WE PASSED OUR FINAL INSPECTION & ARE MOVING IN!

Today the county building inspector arrived, passed us, and gave us a letter of occupancy (meaning we can start moving in)! On a funny note: When I arrived at the house to meet with the building inspector, Mr. "B," our alarm had been set off and was making tons of racket! I saw the building inspector's truck, went inside, shut off the alarm, then found Mr. B and someone else on our prow deck. The alarm company called to ask if they should send the police and I said no. They stated that the alarm had come from our crawl space area, but when I asked Mr. B if he had tried to check that out he denied it. (I suspect he did try to take a look and was embarrassed, but who knows? It may have just been my guardian angel welcoming me to our new home! )

YES, YES, YES! There will be champagne flowing tonight! We will start to move all of our stuff a bit at a time and will be all moved in by this Saturday night! Now we get to deal with "perming up" our mortgage, hopefully at a nice, LOW interest rate!

If any of you are interested in one final round of pictures, click on the link at the top right of this page under Pre-Construction and Post Construction Photos that says Pica Web Albums, then click on Post Construction Photos. I doubt if I will take any more pictures for a while - Ya'all come see us, ya hear?

Pat

PHASE FIVE: Weeks 37 & 38 - We're Done!?

Weeks of February 9th & 16th - Norman and I are both SO READY to move into our new home! We have worked very hard the past two weekends putting up closet shelving, touching up paint, hanging towel racks and more. We did have a small shock on Friday the 13th (no kidding) when we discovered that we had forgotten to put in a dryer vent! (We are SURE that must have been someone else's job, but can't find it in any one's contract!) Anyway, our HVAC guy Randy came to the rescue and got it installed in one day. I then called the county building inspector, hoping he could come last week so we could start to move in this weekend, but guess what? He's out of town so will do our inspection on Monday. Meanwhile, our friend John Malaspino has agreed to help us move and has loaned us a covered van to begin loading up things. I've packed up almost all of my kitchen stuff, cleaned out the attic, and gone through all of our drawers. We've given away an old leather couch and chair, bought new leather living room furniture, picked out new bar stools, ordered our dining room rug, and ordered wood Levilor horizontal blinds for the great room and master bath. Oh, and we have also seen a resurgence of our ladybug friends. I am told that everyone up here has them and just periodically suck them up with a vacuum cleaner as they are not easily killed. They don't harm the home or reproduce; they just visit for the winter from around November until April. Now that I've learned this, I notice them in all of our friends' houses. Oh, well, they are sort of cute I guess.

I've taken one last round of pictures and will attach a link so you can watch a slide show. Assuming we pass our building inspection tomorrow, we will begin moving in this week, finally in by Saturday. We still haven't put together our hot tub, put down a walkway from the driveway to the house, built a fence for the dogs, or stained our decks, rails, and spindles, but all of those things will be done eventually!

PHASE FIVE: Week 36 - We Have HEAT!

Week of February 2ND - We finally passed our electrical inspection and now have heat. It was was wonderful to haul outside our two kerosene heaters and turn on the heat pump. We swept out the inside of the house, turned all the lights, and thoroughly enjoyed the way everything looks. The guys came back for a few hours to fix the tile and rehang some door knobs. We also had King's Tree Service grind down four stumps in our new turnaround and a few elsewhere, and cut down a pine tree that we've been concerned about as it leans towards our house (and in an ice storm could easily fall on it). Here's what is left before the building inspector can come: 1) Cover the hot tub hole (we won't have time to assemble it until after we move in); 2) Finish our closets (we've ordered a nice wooden closet system for our walk-in closet and will be hanging wooden shelves & racks); and 3) Insulate some plumbing areas in the bathrooms and kitchen. None of this will be finished for a week or so as the closet system has to come in and Norman is going to be out of town for three days, including most of this weekend. The guys doing our interior work also have to do a few more minor things such as touching up the paint, adding trim to kitchen backsplash, etc, but they are busy on another job right now and have not returned my phone call of two days ago. Here's the agenda for the next week: 1) Hang mirrors, towel and toilet racks, switch over our phone and Internet so our alarm system can be put in place (scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday), finish adding gravel and crusher run to the driveway (that is supposed to begin today), get prices on moving charges, and begin cleaning the house, an arduous task indeed (which will fall mainly to yours truly).

