1-7 December Burrr

 Monday night was our first below freezing night since last winter. In preparation, we turned on the propane heaters to check they were working. Normally, when the thermostat turns on one of the two heaters, there is a click followed by the exhaust blower turning on. We noticed that the upstairs heater did not start the exhaust fan when the thermostat clicked on. The downstairs furnace clicked on and ran fine. David checked the fuse for the upstairs furnace and it was blown. He put in a new one. Same response. David checked the new fuse and it too was blown. We got through the night with the one heater and the electric fireplace heater. The next day, David disassembled the upstairs furnace and found this huge mud-dauber wasp nest was jamming the exhaust fan! He cleaned it out, got it all back together (with no spare parts!), put in a new fuse and all works now. We won’t need it for a couple of weeks, but knowing it is fixed and ready to go for the next freeze is a comfort. On Wednesday we headed over to Burleson to view the cleaned up version of our future mantle and to check its color against the stone it will be above and the wood floor planking. It’s going to be awesome. We then headed down to Midlothian to pick up a kitchen table Leslie had discovered on Facebook Marketplace. Carrying the 5 foot in diameter glass top and getting it back to Cresson was a challenge but we were successful without hurting ourselves or breaking anything. They continued working on the tile and flooring in the house. It’s going slower than they said it would, but it's looking great. We went up to Fort Worth to pick out the counter tops. We picked one slab of granite with a leathered finish that we had to have for the island. We then picked out quartz counter tops for the rest of the kitchen, bathrooms, utility room, coffee nook and pantry. They are putting portable heaters in the house to keep it from freezing during the cold nights. Everything is waiting for them to finish the tile and flooring. On Saturday, we dropped some stuff off at the shop and went inside the house to check on progress. Most of the tile work is completed and they are laying the underlayment for the flooring. David saw they had run the underlayment into the guest bedroom so he went to check on the two bolts sticking out of the foundation from their mistake back in August. David has been on them to cut those bolts off since August because they were a safety hazard. They kept telling him they would be taken care of, then that the flooring guys would take care of them. We have reminded each new build supervisor about them and even the flooring guys before they started. But sure enough, there they were sticking up through holes in the underlayment! On Saturday they also dug a trench from the house to the shop and ran a 2 inch pipe to carry the power line from the house to the shop. But they put it right next to the wire routing pipe that David has been trying to get them to fix since they bricked the house. Now it is going to be even harder for them to fix it since there is less room. Sigh. 

Mud-dauber Nest pulled from the furnace

Bolts sticking out of the foundation

Master Bath Tile

Floor of the utility room

Guest Bath

Wire Routing Pipe back in the corner embedded in the wall.

23-30 November Tile Work

 They have started the tile work in the bathrooms. They only have one guy working it at the moment, so progress is slow. But he is doing a great job. They also delivered the wood flooring for the rest of the house. We grabbed one plank to take with us so Leslie could make final paint color decisions. The truck was in the repair shop Monday through Wednesday morning, leaving us stranded at the RV. We picked the truck up Wednesday Morning but have to take it back Monday so they can finish some of the work. We picked up a couple of pieces of furniture on Black Friday at an antique mall in Benbrook and put them in the shop for now. We went over to Diane and Donny’s (Leslie’s Mom) for Thanksgiving and enjoyed catching up with them and Donny’s son’s family. 

