themselves time to grieve for the loss of one of their own and that they find comfort in their memories of the time they got to spend with their Comrade..
My heart is breaking for the Family, his Friends and all who knew him..




George picked up Paul next day.  Came home and got to work fixing the socket..




Then it was onto putting up the sheet rock...

I have walls...it's beginning to take shape...



After we dropped Paul off and since we were in Temple, we went to Marshall's and Ross..

George picked up another gadget but I must admit this is the best $12 we have spent for a gadget..


I know you are saying "big whoop its a set of headphones" but they are wireless and now you are saying "so what, big deal".  Well for us it is a big deal. Since we live in our kitchen and George is normally trying to get to sleep but I am still awake, I can now watch TV at night without disturbing him and he can catch the news in the morning without disturbing me...These headphones are a beautiful thing...
We also stopped off at Walmart and picked up a few Lawn Chairs to sit on instead of always having to lie down on the blow up mattress to watch TV.




I did not do anything at home today. I went out for a while and just meandered around some stores. Although George was working on the house and got a few things done, his heart and thoughts were somewhere else. Today has been a solemn day....

We decided not to do any work today in the house but we did head out early to pick up the vanities for the Master Bathroom..We got two of these..These were on sale and we made a saving of $120 on each of them..
The Blue Glass sinks should go well with the glass tile...
Got two mirrors...

Two sets of lights for above the vanities...Also on sale...


Two sets of sink faucets..again on sale...

One set of this duel shower head..

And three sets of the single shower head...

Got home and unloaded and rested for a change...
Now throughout this remodel my husband has become a chocolate fiend..I will wake up in the morning to find this either on the Kitchen counter top or on the floor next to our oh so comfortable (NOT) Blow up mattresses ...

But he is still losing weight while eating this crap..

I have two things that have been getting me through... A glass of wine at night after dinner to relax..



And two of these in the morning to help kill the pain from all the work the day before...



Another week has come to a close...


What I have learned this week

You sometimes just have to cut your losses and move on...concrete...

LOVE, LOVE the MAN CAVE from http://www.texasparkhomes.com

LOVE my Pergola from http://lawn-master.com

That there are great people in this world that will go above and beyond to help you out.
Big Thanks to the Installers from Lawn Master for helping take down the tree and Matt from Texas Park Homes for delivering the cabin with great skill.

There is no doubt about it, I still love Sales.....

Chocolate, Wine and Advil all have their benefits..
Just don't take them all together..

But most of all
You should Cherish each and every Day
Love like there will be no Tomorrow..... 

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Until next Time..

8 comments:

Patti said...

OH Boy, Looks like fun! Can I play too?
Amazing what you guys have done. Looks beautiful. George & Jackie, you are 'The No Nonsense Lets 'Get-Her' Done Team.'

The OutPost said...

Patti
you can come to Texas anytime and play. We are trying to get it done because our housegoods are still in storage and I want my Bed...lol
Miss you

Tracey said...

I'm exhausted just reading your blog!

ronnie o'rawe said...

Absolutely amazing, you two are awesome! I can't wait to see the finished article,then,hopefully, I can see it for myself sometime in the future. lol

Julie Danielle said...

Sounds like you are hard at work! I think we have some of the same tastes because I was at Home Depot this week and noticed some of the items you bought, like the tiles and faucets...lol Keep sharing your progress :)

The OutPost said...

Tracey
I am exhausted. I am enjoying your blog...

The OutPost said...

Ronnie
you are so kind but you have to be since you taught me everything i know...lol
Maybe I will be coming to Scotland for a break...

The OutPost said...

Julie
Thanks. I am looking forward to your progress on your purchase of your new home..