| The Process Cont. Page 29 |
| March 19, 2009 Day 1,283 |
We finally have heat in the breezeway and water in the garage. Paul hooked everything up for us on Tuesday.
Now I need to insulate the ceiling so that we are not just heating the outside. It is neat how the floor is warm. We
have never had radiant heat so it is a new experience for us. It will be interesting to see how it works next winter.
Tuesday I spent the morning caulking the trim work on the third floor and the afternoon at the accountants. A
mistake on her part from last year's taxes might end up delaying the progress to the addition as we now owe in
taxes what we had saved for the completion of the addition. On the bright side, not that there is one, is that her
mistake it will give me a little more time to finish Phase One as I will need to save money once again before we
can progress with this project. There always seems to be something. It will be so nice to finish Phase Two so we
can stop and take a breather for a while. While we love the project and the outcome, almost fours years of
constant work and expenses are starting to wear on us. Perhaps this was the worst part of her mistake delaying
the end of Phase Two, but like John Lennon said "life is what happens to you while you are busy making other
plans" and this project has been no different.
Now I need to insulate the ceiling so that we are not just heating the outside. It is neat how the floor is warm. We
have never had radiant heat so it is a new experience for us. It will be interesting to see how it works next winter.
Tuesday I spent the morning caulking the trim work on the third floor and the afternoon at the accountants. A
mistake on her part from last year's taxes might end up delaying the progress to the addition as we now owe in
taxes what we had saved for the completion of the addition. On the bright side, not that there is one, is that her
mistake it will give me a little more time to finish Phase One as I will need to save money once again before we
can progress with this project. There always seems to be something. It will be so nice to finish Phase Two so we
can stop and take a breather for a while. While we love the project and the outcome, almost fours years of
constant work and expenses are starting to wear on us. Perhaps this was the worst part of her mistake delaying
the end of Phase Two, but like John Lennon said "life is what happens to you while you are busy making other
plans" and this project has been no different.
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| March 25, 2009 Day 1,289 |
Last week was not a good week for the finance department. We of course had the tax incident which as stated by
my accountant was "totally her fault" but we still have to pay. Then we received a bill from Julien which was $3100
more than the contract price. Now to his defense he did do everything that was on the list but it was never
presented to us this way. Here is what happened. I was charged extra for running the radiant tubing, siding the
inside wall of the garage, running the drain line and widening the driveway. On the radiant tubing he said he could
minimal. On the drain I expected a charge but not $800. On the driveway he was leveling my driveway with his
tractor and said to me as I was walking by "do you want me to widen your driveway so it is as wide as the garage
car and as we walk by the wash bay and the recon guy is washing your new car I say would you like me to have
him Simonize your car for you? And when we deliver the car I hand you a bill for $399 because that is what we for
free. Had he said it will cost you $800 I would of said no. So we ended up splitting that cost. On the final charge I
had a conversation with him before he installed the wall board and I asked him if he had included the cost of
installing the wall board in his estimate, because it would be hard for him to install the door without the wall? He
said yes and I said I would prefer pine instead of plywood and I would pay the extra charge if there was any. He
said the pine would actually be cheaper so do not worry about it. So I did not, until I received that bill for over $700.
He agreed to drop that charge. I did not bother to get into the other two charges or the fact that he did not credit
me for work he never did like primer the railing which we did not want done. Any how his final words were that he
needs to make sure he gets everything in writing next time and my thoughts were next time he offers to do
something my first response should be how much are you going to charge me for doing it?. Either way we will most
likely not need him again. Legally I only had to pay him for what I signed and agreed to but I was not going to do
that to him as he has been a good guy to work with and we just had some lack of communication or as they said in
Slow Hand Luke "What we have here is a failure to communicate". Hopefully in the end Julien will realize we too
have been very good customers over the past years and I was being reasonable in my complaints. This is the first
billing issue we have had in three and a half years of this project so I guess I should consider myself lucky.
