Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Coming along 10-25-10

House with windows and door


Front door with designer power cord through the hole
  A lot going on in the nine days since I have last reported.  Windows are in, front door in, back door in, roof is on - amazing, we made it this far into October and barely had any rain get into the house!  Literally I think Adair got the roof and gutters on one day before all the rains hit this weekend and this week.....talk about timing.  I imagine Jeff and the rest of the construction team from Woodland will tell you they had it all perfectly planned out and knew exactly when all the weather would hit!  Either way, we feel so fortunate that it was able to progress quickly enough to keep the inside dry.

Things are going on all over on the inside of the house.  The HVAC contractor has put in the vents and hung the system in the garage.  I should have taken a picture of this as it is actually a great idea for saving space in your garage.  Adair, where possible, has been elevating systems for maximum space utilization for about the last year.  Always trying to improve for customers.

The plumber has installed a majority of the inside plumbing.  Of course, we had to re-install the main water line because the original was a 1 inch line and we needed a 1 1/4 line..........we needed the larger line because we have to put crazy fire sprinklers in our house (the City of Camas makes new homes do this.)  Of course, all this really equates to, is a more expensive house with very little benefit, and potentially even more downside, but hey, why not make people spend more money than absolutely necessary in this great economy!  I'm not against trying to save lives, but the tests show that smoke alarms actually save lives, fire sprinklers actually have a greater chance of causing more damage (water, leaks, frozen pipes) than the actual fire risk.  I apologize for my rant, but the one thing in this experience that has definitely gotten me a little ticked off, is paying a lot of money to the city for permits and system development charges, and paying a lot of money for fire sprinklers because of the city officials who made it mandatory.  I wonder if they have fire sprinklers in their homes?  If not, they should be forced to foot the bill to install them.

A really cool moment for Adair..........I was talking with the City Inspector (he's totally great by the way and not the cause for the sprinklers!) and he said to me "I have to tell you, this framer is amazing!"  Of course, I asked him what he meant by this and he said "the framing job is excellent, they've really done an incredible job."  He went on to say "I mean this house is a tank, I don't know if you could knock it over with a bulldozer!"  He also added "I've been inspecting all levels of custom homes here in Camas for the last 4 or 5 years, and nothing comes close to what has been done in this house."  All this feedback is an honest assessment of what was said to me on the job site, totally unsolicited.  This makes me very happy as a homeowner to know my house is well built, and very happy as an employee to know that Adair stands behind it's words with excellent performance on every house.  I've been told many times over from other customers that Adair subcontractors are professional and very good, and I'm seeing that first person!

Siding has been taking place last weekend and into this week.  The electrician is well on his way.  We've continued to do some clean up around the home and in the home, but nothing major yet.  The big project will be emptying out the waste box in front of the house.  I did have to do some manual labor, digging a trench in front of the lot and putting up a silt fence.........for most people not a big deal, but ask anyone, I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to these kind of things!

I can't wait to keep the house moving along and I am very much looking forward to the day of move in!  More updates as we progress, we're still at a frantic pace working through outside stone, flat work, and a never ending amount of second guessing on choices already made!  Have a great night...........Matt

2 comments:

  1. Fire sprinklers are a better investment than you think. Studies show that people sleep right through fire alarms, especially young children. Lots of people are overcome by the smoke or cut off from their exits before they ever wake up. When installed correctly, sprinkler piping is no more likely to leak or break than any of your other domestic water lines. Your carpet likely costs as much as the sprinklers. So yes the sprinklers are another line item and they have a cost, but so do air bags, seat belts, and anti-lock brake systems.....are you going to give those up and put your kids at risk to save a few bucks???? Didn't think so.

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  2. Thanks for the comment Kevin, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Have a great night........Matt

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