#theTrailHouseReno: Week 7, the glass half-empty

I am by nature a very positive, the glass half-full kind of gal. I am always the first person in the room to see the silver lining, the good that comes from the bad. But this week I feel like a very rude person just walked over to me, snatched the glass out of my hand and poured the contents all over the ground.

Let’s start with the outside, because yes, there’s trouble inside too.

This neatly wrapped and fully clad house with all plywood new wood where there was rot or damage, is about to be unwrapped.  Why would any sane person do this?

Because the inspector showed up and he wants to see every speck of wood under that wrap.

I can’t really explain how we got to this point. Obviously, somehow it got lost in the translation that the inspector needed to get a good look at the wood before house was wrapped. So tomorrow, our guys will begin unwrapping the house. The plan is to schedule the inspector to return early next week.

It doesn’t matter and no one seems to care, that during this time the house will be completely exposed to the elements. We have begun to do the only thing we can at this point, pray for no rain.

All of this came on the heels of what we count a huge blessing. When the mason’s workers showed up at the end of last week, they uncovered perfectly viable brick ledges. From the beginning of this journey, we were totally uncertain and had prepared for the expense of pouring a proper foundation for the bricks.  Not only did they uncover a brick ledge across the front, very surprisingly, they found one on the left side too.

After this discovery, they began work on the footings for the right side of the house.

Of course, now that we are finally at the point where the mason could actually lay bricks, the inspector has put a “stop work order” on the outside of the house until he can see it unwrapped.

It’s likely that most of the cost savings that was uncovered will go to the labor and expense of rewrapping the house. Naturally, the Tyvek material is not reusable.

On the inside, there’s even more good news.

Our perfectly planned timeline included the installation of new floors upstairs to happen this week. I followed up on the delivery status when I realized it was taking an awfully long time for flooring to get from the local warehouse to our house.

It was then I discovered the 800 square feet of flooring for upstairs has gone missing. Yep, missing. All that made it to the local warehouse was 10 buckets of glue!

The company is working diligently to figure out where the flooring is and hopefully it can be delivered and installed before too long.

But not to worry, I’m not going to leave you with only bad news, because honestly there are things to be thankful for this week.

The drywall work is done.  The house is still covered in dust, but the work is done and that should be about the end of the messy part of the renovation inside. I haven’t felt like I’ve had time to stop and clean because I’ve been feverishly painting both upstairs and downstairs.

The half bath is ready for tile and paint with it’s newly relocated entrance at the front of the house.

And I couldn’t be more pleased with how the front entry is shaping up.

The master bathroom is still waiting for a window, but the valves for the plumbing should be delivered tomorrow.

The more studied and hashed over the work schedule and timeline, it became clear the master bathroom would likely not be finished before the move-in date.  The goal has been to reduce the mess and focus on getting the powder room finished to the point that the toilet could be replaced.  The tile is in for the powder room, the hold up is an important piece of trim. I really would like to avoid trekking up or down a flight of stairs in the middle of the night.

The other main goal is to have all the rooms painted before the new floors are installed upstairs and refinished downstairs.

A wonderfully generous new neighbor has offered her help.

As luck would have, it she loves to paint.

And I love to talk, especially while doing mindless work like painting.

I can’t think of a better way to bond and get to know her better. I am eternally grateful not only for this new found friendship, but her kindness and willingness to help. Clearly I could use it!

My glass has been refilled. I am hopeful it stays that way. 🙂

I have a few more posts planned for this week so be sure to be on the look out for those. One of which is the promised design plan for the master bath!