10-22 November 2025 Slower Progress

 As we get into the detail work on the interior, things are slowing down. They fixed the wall in the kitchen by the oven enclosure so it fits now. They built the vent hood over the cook top. That finished up the cabinet rough ins and the builder immediately sent us an invoice for the fifth installment. We also had to pay for the change request for the additional 220 outlets in the shop and the amount we were over the allowance for the flooring and tile. They got the insulation sprayed in the shop. We did not make it down to the Second Chance Sawmill in Stephenville since they had something come up and put us off. But we did go over to the Buy Barnwood shop over in Burlison to checkout what barn wood they might have available. We were blown away by their business. Not only did they have barnwood available at prices better than Amazon, but they also had old beam from dismantled barns available for mantles. We saw some display mantles in the front office and asked if they had anything over 90 inches long. So, they took us out into their extensive wood working shop and wood storage area. Turns out they make beautiful custom wood and epoxy tables with huge slabs of wood from a variety of local trees. David was drooling! We looked at several old barn beams but they were either too short or badly warped. He took us out into the outdoor storage yard and they had a beam from a 1890’s barn that Leslie fell in love with. Plenty long with hand hewn marks and hand cut mortices. There was no denying it would look magnificent as our mantle. We discussed the process of cleaning it up and getting it ready to install in the house. They will clean it, seal it and bring it to the house and install it just after Thanksgiving. After negotiating, we settled on a price of $1515. The washer and dryer were delivered to the builder’s warehouse with no issues. We also met with the tile and floor installers at the house and confirmed the tile going in each location and decided how it would be oriented (Never knew there were so many choices of how the tile will be installed) in each of the bathrooms and the kitchen. A clean up crew came out and cleaned up the remains of brick and stone out of the yard. Then we went out and cleaned up after the cleanup crew. We got over 2 inches of rain on the 20^th. Of course, that was the day they decided to start the tile install! The property was a mud hole when they went to bring in their equipment. We noticed the truck was starting to make a noise we had not heard before and figured out it was the power steering system. David found the fluid level was low and added power steering fluid thinking that would fix it. We drove up to the Rustic Furniture Depot in Denton with our friends Mona and Wade and it became clear there was a leak in the power steering system. Wade pointed out where it might be coming from and we added more fluid so we could get home. We have an appointment to get the truck in to have it repaired on Monday. Unfortunately, we did not find any furniture at the Rustic Furniture store to our liking this time (We had bought furniture there for the apartment back in 2012). We are watching the black Friday sales so we can pick up items we will need when we move into the house. We locked up the shop this week, so we can start using it for storage. More rain is due this coming week. After months of dry weather and having access to the house and shop, the mud is deterring us from getting in to check on progress. 

Our 1890's Barn Beam Mantle.

1-10 November 2025 Surprised!

 

They Finished up the exterior brick and mason work on the house and shop. The masons still have to fix the conduit and replace a couple of cracked bricks, but they did a nice job on putting in the accents. They finally corrected the electrical issues in the shop after a bit of an argument over the next progress payment. To everyone’s surprise, the cabinets showed up on Tuesday with no warning. Of course they were not completely correct, so some adjustments had to be made. But Ronnies team were fantastic and had everything corrected in a couple of days. The plumber finally went in and correct the plumbing connections in the master bath so the cabinet would fit right. That issue had been known for weeks. We did find one issue with the framing where the short wall where the ovens are mounted in the cabinets was not deep enough. They will have to fix that issue since the cabinet cannot be any shorter due to the clearances required from flammable material for the ovens. They still need to build the vent hood frame that will be covered in weathered barn wood later. So, this week they will get the shop insulated, frame the vent hood installed, fix the short wall and measure for the countertops. Next week they are trying to schedule the start of the flooring install. 

 

Watching for sales, we ordered a clothes washer and dryer on an early Black Friday sale at Lowes. We will store it at the builder’s warehouse. Later this week we will go back down to Second Chance Sawmill and pick out a live edge mantle now that we have measurements. We may swing by Burleson to a shop that specializes in barnwood to check out colors. We may need to go pick out the countertops if they get the measurements competed early. We also are engaging a water specialist to get our well water checked out to see what, if any, additional conditioning we may need. 

11 – 31 October 2025 Exterior brick and store almost complete

 They finished taping, bedding, and texturing the interior walls. They did a wonderful job. We could only find one place that needed to be fixed in a closet. In the last week, the masons installed the Austin White stone on the lower 3 feet of the walls on the front of the house and fully on the back wall of the house. Then installed the Smokey King Brick all the way to the eves around the rest of the house. They forgot the decorative accents on the garage wall that were supposed to be there and are now having to go back and add them. David also had a conduit set up in two places to route wiring from in the garage to the outside. Somehow they managed to get one of them messed up and are going to have to figure out how to fix it. They started on the fireplace stonework (still need to add the hearth) and still need to do the stone work on the lower 3 feet of the front of the shop. It will take them a few more days to finish up. They rearranged the panels on the shop roll up doors so the windows are on the top panels so no one can peek in. The garage doors on the house were installed It took them almost two weeks to wire the shop but they put one of the RV plugs in the wrong spot and left out a 220V outlet I had requested. They are supposed to come out and fix those issues, then they can do the foam insulation. Hopefully the shop will be done this coming week. We looked around for a mantle we liked and found a sawmill down in Stephenville that has some raw blanks we really liked. We did some measurements and some calculations (who would have thought algebra could be so useful) to determine the blank size we will need. We need to go back down and pick one out and see about getting it prepared to be installed. We picked out our plumbing fixtures (and went a little over our allowance) and all our lighting fixtures  (came in just under our allowance).  We also shopped around for mirrors for the bathrooms since they are expensive at the lighting store. We found mirrors for all three bathrooms very inexpensive on Amazon. We have also been going to antique malls and consignment stores to get a feel for what furniture we may want. Once we get the shop finished and can start storing stuff safely in it, we can start working on buying and storing furnishings. Next big step is the build and install of the cabinets. We have asked repeatedly for an estimate of when that will happen but have not been getting any answers. 

