This is going fast!

Hello everybody. Ready for your weekly update?
So yesterday I went past the house and the roof shingles were already finished. They started installing these on Monday and two days later those guys are finished. Amazing.
Also all our plumbing is done! Again I was astonished! This is some crazy stuff! The heater is in, all the heating ducts are in, water mains and plumbing ALL DONE. And I must say, connections between all the hoses are simply immaculate. The trades men know what they are doing!!!
Also both baths are in and in the master bathroom the shower is up too. Venting ducts are installed and the laundry room has 2 water mains and a drainage.
So when this is finished we will have a walk through again.
O and funny thing is our fire place is in too. And when I came home I noticed on the pictures that we have a front door as well. I walked right by it.
On another note, SARAH IS BACK for the weekend! Jihaa. Today we will choose our new floor tile. THe 'old' one has been discontinued. Too bad because we really liked it. So fingers crossed for this afternoon!

Windows are in

This is just a small little update because I can not tell you a whole lot. The windows are in. This was done last Thursday. We are now in a transition period if you remember all the different stages. Now the rough-in stage will begin.
The roof shingles are on the roofs ready to be installed. THere is already a very small section of these shingles on the roof. The rest will happen on Monday. The basement stairs are in (yeaaaaah no ladder anymore). And when I went downstairs I say what was the beginning of the whole electrical system. The electrical board was on the wall and the ground wire and main wire were connected. So next week I guess the electrical wires will go in together with all the plumbing and the water and gas mains.

A blanket of smoke

When I got out of the apartment this morning I noticed that the sun wasn't out. The first thing that went through my mind was 'Hey wasn't it supposed to be sunny today?'. When I looked at the sun I noticed she was behind a thick cloud. But then I noticed the colour of the cloud was reddish gray. I immediately made the connection with those wild fires in Kelowna, BC. I wasn't completely sure because these clouds were in the east and Kelowna is over the Rockies in the West.
I spent most of my morning – in between jobs at work of course – searching for a satellite picture that could confirm my suspicions. Turned out I was right!
The clouds have diminished now but the sun isn't at full strength yet. I think we will have a spectacular sunset tonight. I better go out tonight and find a good spot!


X marks the spot were Calgary is located.

We have a roof!

So framing is about finished. It looks like a real house now! We have a roof and all of the interior walls are in. Well at least the support frame for the walls that is.
So let's start on the outside. This is what you would see if you were here. ;)



Also on the lot were the steps for the entrance. As you can see, everything is pre-fabricated to cut down on building time of course.


Last time around, I told you guys that our windows were in the garage. But I never showed you a detailed picture. Well here it is.



So let's go inside the house. The entrance will look like this. On the left you see the build in closet. On the right, the entrance to the basement.


Going past that basement entrance you come to the garage door and the downstairs half bath (the toilet). Again a build in closet on the left (this is for the owners, I guess).


When you enter the house through the garage you'll see this view.


Ok now we are looking at the big ass kitchen and giant pantry. Sarah loves grocery shopping so we better got ourselves some big storage space.


Next the living room. That niche in the wall is actually our fire place.


And this is the dining room with the door to our patio.


Lets's go upstairs. This is the bedroom above the garage.


Computer niche and laundry room.


The view upstairs.


OK ready for the most important part of the house? The master bedroom and ensuite.



OK we are almost at the end of our little tour. What else? Well another room, the view from outside the master suite and THANK GOD the trades people use the actual plans!!!




Sorry about all of these pictures. But now you guys have a clear view on how the house actually looks like on the inside. On Friday, the rough-in starts. Windows etc. get installed. On Monday the Roof shingles go on.
It should be, yet again, an exciting week!!!
I'm off. While I'm writing this, I'm enjoying a Bud Light Lime. OK OK it's not Stella (that's in the fridge) but it's a darn fine light summer lager!!! :)

O my F'ing GOD!

