Getting ready for paint!

Here it is... the end of another week. Where do they go? A lot got done last week, but Dave did most of it. They installed the two heat/fan/light units, but we still haven't gotten the heat light to the site. I will try to get that in the morning, otherwise I will have to order it. Lowe's has one available after the 28th but I don't want to wait that long.

I took a bunch of pictures of the outside of the house the other day, but didn't go inside. The drywallers are making a big mess and I didn't want to cough all afternoon.

This first picture is the front of the house. It's hard to get a great picture because of all the trees, but they sure look cool.

This is the kitchen side of the house - note the cedar is already on the dining room window, and the deck posts are on but no rails yet of course.

This is the far side of the house, by the master bedroom - note the deck off the bedroom door.

Here is the front again, possibly a better shot, but not necessarily.

This is the front corner from the driveway. Possibly one of my favorite angles....

This is the front of the house. I had to walk a few feet away from the parking area to get the whole house into the shot.

...and last but not least, here is the big pile of dirt at the end of the driveway. I took this one because I thought the trees looked fabulous.

Now for next week... painting by Thursday, hardwood gets ordered tomorrow, George talked to two different installers (including the one that I told you that I talked to) and they all agreed that a random 2 1/4, 3, 5 floor can be done. NOT alternating 3 and 5, but a true random layout. I told them that is what you wanted if it is truly random. They recommended against using anything wider than 5 because it's so dry here that it will 'cup' and not remain level. I will be ordering interior doors tomorrow too. Lots to do this week! Talk to you soon.....

Drywall is going up!

It's Monday evening now. I took a boatload of pictures on Friday, but with the holiday weekend, I just didn't get them posted. Here you go, in no particular order:

Walking into the garage

Looking out from the laundry room door

Utility room

Laundry room

Family room view from the stairs

Kitchen ceiling - notice the light placement (note: it's really hard to notice)

Deck off dining room

Fireplace wall

Kitchen drywall

Dining room

Master bathroom

View to master bath through closet area

Master bedroom

First bedroom

First bedroom window

Living room

Entry area

Lower level bedroom - looking out

Family room - looking back towards stairs

Family room door to outside

Looking into the family room from the garage - note that the switch is there but must be over into the next bay (past the next 2x4) because of fire code.

I have a few more pictures, but this is a lot of them. The crew is working on the corner bead right now, and should be done by mid-week. I'll send more then. Have a great day!

Insulation

Well here it is the end of the weekend already! Seems like it was just Friday afternoon a few minutes ago. Where does it go? I guess when you work all weekend, it just goes...lol...

The insulation is in now, and it looks like a fluffy mess. George goes out to work in it, and it just gets everywhere. Looks good though - I think you'll agree.

George got everything that the energy star folks had issue with, and took pictures to comply with the requirements.

Here's the insulation in the tall ceilings in the living room

This is a little extra insulation that needed to be put around a duct.

More insulation in an interior wall

..and here's some insulation in the garage

It must have been quite a chore getting all of this insulation clear up there, but they did!

and insulation on the front exterior wall with plastic to seal

More insulation around piping, etc.

Energy Star Inspection today!

Hi Karen and Victor! OK, here's the update from today, June 24th. The insulation should be nearly complete, possibly a couple of spots missing, but that would be all. The energy star inspector came to the site for the first site inspection, too. He only had a few initial issues, for instance when the electrician drills a hole for wiring, do they fill it with insulation? Heck no. So George went around and fixed all of his 'punch list' items. The next inspection from the energy star folks will be after the siding etc., is on so they can check for leaks.

The county inspector was also there today, and his visit wasn't as nice....ggrrrr.... It turns out that the code just changed and now the big (expensive) window in the dining room needs to be replaced with a tempered glass window. Turns out that it's possible for somebody to sit on the window sill thus making it dangerous. I think they may be going a bit too far, but regardless --- we had to order a new window. Like I said..... ggrrr.... (everything else was fine - of course)

Dave the drywaller has his trucks ready to deliver the drywall tomorrow morning, and his crews will start just as soon as it gets there. I will get out there tomorrow while there is something going on and get a bunch of pictures (yay!... I hate it when there's no pictures)

I ordered the whirlpool tub too, and I think I finally found the perfect one. I shopped and shopped, and found one that has a huge water volume, lots of jets, looks classy and cool, AND may just double as a lap pool for the kids! (that was a joke.....) It is cool though. I like it way more than I did the last one.

