new build – Page 2 – Primm & Property

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Emily

Day 382

What do you think of our new furniture?!

Just kidding, we have a long way to go until it’s time for furniture.

We had a big inspection last week for the rough plumbing, HVAC, and framing. The inspector was cranky and came up with a list of things (several of which the builder and I have never heard of before) that need to be fixed before he’ll pass us. Still working on getting that completed.

In the meantime, we are bursting at the seams with insulation.

Progress continues on the exterior:

I am loving the paint color!

The black doors and shutters will add some much needed definition.

Less exciting but extremely necessary, they are putting in the septic system. I am not sure what all this entails and I don’t think I want to know. All I know is that the ugly orange fencing is gone and the open yard feels a million times better.

So much more open from the porch!

This will soon be a lovely, grassy field.

The cellar door is in! Getting close to being able to secure the house.

Perhaps most exciting of all in the last week, I selected our soapstone slabs for the kitchen and butler’s pantry. I am absolutely obsessed with them.

If you need me, I’ll be staring at pictures of my slabs.

Posted on October 10, 2020 by Emily · 2 Comments

Day 357

Greetings! Happy Fall.

It’s been nearly 3 weeks since my last post. The reason for this is partly because we’ve had a lot of other things going on, but it is largely due to the fact that not much has been happening at the house.

The plumber saga dragged on for several weeks (injuries, surgeries, no shows…excuses, excuses) which has set us back nearly a month in getting our rough inspections complete so we can move on to insulation and drywall. They did finally show up this week and are almost finished (hallelujah!).

Tubs are set and water lines have been run…

Though I was not shy in expressing my displeasure about the pace of the interior progress, I have been delighted by the exterior progress.

We have porch floors!

And siding is almost complete. I have submitted the exterior finish schedule to the builder in preparation for the painters to start in a few weeks – bye bye, yellow!

I am so excited about the screened porch, I can hardly stand it.

I am in love with my door and window trim. I could stare at it all day. And I plan to, once the screened porch is finished.

We’ve also had some good progress on the grading. The Chia Pet dirt mound has had quite a haircut…

…and has been transferred to the front of the house to smooth out the slope around the driveway.

We arrived last Saturday for a meeting with our builder and upon inspecting this, Josh insisted we make an emergency trip to the CO-OP to pick up more seed and erosion control mats for this section.

Lawn crew reporting for duty.

My dad came to help the next day. This is like an acre of dirt.

Grass is starting to come in on the hill by the garage we worked on a few weeks back.

Just for fun, one day when my dad and Josh were off chopping down trees on the other side of the property, I decided to test out parking in the garage with my dad’s giant truck. Kath was a good sport and rode the 37 feet from where the truck was parked in the driveway to the garage, and then she got out to help direct me so I didn’t crash into anything. It took a 27 point turn for me to get into the first bay. So, I’m thinking a) we need to widen the driveway and b) I will be parking in the second bay if I get a vehicle larger than my small SUV.

Next time, I intend to try this exercise with my current vehicle. Stay tuned for the results. Oh, and for house updates.

Posted on September 13, 2020 by Emily · 1 Comment

Day 331

Well, well, well…

We have a well!

I stopped by for a quick site visit this week and this was happening in the backyard.

It amazes me that they can do this all in one day.

Mostly because of what they charge for this.

Nonetheless, I am THRILLED that we have a well, and therefore, a water supply. We are waiting on the official report, but our builder told us that they were somewhere around 140 feet down and getting 15 gallons per minute.

Continuing the exciting infrastructure tour, Walt, our builder, is seen here pointing to where the propane tank will be buried behind the garage.

And, lastly, here is the electrical thinger. It will have a cover and we can plant some shrubs strategically to block it from view as you come up the driveway.

We’ve been watching Yellowstone, Longmire, and now Justified lately so I am really feeling my 10 gallon hat shadow in these photos.

In other news, we have exterior doors! Front door…

French doors from the living room to the screen porch. I have a thing for French doors so these make me especially happy.

Kitchen door to the screen porch.

I’m also obsessed with transoms. There will be many throughout the house.

OK, back to the exterior: John graded the hill by the garage and it looks approximately 1 million times better.

They also put in the gravel driveway up to the garage, which means, were there not a bunch of supplies and bathtubs in the garage, I could park in the garage!!!

I will be doing this the first chance I get.

Having the hill graded meant it was time to seed and straw. This was our project yesterday morning. Here is Barry (my dad) loading up the erosion control matting at the local Farmers Co-op. I predict we will be back here many times over the next few decades.

My Dad and Josh did a fine job getting all of the matting and straw in place.

My job was to spread the seed. The workers did not know what to make of this. One day, I show up in business casual attire and am telling people what to do. The next day, I am wearing yoga pants and a fedora, spreading grass seed.

I like to keep them guessing.

