A TOUGH, Good Week

Doug thinks things turned out A-OKAY

This week was truly one of the hardest and one of the most rewarding weeks I think to date. I was thinking to write an entry on Thursday evening and I'm glad I decided against it. Thursday was a day of highs and lows in of itself.

I had a discussion with the plumber on the previous Saturday about the plumbing and what needed to be completed by inspection time - Friday afternoon at 3:00. Although the list was somewhat lengthy, it was full of 'small' items to do and I felt confident that all could be completed in the next five days. Items ranged from installing a few stud plates to protect the plumbing to making sure all lines could hold water. Well the first part of the list went quickly and without much trouble. The part of the list that wouldn't go away were the three lines that separated out each water line - Fill and test System 1, 2 & and the wet lines. Every time I went to test, something new would break. Then I would repair it and in the process of waiting for the glue to dry, I would test (and inevitably fix again) another system. This process continued for all five days until it mounted Thursday evening.

It was the night before the big, final plumbing inspection and I hadn't been able to get any of the systems to completely work right. The wet lines would hold air pressure, but they would lose pressure within a few hours meaning there was a small slow leak somewhere in the lines. CRAP! Then neither of the two Systems would hold water without some sort of leak popping up, either because a joint hadn't been glued or because the seal of glue wasn't complete enough. UGH! I had had it! I was feeling completely defeated by this house. I was honestly at my end, I didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel any more - it was completely black in my mind's eye. On top of that I was feeling as though I was one of a very few that was still pushing this boulder up the mountain. The last few weeks of low volunteer turn out was extremely discouraging. I honestly felt completely vanquished. I ended up calling off the inspection on Friday morning for hopefully next week.

I had mentioned that there were highs too, I don't want to forget those. During the week the designer from Meredith that is helping me, Jeni W., had made a few calls in the previous weeks and was now starting to see returns on those efforts. Due to certain stories needing to speak to different audiences of the magazines, there are rough budgets that she has to stay within so that the consumer of each magazine will see my project as one that they could do on their own house. While that's not a bad thing at all, it just means there may be certain limitations on what products or companies can be used and may limit the options beyond the 'first choice' options -- meaning that if the first choice companies don't jump on board right away, it could be a lot more work and more time making this house a reality. Well her great ability to sell and relationships with vendors has paid off in huge dividends! On Monday Jeni received a call from a major cabinet maker that said they would not only like to do the kitchen and the master bath, but the entire house! Holy smokes, I couldn't believe that! Then, as I said before, on Thursday as I was leaving work she had received a call from Kohler and they want to supply fixtures and the like for the entire house as well - even the rooms that weren't going to be photographed! Are you kidding me?! THEN on Friday morning Jenn Air responded to Jeni's call and said they are on board to do the appliances in the kitchen! We are officially 3-for-3 in the 'first choice' category!!! I about fell over when she told me that.

So Friday felt as though the tide may be turning a bit. The numbers for Saturday weren't coming in as high as I had hoped. On the schedule was the insulation and other misc. small jobs to prepare for the drywall. I was hoping for around 20 and I was almost halfway to that number. I called the lumber company to deliver the insulation anyway, but only for the second and third floors and made sure the other jobs had materials as well.

Saturday morning rolls in and it's a perfect 66 degrees when I arrive to Lowes for my plumbing supplies and then to The Home Depot for building supplies (each store is used for a different type of supply so I don't have to track receipts when returning items). The parts I need are all in and available and I'm at my house by 7:30 and start working on hopefully the last two repairs for each system and tidy up a bit before people arrive. It is amazing how much better people feel when my house is tidy and how much more they see accomplished when they arrive to a 'clean' job site.

Around 9:00 the first two arrive and I'm about to test the water lines (after testing them once already and having a complete blow out because once again there were two spots that hadn't been glued and it took the lines to be nearly entirely full to have enough pressure to blow it out, creating a COMPLETE monsoon of water in my first floor sunroom). Not a problem though because it was a simple glue and wait fix. I filled the lines with water and had the two volunteers, Jay B. and Ryan V., watch the lines. Before you know it I looked out the window and saw water falling from the roof - SUCCESS!!!! Water shooting out my exhaust line through my roof meant that the entire system held water like it was supposed to. YAHOO! Then more folks showed up and I finally got to fill the other system and it too shot water out the roof. It's weird thing to call everyone in the house outside to watch water shoot out the roof - most folks would see that as a problem - as my neighbors did until I told them that it was expected and my plumbing was now ready for inspection. Two out of three systems at least. The final one was the wet lines that needed to be tested for leaks.
System Two 'over flows' with success/...and System One too!

My 'witnesses' to the success


After having my sister Elisha pick up to squirt bottles and 8 bottles of bubbles, I sent Doug J. off to test every joint in the system for bubbles. Starting with the gauge hookup, Doug found the leak in about 30 seconds. Huh?! It was the *$*#! pressure gauge?! Great, at least it's ready to roll! By then the insulation had shown up and needed to be carried up to the third floor because this company didn't have lifts on their trucks, sorry.

After hiking it all up the stairs I had about eight people there and started two, Ron and Kirby V., in the basement boxing in the air ducts; two on the second floor, Shana D. and Jay B., installing insulation and plastic and four on the the third floor, Elisha, Ryan, Jane M., and Doug J., installing insulation and plastic while I continued to work on misc. jobs and answer questions. After a fantastic lunch brought by my sister and Cheryl E., Mark S. and Ben A. arrive and pitch in too. All in all I have made it to ten people (the magic number I was hoping for by the end of Friday afternoon)!
Ron and Kirby working hard in the basement

Kirby puts in an outlet/Ron secures the framing

2nd Floor - Jay and Shana work the stapler/Mark installs a vent

Jay looks for his trusty stapler/2nd Floor progress!!!

Darth Vader (Ryan) takes a break/...while Elisha cuts away

Jane works the small spaces/Almost complete insulation

Fully insulated 3rd floor!

Mark starts insulation the master bathroom


I was looking around (with the camera in hand) and seeing A LOT of work had been done and things were getting on track. Thank you to all of those that showed up to help and all those who prayed things would go well. I cannot begin to say how badly I needed you prayers after Thursday night. I continue to ask for you help and prayers now more than ever over the next few weeks. We are at a point that will really go quickly if I can get the hands to hang insulation and drywall, then after the mudding and taping (which I'll pay to have done) I'm ready to paint the walls. We are finally at the point that I have been hoping for over the last month and a half - drywall hanging.

Please continue to pray for Ellie and me. With so many blessings to date we have so much to be thankful and that can be prayed about. With so much left to do and so many people to be relied upon to help that can be prayed for. As the next stage begins we are needing good weather to continue so that it goes in before it turns cold, please pray for that. Finally, the one year anniversary of the accident is just around the corner with the holidays right behind that, please pray that we are uplifted and given strength through that. There will continue to be great highs and lows in the the next few months I know. Through your help and prayers we will make it through.

Thank you all for getting us this far. Thank you all for taking this walk with us.