The Pieces Are Coming Together

As I sit here contemplating my navel, waiting for Barbara to retire....

I thought I would go over the last year, mostly subsequent to the entries for the construction in Englewood. Most of my time was indeed married to the construction, and Barbara was working, working, working.

We took three major trips between the beginning of 2009 and today, all in the truck. We went to the east coast and visited with much of Barbara's family, while we packed and hauled items from her parent's estate to New Mexico. Then we went to the west coast to see Trudy, Cami and, for the first time, Gabe & Alina - Tru's grands. From there it was up to Vancouver to see Brian and Michelle's family and to look at the housing market in the northwest.

Then it was all work until Christmas, when we went back to the northwest to spend Christmas with Brian's family and buy a house if one was available that we wanted. Fortunately for us there was, and we made an offer which was accepted. In January, I returned to sign the papers and move our stuff out of storage, so all we have to do now is bail out of Crownpoint and complete our move.

So sometime between March 15th and the 22nd we are outta here, and the next chapter begins. We are lining up some kid and dog sitting in June for Colorado, and going to Scotland in July for the first of what we hope will be many trips as tourists. I will definitely post a report of our Scotland tour.

John

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2008

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2007

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2006

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2005

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2004

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2003

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2002

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2001

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

2000

A Decade of "The Adams PI"

1999

Need a Builder For Your Home Project?

Well folks, you've all been on the edges of your seats watching us complete our home remodel project. After all that has been said and done, I can recommend to you the following: if you are in the Denver area and in need of a contractor for your home improvement project, I WOULD NOT USE AR BUILDERS. My opinion is that they are terrible communicators who show far too little concern for the needs or the safety of their clients and consistently shift the responsibilities of their job to either A.) their client or B.) their subcontractors. In my opinion, they have done far too much to avoid actually managing the work. Additionally, they seem to create opportunities to produce unnecessary time constraints in order to pressure their clients into commitments and decisions. Lastly, to me, they are unacceptably unresponsive. We ended up reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. There's my consumer opinion!

The Floors are Finished!

We are just about ready for our final inspection! John finished the large task of installing the wood floors for the addition and Brendan installed the wood on the stairs. The banister is up on the stairs. It just needs some stain at some point. The kitchen is complete and all of the appliances are hooked up. They are both working on trim throughout the house - a large task that takes time and patience!

Counters and fences...it's looking good!

The long awaited granite tops were delivered and installed today. The first two pictures are the bar area in the dining room followed by John and Barbara's kitchen counters and then their bathroom "grotto." Now we just have to get the faucets in and hooked up and we are good to go. After 4 months of a relatively open back yard, Jameson is nice and secure with the new section of fence up. Of course now that he can relax outside in the sun without running away, he would rather nap on the couch. Go figure!

Goodbye Fred...

We said goodbye to Fred the shed today. It served us well and let us put a ton of things in him. We are very excited to see the backyard again. Got grass anyone?

Bet You Thought We Were Done...

Well, the answer is no. However, we are really on our way. The tile is done on the main floor as well as all the areas in the bathrooms. John has worked a tremendous amount on his kitchen cabinets and will have them up and ready for appliances by early this week. We also painted and painted and painted. John did most of the ceilings while Barbara and Meg worked on the walls. The great room is just about finished. It is "Svelte Sage" and ready for trim and crown molding. All the furniture is in and Brendan has the speakers throughout the house dialed in with a remote that he can use anywhere (we call it 'Tim Rainwater' style ; )). While we are tired and achy, we are loving the progress and excited for the next week. We expect the plumber and HVAC guys to finish complete their jobs as well as completing a dry wall punch list. We also plan to empty "Fred" our nice trailer that has held everything in our backyard since April. Once Fred is empty we will move dirt and get him hauled away. After that, you all have to come and help us landscape and move in. Sounds like fun, right???

Looking at the pictures, there are two views of the house, one of the shower tile in the boys bathroom upstairs, John and Barbara's bath tile, the main floor bathroom tile, John and Barbara's kitchen cabinets (some of the uppers are not hung yet), and then 3 pictures of the great room as you pan to the left from the fireplace.

Special Posting for Garret and Owen

Well, your Daddy and I worked very hard over the last 4 days, and I have some things to show you. First is your bathroom, without the shower walls and then with them. Also Grammy and Papa's floor with the tub and shower walls.