Yesterday I spent the day finishing the insulation and the room warmed up nicely. I strapped the ceiling for the
sheet rock and started to run the piping for the central vacuum. I plan on getting everything ready to be sheet
rocked and then I will go back and finish the painting in the main house. Once that is done hopefully we will have
saved enough money to get the placed sheet rocked. After that we can at least paint and get the electrical
hooked up. Then it will be just a matter of pecking away at the project as we save money. Once again best laid
plans of mice and men.
my accountant was "totally her fault" but we still have to pay. Then we received a bill from Julien which was $3100
more than the contract price. Now to his defense he did do everything that was on the list but it was never
presented to us this way. Here is what happened. I was charged extra for running the radiant tubing, siding the
inside wall of the garage, running the drain line and widening the driveway. On the radiant tubing he said he could
minimal. On the drain I expected a charge but not $800. On the driveway he was leveling my driveway with his
tractor and said to me as I was walking by "do you want me to widen your driveway so it is as wide as the garage
car and as we walk by the wash bay and the recon guy is washing your new car I say would you like me to have
him Simonize your car for you? And when we deliver the car I hand you a bill for $399 because that is what we for
free. Had he said it will cost you $800 I would of said no. So we ended up splitting that cost. On the final charge I
had a conversation with him before he installed the wall board and I asked him if he had included the cost of
installing the wall board in his estimate, because it would be hard for him to install the door without the wall? He
said yes and I said I would prefer pine instead of plywood and I would pay the extra charge if there was any. He
said the pine would actually be cheaper so do not worry about it. So I did not, until I received that bill for over $700.
He agreed to drop that charge. I did not bother to get into the other two charges or the fact that he did not credit
me for work he never did like primer the railing which we did not want done. Any how his final words were that he
needs to make sure he gets everything in writing next time and my thoughts were next time he offers to do
something my first response should be how much are you going to charge me for doing it?. Either way we will most
likely not need him again. Legally I only had to pay him for what I signed and agreed to but I was not going to do
that to him as he has been a good guy to work with and we just had some lack of communication or as they said in
Slow Hand Luke "What we have here is a failure to communicate". Hopefully in the end Julien will realize we too
have been very good customers over the past years and I was being reasonable in my complaints. This is the first
billing issue we have had in three and a half years of this project so I guess I should consider myself lucky.
Yesterday I spent the day finishing the insulation and the room warmed up nicely. I strapped the ceiling for the
sheet rock and started to run the piping for the central vacuum. I plan on getting everything ready to be sheet
rocked and then I will go back and finish the painting in the main house. Once that is done hopefully we will have
saved enough money to get the placed sheet rocked. After that we can at least paint and get the electrical
hooked up. Then it will be just a matter of pecking away at the project as we save money. Once again best laid
plans of mice and men.
| April 8, 2009 Day 1,303 |
Last Sunday I built some much needed steps from the outside into the front entrance of the breezeway. Yesterday I
was able to finish getting the breezeway ready for the sheet rocker. He is scheduled to start the week after Easter.
Once the sheet rock is done we will have the electrician finish up the electrical work all except for the lights we have
not purchased yet. Pattie has started to remove the old layers of paint of the antique medallion. She is hoping to
have this ready for the sheet rocker, but she still has a long way to go.
I went shopping for a price quote on siding yesterday as well and it will be a lot more than I planned unless I figured
the amount of siding I will need incorrectly. Looks like another delay. This project has cost a lot more than I first
calculated by about $12,000. So between all the other financial mishaps we have had along the way and under
estimating of the cost, this project will most definitely take longer to complete than originally figured.
I must admit that the addition is a lot bigger than I thought for some reason. When I was walking around the building
figuring out how much siding I will need, it came up to almost as much as I had used on the original house. Hard to
believe. Oh well I guess we will just have to keep chugging along on this project and be willing to accept that it will
take longer than planned to finish. Then again when doesn't it?
was able to finish getting the breezeway ready for the sheet rocker. He is scheduled to start the week after Easter.
Once the sheet rock is done we will have the electrician finish up the electrical work all except for the lights we have
not purchased yet. Pattie has started to remove the old layers of paint of the antique medallion. She is hoping to
have this ready for the sheet rocker, but she still has a long way to go.
I went shopping for a price quote on siding yesterday as well and it will be a lot more than I planned unless I figured
the amount of siding I will need incorrectly. Looks like another delay. This project has cost a lot more than I first
calculated by about $12,000. So between all the other financial mishaps we have had along the way and under
estimating of the cost, this project will most definitely take longer to complete than originally figured.
I must admit that the addition is a lot bigger than I thought for some reason. When I was walking around the building
figuring out how much siding I will need, it came up to almost as much as I had used on the original house. Hard to
believe. Oh well I guess we will just have to keep chugging along on this project and be willing to accept that it will
take longer than planned to finish. Then again when doesn't it?
| April 15, 2009 Day 1,310 |
Today the sheet rocker dropped off the sheet rock and by Saturday the room should have two coats of mud on it.