When I go to see the house, I always drive by the house first before I enter the show home to tell the sales people I'm going to take a look. When I rounded the corner this time I was SHOCKED! I was prepared to see some progress. I thought that the garage and the main floor would be framed or something. But what I saw – after only 5 days of active framing – blew me away. The house is almost completely up! It is crazy!!!
So when I entered the show home I was in a bit of a daze. I still couldn't believe what I just saw. Courtney (the sales girl) said that framing should be done by Tuesday. BY TUESDAY?! Are these guys insane?!
So Courtney showed me around the house and we went inside too. The space is unbelievable. Big is an understatement. I am sooooo happy. The kitchen is huge, the master bedroom has the best view ever. The deck will be amazing (I can't wait to spend an evening on that deck with Sarah, enjoying a cool beer and a nice sunset). We will be enjoying this place so much. The garage is insane, the pantry is, well euhm, big. I'm running out of words to describe my excitement.
The windows and outer doors are sitting in the garage and ready to be installed next week.
Then Courtney took me to see the house that's one step ahead of us. That house was fully framed. The inside was done too. And you really got a sense for the grandness of the design. Walking through that house was, euhm enlightening I guess. Feeling the house in staid of looking at a 2D plan is so much different.
We came back to the show home and apparently, one block up the hill of our house, maybe in 5 years, there will be an elementary school, a baseball pitch, 2 soccer fields and a water feature. Now isn't that nice for our, euh, kids I guess later. :s
Let's start this tour on the top floor and work our way down. :)

This IS the view out of our master bedroom window. Nobody will take this away from us!

The view overlooking the top floor. I'm standing in the master bedroom. If you look at the floor, on the left side, those two wooden rectangles. That's the bathroom and the walk in closet.

Next is an overview from the other side. You see the stairs and in the left bottom corner what will be the laundry room.

This will be the bedroom above the garage.

And this will be the view coming down the stairs. Huge windows, big kitchen on the right.

A closer look on the left window. Behind that wall will be our deck.

This is the other window.

View of the main floor. To the left is the kitchen and the enormous pantry in the back. I'm standing in the dining room and to the right is the 'great room'.

The stairs right?

The view from in front of the house. Nice big garage. :)

Another view.

And the other side of the house.

Meeting with the Construction Supervisor

So today I had that meeting at 3PM. So how did it go? Well I'll tell you.
Tim (the Supervisor) is a nice, easy going, 50-something year old man. Very friendly and he knew the plan inside out.
I didn't learn a lot. Because we already went over the plans (that we secretly got from Courtney, the sales girl). The most important part was the building schedule. It goes a little something like this:
- The foundation stage: we already passed that. No need to explain any further.
- Framing stage. This is where we are now. Framing should be finished within the next 2 weeks. Weather permitting of course. Why do I say this? Well today it rained cats and dogs like they say here. It started this morning with a very heavy downpour. And it kept raining for the better part of the evening. So hopefully the rest of the week is kind of dry so framing can start. This will be exciting to see. When Tim went over the plans he said that our deck would not have stairs that lead into the yard. This issue was discussed before and Jayman promised us that there would be stairs on the deck. So I said that we NEED stairs! Otherwise there wouldn't be any logical entrance to our yard from the back side of the house. Imagine going through your garage, go round the house to enter your back yard. Euhm I don't think so! So Tim drew some steps on his plans with some exclamation marks next to it. So now we are sure, we are getting those steps. Of course I will remind them to build them when framing starts.
- Next fase will be the Rough-In stage. That means that all of the electrical, water and gas lines are installed. All of the outside finishing is on and the roof shingles are on. This is within 4 weeks after framing starts. When this is finished we have another meeting.
- After that there is the Insulation and Drywall fase. Pretty simple... Putting in Insulation and the inside walls.
- Then there is the Interior stage. This means that everything that needs to be in the house will be installed. Fridge, stove, furnace, etc.
- Next is the Construction Complete stage. This means that the house is basically finished. Then only thing that is done here are touch ups. Maybe there is some paint of the walls or a fridge with a scratch. Or maybe there were some parts that were on back order...
- After that its the Home Owner Orientation. They give us a walk through, through the house.
And then its Possession!!!!
Only bad news is. The house is on schedule to be finished on November 4th. *sigh*

We have a real floor!

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a floor and therefor also a basement! :)
The construction crew has started our giant jig saw puzzle. All the wood is scattered across our lot and the lot next to us. I saw stairs, 2x6's, 2x4's and a bathtub a shower and a bath shower combo all ready to go in the house. I found that more then amusing. We don't have a house yet but at least we already have a shower!!! :) The reason for this is that it is more easily to build the house around a bathtub than the other way around.
I checked the quality of the craftsmanship so far and everything is simply outstanding. The floor is level! :) And yes I checked it on multiple points... with a level app on my iPhone. ;)
Framing should start any time. Maybe even today! But on Monday I'll know all the details. It felt so cool to walk on the floor and imagine being in the dining room looking at the view. The floor feels huge.... Of course the walls will make the space a little bit smaller but still, tons of room.