We finished the floor of the family room and the dining room. First is the dining room when we started to do it, then when it was finished. Then there is a picture of the family room. There sure is a lot of room to play in there!!

Here is another picture of the family room, then we want you to know that Jameson is still interested in only one thing -- bunnies in the front yard. Grammy arrives today, and we can't wait to see you!

Love,
Papa

Contractor Finishing, Wood Floors Starting

Tomorrow the contractor will finish tape and texture, and primer painting will be done Monday. This will complete his contract except for the odds and ends that must be done to finalize. The tile installer has put the tile on the floor in the addition, and is lining the shower area, which is shown below, along with the great room, ready for texture. We moved the appliances back into the kitchen, along with the table, and they all needed serious cleaning.

We started the wood floor in Brendan and Megan's family room today, and it looks wonderful, if I do say so myself. From a production standpoint, we did about 30 sq ft per hour, and got 2/3 of the room done. Tomorrow we will finish it and perhaps finish the dining room. Sunday we will finish the floor if necessary, them move kitchen cabinets from storage to the great room in the addition.

Brick, Wallboard, Tile Well, Good Morning! We are seeing some dramatic changes. The brick is done, and we only have to get their extra materials and sandpile removed. The column bases look really nice, and the new brick will eventually be treated with steam cleaning and a preservative.

This is a before and after of the old, coverted garage, and it is being mudded and textured. The bathroom to the left in the middle picture will be tiled as soon as the walls are finished, which should be today. The bathroom for the addition (on the right) will get the wire lath filled, and tile should go on this week. Also, tile went down today on the boys' bathroom upstairs.

Finally, these are two shots of the addition's great room on one of the new garage. Brendan and I will be putting down wood floors this week, and the complete heat pump system should be operational by the end of the week, too.

More Sea World

Our meet n greet with Sandy. Shannon made our day so memorable. It made the boys' list of "Best Of" for them!

Meg and the Boys in CA

The boys and I came to Nana's house last Saturday for an extended visit and to get away from the the major messes on the addition and remodel. We ate at Gladstones on the way home which proceeded to make Owen throw up all night and Garret feel sick. At least they both got really cool foil sea creatures to take their left overs home in. Welcome to vacation!
In the first week we went to a birthday party, spent 3 days in San Diego, visited Sea World and got up close and personal with the dolphins, spent a day at the beach and an afternoon with Kari and John in Long Beach. We are now enjoying a quiet day back at Nana's.

Last Brick Standing - Tiling Started

This is how the house looked after prepping to walls for brick facia.

Today the brick will be finished, essentially completing all of the exterior except for things like downspouts and a little sidewalk demo. As the grout dries and lightens in color, we are hoping for a closer match to the existing. We may put a preservative on the new in order to darken the brick a bit. But it looks great, and after the last lift is added to complete the stairway section, I'll get a picture of the finished product.

Tiling started yesterday. Brendan and I put the metal lath down for Burt (the tile artiste) to fill with a preparatory compound,

then he laid tile in the kitchen area and entry way. It is dirty, but beautiful.

The wallboarders are now feeling the pressure to keep ahead of him, hence the Saturday work. We couldn't be more pleased that they are feeling pushed.

Insulate, Insulate, Dance to the Music

So I'll post a couple today to catch up. Insulating was an experience. We blew cellulose into the walls. What didn't stick was vacuumed up and sent back to the truck to try again.

After all the cavities were filled, they scraped and smoothed the remainder to make it flush with the wall. We put cellulose on all the exterior walls, creating a very tight enclosure, then put batt insulation in the overhead and the interior walls.

Now we are beyond that, and most of the wallboard is up. It is Saturday, and they are filling and taping wallboard as I am writing this.

The Big Mess

As soon as I figure out how to get pictures off my camera, I'll post some, but the painting is done and the garage doors are the color of the trim. Insulation was 90% done yesterday, and wallboard starts today. They have started on the exterior brick, and interior demolition of the flooring in the existing house starts today. The insulation in the walls is a blown-on cellulose, which entirely fills the cavities between the studs. It looked like a major dust storm during installation, but it is incredibly tight sound deadening. Daily cleanup will be necessary, but almost futile. More later.
John

The trim goes on.

