Insulation

I knew we would't have a chance to swing by during the weekend because of the wedding we have to go to, so I went on a whim after work. Luckily, the doors were still open. Perhaps they don't lock them yet if they're returning the next day? Or maybe there was still a worker there, since there was a truck outside. 

They finished all the siding on the outside and are finishing up the brick sections. All of the outside work is scheduled to be completed by mid-August. We're guessing that means driveway, sidewalks, sod and plants. Inside, all the insulation is up and the LARGE sections of drywall are laying in each room. All of next week they're scheduled to install the dry wall. The week after that they have to spray, install the cabinets and then the trim. 

Our move-in date was moved to 8/30. We have to be out of our apartment by 8/31, so let's hope for no more delays and everything goes according to plan! We locked our interest rate in on Friday. We got 4.625% with a .5% discount point. Rates have been creeping down from their peak in the early summer but there's supposed to be a lot of announcements/reports coming out this week. They analyst reports seemed to think that that could cause the rates to go up or down, so we decided to just lock in a decent rate and not risk it going up. It's over a point more than we were originally quoted in January, which kind of stinks, but what are you going to do?

Insulated garage. Hopefully the insulation on the ceiling will help muffle the sound of the garage door opening.

Basement

Other wall of the basement 

All the drywall was parsed out to the appropriate rooms.

Ceiling insulation on the 3rd floor and the attic crawl space.

The master bedroom was standing upright and had these metal wire anchoring it to the wall.

Watch out, drywall is heavy.

Trim and shutters on the outside. Just need to finish the brick work on the bottom.

Siding is all complete!!

Laying the bricks.

Siding!

During the 3rd week of July, it was our 4th heatwave of the season. It was HOTTTT!!! The workers got a little backed up with inspections of the electric and HVAC units and putting up the internal insulation and drywall. I think it was just too hot to work inside a unit with no circulating air so they concentrated on the outside. The color looks good, I didn't realize it was going to be the same color as the model. I thought it was going to be the light tan color of the adjacent building. 

When I went to go visit, we were locked out. The garage, front and back doors were locked. So I had to walk around the building and peer through windows.

Side and back siding is complete!

Still putting up the opposite end siding

Finishing up the front siding but also leaving the areas with brick blank.

Fronts of the other units

Almost there! Just need to finish siding, add brick, shutters and decorative pieces.

Peeking through the back window to see what was going on.

Brick and mortar for the front!

Pre-Dry Wall Meeting Update

We had our pre-drywall meeting last week. Everything looked good and we have a garage door too! We're so glad we extended the closet by the boiler a foot. I think it'll give us just enough extra storage. They had passed plumbing inspection and electric and HVAC for inspections this past Monday. They were supposed to start putting up the insulation on Tuesday and I believe wrapping the outside of the house. If all went well, they are supposed to begin installing the drywall tomorrow. Drywall should take 4-5 days to complete.

We started getting the daily mortgage rates on Monday. Started at 4.875% with 0 points and has gone down to 4.75% with 0 points. Hoping to lock in a rate within the next week or so. Maybe we're being hopefully but maybe it'll go down to 4.5% with 0 points and then we could even by a point to lower the rate more.

Most exciting part is we got an estimated settlement date of 8/22. The date could move a few days either way but it's nice to have a date in mind. We've been emailing movers for quotes and hopefully as it gets closer we can pick one and schedule a date.

More Rough Mechanicals

We stopped by quickly on Sunday night before the thunderstorm came from PA. We knew we only had a few minutes because A-it was getting dark; B-it was super muggy; C-since there's no insulation or siding, the howling winds were really scary. 

Looks like they were busy last week doing more work on the plumbing and air vents, even though it was a short holiday week. We are scheduled to have our pre-dry wall meeting tomorrow. There all the rough mechanicals should be done and we'll also get our estimated closing date. Then we can contact our loan officer about locking in an interest rate. Wahoo!! Hopefully the rates will keep on going back down, closer to 4%. We've been starting to collect boxes from our jobs and friends that have moved and getting price quotes from movers. We also took some quick window measurements to get a basic idea of what size blinds we'll need. 

Circuit Breaker box. They have the front casing nailed to the right of the box until they're done wiring.

Wiring in the basement.

Our extended closet that's adjacent to the water heater/boiler. Just a little extra hidden storage.

Duct work in the basement along with some wiring.

Cold water pipe that goes to the outdoor hose. I forget if the faucet is in the garage or out side.

Downstairs Powder room

Kitchen pantry (where the pink stuff is)

The half wall is where the kitchen sink and dishwasher will be on the left. The stairs and main air ducts are on the right.

Looking into the master bathroom with our tub!

Testing out the tub

Air duct work in the ceiling that looks like a spider.

Hall bath with a tub

Where the washer/dryer will go.

Not much change on the outside.

Making a get-away before the storm hit.

First look inside

They finished up the roofing and some other outside updates like finishing the bay windows and the boxes on the front peaks. On Friday they started the plumbing rough mechanicals. HVAC and electricians were scheduled for the short 4th of July week. We should get a date for our pre-drywall meeting soon too. Once we have our pre-drywall meeting, we can contact the loan officer and lock in an interest rate.

We took our first walk through and got some neat pictures of what is going on in the inside of the house too.

Workers installing the shingles.

The front door and sliding doors are installed. The unit next to us has the white trim around the bay window now too.

The garage is framed out, including the door to the hallway and our two tubs are in boxes on the left.  The plumbing PVC pipes and hot/cold pipes are stored in the garage until they are installed.

Down stairs powder room. You can see the toilet pipe on the back wall.

Stairs going up with a temporary banister.

The kitchen, the half wall is where the dishwasher and sink will be. You can see the pantry frame in to the right of the window. The sliding door has a safety "do not cross" piece of wood over it.

View from the sliding door.

View from the back of the kitchen towards the living room.

In the master bedroom looking at the master bath framing on the left (notice the PVC pipe along the wall) and our closet on the right.

Double sink plumbing which Jason pointed out.

Looking up to where the rafters are.

Hall Bathroom.

Laundry closet and some blue prints.

View out of a front bedroom window.

View from our bedroom window. Eventually there will be a row of townhomes there too but I think they won't be done for a while.

Back of the houses with all the sliding doors up.