We Have Running Water!

   We visited the house the day after Thanksgiving this week for a meeting with Mike and Margaret and found the house full of electricians and general installers.  We couldn't have asked for a nicer day with temperatures in the low 50s and sunny.  The air was still brisk but the clear skies helped lift our spirits as did the buzz of activity around the house.  Plumbers came through earlier in the week and got the water running in most of the bathrooms, showers and sinks, but we're still waiting on toilets.  Mike said he likes to wait on those because once they're installed, people like to use them.  He'd rather the installers stick to the port-a-john, so toilets will be one of the last plumbing fixtures to go in.  Not much movement on light programming but they're expecting a disbursement check this week so Mike is going to insist that we get all the lights controllable before that money is disbursed.  Castro and the tile installers are slowly moving forward by completing all the time installation in the master bathroom, but still have some grouting left.  There's plenty of tile work needed in other places around the house, so they have their work cut out for them.  Mike is still pushing to get all inspections done in the month of December.  Whether the installers let that happen remains to be seen.

   The lake wasn't frozen during this trip since we had a little warm up, but we don't have many of these sunny, blue-sky days left.  I couldn't help but take a pause from checking everything over to look out on the view we'll have for the rest of our lives.  Whether it's from the side porch, as shown in this picture, the greatroom, back porch, master balcony or even the front retaining wall, you can't help but stop and take it all in.

   On to the progress.  In just one day, the electricians installed nearly all the exterior power receptacles.  Since they're on the exterior, they're weather protected with covers, even though they're all under porches.  This will protect them from water spray when I need to power wash the house.  This one is actually in the ceiling of the back porch, all wired on a circuit controlled by a timer.  We'll use these for holiday lights.  We don't have these sockets wired to the Control4 system, which would have made more sense, but we didn't think of it at the time.  It still might be possible to install wireless switches in lieu of the timers, which will integrate the sockets into the system.

   The weather protected receptacles on the cobble stone walls are fit as best as possible and may need to be caulked to the mortar.  These receptacles will be used in temporary situations for power tools so the little door won't be too obtrusive when in use.  There's nothing we'll need to plug in long term so these doors will always be opened situationaly and short term.

   The copper gooseneck Carson lamp from Rejuvenation was finally installed over exterior storage.  I'm looking forward to finish off this unconditioned storage space under the back porch.  We purchased this light a couple of months back and it has been sitting in the house.  I'm not sure where the light switch for this light is.  It might be one of the dumb switches up at the kitchen sliding door, which would be convenient, or it might be just inside this door.  Either way, it will be nice to have a light here on the rare occasion when we'll need to access this space when it's dark.

   The remaining recessed exterior lights were installed in the back porch.  These are just retrofits into standard incandescent recessed cans, so there's nothing tricky about the installation but Mike left it up to the electricians to finish.  These lights are also not yet controllable so the Sound Vision will need to get them operational before we can test to see how they look.  They're the same lights as on the front porch, and completely dimmable so I'm expecting the same performance as those up front.

   The correct light was installed on the rear garage walk out so all nearly all the exterior lights are installed.  We're still waiting on getting the front hanging light back from the Coppersmith since we needed to change the hanging implementation.  All these lights are controllable, but the naming is a little odd.  The exterior walk out light is labeled "Gen Cones" under the equipment room heading and the back garage door is labeled "Garage Coach" under the Exterior heading.  These labels are only programmable by the Sound Vision so we'll need to get them to name them properly so it's less confusing.

   The light is the "Cavo" from Hubbardton Forge in the tall configuration.  It takes a single standard base bulb that we filled with an Edison looking LED bulb.  There were options for seeded glass, but we opted for clear.  There's also a multitude of metal finishes to choose from, but we found one that most closely matched a weathered copper since we have the real copper lights hanging near by, next to the garage door.

   The lights on the two basement walkouts were also installed and are currently wired to the standard switches just inside the door.  They're from the same Hubbardton Forge Cavo line, but are shorter and only a single mount.  They also use a standard bulb and we installed some spare LED bulbs with a normal look.  Unlike the long mount, these are easier to change so if we want a nicer look, we can just reach up and change them.  We'll one day have a paver patio here, but it will be one of the last elements of landscaping installed.  These will be the primary light source for this space but there might be some landscape lighting as well.  The landscape lighting will have a much lower light output and isn't sufficient for general lighting.

