Fireplace

Tile! Finally...

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel...

Framing has begun!

 

We are now on week 6 of our renovation.  We went to San Diego for the Run Amuck Flyball Tournament for the weekend and came home to find our home transformed.

I can really start to see how the house will come together in the end. 

New roof over our new porch area.

The front room is coming together also.  This will be our new master bedroom.

After a tremendously busy weekend for the construction crew, this week has been pretty quiet.  We've had an inspection and not much else has happened.  However, weekend is suppose to be very busy with electrical, plumbing and mechanical rough-ins, starting Friday at 6 am.  We also found out that our outer wall is not up to code, which means our siding has to come off and more plywood needs to be added to the outer wall.  I guess the good news is that the new plywood should help with insulation.

Hopefully we will have a secure house once again after this weekend...

Remodel under way!

We are in week 3 of our remodel.  A lot of demo has happened with more on the way.  We are living with a lot of dust, walls opened to the outside and big holes dug in the front and back.  Luckily, the heat has not yet descended on Arizona.  We've had a couple of days in the low 100's, but for the most part it has been in the upper 80's.

The plumber is coming soon for the rough-in for the kitchen and master bath.  Week 4 is when the roof will get opened up for the new truss that will raise the ceiling height in the kitchen.  The footings for the new walls should be poured and framing will start. 

The A/C unit is being moved to accommodate the new roof line.  We were originally told that we would lose our A/C for up to 5 days.  Recently the A/C contractor came out and said that we should not be done more than a few hours.  YAY! 

We are currently living in the rooms down our hallway.  We have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a laundry room as our living space.  The laundry room is doing double duty as the kitchen.  I have an electric skillet, hot plate, microwave and the grill for cooking our meals.  So far, so good!

The renovation starts with...

The septic tank!!!  Yes, the permits for our home renovation project is being held captive by our septic tank.  More specifically, the guy who is suppose to inspect and pump our tank. It started one week ago when the septic guy was suppose to make his first appearance.  He was a no show.  So, the following Monday he did make it out, stayed for about 15 minutes then decided he needed his digger to get to our septic tank.  He was suppose to come out first in the morning, then afternoon, then first thing Wednesday morning, and he finally arrived around 2:00.  He had his digger and spent about 1-2 hours digging up the septic tank, then he left. 

 Septic guy was suppose to arrive around 9:00 am Thursday morning to finish the job.  I left the house at 12:45 and he had not shown up yet.  Got home around 5:00 and there was progress, but the dirt had not been replaced and the digger is still here. 

I just hope this is not a prelude to how the rest of our renovation will go...

Spring in the Valley

Happy April 1st!!  It is spring time in the valley and the citrus trees are blooming, perfuming the air with their sweetness.  The vultures and hummingbirds have returned from Mexico and lots of migrating birds are passing through.  Wildflowers are blooming too.  But we had a dry winter, so they are not as spectacular as past displays.  Pretty non the less.

This image was taken in our yard back in 2008.  We had wildflowers come up this year, but 2008 was a better year.

Although its only April we are going to have temps close to 100 degrees.  The forecast is for 98, however, temperatures are suppose to return to the 80's starting Sunday.