Well, it's been a bit since our last update. Our original framer was not as experienced as we were led to believe, and long story short, we had to hire a second crew to get the job done right. There were many code violations, things done wrong, and some things not done at all! Ever heard of hurricane clips? Our first crew didn't put a one in. Wake County is an 80 mph wind district and requires these clips every 2nd or 3rd rafter in order to keep the roof on! If we had more experience with framing, we would've caught that and many other things early on. One of our other big problems was the stairs, both sets had to be torn out and completely redone. If you're ever building your own house and the framing supervisor shows up with a book on "How To Build Stairs", it's time to hire someone else. We should've known!!! These are just a couple of examples of 100 things that were just not right! Thank God we hadn't fully paid that crew, so we used the leftover, and then some, to pay the new crew. Luckily, they were available as soon as we needed them, they did a great job, and helped us out by meeting with the inspectors. The electricians also put us behind about 3 weeks and we are planning to deduct some of our interest paid from the total that we owe them. We've learned a few important lessons, and even though it's cost us a little extra, we now know who to hire and a lot more about each part of the home building process.
Thankfully, we are up and running again. We passed the framing inspection and had our insulation installed and approved. We hired a great company to spray our foam insulation, it's a super efficient product and you can find more information about it at:
http://www.sealection500.comIt's really cool to watch it being put in too! This past week I "helped" Darko check that the walls were level, and I got to use the pneumatic nail gun! Woo hoo!!!
The sheetrock crew is starting on tuesday, 4/18, and we are looking to have the property graded while that's being installed. After the sheetrock is finished, we're hoping that things will go more smoothly. The bigger jobs that we needed subcontractors for have been mostly completed and we are now in charge of installing tile, wood floor, building cabinetry, etc.
New pictures.