Hopefully Pattie will have cleaned the medallion up enough to have it installed. On Tuesday I was busy painting the
trim on the third floor and I am slowly getting there. However the good weather beckoned to me so I went outside
and started to rake the lawn. Sunday I have another day of painting planned but the nice weather may get the best
of me yet. We also have a new distraction for me to deal with, a 15 week old Golden Doodle puppy. His name is
Cooper and he is cute and fun and I am sure he will do his best to undo what I have done to the house. Below is a
picture of our newest family member.
Hopefully Pattie will have cleaned the medallion up enough to have it installed. On Tuesday I was busy painting the
trim on the third floor and I am slowly getting there. However the good weather beckoned to me so I went outside
and started to rake the lawn. Sunday I have another day of painting planned but the nice weather may get the best
of me yet. We also have a new distraction for me to deal with, a 15 week old Golden Doodle puppy. His name is
Cooper and he is cute and fun and I am sure he will do his best to undo what I have done to the house. Below is a
picture of our newest family member.
| Cooper and Me! |
| April 25, 2009 Day 1,320 |
The addition is moving slowly albeit it is moving. The walls are all mudded and sanded and this week the antique
plaster medallion will be secured to the ceiling and the room will be primed. We have decided on a brick floor since
we can no longer get the tile we originally had wanted. I think the brick will actually look better than the salitto tile so
as per usual everything always works out for the best. The only problem may be that the brick is not as thick as the
other tile so there may be a 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch gap between the floor and the door sill. I plan on looking into a
leveler for the floor which hopefully will bring up the floor height just enough. However I am sure it will be a while
before we move onto installing the floor. The next project once we have the cash will be the finish electrical work and
then I will start on the siding. I can order small amounts of siding at a time so this will allow me to work as the cash
flow allows. Of course as the weather warms up I will also be back at the landscaping and maintaining the lawn.
plaster medallion will be secured to the ceiling and the room will be primed. We have decided on a brick floor since
we can no longer get the tile we originally had wanted. I think the brick will actually look better than the salitto tile so
as per usual everything always works out for the best. The only problem may be that the brick is not as thick as the
other tile so there may be a 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch gap between the floor and the door sill. I plan on looking into a
leveler for the floor which hopefully will bring up the floor height just enough. However I am sure it will be a while
before we move onto installing the floor. The next project once we have the cash will be the finish electrical work and
then I will start on the siding. I can order small amounts of siding at a time so this will allow me to work as the cash
flow allows. Of course as the weather warms up I will also be back at the landscaping and maintaining the lawn.
| May 26, 2006 Day 1,351 |
It has been a month since my last update. My Mom had been in the hospital for open heart surgery and was there
for over two weeks. This obviously took precedent over the project here at Cross Point Farm. I know, hard to believe
but true :-)
We did get some work in even though and now that Mom is living here with us for a while I can watch her and still
work.
Since the last time I wrote, we have painted the breezeway, installed the trim work around the doors minus the
headers, built the bookcase for above the closet and other bookcase, installed all the lights except for three exterior
lights (which we do not have) and hooked up all the electrical outlets. Oh and I also installed our door bell. So now
when you arrive if you go to the breezeway door you can push the door bell and we will know you are there. This is
the first electric door bell we have ever had at any house that Pattie and I have owned. How weird is that. It must be
because we always have had old homes.
Also with the arrival of spring I have been busy cleaning up the yard, cutting the grass and spreading the mulch.
Last week we had gravel delivered for the driveway and this weekend I will spread out the gravel and level the
driveway.
I hope to finish the interior trim this month but June promises to be another busy month with my daughter graduating
from High School and us having to go to an College orientation for a couple of days. Once the interior trim is done I
will head outside and start on the siding. This is a job I am looking forward to.
for over two weeks. This obviously took precedent over the project here at Cross Point Farm. I know, hard to believe
but true :-)
We did get some work in even though and now that Mom is living here with us for a while I can watch her and still
work.
Since the last time I wrote, we have painted the breezeway, installed the trim work around the doors minus the
headers, built the bookcase for above the closet and other bookcase, installed all the lights except for three exterior
lights (which we do not have) and hooked up all the electrical outlets. Oh and I also installed our door bell. So now
when you arrive if you go to the breezeway door you can push the door bell and we will know you are there. This is
the first electric door bell we have ever had at any house that Pattie and I have owned. How weird is that. It must be
because we always have had old homes.
Also with the arrival of spring I have been busy cleaning up the yard, cutting the grass and spreading the mulch.
Last week we had gravel delivered for the driveway and this weekend I will spread out the gravel and level the
driveway.
I hope to finish the interior trim this month but June promises to be another busy month with my daughter graduating
from High School and us having to go to an College orientation for a couple of days. Once the interior trim is done I
will head outside and start on the siding. This is a job I am looking forward to.