On Politics

Received great news from the Isle of Wight Commissioner of the Revenue - our tax relief court order was signed today. Want to publicly tell all my neighbors who follow this to remember Mr. Gwaltney at the polls when he is up for re-election (on a four year term) - he is a wonderful public servant, and has our support!! Definately the elected official who has delivered results for us!

Interesting that the most action on this topic has been from the local government - the smallest government with the fewest resources. The State has been sympathetic, but nothing substantive (Delegate Glenn Oder (Newport News) still has my support; my own delegate... not so much). And ah, the federal level... still love my "air pollution" letter response from Senator Webb... the best. Inaction. Enough to make you political...

On progress notes - spoke to Jorge as well as Robbie (TIW owner) today, and both felt we're still on track for painting on Saturday (hooray!!). Knockdown being applied tomorrow, and final wall sanding and clean-up on Friday. They were here with another application of mud today - looks (and smells) great!

Sat down to do more drywall mapping, and got totally distracted with email and web-surfing. Ugh. Anyone want to kill some time and do some drywall mapping for me? It's fun, really! On a serious note, I do have a plan for bankruptcy claim filing - running past some trusted advisors now...

Map Making

Spent 3 hours making drywall maps. Not quite as boring as evidence logging, but close. Should be the last day of 100+ heat this week - supposed to rain tonight and cool off the rest of the week (thankfully).

No progress on walls today - Jorge (the job supervisor) called to say the crew couldn't make it today, but he came by to mark places to redo (which he did). He also said he'd come back by at 5pm to review status with me, which he did not. Not too concerned - looks good - but hoping for more progress tomorrow.

Baking

Hot. Really Hot.

Spent a few hours on the computer and finished evidence logging the actual drywall - map still needs several hours to finish. Expect to finish by Saturday and be all finished with remediation documentation prior to painting.

Not making progress on bankruptcy claim... need to get on that...

Down day

Nothing much to report today. Spent a couple hours at the house - installed a stud in the Master Shower that was needed (previously, drywall into the shower due to this problem, TIW wasn't so keen on that idea). Did find (lost?) a walled-over outlet - marked it, but didn't want to cut into the drywall. I'm sure the guys will find it this week. Also spent some time organizing and backing up some files, and spent some quality time on the bank's website - staying afloat, happy to report.

Then took the kids to Busch Gardens... difficult to relax (need a cooler activity at least), but getting there.

I'll update progress on the walls tomorrow.

Walls Up!

Blogging a little early - evidence logging is monotonous and needed a break. Outlet. Outlet. Switch. Outlet. Outlet. Switch. Pipe. Pipe. Fixture. Outlet. Switch... you get the idea.

Took the kids for donuts and the zoo today - had a great time. Needed to get some things done at house, pick up mail, and the drywall crew wanted to talk today too, so stopped by in the afternoon.

When I got home this afternoon, the house was fully drywalled, all scrap in the dumpster (my 5th, by the way), house swept clean, and all seams were taped and mudded! Met with Jorge from TIW just now, and I think he just wanted to see if I was surprised - which I was, happily. We walked the house, no missing wires outlets, or electrical work boxes - everything looked great. I have one stud to add in the bathroom which I'll do tomorrow.

Outlook going forward - nothing tomorrow, but back in to re-mud and sand Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday - finish coat and knockdown Thursday and Friday - he hopes to be completely done on Friday - ready to paint on Saturday! At worst, paint on Sunday. I got a weekend back!!

On another note, TRAGEDY STRUCK while I was away. Apparently, somebody turned the little dorm fridge in the attic up to maximum cold last week. Yesterday, with nobody opening it in the 100 degree heat to let the cold out, all the Guinness froze and several caps popped off and leaked their sweet nectar (in a slushy form) all over the fridge. Oh, the humanity! And what's worse was all the Bud Light survived! Who is going to drink this Bud Light now that Angie and Paul are gone!?! Will the torment and suffering this project is imposing on me never end!?!

OK, back to work...

More Walls

Sorry I didn't write last night - had a retirement party for Jen's boss, and didn't get home until late.

