we have WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as i was uploading pictures i got a text from joe...they are done with drywall and are working on mudding the seams!!!! we are moving!!!! we will be having that painting party before you know it:) like i said in the last post...if anyone likes to paint, please let us know. we have to prime EVERYTHING (ceilings included) and then paint all the rooms. the pictures included are of the kids in their own rooms, which have walls, ceilings, AND closets now! then there is a picture of joe's hard work on the front porch and a picture of the playroom with TALL walls. who knew i would be so excited about drywall! please leave a comment and let us know you stopped by.
thanks,
amber

the walls go up TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

drywall is going to begin tomorrow (12/22)....not a moment too soon! we have heat and insulation. new windows and floors ready to be sanded. we will be having a "painting party" once all the walls are in place. we have a lot of priming and painting that will need done. if anyone is interested in helping and likes to paint...let us know, because we will call on you! the pictures that are included today are of our two new heat pumps, the insulation, the main electrical panel, plumbing, and a glimpse of the new windows.

Starting to take shape even in my head

Well the house finally had updated electric. We have gone through the process of wiring the entire house with probably 6 miles of wire! that passed inspection and we had the service upgraded and now we have 200 amp service feeding the house. We also passed the rough in for framing and the rough in for fire stopping. The plumber fixed the one drain I need to have inspected as my work did not hold air, but it does now and that should be inspected tomorrow. Then the insulation inspection. My father and uncle hung most of if not all of the insulation in the second floor so I will be working on the downstairs this weekend. We also have had the windows installed and they are done with the exception of the aluminum wrapping on the outside of the window. We also just got heat in there today! What a day to get it going! Drywall should start Tuesday and the house will begin to look like a house again! I am looking forward to getting that finished so that I can start putting the finishing touches on the house and make it ours! Thanks for stopping by and checking on us. We are still alive...........if even just a little bit. getting the heat and electricity going was a HUGE energizer for me..............no pun intended!


Joe

kitchen progress

well joe has been very busy with the new/old house. with a much needed week of hunting in west virginia with his dad and uncle and family friends, he is back at it! it is so good to have him back though. the photos included today are of the kitchen cabinet layout. as i had mentioned in an earlier post, we had won a bid on a set of new kitchen cabinets...joe put them in place in the kitchen to give us a better idea of what it would look like (minus the appliances). also, he has "roughed-in" the pantry walls that will surround the basement door...which is ON the kitchen floor....are you with me still....yep, the basement door lifts up from the kitchen floor....but now it will be its own little room with our pantry. the next few weeks will hopefully be JAM PACKED with lots of people coming and working on things like...electrical inspection, HVAC, new windows, drywall....i am beginning to see an end in sight! although we won't be in by christmas this year, we will be in shortly after. please keep checking in on us...and we can't wait to have you over to our new/old home once we are all moved in!

amber

progress!!!!! and....amber lifts a finger:)

thanks for checking in again! a lot has been going on lately. we got the foundation completed. (check) joe and terri got the plumbing done. (check) sub-floor down in my (ahem...the upstairs) bathroom. (check) our next few items on the checklist are:

* gutters

*insulation

* drywall

* floors (sanded and polished)

* walls painted

what do you think.....will we be in by christmas or not:)

hope you enjoy the photos. included in this post are: the new foundation (from the basement...notice all the plumbing tubes), me with a nail gun...YIKES....finally lifting a finger...look out joe:), new ceiling as you walk down the stairs, and the new subfloor in the bathroom.

thanks again for stopping...enjoy!

amber

an update at last!

ok, i know it has been more than a month since there has been any news. we have had a few hang-ups with permits, etc. and all the kiddo's had their own turn with colds/fevers/upset tummies. joe has been at the new/old house as much as possible (with some help from his dad and uncle manual). joe is at the house today working on finshing up the electrical. we visited him after church today and i took some new pictures. we actually had to have annabelle crawl in a small space to help joe reach something out of his reach....thank goodness for little ones:) some of the pictures i am including today are: belle in the crawl space, electrical work, new walls framed, the kitchen with subflooring and no cabinets, and closets framed. thanks again for checking in on us! we are so ready to be in our new/old house!

