I'll take a break in our project (trenches and footing holes drying out) to share something important. DO NOT MISS THIS. GO SEE IT ON OPENING WEEKEND. I'm not kidding. We were very fortunate and grateful to screen the movie at the Fox Theater this evening. Do your life and your marriage right ... get your tickets and go. Not married? Doesn't matter ... it's something we all need to hear. Especially in these times. Opens September 26th. DO NOT MISS OUT.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
What happens when ...?
What happens when you are skirted by a tropical storm that has moved inland and is sucking up moisture from the Gulf of Mexico? You get about four inches of rain.
What does four inches of rain in a short amount of time do to the ground? Yes, makes it softer. What does softer ground do to an inspector? Makes them frown. What does a frowning inspector do to a mason? I think it drives them to curse, particularly when the ground was rock solid when they dug out the trenches and footing holes to begin with. What does a cursing mason do to a good general contractor? Drives him to act.
What does a good general contractor do when he's driven to act? He pulls in a structural engineer to find out alternatives. He assesses the situation and determines if it is cost effective to delay the schedule a couple of days to let the trenches dry out before a reassessment from the structural engineer. He weighs out the benefits and the risks. He monitors the weather forecast. And then he communicates what's going on to the client.
What happens to a client when he has a good general contractor? He grins, knowing he made the right decision on his selection for the job.
=8^]
So ... now you know.
And as a side note ... what happens when fluid mysteriously pockets below your lung when you have not had any sickness? It feels like a heart attack. Just FYI. Never mess with those symptoms. Get it checked. Pronto. I mean it.
What does four inches of rain in a short amount of time do to the ground? Yes, makes it softer. What does softer ground do to an inspector? Makes them frown. What does a frowning inspector do to a mason? I think it drives them to curse, particularly when the ground was rock solid when they dug out the trenches and footing holes to begin with. What does a cursing mason do to a good general contractor? Drives him to act.
What does a good general contractor do when he's driven to act? He pulls in a structural engineer to find out alternatives. He assesses the situation and determines if it is cost effective to delay the schedule a couple of days to let the trenches dry out before a reassessment from the structural engineer. He weighs out the benefits and the risks. He monitors the weather forecast. And then he communicates what's going on to the client.
What happens to a client when he has a good general contractor? He grins, knowing he made the right decision on his selection for the job.
=8^]
So ... now you know.
And as a side note ... what happens when fluid mysteriously pockets below your lung when you have not had any sickness? It feels like a heart attack. Just FYI. Never mess with those symptoms. Get it checked. Pronto. I mean it.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
A new amusement ...
Six Flags is pleased to announce the unexpected opening of their newest park: White Water West Cobb.
Thrill to the dangers of Footings Flume, where you'll take a few drops around the dangerous rebar before landing in the murky Back Wall Gulch. Catch the Gulch on the west end, and you'll be over the embankment and floating down a Lazy River toward the wonderful view of Bovine Valley.
If excitement is not your thing ... try out our new Plastic Porch Playground, a slippery sliding area complete with three watering holes ... perfect for that quick plunge.
White Water West Cobb ... visit quick before it evaporates!
Thrill to the dangers of Footings Flume, where you'll take a few drops around the dangerous rebar before landing in the murky Back Wall Gulch. Catch the Gulch on the west end, and you'll be over the embankment and floating down a Lazy River toward the wonderful view of Bovine Valley.
If excitement is not your thing ... try out our new Plastic Porch Playground, a slippery sliding area complete with three watering holes ... perfect for that quick plunge.
White Water West Cobb ... visit quick before it evaporates!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Day 7 Update with Photos
Here's where we are as of 24 Aug 2008. Man, when things start, they get off to a bang!
The front porch stoop (concrete and posts) are gone. Amy called me at work and said, "Daddy, the front porch has disappeared!!" The roof is still there, but the ugly rotting posts are history.
The rear footings have been dug and trenched out. They will support the exterior walls and will be blocked up to hold the fill for the concrete slab.
When we were reading reviews of our contractor on Kudzu.com, so many folks noted how Todd and his crews keep the jobsite clean. Check out the photo of the old pavers that Todd and Chris pulled up ... they STACKED them.
We took Todd, Chris, their wives, and Lee (our HVAC guy) and Trudy, his wife and Veda's sister out to dinner Friday evening. It was nice to actually get to talk with them outside of the job and we're looking forward to the project progressing.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
We Demand a Shrubbery
Well, I think we're officially on Day 2! Veda called me yesterday morning and said, "Well, there's a tractor in the back yard." Perhaps a backhoe ... I didn't see it. What I did see when I got home yesterday was the absence of bushes! (No pun intended.)
Work continues on figuring out the front porch issue, but we're getting to an answer there. It's a minor glitch that will work out. This is why you find great people to work with ... they work WITH you. Did I tell you we had great people? They are OUR people. Call them up and use them if you can.
