The House on the Hill.

The week started off on the wrong foot with the house failing the insulation inspection due to lack of draft blocking for the lower level soffits and lowered ceiling in the downstairs bathroom.

By the time I got a hold of the inspector and had the insulation contractor go back up the soonest I could get a re-inspection was last Thursday.

But it gets better.

A re-inspection costs $42 and it has to be paid before the re-inspection... and Fremont County does not take plastic over the phone. So I had to go down to the site on Thursday and wait with a check for the inspection which lasted about 5 minutes.

I was though able to take care of a couple of other items from the framing inspection; kickers on the exterior "balcony" stairway and the foaming of every hole in every top/bottom plate (fire) of the house.

This did create a scheduling dilemma, in that the sheetrocker's were to get the house last Monday (day we failed the inspection). So they were put off until last Friday, although their materials arrived on Monday.

The crew finished hanging the rock last night about 7pm. I apologize for the pictures, but there was allot of dust in the house.

There will be a nailing inspection of the sheetrock this week, before the mudding and plastering begins. I have my doubts on the garage because the screws are suppose to be 6" on center, which I told the crew twice. I measured them at 10". The exposed glulams may also fail, due to the fire rating for the garage, but I am going to see if they will pass before covering them with sheetrock.

Once we pass this inspection, there will be three remaining; final electric, final plumbing and the final county inspection for the Certificate of Occupancy.

Marlys and I spent most of the weekend painting the window trim and sealing the deck. I hope that these will be the last pictures with plastic covering the windows.

We didn't finish the top portion of the deck until a little before 4pm today, so there was no time to pull the plastic on any windows.

Next time we are up, which will not be for two weeks (longest stretch since digging the hole), we are going to paint the facia the same Essex green as the trim and finish the deck sealing.

Derek is coming home over the Labor Day weekend, so we will be sticking around Parker, as there are a number of items he/we need to get done before he heads back on Monday.

We are getting into the finishing stage, but there are a number of critical things that still need to happen outside, especially with Summer drawing to an end.

• Pitless adapter installed on the water well.
• Dig holes and install the water cistern and propane tank.
• Plumb and wire the well and cistern.
• Install the in house water pressure tank and pump.
• Pour the patio concrete.
• Install the stone to the lower 3' of the house exterior.
• Have the garage doors hung.
• Install the exterior door hardware and secure the house.

While this is going on, and in preparation for the kitchen installation, we need to tile and install the hardwood floor.

Then the trim carpentry can begin, hopefully by the end of September. The finish carpentry will entail the pine ceiling, interior doors and base and case install. Between now and then we need to finish all of the interior trim and doors, prior to installation.

Once that is complete, the electricians and plumbers will finish their installations and then finally the carpet is installed.

BTW: we are going to paint the barn to match the house...next Summer.