LET IT SNOW!

Early December 2007.

(naked snowman)

We got our first big snowy weekend on Twin Buck Hill and we yelled BRING IT ON because we now have insulation! It's a combination of blown foam and batting. Ummmm...toasty!!

Yeah, BRING IT ON old man winter - we also have fire.

The fireplace insert ...ugh. The only bad apple of the bunch. We ordered a beautiful fireplace insert and unfortunately hired the wrong guy to install it. I feel bad even talking about it here so I won't mention any names. It's been nothing but headaches for us on this one.
Hey, but it did pass inspection ?!

1. Delay in delivery.
2. Gouged and marked up bare wood on front porch when delivered.
3. Delay in installation - gives us dates and never shows or calls.
4. Incorrect pipe brought to install (pipe would void warranty if had been installed??).
5. Delay while waiting for correct pipe to be shipped.
6. Watch while 15 elbows were used to connect from base to chimney pipe straight run (huh?).
7. Receive bill for different pipe and 15 elbows which he didn't anticipate using.
8. Argue over bill - new pipe was originally included in estimate, 15 elbows weren't necessary.
9. Fix run to chimney pipe while reading manufacturers guide on site.
10. Installed fire block in wrong place.
11. Discussed specific instructions for outside pan size and installation.
12. Installed incorrect size pan.
13. Obviously installed pan incorrectly because now we have a leak, see...

(Smoky still likes it)

(Four out of five above are licensed builders. Can you guess who isn't?)

From out of nowhere the blizzard blew in this amazing crew from Pioneer Construction (shown above) to help us out. What troopers. They came hours through the snow and stayed in our, let's just say, rustic-camp-like conditions. The newlyweds purchased their first air mattress, Wes and Cheryl got plenty of fresh air during their night time blizzard walks and Max was a humping fool. Oh yeah, and they managed to frame out the entire basement in one day - can you say amazing? What talented family we have, huh?



It was really fun to watch them in action. Wes has a true passion and talent for building and that became very apparent over the course of the weekend. "The Professor" can look at something and process it in just moments, keeping the work flowing while remaining calm and cool. Not to mention Jesse, Step and Cheryl who all have so much building experience under their tool belts - we hit the builders jackpot! They have turned our 2 bedroom, 2 bath cabin into a 3 bedroom, 3 bath cabin like it was nothing. We are so lucky to have such generous builders in the family and so grateful for all the help.

(meet Mr. AirConditioner and his new neighbor Mr. Generator)

Our builder team left but the framing still continued. With some 'build-by-numbers' instructions left by Wes we managed to frame out the fireplace hearth ourselves. Next, we built a small wall and a bump out in the master bath and a soffit in the master bedroom. Working with knowledgeable builders gave us a little confidence to get it done...or maybe it was the number to the Builder's Hotline Wes left with us? (wink, wink)


Dereck still hasn't heard back from the fireplace guy (it's been months now) who was supposed to be working on a solution for extending the pan size. D went ahead and rebuilt the fire stop himself. That's when we found the leak. No more messing around, we called in an expert. A guy from Traverse has already got a new pan ordered and will rip out the crap up there now and install the right pan properly.