22 - 30 September 2025 Another failed inspection

 The electricians finished up on time and addressed the few concerns I had. Our inspector walked the house and found several items that had to be fixed. One was a busted out board around the fireplace chimney that was part of the fire block to the attic. He pointed out the vapor barrier on the brick ledge was cut in the corners with bare concrete showing. He said that could lead to cracking of the brick in the corners. I pointed out they had not sealed around the pipes and electrical outlets in the sheathing which would allow infiltration of water, air and bugs. Our builder said they would get them all fixed. We went into the house on Saturday and spent four hours cleaning up all the saw dust, shavings and construction debris. We did not want them to come in and insulate so that the junk in the stud bays becomes a permanent part of the house. We blew some of it out with a leaf blower, Leslie swept a lot of it into piles to be vacuumed while David vacuumed up as much as he could and filled our little shop vac up five times. David had a pest control guy tell him once that the sawdust and shaving in the stud bays was ice cream for termites. We got it pretty well cleaned out. Then went around and took pictures in each room so we know where electrical, water and propane pipes are located in case we ever need to work in those areas in the future. After we got cleaned up, we went into Granbury to the Eighteen Ninety grill for a wonderful dinner to celebrate Davids Birthday. The next day we met our friends Mona and Wade in the stockyards at a new brewery for lunch and a few brews. Best Birthday Ever!

Of course, the contractors did not come out on Monday to fix the items we had found like they said they would. They did deliver the wallboard. On Tuesday the 30^th, the framing crew showed up along with the insulation guys. So apparently it was a scramble for the framers to stay ahead of the spray in foam insulation guys. The should start putting up the wall board Thursday and tape and mud the seams by next week. The bill for the cabinets came in $6500 over the allowance. We asked why, but were told it was because of the high counters and glass uppers. But those are called out in the drawings and in the contract, so they should have been included in the allowance. They are still trying to get us answers. We are still waiting for answers on the septic tank as well. The original plan was to put it between the house and the shop and all the sewage lines were run that way. But, for some reason, the county wants it on the other side of the driveway, which will require some rework and convoluted plumbing. Still waiting on answers from them as well.  

Vapor barrier not continued in the corners. Could lead to cracking

Vapor barrier properly carried through the corners

Firebreak around the chimney incomplete

Firebreak around the chimney complete

Penetrations through the sheathing not sealed. Could allow air, water and bug infiltration

Penitrations properly sealed

Inside the house

30 August – 21 September 2025 Guts of the House

 They have made big progress the last three weeks. The well has been completed. They struck good water at 340 feet and ran the well for 48 hours to purge out the drilling debris. The water flow looks good. We tasted the water and it is very hard, so we know a softener is going to be required (it’s already in the contract). The drill tailings were pumped over to the side of the property and from the looks of it, it’s basically rock chips and sand. We met with the Electrician and Plumber to define where switches, outlets, lights, facets, etc were going to go. They got the front and back doors installed and the fireplace. The next week the electricians, plumbers, and HVAC people started putting in the guts of the house. We had 10-15 people working in the house from multiple trades for the last two weeks. The rough plumbing is done, including the propane lines. The HVAC is installed. And the electricians are working hard to finish this coming week. We got out to the property and ran Ethernet cables for the future security cameras and home network. It was hot dusty work but much easier to do it now than to do it later. In the process of doing them we figured out the pulldown stairs for the attic access in the garage were not going to work because David had to get down on his hands and knees to crawl from the garage attic to the main house attic to pull wires. So, we had them move it into the master closet (of course they charged us $195 to do it!). When they installed the HVAC a few days later, it became clear that the best way to access the unit to change air filters will be to go in from the access David had them put in the hallway by the guest bedrooms rather than from the access in the master closet. Oh well. Working there while they were working, gave us a chance to keep our eye on the subcontractors and correct some mistakes before they became permanent. For example, David caught them routing the clothes dryer output up through the roof rather than out the side walls as we had specifically put in the plans. We took cold drinks out to them everyday since the temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90s. Of course, this is when David’s work stuff also got very busy as well. It has been an intense few weeks. With any kind of luck, the electricians will finish up by Wednesday as we have the inspection by our independent inspector scheduled for Thursday. Then it will be time for the insulation to be sprayed in. 