I did stop by the house Friday, and the progress on the new walls is going great. The original estimate was two days - it isn't going THAT great, but will be three. The upstairs is done, the downstairs ceiling is done, and many downstairs walls are done. The guys said they wanted to finish today, but didn't know if they'd be able (allowed?) to - no issues on my end...

I, again, didn't log an hour. I do have some important legal chores to accomplish - finish evidence logging for one, so I may spend some time there today. Although, the third floor thermostat read 99 - I didn't believe it, I think it just didn't have three digits... it felt like, well, 105 at least.. ;-) Not entirely sure I want to sit up there on the computer... (at Aunt Becky's now)

Well, William and I are going to get "nonuts"... I'll write again tonight if anything actually happens today.

WALLS!

I can no longer see across the house upstairs... it's a good feeling. There are walls in every room, but not every room is done. The second floor ceiling is done though. I'd be surprised if they finished hanging tomorrow, but we'll see.

I spent some quality time updating maps and printing drywall photos - I have a good system, but it will take some time. I also looked at the Orleans Bankruptcy Claim form - not really suited to our situation, but I'll figure out a reasonable force fit with just a little bit more thought...

Move Again?

Today, rented a truck, another storage site, and moved all the doors, chairs, shop-vacs, air compressor, lights, and all the other work material we had in the house. The house is really empty now.

Tomorrow, meeting the drywall crew between 8 and 9; have to remove a couple outlets that we had been using, a couple other loose ends. Go over schedule and workload with drywall crew, and then take a physical breather for a while.

Over the next two weeks, my attention will turn from physical work to mental exercises and more organization. Need to update my drywall maps - have good records now, but not reproducible, and difficult to read (hand written while removing) - want to digitize; have some financial hoops to jump through, and some legal ducks to get in a row. Still plan to come to the house daily, but will only spend a few hours each day and stay with Jen and the kids - the power will be off during construction, and A/C off to keep the dust out of the system - even if is isn't CD dust...

Pass and Final Prep

Passed Mechanical and Insulation inspection. Angie and David covered the floor, removed the doors, cleaned up the tools, threw away the unused insulation, and otherwise prepped for drywall delivery.

I took another night off - Jen and my 8th Anniversary - had dinner out (terrible service, good food), ice cream... we got each other the exact same Hallmark card - uncanny - I got a nail-gun as an anniversary gift; pretty cool.

Tomorrow, Angie and David head to Ohio in the morning. I'll pick up the rental truck and load up the doors, fans, ladders, lights, compressor, etc etc and take them to yet another storage shed we've rented. Will also remove the three remaining outlets, clean up the phone/cable box - and should be ready for drywall delivery. Can't wait.

Insulation Done

Paul left today; thanks for the big help this weekend - insulation went great!

Ready for insulation inspection tomorrow. Did a little cleaning today. Assuming all goes smoothly tomorrow with the inspection, will protect hardwood floors again (using a product called "ramboard"), then remove doors, clean more, tools to third floor, change locks, tear down Geoff's attic fan, and get ready to move out on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Angie and David leave, I move everything left here out into storage in the late afternoon (help welcome), and still on track for drywall on Thursday. That also means a break for me for about two weeks... will concentrate on the legal stuff then, I suppose, since I'm on the clock now with the builder's bankruptcy. More to come there.

I have never smelled this bad before

...and I'm not talking about my sense of smell. Insulated ceiling of second floor all day. I was "on" the ceiling in the afternoon, and I have never sweat so much in my life. Booked 42.9 hours, and the ceiling still isn't done. No walls. Now I know why they use that blown insulation...

Got some other minor chores done too - putty in the outlets, new drain pipe in the kitchen, bathtub faucet disconnected. Put a pretty big dent in the insulation stores today too - didn't count, but used more than I expected. Will update again tomorrow.

We'll have to be busy tomorrow to make inspection on Tuesday. I still think we're on track.

PS - we broke the 1000 hour mark the the project today - 1000.7 hours so far. I cracked the 300 mark today too - 307 hours and 53 days (one day off). Illustrates how much help I've had too - thank God for family and friends.

Puttin our house in the pink

Set a record for hours logged in a single day (43.1; old record was 42.0) - and completely insulated the first floor - including the bathroom interior walls and family room ceiling (for acoustic reasons). R19 is awesome.

