The weather continues to remain in the high 30s to low 40s with some minor snow flurries, but we might see a slight break in the cold this coming week; just in time to get in the last painting outside. Mike said that any paint touch ups will have to wait until spring, which gives us some time to really take a look outside and catch every mistake we can find. The steps on the front and back of the house were completed this week. There are a few more tasks to
Great Oaks to finish in this calendar year, but it's getting cold enough to where we won't be able to do much more. The tile and floor installers were on site this week and provided a little progress, but not as much as I would have liked to see. A few more lights went in and some finished carpentry completed, but there's still a good amount to do. The Sound Vision is still waiting for all the lights to be installed before they come and complete the programming on the light switches. Tasks are being chipped away at, but it seems like the cold is getting into everyone's blood and progress is moving slowly. Well past our October deadline, are we now looking at the end of December? The short winter days aren't the only things depressing these days.
The front steps were finally completed, mortar and all. After all the trials with this installation, I'm happy with the results. Hopefully everything was installed properly and we won't have any issues with cracking and heaving. There's still some debate on whether or not the grade inspector will require a railing, but Great Oaks is pretty confident we won't need one. Mike is suggesting we get some large urns to put up on the pedestals to cement the thought that they're not a step and reduce the likelihood that the inspector will demerit the steps. It's pretty obvious that they're not step, but you always have to look at the lowest common denominator and plan for that. If a fool would walk off the edge, then you need to do something about it.
The back steps are also completed with the angle on the lower treads reduced. It was too angled for comfort so Mike had them reset the tread so that it can still shed water, but not be so obvious. Railing will be installed on the front and back porches soon and this is an area where we might need to bend to the will of the inspector. It's only three steps, but the height might require a railing. There will be a short section of railing from the right post to the step, but we might need hand rail on both sides of the step going all the way down. The plan from Great Oaks was to create a grade to reduce the need for railing, but it didn't seem to work out that way. Eventually, we'll install the raised garden bed to the right of the steps which will raise the grade significantly, but for now, the grade is too high. We'll install railing but I don't really want it so we might remove it after inspection, resetting the bluestone that we need to drill through. All the trim work on the posts is complete and these are ready for primer and paint. Next weeks temperatures are expected to be in the 50s to 60s, so we just might get the break we need to get these painted.
There was a wood little progress on the first floor this week, but not as much as I would have expected. I think Mike said the installers weren't on site for most of the week and I'm not sure why since there's a lot of work still left to do. They started installing the flooring in the rotunda but only got half way across. The small section in the pantry was finished this week so there's just a little bit more in the rotunda to finish.
The floor in the powder room is also nearly completed, requiring just a couple more pieces until completion. The direction of the wood is the same as in the rest of the house, but in this oddly angled room, it's only perpendicular to the short section of wall where the vanity will be. We won't be finishing off this room for move in since the budget doesn't allow for the creation and installation of the custom vanity. We do have it in the budget to get the toilet, but we can't have a toilet without a sink so we're just keeping everything in here stubbed off. The lighting pendants in here were also pretty expensive so not needing to purchase and install them helped us out a bit.
The extension for the Theta hasn't landed yet but I couldn't resist the chance to take another picture of the great room, this time, removing the protective cardboard pieces on the pass through fireplace.
Margaret said that and additional 3'6" of rod and wire were ordered, but I'm not sure if that means that there will be an additional drop of that amount or if the total drop will be 3'6". I'm not sure what it's at now, so I can't even guess what the outcome will be. Hopefully we'll be able to drop it 3'6" more to bracket the light between the two railings on the balcony.
During the week, I dropped off some light bulbs for all the fixtures that didn't come with them. Surprisingly most of the fixtures didn't come with any bulbs so I purchased a ton of LED medium base bulbs for the three vanity lights in the mudroom, guest bath, and second bedroom vanity. I also had to purchase some LED B10 candelabra bulbs for the two pendants in the kitchen, the two sconces in the foyer, and the two lights in the basement stairwell. The greatroom sconces got one A19 bulb each, which is just a standard socket, but the glass in the bulb is longer and wider at the top. Some correction was being applied to the casings in the round windows since there was a little separation in the pieces. It was just filled with bondo and sanded smooth, to be touched up with paint when the whole touch up phase occurs.
PMP Marble and Stone revisited the site to deliver the master shower bench supports and shelves they failed to fabricate the first time. They also delivered and installed the
Cristallo Quartzite backsplash to match the countertop they previously installed. This was the intended plan since they needed to measure the distance between the installed surface and the cabinets. There's a small bead of silicone between the two stones, but it's not very visible and only there to prevent liquids from wicking into the crack. I think of all the stone materials, this is my favorite. There's some translucence to the stone, when combined with the opaque veins creates a three dimensional depth that no other stone in the house has. It's buttery smooth and a delight to touch. I'm not sure how we'll do the receptacle covers since we can't get stone covers. Maybe something brushed stainless to match the finish on the hardware.
