Our build snowed in and moving to a rental

15 years ago

This Fall has been disappointing with all the rain in October and now the biggest snowfall ever in December (32 inches!). Our build is NOT enclosed yet, but it's so close, and all our builder does is scoop snow out of the house, instead of working on the house!

And now our house just sold so we're looking at moving to a rental in 30 days, where we will be for 7-8 months, at least. Probably longer with the way the winter is going!

GRRRR... this is frustrating! I guess this is the joys of home building!!

This pic was 3 days before the 24 inches of snow hit and the roof sheeting was a little farther along.

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gillylily

15 years ago

Hi-
I don't often post on this forum (mostly on kitchen and bath), but I too am building a home.. I noticed your post and felt compelled to comment.

I live in New England, south of Boston. We sold our house in March, closed in May with the expectation that our new build would have begun in April. They did not even start clearing land until August, and we are still in an apartment with our 4 and 6 year old daughters and 8 yr. old yellow lab. B/c you said you were moving to a rental. My only suggestion to you is to think about how wonderful it will be in the end when your beautiful new home is finished. We are due to close (fingers crossed) in the next two weeks- so I guess it is a little easier to say that now.. but.. it will be worth it in the end!

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Comments (15)

vhehn
15 years ago
where are you at. we just got over 40 inches over christmas.
shelly_k
Original Author
15 years ago
Southeast South Dakota. You?
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vhehn
15 years ago
deadwood
gardengirl53
15 years ago
I'm right there with you. I think October had the greatest rainfall in recorded history as well! I'm not finding any "Joys" of homebuilding. Maybe an ulcer or two :)

Because of apparently "cheaping" out on the architect and maybe with my builder as well, we are having all kinds of issues with having to make changes now. I want to put my head under the covers till spring. Maybe I'll change my name to Beargirl and hibernate till this is over. Grrr for me to :))
worthy
15 years ago
deadwood

Wow!! Wild Bill. Calamity Jane. Al Swearengen. Brothels gambling and gunfighters. Hard drinking men and loose women. And these pantywaists are worried about a little snow?

Wild Bill Hickcock

We shoveled through more than 50 inches last December with it not affecting construction much at all here in the sunbelt of Canuckistan!
gardengirl53
15 years ago
Send me some of those REAL men out there in Canuckistan by golly! Now tell me the truth were they drinkin licker to keep warm :)
vhehn
15 years ago
"deadwood
Wow!! Wild Bill. Calamity Jane. Al Swearengen. Brothels gambling and gunfighters. Hard drinking men and loose women. And these pantywaists are worried about a little snow? "
yes. that is the place. believe it or not i dont ski or gamble. sometimes i wonder why i live up on this mountian in the winter but the summertime makes up for it all.
booboo60
15 years ago
shelly k,
I feel for you with all the snow!!! We built our house last year in NE Washington state and they had record snowfall!! We probably would have finished a month sooner had we not built during the winter. Some of the subs had trouble even getting to our place so things got delayed quite often. Good luck to you!
Heather Jennings
15 years ago
Hey Shellyk!
We're with you here in Minnesota. Lots-o-snow means slow progress! But with the cold winds added in, I totally didn't expect our crew to be working. They're not working on the house, but on a lot of the excavation (since we have a walk-out lot), so we've seen a lot of dirt flying this week. I'm anxious to head out this weekend and take some new pictures!

It seems your house is going up pretty quickly though--looks like a great location! It's been so fun "meeting" and chatting with people on this site. It's nice too to be able to follow the progress of so many!
pps7
15 years ago
Right there with you! Couldn't pour the foundation in october b/c of the rain. So couldn't get under roof before winter came. We sold our house before starting construction. We are in a rental-our lease is up mid June, I'm sure we can extend but don't really want to. I'm in MO so we didn't get that much snow- hoping we can start work up again next week. Looks like we are a few weeks behind you:

{{gwi:1517069}}

On a positive note, I love our floor plan!
shelly_k
Original Author
15 years ago
heatherj in mn -- Our contractor has done nothing the last couple of weeks. There is so much ice on top of the roof trusses that they have to chip it off by hand before they can put the plywood sheeting on... and with it being below zero for a HIGH today... not possible! I'm hoping for those 20's and 30's they are predicting next week! I'm glad your contractor has been able to get something done!

pps7 -- your house looks HUGE and beautiful!! Can't wait to see it's progress!
gopintos
15 years ago
Same boat, rain then snow... but at least we were under roof before the winter really hit.

Still, I was hoping for Christmas Eve. I knew that was wishful thinking. Now sort of hoping by the end of February, but I am not holding my breath for that either. Just seems like soooooo much left to do.

I am in MO also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Build in Pictures
claymaker1210
15 years ago
Hi everyone,

Sounds like you all have encountered substantial amounts of rain before the house is "closed up." I'm in CA, so we don't have to deal with snow, but it has been a wet winter thus far.

How did your contractors deal with the possibility of water damage to the floor from the rain and the snow? My contractor said that it's useless to tarp the structure at this stage, and we should just let it get wet and then dry out. Is that true?

Thanks for any suggestions you may have. It's been rather stressful watching all the rain.
firstmmo
15 years ago
Here in SF Bay Area too. We started in May and went through some crazy foundation delays because of earthquake risk.

Claymaker: Have you been conflicted about the rain? Everyone here talks drought so I know we need the rain, but it definitely has been stressing me out. Luckily my GC made some smart choices and we got water-tight by Xmas. We are drywalling and taping now. Couldn't get delivery of our drywall for days until the rain stopped! Just finished taping and first mud.

Big shout out "HANG IN THERE" to all of you with snow woes. Looks like the Washington DC, NJ and VA areas will be snowed in this week too. Could be record blizzard.

Keeping myself busy looking at pics of finished homes and kitchens....sigh. Only 4-5 more months!