The insulation quantity is an interesting issue. Yesterday I mentioned we had enough to do the house twice - that may be factual. We had 8 cases (800 batts) designated for the first floor, and we are only 340 batts into the job. That leaves ~1,600 for the second floor... hmmm... I guess it is better than the opposite problem!

The new air conditioning installation was finished - mostly. A small electronic problem (the 3rd floor thermostat turned on the second floor air), but the owner of the company is on his was over personally (as I write this) to sort that out - so hopefully fixed by lights out.

Tomorrow, have high hopes to get the second floor done, but expect that will spill into Monday. Regardless, on track for a Tuesday inspection, Wednesday to correct if necessary, and WALLS ON THURSDAY!!

Itchy itchy

Began installing fiberglass. Bad news - the metric width is too large for a stud bay, so it all has to be cut - the good news, cutting it is a piece of cake. I have a nice jig I built yesterday and it works like a champ. Also, there are 20 batts in each of the poly bags - of which I have 100. So... 2,000 batts... should do the trick. Probably twice.

Angie, Paul, and David arrived. The insulation crew. I have high confidence that we'll be done by end of day on Monday. Plenty of time for inspection and final touches before sheetrock on Thursday... Exciting stuff.

Seal the deal

Slow Chinese Drywall day relatively speaking. Ductwork removed from the second floor. Built a jig for cutting insulation. Sealed all the doors and windows with foam insulation. Jennifer bought insulation springs so we can begin installing fiberglass tomorrow. Will probably stop at Lowes to pick up some work boxes for the new speaker wires and component cables; also want to add HDMI connection to the entertainment pre-wire.

Tomorrow, new ducts get installed upstairs; downstairs A/C unit gets connected. David, Angie, and Paul arrive. Touch up window and door seals. Begin installing insulation.

Next Phase Begins!

Busy day today - Joey left in the afternoon - a big THANKS! for all the help the last several days. We received the mechanical permit today, and we also hosted the inspector... again... better result - passed all rough-in work and we are clear to begin insulation. No objections by inspector to begin insulation prior to mechanical inspection (A/C) so that work will start tomorrow. To that end, 1,700 lbs of insulation arrived (thanks Dad!), and was unloaded. I've never been so filthy in my life - felt like a chimney-sweep - but it is in the house, ready to go.

Did another round of air-washing in the downstairs, and sealed windows until material ran out. Duct work wrapping up downstairs, and will start upstairs tomorrow; still on track for a Saturday A/C system start; still working toward a Thursday week drywall start.

On a legal note, Orleans set their bar date for Aug 9th - so I have some legal legwork to decide on/get started in July. Thanks Uncle Ted for keeping an eye on that for me! Thinking about having a "professional" environmental engineering firm come through to certify the drywall removal - don't know who or how that can be done... Have a feeler out...

Ready for inspection... again...

Today, Uncle Joe left for home; Joey worked the electrical prep all day - we're ready to go... again... Got my mechanical permit today - also today, downstairs ductwork removed and new duct installation began. Rigid ducts this time ("spider" ducts before) so a big efficiency gain. A/C units arrived; replacing 13 SEER with 14 downstairs, and with 16 SEER and 95+ furnace upstairs - exciting. Will be without A/C tomorrow through Saturday - but cooled off nicely tonight - so hopeful it won't be unbearable. Still have the Rugnetta's window unit installed just in case.

Tomorrow, electric inspection, more duct installation; some vacuum and ventilation, insulation arrives between 9 and noon; Joey leaves on a 4pm train to DC for a few days before home to Minnesota. Best case scenario, I'll begin some insulation installation tomorrow. I'm itchy already.

Failure

Well, the inspection was very anti-climactic. In about 5 minutes, we were passed for plumbing, but failed electrical. Apparently, for rough-in, the wire needs to be stripped, and the ground wires tied together - all right length in the box for switches. So, we got a good jump on doing that, and will shoot for re-inspection on Wednesday.

Insulation is in Norfolk, but no delivery available for tomorrow - but confirmed for Wednesday between 9 and noon. Uncle Joe leaves tomorrow, Joey on Wednesday afternoon, so still will have help unloading. Big thanks to them for the past several days - a huge help.

