Here comes the roof

The walls are done and we were on to the roof on Friday. During the week, Lee and crew finished the interior walls upstairs - sorry, no pictures yet, and we haven't even taken the kids up there to show them their bedrooms yet - and they finished sheeting the outside walls. 

On Saturday, we completed our move from Dodge Center to the rental home in Farmington. It was a hectic day, but it did get done and done in time for the annual Paulsen Vacation and Grandpa Paulsen's surprise 70th birthday on Sunday. 

More walls

We continued to "grow up" this week. I showed up on Thursday afternoon to help Lee and crew finish the flooring upstairs and then on Friday, Lee and I started to layout the walls and then finally started building them.

Gene also made his debut on Friday and hung the electric meter socket and panel. He's got a little to finish so he is going to come back on Monday. We should be off the generator and plugged into the grid on 8/4. It'll be nice to turn the generator off for good.

On Saturday, the big kids and I drove up with a pickup and trailer full of stuff to deliver to the container. We straightened up the container a little to prepare for the big move next weekend. Hopefully there's enough room for all the stuff we want to put in it.

Walls

I like it when walls go up. It looks like a lot got accomplished. With the floor being finished last week, the goal for this week were all the 1st floor and garage walls. For the most part, that goal was accomplished.

We also burned up a pile of brush that had been growing in size since we bought the lot over a year ago. Finally a weekend without rain allowed us to take care of it. Neil showed up to help on Saturday, so we rewarded him with a marshmallow while Martin watched from a safe distance.

We're ready to dance!

On Friday, Lee and I set most of the floor trusses. On Saturday, Neil and I built the bearing walls around the stairway. I took Monday off as well and worked with Lee's crew to get the flooring installed.

On Friday the humidity was nearly unbearable. On Saturday, Neil and I were completely soaked while hustling to pick up the tools. And on Monday, just as the floor was being finished it rained again... so much rain... Fortunately, the ground dries out pretty quickly, but the rain has definitely gotten in the way.

The first floor walls should go up this week and maybe the garage too. Hopefully we should see a lot of change over the next couple of weeks.

The Lot

In the past we had referred to the property located at 9145 Dalton Court in Inver Grove Heights as "The Lot". Well, I think it's about time we start referring to it as "The House".

Last week they finished up pouring the walls on Wednesday. The black stuff painted on the outside is the waterproofing. I put in the drain tile on Sunday.

They will back fill early this week. Lumber and trusses come on Tuesday! We will be building with wood next weekend. Finally, I'm out of the dirt!

Moving Dirt

This afternoon we took a trip to watch the excavator dig the hole for our house. Everything is going very smoothly. We watched him dig for a while and the kids had fun climbing on the big piles of dirt. Tomorrow the mason is scheduled to come, so things are finally progressing nicely.

 

 

 

 

 

And so we begin...

Request #1: Please pray for good weather, timely subcontractors and our sanity as this project begins. After years of talking and designing, and months of paperwork, rejections, approvals, and permits, we are finally moving forward. The digging starts tomorrow!