Boening Build - Update 4

Last week was the 1 year mark since the flood.  The day was much more emotional than I expected...no thanks to time hop on facebook!  The pictures were tough to look at but we have come a long way in the past two months so I have to keep focused on that.

After foundation, we obviously moved on to framing, then siding, roofing and plumbing.  We have since completed our electrical walk through and they should be starting install today.  Once that is done we can do insulation and sheetrock and hopefully we will move quickly to the finish line from there!

We have had to make a few small changes along the way with some built ins and electrical work but fortunately nothing major!

The frame process was really cool to watch.  That is the bottom level covered patio.

First level almost completed.

This will be Barry's shop in the back of the garage.

2nd story almost completed, this is the back of the house with covered patio going in on second floor.

This is the side of the house that the driveway will be on, that center opening on the bottom will be the garage door, now in the middle and much smaller than originally planned.

Another view of the back...easier to see with actual walls.

Siding going in.

And this is the front of the house.

They each wanted a picture in their rooms. =) 

Windows and siding in, starting to look like a house!

This is the kitchen/breakfast area/living room.  That door leads out to back porch and apparently I can't take straight pictures.

Railing going in.

He is so excited for his new room, he wants a picture in there every time we go!

Front of house with staircase almost completed and same staircase from the side.   Wrapping the staircase and adding that window were two of the things we changed since we had to make the garage door so much smaller.

Front and back right now with roof completed.  The painters have come and started covering windows and caulking so hopefully that will get going this week as well. 

We are going to register Sawyer for kindergarten today (!!!) so fingers crossed we can get this done and moved in before school starts!

Boening Build: Update 3

They day has finally arrived...we have a foundation!  I had no idea how complicated of a process it was, but it was very interesting to watch.  It took about 2 weeks for the whole process to be completed from forms to concrete pour.  It is still curing and should be 100% completed on Monday.

We made it this far before we reached our first hiccup.  The engineers decided that we did not have enough support in the first (garage) floor so we had to add a bunch of unfortunately placed support beams throughout the space.  It all makes sense structurally but it really changes the functionality of the garage and the aesthetics of that side of the house, and not in a good way - we had to make a size and placement change of the garage door.

We are still working to finalize what we will do on that side of the house as far as doors, windows and staircases on the outside to make it look better.  But, in the meantime were able to move forward with the slab.

We spent all day Monday at the house waiting on cement trucks.  The kids were running barefoot and covered in dirt head to toe; they had the best day watching all the activity and playing.

9 cement trucks and 12 hours later, we have a slab!

My dad met us out there and was kind enough to bring the kids chocolate milk to toast to their new house. 

Now, on to the next phase...framing. 

Building Update: 2

I last updated October 8th with the hopes of starting to rebuild within 2 months.  I clearly had no idea how this process worked!!  3 months later and nothing still - nothing new anyways.  But our "broken house", as Ty calls it, is no more.  On November 9th, we went ahead with the demolition.  We intended to go out there that morning and just watch them get started, but we ended up staying there all day...for 3 days!  It was a smidge emotional at first, but it was also the first sign of tangible progress which was very exciting!

The demo process was actually really interesting.  It took almost the whole week to get it fully demoed and hauled off.

    

 

We had to have some sand brought in to prepare for the foundation.  So, this is how it sits now.

We closed on our loan December 12th and, silly (delusional) me, thought that meant they would start building that week.  Nope - 4-6 weeks.  We met with them last Friday and the countdown was down to 2-3 weeks until forms, then plumbing, then foundation. 

We are still fighting the good fight with our insurance company.  We got one small payout (!!), but it is still on my weekly to do list to pester them until we get our money.  Yesterday they said call back in 5 days.  Will do.

This process, and my subsequent updating, has taken much longer than I anticipated but hopefully that will speed up shortly!

Building Update: 1

So much for an update after 2 weeks!  Almost 6 weeks later, we have moved the tiniest bit forward.  Which I guess is actually a lot, because it is more than we have in the past 5 months.

me too...

We finally got our final engineering report.  We had to hire a private engineer to determine the base flood elevation of our property.  We are in a flood zone A (least risky of the flood zones - ha!) so there are no formal hydraulic studies done by FEMA.  And, because we don't live in a development, per se, we became the ones responsible for determining this number.  The previous base flood elevation (where the house currently sits) is useless because the house was built in the 70's.  Due to developments around our neighborhood, the drainage and water flow patterns have really changed.  So, from the beginning our options were to repair the house and risk another flood or figure out new base flood elevation and build higher.  We didn't choose option A because we would have to disclose a flood if we ever wanted to sell and another possible flood?  No thanks.

The engineers had quite a bit of trouble determining this base flood elevation.  I have no idea why, I don't get it.  All I know is every time we talked to them the number got higher and higher.  So, a process that was supposed to take 3 weeks, took over 3 months.  They were able to come up with a number using some method they devised.  Then they had to get approval from the county using said method.  If that didn't work we were looking at a super expensive (upwards of 40k they told us) study.  Which obviously wasn't an option.

They were finally able to meet with the head of the drainage district and 11 feet became the magic number.  Yes, 11.  We have to build our house 11 feet off the ground.  We will not be able to get permits unless the living space is 11 feet up.

Fortunately, we already had a plan in place to build 10 feet, so at that point...whats one more foot!  Basically, we will have a 12 inch slab, a garage with 9 foot ceilings, 1 foot of space between the garage and what will be the first (second?) floor of the house, which puts the floor at 11 feet.  The house will sit on top of the garage.  And my legs will be in great shape (silver lining).

We met with our builder last Thursday to finalize plans and selections...what I picked 3 months ago has totally changed.  The longer they make me wait, the more I have time to think about it and the more things I want changed.  Sorry not sorry!!  So, now we wait (more) for the final contract, which we will hopefully have in the next few days and then we are ready to send stuff to the bank.  PROGRESS!

 

Our other current, and never ending battle, is insurance.  We received our initial check but have filed quite a few supplemental claims.  They don't cover granite, tile, windows and some other stuff...all of those were damaged.  So we had to file separate claims.  This was done back in July, a month after they were supposed to have been filed.  But, I digress.  They have now been filed 3 times with no communication on a decision.  I emailed a supervisor last Wednesday she agreed something was off and it was taking too long.  She was able to get some info about our claims the next day.  PROGRESS!  We were supposed to hear from our adjuster in 1-2 days.  But, nothing.  ALL the eye rolls.  So, that is on my to-do list for Monday.

On a positive note, I have made some major progress with buying things for the house...  Since we pretty much need everything as far as furniture and decor, I figure it is smart to spread out the expense and start buying a little every month.  Since I have a pretty limited budget to buy with, I have been much more intentional about purchases and if I don't love it, I don't buy it.  Learning more lessons...

I caught a great sale at Pottery Barn and was able to buy all the bedding for what will be our guest room.  And, spent a day Round Top (must do if you haven't been) and had quite a bit of luck!  I will definitely be going back there in the spring.

So, I am happy with the way things are coming together.  I have been very cautiously optimistic the past month or so, but I feel like I can finally get excited.  And we might actually get to start building soon (realistically within 2 months probably, but relatively speaking...soon).  I have actually enjoyed the design/building process more than I expected to since I never planned to do this...it has kind of taken over at this point.  I sure Barry is thrilled with my random (sometimes all day) texts with ideas or projects that I have, but this is only the beginning!!  

Next step: Demo Day.