The Sheetrock is up! We have rooms! Yesterday, June 18, the crew started taping and coating.
Living Room
Living room from front entryway
Bedroom Two
Guest Bath
Hallway to Bedroom Three and Master
Bedroom Three
Master Bedroom
Master Bath from Master Closet Entry
Master Shower
Laundry and Sue’s Office
Kitchen and Keeping Room from Entry to Living Room
View from the kitchen window.
The brickwork was complete on June 4. They should be hanging, taping and coating the Sheetrock this week.
So here we are Memorial Day Weekend and the brick has been delivered. Belle Grae is the color of the brick, and although it is supposed to be reddish, it definitely looks more brownish. We’ll have to wait until it’s a wall, and hope it captures the look we envisioned. It also has some white, so that should offset the browns. If it is too dark we may change the finish on the exterior lighting.
Granite
Although this is not a great sample, Giallo Fiesta is the granite we selected. Our slabs have browns, whites, blacks, grays, and flecks of burgundy. The piece for our island has some subtle veining.
Plumbing Fixtures
The Moen Arris line will be in the master and the Align will be in the guest bath. We love the rain shower with a diverter for a handheld. The bar also doubles as an ADA compliant grab bar for me.
Foam
We went with Spray Foam in the attic. We also insulated some of the interior walls, especially between the bathrooms.
From our master bedroom looking into the master bath with pocket door.
Lighting
These fan lights will be for our uutdoor light fixtures, including the garage, front and back porch
Sue and I are still deciding two or three of these Kichler 9 inch diameter fixtures over the island. I’m in favor of the Rule of Three, given that our island is 39 by 79 and will also be our only eating area.
Until next time. Thanks for following.
They have made a tremendous amount of progress since my last post. They started framing on April 25. Here’s some photos of what has been happening over the last three weeks.
5/14 and 5/15
The front with the tree on the left corner of the house removed and after the live oak underwent a class III pruning by Rose’s Tree Service. The pruning was done to remove the deadwood and thin the middle of the canopy.
Garage
The living room, from the front door with the kitchen off Sue’s right shoulder with the door way to the garage.
The living room, with wood burning fireplace, from the hallway.
Kitchen and keeping room from the living room looking west onto the back porch.First opening on Left is the pantry and the second is the laundry room.
Back yard from the porch
View from the dining/keeping room of the kitchen and living room beyond. Kitchen sink under the window, and pantry opening to the right.
I’m standing in the laundry room and looking into Sue’s office. The wing wall separates the laundry from the office while still allowing some natural light into the laundry. Pocket door opening on the right into the keeping room, and the doorway to the screened in back porch.
Master bath from the master closet. On the right are the shower, pass through doorway to the laundry, dual sink vanity, and commode.
Master Bedroom from hallway.
Bedroom Three.
Guest bathroom
Bedroom Two
Friday
Quality Construction on the job.
Pedro, his dad, and crew at work on our slab. I got there in time to toss two pennies into the foundation for good luck.
I asked Pedro, who is African American, “how long you been doing this?”
“Since I was born,” he said. Quality also did my brother Steve’s house last year. They will be back to do the driveway. 
Monday
This was happening at lunch.
Framing crew. 
The west wall is up.
The south wall is ready to go up.
It’s March in LA so it must be raining right? You betcha. Several inches today and more on the way this week. The clay is down and the corners have been staked. Pouring the cement footings is next, whenever we get a stretch of sunshine.
We got our building permit on Wednesday.
Sue’s response to the news:
“Wow!!! It’s finally happening…:)”
The first sign came yesterday.
Our engineered plans were filed with the City of Fairhope. Sue and I closed on our construction loan this week and have our builders risk insurance in place.
Everyone seems to ask, “When are you going to start?” Well, we started back in June when we bought the lot, and it really has not stopped. It’s been “going.”
I think about my father when they ask. He was in the building trade as a drywall hanger and finisher for many years. He died in 1994. When I think back on his craft, and make no mistake it was a craft, like a sculptor or a plasterer, I call him the maestro of mud. (No one ever called it by the name on the green and white bucket-joint compound.) He could wield those knives better than John Williams could ever shake a baton.
When I worked with my Dad, on Cape Cod and on Martha’s Vineyard, most of the people called him Frank, but everyone in our family called him Francis. My dad had developed an alter ego.
“Hey Frank, when you gonna wrap this up?” Teddy K. his boss, would ask him.
I’d be covering screws, sweeping, or most likely sanding the now dried mud smooth.
“If it wasn’t for (insert name of contractor, plumber, electrician, or weather phenomenon) I’d be done already,” Frank would say.
My Dad and I watched The Three Stooges together a a lot on Channel 38 on Saturday mornings. I don’t remember Dad smiling much, but Curly or Moe could still get a grin out of him.
“Gents without Cents,” a short from 1944, is based on an old Vaudeville Act. The Three Stooges play aspiring entertainers who meet three women and this episode includes acting rehearsals, dancing, gymnastics, musical numbers, and of course, slapstick. There is even one scene, on the stage at the shipyard, where Larry loses his lines. You can tell he’s not hitting the mark. But Larry is a professional, yes he’s a Stooge, but he’s also a classically trained violist. He’s only off for one or two words and then boom! He’s back in stereo with Moe.
Whenever he was doing his job, my dad, like all construction workers are part of the greater gig, the big picture. Lots of other jobs had to wait until my father was done taping and coating all the sheetrock seams, joints, and steel corners. Also, my dad had to wait for those jobs that went before his could begin.
I draw a construction parallels to symphonies and The Three Stooges because when people are not completely in sync, it is noticeable, and off-putting. But symphonies like house building, and Larry, can recover so the rhythm of the work site matches the down stroke of the general contractor. Unlike my father and Larry, what happens during construction is out of our control. We have hired professionals, contractors and their craftsmen to construct a well built house in a timely manner.
So if you ask me, “When are they going to get started?”, or “When are you moving in?” I could play Moe, in the scene from Gents without Cents.
“Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch…”
Or I may say:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
If that doesn’t work, my plan is to shout the words made famous by another Frank.
“Serenity Now! Serenity Now!” Like Frank Costanza in Seinfeld.
I’ll post the details of this exciting experience here.
If you have other questions please visit my alter ego at “Stump the Librarian.”
We have signed a contract with
Bobby is a direct, no-nonsense kind of guy and he has been in the business for several decades. As a single family home developer and custom builder he, and his construction supervisor Alan, have the experience to help us make cost-effective decisions without sacrificing quality construction. This will be a tremendous asset since we are in the process of applying for a construction loan with
Melissa, our loan originator, and Jim, the senior VP, are headquartered in the branch right behind the Fairhope Public Library. They work with homeowners and have a great reputation with many local contractors, both large scale and custom builders.
Our house plans, by Deborah’s Residential Designs, are being engineered by
We are pursuing gold fortification in the construction of our home. There is a lot of steel reinforcement and the building must follow the 2012 International Building Code standards, which translates to a strong well-built home and significant savings in homeowners insurance. Once Cristin’s engineering is complete, plans will be submitted to the City of Fairhope’s building department.
I wish I could tell you when the groundbreaking will happen. I cannot. There is, in my estimation, another month of paperwork, permitting, and approvals ahead. When the groundbreaking happens, you, dear blog readers, will be the first to see earth-moving pictures.
Writer, Librarian, Historian 