Glad I'm Not Doing This Alone

Last week was a rough week.  Preston was on his first business trip since this project started and Terry left Wednesday for vacation with Carol and her family.  So I was left to handle all the little stresses.  We are also at a frustrating stage where many tasks have to come together. 

Friday, we got a lot of rain and that little puddle in the dining area I showed you in my last post was WAY bigger and my fear became reality ... the water ran down into the heat duct and into the furnace.  There was a puddle of water at the base of the furnace when I got home.  HVAC Steve pulled the doors off and dried things out with a towel and left it open to air dry.  Hopefully there is no permanent damage.

The builders had been pushing us to proceed with the insulation so they can keep the interior schedule going.  We have been adamant that there is to be no insulation until the roof is on.  So after this flood and apparently a few other minor leaks, the builder told me yesterday that we were right... the house isn't ready for insulation yet and they realize they should wait for the roof to be installed.  At least they were big enough to admit it, but it's scary none-the-less that we are paying them to be the professionals.

garage doors installed

Saturday, the garage door guy came and installed the garage doors.  They are beautiful!  There will black handles installed later.  The trim guy worked about a half day on Sunday and made a little more progress.  Monday, I worked from home so I could meet with the whole house vacuum guy to decide where the inlets for the hose would go.  I'm excited about having a w/h vacuum.  I've never had one, but everyone who has says they'll never be without one.  

pouring step from garage into the mudroom

finished step

I was surprised and excited when I heard a big truck coming across the front pasture just after lunch.  It was a cement truck!!  We weren't expecting that, so I ran out and watched as they poured the second step into the garage and then poured the posts for the decks.  It's the first time I was home for a cement pour.

pouring the posts for back deck

The builder thinks the trim will be done by Thursday or enough so that the painter can start caulking and paint early next week.  The stone trim that goes around the base of the house is scheduled to start next Monday and the roof will go on starting August 3rd.  I hear they can't get an ETA on the roofing material, so a little concerned there.  It was supposed to take 2-3 weeks and it's been 4. 

I was certain the cement truck was going to roll on its side down the hill

They also need to put felt paper over the exising IB-3 underlayment.  I alluded to a roofing issue a while back (the day the windows were installed).  Our architect apparently hadn't designed many (any?) homes with a metal roof, so he did some reseach on what underlayment should be used.  He specified an "ice guard" underlayment.  The builder told us later they questioned the use of that material and made some calls to the underlayment company who said as long as the metal manufacturer says it's ok, it is fine (although there website says it's not intended for use under metal roofs).  They called the roofing dealer who called the metal manufacturer and they said it "should" be fine.  We knew about none of this and still wouldn't if I hadn't accidentally stumbled onto some information that said you shouldn't use ice guard under metal roof because it doesn't breath, so it will trap moisture and cause the metal to rust. 

Since then, the builder has been trying to get something in writing from the metal manufacturer saying the metal warranty (45 years) won't be voided if we use the ice guard underlayment.  It has been several weeks and he doesn't have anything yet.  Regular felt paper is approved and so they seem to think it would be ok to put the felt paper over the ice guard rather than tear the ice guard off.  I still think there could be a moisture issue and warranty risk, but nobody else thinks it will be a problem.  So it looks like this is the direction we are going in.  I just feel like manufacturers hand out these unbelievable warranties (there is a 50! year warranty on the composite trim material ... really? more than metal?) and then when you file a claim, they just have to say it wasn't installed properly and you don't have a leg to stand on.  I just wish the builder had brought this to our attention when he was questioning it, so that we could have had some input to the decision. 

Meanwhile, the mud wasps apparently got their own occupancy permit and have moved into the basement (because there are no doors installed yet and there are big holes full of mud and water out back.)

So, Preston and I are running away this weekend to a bed & breakfast in southeast Indiana.  It is actually in the same town as the soapstone dealer, so it's a good excuse to make a weekend of it.  We might go up to Metamora, IN which is apparently a quaint little touristy town.