House is painted!

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Finally a painted house! Still some touch-up work to do later, but it is, for the most part, painted.
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They put on the remainder of the exterior lights today (in areas that were awaiting painting). In this photo the paint and stucco look like a pretty good match, which it is. Sometimes they look a bit different - all depends on the lighting due to the difference in texture and "shine" between stucco and paint. The color came out just as we'd hoped.
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Home wiring being organized

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Well, phone and data connections are getting closer to being finished. Here is a shot of where we stand so far. I'm going to have to figure out where everything is going! Looks like he's doing a great job labelling everything, so it shouldn't be too difficult to follow. I think we still need a router in here somewhere....
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The water heaters have also been installed.
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http://tinyurl.com/2g8ze8
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And we are going to have to read the manual to figure out how to work this thing (heating and air conditioning control), I think. Actually, it is probably pretty easy to use once you start playing with it. Looks nice, though, and turns a nice blue (backlight) when you are making adjustments.
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http://tinyurl.com/263xad
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Back side of the house coming together

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OK, lots of things going on right now, which is good! The two back patio fans and all the lights have been installed, as have the downspouts.
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The two AC units have been installed as well.
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All the lights have been installed in the garage. The fire sprinkler system shutoff valve and pressure gauge is in the white box on the far wall.
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Central vacuum toe kick plates have been hooked up. Now we just need the cabinets. They are holding us up at the moment, unfortunately. I do need to do a lot of cleanup work this weekend to get rid of the garbage in the garage and clear out room for the cabinets to be stored and our belongings to wait for the move-in date.
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And last (but certainly not least) is the hope of electricity coming soon! SMUD has marked the power pole locations and called USA (Underground Service Alert) to check for utilities in the area. After the power pole is installed the phone company will use it for their service as well.
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Some green showing up

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Only major change yesterday was some of the house starting to turn green. Stucco color coat is going on, and they should be done in the next day or two. Painting comes next (for the siding), but it has been breezy here over the past couple days and that will need to die down first.
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The AC units should be going in this week as well. After painting is done, then the outside lights/electric plugs go on and the exterior is pretty much complete. I think he is going to install the water heaters this week, too.
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Moving along

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Can light covers are on (above) along with smoke detectors and most light fixtures (Master Bathroom below). One exception is the family room ceiling fan (above) - installation in progress....
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You can also see the sprinkler cover in the photo above (little white dome) - not bad at all.
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Also installed are most of the switches. Below is a light switch and fan control in a bathroom. Things are moving along - I expect that stucco color coat and exterior painting should be done soon. We are now looking at tile, tile, and more tile for the bathroom shower areas and the kitchen.
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Propane tank and concrete

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Our propane tank got installed today. It is next to the pump/water tank behind the garage.
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We brought over all the interior lighting fixtures this evening so they can start being installed tomorrow.
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Our builder also placed the last of the concrete today. Here is a shot of the sidewalk around the back of the house. You can see baling going on in the background. He's baling in what will soon be our backyard! Need to follow up on getting fencing quotes for the backyard fence.
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This is the other (last) concrete slab placed today. This is where the main AC unit and garbage cans will hide, so we are putting in a screen fence to shelter them from view. I need to cut those posts down to size and trim the vinyl fence panels to shorter lengths for the height fence we want.
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Garage doors on, interior painting almost done

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We didn't know the garage doors had arrived - the openers were installed, too! The doors are insulated and roll pretty easily.
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We went to Lowes today and got some vinyl fencing for around the location for the main AC unit (and probable garbage can location). I think the fencing will be installed on Tuesday during the last concrete pour.
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Sounds like our builder is getting tired of placing concrete and doing the concrete finish work (he's had knee surgery recently).
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We also picked up the doorbell and chime. OK, so we're cheezy - we got the one that plays like 65 different tunes. Sue us. :-)
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We are trying to find out who we want to install the vinyl back yard fencing.
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Interior painting is just about done. The main color for the interior is the tan "Sandcastle" color to the left and right and on the ceiling. This is the dining room area, where we wanted something a little bolder. Several other rooms are various colors as well, including all the bathrooms. Most of the crown molding has been painted (as it has been here). Windowsills have not been painted yet.
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Cabinets are to be delivered June 1 with installation to begin June 7. Our builder wants the light fixtures/fans there by Tuesday night so he can start installing them Wednesday morning.
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Painting soon, and more concrete on the way!

