Exterior wall complete, now electrical and plumbing.

The past two weeks have really gone by quickly.  During that time the contractor was mainly focused on building a new front wall.  To do so they had to first build a temporary wood wall inside the house.  With the temp wall in place they delivered a dumpster and tore down the old wall in one day.  The next two days the contractor built the new wall with 2x4s.  We had a few issues getting the windows framed where we wanted them, but after a few minor arguments my Dad helped center the first floor window and ensured the new look was symmetrical.  Another feature we requested was to expand the front door from 32inches to 36 inches, 4 inches can really help when moving furniture in. 

  

I was pleased on the fourth day when an expert brick layer showed up for work.  I was a little worried that the contractors general laborers were going to do the work, but instead they just mixed mortar and carried the bricks to the expert.  Overall the construction of the wall went fairly fast.  As they were constructing it, my Dad and I suggested they make two lines of brick come out of the wall a little under the windows and that they place the bricks vertical above the windows.  These two features definitely made the wall more original and to the theme of other rowhouses on the street.

Well my Dad unfortunately had to leave this last week.  He ended up spending about five weeks here in total.  I still can't believe it went so fast.  His last few weeks he worked on a wide variety of important projects that were not part of the contract.  His jobs included fixing leaks in the roof, installing a garage door, installing a new vinyl fence, installing retaining stars on the rear exterior wall, additional framing and a few other jobs.   Each Saturday I helped him for a full day, but other than that he did it all by himself, I was/am very thankful.

 

As soon the contractor finished with the walls, his guys went right back inside and have been trying to finish the electrical and plumbing work.  Their goal is to try and finish both these items by this weekend so they can be paid another big chunk of cash.  All my remodeling costs are financed by a Wells Fargo loan.  So in order for the contractor to get paid, he must complete a large portion of work, ask the bank for a inspection, and based on that inspection he receives a portion of the total renovation loan.