PHASE 5: Week 35 - Rejected, Delayed and Dinged!

Week of January 25th - This has been such a frustrating week: 1) Our electricians put a "ding" in our brand new refrigerator, hitting the island when they were moving it forward to check a connection; 2) Our electrical inspection was delayed a couple of days then we were rejected! We did find out that it is a very minor issue having to do with the location and number of light bulbs in our guest and office closets that will be fixed easily next week; 3) Our HVAC guy finally showed up, but our bill increased by over $800 because of complications regarding the blower connection for our cook top downdraft. Our HVACV guy had never done one exactly like ours and had to have a $350 part made for it, then had to drill through concrete fill in our foundation to route it to the outside of the house. He also hooked up our fireplace vent, venting it through the foundation. Our electrician had originally agreed to do all of this (and we thought it was included in his bid), then said it was more of an HVAC function; 4) Our plumbers accidentally shook loose some of the new tile work around our master bathroom tub when they were installing the faucets (which they should have installed before the tile work was done), so that will have to be fixed next week; 5) We forgot to order some flexible tubing that is needed for the master bath faucets, so have to buy those over the weekend. MY HUSBAND IS VERY FRUSTRATED. HE KEEPS SAYING HE WANTS EVERYBODY TO GET DONE AND GET OUT BEFORE THEY DO ANY MORE DAMANGE! It makes me think of that awful TV ad slogan: "This is my money and I want it now!" We could change it to "This is my house and I want it now!"

On the bright side (S), we are buying some new furniture, always a fun thing! I finally found a vanity chair for my master bath as well as two counter stools for the island. Today I am taking my husband to Murfreesboro to show him the furniture my mother and I picked out two weeks ago so he can pay for it (ha). Seriously, I think he will like it, but we'll see. We picked out a leather couch, matching recliner, a coordinating upholstered chair, and dining room chairs, all at better prices than I have seen anywhere else (Ashley Furniture). Tomorrow morning will find us sowing 750 pounds and over $400 worth of fertilizer that finally came in. I had to make a 3 hour round trip drive yesterday to pick it up in Cleveland, TN! By for now! Enjoy the Superbowl!

PHASE FIVE: Week 34 - Let There Be Light!

Week of January 18th - We can hardly believe that the end is drawing near! The plumbing, electric, & HVAC are in process and our granite counter tops are now in. Our beautiful "Mystery" granite and sinks were installed by Rocky Top Marble & Granite & they did a beautiful job. We didn't have enough left of our two slabs to do the master bathroom tub surround and back splash, so will be having those done next week in the same tile as that on the bathroom floor. Our electrician/plumber, Jeff Thomas, has also had his crew very busy*****All of our faucets, plumbing and appliances are in, as well as our light fixtures. As of today we actually have temporary electricity inside the house (not via extension cord from a temporary meter outside of the house) and it was a thrill to see our lights all turned on. We think our lighting is simply perfect for us!!! *****Have I mentioned that our outlet covers were made by an electrical company Norman found out of state? They are made of carved pine (then stained to match our logs by yours truly) to fit round logs and look much better than the regular outlet covers. I'll have to take a picture for you. *****The big holdup now is our HVAC guy, who has been behind because of the cold weather, but he is supposed to come at the beginning of next week. Our electrician is waiting for him to install the downdraft and blower for our cook top so he can do that wiring. He also has to install the fresh air outlet for the fireplace. Both of these items require pipe that goes under the house then outside through the foundation. Once all of that is done, we can have our state electrical inspection and actually have heat in the house! Norman is getting very, very tired of running to Monteagle every day to spend $20 a day for the two kerosene heaters we have to keep running 23/7*****Once we have the electrical inspection and the tile done, the building inspector can come and, assuming we pass muster, will give us an OK and a certificate of occupancy. We can then actually move in, even though our mortgage won't finalize until after a final appraisal. Before we move in, however, it may take us several days to tidy up. Our log walls all have to be washed, along with our windows and floors, and touch-up painting and staining done. Our mortgage company sent out our home inspector (a very nice guy named John) for what we hope will be the last visit and draw. Other Items to be done sooner or later, before or after closing: 1) Closet & Pantry Shelving & Hanging Towel Rods, Toilet Tissue Holders, etc: Norman and I will be working on that this weekend; 2) landscaping - soil fertilizer application: I had to special order this (Greensand, it is called, comes from the sea) and have to pick it up in Cleveland when I find time for the 3 hour round trip drive 3) Hot Tub: We simply haven't had time to spend a day putting it together. It may not happen until after we move in; 4) Dog Fence: Ditto. We did decide on a design and our interior finishing guys, Sam & Skip, have agreed to handle some or all of this for us (more on that later); 5) Driveway Finishing: This may not occur until Spring. We need to have three stumps ground out of our new turnaround drive, the driveway leveled out where there are holes left by ze big trucks and machines, and several more loads of gravel plus crusher run to finish it all out; 6) Walkways: we will be having a 4' wide path made of stone from our turnaround to our front door. We will be contracting with A1 Building Supply masons to do this (for a good price), but the weather has first been too rainy, now too frozen to do it, so hopefully this will happen within a few weeks; 7) Rugs & furnishings: we have bought our great room rug and picked out our dining room rug and are very happy with our choices. In a week or so we are going to Murfreesboro where my Mother & I found some great choices and great prices (Ashley Furniture) in terms of couches, chairs, and bar stools. I am hoping my hubby will like what we found and agree to order everything we need from that one place! Of course, we will still need items like bathroom towels and rugs, etc.***So when, you ask, are we moving in? We told our landlord we will be renting through February, so my best guess is....

