Oct. 21st...central vac, insulation, and water line

I haven't posted in a while....but we've now got the central vacuum system roughed in . There is an attachment place in our bedroom... by the half bath (you can also see the hose in the kitchen that will attach to a kick plate under the cabinets)... and in the hall by Ty's bedroom. I don't have a picture of that, but here's a picture of the pipes in the garage where the canister will go. Some of the insulation is in. The rest is supposed to get blown in this week. This is a closeup of some in the garage. This is in the great room. You can get a better idea of the ceiling height and shape here. This shows the stairs that lead up to the second floor. (Or maybe I'm upstairs taking this picture looking down the stairs....I don't remember!) We've also got our water line dug and the pipe is laid. But, it rained a lot today, so I don't know what that did to the ditch. I guess we'll see this weekend when we get to go check out this week's progress! This is where the water line comes in to the house by Ty's bedroom. And this is a pic of it going down the hill... ...leading to the water meter. And this is the water meter covered in water before the rain started today. I can't imagine the amount of water in that ditch today!

I went shopping....

I was looking forward to spending the day with Ty and getting a little house shopping done last Saturday while Doyle went to see the Razorbacks play with his dad in the new Cowboys stadium in Texas. So, we headed to Ft. Smith and went to the plumbing shop that I had heard was good (J&B) and was disappointed to find it closed on weekends. Dang! So, I headed over to Home Depot (I usually don't shop there because of the whole "they put a dent in my truck and told me they were going to fix it and then lied about it and didn't" thing....) to see if they had anything different than Lowe's. So we walk in and they are having one of those kids clinics and they are building fire station banks. Obviously, we stopped and built one...here's some pictures. I also found some rustic lights that I like. Here's some pics of that. I also found the heating mat that goes under the tile in the bath. I'm not sure we are going to do that (especially since I didn't tell the electrician about it) because I'm not sure if we are going to tile the bathroom floor or just go with the stained concrete. I'm sure the shower will have to be tiled, but I haven't figured that part out yet.

October 10th...siding, porch ceiling, front door, and some oops...

We now have cedar siding up above the porch and it looks so good. It makes it feel so homey and like a cabin, and I love that! I can't wait to see it with the rock and front door. Speaking of the front door....do you see the huge hole in the front of the house with nothing in it? Well, I picked out a door that I absolutely loved, but wasn't sure I could find one for the right price. Well, I never did, but my wonderful builder, David, did! Yeah! So, here's a picture of it....and yes, it will have the clear glass. It is so simple and beautiful with the clear glass. Plus, it isn't like we have to worry much about privacy where we are! Oops! We've only had a couple of minor things happen so far. The first was the nick in the bathtub that I've already discussed. I tried taking a picture of it today, but it didn't even show up in the picture. The second one is this little accident on a window. I'm hoping that the tube of superglue sitting on the window isn't going to be the fix! I'm sure it won't be. Maybe they can replace the bottom part of the window or something like that.
The porches are now getting the decorative stripping to cover the seams of the wood. We are going to pick a stain for the wood soon. I looked at a book and pointed out what I liked and the guys are going to make some samples for us to look at. I may have found a couple of the samples while we were out there yesterday cleaning up. I really liked one of them and I think it was the one that was done with transmission fluid. I've heard about using this before and that it has great benefits. Have any of you used this or heard of this before? If so, leave me a comment! In fact, I'd love to get a comment from anyone!
I have also taken the brick sample that I like to David so that we can order our brick that we picked out. I'm still undecided on a rock. I thought I knew what I wanted, but then he showed me a picture of another company and I like it better than what I had picked out.
As for the inside...I think the plumbers, electricians, and heat/air subcontractors are finished for now. We are waiting on the central vacuum guy to come and rough in the vacuum system so that drywall can start. At least I think that is the only thing we are waiting on before drywall can start.

Oct. 6th...siding, heat and air, electric

So...the latest updates includes getting the electric finished, the heat and air is going in, and the siding is going up under the porches. Here's a picture of the siding going up on the front of the house under the porch. Right below the cedar siding will be rock. Here's a closer picture of the front porch:Here's a picture of the back porch:The materials for the heating and air was delivered on Friday. I don't know if you can see it very well in the picture, but the heat/air unit is in place and they have started putting in duct work and vents. I was happy to see that they put a vent in our master closet so that our clothes won't get stinky from lack of air circulation. They still have to install the vents/duct work in a few areas. Here's a random picture of a vent in the ceiling by a can light.