June 28 - Amish are done but Windows are NOT!!!

The Amish finished up by 2:30 pm today. They swept up and stacked any surplus materials in the garage. Got the bill, shook their hands and thanked them all for a job well done....and done fast.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that not one Eagle window has been made yet!!! The lumber yard got an order confirmation from Eagle Windows in late May. But Eagle somehow lost our order and hadn't done a thing about building our windows and sliders! Lockridge Lumber read them the riot act and (supposedly) we'll have the order within two weeks. But that's a setback for us. The Amish crew got us ahead of schedule and now the Eagle Window folks have dropped the ball.

 Great Room

 Kitchen & Dining with Master Bedroom/Bath/WIC behind the stud walls.

Deck view to south.

Great Room with stairwell down in center & front entry on right.

Cigar stations 1-6.

Next up....

• geothermal system wells may get drilled (in the front yard) in the next couple of weeks
• finalize with whom to build our kitchen cabinets
• walk-thru with Tom Lenig for plumbing and electrical rough-in
• pick out a direct vent gas fireplace
• measure and order fireplace stone & exterior stone
• exterior siding is ordered
• worry about what insulation purchase.....to foam or not to foam

......and wait for those windows.

June 27 - Amish will be done tomorrow

I believe the Amish are pretty well done with shingles. I don't know how they handled the heat all day but they did. They'll literally wrap up their work tomorrow (Tyvek completely around the house) and give way to our primary builder Tom Lenig. The windows should be showing up any day and that's where Tom will get more actively involved in the construction process.

We met for 4 hours today at our place with a young Amish cabinet maker. After 4 hours of conversation and drawing, he was able to give us a price for our kitchen cabinets. This young man does not advertise his business. All his business is by word of mouth and referrals. He has no computer, of course. Just a briefcase, graph paper, a calcualtor and a pencil. This makes three bids on our kitchen cabinets that we will be considering. We'll make the decision some day next week.

All the while, his young driver waited outside in their Ford Excursion in the 100 degree heat. We offered to let him come inside the house but our offer was declined. 

At dusk, the deer really come out around here. Monday evening we saw a fox, a bobcat, two large bucks with impressive racks, too many does to count and a momma skunk with 5 little ones. 

A little earlier this evening we saw some antlers but I didn't get a good pic. Here are two yearlings who crossed our driveway right before sunset. There were at least 6 deer hanging out on Meadow Ct. this evening.

June 26 - Today marks 10 days of work by Amish

They're still roofing. Hopefully, I won't have to pay to have this house shingled again in my lifetime!

Here Dave is building an "eyebrow" roof line on the gable end of the garage.

Iowa is expecting temps close to 100 degrees tomorrow. I'm thinking they'll try to finish up items that get them off the roof. They are about 75% done with the shingling. They have soffit yet to do and one more eyebrow on the NW end of the garage. 

Today marks 10 days of work for this crew of five Amish men. 

Here is where they started two weeks ago.

Ten days from the foundation above to this.

June 25 - Shingles

They finished the trusses and plywood on the roof today and started shingling.

June 22 - Great Day to Wrap Up Week 7

What a gorgeous day! The lake was like glass most of the day.

Brenda took Connor for his first kayak paddle in the morning and then they played in the water.

The Amish brought back young James (8) and young Jared (9) made his first visit to Sundown. The boys had brought their fishing poles but didn't catch a thing all day. They watched with envy as Brenda and Connor cooled off in the lake. So they asked their dads if it was okay to go swimming with Brenda and Connor. They quickly peeled off their shoes and socks (pants and shirts stayed on) and cautiously accepted coaching from Brenda on using the swim noodles and foam swim boards. They are not good swimmers. The Amish boys even took turns paddling the kayak on their own.

Later in the afternoon we took all the boys for a long boat ride in the Lund. I deliberately did not take direct pictures of the Amish boys since none of them really want their pictures taken.

Lots of plywood got applied to the roof today and started to apply house wrap.

