Re-Re-Re-Revised timeline

As thing start to draw to a close on the construction phase, we are getting a better picture of when everything should happen. Here is what I am now considering the approximate time line for our house:

• Front Porch Work - Early next week
• Finish electrical install and get power to the house - Mid next week
• Install Air Conditioning - Late next week
• Finish back patio - Early next week
• Install Wood Flooring - Start Monday july 8th
• Put retaining walls in - Next week
• Install Propane Tank - Week of July 8th
• Complete driveway - Week of July 8th (probably finish early the next week)
• Install door knobs and cabinet hardware - Late next week
• Finish plumbing install - Early during week of July 8th
• Paint and Stain final coat - Week of July 15th
• Complete Back Fence - Week of July 15th
• Install batteries for solar backup - Week of July 22nd
• Shake down week to make sure everything is working - July 22-26
• Start move in the week of July 29th

This is my timeline, not necessarily the one provided by the contractor. I think it is reasonable, possibly a bit optimistic. I really, deep down inside, think we'll start moving in the weekend of August 2-4, but at least we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Building your own house is an interesting experience, but as everyone who has gone through it will tell you, be prepared for the unexpected. Realize contractor timeline are, at best, guidelines. Groundbreaking was on April 17, 2012 and we are looking at being finished in late July 2013. That's about 15 months to complete. Actually that is a bit slow, but not too bad, all things considered.

Continuing to fill the pool

Almost 24 hours into the filling of the pool and it is continuing apace. At this rate finishing tomorrow afternoon/evening is very reasonable. Pretty soon I expect them to move the hose from the main pool to the spa at the near end based on this photo.

Edit later in the day: It looks like the water is rising by about an inch an hour, so by mid-morning the main pool should be close to full.

Quick peek at the pool

I couldn't resist putting one picture of the pool as it fills up. Notice the hose in the background. This is the only source of water for the pool at the moment.

We have a patio

Earlier this week the crews were out and pouring our patio. They used a concrete pumping truck with the intention of going over the dome, but the driver was uncomfortable with that and decided to go across instead. It all worked and we now have a complete patio (minus one small area that still had some scaffolding in place and they could not pour).

There is a lot of work going on right now to get the electrical ready for final inspection on Tuesday. The pool is being filled as I type this. I should get pictures of that early next week. They actually fill it with a garden hose. It should take around 50 hours to fill the whole thing. By late in the week we should have power to the house (and pool) and can take it for a test swim.

Stained Glass Window

This weekend our older girls "gave" a surprise to my wife and I. Technically I was sort of in on the surprise, but I had no idea about the design of the piece, only that it was a stained glass insert for the window in the Foyer. The image above is the final window. You can see my wife's reaction to the left. Thank you girls for working on this surprise to us.

Insurance!?!?!?!?

Well, today I finally spoke with our current insurance agent about getting insurance on our new monolithic dome home. In short, Allstate does not insure "geo homes". I called to complain that it was NOT a geodesic home, but a monolithic dome. The agent said they lump all those "non-traditional" homes, like domes and log cabins, into a special category and they no longer write policies on them since it is very difficult to assess what the potential cost of repairs would be. I guess I sort of understand that, but there is a growing database they could look into, but it looks like they are taking the easy way out and ducking. Anyway, our agent is looking into other companies to see where we might be able to get coverage.

In any case, we currently do not have any idea who we can get to insure our new home. Make sure you talk with your existing agent and explain to them what you are doing. It is a nasty surprise to find out that within a month of move-in, we don't know if it is insurable. If our agent does not come back with something soon, we are going to talk to Monolithic and see if tey have a recommendation abot who might insure the house. I'll keep you all informaed about the progress of getting insurance.

We have a front door

Things are continuing to happen around the dome. Last week they installed our front doors and with them in place you can almost fully imagine the foyer. The only thing missing are the lights and ceiling fans and the stain applied to the stair railing. In any case we are very happy with how it is turning out.

In other things, the back fence posts have been set (other than about 15 which were set in the wrong place, sigh). Later this week the actual fence should be going in. It was strange looking at metal uprights in place for a wooden privacy fence. The purpose is to be more durable and not suffer the problem of rotting. There will still be wooden fencing applied to the uprights. We also have most of the forms in place to pour the back patio. As of right now, the concrete is scheduled to be poured on Wednesday morning. Once that is done, the pool guy can come in and finish the pool.