A while back I mentioned that the builder was going to have to remove some of the drywall because it had started growing mold, from being exposed to the weather for so long. Turns out, the problems were more than mold. The drywall had absorbed a ton of water and was turning into mush.

So, he blew his horn.
And the walls came down.

iPhone

They stood there laughing
They're not laughing anymore
The walls came down

And now we're waiting for new drywall people to show up and redo it all.

On the plus side, with the drywall gone, the inspector had a chance to inspect the insulation. And, he said it was some of the best insulation work he'd ever seen! Win!

And, except for the sides of the garage, which is being redone, the siding on the house is finally finished. It's the first visible external sign of progress in eight months!

Crawlspace is sealed and mold free. All the stuff that previously failed code has been fixed. Cabinets are ordered. Septic and gas tanks are going in soon.

The garage floor raising is progressing, too. There's a faint red line near the top of the white band, in the pic below. The garage is going to be filled with gravel up to that line. The initial foundation is nearly covered, which means there's almost 2' of gravel in there already. Four feet or so to go. There are 10 truckloads of gravel sitting in the driveway right now, waiting to be pushed into the garage. There will be more than 100 truckloads of gravel in there, when it's all done.

They've reinforced the walls with concrete and rebar. They're backfilling dirt around the outside. There are multiple layers of waterproofing of different kinds all around the garage wall. The white stuff is two continuous layers of plastic sheeting, 10x thicker than the engineer recommended. There are underground drains everywhere. The engineer told the builder he could only think of one other builder in the state who would be willing to try this garage raising project. And the builder says he'll never try anything like it again.

That's a little coil of Cat-6 dangling there in the middle of the pic. There's an unfinished space above the garage and I asked the electrician to run a line up there so we'll have it when/if we ever finish the room. Planning!

The builder is the most detail-oriented, perfectionist person I've ever known. He's also very much wants us to be involved in the process, so that nothing will be a surprise to us. So he calls us almost every night to keep us updated.