Back Door

24-30 August 2025 Huge Progress

 They made huge progress on the house and shop this week. They decked the roof, shingled, put in most of the windows, installed the heavy iron front door, finished most of the framing and got the shop fully built! It’s amazing how fast things have come together this week. We had a few issues we had to work through. A few framing and decking issues David noticed on his nightly walk throughs. We continued to take cold drinks out to the workers as a couple of the days were up around 100F with one day 102F. Those guys are tough! Then we would go out after they quit for the day and pick up trash and more nails. The day before they were supposed to start shingling the roof, David walked through with the framing crew supervisor and identified some deck areas that needed to be fixed, then asked when they, the framing crew, were going to do the chimney for the fireplace. He got blank looks. When he showed them the plans that had the chimney in it, they got hold of the builder and canceled the roofing crew due the next day and ordered more material so they could frame the chimney out for the brick cladding that will be on it. What would have happened if we had not noticed it? They started the shop on Monday and finished putting up the metal structure and exterior metal walls in 6 days. They were even out there working Labor Day. David spent time on “The Ranch” (Yes, we are calling it “The Ranch” now) cleaning out the inside of the house, weed eating the overgrown areas close to the street, and cleaning up more construction debris around the house. The builder kept saying the jobsite was clean but in just two minutes of walking around we picked up four dozen nails and other trash. The guys building the shop were much cleaner and really left things pretty clean when they were done. David managed to get into a Fire Ant nest while weed eating and got four good bites on his ankle. Fortunately, the Fire Ant bite immunity he built up from working in the yard in Benbrook is still good and he did not have an allergic reaction. As David was working, multiple people stopped by to get a tour and discuss neighborhood issues. The HOA put out an email to all property owners that they had to mow their lots. This is causing a lot of concern with the absentee land owners. David provided several folks the name and number of the guy we had mow ours before we started construction. Such is the life in the Texas countryside. While cleaning the inside of the house of dirt and saw dust, David identified some other framing issues (Missing half wall and shower niche in the guest bath, missing niche in the master shower, a beam in the living room out of straight, etc.) to work with the builder. Our real-estate agent even stopped in to check on progress and help pick up nails! On Labor Day we took a picnic dinner out to the house and sat on our new patio to enjoy the quiet and expansive view while the sunset. We will be doing that often once we move in! We will meet with the cabinet contractor this week to lay out the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Probably will meet with the electrician and plumber as well so they can get started with their rough ins. Then David can get in and do some wiring of his own. 

This is just two minutes of picking up!

Shingles going on Windows in

Sunset at the Ranch

Shop structure finished on day three

Roof Deck on. 

17-23 August 2025 Roof Deck Ready to go On

 They finished framing the roof, put on the Zip wall panels and taped the joints. Then put up the soffits all the way around. This week end they will put the roof panels on and tape those. From that point on, we should be protected from most rain. They still had not installed the additional King Jack Joists that David requested, and we noticed some issues with the front cupula. We pointed these out to our build supervisor Friday evening. We will have to watch to make sure they address those issues next week. They should be starting on the shop build on Monday. David asked when he could get in to run wiring for the security system he is installing and was told two weeks. So that is moving pretty quick! We brought cold drinks to the framing team in the afternoons and went back in the evening, after they had quit for the day to pick up the trash and nails strewn everywhere. Hot dirty work, but  if we don’t do it, it will get buried in the future flower beds to be dug up years from now. On Thursday, our friends John and Cheryl arrived in Granbury for a lake weekend with other friends. We met for lunch at Ketzler’s German restaurant on the square before going out to the property to show them our future home. 

10-16 August 2025 The House Takes Shape

 Well, the concrete guys arrived on the property a 1 AM Monday morning, dug out the beam, set the forms and poured the additional 2 feet of concrete on the back of the patio before 6am. So, we had no opportunity to inspect the rebar to see if they had done it right this time. We were out on the property around 10am to meet with our build supervisor to discuss a new problem. Seems the windows on both sides of the house are set too high. They are per the architect plans but there is not enough room at the top of the windows to allow for the soffits to go in and have room for the window trim. After discussing various options with Mario (our framing supervisor), we decided that lowering the windows 3 inches was the best approach. We also discussed moving the attic access away from where it was in the plans to allow room for the water treatment systems in the garage. David also asked them to add an additional King Jack Joist on either side of the front door (it only has 2 joists) to reinforce the structure. The framers were busy getting the roof joists in place. They had to add another valley on the back roof to account for the new roof line due to the extra two feet on the back. David flew out to Albuquerque for business on Tuesday (came back Friday). After dropping David at the airport, Leslie drove over to Dallas and had lunch with her Mom. Cynthia drove to Fort Worth for business on Wednesday and Felix came up Friday. We met them for dinner at Mi Casina and spent hours catching up. Saturday, we went over to Mom and Donny’s house, met up with Cynthia and Felix, and Lauren and the Grand Nieces who had driven up that morning. We all enjoyed lunch and celebrated Cynthia and Laurens birthdays. 

Four Generations 

9 August 2025 Stephenville, TX

 We decided to take a day to run down to Stephenville since David had never been there and Leslie had not been there since she was a little girl when she would visit her great grandmother. We did a quick search for things to do in Stephenville and found out there was not much to see! We drove down (about 30 minutes away) and stopped and Jake and Dorthy’s Café, a local fixture that opened in 1948. We both had the lunch special which was a “short” chicken fried steak and crinkle cut fries (invented there). Yummmm!  We later found out that Leslie’s great grandparents were good friends with Jake and Dorothy! Afterwards we thought there would be some stores around the county square similar to Granbury but were disappointed to find almost no stores! So, we flexed to the other thing we had found to see, another winery of course! Bar Ditch Winery was interesting. The owner was running the tasting room and we had a great time talking with her. She started making wine when she had some spare “Wild Mustang Grapes” that she had picked in bar ditches in the area. She later planted grapes on her property from cuttings of the wild grapes and expanded from there. The wines, including “Mustang” wine was different and interesting. We really enjoyed talking to the owner. On the way back, we drove past Leslie’s Great Grandmothers house in Stephenville that she had visited as a young girl.  Afterwards, we picked up Keirra and went up to the property to see what the concrete guys had accomplished. Unfortunately, it was obvious they had not been there and no work was accomplished. Sigh.  

7 August 2025 Start of Framing

 The framing contractor showed up today and started framing the house. The concrete guys have not showed up to fix the foundation yet. We were told the concrete guys would work through the weekend to get the foundation fixed. It will take a week to two weeks to complete the framing.

First walls