 

We celebrated our thirteenth wedding anniversary on the 20^th. So, we made it safely through year thirteen and are into year fourteen and cannot be happier! We went to a French restaurant, Le Margot, in Fort Worth and had a wonderful dinner reminiscent of our trips to Paris. The restaurant is fairly new and has won several awards already. 

Reworking to add accents

Doors fixed correctly

Happy 13th Anniversary to us!

Garage doors installed on the house

Mason work started

Our color combination

Messed up wire conduit. That gray conduit should be going to the ground.

RV plug should be on the outside on the front of the shop

 They fixed all the issues our inspector had identified and the insulation crew did a great job on the foam insulation. They did foam over the entrance to the conduit I had install to run data lines from the house to the shop, but that is an easy fix at a future date if I ever need to run more lines. They even cleaned up pretty well. The wall board crew got to work the next day and have installed all the wallboard and are currently taping and mudding. Then they will apply the texture. They seem to be doing a great job and the crew supervisor was very helpful. Our build supervisor, Will, has been moved to a different position (apparently there had been complaints by other customers) and we are supposed to get a new one on Monday. The issues with the septic tank have been resolved with the county (a misunderstanding on their part about the RV connection we have out front of the shop) and they are issuing an updated permit. We pushed back on the cabinet costs and the cabinet manufacture agreed to work with us on the pricing. We took copies of the cabinet drawings out to the house and went through room by room. We found several issues with the cabinet designs. Some were too deep for the space they are going into, others were not place where we instructed and an issue with the plumbing location in the master bath verses the cabinet design. The plumbing had the sink on the right side of the counter, but we wanted it on the left side and that’s the way we had the cabinets designed. We also noticed that the cabinet where the refrigerator will be left room for the kitchen light switches on the kitchen side of the wall when they had told us they had to be on the hall side of the wall. They also installed the rollup doors on the shop, but put the panels with the windows were at see through height when we had requested they be at the top (so no one could look in). David also went up into the attic and found the access to the HVAC system (for changing filters) was a gymnastic event to get to it. We called a meeting at the house with Kingdom. We finally were able to meet with Kelby on Wednesday and walked through a rather long list of questions and issues. They address all our concerns and things are in motion to get things fixed. The Garage door subcontractor is coming out to rearrange the door panels so the windows are at the top, the plumber is coming out to move the plumbing for the sink in the master bath to where it belongs, Cabinet subcontractor is reworking the cabinet designs and removing some options to get the price closer to our expectations, and the electrician is coming out to move the switches for the kitchen and the plug in the master bath. Following the meeting, we went to the floor and tile shop and made final choices. Just like everything else, it was not a smooth process. Some of the choices for flooring and tile in the bathrooms that Leslie had made back in June was no longer available. So, we had to pick new ones, which of course costs more! Meantime, the wallboard folks are moving forward. They will need another week to finish the tape, mud and texture. In the coming week, the electricians are going to install the electrical in the shop after which it will be insulated. Meantime, the brick and rock is supposed to be delivered and the masons can get started on the exterior. Kingdom said it normally takes 3 months from this point to finish up. But they will work on getting things (Septic, Power, Water and Internet) to the point where we can move the Wanderer out to the property earlier than that. Once the shop is insulated and electrical rough is completed next week (we hope) then we can start locking things up in the shop. They should have the house to a point where we can start locking it up in a couple of weeks. 

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