Inspections

Here we are electrical rough-in, plumbing rough-in, framing, insulation, HVAC mechanical, Plumbing tub sets all these things are done and ready for inspection. It feels gooooood. The electrical inspector comes out, gives us a few tidbits to finish then signs off approved. There is an incredibly long and aggravating story about the main inspector (who will be doing our framing and HVAC inspections) but Ill sum it all to say that he is curt and condescending. He advises me at 9am that he is coming late in the afternoon, then shows up at 12pm and leaves a nasty gram saying that since the plumbing hadnt been done yet, he wont do the framing, HVAC inspections ASS! Anyway, plumbing guy comes out late and to make a long story short we gotta re-do all the drain plumbing (thank goodness the copper supply is all good). So, were doing well, dad cut out the drain plumbing today and well get back at it on Saturday. Worst part, I gotta get back on the roof. Even higher this time and there is no extra hole or valley roof to prop myself against. I gotta drill and its steep and scary. I think this time I will rig some type of safety rope I could really get hurt if I fall Not looking forward to this weekend ha ha!

Roof Day - Scary

I spent 2.5hrs on the wet roof Sunday morning. The roof is a 12/12 pitch laymans terms steep as shit. One hole for vent is already cut in. I have to increase the size of that one and then cut a whole new one in. I started with the hole saw which went freaking dull after cutting thru the shingles. I had to cut it with the Jig saw (I think that is what its called) I hate it, it vibrates a LOT and I just dont feel like using it. But I had to, and I did and I looked like Spiderman up there one foot in the already cut hole and the other one perched on the adjoining roof valley. Slippery, wet, scary SUNDAY The rest of the day was spent cleaning for inspections Tuesday.

It's Almost Time

Were completing the drain plumbing and its a bear. After a tough day of barely getting this stuff together its finally done. Time to test drain plumbing. Picture this... since we completely connected all drains to the septic, we had to plug the pipes. Dad grabs this shirt, puts it in a plastic bag and proceeds to shove it into the pipe (this was his bright idea on how to plug the pipes). It was working well, mom can almost see the water at toilet level pipes are almost full no leaks. All of a sudden, the pvc shudders quite strongly too, then whoosh yup, drains work, make-shift plug is on its way to the septic tank hee hee

Thar She Blows... Jets... Whatever, it's H2O!

Its time to test the water supply lines... major pressure. I did the supply lines, I sweated the pipes, now Im the one sweating. It's a week night and starting to lose sunlight... kinda has that eery "gettin' dark" look outside. My dad and I make sure everything is where it needs to be, then we turn on the water.

We're waiting for all the pipes to fill with H2O, just watching and listening.... I felt like Michael Myers was waiting up in the loft for me it was downright scary/suspenseful! So all looks good on the first floor, so I head to the loft yup everything is DRY awesome! Then I hear it... is that what I think it is? Yes, that's definitely WATER apparently with all the fittings I soldered I forgot one - Found two drippers on these tiny connectors -quick & easy fixes then all was good. Its dark by this time and Im traveling floor to floor with the shop lite, no leaks. All is good MM aint in the loft. Supply plumbing is a success!

Burn, Baby, Burn.... Not

Back at it, its coming together. A few months ago, I had someone come in and clear trees, 14 to be exact. These trees were pine trees and were precariously close to, what my daughter refers to as, our "work house". The trees are BIG, I hated to cut them down, but knew it would be a safety issue w/ storms and they had to come down. To add to the sourness of the situation, they left the trees in two piles. One pile was impressive in size, with large 20-foot sections of these TREES. Ok, long story short we're burning them and we'd already done the initial burn where the dried needles and tops really burned high and hot - yea, scary ha ha! Now were burning the logs down, we had it going fair with trash we'd thrown in there, but it was reduced to a smolder, and its 1:00pm. A neighbor calls in a complaint and the fire dept came out two fire trucks, lights flashing and all. I felt like an outlaw ha ha ha! They put out the fire - apparently because they are required to do so, and I got a lecture about having a burn permit. Now I have my burn permit you know I can burn anywhere in the State of Florida mwa ha ha ha ha

Finished Yet?

I feel like its been months since I wrote something down and now I have to remember too much stuff that happened. Lets go back, oh maybe 4 weeks. Its hot and its only 9am we're wrapping everything up: drain plumbing, framing (that seems to never end), just finishing all the things on the "To Do" list. Feeling pretty productive until I arrive at work Sunday to my dad informing me, he had to cut out my supply plumbing for him to run his drain plumbing. Ok, wait a minute. Yea. What? Whats up w/ that? Im happier with the product 2nd time around, so something good came of that ha ha! All we're trying to do, at this point, is get this thing to the point of inspections then transition to finish work after hiring my drywallers of course like I said, Im not lifting that stuff

