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

5 August 2025 Big Foundation Issue

 While walking the property with our real-estate agent, we noticed a concern with the back corner of the house. The brick ledge down the south side of the house ended before the place where the brick would turn and go down the west side on the patio. We took a picture and sent it into our build supervisor. The next day he went out to check it out and figured out the problem was much bigger. They had poured the foundation for the rear wall of the house, where it meets the rear patio, two feet further into the patio than they should have. That reduced the depth of our rear patio by two feet and increased the square footage of the living room by 70 feet. They gave us three options, live with it and loose our big patio, cut and chip out the concrete back to the original measurement or add two feet to the patio with a new concrete pour. Leaving it as is was not a consideration for us. Cutting and chipping the concrete back to the original wall location would put the wall and fireplace over a un-reinforced portion of the foundation, or they could pour an additional two feet for the patio and tie it into the existing foundation at no cost to us. We chose option three since it keeps the wall and fireplace where the foundation is reinforced to carry the load and it gives us the patio depth we wanted. We also gain 70Sqft of living space but loose a window along the back door (which we get a rebate for). It will cost the contractors around $10K to fix it. But it will slow down the framing process since they need the new concrete poured to finish out the patio roof. It will not cost us any additional money. We do not have a lot of confidence in the concrete sub- contractor!

First indication

The problem

The fix

30 July 2025 Foundation Pour

 The concrete crew showed up around 1:30am to finish prepping (including fixing the pad for the storm shelter). They started pouring concrete at 3am this morning. They are pouring early due to the heat (going to be over 100F today) and not wanting the concrete to cure too fast. David has been working 12 hour days all week but managed to stop around 5:30am on his way to work to see how they were doing. The last truck of concrete rolled up just after he got there. They had around 25 folks working the concrete. They worked on it until 3 in the afternoon. We now have a foundation!! We went back out later in the afternoon to see our beautiful new foundation. It will need to cure about a week before they can start framing the house and the shop. 

29 July 2025 Emergency!

 Tuesday, David went to Lockheed to work. So, I was homebound for the day and trying to keep myself occupied and entertained.  Early in the afternoon, there was a faint knock on the door. Keira of course got very upset and began barking, normally she just huffs a bit, but because David was gone, she was pretty protective. I opened the door to find a woman in tears.  She was hot, sweaty, tired and feeling sick. She explained she had been walking from a hotel, got overheated and was afraid she was having a heat stroke.  Frankly, I was too. But David was gone and I was by myself so I asked her to sit outside in the shade, got her some ice water and called an ambulance.  The 911 operator told me not to let her drink that water and I needed to get her out of the heat. Perhaps cool her down with wet towels and put her in front of a fan. Eventually, the ambulance did arrive and the paramedics took good care of her and got her to the hospital.  That certainly kept me occupied for the afternoon!! I can only guess she saw the RV park and began knocking on doors until she found someone to help her. Thank goodness I was able to help her.