MOVE IN DAY GUESSTIMATE: Weekend of February 21st

PHASE FOUR Weeks 29, 30, 31, 32,33

Weeks of Dec. 15th, 21st, 28th, Jan 4th & 11th - PICTURES: If you click on these they will enlarge & you can see a lot of detail. As you can see our grass (actually sweet peas & oats) are coming in & most of the interior work is now finished. Wow, have I been bad about keeping up with this blog or what? The holidays, company before, during & after, and get togethers with friends along with the ongoing log home work kept us so busy we could hardly see straight! Except for a day or two off for Xmas & New Year's Day, our "guys" worked straight through the holidays as did we. Here's what was done: 1) Drywall painting - all done, but it needed a second coat so we paid the guys a couple of hundred dollars to do that (not bad, huh?); 2) Floor tile - all finished except for the final sealing & looking good; 3) Hardwood Flooring - the guys complained that our wood was NOT #1 select grade and was harder to put down that it should have been, but it looks gorgeous. They used #30 roofing felt under it to moisture proof it and cut down on squeaks, etc. We had enough left over from our roofing to handle it except for one roll (about $30); 4) Trim - This is now almost finished & has been the most time consuming thing so far. It is a lot trickier to trim out round logs than drywall plus the guys had to clear coat stain it first. We have stained the interior logs a light honey for some contrast, leaving the trim natural and clear coating it; 5) Cabinets finished & installed (they are natural hickory) & the workmanship is simply wonderful!). All of our appliances have been delivered and are sitting in the dining room area waiting to be installed; 6) Doors & door knobs - all hung now & Norman and I finished sealing (clear coat) the interior doors this past weekend; 7) Crawl space door built & hung. Issues: Our front & mudroom doors should have been completed finished before hung as now the temporary doors won't fit and we will probably have to hang plastic or put up cardboard to cover the doorways so the doors can be brought inside where it is warm enough to varnish them. Also, we still don't have any heat other than kerosene heaters, which has become very expensive. Our electrician was a no-show last week and we are waiting on him to handle this. We got permission from our county building inspector to go ahead and get the heat turned on without a final inspection, as we have to keep the house warm because of the wood (and because the weather is now occasionally below freezing!). When do we move in? We are behind schedule about a month and THINK all will be done in a week or so. Our granite subs came by last week to measure & should be cutting our granite today. We ordered special made wooden outlet covers because of the round logs & they should be here this week. We will be tiling the area above our kitchen cabinets, but that could be done later as it is not under our mortgage. Ditto the hot tub, which is sitting in our rental house waiting for the weekend we have time to assemble it. We have been unable to stain any of the porch rails & spindles because of the rainy, cold weather, so this may also happen after we move in. After the granite & final trim is done, as well as the final electrical & plumbing hookups, we will then have to wait on the state electrical inspector, building inspector, mortgage inspector, and appraiser before we can even set a closing date, so it looks like it will probably be February before we move in.