The Last 9 Months of Construction Nightmare - Aug 1, 2012 to April 23, 2013

Well, we're thinking we may be in the home stretch of our garage construction project, but who knows, so we are keeping our fingers crossed.  It's been quite a difficult time, requiring lots of patience and perseverance, but it's definitely going to be worth it in the end.  Three different contractors told us this was a 3 month project, so then you expect to have to double that, but now we've gone triple!! Please just let it all end so we have a little time to relax before the baby arrives! Here are some pictures from all the stages along the way.

August 7, 2012 - We broke ground at the beginning of August.  Cut down some trees, ripped out the driveway, took off the front porch roof, and dug a huge ditch for the sewer and foundation work.

September 7, 2012 - Excavation and sewer work complete,  foundation and slab poured.

Garage Slab and foundation.

September 26, 2012 - Framing of first floor.

Had to have a crane to lift the huge beam at the front of the garage, as well as another one in the middle.

Framing on the back side.

October 5, 2012 - Finished the ceiling of the garage level, so able to start framing on the second floor.

Josh and Chaz looking inside the garage and standing on the freshly poured driveway.

More views of the framing inside the garage.

October 11, 2012 - Taking in the views from the second floor before it had walls.

Going to have a nice view of the creek from our new bathroom.

October 16, 2012 - Starting to put up some exterior walls.

October 21, 2012 - Turns out you build second floor walls on the ground and then hoist them upright with a mast and pulley.

And "ta dah", we have a wall!

October 23, 2012 - A little early season snow storm put a bit of a damper on our warm construction days.

It snowed in our bedroom and Josh had to shovel it all out!

November 6, 2012 - Roof is starting to go up.

November 8, 2012 - The new entry is closed in, but doesn't have a waterproof roof...tarp time!

Ceiling in the new entry that needs to be protected from water.

Here you can see how the new entry was just attached to the old front of the house.

December 23, 2012 - We got dumped on in December! The wall were all closed in at least, but still no roof on there, just plastic!  Talk about stressful.

Did I mention that this was the end of 4 months, and we still aren't even remotely close to being finished?

January 6, 2013 - We finally had enough clear days in a row that the roofers were able to get in and shovel off all the snow and put on a real roof.  Thanks goodness!

Me, 4 months pregnant, climbing to the top of our 3 story A-Frame to remove all the snow from the roof so we could install a vent for the range hood.

My billy goat path up the roof as I removed snow on the way.  Long way down!

January 16, 2013 - Finally got the windows installed!

And the pre-stained siding is starting to go up too.

January 18, 2013 - Interior wall framing is starting to come together.

Front wall of our bedroom.

Street wall of our bedroom.

A peek into the new bathroom.

The roof took a really long time to build because of all the complicated peaks and dormers that had to come together at all different levels.  

January 23, 2013 - More of the exterior siding detail starting to come together.

January 26, 2013 - I spent hours and hours this weekend hacking and scraping away the 4 inch layer of ice and was able to reclaim our driveway!

February 6, 2013 - Finally ready to get the insulation installed!

Inside the new garage...should stay nice and toasty in here!

Furnace and water heater stand.

Our bedroom.

Bathroom and future location of the vanity and sink.

Bathtub and door to the balcony.

February 10, 2013 - Seemed like the pace was starting to pick up for awhile...lots of noticeable changes each day.  Drywall is up now. 

Hallway leading to the upstairs room. Entrance to garage is on the right.

It's really going to be an awesome garage.

Stairs up to our bedroom and the extra tall doorway!

Did I mention that it has now been over 6 months, more than double the amount of time that 3 different contractors said it would take to build this thing, and we are still not close to being done?!

April 5, 2013 - Three more months have passed and we thought we were ready for final inspection, only to discover that the sewer system never got tested.  It didn't pass the pressure test, so now we are digging up under the driveway to find the leak. Also just discovered that we needed to buy a new bear box because our old one wasn't up to code.  And our driveway drainage didn't pass inspection either, so now part of the driveway needs to be torn out and redone.  Sweet!

April 7, 2013 - The inside is almost all done and ready for inspection, if we can ever  qualify for final inspection.

Paint, trim, carpet, electrical, plumbing...it's all looking good!

Can't wait to fill up this walk-in closet!

Loving the new granite and tile in the bathroom.

Hoping we'll get to bath in this monster soaker tub soon!

The water closet, specially designed for the needs of my man.

April 10, 2013 - Josh's new car in front of his new garage.

Loving our fancy new garage door!  Almost done now, hopefully we'll be able to say everything in final final by the end of the month of April...9 months later!!!