Garage doors

   August is winding down but the steady march forward continues with some big changes this week and big expectations in the pipeline.  The garage doors are being installed, and even through there was a slight mix-up, they're going to be completed this week.  Distinctive Designs continues to finish up the interior millwork with the installation of the balcony door and dining room ceiling, with the expectation of having the front door installed early next week.  Painting prep continues with near invisibility all around the house and the stone on the fireplace column is slowly making its way up.

   The two front garage doors were delivered and installed.  They're the Clopay Canyon Ridge Collection in mahogany wood grain and the walnut finish.  We tried to match both the color of the Azek on the porch and the real mahogany wood of the front door and I think we came pretty close.  Although none of the materials are an exact match, they're all pretty close.

   The mis-order that I mentioned earlier is on the large garage door.  The glass comes in two styles that Cloplay calls Arch3 and Arch3a.  We were explicit in desiring Arch3a, which has a single arch spanning the width of the door, but either through a miscommunication or ordering error, we got arch3, which has two arches.  While it doesn't look horrible, it absolutely doesn't make sense to have a double arch window in a single arch doorway, so we'll have to wait 6 weeks for this error to be corrected.  The single bay door came out perfect and will be mirrored on the back of the house.  The look is supposed to mimic a carriage door, and the faux handles and hinges have yet to be mounted.

   Here's a shot of both the garage door and Azek decking.  The color is close but the finish seems to be the biggest difference.  The Azek is a little bit flatter or the garage door has a bit more reflection to if you were to hold the materials next to each other, they would look very different.  Being far enough away, the color is close enough for all but the pickiest of eyes (I hope).

   Here's what the other side of the garage doors look.  The exterior and interior is a composite material that sandwiches steel and 2 inches of insulating foam.  The door gasket still needs to be installed around the door frame, which will block some air infiltration, but I'm not expecting an air tight garage.  I think the combination of the ICF and insulated door will keep the garage pretty cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  The interior white is standard and matches the white paint we have on the interior of the garage, so nothing really big about that.

   We got the garage door installers to install the track as high as possible since the doors on our Model X go up.  The beam that supports the master closet is the height limiting factor here, but it still allows the doors to get about a couple of feet away from the ceiling which is more than enough space for the car.  The torsion springs are already installed, but the garage door openers are not.  What you won't see is a center track for the opener since we're installing an axial door opener.  It installs on the wall next to the garage door and turns the spring bar to open the door.

   The tracks for the single bay door is slightly higher than the double bay but the vertical supports have yet to be installed. I'm not sure what the final height of the track will be, but it looks like it's about a foot from the ceiling.  The garage door on the back of the house isn't installed yet and I'm not sure if the tracks will connect to each other or what, but it looks like they could since the front door track reaches the middle of the garage.

   The rear garage door is still in its box, awaiting installation.  It's the same as the front door and will probably be installed this week.  From the other picture, you'll notice that the top of the garage door itself is squared off, but the opening of the door provides the curved door look.  This is something that I didn't know in the beginning, but makes sense.

  Here are the three garage doors we'll be installing.  They're Liftmaster 8500 "jack shaft" openers.  They have the standard button interfaces you would expect to see installed on the wall, but also come with the option for an internet gateway so you can control and check on the door status from farther away.  I think it integrates into the Control4 system, so we might end up getting it.  They also come with a power actuated lock so the doors are always lockable.  The solenoid throws a deadbolt into the track, making it very difficult to force open.

   Nick the painter finished off the barrel vault and gazebo ceiling with a coat of clear satin polyurethane over the dark stain.  This time when we visited, we didn't even second guess the color of the stain so I guess it's the right color for us.  We'll see how it looks when the front door goes in.

   Additional water proofing and sleepers were installed on the last section of porch in preparation for deck installation.  There isn't really enough space to pour any concrete, so the plan is to keep this installation above and maybe build a ceiling in the storage space that can be additionally insulated.  The concrete beams are still poured in the Lite Deck floors so the deck is structurally sound.  We'll just need to ensure that it's fully water and sound proof.

   On the inside, work is beginning on the built-ins for the study.  Distinctive Designs is laying out the cabinets and floating shelves that will cover this wall.  The floating shelves will hold some books, but will most likely be more for decorative items since a floating installation reduces the amount of weight the shelves can carry.  The cabinets will be used for primary storage and the counter top for printers.  The design of the built-in is still being developed, but ut will be nice to have something there.

   The tile installers are slowly installing their way up the fireplace column, now that the steel is in.  They completed one side of the column with the returns into the fireplace and will hopefully complete the other side this week.  It's slow going, but the results are fantastic and everything we hoped it would be.

   Here's what the greatroom side of the fireplace looks like currently.  The installation is slow because the tiles need to be very carefully cut or they'll break.  The small pieces on the return need to be matched to the thickness of the tile on the other side of the corner.  I think when this area is done, progress will proceed much quicker.

   Here's a closer look at the tile return.  You can see that the tile that overlaps the corner needs to be cut to add the thickness of the tile it overlaps.  If the tile was a uniform thickness, it wouldn't be a difficult task, but because of the varying thickness of the tile, each corner is a unique cut.  Also notice how they're alternating the overlap by layer.  These tiles come in sheets, so that means they're individually installing the layers here rather than slapping on a whole sheet and cutting it to the same length.  Lots of detail work slows down the install, but gives a much better appearance.