A/C replacement to begin tomorrow with equipment delivery and new duct installation - ECD Saturday. Assuming I pass electrical inspection on Wednesday, will begin insulation installation on Thursday with targeted mechanical inspection next Monday, and insulation inspection next Tuesday. To help with insulation, David is returning, along with sister Angie and brother-in-law Paul on Friday. Family is wonderful.

I booked wall installation to begin on Thursday (6/24). It will SO nice to have walls back. That gives me only one day of schedule slop (Wednesday, 6/23) in case of inspection failure - but I'm pretty confident that I have this under control.

I think my knees are sweating

Hot one today, but a good one. Hopefully not to jynx inspection tomorrow, but rough-in electrical and plumbing are D-U-N (knock on wood).

Something weird though, and hot off the press, but the hot water isn't running anywhere. The hot water heater pilot is lit, but the burner isn't running (ie, hot water in tank) - when I turned up the dial, it came on - so water heater is not broken. The main was off for a few hours only, just the afternoon; no hot water in master tub, 3rd bath sink or shower - none of that plumbing was touched. I'm planning to ignore this one until tomorrow. Have any thoughts? Cold shower tonight.

Hopefully the inspection will go well tomorrow. Expecting insulation to arrive in Norfolk tomorrow (in NC now; here at house on Tuesday), and new ducts being installed tomorrow - a good thing too - I checked on that (arms length) and it is full of dust. What kind of duct, dunno, but coated thick.

PS (11:05 PM) - figured out the cold shower issue - no valve body in the rough-in shower fittings, so it basically connects the hot and cold to each other... pressure in the cold line is higher... pressure driven flow... brrrr....

Pace still on track

Very good progress today. Two more wires to deal with, then electrical is done, finally. Plumbing day tomorrow - on track for inspection on Monday. A couple of low voltage items left to deal with - thermostat, doorbell started, speaker wire...

Guess it's worthwhile to discuss what we're finding and doing about electrical. 80% of the exposed copper, downstairs or up, is corroded. For the most part, downstairs (domestic walls), cutting back a few inches exposes good, clean, shiny wire. In the upstairs, some of the ground wire can be corroded several feet - for example, the wire controlling the fan in the master bath was corroded all the way to the ceiling before we got to clean wire. In any event, at the end of this work, I estimate that 80% of the wire will be completely new, and 98% will be corrosion free; the remaining 2% is very minor discoloration, no pitting - and is only left out of necessity.

Look for electrical and plumbing rough-in complete tomorrow!

Scrap-up Weekend

Today - more electrical, phone, bathroom fan replacement. Uncle Joe and Joey framed the new pantry - looks great. Getting ready for an important weekend...

On Monday, inspection, duct replacement. Tuesday, insulation delivery. Wednesday, A/C replacement. SO... it is important for us to complete plumbing and electrical this weekend. Still need to finish the master bath plumbing, coat closet wiring, move a J-box into the crawl space. Figure out the foyer/3d floor cross-wire issue... basically finish all the hard stuff we've left so far - and find time to clean.

A good weekend to stop by if you're up for volunteering. Will probably get a dedicated task...

Light at the end of the tunnel

More electrical done today. 1 more J-box to move (into the crawl space), and the front hall closet, but then done. Plumbing prevents scheduling inspection tomorrow - but will be OK; enough to do this weekend.

On tap tomorrow, build kitchen pantry; finish the eletrical, maybe some low voltage re-wiring. This weekend, finish plumbing, clean, clean, clean, speaker wire, empty the house of furniture, etc.

The insulation is presently (as of 9PM) in Nashville, TN and stopped. According to google, that's 11 hours away - if he comes straight here. I'm having doubts that it will arrive tomorrow - but with no inspection until Monday anyway, not a problem...

Crew Change

Big event today was the departure of Dave after 27 consecutive days averaging 9.4 hours per day - big time help; and the arrival of Uncle Joe and cousin Joey for a long weekend.

Took a half day off work to work electrical - finished the kitchen, moved into the family room. Talked to the county - did learn that walled-in junction boxes are indeed out of code (good tip Andy) so we moved the three such j-boxes downstairs, and we'll move the four such upstairs tomorrow - not really a big deal now - failing inspection wouldn't have been too cool.

