Pushed by Unwelcome Visitor

Two (2) days before Halloween, Zelda again entertained an unwelcome visitor. This time, the air conditioning line from the future, upstairs unit (being installed in the attic) was stolen. Appears that the visitors knew when no one was at the house and walked in, unplugged the motion detector lights and proceeded to rip out the lines causing additional damage to the ducting. This all appears to have happened on Sunday night.

Brent was at Zelda Monday evening and noticed that the doors to the storage shed appeared to be out of whack. Upon closer inspection, the hasp had been broken loose and placed back into position to appear to be locked. At 9:00 pm and realizing he could not repair the hasp all the tools and materials were emptied out of the storage building and brought back to the rent house. This took about two (2) hours to load and haul, but thankfully the thiefs had decided to return later and take the tools. No tools were stolen.

The visitors have pushed us to completely close up the house with the installation of the final doors and windows. We are also have a monitored alarm system installed. Sure hope the unwanted thiefs are found/identifed as we will purse their arrest.

Reframing and insulating the subfloor

The rough-in plumbing did pass on Monday, October 22nd. We are still waiting, for the hvac contractor to finish hanging the ducting exhaust in the floors before the subflooring is laid. Brent has contacted him several times, and he did show up and work a couple of hours last week, but did not finish. He lacks only a few hours.

We did purchase all the insulation for the walls and flooring on the first floor. Timing was right again as Lowes's had R-19 insulation on sale at 25% off. It makes for a big bill, but in the long run it does save money. Brent did install the 6 mil plastic sheeting for the vapor barrier in the crawl space for the majority of the house. He has one (1) room and a few touch-up spots to finish. Also, he was able to insulate below the floor of the pantry and lanudry room. He is stapeling chicken wire below the floor joists to hold the insulation in place.

On the back side of the house, it was discovered that part of the walls supports were not touching the base plate. Brent decided that the entire back should be removed inspected and reframed. We hired our roofing contractors to perform the work, which was to remove the existing aluminum siding, original siding and then reframe and install OSB and house wrap. We are also having them install a couple of new windows and a set of french doors which will open onto the patio. We are going to install the cement board siding over the OSB which will last longer and replicate the original siding.

Inspection Day

Thursday, October 18th is a building code inspection day for Zelda. On the agenda was the first floor joists, the rough-in plumbing and the rough-in hvac. The inspection of the floor joists passed and the installation of the sheeting on the ground and the subfloor decking can begin.

The rough-in plumbing did not pass as there were a couple of leaks found. The system had been pressurized but looks like there were some leaks in the drains. This will not be a hill for a stepper.

The hvac contractor did not show up to attach the ducting to the floor joists so, the rough-in hvac did not pass.