   The Cavo lights share the same loop characteristic which adds continuity to all the exterior walk out doors.  Some of the stone and mortar had to be chipped away so the lighting plate could be mounted.  These fixtures are capable of using a 100 W incandescent so we could put a higher equivalent LED if we find one that looks good.  These will suffice for now.

   Here's what the single Cavo lights look like on the rear basement walkout.  These two bulbs should provide enough light.  Final landscaping plans have a small paver patio installed in this location so a little lighting is needed.  The catwalk and dock will meet up with this patio so it will probably be more used that the other walkout.

   Moving to the progress inside, our replacement glass light shade for the Framburg ceiling mounted light came in.  The one that was originally sent was too small.  A replacement was sent, but arrived broken.  This one looked intact and was installed as we waited and watched.  The shade is made from glass and look like ropes of glass poured in loops in an open lace.  A nice departure from the standard crystal glass, it's a clean and modern light that fits well in the foyer.

   The fixture takes four bulbs and provides more than enough light in this space. The glass is transparent enough that we need to be careful about how the lightbulbs look. I found some clear LED bulbs that are shaped like the standard light bulb, but have the thin LED filaments inside.  They filaments are yellow when turned off, but they're not too visible through the glass shade.  I might replace them with the standard frosted bulbs.

   With every passing weekend, more functioning lights are giving us a better idea how the house will look when we're finally moved in.  The sconces in the foyer were confirmed to incorrectly manufactured.  The base that is supposed to support the glass is too small so the glass precariously perches on the base.  We have the option to wait 4-6 weeks to get new fixtures, or send our current fixtures back to Framburg to be fixed, with a shorter turn around time.  We're opting for the later since the results should be the same.

   All the rotunda railing and base have been stained and the final polyurethane coat has been applied.  The finish is very smooth and without blemish and the color is a perfect match to the wood floor that will be installed next to it.  The baluster base does have a satin polyurethane finish on it so the reflective sheen is a little bit more than the oil/wax finish floor that will be installed next to it.  The stair treads will be stained near the end of the build, when there are fewer people to walk all over them.

The staining balcony overlook railing to the greatroom has also been completed.  Again, there's a smooth coat of satin polyurethane on this wood.  You can see how similar the colors are between the railing and the wood floor.  The only difference between the two will be the amount of surface shine.  I'm surprised at how closely the wood floor, exterior doors, balusters, and second story mantle color all match.  They're all sourced from different vendors, but they're close enough to look like they came from the same place.

   The polyurethane finish has also been completed on the dining room built in.  The wood species is already walnut so no stain was required to achieve this color.  All the internals and have been coated with the same finish so the only finishing touches needed are the final hardware.  We chose some interesting handles for these and the office doors and I can't wait to see them installed.  We have a dining room table designed for this space, but it won't be fabricated in time for move in.  We'll hopefully be able to get it soon, but since we're probably going to miss the holiday season, it's not a high priority.

   The circuits to the lights going to the basement were connected, but I don't have great control over them yet with the software.  They're programmed into the "all on" function currently implemented into the Control4 switches so that will have to do until The Sound Vision completes the lighting programming next week.  The lights use a smaller base candelabra bulb and I opted for a clear LED type, but I might need to switch it with something brighter since these two are the only two in the stairwell.  It's unbelievably difficult to find bright LED candelabra bulbs, especially frosted ones so I might need to purchase them online.

   Almost all the showers and sinks have been hooked up to water and are operational.  The guest shower, shown here, has the hand shower holder installed where we requested it to be installed as with the other shower locations.  The only two bathrooms still unplumbed is the mudroom and master bath.  I tested the functionality of this shower.  The head doesn't spray really hard, but it has a large spray pattern.  There's also a spray pattern selector that I didn't play with so it might just be on a setting that sprays a more gentle pattern.  The top selector nob is for on and off, the lower knob sets the temperature, so this can keep a favorite temperature so there's no more hunting for that perfect shower.  The control lever on the shower head can select between the shower head, hand shower, or both at the same time.

   The guest faucet is also plumbed in and functional so now we can wash our hands when we visit.  The faucet sprays directly down and almost perfectly hits the drain plug, which actuates from a small lever on the back of the faucet.  This counter top actually had to be re-drilled since Solid Surfaces initially drilled it for a single hole installation.  Mike called them and they responded the same day and sent someone out to drill the other two holes.  Excellent service.

   Any of the faucet installations on exterior walls will have a drain setup similar to this one in the guest bathroom.  Since we can't run pipe in the exterior walls, the vent needs to be installed in the sink cabinet.  Other sinks on the exterior walls have the same type of venting, but interior wall sinks have proper venting in the walls.

