Rocks Going Up

The rock continues up the walls. The masonry crew was a little larger in number today. While the men worked from the scaffolding they had extra helpers below who continually refilled their rock and mortar. They have their work well orchestrated. Before noon they were already above the first story windows. After lunch they started on the wall inside the screened in porch. They will come back tomorrow, Saturday.

The heat and air conditioning men were on the job again today. I felt sorry for them having to work up in the attic laying those vents, it was a very hot day today.

The electrician came late today to put in the plug boxes on the outside of the house.

First Rock

This morning we had a great surprise. The first rocks went up on the east side of the house. Late last night a large load of the correct color rock was dropped at the house. This morning the builder called to tell us Pablo and his masonry men were ready to start applying the rock to the house. We sped over to the house as fast as we could.

We took our pictures of the Starbucks building rock style that we liked to show to Pablo. After he looked at the pictures he understood exactly what we wanted. He then made us a test pattern on the wall to make sure we agreed with his pattern and it was perfect. From there his men took off with the rest of the east wall. Watching them select the right size rock, chip it then apply the mortar caused me to realized what an art form masonry work really is.

Rock Yard

We drove out to the Hill Country Rock Yard in Kerrville Texas on Tuesday. The rock yard had a large variety of rock to choose from. Before we arrived we thought we knew exactly what we wanted. We walked around their yard looking at many different piles of rocks and after seeing all their selections we were confused! The owner Kevin, spent some time with us explaining the difference between color and style. He could see we were still confused and offered to drive us around Kerrville to actually look at some homes with the rock color we liked. Afterwards we were able to make our choice because his tour was very helpful.

There was a Starbucks in town with the exact color and style we liked. Kevin told us this color of rock was called gold and the style is 8 to 12 inch cut rock with a few 4 to 6 inch smaller pieces of fill. We placed our order and went back to Starbucks before we left the beautiful hill country of Kerrville. We enjoyed a large frappuccino together admiring the rock on the outside of their building.

Duct Work

"There is a lot of duct work in a two story," Joe the installer said this morning. I think that was his way of saying they would be working on the heating and air the rest of the week. This same company delivered the living room fireplace this morning.
The fireplace we chose is made by Inglenook called the Country Flame. It is a wood burning stove with blowers and will easily heat the first floor. I am looking forward to staying toasty warm this winter after the long unusually cold winter last year.

Trane Heating and Air Conditioning

We chose Trane for our heating and air conditioner units. The installers brought the heater last week. The space for the heater is above the garage right next to the dormers. The installer will be back Monday. He will continue to install all the duct work next week. The rest of the unit will be placed in the third floor attic.

The builder Steve Gaines swepted up all the floors in the house Thursday and Friday. He is very neat. He always keeps the outside perimeter cleaned up too. He said he dosen't do house work, but does keep a neat work area. Steve said the electrician should be out this next week to start on the wiring.

The plumbers did a very neat job insulating all the hot water lines through out the house. Their work is complete for a while.

Wrong Rock

The plumbers have finished their work for now and the framers are at a stand still until the roof goes on the house. However, we can't put the roof on until the outside-rock arrives. After the rock arrives we can better select a color to paint the stucco on the dormers. The stucco has to be painted before the metal roof can go on....and so forth. Unfortunately, most of the rock quarry in San Antonio is under water due to all the recent rain. We concluded we would just have to wait on the quarry before we could move forward.

We went to the house after lunch today and found a pile of rock had been dropped off. We were so happy we could now move forward! Paul was so excited he jumped out of the truck before I could stop and park. By the time I met up with him he had noticed the quarry delivered the wrong color of rock.

Within an hour the masonry-man Pablo met us at the house and agreed this was definitely the wrong rock. It was too white and dark brown. We had selected a cream to yellow color rock from a sample Pablo gave us weeks ago. We decided the best thing to do is to drive out to the rock quarry in Kerrville this next week to select the rock color. We want to make sure the color of rock is right before we move forward.

Eagle Doors

The doors started going in this morning. The windows and doors were all made by Eagle. The sliding doors glide so easily, no effort at all. The front and back doors are french doors. They have a nice solid sound when they close, it reminds me of a new car door.