Inspection Yet??...No!!

OK,so we were under the impression that the building inspector was to be at the house yesterday or today for an inspection.As you can probably guess this did not happen.

We are waiting for our contractor to actually come across the street to where we are one day to actually let us know what's going on.The only way we find things out is when my brother is there at the house doing work and our contractor tells him something.

I am not saying he has to come over everyday,but you think he would be over at least to let us know what's going on.That way we could get the bank over there to do their inspection and get him some money. 

We have given him $40,000 already,but he has to be running low on funds by now.

I guess I shouldn't complain though,it's better than having a contractor with his hand out all the time. 

Anyway lets look at some pictures....

This is where the pillar is going to go for our new porch.

Another view of where the pillar will be. 

This is where the old roof was sticking out,so they cut it out and made it all nice and even all the way down. 

Here is another look at where the old roof was. 

That concludes another day on the home reno front.We were at Lowes today to pick up the flooring for the bathroom and also some lighting.We spent $400 dollars on lighting which sounds bad but it could have been worse....trust me.

All the small little things,thats what cost you.The lighting,the fixtures and the hardware thats were the money goes.It is crazy how expensive all those little things are.

I will be glad when it's all over!!

Siding Almost Done!

With the rain holding off today the crew finished most of the siding.There is just a little piece on the one side to do and then the outside is complete.Of course then there is the yard to deal with,but that's for another time.This spring I am thinking.

Here are a couple of pictures of the house in its present state....

                                                       
That's were we are at with the house right now.

Here you can see that little piece of siding on the top that they still have to put siding on.They also have to put the white trim along the edges.

So there is the house.Looks so much better now,it's hard to believe what it looked like before(refer to picture on side of the blog).

We ordered the flooring from Rona on Saturday and it worked out to be $400 cheaper than the quote we had from Lowes.Also with that we got an extra 5 boxes of flooring.We also purchased the paint as well and saved there with the buy 2 and get 1 free deal that Rona had going on.

OK that is all for today.The inspector will be over tomorrow or Wed and if everything is good they can start to drywall.....Yaaay!! 

So,so close!

60 Days and Counting

Today is the sixtieth day that we have been out of our home.It feels much longer than that, but we are getting there,slowly but we are getting there.

The last two days it has rained non stop.And when I say non stop,it's not an exaggeration for writing effect or anything like that.

I mean it!!

This as you can imagine has brought the work on the outside to....well, a stop.There is still a little bit of work left on the outside,but not too much.At least I don't think anyway.

Or should I say hope!

Since the rain has brought the work on the outside to a stop,they have been on the inside doing some work in there.

They have all of the walls insulated and the vapour barrier is also on.I think there is an inspection sometime next week and once that passes they can start to drywall.

Once they start to drywall things should go pretty quick.

I hope that is!

My brother and his friend will be in to finish the plumbing on Monday.And tomorrow we are off to Rona to look at flooring and buy some paint.

They have a sale going on this week-end for paint and flooring.You buy two cans of paint and get the third free.This is also the same for the flooring.Of course the flooring would be in boxes and not cans.So this should save us a little bit of money.And every little bit helps.

I did take some pictures, but it was nothing too exciting so I think I will post them on a rainy day.

That's all I have to report for now.I have a six year old waiting to play a game of Go Fish,so I am off!

The Siding Is Almost Done!

The work today continued with the siding almost being completed.They also put the new window in our old master bedroom,which really brings in a lot of light.We wouldn't have thought this because the window is facing the neighbours house,which is about ten feet away.We thought the neighbours house being close, that it would have blocked most of the light. 

Lets take a look at some of the pictures...

There is the new window in our old bedroom.And the siding of course. 

Here is another picture of the siding.

A view of the new window from the inside.  

That gets you all up to date on the house.Things are coming along nice and it's starting to look good. 