   The extensions for the Theta have arrived and are ready to be installed.  This should drop the light fixture a good amount, placing it exactly where we wanted it to be.  Unfortunately, the scaffolding is gone so it will either have to be brought back in to install the extensions, or they'll have to find a safe way to remove the lighting fixture and install the extensions.  We're expecting the light will be able to hang down lower, bracketed by the railing on the balcony overlook.  That would put it at the perfect height to be viewable from the greatroom floor without craning your neck too far.

   The kitchen faucet was installed, but only temporarily, which is a good thing since it looks a little crooked.  It's not hooked up to water yet and the garbage disposal isn't installed yet.  I'm not sure if they'll remove the faucet for the tile backsplash installation or if the tile installers can work around it.  We'll also have to call PMP back in to drill one more hole in the counter so the air switch for the garbage disposal can be installed.

   Besides lighting, the electricians installed all the smoke/carbon monoxide detectors around the house.  They're wired in with a back up battery and all wired together, so if one detects smoke and sounds the alarm, they all sound the alarm.  I think that's pretty much code for new builds.

   All the tile has been installed and grouted in the shower and everything has been cleaned up.  We're still waiting for the shelves to be installed in the shower nooks and the supports for the bench aren't cut to final dimensions, but things are wrapping up nicely in the master shower.  The plumbers should be able to get in here soon to do their final installation.  Lights are still not functional in this room but we're expecting The Sound Vision to swing by this week to get some more work done.


   Here's a closer look at how the tile in the eyebrow window of the shower turned out now that it's finally grouted.  There's a little variation in the setback line it makes with the window as it follows the curve, but I think it's acceptable.  The window sill at the bottom doesn't return around the corner so the stone molding tile doesn't land on it.  It's not too much of an odd look, but it's different that the rest of the wood molding around the house.  I'm not sure why the sill wasn't cut with a return, but it was made to spec, so we can't complain.  There's little chance for water to get up here, but if it does, everything looks well sealed enough to prevent any damage.

The penny round tiles in the nook is grouted, but the main shower tile itself isn't.  I'm not sure why they did one and not the other since I'm pretty sure the grout colors will be the same between the two.  The shelf still needs to be installed so the penny round tile will need to be cut away, so it makes even less sense that it's already grouted.  The tile installers are taking a pretty long time getting the work done, but their completed product looks good.   Mike and Margaret were telling us about one of their best tile installers who produced excellent quality work.  He could look at a space and determine how the tile should be laid out, all in his head.  The only problem is that he takes a really, really, long time to get the job done.  We might use him when we finish off the special curved tile on the dry side of the dividing wall.  Speaking of which, we decided that since we're going to be installing that tile in the near future, it doesn't make sense to install the tub, which would get in the way.  So for move in, we'll forego the tub and get it installed when we have the money to install the tile, which is a considerable amount.

   All the tile has been installed around the master bathroom vanity, both above and below the vanity.  There still needs to be some grout floated on the wall but there's enough done for the electrician and plumbers to get started with their installs.  Still no sign of the Robern medicine cabinets on site, so I better confirm with Mike to see if he's purchasing them or if we are.

   Misplaced in the master bathroom, we found the pot filler for the kitchen.  This is one of those things that we didn't think we wanted, but it was suggested we get, just because every other house in our price range has one.  I can see it being kind of useful since you can fill the pot on the stove without taking up the sink, but it's not so useful since you still need to carry the water from the stove to the sink to dump it out.  It will be nice to have it, as long as it doesn't fail.

   The faucet in the laundry room is finally installed.  I think this was one of the first finished plumbing pieces on site, but almost one of the last installed.  It's a simple affair, meant to be more utilitarian than flashy.  It does have a pull down nozzle which might be useful for hand washing clothes.  The sink is a good size for a laundry basin, but it's not as big as the white plastic tub basins you generally find in a laundry room.  I think it will suit our purposes and I don't intend on cleaning paint brushes like I do in our current laundry tub.

   The turret shower handle was mounted to the right of the shower controls.  This was the only bathroom we could do this in since all the others have a corner shelf that would get in the way.  This will currently be a heavily used bathroom since both our girls are staying in this room.  We don't have plans for a shower door on move in, but will hang a shower curtain.  A shower curtain provides more access to more of the tub, so bath time for the two will be easier with this setup.  Once they get older, we might consider a sliding shower door in here since we generally dislike shower curtains.