Got a price for new A/C, and probably going to do that next week. Needs to be done before walls - so not much more time to think about it.

Tomorrow, electrical in family room, re-frame the TV nook, fix the upstairs j-boxes, maybe move to low-voltage electrical. Friday plumbing master bath and receive insulation; weekend final cleaning, finish low voltage, new speakers, frame new pantry, maybe some minor insulation work (that won't interfere with inspection), and keep plugging...

Play Ball!

Well, David worked during the day today, but I didn't log a single hour.

Uncle Dave and I took the kids to the Tides game, saw 9 runs in 4 innings, the kids both ate whole hot-dogs, Will was on the jumbo-tron waving to the stadium, I caught a foul ball for Abby, bought a hat and nerf ball for Will... saw two home runs. A good night off.

Tomorrow, Uncle Dave leaves for Ohio to watch the dog for a couple weeks. Uncle Joe and Joey arrive from Minnesota at 12:30. 1,700 lbs of insulation has left Arizona and entered New Mexico at 8:55 pm. Cool.

More electrical

More electrical replacement. Still a few odds and ends upstairs, but started on the downstairs. I folded and called a pro to come and inspect for a few hours - make sure we're doing this right, and also to help me with these crossed circuits - I'm struggling. Just left a message, but we'll see what it'll cost.

I was hoping to have inspection by Friday and insulation this weekend, but that appears unlikely. Tomorrow David will work downstairs more, but in the evening we're planning to take the kids to a Tides game, and on Weds David is leaving and Uncle Joe and Joey are arriving - so probably not too much progress the next two days. It'll probably work out for the best though, still a lot to do and no need to rush. We'll push through it this weekend, try to get to inspection Momday or Tuesday, and start insulation after that.

Don't let your babies grow up to be electricians

Good progress. Plumbing is actually kinda fun. Got to solder new shower plumbing in the kids bath today - that made the morning. Then came the afternoon...

Electric work stinks.

We re-wired, and re-wired, and re-wired. Cut back, new junction box, splice, replace, new wire, not enough slack, pull staples, strip wire, hand cramp on wire nut, shocked!?! What? Another big surprise - the third floor and living room circuits are connected to each other. Not sure how or why, but pretty sure it isn't right. Not really safe I'm sure - Mike will tell ya. Thanks to Mike, by the way, for helping out again today - and sorry about the jolt. And thanks to David for pulling the bulk of the load on electric so far. Sorry plumbing is more fun.

It really was a productive day; the detail work is just more tedious than the earlier demolition. My baseline schedule allowed 9 days for electric and plumbing, and my new schedule shows 15 - we're 6 days into it; will be more than 9, but I can't see it being 15... Just need to be patient and get through it.

Tomorrow - more electrical. Plumbing is stalled waiting for 4 PEX stub-outs and new tub and shower fixtures for the master bath to rough in. We haven't cleaned seriously for a few days - need to get to that again soon too.

Plumbing Progress

More odds-and-ends progress today. Moved the refrigerator connections, re-plumbed or cleaned the downstairs PEX as necessary - undid the upstairs showers, but ran out of parts to re-connect. David worked electrical - installed three junction boxes to close out some of the upstairs circuits, installed the fan connection in Will's room, installed nailer strips needed for the drywall installation (some sub-standard drywall work previously - imagine that).

Found a few more pieces of CD today under the kids bathtub.

Tomorrow, re-build master shower, re-plump kids bath, run speaker wire into dining room, pull out outlets/switches downstairs, run thermostat wire, run doorbell wire, move telephone wire to foyer, spend a couple quality hours with a shop-vac. Volunteers welcome - though I may send you into the crawl space to pull wire...

Data Arrives

Good progress today. More scrap-up this weekend. Big news - fiberglass scheduled to arrive on 6/11. I think this will be pretty good timing - we're continuing to make great progress.

