November 21, 2005
Ruminations on newhomelife
I've learned a few lessons living in the house for 2.5 days. They are, in no particular order:
1. Just because the toilet is brand new DOES NOT mean it is immune to clogging.
2. When unpacking, make sure you locate the plunger early on and put it in the bathroom. (See #1)
3. When you see the first scratch in your new wood floor, you shout "SHIT!"
4. Entire walls of outlets may or may not work. This is a subtle hint from your electrical subcontracter that he misses you and wants you to call.
5. When you see the second scratch on your new wood floor, you shrug and sigh.
6. Some lights will not turn off. Some lights will not come on. Put the contractor on speed dial and be done with it.
7. When moving in, don't just pile boxes in the garage. They will never get to their final destination. Bring them all the way in and set them up where you intend for them to be placed. Most of the time this should be the garbage dump.
8. When you see the third scratch in your new wood floor, you regret not putting cheap ass carpet all over the godamn house.
Posted by Sprinky at 12:53 PM | Comments (0)
We're in!
It has finally happened. We're in!
And there was much rejoicing.
Posted by Sprinky at 07:27 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Flooring
No pictures yet, but I have it on decent authority that wood floors will be installed Friday 10/7 and carpeting Monday 10/10. That could put us in by the end of October barring any more hurricanes, floods, and other malicious acts of mother nature.
Posted by Sprinky at 01:43 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2005
Hey, at least the lights work!
Lights on in the front
Porch lights
Looking in
Tricia's favorite light fixture
Kitchen with the lights on, tile installed
Freshly painted trim
Tile in the kids upstairs bath
Lights on in the loft
From the stairs
Posted by Sprinky at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2005
Cabinets and finished brick
Posted by Sprinky at 07:28 PM | Comments (0)
May 23, 2005
Latest
Front:
Fireplace and plasma TV build-in:
Great room with back door and windows:
Posted by Sprinky at 04:08 PM | Comments (0)
May 04, 2005
Roof is framing up now:
Posted by Sprinky at 06:55 AM | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Framing
Framing began as I was out of town on the Destin Bank conversion. Here's the progress:
Posted by Sprinky at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
April 01, 2005
Slab
Smoothing out the concrete after it has been poured in:
Posted by Sprinky at 11:03 AM | Comments (0)
Pre-slab
Here's what the foundation looks like before the slab is poured. Plumbing, rebar, pilings. The rebar will be tensioned before the concrete is laid in for added strength.
Posted by Sprinky at 09:59 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2005
Progress!
Things have been progressing pretty quickly. Here are some shots of the past weeks progress.
Dug up lot:
Driving pilings:
Slab forms:
In-slab plumbing:
Posted by Sprinky at 07:26 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2005
Ground has been broken!
After myriad delays and a thousand days of waiting we finally broke ground on the Loupe compound. I had to look twice to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks, but there was a small earth moving vehicle parked in the middle of the lot with dirt all around. The stakes were out marking off the perimeter of the structure. It's a great relief to see some actual work being done.
Posted by Sprinky at 08:12 AM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2005
Closed the loan
We went to loan closing today - squeezed it in before shooting of to Disney World for vacation. With the closing behind us we can focus on having a little fun at the world
The closing was pretty straightforward. I've never done a construction loan closing so I wasn't certain what to expect. Just the closing attorney and many docs to sign. No one else since we already own the lot. The attorney and title abstracter are friends of ours so they helped us out with the fees. We got them a nice single malt and some Johnny Walker Gold label. I looked for Blue but they were out at Martin Wine Cellar.
This morning Jason and I paid our respects to Mel's dad who passed on Saturday. Steve was there and said that it was good to see everyone. I hadn't seen him since his last day at Whitney.
Now we can get to building! It hasn't quite hit me yet how much debt we're in now. This loan is about 3 times larger than the loan for our first house.
Posted by Sprinky at 02:36 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2005
Getting close
Looks like we're getting close to closing this puppy. The upshot is that we won't be paying that lot note anymore. Once that's gone we can put that cash into other things.
I've gotten the last of the documents to the lender and we're waiting on the final appraisal. I was pleased with the initial estimated appraisal, which will put our LTV at around 84%. In a year or maybe sooner, we'll get an independent appraisal done and say goodbye to PMI.
Posted by Sprinky at 12:20 PM | Comments (0)