Our first dilemma since starting the build...
Kendra has a good friend, Nikki, that sells windows and doors at Mountain View Window and Door in Medford. She's really nice and is very good at her job. She's professional, knowledgable and very friendly. Of course, we bought our windows and doors from her when we built the garage.
The problem is...the manager is, let's say, not exactly customer service oriented. We've had to deal with her three times over the last year, and she has been rude every time! We recommended them to a friend and, because of the manager, they decided to use a different company as well.
We agonized over this decision for weeks. Other than trying to build a house with small children, this is really the first thing that has caused us any stress.
In the end we decided to go with Jeff's guy. With 42 windows and 22 doors to order I just couldn't take the chance that we would have to deal with the manager again. Any delay or problem could set us back several weeks. If we knew there was a way to only deal with Nikki the decision would have been easy. I think the owners need to reconsider who is managing their store.
If there is a managerial change we will let everyone know and begin to recommend them again. Sorry Nikki, I hope she treats you better than she treated us.
Sunrise Over Garden Valley
The deer watch an early morning sunrise above Garden Valley
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Framing
Let the framing begin. This is were it feels like a lot of progress is made in a short amount of time. I don't think I need to say anything about Hetterle Construction during this phase. The progress will speak for itself. You will see things happening as fast as a crew of six and the quality is better!
Monday - April 18, 2011
Framed the lower floor exterior walls today. Gives a good feel for the size of the house.
Tuesday - April 19, 2011
Framed the lower floor interior walls today. Now we can see the size of the rooms and the layout of the floorplan. It's a lot better than looking at it on paper.
Wednesday - April 20, 2011
Finished all the lower floor shear walls today. The amount of nails put into these walls will definitely keep things stable.
Carlson Hardware dropped off another supply delivery.
Placed all the beams that are located between the first and second floor.
Thursday - April 21, 2011
Placed the second floor rim boards and floor joists.
Monday - April 25, 2011
Had a fairly strong wind/rain storm last night. Everything is a little wet, but still standing. Kevin came up to help out today so a lot of progress was made.
We now have stairs! Much better and safer than using a ladder. They also put down the entire subfloor on the upper level.
Tuesday - April 26, 2011
Another supply delivery from Carlson Hardware. I'm not sure if Jeff is trying to keep up with them or they are trying to keep up with him. They keep bringing it and he keeps using it. A lot of material has went into this house already and we are only a month into it.
Most of the exterior upper walls went up.
Rained off and on all day. The downpour at 5:00 brought the progress to an end.
Wednesday - April 27, 2011
A lot of progress today. Probably the biggest noticeable difference for one day's work so far.
Finished the exterior upper walls. We left out the upper wall in the loft (office) so that we can have material craned onto the upper floor next week.
Put up the interior upper walls.
You can now walk the entire house and see what the finished floorplan will be. We are pleased with the way it turned out. It's a relief to see that all the rooms are exactly what we were hoping for. It's hard to get a feel for the size of a room when you are looking at it on paper. It was a great feeling to walk through the entire house and see exactly what it will look like.
Thursday - April 28, 2011
Half day today. Jeff went up north to take care of some things. I tell you, that guy is constantly going. I don't know how he does it.
Put up wall shearing on the upper floor. Things went fast with Brenda's help.
Friday - April 29, 2011
The Hetterle's were at it bright and early this morning after driving back down last night.
Second delivery from Carlson Hardware this week. We are putting some miles on their delivery truck.
Put up the exterior wall in the front entry, placed most upper floor beams & posts, and began the exterior wall in the great room. I can't believe the height of these walls. What were we thinking? I think we are around 27' from floor to peak (over 30' from ground to rooftop). Any volunteers for changing out light bulbs?
Saturday - April 30, 2011
Continued framing great room walls. The great room has 19 windows so it will take a few days to frame and a lot of material. I think Jeff had a headache by the end of the day with all the numbers and math he had to figure out. The front of the house will look amazing!
Were hoping for trusses on Monday but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Probably won't receive them until Wednesday. Work will have to shift to something else for Monday and Tuesday. Plenty to do.
After the workday was over we barbecued some tri-tip with beans and potato salad. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum! Sat around a fire and relaxed.
Sunday - May 1, 2011
Finished framing the great room walls. We love the way it looks. The room is huge, the ceiling is high, and the windows are going to allow a great view. Very impressive.
Put in some drain pipe around the foundation.
Monday - May 2, 2011
Put up some posts and beams, continued to do some misc framing/blocking. Did some clean up.
Tuesday - May 3, 2011
Backfilled around the foundation. Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up some drain rock and Kevin (Saylor excavating) helped Jeff move around the piles of dirt. The yard look huge.
Wednesday - May 4, 2011
Finished connecting the house and garage. When everything is complete, it will be nice to get to the cars without having to deal with rain/snow.
Put on the strapping (metal bands that prevent movement) on the exterior lower floor. Put vapor barrier around the lower level of the house.
Began staining siding (boards) using cider mill stain from Sherwin-Williams. More on Sherwin-Williams later.