We had a bit of a debate (me and the electricians) over the fixtures that they installed. They wanted to install a standard light/fan/heat unit in the baths, and a standard light fan in the master. I reminded them that it was to be a 'quiet' fan, which they said would set the project back because they had to order it, and its twice the price. I suggested to them that they get it ordered, and hope that it gets here quick. As I suspected, it got here in a day or two and all's well.

On the plumbing fixtures, you have great taste, because the faucets are about twice the price of the other stuff. Do you would want to compromise and do some (like the master bath) with the new, cool stuff and some (like the lower bath) with the stuff I had speced? Just a thought. It's more important that you love it, so just let me know.

Regarding the floors. I know that we talked about white oak, but George was talking to the flooring guy when he came to give a bid, and he said that possibly you were thinking of 'light' oak and not 'white' oak, because he said that the 'white' oak is not very attractive - no grain or depth. Did you really mean 'white' oak? or just stained and sealed 'light' oak? I am going down tomorrow to look at it myself, because they might just be yanking on my chain again. Just confirm with me that you really wanted 'white' and not 'light'. Thanks.

That's about all for today! More to come tomorrow....

June 19th - Roof is pretty close!

Hi all! Sorry the posts are getting scarce. There's a bit going on, but it's hard to see. The pictures all look the same. I'll post from the other day, then come back and post from today. Here you go!

The roofer nearly had the entire roof on when I took these. They got a little more done after I left, but you get the idea. The side door looks great in the kitchen!

... and I just love the front door. Of course they will all be painted, but they look great! I didn't get around to the other side because the roof guys had trucks, etc., all set up and I didn't want to get in the way.

---end for today.

Deck issues now!

It's Sunday evening, and things have just slowed down enough to sit and type. Whew... I love summer weekends.

The guys have been doing a lot of work, but it doesn't look like much. The photos didn't show much, like the electrical and plumbing work done, but its there. The fireplace front looked good, and the clerestory glass is in. I don't remember if it was in when you were here, but here's pics.

Here is the deck issue that we talked about this morning, too. He squared it to avoid the trees. I'm really not sure which way I prefer. The parking area will end at about the end of the deck, either way.... If the entry is the way it is now, the front door will be more obvious. If you have the rail opening on the covered porch side, it will close that whole side of the deck off. I like parts of both choices. Let me know your thoughts... Here is the front deck. Maybe you can get it from this picture.

Same picture, a little further out

Here's the fireplace front

This is how the front deck looks. I'm still torn on where to put the steps

and here is yet another view!

Friday - May 22

Good evening.... It's Sunday night, Memorial Day weekend, and it's been raining every day for a week. I love it, because I don't have to pay to water the grass, but I miss the sunshine.


I have tons of pictures of the framing, because it's starting to look like the drawings. I'm only putting up these, because there are a lot of really similar ones. I just take a lot in case one has better lighting than another one does.

This is how beautiful your home looks coming down the driveway when it's spring, and its raining.

This is the view looking out of the house into the muddy driveway.

I think all of the trees are leaved out now.

This is standing in the living room, looking towards the stairs. The kitchen is on the right.

Here is the master bedroom from the doorway.

I thought this was a cool shot, taken halfway down the stairs, showing how the two floors come together.

Here's a great cross section shot taken from the kitchen doorway into the living room.

This is the clerestory without the windows. No point in doing them in the rain!

Here's the beautiful beam in the living room and the windows in the living room.

This is the big steel beam in the lower level, taken from the bathroom doorway towards the office.

Here is the dining room doorway taken from the livingroom.

Here is the lower level windows (office and living room) looking out.

Cool pictures, huh? I'm anxious for the windows to go in. That makes it look 'whole' to me. They're scheduled to be delivered next week, so hopefully they'll be in when you get here. I ordered the doors, but one of the suppliers had an issue with the steel doors. They recommended that we consider the fiberglass, but I haven't talked to her yet about 'why'. We've been e-mailing, and this came up on Friday, so I'll let you know. Maybe it's a supplier thing, and maybe its an opinion. George has the fireplace guys coming up next week to confirm that the 'holes' that the framers built will work for the fireplace and pellet stove. I don't know why they wouldn't, since they supplied the specs, but it's better to be cautious.

We still don't have a baby (ggrrrr), but hope for one each day. I will really try to keep up unless she comes tonight, which would be perfect because nothing is going on this weekend (the framers took the holiday, which I guess is OK with me, they work hard). I'll keep you posted on the baby issue, and I will start preparing another draw to pay the crews around the first of the month.

Talk to you soon!