The Amish plan to shingle the roof early next week. They are bringing extra help on Monday. 

Here's where we are on the project:

June 21 - Awesome with the Trusses Up!

First of all, Paul De Jong is doing ok today. He let Chad drive, though, when they stopped by to check on something with their septic installation. Good to hear that he is handling the discomfort okay and nothing is broken.

As reported earlier, the Amish were not supposed to be working here today. Since we got less than 1/2"  of rain, however, they decided to take advantage of a beautiful day with light breezes and keep cracking on the roof. It's quite amazing to see the transformation of the structure.

We're blessed to be in our position to observe and interact with the construction process on a daily basis. We made a request this morning to bump out one wall of the master bedroom closet by a foot which will be an easy change. Nice to be here to get that handled so easily.

Drew Power stopped by at noon and we made our final decisions on the siding so he can get the order placed.

Connor got to check out the action from the Gator this morning. And, mom and dad, he has the seatbelt fastened. He is thoroughly enjoying rides in the Gator with Trapper in the back.

By mid-afternoon all the trusses are up. I walked through and around the house to snap these shots before we head into town. When Connor gets up from his nap we're going to Centerville to shop and have some dinner.

They've started putting up plywood sheathing on the roof before they quit for the day.

It's pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

Connor just got up and says, "Are they still working on the house? Wow, are they almost done? They still have to put some carpet in it."

June 20 - Roof Trusses Arrive

The trusses have arrived. The Amish are ready start building the roof on the house today.

Unfortunately, the winds are gusting 20-30 mph again this morning. 

About 9:45 I was talking to Paul De Jong as he continued to work on the septic installation. He showed me the control box and the filters that he will inspect and clean twice a year. 

The picture above was taken minutes before my conversation with Paul. I walked away towards the dock to get a pic of the deck framework, turned and saw two sheets of plywood flying off the deck towards Paul. You can see the sheets on the deck in the pic above. When I got back up the hill, his son-in-law Chad was attending to Paul. Both sheets had struck him in the back and he was down. 

Chad got him some water and some Advil out of the truck. I sure hope he's okay but I'm fearful he'll be hurting for a period of days. He has a large welt across the middle of his back behind his left rib cage. Hopefully, he didn't break a rib. Below is a pic of the two sheets on the ground and Paul and Chad to the left.

I went to find the Amish team lead and advised him to get the plywood sheets off the deck which they did. They failed to tack down the sheets that they were standing on to work on the deck. They had moved on to other work and left the sheets loose on the deck in this wind. Not good. 

As I write this Paul is back in the hole instructing Chad on how to finish up the PVC pipe work and get the system buttoned up. Chad is not very experienced and just learning. He's not experienced with the excavator. We are expecting rain this evening and Paul wants to finish before it might rain. Stay tuned for the outcome.

5:30 pm....Paul and Chad are back to finish up the septic. Paul had x-rays which will not be read until tomorrow morning but it appears nothing is broken. I know he's going to be really sore. He has other jobs to do yet this week and then next week he is heading to Joplin, MO with others from his church to offer their services for the week. He's really a good man.

The Amish will not be working tomorrow because of the expected overnight storms. They do not want to operate their rented loader in wet muck. The wind blew and blew and is still blowing. I don't know how they did it but they managed to get a good start on setting roof trusses.

First trusses are hoisted into place.

End of Day June 19

Here are some more pics from June 19 after everyone left. I've done two separate posts for today so be sure to scroll down to also see my earlier update.

Shawn Cremer (the concrete guy) had to coach his little league team's game at 5:30. Hope he made it.
And Paul De Jong, working on the septic system, planned to play nine holes in golf league after he left here! It was mid-90's today.

The deck....

The Advantec septic system........

Stairs between levels.....

View looking out the front door.

 The view from the Great Room looking up the driveway.

View towards lake from the kitchen.

And the closing shot from the master bedroom's balcony of our rental house once again.....