I can't wait until we can live in it!                                                            

The Siding Work Continues

The work on the siding continued today, with the one side pretty much done now.My brother was also in on the week-end to do the plumbing,which is going to save us about $3000.

Again, he has come through for us.

OK,so lets take a look at a couple of pictures from the house today. 

Here is a picture of the house with that nice new siding on it. 

Another picture of the house.

That was all on the home front today.The guys from Pro Gas still have not come back and I am not sure when they will.But to me, it still looks like they have some work to do.

There you have it, another day in the home renovation world.We are getting one step closer to being in our home.Even though to us it still feels a like a long way off.

The Thursday and Friday Wrap-Up

I didn't get a chance to post yesterday due to computer issues and other random things that kept me away from updating the blog.So let's get into what has happened to the house.

Yesterday they started insulating the inside,actually most of it is done.Today they continued with the siding and changing the old window that was in our bathroom.It is actually bigger now,our contractor told us it was already framed for a bigger window and at one time there probably was one there.

The Pro Gas guys have not been back at the house since Wednesday and I don't think they are done yet.They still have some of their stuff there and some of the duct work still needs to be put in.I just figured that they are debating on who should crawl into the hole.

                                                This Hole.....Yikes!!!!

Some Insulation

They also got more of the siding done today as well.Let us look...

Here you can see the back of the house with all the siding on.

They are now starting the siding on the side now.

The new bathroom window in the old bathroom.

This a look at the new bathroom window in the old bathroom,from the inside.  

That brings you up to date on the work at the house.Things are really starting to come along and the house with the siding looks good,I must say.

Of course that could be my biased opinion.

That is all for this week.Hopefully next week is another good week!

Siding Away..

With the electrical passed,I had thought that our contractor was going to work on getting the inside of the house insulated and drywalled.Instead they worked on the outside putting on the siding,which is OK with us.They might be waiting for the Pro Gas guys to get done their thing inside, before they start insulating.But I am only guessing on that.

Lets take a look at the pictures...

This is the back of the house with the siding on it.They also put in that window on the right,which is our master bedroom.The siding is a nice dark gray and looks really sharp.

A closer look at the siding. 

This was a window in our bedroom looking into the backyard.This is looking in from our new bathroom.They took this out today as well.

This was our kitchen window at one time.They removed this today as well.

Some of the new duct work.It's going to be nice to have heat this winter!! 

I am guessing the Pro gas guys will be back,since we still have a basement full of stuff they need to install. 

There you have it,you are now all caught up on the days events.

Until tomorrow!!

The Electrical Passed...Now On With The Insulation

We had the electrical inspector in today to check things out and everything passed.Now that the electrical has got the approval,it now means our contractor can start work on the inside.So we are getting closer as he told us today.

I want to thank Mike for coming over and helping my brother get the electrical ready for today.It is really great to have friends willing to give up their time to help us out,it is greatly appreciated.And of course a BIG thank-you to my brother for doing all the electrical for us,for free.We can't even begin to imagine what this would have cost us to get it done by a licensed electrician.He has saved us thousands of dollars.I don't think we could ever repay him.Not only has he saved us money,he has kept an eye on our contractor keeping him in line, making sure things are getting done without sending us to the poor house.All we can say is thank-you Dave so much for being there and having our back and just being a great brother!!!Thank-you again!!

The Pro Gas guys were back and they were continuing with the duct work and installing the air exchanger.I am not too sure how much longer they will be at the house,maybe two more days or so.

Our contractor framed in our little cubby hole and part of the old basement.He also installed the new front door as well. 

The New Door

The Air Exchanger

Furnace With The Cover On

There was a few of the pictures from today.Things are starting to roll along, but every time we walk into the house to take the pictures,we still feel so far from being able to move into our home.We just look around and see all the little things that still need to be done and it seems like a lot that needs to be done before we can go home.

But at least we are getting there.

