Glass!

We had some snow today, so it's a good thing that the tarps on the south side of the house have been replaced with windows!

In other news, we picked up half of our kitchen appliances.  We ordered the oven, dishwasher, and microwave in November in order to take advantage of some significant rebates.  In fact, the rebates will almost cover the cost of the hood for the cooktop. 

 

Notice Matt's Christmas present (I apologized for giving such a non-romantic gift, but he insists there is nothing more romantic than Bean boots.)

 

The roof on the garage is finally done!

We are getting ready to turn on the heat (no more oil, ever!)

And finally, notice anything exciting below? (look at the roof)

 

Closing In...

The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind of family, food, gifts, food, champagne, and food, that we've hardly even had time to think about the color of the tile for the master bath or to post an update on the house.   I actually had to go back and look at where we left off.  Right.  Windows. We got a roof!

Roof over the living room and porch

Installation of the roof is highly dependent on the weather, and cannot be done if there is wind.  So, there is roof on the house but as of a week ago, only a small part of the garage had roof.  That's not to say that the house is completely enclosed.  There are some vents on the roof that need to be finished, which resulted in:

Snow in the upstairs hall

 We got a garage door, which will be painted to match the siding in the spring.

The plumbing is roughed in:

Master Loo

We spent several hours deciding the location for outlets, switches, and light fixtures and were able to use "three-way" in a sentence without cracking up. Toward the end, we were distracted by the loss of feeling in our frozen toes, so hopefully we'll still be happy with the decisions we made.

 And finally, as we were leaving last Wednesday...

Living room windows!

But soft...

Well, we still don't have a roof, but we are assured that it is en route, and will arrive at the lumber yard tomorrow. It will be delivered to the site on Tuesday morning, and five guys will work all week to install it (assuming the snow does like NOAA has promised, and stays away.)  With any luck, the roof will be on by the end of the last class of the semester at Bates.

In the meantime, we have windows!

The inside view:

First floor, north side

Close up

Second floor office

Close up

Master bedroom

 

 

 

Second floor south side

Close up

And the outside view

Hopefully the tarps will soon be replaced by a wall of windows!

There are even windows in the garage and wood shop

The windows are by Serious, and the name is not a misnomer.  They are triple glazed, xenon filled, fiber glass windows.  Those of you familiar with insulating values will appreciate that they have an R-value of 7.5.  To put this in perspective windows must have an R-value of at least 3.3 to qualify as Energy Star.  And, in a recent meeting, one of the senior project managers from the physical plant at Bates told me that you can't buy windows with an R-value higher than 5 (I politely corrected him.)  Carol had originally specified aluminum windows by Arcadia, but Matt (who teaches thermodynamics) was not happy with their efficiency.  On a whim, we got a quote from Serious, and it came in only slightly higher than Arcadia.  Considering how much money we will save in the long run, it was well worth it.  We eventually found out Serious made a mistake with our quote, and gave us a 15% discount, so we really got a bargain (especially considering that their prices went up an additional 25% right after we ordered them.)  By the way, neither of us quite remember why we decided to put a huge picture window in the garage, but it will be tinted eventually so guests won't be able to see the mess in the garage.

It's going to be an exciting week. In addition to the roof, the garage door is supposed to arrive and the plumber will start roughing in the kitchen and bathrooms.  He will be followed by the electrician and propane guy. The first batch of siding arrives mid-month, and we are hoping to have the entire building enclosed by Christmas.

Turkeys

We've made it through 5/6 of the semester.  That's 10 lectures, 1 mid-term exam, 1 final paper, and 1 final exam left for Jen, and NEASC accreditation over for Matt.  Being a Dean seems like a good idea this time of year, doesn't it?

In the meantime, the turkeys at the roofing place were supposed to deliver the steel for our roof last week.  Looks like it will be next week.  In the mean time,  we have walls in the first floor:

View from the living room

The pantry

The mechanical room

Left to right: bathroom, stairwell, pantry kitchen

The mechanical room (another angle)

Guest bathroom and guest bedroom

And, the doors and windows were delivered. (the next post will show the windows installed, as long as the roofing turkeys deliver the roof)

Exterior doors

Big a$$ fixed windows for the south side

Sliding windows for the south side

"Small" ribbon windows for the north and upstairs

And, a shed was installed, all ready for the new roof, once the turkeys deliver it.

A good new home for our red Ranger

The canoe gets a new home too

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  We'll be spending a few days in Syracuse with Matt's family.   Regardless of the lack of roof, we have a lot to be thankful for.  We are very lucky to have jobs that we love (most of the time), family who support us, and great friends.  In a few months, we'll be able to show our appreciation with an open house (or seven.)

Wally World

We've made it into November, and through one of the worst weeks work-wise Matt has had in a while.  So, it was a nice break to spend a few hours at the new house on Saturday afternoon.  It is beginning to get chilly, but the house should be completely enclosed by the end of the month.  We had some very rainy days the week before last, which was a good opportunity for Dan to put his crew on some indoor work for another project, but that turned into a week of work instead of three days.  So, not much happened on our house until last week. On Tuesday, the concrete master returned to polish the first floor.  We don't have pictures, because although the floor feels much smoother, it looks very much the same.  He will return after the interior walls are installed to wax and polish the floor.

While Michael was working on the floor downstairs, the crew started working on the interior framing upstairs, which means we have the beginnings of walls!

Master Bedroom

Other Side of the Master Bedroom

Master Bath

Stairwell and Guest Bath (unframed on the left)

The current stairs (the actual stairs will be slightly more elegant)

Guest Bedroom

Dark and Dreary Storage Area

Matt and Dan in the Future Office

We also chose the color for the steel roof, and it will be delivered next Wednesday.  We'll hope for some calm days next week, since handling 3 x 44 foot pieces of steel on the roof in the wind would probably not meet OSHA standards.  Once the roof is on, they will be able to put in the windows and install the siding, which will mean the house will be completely enclosed. Until then, it would be nice if it doesn't snow.