• Mood: tired
• Music: DDRMAX, "The Shining Polaris"

House progress

We went to see our house today, as we do almost every Sunday, and found that relatively little visible progress has been made in the last seven days. Framing is complete, which was the case last weekend, and windows have been installed, which is new. A few air ducts have been placed in the first floor ceiling. That's all that's changed.

When last I heard from the build manager two Mondays ago I was told that she still thinks she's got a shot at our April 15 close date. That's seven and a half weeks from now. I seriously doubt that it will happen. The next big thing that has to be completed is the radiant heat for the second floor. That involves putting a foil liner down on the floor, laying out a grid of pipes, and then pouring a layer of concrete (!) to cover it. That will have to dry overnight at a minimum. Before the heat can go in, though, there's plumbing work to be done on both the first and second floors. Meanwhile the electrical work hasn't been started yet. The flowchart is pretty messy right now.

Now, once all that gets done, willowisp and I have a walkthrough with our build manager. After that, they can put in the insulation and the drywall. Drywall typically goes up six to eight weeks before closing. So... in order to make an April 15 close date, drywall will have to go up in the middle of next week, after completing the radiant heat, plumbing, heating ductwork, and electrical wiring, a homeowner meeting, and certainly one, probably two or more inspections. I think that's pretty improbable. Personally, I think 30 April is more likely. My father's bet was for the end of May. We'll see.

This doesn't really affect our plans or cause any significant inconvenience. The lease on our apartment runs through mid-July, and as of the first of May we no longer save money by buying our way out early. We'll close whenever we close, then we'll have as much time as we want to move. I expect that we'll do it over a weekend. This move ought to be relatively straightforward, as a lot of our stuff (including all the books) is still boxed up. It's about a 20-minute drive from apartment to house. We can rent a smallish moving van for a day or two and knock it out without too much trouble, especially if we can enlist help.

So, like I said, the delay doesn't cause us any huge inconvenience. I'm just impatient. I suspect a great many people in my position feel the same way.

House pictures will go up in the usual place later tonight.