The last window

Amanda and I went to the house around lunch on Friday just in time to see they guys put in the 12' window in our master bedroom. It took 4 guys to lift it in place and it made one future female resident very nervous watching. Once they had it in place all it took was some nails outside to secure it in place.

And here is the view from the street with the window in place. We love how it all is coming together. Inside, the HVAC crew was busy running a lot of duct work.

We took Amanda's folks out on Sunday morning in the freezing cold so they could look at it first hand. We are not the only ones that like how everything is turning out.

On a personal note, we would like to congratulate my sister Katie for graduating from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater this weekend. We are all very proud of her and wish we could have been there to celebrate with her.

Windows almost all in!

After a few delays due to the weather we finally were able to get the windows put in yesterday. The only ones that needed to be done yet were the master bedroom windows (second floor above) and the windows in the kids bath.

This is the view from what will be our back driveway.

A close up of a couple of the windows.

The view from the north side of the house.

The view from the South side.

We are using Kolbe and Kolbe (http://www.kolbe-kolbe.com/) classic series double hung and casement windows. They are all energy star rated windows which will help save money by reducing heating or cooling loss compared to standard vinyl windows. If you are interested in the technical details check out their website. I would like to thank Joe Aleto with IHP Windows and Doors here in Saint Louis. He walked me through all of our options and gave us some good recommendations. We are really excited for how they look on the house and can't wait to see how they pair with the brick and siding we chose.

The kids love the house!

Well since we are doing all of this for the two little Pocius' it is great for Amanda and I to see how excited they both are when we go and check things out at the house. The pics above and below are from our trip Friday. As you can see John already loves his backyard. They also both stood in the kitchen for the first of a million times.

This was the first time we let Big T down in the house since most of the materials were picked up. She loved it (as you can see on the left). The shot on the right shows the first time she set foot in her room. She actually jumped up and down...well more liked bounced a bit.

Work from Friday.

Hello again everyone. We went by the house yesterday again to see what was done on Friday. The roof was completed and we were able to see the whole thing without any footers. We love how it looks. From the front...






From the back showing our place and the quick progress of our neighbors abode. They are trying to get a lot done before the predicted ice storm on Monday. With our roof complete we should be in good shape. It might delay our windows again.








The side facing the garage.







They were not sitting on their hands inside either. The HVAC plans were put into motion and the floor cutouts for the vents and returns were opened.









And finally showing some plumbing work. They actually started to run some of the supply lines up to the second floor.

The Green Critic

It's official! Our architect is not just severely bald...he's also joined the ranks of geeky bloggers around the world. Welcome, Jeff!

When you get some time, check out his new blog at http://www.jeffdaygreen.com/. I particularly like his tips on "Tightening Up that Old House."

Big John is watching

Hello to everyone ...hope everyone is staying warm! We have had some cold wet weather around Saint Louis recently and that has slowed down the progress a little bit. Things are still moving along at a real exciting pace though. As you can see above the shingles on the roof are almost complete. We were hoping to get the windows put in this week but the weather did not allow for the roof to get done thus the windows are scheduled for installation next Monday. I thought I saw a roofer pull up as I was leaving the house today so hopefully it is now done. Even without the windows in things are still getting done inside. You can also see in the picture on the bottom, that our neighbors, the Baum's, have a first floor studded up.

The picture on the bottom shows the staircase down to the basement. This needed to get done so the plumbers could get down there and start the rough plumbing. I met with one of the guys today to go over shower head placement for the huge master shower. I will finally have a shower that I don't need to bend over to wet my head (plus each of us will have some body sprays...should be nice). The picture on the top shows one of the guys putting some drain pipe coming from the kids jack and jill bath. If you can believe it the 3 guys doing the plumbing said the 29 degree temp was not that bad. I was out there for 30 minutes today and my teeth were chattering.

As most of you know my Dad John was a master plumber for many years in Chicago. So I know he is watching over the job being done, and will make sure everything is up to his high standard.

That is all for now. Hope we can show everyone some windows soon!

12.8.2008 - Hard at Work in the Cold!!

Amanda hijacking again... The fellas are hard at work today in the cold temperatures, getting our roofing shingles on before tonight's rain. I'm glad it's them on the roof and not us! That's actually a guy all the way on the top of the roof. I'll stick to my desk job, thanks very much.

Come back later this week for another update - we hope to have the finished roof, and - fingers crossed - windows. Maybe that will be John's 5th birthday gift on Wednesday - a window in his new bedroom. Otherwise, the loot from his grandmas, grandpa, and friends will have to suffice.

More to follow!

The roof is up and shingles have started

Hello to all!

Sorry we have not posted in a while. Things have been pretty crazy around the Pocius house. Plus the weather has not cooperated with our building project. Although we have not gotten much snow, we have had enough rain and cold to cause problems.

Amanda and I had to decide the color of our shingle before Thanksgiving. We settled on a color called Weathered Wood by Certainteed. We got samples of our brick and James Hardie siding color to put next to a bunch of different shingle

types. We did not want to go too light (does not look good with the other colors) or too dark (creates a lot of radiant heat in the summer thus making the air conditioner work harder to cool).

I went out with the kids on our way home Friday and the roofers were out there still working even though it was after 4 and about 27 degrees out. My fingers start to hurt just thinking about it.

The weather is supposed to be dry (and cold) so the roof should get done early next week and the windows should be put on Wednesday (little Johnny's birthday).

We have a house next door that has started too. The Baum family is building next to us so the neighborhood will be quite different by the spring!