The House that Jack Built
Posted on September 19, 2013 by
This has been a productive week starting with last weekend. We had 12 friends and family assisting on the three decks and front porch flooring. Thanks to Jim & Sandy, Skip, Bill & Carolyn, Debbie, Mike and Lisa, David and Kathleen, Lynn and Eric we were able to get everything 80% completed. We had a great time working together (and playing together) as we went! Thanks to you all !
The photos show the porches and decks. We have selected honorary names for them (See captions).
The bridge deck bridges the private master deck with the main public deck. We didn’t work on it at all.
The Family and Friends Front Porch was mainly constructed by just that-family members and their friends!
This Master BR, private deck we are calling the Koontz deck. Watching our good friends (plus Debbie!) who are both engineers disagree about dimensions was sorta fun! Sorta.
Now this is the Skipper deck. The largest of all, Skip designed it as he went! The part nearest the house will become the screened porch.
The front deck connected to the Skipper Deck. This faces the road.
By Monday, however, Jack was whipped and took it slower, but still did more wiring. On Wednesday, Southside Electric came and connected the POWER! We now have power to the main house but the connections are still being made.
Southside Electric at work.
Jack is more than half way through with wiring. And I must say, the electrician is a much happier camper than the plumber was!
Pro-Siding loves my selection of siding colors and I do too! I wanted to add color contrast to the Navajo Beige Hardie plank. Around the fixed windows, I selected a maple color Hardie plank. Charlie from ProSiding says he has never seen another house done I this way and that’s a good thing!
Maple siding accenting the stacked stone chimney.
I have drafted a final schedule of everything that needs to be completed before we can move in. Check it out! Note how many items have Jack’s name next to it.
If you are around and want to come over to have fun at Bedford Landings, let us know if any of these tasks fits your skill set! We always will feed ya lunch! It’s a tight timeframe but I am hopeful that Jack and the contractors will all miraculously be able to meet the deadlines and by turkey day, we can set the table indoors!
When I first met Jack nearly 10 years ago, he told how he built his own home. It reminded me of the nursery rhyme, “The House that Jack Built.” I am again reminded or how many of these verses are coming true with our new home. Let me illustrate with the last verse of the rhyme.
This is the farmer sowing his corn,
That kept the cock that crowed in the morn,
That waked the priest all shaven and shorn,
That married the man all tattered and torn (I don’t get that verse),
That kissed the maiden all forlorn (that would be me!),
That milked the cow with the crumpled horn,
That tossed the dog (poor Kramer!),
That worried the cat,
That killed the rat (well we haven’t actually trapped it yet!),
That ate the malt (we drink ours!)
That lay in the house that Jack built.
And if we can keep it lively, fun, and productive, we will indeed make it! Thanks to all the wonderful deckers!
We passed the plumbing inspection! Yeah! Small celebration!
This weekend, we have 13 friends descending on Bedford Landings to help put the decking floor around the exterior of the house. The siding is nearly complete and the siding crew will be installing gutters next week. This has been a busy week so photos to follow later!
By the way, we are hopeful that we can open for business sometime in December. Not until I see the drywall go in can we schedule everything else so stay tuned!
This week, I assembled a time capsule to put into the wall. I am not sure which wall put it in, and it’s not like there is going to be millions of dollars hidden in the walls; just this and that. Photo (minus my cell phone) shows that I included business cards, information about Bedford Landings, family photos, food labels, a record player stylus, a pedometer, etc.
I just hope that the RAT doesn’t carry off the time capsule! I set a mouse trap since I saw mouse droppings in a corner of the stairwell by the garage. Granted, the house is open and being such a fine house, if I were a rat, I would move in too, but there is not food in the house. Maybe it likes the glue in the trusses. But I loaded peanut butter on a trap and this monster ate the bait, but didn’t spring the trap. Then defiantly, left more droppings by the trap. I’ll get you “my pretty!”
Jack left Wednesday for Wisconsin to retrieve the plane which he abandoned after the Brown Recluse attacked him in July. That little plane will take 17 hours to get him back. He is watching the weather anticipating getting home this weekend.
This was taken in July by a friend who flew in his plane with Jack to Wisconsin.
Before he left, he had a surge of wiring work and framing. He and Steve framed out the ceilings in the Master bedroom and sunroom including the Tray Ceiling.