The painters moved right along today - until the massive thunder storm drove them to the new garage. We also passed the HVAC inspection, had more electrical completed, the insulation guys foamed up all the holes, and we tried to pass the electrical inspection. We corrected all of his from yesterday and got his new list of things to fix.

We've got the big doors and color!

The garage doors came yesterday. We can't use the openers yet. We need to get the outlets connected, but we can park in there and get away from hail and tornadoes!

They are also painting the house, adding the trim detail to the pillars on the front porch (brick will go on the bottom), and putting in smoke detectors throughout the existing house. We had the electrical and plumbing inspections yesterday. We didn't fare as well as Garret did in Kindergarten, but the changes aren't too big of a deal and should be taken care of in the next few days.

We are Plugged In... Almost

The electricians and plumbers have worked hard this week and we almost have power to the new spaces. They just need to finish tying in the new board to the old one and then we will have our electrical inspection on Monday. That means Brendan needs to pull or replace the speaker wire this weekend that he and John put in because it is not the right kind for the inspection. The garage doors should go in tomorrow and the painting crew starts early next week. Speaking of paint - (that's all we've been speaking about), we have a new color - High Tea from Sherwin Williams. It is a little green and a little brown. It really makes the Peppercorn look blue green which we didn't like. We are excited by it and look forward to seeing it on the house.

The Siding is finished!

Here is the front of the house with the siding finished. Does this help visualize one of the colors more than the other?

Paint - We are working on options!

OK - so the greenish color is Peppercorn and the lighter brown is Thatch. We had Peppercorn yesterday along with a grey blue that got nixed. We drove around town today looking at a bunch of houses and found an almost exact match for the green with a tan/khaki trim. It looked really good. Not too dark, but enough color for us. The lighter brown is new but we think we like it as well. It would have a sort of similar trim. We also like this darker brown for the bit of shingle detail we have around the house. I am not a good paint picker - my brain can't see the entire house from a few feet of paint. I'm nervous! Regardless you have to at least promise to love it (even if you don't) once it is done! HA!

We've got a driveway!

We got our new driveway on Friday and the siding was completed on Saturday. Big progress We also had DirecTV come out and relocate the dish and wire for the addition and new great room. Surprisingly enough, getting them here and to do their job might turn out to be the hardest part of the project. I was relentless on the phone Saturday morning and eventually two very nice guys came and spent the better part of the day with Brendan. We are excited for the progress!

Friday Frenzy

We had quite a bit of action up on the house Friday. The roofing crew replaced our old shingles and shingled the new space all in one day. The siding crew was here at the same time so they danced around each other and managed to get quite a bit completed. The framing is finished, so now the electrician and plumber go to town as well as the HVAC guys, exterior painters, and brick layers. The siding crew is working today and then everyone is off until Tuesday. It's going to seem quiet around here.

One More Thing...

Brendan didn't have enough on his plate this week, so I suggested just a small project. HA! The boys' tub has been leaking for months. We knew this and pretty much have them take a shower or now bath in our room. We ordered a new shawer pan for their bathroom with our entire plumbing order and it came in yesterday. So, I thought he and John could just remove the tub and get ready for the shower, or better yet, get it ready for removal and let some of the crew get the cast iron tub out. The "small" project" began after dinner last night. Brendan hacked away at the existing tile and managed to get the tub loose. But instead of leaving it for the crew today, he and John got it outside and into the dumpster. Way to go! Yes, that hole goes right outside... we like to feel nature!

Out half bathroom went away yesterday as well. Good riddance!

The new roofing materials took a ride up this afternoon...

The windows are going in as they get to that area with the siding. John and Barbara have a really large unique window in their great room that mimics the shape of their ceiling.

Making Progress

The progress continues. The siding is wrapping its way around the house, the interior framing is going up, the opening from the existing to the new was revealed. Today the windows get here and go in as well as some HVAC things. Garret is excited that he will have cool air in his room once again. Tom is tearing out the main floor bathroom as we speak while Jameson cowers under my feet and Owen nibbles on some apples dipped in peanut butter. He doesn't find it necessary to watch these exciting things anymore.

Pictures: 1. front of the house 2. new garage is framed 3. opening from existing to new 4. pantry is getting framed 5. upstairs closet

WOW!

