Construction Is Moving Fast

Hi, Friends,

How are you? I hope you are well. 

We just finished the third full week of construction on our house in East Texas. 

Here is a quick recap if you are new. Bill and I have always wanted a weekend home. We found one in 2020 and began spending most of our weekends at this little country home. We called it our five year plan. 

At the end of the five years, Bill would be eligible for retirement.  If we liked the country and the area, we would move permanently to East Texas. At some point in the second year, I reached a hard, "No!" because of the scorpions and a terrible smell caused by something one of the neighbors was doing.  We'd even contacted the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality to help resolve it. It has since been stopped and over the course of the last two years I've felt good about moving. I wanted to downsize but I didn't want to sacrifice many of my pretty things in order to move into this house. We needed more square footage, so we began brainstorming and consulting a house plan company to help us. The plans were ready in April and construction ramped up with the rough in plumbing and the concrete pour in early to mid July. 

Construction began the very next week with a new roof for the existing house. The work started three weeks ago on the enclosed porches and the addition which is the most impactful.  I'll do a photo dump week by week so you can see how fast it has moved.  I had very low expectations concerning speed so we are left making decisions faster than we thought. 

Week 1

The old screen porch and carport began getting framed. 

The large beams and trusses were done for the new screen porch. 

The plywood and wrap went on by the end of the third day. 

We could finally translate the plans into visual spaces. 

On the fourth day, the framing of the addition had begun but rain halted much progress. 

It was at this point that I realized that this was going to be done sooner than the timeline I'd created in my head. 

Bill was on site and worked on dismantling my bathroom in the early morning and evenings. 

Week 2

The area of the old closet and shower was going to be opened up to form a sitting area in our bedroom. 

When we got the first set of plans, the new bathroom and closets were bigger than the bedroom. That just made no sense to me. On the second set, we had them opened it all up. When we met with the framer/carpenter the first time, he said that he might need to run the new beam and that it would hang as low as the door opening.
"Nope!" That defeated some of the purpose for the sitting area as I was giving up a closet. The old shower could have been turned into linen storage. You know I love my linens. 

Once the floor guy said he could patch the floor and I'd already fallen in love with the sitting area idea, I said that we should do it. In the meantime, the carpenter had figured out that we could have room for HVAC and a beam in the attic. 

I was getting my sitting room and with no beam! I cannot wait for the finished sitting nook. 

The new sitting area in our room. 

They continued framing the addition and the rooms started to take shape. 

They installed the windows in all the new spaces last Saturday. 

The green door will be removed and the old house will be open to the enclosed portion.

The light is pouring in!

Week 3 

The plumber came to remove some lines and install the new ones for the new bathroom. 

We ran into a snag with the old water heater placement but it wasn't an old water heater. We just put it in last spring before we planned this addition. This was a sore spot for me and I almost burst a gasket. 

The 17 year old water heater needed to be replaced. It had no pan or drain to the outside and it was almost rusted through. At the time, I'd suggested a tankless and was shot down. All along in the planning, I said that we should plan around the water heater and I was ignored. I could have made it work from a design standpoint if the plumber and carpenter could make it work from a practical standpoint. I was overruled by all (including some of our new neighbors) so now we are going with a tankless that can be put in the attic. The propane guy is coming back out to replace lines he just installed in order to accommodate at tankless water heater.

 Aye, yi, yi! 

I give up. This project is driven by Bill in order to give me the house that we both would like so that he can live in the country. He's worked hard his whole adult life so I just needed to let it go and economize where I can. 

I hope that he can find a good new home for the water heater. I will feel good if we can give it to someone. 

Now, let's get back to the addition. 

The old potty closet doorway was framed and we will access the potty from the new bathroom. 

Framing to close up the potty closet.

They opened up the new doorway into the potty closet. 

They framed the new entrance into the bathroom. 

Let's talk about siding. 

The enclosure and the addition needed siding. Bill did not like the existing siding that was on the house and wanted going to go with something better on the new portions. I was adamant that the existing house and the new additions matched so that it looked like it was always there. I thought we should stick with what we had. Bill did not want to do that and he and the carpenter overruled me from a maintenance standpoint. The new siding should be maintenance free for the length of our stay in this house. It will be board and batten so it will have an updated look as well.  

The old windows have been replaced to match the new windows. These are such an upgrade from what we had but we didn't splurge on them. 

They roofed the new portions of the house. 

They also did some facia and soffit work but that wasn't exciting enough to photograph. 

Haha. 

Bill is the general contractor so he's been living out there during the week. The cat and I have stayed home. I went out once for the day to meet with the electrician. In the meantime, I clean out drawers and do a little touch up work to get ready to sell our house in town. I pick out finishes which he approves or picks up when he is home on the weekends.

