Progress report --- Week 5

Progress completed this week:

--Framing of garage (first floor) completed
--Plywood walls put up on garage
--HVAC ductwork installed in addition
--HVAC exhaust vents drilled/installed
--Plumbing pipes laid down for addition
--HVAC inspection carried out
--Termite spot treatment conducted in garage
--Floor joists put down in garage and addition part
--Holes drilled through concrete wall in our basement where freon pipes will have to run through
--And probably a lot more other stuff I can't tell what it is from the various pipes etc. lying around
--Had fence people come over to give us an estimate on moving/rebuilding the fence

On the whole, it seems to me that a lot has been done, and the area certainly looks quite different. Wagner, though, said grimly, "I consider myself to be a week behind schedule."

Obstacles encountered this week:

--Wagner's having second thoughts about the depth of the new garage. He's measured our cars and uttered dire warnings that we'll "never get a big truck in there." Our reassurances that we have no current or future plans to buy a big truck do not quell his concerns. We do, however, want to be able to fit our bicycles and lawn mower around the cars. He fiddles with the floor plans, decides to make the stairway skinnier (from 40" wide to 36" wide); shift the stairway over 2 feet; and move the furnace up into the garage attic space to free up some shelf/workbench space in the back of the garage. He also decides to add 8" to the depth. I was initially reluctant because I thought it would mean repouring one wall of the foundation, but it turns out the foundation was deliberately made bigger to begin with so it won't be any problem to make the garage deeper.