Other big news, finally finished logging all of the removed drywall. If you've ever talked to me about it - I'd usually estimate 70% of the drywall was Chinese; I must know what I'm talking about because here's the count:

Chinese Drywall Proved by Stamp 130
Chinese Drywall Proved by End-Tape 90
Unmarked - Suspected Chinese Drywall 103
Domestic Drywall Proved by Stamp 83
Domestic Drywall Proved by End-Tape 28
Unmarked - Suspected Domestic Drywall 15
Unknown (missing data) 18

323 pieces of Chinese drywall of the 467 that we removed, by count: 69.2%.

Today: 0%

Electrical Progress

Today, David and Geoff replaced nearly all of the electrical wire on the second floor. Jen and I decided to replace everything accessible, but leave the 20-odd lines that run into the breaker box. Those lines are generally located in the crawl space (downstairs), attic above the insulation, or garage - all where there was no CD - and also the lines where there was CD was generally perfectly fine anyway. Replacing the rest is an inexpensive risk reduction, but replacing the last run was just deemed to be too much of diminished return to bother with. I can sleep at night with this decision.

Today, I met with two vendors - one for drywall and the other for ventilation replacement - both very positive meetings. Then another trip to Lowes for another 500' of electrical wire.

Tomorrow, finish the second floor wiring and take a big bite out of the downstairs. It's been two days since the last air-washing, so that it also due. If I can get to a little more plumbing, so much the better.

Plumbing and Electrical Begin

I finally pulled some Romex and inspected it. About an 8-ft line in Will's room between two outlets, severe discoloration in the jacket, adjacent to A/C tubing which was completely corroded - a good candidate I thought. Cut the wire in half, then stripped it. Gleaming copper. Smooth to the touch (I can feel the corrosion elsewhere). I'm pretty comfortable that the electrical is adequately protected. HOWEVER, I've also done some soul searching about risk, cost, time, etc and decided to spend $150 on some wire and start changing it out - see how tough, how much, how long... ie, get some experience with it - see how it goes... I still haven't decided completely. So...


Long trip to Lowes. Bought 500 ft of wire. Started Phases 6 (Electrical) and 7 (Plumbing) today. David finished the rough-in (framing) of the wall safe, and then re-wired Will's room; I stubbed-out the plumbing in the kids bathroom - which was remarkably easy - I like that PEX plumbing.


In other news, A/C is repaired - thank goodness, the risk of a mutiny by my key volunteer was increasing daily. I spoke to several vendors today - Indoor Air refuses to quote duct replacement only - will provide a quote for total replacement (that I asked for 2 weeks ago) "today".. but since the day is almost over, I guess not actually today either. Another vendor is coming tomorrow to quote new ducts. My 'preferred' drywall guy has also stopped returning calls, and owed me an updated quote days ago... I also called another drywall company about 2 weeks ago - finally a call back today and meeting tomorrow after the duct guy. I'm starting to worry that the vendors will upset my schedule more than I ever will...

Also on the logistics front, spoke to Sen. Mark Warner's Office today. They sent a letter on Apr 8 which promised a response in 30 days... so, I called them to find out what's up - they told me my problem had been addressed - great - I was granted a forbearance on my mortgage... um... that's not what I wrote about. I did that myself without any help. Oh.. what was it that you wrote about? !!insert scream here!!! Ugh, I need to send them another letter (they actually asked for it, unbelievable). I called the IRS myself as well today - same response. I guess it was better than Sen. Webb's office - they just sent me a form letter about his position on air pollution (it's bad, apparently)...

...and David finally passed me in MH put in - 199 to 196...

Catchin our breath

Relatively slow CD day. David did some more cleaning; I went back to work. Geoff loaned us their whole house fan - David and I installed it in a horizontal orientation in Abby's room blowing out of the window. It will provide some nice ventilation for a couple weeks.

I can rant about Lowe's web site. I bought the plumbing supplies I needed online last night, and arranged to pick them up - should save me some time so I could get something done tonight, right? Wrong. Wrong parts, not enough parts - took me 40 minutes in line while they tried to decide if I had already paid, or owed, find the right stuff, ugh.. painful. I'll just shop in person from now on.

Tomorrow, David will frame the wall safe, and when I get home, we'll start on the plumbing. I'll probably finally cut into some of the house circuits to take a look. Or maybe put it off some more...