The masons are almost done with the first chimney.

And they have started on the second.

We REALLY need them to finish the chimneys so the roofers can finish the flashing and put on the roof.

My other order of business yesterday was to paint some samples for the exterior.

I LOVE this color. It’s Benjamin Moore “Limestone”.

The exterior is coming along. I can’t wait to see the whole thing painted!

Posted on August 18, 2020August 23, 2020 by Emily

Day 304

We are in the not so sexy stage called “rough in”. It is during this stage that they put in the guts of the house, which are critical for it to function, but not the most photogenic.

The electricians were placing all of the housings for lighting and putting in switch and outlet boxes. My electrical plan was so detailed that the electrician only had 3 questions for me. Not bad for several hundred components, if I do say so myself.

It is always my goal to leave absolutely NO room for interpretation when it comes to electrical plans. I’ve seen far too many switches *centered* on large walls across from the entrance to a room.

Not in my house.

Electrical panels boxes, easily accessible in the garage.

Slightly more exciting than the electrical, they’ve built the tub deck for the master tub.

I’m hoping they will enlarge the opening for the tub or the cat will be the only household member able to use it.

They’ve started on the roof as well…which will be super handy once they have it complete.

Handy because we arrived yesterday to check on things just in time for a torrential downpour. Conveniently, they had just dug the ditch for the electrical lines, which runs right across the middle of the property, between the house and the driveway and all the way around to the back of the garage.

We put Barry’s truck in 4 wheel drive and hoped for the best.

On the bright side, I got some good wide angle shots of the house as we slid through the mud all the way around the house.

The electrical ditch basically had the effect of a moat. So, now we know what that’s like in case we ever want one.

For now I think we’ll stick with fences to secure the perimeter.

Speaking of, my dad and Josh have almost finished the fence. It’s looking mighty fine!

Posted on August 5, 2020 by Emily

Day 290

Well things have improved slightly in the last week.

They have corrected the bulk of the framing issues and are tackling the final items.

The dining room chimney is FINALLY underway. I have asked about this 147 times because it’s such a critical element to the look of this side of the house.

Speaking of chimneys, they have framed out the fireplace walls inside – woohoo! This is in the dining room on the other side of the wall we were just looking at.

This is in the living room.

You’ll notice, we are missing the chimney here. A chimney had been built, but upon inspection of the measurements, it was not the right size.

The chimney is being rebuilt.

That’s all I will say about that.

Some good news: we can now walk down the basement stairs somewhat safely.

More good news: they’re almost finished moving the dirt for the driveway so we’ll actually be able to park in the garage.

There is still a lot of dirt to move. Our chia pet dirt pile is thriving in the backyard.

Meanwhile, in the front yard, Josh, my dad, and my brother-in-law were getting our 4 rail fence started.

I think the only reason they agreed to do this work themselves was so they could rent a skid steer.

If 2020 were a fence…

Don’t worry, they got it straightened out and set in concrete.

Looking much better!

Still a long way to go…

The guys also worked along our easement road, digging ditches to help with the water runoff issue so that there will be a road left by the time we’re ready to move in.

I’ve been recruited to help with the fence project next weekend. Please send help.

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Emily

Day 246

I think there has been more progress in the last week than in the last 8 months combined! I can barely keep up and I’ve been out there almost every day this week to check on things.

Yesterday, I stopped by during lunch and ate my salad as I watched them finishing the roof over the garage.

They were also starting on the mudroom/laundry roof that is one of my favorite features of the house.

They were even starting to put the wrap (might have a more official name?) on the house.

The second floor was almost completely framed. I stood where the bed will be in the master and looked out the window at what will be a peaceful view to the east.

(I very intentionally situated the master bedroom so our bed could face east and the sun can gently wake us as it rises.)

(I’m a nerd.)

I also had a moment in my closet (not pictured). By today’s standards, it’s not huge, but it will bring me joy to have all of my things in one place. It also brings me joy that my husband will have a separate closet that I need not set foot in. We have very different closet maintenance strategies. I will leave it at that.

While on the topic of things that bring me joy, this nook here at the back of the office will be Josh’s mancave. I’m very happy for him that he will have a mancave. I’m also happy that it’s as far away as possible from the rest of the house so I don’t mistake sounds from Josh’s movies/video games for an actual threat to our safety.

A little off-topic, but this is on our drive up to the property and it just makes my day every time I drive by it.

Headed out again today to see if the main roof is on!

Posted on June 7, 2020 by Emily

Day 232

Framing is supposed to start this week – woot!

I can hardly keep it together. I am SO excited.

They have rough graded up to the house (and covered up most of the ugly black waterproofing).

This will be a lovely patio one day, shaded from the western sun once the house is complete. Currently, without the shade, it feels like 137 degrees. Welcome to June in Tennessee.

