Foundation

From the Den looking in to the living room

I went out to the house on Thursday, March 14 to take pictures of the footers that were poured on Tuesday.  Much to my surprise, there was a crew laying block!  On dig day Jeff had said the footers were to be poured early this week and then, because of how they schedule and orchestrate crews with jobs happening locally, the foundation probably wouldn't be set until next week.  At the pace their going, and judging by what I saw at lunch time today, they will probably finish the block work today.  Take a look!

Dig Day 3.8.2013

Gotta have a good Breakfast to dig a good foundation!

Not a lot to say.  Mainly some pictures.  Dig Day was a chilly, March morning.  The excavators came in from about 45 minutes away bright and early around 8AM and started digging shortly before 8:30. 

When we arrived minutes after 8:30, they already had a good bit of the garage wall dug.  This entire process only took until noon.  This was very surprising to me.  When my parents built their house, they ran in to rock.  It took them an entire weekend and LOTS more money to dig their foundation.  So far, this experience has been full of a few pleasant surprises.  This is how it went...



The first few scoops were on the garage wall!



Working on the front porch...







Finished product!  Looking from porch to den, family room and part of dinette





Like I said, they made quick work of it that day!  Jeff, our Field Manager stopped by the site around 11 or 12 and we got to talk to him about next steps, etc.  It's so exciting to see it finally underway!

Until Next Time!

Ciao!

We Have a Dig Date!

The official dig date is... March 5, 2013!!!!!
I'm thrilled we made it to this point and I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us get here!  My husband, dad, and brothers-in-law have worked tirelessly to get the lot cleared.  Also, as I type this, there is a crew scraping and digging and trenching through the ice storm and white out conditions we've had the past two days.  We're so lucky to have such wonderful people around us.

I plan to post pictures of the actual mud pit that's currently being created later today but, for now, here are two pictures of the beautiful weather we had on Monday when they brought the equipment to the lot.

Until Next Time,
Ciao!

Gorgeous sunny day on 2.25

Time to Set the Wheels in Motion

In my last post, I shared that we closed on our loan in January.  Within that week, Tracy at Wayne Homes shared that at that time, we could have a dig date within two weeks of our closing.  The LFD and I didn't love the idea of breaking ground and pouring footers for our home in what is historically the coldest month of a Western PA winter.

Closing Time

Did you sing that the way I do every time I hear it?  No?  Maybe not everyone was as obsessed with Semisonic as I was in high school.  No matter, we have a closing date!

Insurance

Since the first bank determined we may or may not be in a flood zone, we need to hash all of this out with our insurance company.  This means involving the Federal Government and FEMA to prove that we're not in a flood zone.
We're still working on this.  We've sent them three different surveys with three different groups of information and today, they decided they need an elevation certificate.  This entire thing is such a headache.  I'm ready to sell all of our stuff and live in a refrigerator box...

Color Meeting

I must apologize.  This has been an abnormally insane fall.  In the following posts, I'll do my best to catch up and stay caught up!

On August 24, the fun of the early stages of building a Wayne home took place.  We had our Color Selection Meeting!  During this meeting we decided on everything from carpets and flooring to bathroom and kitchen fixtures.