Update Pictures. FINALLY!

The foundation is finished!!! We will NEVER do that again! It was very hard work and took alot longer than expected. At least we can say that the first major house project is complete! Now, it is back to the garage to finish up while the foundation concrete cures. Last night Russ and his dad got most of the wiring in the garage complete. We have lights! Hopefully they will be able to finish up tonight with the lights and move to the plugs on the walls. After the electrical work is finished, we will work on the siding and trim. That will only take a couple of days. At that point, we will be done with the garage!

In the last couple of weeks we've interviewed several brick masons. They were all about the same cost and all seemed to know what they were talking about. After much deliberation, we've decided to lay the block and brick on our own. We are really trying to cut costs as much as possible so that we don't have to go borrow money at the end to finish up. With that in mind, we did some researching, reading and questioning and we think we can lay brick just like the professionals! It will save us a ton of cash if we do it ourselves! Say a prayer for us! They say laying brick is an art that few can master... Hopefully we'll prove 'em wrong!

We are quickly approaching the stage where MULTIPLE decisions will have to be made. Most will be about the bathrooms and kitchen area. To me, this is the fun part! I'm hoping not to get bogged down in the process. One of the main decisions we have to make is which tubs we want in the bathrooms. We have to have them on the floor before we frame up the walls because they can't fit through the doorways. I thought this would be an easy task... Boy was I wrong! I've been looking for several weeks and can't pick out what I want. I will work on getting some pictures up of some of my favorites. Hopefully our friends and family will comment on what they think looks best.

Here are some pictures from our foundation days. Thank God that its over!

Russ cutting rebar with a metal saw.

Russ bending rebar with some contraption that his dad made!

The sea of rebar and foundation straps...

More rebar and straps.

A closer look at our handy work!

Concrete truck is here!

I thought Russ was going to pass out from this task! That stuff is HEAVY!


Concrete finished! Now it has to rest for a few days.