Construction Update.. Week 9

Its now almost 9 weeks into the construction. This week, I had an my pre-drywall walk through. I was supposed to meet with the construction superintendent Sandra, but on the D-day, she was in the hospital and did not show up. So in her place was Tom who is the customer relations person with Pulte. He did walk me through the whole house and answered my questions as best as he could. My main take away from this meeting was I gained more insight into the construction process so far. So I am going to describe them in a little detail now.

In the preceding weeks, we have seen the wooden frame first go up for the house. Once the frame is complete, they wall the outside with a wood layer. Since this is all wood, it needs to be protected against water & dampness. Hence its covered by what is known as a vapor layer. This is a thin layer that is water proof. Despite the walls being covered by stucco finally, when it rains, water does seep inn through the cracks. It is the vapor layer that will protect the underlying wood wall & frame from getting rotten.

A material similar to the vapor layer is used to make the window sills water proof too. This is placed to cover the gaps in the window frame.

After the walls are covered by this vapor layer, its then covered by a layer of while bug & mold resistant styrofoam layer & wrapped up in chicken wire to hold it in place. This is what gives the white color to the outside of the house in this stage of construction.

Now to the interior. The garage is where all the plumbing & electrical's start. The main electrical switchboard is outside by the garage. The electrical lines are the thick wires in orange, blue, gray & white colors. The thinner wires in white & blue are the communication lines. The handles the cable, phone & security connections. All the rooms in this house is pre-wired for security, so you will see the thin white wire going to all the rooms, doors & windows.

The main water line is by the electrical switchboard. The connection to the main is a copper line, but all the plumbing in the house is polybutyle pipes. This allows the pipes to be flexible and also not crack up in the due to temperature changes. However, this pipe should not be in direct exposure to the sun, which is why it is not used on the outside.

The main water line first goes to the water heater from which we get both the hot & cold water lines. On the other side of the water heater is the soft water line. We can install a soft water pump if required.

Now the living room is pre-wired for a 5 speaker surround sound system. The blue hinges in the roof is where the speakers can be attached. And the sub-woofer goes by the floor on the right of the window. The living room also has a hookup for a fan. And the light light box has an extra switch in case we want to add in a fan w/light in which case we can control the fan & the light separately.

Now to describe the progress that was actually made this week. I did not see much changes this week. All the electrical boxes have been installed in the room. It also looks like the frames for the doors & closets have been installed in the rooms. Finally the bathtub & shower stall were filled with water. I believe this is to make sure the plumbings & sewage work?

Next week, we should have the dry wall go up. The house will start to look more complete. The outside will start to be covered by a layer of stucco. From now on, I think it will be another 2 months until completion. Exciting times...