   Distinctive Designs is also finishing up installation on the decorative ceiling in the dining room.  The primary curves are constructed from MDF and the same corner bead from the trim in the rest of the house is installed on both sides edges of the primary curve.  This design was created to accommodate the existing recessed lighting and the chandelier we'll be installing in here.  The inspiration was drawn from traditional plaster ceilings and if I recall correctly, will all be painted the same color.

   Here's a look at the corner bead trim that's being installed on the MDF edges.  I think it's the same material used in the greatroom around the speaker grills and should provide enough detail to make the ceiling subtly stand out.  The MDF is 3/4" thick and the trim sits just below it allowing the MDF to create one more shadow line to add to the complexity.  I can't wait to see this painted.

   The stairs have been drilled to accept the baluster railings.  It looks like they used a 3/4" fortsner bit to a 1/2" depth.  The underside of the railing wasn't drilled and will be a little tricker on the stairs.  The railing is at an angle, but the hole has to be perpendicular to the stair tread.  Doing this freehand and upside down is difficult.   

   The floor border in the rotunda has also been drilled for the balusters.  The drilling of the railing here shouldn't be as difficult as the stairs since the railing is supposed to be parallel to the floor.  It's still upside down, but you don't need to drill the hole at an angle.  Now that the holes are drilled, I'm almost 100% certain they'll stain the wood before installing the balusters.  It wouldn't make sense to have to mask off each baluster just to apply the finish to the wood, so we'll need to wait a bit longer to see this final product.

   The overlook floor border was also drilled for the balusters.  This one doesn't have any holes marked for the crystal balusters, so I'm not sure if there will be any installed here.  At most I could see three, but I'll have to confirm if they'll be installed here.

   The French door for the master balcony was installed my Mike's guys this week.  They had some fitment issues since the door arch doesn't seem to match the template provided by Hardwood Door and Bevel.  Our contact, Craig, said he would take a look at the fitment when they come out on the 28th to install the front door.  The interior trim appears to cover any fitment issues on the inside, and I didn't get a chance to look at the outside, but Mike said the sides were lower than the template indicated.  This means they might need to change the already installed and painted siding.  Besides the fitment issues, I think the door looks fantastic.  It's huge and allows tons of light into the room.  The left side of the door is operational with the right being held closed by an astragal lock.  We're purchasing our exterior hardware from Hardwood Door and Bevel as well so that should also be installed on the 28th.

   The tile installers already laid down the Ditra insulation layer and decoupling mat, and is laying out the direction for the floor tile in the master bathroom.  Since these floor tiles aren't a natural stone tile, the vein pattern is repeating in the various pieces.  It's important to lay out the orientation to avoid pattern repetition in close proximity.  Ideally, you would have the same pattern tile at least two tiles away and rotated 90 degrees so it's not obvious.  Hopefully these will be installed this weekend and we can get a look at the final product.

   The Ditra "subfloor" was also installed in the master water closet, which confirms warm feat when sitting on the toilet.  The floor tile is being staged in here too.  Getting the master bathroom tile installed will be a huge item off the list and the last bathroom to get some kind of tile installation.  The last bathroom to be completed will be the powder room, which we'll have to complete after move in.

   Another huge step forward is the installation of the geothermal pump.  This is the primary pump that will circulate the liquid in the geothermal fluid circuit.  Electrical isn't hooked up to the pumps yet so I don't think they've completed a fluid fill or final flush yet.  The two insulated pipes on the top go to the ground loops and the two below to the heat exchanger.  The two circles on the top are three way valves used to close the ground loop off from the exchanger, for filling or flushing of either loop. There's a connection point on the side of the unit that hooks up to a portable tank.  The two things on the lower half are the actual pumps, the load pump and source pump.

   Here you can see the placement of the flow center in relation to the heat exchanger.  The two lower pipes go to the exchanger and the loop pipes run across the ceiling to the wall penetration.  It's a clean installation so far but there will also be a water heater and preheating tank installed to the right of this so all the heating and cooling will be on this wall.

   Here's what the geothermal ground loop runs look like as they make their way across the ceiling.  They're running under everything installed so far, including the recently installed fire blocking, but I don't think there's a code requirement to fireproof the pipe insulation.  Hopefully the installations will clean up a bit when the finished electrical is wired up but I think it will always look a little chaotic in here.

   So that's about it for this week.  This next week should see some more incremental progress, but we're expecting some big changes the following week.  The 28th seems to be some kind of magic day for installation as Old Country Stone will be back in to install the gazebo stone.  Great Oaks will also start installation of the back yard retaining walls, front and back steps, and driveway.  Hardwood Door and Bevel will also be in to install the front door and finally get some natural light into the foyer.  Next update might see the finish of the dining room ceiling and maybe some built-in progress.  Tile should be more finished and of course hopefully more progress on the fireplace column.  Counter tops have been ordered, but I don't know when they come in.  Things are steadily completing with only 10 more weeks! to go!