The exterior access basement stairs are formed and ready to be poured along with the basement and garage slabs. Fingers crossed this will happen Monday or Tuesday because lumber is being delivered on Wednesday!

There is still a bit of work to do on the hill by the garage, but John was focusing on grading up to the house this week. Josh should be level with the garage where he is standing.

Screen Shot 2020-06-07 at 11.27.22 AM

In addition to grading around the house, John worked more on the driveway.

Screen Shot 2020-06-07 at 11.27.50 AM

We have over 200 videos documenting this process…

Still not 100%, but getting there.

Josh, assessing the situation. He says there is another 3-4 feet in elevation to be built up at the low spot.

I told him that’s what I thought, too.

(I actually have no idea exactly what this all is supposed to look like other than the layout. This is why Josh is in charge of exterior items.)

We took a new route from the property to my parents’ house and stumbled upon some of our future shopping options.

I have never been in a “Dirt Cheap” before but I am most curious as to what they offer.

I guess there’s only one way to find out…

Posted on May 9, 2020May 9, 2020 by Emily

Day 203

Just over 200 days in and there is cause for celebration!

We have footers, y’all!

The weather has been uncooperative, per usual, so after a lot of back and forth, they decided to dig the footers and pour them all in one day to beat the rain. Josh and I headed out to the property after work/meetings just in time to catch the last few minutes of pouring around 6PM.

I could not believe my eyes when I turned onto the easement road and saw this machinery as tall as a skyscraper!

OK…slightly taller than the trees.

This is some major equipment.

John, our earthwork guy, inspecting everything.

This looks like ancient ruins to me so I’m glad someone knows what’s going on.

I’ll be honest. When they said they were pouring the footers, I had no mental picture of what that was going to look like. I’m not even sure I would have gotten it right on multiple choice.

I might have guessed they would look more like big blobs or squares of concrete rather than a strange concrete maze.

Good thing I’m not in charge of this operation.

Josh is much more familiar with concrete pouring so he was eager to check it out and walk dangerously close to the edge of the wet concrete.

Here he is walking through the hall into the dining room. I’m imagining many lovely, leisurely meals in that room, soaking up the golden hour.

After those lovely meals, we can head out to the front porch to watch the sunset. This is where the front steps and porch will be.

This terrifyingly narrow and deep trench is for drainage. Josh is a major drainage nerd so he was delighted to see this.

I was less delighted, but still appreciative of the water mitigation planning.

I still can’t believe this is real.

2020 has been the most bizarre year of our lives. Though we have had sadness and challenges, we have so much to be thankful for. Building our forever home brings us a lot of joy in the process and in the hope of many happy times to come.

Posted on January 26, 2020 by Emily

Day 101

Greetings!

Well, the house isn’t done yet…or started for that matter.

We did, however, close on our construction loan. Our plans have been submitted for our construction permit and we’re hoping to get the green light this coming week.

Though there’s not much to see just yet, we still make regular visits to the property to check on it and collect the footage from the trail camera.

After reviewing last week’s footage, it seems we aren’t the only ones eagerly awaiting construction to start:

Screen Shot 2020-01-26 at 2.02.36 PM

Hiiiii….

Screen Shot 2020-01-26 at 2.05.13 PM This is the second time we have seen this truck. If there’s a next time, I’ll be running their plates and sending them a note with the blog URL.

This is also the second time we’ve seen this little guy/gal:

Screen Shot 2020-01-26 at 2.02.05 PM

The first time we saw him/her, Josh had reviewed the footage before I did. I asked him if there was anything noteworthy and our conversation went something like this:

J: “A few vehicles, a coyote, and a house cat.”

E: “A house cat?”

J: “Yeah, a house cat.”

E: “As opposed to what? A leopard? A lion? A bobcat? Isn’t it just a cat?”

J: “No, you can tell it’s a house cat.”

This went on for a while and we eventually determined that while I would categorize all domestic felines as “cats”, Josh grew up with farm cats that lived in the barn and did not come in the house so therefore just “cat” as a descriptor is a little too vague.

I am assuming this critter’s full figure is what led Josh to determine that it is clearly a “house cat”.

Hopefully by the time the house cat returns, construction will be underway!

P.S. This is not the first time the term “house cat” has come up in our marriage. When shopping for shampoo to bathe our (house) cat, Bu, all the pet store had was “show cat” shampoo. Josh rolled his eyes and exclaimed, “We don’t need “show cat” shampoo, we just need “house cat” shampoo!”.

Posted on December 29, 2019 by Emily

Day 66

Big development over here! Our future septic fields have been fenced off!

As Josh said, “This is really exciting to see something happening on the property.”

We took my parents and grandmother out to see this exciting progress last weekend.

Here’s my mom, Kath, inspecting the fence. She loved it.

We are now waiting for the county to inspect this septic field fence and give us our septic permit, after which we can then apply for our building permit. Fingers crossed!