It's framed, we have stairs and the siding is started. Take a look... Maybe we need to go away for a few days more often.

From the picture of the stairs going into the house from the garage, you see the mud room into the craft room - it will be two separate rooms soon, then the boys in John and Barbara's great room window and finally their kitchen and great room.

Thursday Monrning - Moving right along...

As we loaded the car to drive down to Albuquerque, Tom was checking with Brendan on some siding decisions that to me seemed far off. Apperently they are happening today and tomorrow. He thinks the stairs to the upstairs addition with be in on Saturday as well as enclosing the second story and starting on the siding on the front of the house. We are excited to see the changes. Here are some pictures from Thursday morning. My Dad has been the trusty photographer as well as the electrician, clean up crew, and gerenral manager for us. We will miss him tremendously but he promises to get back up soon. John will take over next week. We will have to let him know that Tom likes chocolate - lots of it, and that the framing crew enjoys some Coronnas on Friday afternoon.

Late Nights - Lots of Progress

So I went down to the basement for a few hours yesterday afternoon and when I came up we had a second story! It is quickly coming together and we are excited to see all the progress. Today should bring some more warm weather, but it is really windy. I think I will pretend not to see all the dust - at least for today...

Tuesday - what will get done today?

So, we thought we found the perfect brick only to be told that it cost twice as much and won't be available when we need it. Plan B - call in the professionals. Brendan's friend and former coworker, Elizabeth, who just happens to be a designer made an appearance today and gave us some great advice on brick selection. She is also working on some exterior paint choices and promises to make us happy. Thank you, Elizabeth.

As for the framing and siding, WOW! They really cranked it out today. Our second story is enclosed on one side, the siding is off on part of the existing house and they started putting up the plastic housewrap on the front. It is going to be surreal to not see the progress for a few days. We will return to game of "what's different in this picture?"

Monday evening framing

The framers continue to amaze us at their hard work and the amount they accomplish each day!

More Big Beams Today - And A Crane

Capitol Crane made an appreance today and placed several beams in the new garage space. The crane operator was dead on in his placement.

More crane work. They were able to move the mess of lumber from yesterday, so Tom is happy.

Monday May 11th

Our big window from the dining room went away today. It actually went all the way around the corner to a wall in the old garage space. We also had a huge load of lumber delivered...sort of. The tilt of the flat bed onto an angle in the yard didn't pan out so well. We ended up with a hugepile of mess. Needless to say, Tom the foreman was not pleased!

After last Friday's delivery of moldy wood, we thought we better let the resident expert check this load. He approved.

The new garage saw some huge progress. Garret and Owen know where the doors will go now and can't wait to see more!

We've Got a Garage Slab!

We left to run some errands and when we returned we had a slab poured. Brendan made it official with our initials. We also put Jameson's initials along with a paw print. J seems to be happy with the progress.



They were able to get a few posts up for the first floor framing on the addition by the end of today. They also tore the ceiling out of the old dining room and living room. Tom thinks that by Tuesday it will be framed, the roof cut away and the floor laid so that we won't see the sky from the old dining room. All in all, it was a good week with an exciting amount of progress. Now if we could just find some matching brick and the perfect exterior paint color...

Beam Us Up!

The large beam that goes between the old garage and the family room went up without too much trouble. This was a big question mark early in the design but Tom, our foreman made it look easy, thanks to his knowledge and great crew.

Wednesday is Full of Action

Today we are tearing out the wall between the old garage and the family room, back filling into the new garage space and old driveway, compacting all the backfill dirt, and building temporary walls in the family room and old living and dining area ... Our huge dirt mountains are quickly becoming small hills. We even talked the driver into taking a "bucket" full of dirt up to our friend's house to fill in an old sink hole. Jameson can't figure out where to go so he's hiding under the computer desk nervously tooting (I know too much info) and Owen staked his spot in the basement and is watching Dora the Explorer to work on his spanish.

Tuesday = Go Time!

Goodbye Garage - Hello Subfloor for the greatroom!

Installing the insulation for the new space.

Who said Saturday was for resting?

Saturday, 6:53 AM - The crew was here, bundled up and ready to work. It's cold and damp today but they are cranking it out and making a bunch of noise. The neighbors gotta love us!