The past few days have been the source of high drama and low humor around here. The person who was doing the site preparation (dirt work) came back the next day and dug a trench that is around 130' long, 24" wide, and 24"deep so we would be able to run the water and electric lines to the building site. I just spoke with the NEW site engineer (the old one apparently quit) and found out that they can't put the water and electric in the same trench, even if they are both in separate enclosing PVC pipe channels. I wish someone had mentioned that a couple of hundred dollars ago!
The foundation was dug and the concrete poured for the foundation this afternoon. When I arrived home from work after a hard day grading freshman comp analysis, research, argument, and literary evaluations I found a cement truck stuck in my yard up to its rear axles. This was not as amusing as it sounds. I now have to go out in my yard and pick up a couple of wheelbarrows full of gravel from where they sent yet ANOTHER cement truck to drag the first one out of the hole it had created and they needed traction to do so.
The sub-lieutenant for the site supervisor showed up a few minutes ago and apparently HE will be the one actually supervising the work crews...and they're all from Arkansas, not Tulsa, where we wrote the contracts and signed the deal. The house, however, has to meet Tulsa building codes...many of which don't exist out here on the river. So, I have to have someone come in and trench twice more. Once for the water, and the other for the propane. Great jiminy jumped up jehosephats!
I'm still looking for some place to hang the website for the construction pictures, so stay posted...the best, or at least weirdest, is yet to come!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Exciting News...Exciting News...Exciting News...
We have finally decided that lack of debt was making our lives miserable and that the only way to be happy was to go a quarter of a million dollars into the red. Of course, we're getting a new house out of the deal, but it's the debt that's important, isn't it?
But seriously, folks...the double-wide we have all come to know and love over the past twenty years has reached the point where it will no longer sustain Linda and I as a primary residence. It would cost more to have the old place refurbished than we could get as a loan to do the work, and what with the cost of purchasing a new mobile home being very close to the cost of having something built, we went with building.
Here is what we're starting with:
http://www.ubh.com/choose/homes/savannah.php
We adapted this to our needs and we're looking forward to being able to move in about the middle to end of July of this year.
Gone is the front fence and all the cedar trees that were there. Gone also are most of the persimmon trees that had been in the front yard. The garden area has been scraped and waits for me to get the tiller serviced and start working the new garden. The half-acre on the other side of where the front fence had been is now a huge mud slick due to the site preparation work and there is a trench that runs from the well down the driveway and out into the field. We now have a moat! At least, it seems that way.
We have been taking digital photos since the day we signed the contract and I'll be creating a website that has these photos as soon as I find someplace that will give me the space I need for them. By the end of summer the old homestead will look mostly different, and we're really excited about that.
Now, as far as the existing structure, we are going to divide it into two sections: An apartment and a workshop. We will go in and put up a wall with a door that goes across the area where we now have the wood stove and what was the little bedrooms and den will become an open-space workshop, while the other end, the end with the living room (office), the kitchen, and master suite will become the apartment. We'll be doing basic repairs as we get time and resources but that apartment will be kept ready for anyone who needs it for a visit or an "extended visit."
As of today, we're not sure what the construction schedule is. The builders tell us that the average completion time is 90-110 days after they start cutting up wood and nailing things together. But they have to show up first, and for that to happen it has to dry out enough so they can dig and pour the footing for the house.
Oops...students at the door...much like barbarians at the gate. More Later.
But seriously, folks...the double-wide we have all come to know and love over the past twenty years has reached the point where it will no longer sustain Linda and I as a primary residence. It would cost more to have the old place refurbished than we could get as a loan to do the work, and what with the cost of purchasing a new mobile home being very close to the cost of having something built, we went with building.
Here is what we're starting with:
http://www.ubh.com/choose/homes/savannah.php
We adapted this to our needs and we're looking forward to being able to move in about the middle to end of July of this year.
Gone is the front fence and all the cedar trees that were there. Gone also are most of the persimmon trees that had been in the front yard. The garden area has been scraped and waits for me to get the tiller serviced and start working the new garden. The half-acre on the other side of where the front fence had been is now a huge mud slick due to the site preparation work and there is a trench that runs from the well down the driveway and out into the field. We now have a moat! At least, it seems that way.
We have been taking digital photos since the day we signed the contract and I'll be creating a website that has these photos as soon as I find someplace that will give me the space I need for them. By the end of summer the old homestead will look mostly different, and we're really excited about that.
Now, as far as the existing structure, we are going to divide it into two sections: An apartment and a workshop. We will go in and put up a wall with a door that goes across the area where we now have the wood stove and what was the little bedrooms and den will become an open-space workshop, while the other end, the end with the living room (office), the kitchen, and master suite will become the apartment. We'll be doing basic repairs as we get time and resources but that apartment will be kept ready for anyone who needs it for a visit or an "extended visit."
As of today, we're not sure what the construction schedule is. The builders tell us that the average completion time is 90-110 days after they start cutting up wood and nailing things together. But they have to show up first, and for that to happen it has to dry out enough so they can dig and pour the footing for the house.
Oops...students at the door...much like barbarians at the gate. More Later.
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