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A little morning sunshine on the front of the house.
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Painters were here today doing preparation work for painting, inside and out. Sounds like they are planning to be done by early next week. I think the stucco color coat should be finished soon, too.
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They excavated out the utility line for power and telephone today - well, most of the way. This trench makes a beeline for the wood post in the first picture after the turn (above). SMUD changed the power pole location so instead of a straight shot east to the road from the garage, we have to trench diagonally across the property to the SE corner. You can also see a small formed box to the left of the trench. It's going to be the location of the post lamp.
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They also excavated out the lines for water and propane from their respective tanks to the house. This trench is for the propane line. The propane tank is not installed yet - it will probably be located right where I am standing. The trench for the water line is just to the left of the water tank. That will also be the trench for electricity to the pump.
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The forms were set for some of the sidewalks around the house. this one will run along the front with some flower beds on either side of the entrance. Around the rest of the house it will be flush against the house foundation. I think they plan to get the front (east) and south sides finished tomorrow, along with a portion of the back patio along the garage. I think they will have much of the back (west) finished by Friday, with the north side done next week.
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New sliders, Sun Tunnels and shelves in

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Here is 1/2 the shelving in the master closet - my side. The closest bay (right side of photo) - on each of our sides - will be left open for our chest of drawers to be put in. My wife's side has more hanging space and fewer shelves. I have the feeling she will soon be taking over some of mine....
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Our builder got the sliding doors installed between the family and living room areas - we wanted the glass doors so the rooms wouldn't feel so "closed off" even when the doors were shut.
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The Velux 22" Sun Tunnel Skylights were also installed, well, the bottom portion anyways as the roof domes had been on for a while. This is the one in our son's bathroom. There is also one in the master closet.
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http://www.veluxusa.com/products/sunTunnels/TGF/
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We met with the tile guy today, ends up he went to the same church I did when I was a child. I knew he looked familiar. He still attends the same church. Anyways, we discussed some ideas with him and need to go look at tile to pick out what we want in the shower areas and as a backsplash in the kitchen.
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Doors are in, shelving in progress

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Looks a little nicer with the real front door installed.
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Most of the windowsills are now on - the inside is really starting to come together. You can see the temporary door is still sitting there next to the doorway.
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Some of the shelving in the closets has been installed as well. This is what the non-master bedrooms have in the closets. Lots of space for "stuff". Master closet and pantry are due up on Monday, I think.
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Better video link

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Someone pointed me in the direction of sendspace.com where you can upload large files for free. Here is the video the way it was meant to be seen:
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http://www.sendspace.com/file/75dkkg
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Trim going on and lights bulbs galore

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You can see that doors are being distributed throughout the house; several have been installed and others are going up today. Windowsills are also being installed. Crown molding will follow before too long, I think.
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This looks much better - septic system is covered and you can see the front of the house again. Wouldn't be surprised to see a little settlement in the area, as compaction usually isn't a strong point when backfilling these things. Shouldn't be a problem where it is located, though.
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Stopped by Home Depot this morning and bought the trim kits for all the recessed can lights in the house. They were low on supply, so they ordered what I needed and they should be in soon. Stopped by Lowes on the way home and bought a pole light for the front yard, floodlight fixtures for the house, and LOTS of light bulbs (incandescents and compact fluorescents). As Lowes only had about a dozen on hand, I need to go check Home Depot again to see if they have enough (23) 4-pin fluorescent lights for all the cans that require them. I want to get the same brand for all lights of a similar type, if possible, to match intensity and color ratings. I also need to swap out a ceiling fan. I thought we would like a certain fan in the den, but after looking at it again and giving it some thought, I want to put in something different instead.
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Materials delivered and a video for you

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Behind the empty boxes are stacks of crown molding, baseboard trim, windowsills, and doors. Door hardware is in the box to the left. Not sure if that is all of it though.
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I have put together a video of house construction (time-lapse type) based on camera shots from a window in my sister's house next door. Unfortunately, uploading to Google Video leads to the resolution being compromised as they downscale it severely. It looks pretty bad (compared to the original), but here it is nonetheless:
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4324399734433243583
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If I come up with a better way for you to see it in a higher resolution, I'll post it.
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We went out and bought just about all our exterior lights and all the ceiling fans today. That stuff adds up FAST!
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Stucco moving along