Washington Federal came down to do our first monthly inspection.
Thursday - May 5, 2011
Continued to stain siding (boards). Kept at it until the stain was gone. We bought everything Sherwin-Williams had in stock.
Waterproofed the garage/house connection. Definitely don't want any water in the garage.
Framed the wall between the master bedroom and bath.
June 29, 2011 - Wednesday
Attached the steel plates to the beams and columns in the great room. They look great.
Passed our framing inspection.
Monday - April 18, 2011
Framed the lower floor exterior walls today. Gives a good feel for the size of the house.
Tuesday - April 19, 2011
Framed the lower floor interior walls today. Now we can see the size of the rooms and the layout of the floorplan. It's a lot better than looking at it on paper.
Wednesday - April 20, 2011
Finished all the lower floor shear walls today. The amount of nails put into these walls will definitely keep things stable.
Carlson Hardware dropped off another supply delivery.
Placed all the beams that are located between the first and second floor.
 |
| Lower Floor Framing |
Thursday - April 21, 2011
Placed the second floor rim boards and floor joists.
Monday - April 25, 2011
Had a fairly strong wind/rain storm last night. Everything is a little wet, but still standing. Kevin came up to help out today so a lot of progress was made.
We now have stairs! Much better and safer than using a ladder. They also put down the entire subfloor on the upper level.
 |
| Stairs |
 |
| Stairs |
 |
| Subfloor Upper Floor |
Tuesday - April 26, 2011
Another supply delivery from Carlson Hardware. I'm not sure if Jeff is trying to keep up with them or they are trying to keep up with him. They keep bringing it and he keeps using it. A lot of material has went into this house already and we are only a month into it.
Most of the exterior upper walls went up.
Rained off and on all day. The downpour at 5:00 brought the progress to an end.
Wednesday - April 27, 2011
A lot of progress today. Probably the biggest noticeable difference for one day's work so far.
Finished the exterior upper walls. We left out the upper wall in the loft (office) so that we can have material craned onto the upper floor next week.
Put up the interior upper walls.
You can now walk the entire house and see what the finished floorplan will be. We are pleased with the way it turned out. It's a relief to see that all the rooms are exactly what we were hoping for. It's hard to get a feel for the size of a room when you are looking at it on paper. It was a great feeling to walk through the entire house and see exactly what it will look like.
Thursday - April 28, 2011
Half day today. Jeff went up north to take care of some things. I tell you, that guy is constantly going. I don't know how he does it.
Put up wall shearing on the upper floor. Things went fast with Brenda's help.
 |
| Upper Floor Framing (looking up from the driveway) |
 |
| Upper Floor Framing (looking from the North - view side) |
Friday - April 29, 2011
The Hetterle's were at it bright and early this morning after driving back down last night.
Second delivery from Carlson Hardware this week. We are putting some miles on their delivery truck.
Put up the exterior wall in the front entry, placed most upper floor beams & posts, and began the exterior wall in the great room. I can't believe the height of these walls. What were we thinking? I think we are around 27' from floor to peak (over 30' from ground to rooftop). Any volunteers for changing out light bulbs?
Saturday - April 30, 2011
Continued framing great room walls. The great room has 19 windows so it will take a few days to frame and a lot of material. I think Jeff had a headache by the end of the day with all the numbers and math he had to figure out. The front of the house will look amazing!
Were hoping for trusses on Monday but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Probably won't receive them until Wednesday. Work will have to shift to something else for Monday and Tuesday. Plenty to do.
After the workday was over we barbecued some tri-tip with beans and potato salad. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. Yum! Sat around a fire and relaxed.
 |
| Had to include this picture, too funny. They're hilarious. |
Sunday - May 1, 2011
Finished framing the great room walls. We love the way it looks. The room is huge, the ceiling is high, and the windows are going to allow a great view. Very impressive.
Put in some drain pipe around the foundation.
 |
| Great Room |
Monday - May 2, 2011
Put up some posts and beams, continued to do some misc framing/blocking. Did some clean up.
Tuesday - May 3, 2011
Backfilled around the foundation. Bruce (Rocky Road) brought up some drain rock and Kevin (Saylor excavating) helped Jeff move around the piles of dirt. The yard look huge.
 |
| Kevin |
 |
| Bruce |
Wednesday - May 4, 2011
Finished connecting the house and garage. When everything is complete, it will be nice to get to the cars without having to deal with rain/snow.
Put on the strapping (metal bands that prevent movement) on the exterior lower floor. Put vapor barrier around the lower level of the house.
Began staining siding (boards) using cider mill stain from Sherwin-Williams. More on Sherwin-Williams later.
Washington Federal came down to do our first monthly inspection.
Thursday - May 5, 2011
Continued to stain siding (boards). Kept at it until the stain was gone. We bought everything Sherwin-Williams had in stock.
Waterproofed the garage/house connection. Definitely don't want any water in the garage.
Framed the wall between the master bedroom and bath.
June 29, 2011 - Wednesday
Attached the steel plates to the beams and columns in the great room. They look great.
Passed our framing inspection.
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