amber

roof, new kitchen cabinets, and annabelle's first day of kindergarten!

a lot to update on...at this point the roof should almost be completed. the last time we went over there, at least 3/4 of the new roof was up (i have a before picture and an after picture). also, i had mentioned earlier we "won" a bid for new kitchen cabinets. saying "won" makes it seem like they were free....of course they were not! so i have a few pictures of those. joe's uncle and aunt came last weekend and helped with many things....mainly some GREAT advice for joe (since we are still awaiting permits, etc.) it was so good to see them, and have them see some of lancaster. finally, annabelle started kindergarten recently...so i HAD to include a picture of her on her first day! enjoy

amber

down to the studs...

ok, so it has been awhile since i posted...i have been back to school for the past week, but a lot has been done at/with the new old house! we are just about down to the studs upstairs (i think i am saying that right) just a lot of two by fours are visible and we have a lot of nails that need pulled out of them. we are onto our next phase. hopefully we are done with renting the dumpsters...maybe one more?! in the next phase we are to get the electrical, foundation, gutters, and roof completed....and plumbing i think? we have all three chimneys out. we have purchased our new roof. the slate company is coming tomorrow to take off the old roof and then the new one will go up a.s.a.p. also, some EXCITING news (i think i am more excited about this than joe) we went to the building materials auction yesterday. our bid won on a new set of kitchen cabinets!!!! woo-hoo! they are sitting in our new front room, waiting to be installed, but that is a few months away i am sure. we have no pictures of the new cabinets yet. that will be the next post! enjoy these photos of the ch-ch-changes:)

the pictures are all from the upstairs rooms....as you can see, there isn't much to see!

amber

upstairs hall before and after

as we were looking at which photos to put in the latest blog entry...joe really was struck by this one! it kind of sums up the demo/deconstruction process for him. this is a shot from standing in the front(master) bedroom, looking down the hall (first with walls, then with no walls)...to the banister that goes downstairs. needless to say....there has been a lot of trips to the dumpster for the work crew:) we are currently on the fourth dumpster rental!!! thanks again for stopping by!

two posts in one day! that won't happen often:)

amber

and the walls.....came tumbling down!

here are more photos of the progress! some random shots of things we are finding as we uncover the walls. one photo shows a HUGE beehive....another photo shows sap coming from a board in the attic....another shot of the old window weights...such character! also, as joe tore out the walls of the soon to be playroom...we found that the door frame is actually twice the size. to make the door big again or keep it small...that is the question:) upstairs almost ALL the walls are down. there will be one more photo coming in a post soon! check back soon.

amber

the progress continues...

these are all pictures of the master bedroom with all the plaster off the walls. in two of the pictures you can see the ceiling above the entryway. you can even see where the hole is in the entryway ceiling from water damage. so far our room, josie's room, the playroom, and gavin's room are "wall-less"...and joe even found some inactive (thankfully) LARGE beehives in the walls of gavin's room! YIKES!!! we are making progress. the deconstruction/demo process is well underway. thanks again for stopping!

amber

more BEFORE pictures

ok, i still don't know how to caption the photos...i will have to ask some of my buddies with blogs:) here are a few more BEFORE pictures. the house already looks completely different inside, so i am glad we got these pictures pefore the de-construction. here goes...please feel free to leave a comment....we would LOVE to know who has stopped by! these photos include: large upstairs bathroom (with claw-foot tub), joe holding up the basement door....which is on the kitchen floor:).... the empty utility room off of the kitchen, small downstairs bathroom(full), and a picture of our entryway.

amber

lots of progress....and a cute boy with cowboy boots!

well...joe has put in a few long days at the new old place! his uncle and two other guys came to help tear down old walls, etc. what a big help! we have moved the slate removal back a month, because we are not sure exactly how soon we will be getting our new roof. the dumpster is about half full...i wonder how many of those we will fill in this construction process. i am learning a little bit more each time i post a blog entry. in case you didn't notice, there is a poll on the right side of the blog. please take a second to answer the question! now i am going to post some demo pictures. enjoy and thanks for stopping by

amber