Progress and More Rain

Slowly the house is taking shape.  The roof is now completely covered with decking and tar paper and the windows are now in.  The metal roof is on order.  We met with the A/C contractor yesterday to plan ducting, and it will be installed next week.   We are meeting with the electrical contractor to finalize plans.

The major A/C choice still to be made is whether to select the standard high SEER (13) Bryant A/C unit or their top-of-the-line, high tech Evolution system.  The SEER rating is higher, but even the A/C guy says the money savings are not substantial and hard to obtain in practice.  The main benefits seem to be quieter operation due to use of multi-speed DC motors and better humidity control.  There is also an interface box available that permits control via Internet or telephone.

The A/C guy did tell us that we have a good, energy efficient design.  Energy savings was one reason we wanted wrap around porches and a metal roof.  Both are staples of pre-air conditioning East Texas folk architecture, and they are still valid in our energy limited, air conditioned era.

Perhaps the key issue in the decision is that the refrigerant used in the standard unit is being phased out and will not be available after the warranty expires in 5 years.  That would mean a new A/C unit if replacement of the refrigerant is required.  The difference in price is about $4000, and I am on the fence whether to upgrade. 

The builder asked us to pick out shower and bathtub fixtures so they could install the valves. He directed us to Home Depot in Huntsville, but their stock was pretty limited.  So we drove to Houston earlier in the week to visit Great Indoors, but that was pretty much a bust.  We stopped at Lowe's in Houston and found a good selection.  We went back yesterday to Lowe's in Conroe and bought all the fixtures.  Fortunately, we had a 10% discount coupon that we received when we changed our mailing address, and that saved over $100.  

We have decided on Austin stone (probably man made) for exterior accent since it works well with the metal roof to give the Hill Country look.  So while at Lowe's and Home Depot we picked out exterior paint colors that would work with the stone.  Home Depot let us take a pice of broken stone for use in matching window trim.

We visited the house last evening and discovered that one of the recently installed windows was broken.  The builder says that the carpenter dropped a sheet of plywood from the second floor and the wind caught it and cartwheeled it into the window.  I told Cec that this is par for the course in home construction.  In a house I built in Houston several years ago, the carpenters installed the windows and then accidentally smashed several of them.  Before the panes were replaced, mud daubers entered and built a nest in the corner of a closet.  Then the painters arrived and painted right over the mud dauber nest!  House construction is controlled chaos.

The rain has continued off and on.  We have one day of sunny weather that dries up the mud followed by a day of rain.  We had a full blown thunderstorm yesterday morning.  We were sleeping in the motor home, and it was great to wake up tot he sound of booming thunder and rain on the roof.  

The ground finally dried up enough that we were finally were able to park the RV back in its slot beside the mobile home.  It is fortunate that we did not get it back in earlier since we discovered that we have it weighed for registration.  We accomplished that a couple of days ago.  Now all that is required is a trip to Huntsville with plenty of money.

And our mailbox is up, and we are receiving mail.