   Not much change in the basement except for the final hookup of the house main PEX to the copper main coming from the meter.  I have no idea why they put a bend and two additional sections of PEX in but as long as it doesn't leak, I'm okay with it.  I almost wonder if they left it this way in case we want to tie in an irrigation system or something.  It would make it easier to install a "T" in the line since the junctions already exist.

   That's about it for this week.  Next week should be a big one with the delivery of all our appliances, installation of closet organizers, some landscaping installation, and continued progress on the tile, lighting, and plumbing installation.  Wood floor installers have been MIA for a while and I'm not sure what their hold up is.  Mike said it would only take a day or two to install all the shoe molding after the wood floors are in, so that's good news, but they obviously can't get started until the wood floors are completed.  Like I said, the tile installers are taking their sweet time to finish things up and they're the rate limiting factor on the kitchen hood installation so I hope they get moving again soon.  We're going into December at the end of next week and I'm not hopeful for being in by Christmas.  Even if we get COO by mid-December, we still have to consider the time it takes to clean up our old house and move.  If it does happen, at least I won't feel as guilty about staying at the house.  Here's hoping.

Finished Plumbing Started but Slow Progress

   The snow hasn't started to really accumulate yet but that doesn't mean we're not seeing the occasional light flurry.  Winter is knocking at the door and we're luckily finally finished with the exterior of the house.  Except touch ups, which will have to wait for spring, and the railing on the decks.  I guess the correct statement is that everything temperature dependent is completed on the exterior.  I should be happy to pass this milestone, but there's a definite slow down in progress on the inside that's tempering my jubilation.  There's still weekly progress that I'm thankful for, but I don't know if we're really experiencing slow progress because of the start of hunting season and holidays, or if all these fine details just take more time.  I wouldn't have expected this part of the built to stretch on for months.  But progress does come, this week with the start of the finished plumbing installation, tile progress in the master bathroom, some additional lighting control programming, and a little more wood floor installation.  The gazebo posts were painted as well as most of the switch and receptacle plates.  No new electrical installations since last post which makes me wonder why the electricians are dragging their feet.  There's just enough progress each week to be mostly satisfied, but not enough to stop us from pulling out our hair in frustration.

   Finally! A near completed look at the back of the house.  The painters got a couple of good days last week to put paint and primer on the posts in the gazebo, completing the appearance.  The only things remaining to be installed on the exterior are the front and back porch railings and a little more exterior lighting.  The sconces on the rear garage walkout and the two basement walkouts still need to be installed.  Mike had some of his guys installing some of the interior lights, but left these to the electricians since they'll need to chip away at the mortar and stone to get the lighting mounts to fit.

  Here's a closer look at the gazebo, now that all the paint is applied.  The porch railing designs have been finalized and are in production, so we'll hopefully see them installed within the next few weeks.  Mike had the railing installers redesign the rails in the gazebo since the initial design called for extra posts next to each gazebo post, rather than tying directly into the support posts.  A good amount of leaves accumulated in the gazebo and were easily blown out with my leaf blower.  Since the railing is spaced off the floor, it shouldn't impede removing any snow or leaves.

   Moving inside, stain application has made its way to the office built in top and shelves.  The color looks dark, but only because there's a layer of dust on the floor.  It feels like there's one application of the polyurethane top coat since the surface is smooth, but still has some bumps and inperfections.  I think they'll hit it with some sandpaper to knock down the bumps and apply one more layer of polyurethane before it's done.

   The wood floor has made its way across the rotunda but stopped short of the front entry closet.  The closet itself has a new layer of leveling compound poured.  Mike said the floor installers ran out of wood and need to order more so I'm not sure if they stopped here due to the lack of supplies or because of the leveling compund.  I didn't see many boxes of flooring in the house and with almost the entire second floor to install, I'm surprised they're this short on the initial estimate and suspect there was more waste than initially calculated.  Mike already ordered more wood, but with the Thanksgiving this week, I'm not sure when we'll see delivery.

   The entire handrail for the rotunda has been stained and is in about the same condition as the top and shelving in the office.  It feels like there's one coat of polyurethane and it needs one more.  The base of the balusters aren't taped yet and should probably be masked before the lower piece of wood is stained. I'm not sure why they decided to do it in two parts.  It seems like it would be easier to get the whole thing taped off and apply all the stain at the same time.  Since the treads also need to be stained, they might be waiting to do all this at the same time.  Speaking of which, I didn't notice if the risers of the stairs are painted the same white as the paneling in the rotunda, as it should be.  Since the stairs are high traffic areas, I can see them wanting to wait to finish these parts until near the end of the build.

