I decided last week that a “Forever Home Friday Update” was the best way to keep you up to date on the little happenings at the house.  You know, until I have more big news to share, like brick or vinyl siding or CABINETS!

Before the weekly update, let me give you a little recap:

1. Our footer was poured and finished.
2. The framing was completed:  first downstairs and then upstairs.
3. Front and side doors, windows, and shingles were installed.

Studs, walls, and floor boards have been saturated with God’s Word.  My mom and sister invited our family and several friends over to “bless” our house, and we most definitely received a blessing.  For all that goodness, check out my instagram posts.

The exterior still looks very similar to last week, with the exception of that 2×2 board that wraps around the lower part of the house.  This board will separate the brick from the vinyl.  (There is a more technical explanation of this, but I don’t know it!)

“Worker man” Jase was in on all that action, of course.

The plumber came and installed most of the rough-ins, which include our bathtubs.  {Jase was SO excited about his tub shower!! He just had to crawl in and play around for a while!} The plumber has also installed all the pipes that will go in the walls.  We are waiting on a few more faucets to come in and the plumbing rough-in will be complete.

We don’t have anything wired just yet, but Justin strung work-lights throughout the downstairs.  I was so strangely excited about this.  Justin called me a weirdo, but it just makes the house feel even more real or something!

A lot of what was planned to happen this week got pushed back to next week, so I’m hoping to have lots more to share on the next update.  The brick mason will start (hopefully) on the brick and fingers-crossed, we will get all the doors and windows ready so that we can lock up.  {Honestly, I’m anxious to get those doors finished so we can close them up and keep the dogs out. They think the house is their very own personal place right now!}

The gas company is scheduled to come out and run our gas lines and the HVAC guy is scheduled to do his thing.  Justin and my dad are beginning the wiring process this weekend.  We are still trying to decide whether we should install the vinyl siding ourselves or pay someone to do that.  Money versus our time and all that.

And since I’ve included several photos of Jase, I’ll leave you with this one of my girls.  They are growing up so dang fast and it just makes my heart hurt sometimes.

PS:  We have been loving some SnapChat filters lately…. they are so stinking fun!

PPS:  To see all our building posts, you can click on the “Categories” menu to the right.  Select “Building” and you’ll see everything I’ve shared so far.  If you want to make sure you don’t miss anything, find the “Subscribe” option in the right sidebar.  Enter your email address and all my posts will be delivered right to you!

You guys, building our forever home is so surreal.  I have dreamed about this for years, and to see it coming to life is nothing short of mind-blowing.  When I last left you, the entire downstairs of our home had been framed up.  Parts were covered by tech-shield; bracing boards were scattered throughout.  It looked a bit like this:

As soon as all that silver board (LP Tech Shield) was installed, most of the bracing beams inside the house came down.  There are still a few, but it’s not quite the maze/crossfit workout that it was before.

Most days, the kids and I go out and pick up trash.  My framer and his crew rock and they mostly pick up after themselves (—what?!?! It’s unheard of, I know.), but there are usually a few stray nails left out and some sawdust to be swept.

When the first floor was framed, the only way to go from there was up.

The rooms were framed up first, then the exterior walls.  These guys get so much done during the day that it’s hard for me to keep up with in-process shots. (Definitely not a bad problem to have!) After all the walls and most of the tech-shield was installed on the second floor, the framers started with the roof boards.

The photo above shows how the original, plan-drawn roof-line was supposed to look.  Our framer wasn’t super happy with the way it turned out in real-life, so he framed up something a little different and texted us a photo.  (Just one of the many reasons I love him and constantly sing his praises–he knows his stuff and he has vision.)

We loved the change he made, so we opted to keep it.  I think it adds so much to the overall appearance of our house and it is something I never would have thought to change.  Or known how to change, even if I had thought about it!

When all the walls were framed and most of the tech-shield was on, some of the crew started laying tar paper on the roof.  This helps protect the wood in case of rain and serves as a base for the shingles.  For some reason, the tar paper makes everything look so much more finished to me.  Maybe because it gives the impression of shingles?!?

As of today, the framing is 98% complete.  This week, the framers will be finishing the carnish for the vinyl, installing windows and doors, and will begin installing the shingles.  (That will be a j-o-b, because they will lay shingles on the old part of house too.)

We still have a long road ahead of us before completion, but we’ve got a good jump on things.  It helps that our framers have been able to work ALL DAY EVERY DAY because of the extreme drought situation we are experiencing here in Alabama.  I know we need rain, and desperately.  But if it could hold off (and it looks like it will!) until the end of next week, I’ll join the rest of you in doing the rain dance!

Confession:  I have taken no fewer than 16 million photos of our house building process, and we are still only beginning.  Building a house is SO MUCH FUN and the process of framing has my excitement level through the roof.  We have walls–we have rooms.  We have stairs, for goodness sake.  I can thoroughly visualize where everything will be and it is pure awesomeness.

On my last house building post, I shared with you all about building our foundation.  Once the foundation was complete, we played the waiting game for about three weeks.  {Believe me when I tell you that our framer was worth the wait.  We adore him and if you are building anywhere in our area please let me know so that I can give you his contact information!}

They started with the exterior walls on the first floor.  The wall above is our master bedrooom/ bathroom area.  Lots of bracing has to happen to keep these walls level/square with the rest of the house.  Right now, we can’t even walk through rooms without having to duck around sixteen different bracing boards. It’s like a maze/crossfit workout all rolled into one!

It turns out that our plans weren’t the best.  There are lots of missing measurements and things that don’t quite add up.  Every afternoon, we’ve met with the framer and worked out kinks.  This error in measurement has worked in our favor every time except for one.  Our foyer area is much narrower than I wanted it to be.

It’s big enough to walk through comfortably and big enough to get furniture through, just not as open as the house plans led me to believe.  In the big scheme of things, this is SO not a big deal, I’m just all about full disclosure!

Once all the exterior walls were in place, they began setting the interior walls.  (Confession:  I have made them move a total of three walls after they were framed.  One to make a closet bigger; one because the plans were messed up and we couldn’t actually fit a door into our bathroom (<–insert frustrated eye-rolling emoji here); and one to open up our foyer area as much as possible.)

We chose LP tech-shield boards to sheath our house.  (They are not paying me for this shout-out, but maybe they should!)  Typically, builders use thin sheets of wafer board and then wrap it with plastic-like house wrap.  Tech-shield boards have a thin sheet of aluminum on the outside layer, which is much more energy efficient.  Their website claims to block up to 97% of a home’s radiant heat.

Once the first floor was done, they moved to the second floor and stared the whole process over.  Exterior, then interior.  Sheathing.  They are currently working on the roof and as soon as that is finished, the doors and windows go in.  I can’t wait to see (and share with you!) when all that is complete!

With the first floor framed, I have been working on writing scripture on the studs and doorframes.  So far I have promised that we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15), that we will be hospitable to strangers (Hebrews 3:4), and my favorite verse–Isaiah 1:17.  I have plans for a Scripture/Blessing party as soon as the whole house is framed up/dried in.  I love the idea of every building block of our home being flooded with scripture by our friends and family.