Garage and cutting cement

We ran into a snag because our access road turned to soup :(  The lumbar showed up on time but they couldn't get in so it all went back.  I could have cried.  Darin tried to make it better by telling me we have a moat now for our castle.  So not funny at the time.

View to east (the dry spot at the end is our new and 3rd access road).

Look at these ruts! (that was rut not runt) And it was VERY soft.

Our "Moat"
You can see our first access road just behind the kids.

There was a crew out here this day digging the pilings for the garage, so some good news atleast.  After some discussions Corey's guys put in our 3rd access road the next morning but we are behind again.

Jaimie and I (and Elizabeth who was so much help) went to look at cabinets on Wednesday.  I could spend a lot of money.  While we were there Corey stopped by to bring the plans.  Jaimie was talking to him about deleting the wall that formed the hallway as you come down the stairs from the garage.  Corey didn't know there was a door for the suite from the garage!!  He even says it is clearly on the plans.  How does the contractor, the guy who staked it out and the cement guys all miss that??  Well at least it was caught now.  And they have now cut the cement out to make the door work. 

Basement walls before they back filled.

Exciting times!

Corey needed our siding choices by this weekend, so on Friday Darin and I went and picked out shingles, siding, sofit/facia, and stone (sorry Jaimie!!).  I figured we needed to pick it all at once instead of trying to match stuff up later.  We wanted a dark siding but couldn't justify the price doubling and Darin was worried about fading, so we went with a 'Pebble' coloured siding wih Black trim and stone.  I think it will look sharp.
After shopping we made a run out to the land.  And look what we found:

Lumbar...

Trusses..

and walls!!

View of Jaimie and Zack's bedrooms (walkout door on right).

From left: living room window, bathroom window (wrong size!), and part of master bedroom window.  2 taller windows will be in the kitchen.  Darin was standing where playroom will be.

Zack's room and walkout. You can see where the stairs from the patio will be.

This will become Jaimie's kitchen in the front with the utility room and playroom behind.



Door out to walkout patio area.

It is amazing to finally see something concrete.  I stii think it looks small though!

Possesion Changes

Well we knew it was coming but Corey wants us to change our pession date for the new house.  He originally said we had to move it to August 10th but has agreeed to aim for the 1st instead.  No more speed bumps!  3 adults, 4 kids, 2 dogs, 1 cat and 3 snakes will not be fun in our little camper.

Current house

Our Saskatoon house is offically sold! Yeah!!  Posession isn't until August 2nd which is great for us.

Pouring the basement

So I am a bit behind here.  The footings are in, the basement was framed out and now the concrete has been poured!  I have some pictures of the concrete being poured.  The boys were very disappointed that they couldn't be there to watch.



view of south west corner



cool truck

the garage will go up where the truck is sitting (north east corner)

Jaimie & Zack's patio will be in this corner- the jut out will be the steps

west wall

truck unpacking its arm. Too bad Jeremy wasn't here to see this!

Ready, set, pour!

Collection area on back of the cool truck

truck #2 (of 5?)

The basement was supposed to be back filled today and Monday they start framing. Yeah!!

Progress Continues

Darin & I were out at the acreage today and the basement looks better!  They dug it down another 20 inches, and now there is actually a hole there.  While we were out there the guy was putting in the framework for the pilings.  No pictures though due to the blizzard like conditions!! 
Next step pouring concrete.  At some point here we need to get at least a temporary road in.  Right now they are going through  the ditch or through the neighbours yard.  We don't want to make the neighbours mad already!
Corey called today and we are meeting with him this week to pick our front door so that we can order doors and windows this week.  Yeah- we finally are far enough to get to pick something out. :)
Hopefully I can go back tomorrow or Thursday and take some new pictures.

Today's good and bad news.

First the bad news.  Well it is more just a temporary set back.  The guys went out to put the footings in today and realized that there is only 8" of ground above them so they need to dig it out some more (that's what I said yesterday!!).  So they are supposed to be back with the equipment -hopefully tomorrow- to dig out another 20". 
Which brings me to the good news.  We may have sold our current house!  The buyers have until the 23rd to lift conditions which are basically the inspections.  It is a cash sale so we don't have to worry about them selling their house or confirming their financing.  Who can pay for a house with cash??  Anyway we were hoping for a bit higher price but the possession is for the end of July so that was a big selling feature for us.  At least that way we shouldn't have to rent and move twice.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that the inspections go well.
That's all for tonight...

Finally a hole!

We finally have a hole in the ground! Though it is still hard to picture how this will become our house!

South west corner

 

 

 

   This will be Jaimie's outside access/patio, the furnace room and part of the play room.  Upstairs it will be the kitchen/dining room and some of the living room at the front of the picture.

entry/living room

The area where Elizabeth and I are standing will be the living room upstairs, and the entry will be by the pin with the blue flag.  You can see the deeper area to the left where the retaining wall will go for Jaimie's outside access.  Downstairs from where we are standing will be the play room.  That is the part I can't wait to have!

East side of the house

This will be the east side of the house.  Upstairs will be the bedrooms, bathroom and laundry area.  Downstairs will be Jaimie & Zack's room toward the back of the picture and living room up towards the front.

Jeremy asking if we can keep the dirt

Jaimie & Zack's walkout

Looking North

Tomorrow the footings go in.  We are on a roll now :)

The Land Cleared

So it doesn't look like much but it means progress!! Just waiting on permits now so that we can dig.

The Land We Bought

Winter on our empty lot

Our house staked out (9/Mar/11)