This Week's Progress Report

Amazingly, I remembered to record notes every night this week.

So, here's the day by day of what went down.

Monday

More OSB went down; the floor was almost complete.
*****
I rented a hammer-drill from Home Depot and when Dean got home we went about
completing the installation of the new window wells. He drilled into the
old foundation wall (did you know old concrete is especially hard to drill or cut? Yep.) and hammered
the bolts half-way down into those holes. I stuck the washers on, then the nuts and tightened
them down as best as I could with a little ratchet. When we were done with all the bolts, nuts
and washers, Ry and I finished back-filling around the wells. There is one more
small basement window that needs the new window well installed, but it's surrounded by
the old concrete patio. Hopefully we'll get to that this coming week.
 *****
Remember the photo of the pier footings from last weeks post?
Dean got the re-bar in them suspended. In last week's photo it was just
sitting at the bottom of the hole.

*Sorry. No photos of Monday's work.

Tuesday

Dave got another good chunk of OSB nailed down. He also installed a few more
structural straps and fixed some issues with a few joists, but I can't remember exactly
what those issues were (I need to keep more detailed notes).
*****
While Dave was working up-top that evening, Mr and Me were working down in the
basement installing the tubing for the radiant heating; something we'd never done before.

 
When the tubing was all laid down, Dean got it pressurized for inspection.

Wednesday

Inspector Mike came to inspect the pier footings and radiant floor system and, of course,
they passed. Dave worked some more on getting my dance floor finished.
And then it rained. A lot.
So, Mr & Me holed up in our little trailer home and reviewed all the details of the floor plan and
made a few changes - mostly on window placement, size and configuration. And the man...he just gives me that "Are you ever gonna not change your mind on the window plan?"
Oh, and he watched more "Green Acres" on Hulu while I went through and edited
all my idea books on Houzz. Truthfully, we were both a little grumpy Wednesday night.
It happens every once in a while to the best of us, right?

Thursday

Lots more rain - all.night.long.
Jo-Tan invited us over for a pot roast dinner, complete with potatoes, carrots,
onions and gravy. Oh, boy was that wonderful! The company was wonderful too.
I threw a batch of pumpkin muffins together for dessert before we left.
It wasn't a productive evening, but it was cozy and relaxing and I think we needed that.

Friday

Friday was awesome.
Dean took the day off from his 9 to 5 and worked here all day.
He and I re-routed both water lines - North Ogden and the well.
That was a big pain in the bucket, I'll tell you what!
*****
Dean and Dave hit it hard and got all the OSB flooring down except for the front entry.
WAH-HOOOO!
Turn on those party lights, baby and
LET'S DANCE!
*****
I got the basement all cleaned up for Saturday's big job. Construction is messy.
*****
Dean went through and checked all the nailing and did some additional nailing here and there.
*****
Mr & Me loaded 3,500 pounds of concrete into the ol' pick-up truck and hauled it off.
I know!
Will it ever end?
*****
And...
we met with the truss maker!
I was so excited about this meeting. I kind of put the poor guy through the wringer, though.
I just had a lot of questions and had him draw up various possibilities on his computer.
He was very patient and I appreciated that.
And why shouldn't he be put through the wringer?
If he only knew what I've put my door guy and window guy through. He got off easy.
We told him we'd be ready for delivery in 3 1/2 weeks!
WOW!

Saturday

Saturday was big and, once again, I had underestimated the magnitude of what lie ahead.
So, when I went to rent the bull-float, trowel and 2 long handles, I asked for
only a four hour rental. I didn't return them til nine hours later.
We ordered concrete and filled in the basement floor voids and the pier footings.

 

We are so thankful for Luke, Terry, Michael and Dan, great brethren from our ward, and our good sons, Justin, Ry and Tannon that all showed up to help out. And I can't forget Tan's brothers, Jaren and Rennan, were there for us too. We couldn't have done it without these guys.

And after the concrete truck was done here at the Bungalow, it headed over to
Jo-Tan's for their back patio...

And here are the finish photos...

The pier footings.

The basement floor.

A few side notes:
We are holding up well in our little trailer.
The early morning temps have gotten down to the high 30's, but we stay nice and cozy with our little oil heater that we dug out of storage. The trailer has a furnace that works well, but the fan make for a lot of dust and is a bit too noisy for my liking. I prefer the oil heater. It's kind of like the old radiator heaters in old houses, but is small enough that it's not too much in the way.

I will tell you, though, that the mud gets to me.

With all the rain, we are surrounded by it and I admit that it's driving me a little nuts. The floor of our little gypsy dwelling is always dirty. I keep my flip-flops in ready position at the end of our bed in case I have to get up in the middle of the night. I can't bring myself to walk on this floor in bare feet or stocking feet, because as hard as I try, I cannot keep it clean.
*grumble*grumble*grumble*

Alrighty then.
I'm looking forward to this week's progress.
I'll tell ya all about it next week.
Thanks for stoppin' by.