The Monday Action

Today was a pretty hectic day at the house.Probably the most action we have had on the house since we started.We had our contractor,the guys from Pro Gas and my brother there all working hard.The guys from Naus Plumbing and Heating stopped by at the end of the day and quickly checked out the hot water tank.The tank will be replaced later this week.

The siding also arrived and our new front door as well.They replaced the small window with the new bigger longer window,which looks really good.It really evens out the look of the front of the house.Also our new door is a little bit wider than the one we have now,so that should look great,when it is installed.

Since the Pro Gas guys were there,obviously that means they were working on installing the new furnace.It is really small compared to the old beast we had in there before.Next to go in will be the air exchanger and then the air conditioner.The air conditioner won't be put in until they have back filled the side of the house.When that will happen is a good question.

I guess we should take a look at the pictures,

As you can tell or maybe you can't I don't know,this would be the new furnace.Like I said this is a lot smaller than the old one we had.

This is another picture of the furnace. 

This is a picture of the hole they cut into the wall to vent the furnace into the new basement.You can see the vent there.

This is a dark scary place that many people would not venture into.Unfortunately the gas guys had to crawl into this hole to replace the duct work.My brother also had to venture into this dark place as well to do some electrical.Yikes...better them than me!

Here is our new front door.It looks great and will look even better once it is put where it belongs. 

So here is what the house looks like in it's current state.The new window on the left looks so much better than the smaller one that was there. I will post a before picture below.

This would be the before picture.

Here is a picture of our new guard dog.When we went over to take some pictures of the house, Scooby was sitting in the window keeping watch.We don't know who put him in the window, because he was sitting on the couch the last time we had seen him.

That wraps up the days events at the house.My brother and a friend of the family Mike are still(10:30pm) at the house getting the electrical ready for the inspection tomorrow.

Tomorrow should be another busy day,the guys from Pro Gas will be back and the electrical inspector will be there checking things out.

As for what will happen in terms of the house,I don't know other than the new door will probably be put in.The siding is there now,but I am not too sure when that will be going on.

So that is all for now!

The Later Post

As promised I am posting the update that I said I would post later on Friday.Here it goes....

I went back to the house to pick up some papers so we could call Reliance, to get them to come at look at the hot water tank.The tank doesn't seem to hold the hot water temperature very long.He told my wife that we should have about eight more years on that tank.I'm thinking when he looks at the tank,he will think otherwise.They are coming Tuesday to check out the hot water tank.

While I was at the house, the guy from Pro Gas stopped in to check out the situation.He wanted to see what was going on and where the furnace was going,which side of the house the air conditioner was going on.The guys from Pro Gas will be at the house on Monday.Of course this visit was about 10 minutes before I was supposed to be at work.

Needless to say I ended up being about 15 minutes late for work,thus the downward spiral of my day began.But I won't go into that since it has nothing to do with the home renovations.

Lets take a look at what work was done on the house.....

After

Before

So as you can see they replaced the old window and removed all the siding.It's going to be interesting to see what it looks like when they replace that smaller window, with the new bigger one.           

That's all for now! 

   

This Was YesterDays Post

Again I am late with the house update,but it's better late than never I guess.

With us living with my parents and two kids,one whom is newborn,it's been a real challenge to find a regular routine to post the updates of the house.

Anyway we seem to manage one way or another.On that note lets look at some pictures.

Before

After

                                                 

      

   

                                                                                                                                   

Fisrt off thats not the way I wanted to post the before and after pictures.It somehow had switched around,so we will chalk that up to blogging inexperiance.As you can see they took out that one window on the side. 

                             

Now with that window being removed from the side,that small window to the left of the door will be replaced by a longer window to try and even out the look a bit.  

                   

Before

  After

So you can see the difference a little paint and removal of some stairs makes.This is going to be a nice little storage area.

The crew is working hard again today taking off the rest of the old siding and getting ready for the new siding.I think they are planning to put that on sometime next week.