We bought the tile we were looking at for a while now ... and it had been further discounted at Home Depot Clearance Outlet! Gotta love a sale at a clearance outlet! It cemented our decision on the tile, and it's very nice. For you tile oficionados ... PEI rating of V. It's Brazilian tile, so the grading doesn't match ANSI standards, but it's First Quality and classified as LD, which is for commercial uses (heavy traffic) and all residential applications. It's about 1/3" thick (8.5mm) and we got it for a steal at 60¢/sq. ft. They were so heavy, we could only buy half of the amount we needed. Veda went back to buy the other 14 cases today so we could have tiles from the same batch for coloring.
http://picasaweb.google.com/commguy101/20080814Web
Work continues on figuring out the front porch issue, but we're getting to an answer there. It's a minor glitch that will work out. This is why you find great people to work with ... they work WITH you. Did I tell you we had great people? They are OUR people. Call them up and use them if you can.
We bought the tile we were looking at for a while now ... and it had been further discounted at Home Depot Clearance Outlet! Gotta love a sale at a clearance outlet! It cemented our decision on the tile, and it's very nice. For you tile oficionados ... PEI rating of V. It's Brazilian tile, so the grading doesn't match ANSI standards, but it's First Quality and classified as LD, which is for commercial uses (heavy traffic) and all residential applications. It's about 1/3" thick (8.5mm) and we got it for a steal at 60¢/sq. ft. They were so heavy, we could only buy half of the amount we needed. Veda went back to buy the other 14 cases today so we could have tiles from the same batch for coloring.
http://picasaweb.google.com/commguy101/20080814Web
Friday, August 15, 2008
Pulling up to the starting line
GC Todd called today and has our permits in hand. Woo-hoo! It was late in the day, so we'll probably start Monday.
Appraisal came through today ... much better than the computerized valuation. So that is a total relief.
Our front porch is morphing somewhat. The original drawings had the lower sill of the center window lined up with the sills of the bedroom windows, but in reality, it's about eight inches (or three bricks) lower than the others. That flattens out the gable of the front porch.
So we're reworking it somewhat. I even got into the act and digitally edited the preliminary design to see if we can keep the gable design, which we really fell in love with at the start. Hopefully it will all work out. We have a GREAT architect and a GREAT general contractor, so I think we're in the best hands.
Here are some photos of the house before the real work began!
Appraisal came through today ... much better than the computerized valuation. So that is a total relief.
Our front porch is morphing somewhat. The original drawings had the lower sill of the center window lined up with the sills of the bedroom windows, but in reality, it's about eight inches (or three bricks) lower than the others. That flattens out the gable of the front porch.
So we're reworking it somewhat. I even got into the act and digitally edited the preliminary design to see if we can keep the gable design, which we really fell in love with at the start. Hopefully it will all work out. We have a GREAT architect and a GREAT general contractor, so I think we're in the best hands.
Here are some photos of the house before the real work began!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
A New Day 1?
OK ... so Wednesday didn't pan out on the zoning, but GC Todd was relentless to chase them down, and we finally got word that our temporary permit was cleared today. So the project can begin!
This after GC Todd led me to believe they hadn't cleared us, because it meant they would have to start granting temporary permits for everyone. But fortunately he didn't hold on to that story for long and he let me off the hook. I told him I needed to go change my shorts, because what he had been saying meant the project would be held off until October.
What goes around, comes around.
You see ... I had it coming to me. I did the same thing to him when I called him to let him know they won the bid. I had texted him and asked him to call me, because I did not want to email what I needed to talk with him about. He called immediately, and for a brief minute, I talked as if we had gone with someone else, but finally gave in and told him the truth.
Touché. Point ... Hanlin. Tie game. This is going to be a FUN project. Stay tuned ...
This after GC Todd led me to believe they hadn't cleared us, because it meant they would have to start granting temporary permits for everyone. But fortunately he didn't hold on to that story for long and he let me off the hook. I told him I needed to go change my shorts, because what he had been saying meant the project would be held off until October.
What goes around, comes around.
You see ... I had it coming to me. I did the same thing to him when I called him to let him know they won the bid. I had texted him and asked him to call me, because I did not want to email what I needed to talk with him about. He called immediately, and for a brief minute, I talked as if we had gone with someone else, but finally gave in and told him the truth.
Touché. Point ... Hanlin. Tie game. This is going to be a FUN project. Stay tuned ...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
BIG Day
August 13th ... a big day for us.
- We should have an answer from the zoning commission as to whether or not we will get our temporary permits.
- The appraiser came by this morning to give us our current value for our equity financing.
- We're signing the contract. If all goes well, today will be considered Day 1!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
The Calm Before the Storm
OK ... we're in that quiet moment before everything starts. Eerie.
We completed our variance application and dropped all that paperwork off with GC Todd, who is coming back from his family vacation. We're in Gulf Shores for our family reunion and our short but sweet family vacation.
It's like taking a deep breath before diving in.
But it's going to be awesome. I just feel it. For those of you who would be so inclined (and even those of you who wouldn't), please be praying for our project, our contractor and our subs and their families, for safety during the project, and for sanity. AMEN.
We completed our variance application and dropped all that paperwork off with GC Todd, who is coming back from his family vacation. We're in Gulf Shores for our family reunion and our short but sweet family vacation.
It's like taking a deep breath before diving in.
But it's going to be awesome. I just feel it. For those of you who would be so inclined (and even those of you who wouldn't), please be praying for our project, our contractor and our subs and their families, for safety during the project, and for sanity. AMEN.
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