 

I share the struggles and snags because that is the truth of renovation. Stuff is going to happen and there will be surprises and setbacks. I don't want to make it sound like I'm dissing Bill. He is doing a great job coordinating subs while he still works his 9-5. He is the one living in the mess and chaos. I didn't even get a chance to get there to pack everything up because of the speed. He has done all the demo stuff as well. He wants to take care of everything for this house from a maintenance standpoint before he retires so that there won't be annoying repairs after he retires and we move. Some of this money we would have had to spend anyway. Now, it will all be done before we move in. I'm just thankful we didn't redo my bathroom after we bought the house since it is gone! 

That is all for now. 

The next week won't be as exciting. 

The HVAC is going in and they will continue with the siding. 

Bill will be moving out to the cabin until the air conditioner is turned back on. 

See you when I see you. 

Katie 

An Addition For Our House In East Texas

How is everyone?

I hope you are well.

When we bought our East Texas house three and a half years ago, it jump started our talk of retirement and what we wanted to do and where we would want to live. We kept referring to our country experience  as our five year plan. Five years seemed a long way off. In no time at all we find ourselves 18 months out from Bill's retirement and decision time is nearing. There have been ups and downs in the last 3.5 years. 

We are a little split on the issue of retiring to the country. 

Bill is all set to live in East Texas. I'm a little unsure for several reasons. 

I've been dealing with back issues for about two years. Where I'd thought I was a bit invincible, I'm now a bit more reticent about my abilities to do all that I will able to do to maintain our house and property. 

What about doctors? They are further away but there is good medical care near by. 

I worried about making friends in a new community. We need a new church. I'm pretty shy and it takes me a while to form deep relationships. Is it wise to leave our family and friends? 

There are other concerns too but for this post's sake, I'll hop to the last reason. We have quite a few things that we've collected over the years and this house simply won't fit them all no matter how I try to mentally figure it out. 

Bill decided late last summer that we needed to add on to this house in order for me to overcome the downsizing hurdle. Thus began the process of figuring out what we need, what we want, and how to gain those things in this house and in a manner that looks authentic to the house.  

We called in a friend of ours who has a house plan business.  

Our extreme heat from last summer, caused me to realize that our darling screened in porch is just not practical. We need a room that works for all four seasons, not just 2.5. The ceiling is not insulated so the porch felt like an oven first thing in the morning until late in the evening. Bill was going to have to tear our the ceiling in order to insulate. Even though I love the space, it was the tipping point for me. I was ready to say that we should convert it to a four season room. We began to chat about enclosing the carport as well in order to have a larger room for more seating and another dining area. 

In September our friends came out to have a look so that they could begin drawing up some plans. Bill felt very strongly that we needed a bigger bathroom. The primary bath is basically a hallway. He also wanted another closet so that we don't have to share. I wanted a storage room for craft supplies and decor. 

Bill thought we should move the laundry to an addition so that we could convert the existing laundry room into a butler's pantry for my plethora of dishes. 

We got the first set of plans late last fall and immediately noticed that the new bathroom and closet were bigger than the current primary bedroom. By tearing out the existing closet and shower we could make our bedroom a little bit bigger so that it's in proportion to the bathroom. We can use the new area for a dressing area or a little reading nook with bookshelves. 

We sent those changes back and waited for plans that included the electrical and outside elevation. 

We received those plans two weeks ago. It seemed like there were too many windows so I decided to measure all of our furniture so that Bill could make little cutouts to scale. We had fun placing our favorites in various spots. It helped decide which windows needed to be removed in order to fit our larger case goods. 

 Currently, we are waiting for final plans that will include the electrical, elevation, and plumbing. 

Our next door neighbor does concrete. He has already given us a preliminary bid for the work. 

We also have our plumber, roofer, electrician and HVAC guy. We will need to have our flooring guy figure out the floors as well. While these vinyl plank floors are great for a weekend home, they do look a little fake. We need a framer and drywall guy and a painter to do the texture. 

 I've gone back and forth about whether this is the right thing to do given some of the reasons that I've stated above. I'm not really looking forward the building process. 

We've been praying about all of  this. 

 A few weeks ago, Bill decided to step across the street because he heard them building their house. 

He met two couples, they invited us to church which is 1/4 mile away. We've hit it off and

we also love the church. It seems that all the doors are opening and God is leading us to a place we can call home. 

Embarking on retirement feels a little like becoming engaged and waiting on the wedding or waiting for the arrival of a child. 

It's a happy time but it can also be stressful. Once I realized that it is a major life change, I've given myself permission to be uncertain of what the future holds but trusting that the Lord has directed our path so faithfully that He will direct our path now. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. 

Have a great day. Thanks for sticking around. 

There will be more about this as we have new information and pictures. 

Katie