   The Sound Vision was in one of the days last week to work on the lighting control programming.  They still have a good amount of work to do, but much of it can be performed remotely.  They did get a few more lighting circuits sorted out and hooked up the the switches closest to the exterior doors so they can turn all the house lights on and off, removing the need to push buttons on the controllers themselves.  The sconces were hooked into the system so we got to look at the three ambiance lights turn on for the first time.  The main overhead lights are still uncontrollable, but they'll hopefully be programmed soon.

   The "old timey" Edison bulbs in the great room sconces are actually LEDs with a long LED filament.  They're purposefully lower in light output to mimic the older bulbs, and a little yellower in color.  We're not going to be using these for primary lighting so I think they're perfect for this application.  The light gives a nice glow to the wall around it and will probably light the room enough during the night, but won't be useful for general lighting.

   No real progress in the kitchen, but the island looks like a frosting station for Christmas cookies.  It's being carefully used to paint all the plate covers for the house, some of which are already installed.  We couldn't get over the color difference between the white of the plate and the white of the electrical receptacles so we decided to have them painted to match the wall color.  Nick actually stopped by when we were visiting so we got his expected schedule. They'll finish up with the plates and additional touch up this week, then revisit after all the floors, tile, and plumbing have been installed for the final interior touch-up.  They'll also revisit in the spring to an exterior and interior touch up since there will be some shrinking and expanding that will happen as materials dry and reach humidity equilibrium.  Even after we move in, there will still be some work left over.

   This is what one of the receptacle plates looks like on the gray walls. The receptacle itself can not be painted, but at least there's only one white now.  The screws can't be painted either since it would just crack the second you use a screwdriver on it.  The Control4 switch plates are getting the same treatment so everything will have a uniform look around the house.  I think painting the plates gives the house a little more contemporary look since it reduces the visual impact of the plates, providing a cleaner look.  It's possible to get colored switch buttons for the Control4 switches, but I don't think we'll exercise that option.

  The Sound Vision installed the rear speaker grills in the greatroom for the surround sound system.  I have mixed feelings about this.  As you'll recall, we initially had the paneling rounded to match the round speakers.  The design was changed since everything in the room was square and rectangular.  Now that the speaker grills are installed, it doesn't seem to lessen the visual impact the speakers have on the wall.  The round speakers are still visible through the grill and the grill if offset from the rest of the paneling.  I'm hoping that the grills aren't color matched to the wall and once painted, will make it disappear more.

   The finished plumbing fixtures are making their way into the house in many areas but some are still waiting for the tile to be completed.  The kitchen faucet picture here is ready, but the tile backsplash still needs to be installed since it runs above the counter, behind the faucet.  We probably won't see the installation of this faucet for a while since the tile installers are still finishing up work in the master bathroom.

   The plumbers did install some of the other faucets and shower heads, but no sign of toilets or the master tub.  The faucets for most of the bathrooms are the same with those being different in the guest and master bathroom.  This faucet in the mudroom is the same as in the two bedrooms upstairs.  It's made by Hans Grohe and we chose it for its simple design and ease of use.  We like the single hole installation for cleaning and think it works well across all ages.

   The faucet for the butlers pantry bar sink was partially installed.  All that's left is the pull down and final hookup to the water in the cabinet.  It's the Brizo Vuelo and it's the same design as the kitchen faucet, but slightly smaller to fit the space.  We really liked the organic curved design of the faucet and handle and single hole installation.  This one has a simple single handle operation and the kitchen faucet adds touch control. I'm still not sure what we'll use the sink in the butlers pantry for.  Maybe hand washing all the glasses that will be stored in here or something.

   The doors on the dining room built in were once again removed so that the raw wood could be polyurethaned.  There's no stain tint so all the color is from the walnut veneer itself.  I didn't see the doors anywhere near by so I'm not sure if they took them to coat them in a spray booth.  The walnut wood, when dry was a lighter dustier color, but now that it's coated, is closer to the butlers pantry or floor color.

   After trying to get the interface between the dining room built in top and wall correct, I think we're settling on this solution.  If you'll remember, there used to be a pretty big piece of trim on the back and sides of the top where it met the wall.  We had it removed to see if we could just caulk the joint or float more drywall compound to fill the gap, but neither of those solutions looked really clean.  Distinctive Designs came up with this final solution; a smaller piece of wood to act as trim to hide the gap.  It will need to be stained just like the rest of the cabinet, but I think it's the best we're going to get.

