Dad's House is finally sold and money is in the bank!

Originally we planned for our sundeck to be ripped off on Monday. Unfortunately, David's crew is still finishing up a couple of other projects this week so the new start date is after the long-weekend, Tuesday, September 4th. With Garrett and Kat arriving on Saturday for a weekend visits, it's probably for the best.

Wednesday, the sale of Dad's house is finally complete and with cheque in hand, it was off to Duncan to deposit it into the estate account. What a relief that this part of his estate is finally dealt with. No more worrying that the house would be broken into or damaged by all of the thieves canvassing his neighbourhood.

Goodbye House! 

Thursday we had our final design meeting for the work being done on the house this fall. We need a cost estimate so we know how much we can get done in the basement with all of the other items that are a "must" versus a "want". lol After our two hour meeting with David Coulson of David Coulson Design Group, and our wallets a little lighter, we had our "heads stuffed" with costs and plans. How exciting.

"David Coulson, owner of David Coulson Design Ltd., is enjoying his 25th year in the design and construction business. With a staff of 20 employees, David is guiding our company on some of the most outstanding West Coast contemporary homes and renovations, heritage restorations and unique commercial renovations. David is passionate about green building practices making each project healthy and efficient."

We have been talking with David and Donna, one of his designers, since last March when we first purchased this house. They've given us great advice and have excellent ideas on how to fix the "warts" in this house! lol

The timeline, as it stands now, is the deck it going to be ripped off next Tuesday, and the concrete poured under the deck and driveway at the end of September. Ray will be able to get his hot tub finally. At this time they will address the lack of snow guards on our tin roof, downspouts properly put into the perimeter drains and take care of the bat issue by sealing up all of the siding joints and cracks. After that they will begin on the inside projects. So, I think they will be all done before Christmas. What a feeling to get things finally rolling after waiting 3 months for the big stuff to begin.

Once back home we had another meeting with Southshore Cabinetry who happens to be our next door neighbour. He built the cabinets in our kitchen last year. He took the measurements for our hall closet built in, the dining room hutch built in and the new vanity for our master ensuite. Hopefully the plan is for installion beginning of October.

Spoke to our dock guy last week and they have started the build of the new dock last Thursday so it should arrive in the next couple of weeks, as well.

Friday, it was off to Duncan to pick up the motorhome. The new computer board was installed for the jacks, the new solenoid for the power transfer from the house batteries to the cranking batteries (for emergency starts) and we found that the trickle charger for the cranking batteries was not working either, hence the dead batteries. Fortunately this was all covered under our extended warranty so other than paying our deductable, we were good to go. Ray dropped the motorhome off at Duncan RV Storage and I picked him up in the car. We need the motorhome out of the driveway for the next couple of months with all of the outside work being done. Later in the afternoon, Cliff from McKay's Electronics came to exchange our stereo receiver for the new one promised back in June and install our rear speakers (also ordered last June) for surround sound. These were the latest models from Yamaha and their shipment from Japan was delayed). At the same time our gardener arrived to mow the lawn and do some hedge pruning. A very busy day.

Tomorrow Garrett, Kat and their dog Kira come for the weekend. Yeah! Hopefully the weather holds.