I will update you later on todays events.  

                                                         

                                                                                                     

Door Moved,Stairs In And Some Electrical Work.

The house was busy today with activity,which was nice to see.My brother was in doing some more electrical work and our contractor was doing his thing.

They moved our door over and put in the stairs to go up into the new part of the house.It actually turned out to be two stairs,I had guessed three.

I tried.

My wife and I went to price all the little accessories that we are going to need.You know,faucets,shower head,toilet,vanity and lights.I have come to realize that all those little small things are really expensive.You don't realize it until your looking at the prices of things going"wow $229 for a bathroom fan"....yikes! What have we gotten ourselves into?

We bought the cheaper bathroom fan,which still ended up costing us $74.I thought even that was pricey.And to top it off,they don't even give you the bulb to put in the light!!!You think they could at least throw in the bulb.

Anway enough of that,lets look at some pictures.....
                                                    
        Before                                                               After

                      

There you can see where they moved the door over, so it wasn't so tight against the wall.It just looks better not so close to that wall. 

Here are the stairs going into the addition.I thought I had a before picture somewhere but I can't seem to find it.So your just going to have to picture in your mind, a closed in area going into our old basement.I know I do have a before picture around of this area and when I come across it I will post it.The before and after pictures of course. 

My brother while he was working at the house today, asked our contractor how long he figured before we could move back in.He told my brother in about three weeks.That of course he told my brother depends on how his two guys work. 

That really worries me considering the one guy who works is a little bit older and usually takes off around 1pm or so.And the other guy,well he just started a few weeks ago.Throw into the fact our contractor possible taking on more jobs in that time,makes me think that three weeks is a long shot.   

Time will tell! 

  

                                                                          

The Basement Wall Bust Out And Some Pink Stuff!

The crew arrived early this morning(7:30am) and got right to work on the basement,busting out the wall for the new doorway into the old basement.

That would be the new doorway to the old part of the basement.The hot water tank will be moved to the other side of the old basement(just to the right)to get it out of the doorway.When we went to check out the work they had done today, I thought there would be a lot more dust than there actually was.I figured everything would be covered,but it only had a little coating of dust.This was what the furnace guys were waiting for,the opening so the could get their stuff in and out.Hopefully they will be in this week.

Here is the floor of the new hallway leading into the addition from the old part of the house.Underneath that is where our stairs where to get into our old basement.And where that board is,that will be the top of our new stairs to get into the addition.I am thinking there will only be about three stairs or so.There you can see part of our new door,more on that later.

Here is a better view of where the stairs to the upstairs part of the house are going.And here would be more of our new door.No,this is not the more on our door part(see previous picture) yet...just wait! 

I could try to explain what the purpose of this stuff is,but I won't.It's pink and it's on the inside part of our roof,that's all I can tell you about it.

First thing that popped into my head when I seen this,asbestos.I checked it and didn't see that word anywhere on that gyproc.It's an old house so I just assume that they are going to run into asbestos somewhere.Back in those days they used asbestos all the time, so it wouldn't surprise me if they find some. 

Yes,this is the more about the door part!You can see the blinds there right?Look at the top of the door,they are on the inside of the door, which I thought was pretty cool.Thus the blinds on our new door are now cat proof.Yes, no more cats randomly jumping into the door blinds,getting hung up,causing the blinds to bend and not close properly!

As if a building permit wasn't enough to cover everything,you also need a separate permit to replace windows and install siding.I am not too sure why you couldn't just get one permit to cover everything?Oh.....that's right,it's a money grab.....of course, how could I be so stupid and forget that?? Permit for this,permit for that and you also need a permit for that as well.If your thinking of doing some home renovations remember people,permits,permits and more permits.I knew I would get my bitching in somehow!

All permits aside,things went pretty good today.Unfortunately we don't look any closer to moving into our home any time soon.But there is not too much we can do, except wait.

Just hopefully not too much longer.