   The dining room is currently being used for spare parts from the electrical and plumbing installs.  Cardboard from the flooring material was laid down to help protect the floor, but judging by the footprints, not everyone is walking on the designated paths.   The roll away dumpster is nearly full so another will probably be needed before the project is complete.

   The faucet in the second bedroom upstairs is the same as the one in the mudroom.  We're going to need to sort out mirrors since all the bathrooms will need them.  Probably something smaller rather than the full size mirrors you've seen in the past. 

   The faucet has a clean design without being too spartan.  There's a small lever on the back to actuate the drain plug in the sink.  The aerator is soft touch rubber which helps with cleaning.  In combination with the spray angle, the faucets extend far enough to get the stream right at the drain, something that's difficult to determine unless you have access to all the components.  The last unknown is how the master bedroom faucets will spray into the sinks. 

   The setups in the showers are all pretty similar, except for the one in the master shower.  This one has a selector for tub faucet or shower and a temperature control handle.  The shower head also has a selector lever to switch between the shower head and an attached shower handle.  We had to go through each shower to mark where we wanted the hand shower holder.  I don't think it's possible to run both the shower head and hand shower at the same time.

   The trim and border tile is installed on the master  shower window as well as all the penny rounds on the arch.  It's a little hard to make out from this picture, but there's a profiled stone tile that borders the window.  All this tile still needs grout floated so there's still a good amount of work to do before this is completed.

   The same trim tile was installed on the shower caddies.  There's still one shelf that needs to be installed on each caddy but I think this trim looks super fancy.  I think they'll need to cut some of the penny round tile out to fit the shelf, so I'm not sure why they didn't install it from the beginning.  It will probably sit behind the trim tile so there shouldn't be a need to cut it out of the sides.

   All the penny rounds have been installed on the wet side of the curved shower wall.  They had to flatten the tile out a bit around the valve boxes so the face plate can sit flush with the tile.  Cut wall tile was installed on the flat sides of the curve.  I really like how this bathroom is turning out.  It looks much fancier than I thought it would and the mixed materials looks good together.

   All the penny round tiles were installed on the master vanity wall above the sink, but still need to be installed underneath.   There are some visible seams where the sheets of the penny rounds were installed, but I think those will disappear when the grout is floated.  There are just a few sheets of tile that need to be installed under the vanity, but it's not the easiest place to work.

   Here's a head on shot of the master vanity.  Once this tile is grouted, the on wall faucets, lighting, and medicine cabinets can finally be installed.  After the hardware, tub, and toilet, this room will finally be completed.  The lights in this room aren't programmed yet so this room remains dark.  Hopefully The Sound Vision programs these soon so I can finally get some clear pictures in here.

   The same faucet was installed in the turret bathroom as the mudroom and other bathroom.  Not much to say about it since it was covered in the other caption.  The design seems to fit all the bathroom styles well

   The shower setup in here is slightly different.  As with the other upstairs bathroom, we needed an elongated tub filler because of the design of the tub.  The shower head is the same with a toggle to switch between the shower head and hand shower.  The controls for this bathroom is slightly different.

   Controls in this shower use a push button rather then turn handle for selection between the tub and shower.  This one also has a static temperature setting so you can just set the temperature you like and never have to worry about it every time you turn the shower or tub on.  The dial will remain at your desired temperature and you just push the buttons to turn on and off the water flow.

   I'm not sure what's going on with the main water connection in the basement, but something is different.  The PEX coming down from the ceiling is the pipe that leads to the rest of the house.  The multiple angle PEX attached to the copper water main is something new and a little confusing.  I'm not sure why they installed this or what its purpose is.  There are already valves installed before and after the water meter in the copper so there's no need for another shutoff in the PEX.

   The basement railing is sitting in the basement workout room for stain and sealing application.  It's at about the same level as the other railings in the house but the railing brackets are already installed on the walls so once it's done, it will be quick to reinstall.  The basement stair treads also need to stained but probably won't happen until all the finishes are installed.

   That's about it for this week.  This week is Thanksgiving so I'm not expecting a ton of progress.  We do have a meeting on Friday to finalize some of the electrical fixture heights.  The last week of November will be a big one as we're expecting all the appliances to be delivered, landscaping installations in the back yard, and continued wood and tile installations.  The grading inspection has been submitted so that's one more final step completed.  We just need to get everything installed and get the final Certificate of Occupancy and we'll be clear to move in!