High Heels Don't Make Good Hammers

sooooooo lets start this one off right. I head out in the sweltering florida heat to start another work day, one of many, they have become endless. "Today" - my dad states - "we're going to cut the holes in the main supply pipe so we can hook up the ducts. I'll do the first one and then you do the rest". Ok, I think to myself... this cant be that hard. That was my first mistake - assuming makes an ass out of u and me or in this case - just ME! So, dad proceeds to try to puncture the sheet metal with a screw driver, after about 5 times he figures that aint working - of course I was just sitting there wondering how many times he was going to try it before he made that realization ha ha! He finally abandones the screw driver for a drill - much more effective. Then he pulls out these rusty little snips... I'm thinking - WTF! He begins to snip away at the sheet metal, gets about halfway done then hands them over to me. "Here ya go!" then he adds... "it may be a little tough, these snips are 30 years old" Yea, whatever. After the 2nd hole, I bail to Lowes to buy new snips - come on, you cant build houses without tools and I learned long ago, high heels dont make good hammers! With my new snips in hand, I cut through the remaining metal like butter ahh to quote Langston Hughes - Life is Fine, Fine as Wine...
So we're getting ready to physically hang the main supply pipes in the rafters and dad realizes he put a wrong size collar on, he put an 8 where he needed a 9. Ok, so I make the worst mistake and laugh at him.... yea, come to find out, I messed up too! Aaaaagggh! "It's the heat", I cry and curse myself under my breath - that's what I get for laughing at him.
We're almost done with HVAC, and soon the county inspectors will come out and (hopefully) approve all our hard work so we can wrap this crazy shit up and hang drywall. I'm so ready to get to easier stuff... like tiling WOO HOO!
Oh yea, I go to the Doctor tomorrow to find out if that damn hammer broke my wrist - yea ha haha ha ha laugh all you want - karma is a beeeyatchGotta jet - PEACE OUT!

Ouch! That's Gonna Hurt

As I wrap up August, I realize 5 months have flown by and I'm within 3 months of completing this house! I took a couple days off from my "day job" and began installation of the HVAC ducting. If you ever plan to do this yourself, keep in mind that the tape will slice you like a hot knife in ice cream. OUCH, yes and everytime you will bleed like crazy. I think I have about 15 cuts on my hands and every time that darned tape got me I was thinking "man, that's going to hurt tomorrow" ha ha ha! I'm waiting on the "HVAC professional" to decipher what size supply and return mains are necessary (some crap that he's got to do with his numbers and measurements ha ha). This weekend will be full of finalizing the drain plumbing (yea, my dad has had a time with that, so I am trying to help him - the supply plumbing was my job and thats been done for weeks) and then some final framing to prepare for DRYWALL! The only hurdle in my way of drywall is the county inspectors - yea, GOVERNMENT! Of course, when I finish working on my new house, I come back to my townhouse and work for a few hours there, trying to get it ready to be sold. Can't wait for this weekend - going to hit a Blues hangout with some friends - YES, some social time WOO HOO! Gotta jet - PEACE OUT!

BACK to Work!

Here we are mid-August and where am I? Well... I took a week off to visit my brother and his family in Wisconsin - that was nice. I didn't work on the house for 2 weeks, which means I'm behind schedule ha ha! I finished the plumbing and most of the odds and ends framing for drywall. Getting ready to do HVAC - think I might take off a few days from my "day job" to bust this out and get it done! Once the system is in, I'm ready for my major inspections by the dreaded County Government... man, I hope they don't have any issues! I'm hoping to get drywall within a month, then after that - things should fly like fur in a cat fight! I was quite overwhelmed (to say the least) before I went to Wisconsin, but taking some time off I realized just how much work my dad and I have done. After a week of awesome, cooler, temperatures and doing nothing more than eating, lounging and a couple 2 mile runs - it was difficult to get back to this heat and major hard work. I did a 10 mile bike ride in 90 degree temps to get back in the "swing" of things ha ha! Had a slight mishap this first weekend back at it - I forgot to put my hammer in the hole at the top of the ladder (BIG LADDER) and it fell on me. Hit me on my collar bone and wrist. Both bled and hurt like heck! I almost cried - I can get away with it because I am a girl ha ha! I'm better now, but you can bet I wont make that mistake again! Well that's about it Gotta jet - Peace out!

Twists & Turns

Well, well, things always have a way of twisting and turning - leaving you confused and headed in a different direction than anticipated. It's been some time since my last blog - that's because I'm just barely hanging in there. Building is tough! When I started I wore a size 6 and now, I'm in a 2! But, enough of that... lets get caught up, shall we? Let's start with the changes from the last blog... finished framing my bathroom and closet, stairs are done - but changed... didn't do the fancy rounded landing thing (too much to deal with when it comes time to trim) Finished wiring my surround system (its going to be awesome). Finished insulation (UGH, that was nasty!) halfway done with plumbing (both supply - copper - and drain - PVC). I had to refer to some "web help" with sweating the copper pipes... I just didn't quite get it until I went online... then, I got it. So if you need help, the web is a wonderful tool http://www.remodelingmyspace.com/how-to-videos/plumbing-videos/how-to-solder-copper-pipe-video.htm We've decided to do the heating and air ourselves rather than hire a HVAC person... found a guy who is retired and is going to get us everything at wholesale and tell us what we need to do - should save major bucks! My contract with my townhouse fell through - first time buyer who had no clue what she was doing.... ended up wasting a lot of my time, but hey, that's life. I took it off the market temporarily because I am going to paint the exterior and since my deadline is more like October - I dont want to have to move in the with parents too soon ha ha! Had to rip out a triple window and re-do the header (guy who did it, didn't know what he was doing). Once we finish with the plumbing & HVAC we'll have the framing inspection and then DRYWALL! I'm excited, its moving along, but man it's hot out there! That's about it for now - gotta jet! PEACE OUT