Pro-Siding (and Charlie English and happy crew) are working steadily along on the exterior this week. They are from Rocky Mount, VA and we sure like their work and attitude!
The color is Navajo Beige.
We have had a few calls wanting to make reservations and we appreciate your calling, but I hesitate to make any reservations in 2013. Once we start moving in, and get settled, though, we will be ready to open Bedford Landings! The we can all celebrate! Until next week, enjoy the lovely Fall weather!
Shout-outs to long-time friend, Susan and her sister’s family- Jennifer & Brice and daughters, Carter (age 11 or 12) and Clara (about age 3) who visited SML this week! They came over Monday night for burgers on the grill. Susan texted me to ask what they could contribute for dinner. Being the ever-vigilant “child-involvement mama,” I recalled Carter would be capable of making a simple dessert to bring. I texted Susan to suggest Carter make a dessert. Carter brought a lovely berry cobbler but Mama Jenn indicated that Clara did help with it! Then the lovely EIGHT-Year old, Clara asked why I just wanted Carter to bring the dessert; to which I responded, “because I thought you were still three years old!”
My point? Kids are great #1– but also they grow and change. We all do and so does our building project! Often the results are not as visible from the outside, but, inside, Jack has moved on to wiring! Yea! I will comment on plumbing once it is inspected.
Here are a few examples of this week’s changes:
Example 1.
This space someday will be the kitchen counter instead of a 2×4 catch-all shelf for tools.
Kitchen countertop to be.
This next photo was taken just a few months ago of the kitchen area…
and here it is today, a wiring masterpiece in progress!
Wiring completed for center island, laundry room and appliances.
All of the wiring has to travel down to the circuit breaker boxes.
Starting to fill up two boxes!
Indeed the siders (not spiders!) started today. They have gotten almost a whole end wall done and have started trimming the exterior of the windows. Maybe next week, there will be more to show. This is the basic color. But there will be a surprise accent color!
We have had our share of visitors again this week. We met neighbor, Joy and neighbors WC and DeeDee. But Clif lent a hand pulling wire! Thanks so much to our singing buddy!
Wiring in the study.
Last Sunday, I spent the whole day weeding the little median between ours and our neighbor’s house and planted a little garden. It’s a lovely view from the hangar porch of the Lil Garden! That’s mom’s Little Boy Blue watering the redbud!
And speaking of changes, I saw Mom this week. She continues to change! She was cold, so I took the opportunity to cuddle with her.
There may not be many more times to cuddle! So grab the moments while you can.
So…Clara’s not three anymore, Mom’s not brilliant and efficient any more, the house is ever changing, and life goes on!
Ciao, bella amici!
Sometimes a guy just needs some support. When I hear my sweet, tired builder saying “There is just so much to do” Or “this is taking longer than I thought,” then it is time for support. So we flew some in!
Bill’s RV-10, completed 2 years ago.
Shout outs to our friend. Bill who came to help Jack with the electrical wiring the past two days. He flew in his beautiful RV-10. It is the same kind of plane we have part way built that is in storage (we have 2 wings and the tail done plus we have the engine).
Their goal has been to get the electrical outlets done on all exterior walls. Jack has completed the outlets that are outside so the siding can commence. Siders PROMISE they will be here Monday with supplies and start work Wednesday. I will believe it when I see it!
To wire, there are many holes to be drilled and the electrical line has to be fished between outlets and back to the basement to the main electrical panel. The electrical panel did pass inspection this week, by the way!
Bill sawing a hole in the garage.
Jack fishing for the wire from below. This is the breakfast room
There is so much infrastructure under your walls at home! It seems that building “good foundation” takes the most time but very important! However, I am so ready to cover it all up with drywall!
Here is the Flying Room bathroom. Let’s cover it up and make walls!
Below is the staging area for the saw, the plumbing, and electrical parts. Someday this will be our sanctuary…the Master Bedroom!
The Master BR will have double doors and is right off the great room.
Poor Bill was our second injury on the worksite (the first injury). He somehow hit himself in the head with a saw. That could have been much worse than a bandaid. We put a hard hat on him after that!
Smilin’ despite the head wound.
But at least it wasn’t all work and no play. We work hard and play hard here! He and Jack enjoyed the hot tub first thing this morning!
Hot tub soothing old guys groaning muscles.
Thanks for the moral support, Bill!! We now carry on with this “electrifying” experience!