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The scratch coat is now being covered by the brown coat, soon to be followed by the color coat. Sounds like a Dr. Suess stucco book. :)
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The house doors have been delivered but we are not quite ready for them yet, so I think they will sit in the garage for a couple days.
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Garage doors got ordered yesterday. Not sure how long they take to get delivered, but it will be nice to get all the doors installed and be able to lock the place up.
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The painter needs to put the prep coat and we need to get the walls textured.
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I wonder if we should put crown molding in the high-ceilinged areas where the dormer windows are. I think it would look good. I'll have to talk with my wife about it.
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First coat of stucco is on

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The stucco guys have been hard at work and the first coat of stucco is on. They were back out there this morning for the next coat, I think.
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Front (east) and garage (north) sides of the house have siding; south and west sides have stucco.
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I'm pretty sure our builder should be back from vacation today. I'll try to check in with him later today.
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Sheetrock has been taped

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Sheetrock has been taped, but with the rain we are having today, all the joint compound is still soft and wet (hasn't had time to dry).

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Our builder is still on vacation for a couple days while all this is getting done/drying, so I'm pretty sure not much else will happen until the middle of the week.

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Spending more money

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It gets to be a habit about this time in construction. We bought the sinks for the master bathroom today and will be giving authorization for all the cabinets to be ordered tomorrow.
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Cabinets are going to be Kraftmaid:
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http://www.kraftmaid.com/
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We are going with "Polarcrest" White Laminate <http://tinyurl.com/34qs4j> in the kitchen with a Wedgewood Glaze "Brookfield" <http://tinyurl.com/2umjud> island for a little contrast. The master bath cabinets and face frames, dining room buffet, and family room built-ins and window seat will be "Belmont" in Bisque Glaze <http://tinyurl.com/3aln5m>. Remaining cabinets and face frames (bath 2 and laundry) will also be "Belmont" but in the Honey Spice finish.
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The only problem we had was that you cannot get a range hood in laminate through Kraftmaid, and other brand hoods you could order in laminate were at least twice as expensive. We are going to get a color-matched glossy white paint and paint an unfinished hood ourselves to try to match the laminate. The other option would be to get the hood in Wedgewood Glaze to match the island, but the better half didn't want to go that route.
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Flooring will come soon as well (Classic Wilsonart Flooring in "Treasure Wood") <http://tinyurl.com/2upq7q>, along with linoleum in the bath areas and cedar flooring in the master closet.
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Then it will be fans and light in the next week or two. The fun never ends!
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Ordering day, apparently

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Our builder will be ordering a bunch of stuff today, including doors, door hardware, shelving materials for the closets, crown molding, and maybe even cabinets.
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I think we are finally nailing down some color choices for some of the different rooms. Be nice to get that decided for good. If my count is correct, we have different colors for the main part of the house, the master bedroom, master bathroom, bath 2 (full bath), bath 3 (half bath), and probably the dining room. So we have six colors plus the trim color (Swiss Coffee). I can't believe all the funky names you can find for colors now.....
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We need to start buying light fixtures and fans.
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The sheetrock guys are not coming today - apparently there was a death in the family (cousin?) and today is the funeral.
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I did order one of these for the master shower light/fan this morning:
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http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/39_898_771
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It will be nice to be able to just hit the button and know the light/fan will turn off later in case we forget about it. All the bathroom fans are very quiet models (all 1.0 sones or less, I think).
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Septic system in, sheetrock about done

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I got a surprise when I got to the house this morning - the septic system had been installed! Because of the future location of the subgrade power and telephone lines, the builder wrapped the septic system to the south instead of going due east, as previously planned. This picture is looking north from the drywells to the septic tank. Only 3 drywells were required, but the connectors allow for up to 4 and we could put 4 in with the allowance our builder had put aside for this part of the project. Having 4 wells instead of 3 definitely cannot hurt.
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As you can see, all the sheetrock is just about installed. There are still some plugs/switches they have to cut out, but I think they will be taping as soon as tomorrow. And yes, they did finish off the last bit of the garage they had left bare.
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Most of the windows look almost like gun slits right now, as they have not trimmed the sheetrock back to the window frames yet.
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Most of the ceiling sheetrocked

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Almost all of the ceiling was sheetrocked yesterday - only one bedroom and a bathroom left undone. The corner of the garage that wasn't finished was still unfinished - not sure if there is a particular reason or not....
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The ceiling almost looks taller sheetrocked than not. Strange how that happens sometimes. Same thing when the floor slab was placed and framing hadn't begun - the house didn't look very big. After framing was complete it actually looked larger.
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I think I'll go down again tomorrow and see what it looks like first thing in the morning. My understanding is sheetrock will probably be finished by Friday and taping will begin.
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