The double swing pantry doors were partially installed this week. The bottom mounting plate was only attached by one screw each and the doors weren't totally aligned but I could carefully move them to see what it would look like opened and closed. The spring mechanism, while yet to be covered, worked well as far as I could gently manipulate. The idea of a double swing door was pretty much my only contribution to the aesthetic design process of the house so I hope everything works out well with it.
The wood floor in the pantry was completed so once California Closets comes in to install the pantry shelving, this room will be done. They're scheduled to come in at the end of the month to install the closet system in the master closet, turret closet, and this pantry. The floor installers is targeting these locations for flooring installation first, then will fill in the rest of the second floor.
We raised up the farther island pendant by 5 links to see how the height looked and found it to be more acceptable than the initial length. There's a bit of parallax going on in this picture, but the closer one is the original height. It's a little too low and could easily be bumped. Standing up, the raised one is still in the eyeline, but you could duck a bit if you wanted unobstructed view. A trim carpenter was also on site this week to finish the columns on the back porch and install the toe kick on the kitchen cabinets. This is one step closer to the final flooring quarter round, but I think the flooring installers will want to apply the final oil to the floor before the final trim is installed. The hood was delivered but it currently sitting in the garage. It was too dark to take a good picture of it, but it will hopefully be installed soon. Mike said he would like to install it so the HVAC final inspection can take place. This would make it before the tile backsplash is installed, which I have some reservations about. We purchased this hood with the intention of some day replacing it with something else. If the tile is installed after the hood is installed, then the tile won't be able to be installed behind the hood. Should we ever want to replace it, we would need a footprint at least as big as the current hood. I'm going to press to see if the tile installers can get this section in quickly so we don't have to deal with the missing tile.
The trim carpenter also installed the casing and trim around the kitchen window. He cut down the standard trim so it undercuts the two side cabinets. The only problem with this is that the distance between the two sides is different so you have a clean miter on one side, and a semi miter on the other, which won't fly. This will need to be fixed.
The hook mount was installed on the mudroom locker. I mentioned that there was supposed to be one that matched the bench color and they knew exactly where to find the piece. It just needed to be cut to size and nailed on. We don't have hooks picked out for this yet, so we'll have to install them when we decide what to do here.
All the balusters have been masked in preparation for staining the railing and floor border. This was a meticulous job performed by a different painter than the rest of the house, and his helper. Both the top and bottom needs to be masked and I saw a little bit of it in action when I visited the site on Friday to confirm our kitchen hood. They used a dry paint brush to carefully wipe away any sawdust or debris before taping each spindle.
The two balcony railings overlooking the great room were stained already, but still need a top coat applied. The railings will get a satin polyurethane to protect the surface and the bottom will get a matte oil/wax finish to match the wood floors. The color will darken up a bit after the top coat, but you can see how close the color is to the wood floor below. The only other things in the house that need staining are the basement railing, which is easier since it lacks balusters, the stair treads, and the office and dining room built-ins. Hopefully the railing will finish quickly so the wood floor installers can complete their installation on the second floor.
The short railing straight section at the end of the rotunda was also stained, but not top coated. The masking will probably remain on until the top coat is applied, then the tedious task of removing all the tape can begin. It's unfortunate that the railing couldn't have been stained before the balusters were installed, but there would have been too much damage to the finish during installation.
The first wood floor on the second floor has been installed and completed. The master bedroom closet is separated from the rest of the wood floor by the tile in the master bathroom, so completing this wasn't dependent upon the layout of the rest of the house. It's important to get the floors in this room completed so California Closets can install the master closet system. This means that the floor will need to be oiled, which shouldn't happen until all the floors are installed.
AllAll the wall tile has been installed in the master closet except for the little border pieces around the cubby and window. The tile installation is moving much slower than I would have liked, especially since it's a rate determining step for getting the finished plumbing installed. The tile installers need to finish with the master bathroom, laundry room backsplash, and kitchen backsplash. I'm not sure why it's taking them so long to finish.
The inside of the window casing is tiled with the same penny rounds as the counter backsplash is in the master bathroom and what the curved shower wall will be when it's finally installed. There were some installation notes on the curved wall so I know they're planning the work. I've only seen two tile installers on the job at a time and they're usually working in the same area. I wish they would get a couple more people in so they could work around the whole house.
The penny rounds on the vanity wall were extended all the way up to the ceiling. It still needs to be filled in, but I can't remember if it's going above the towers too. It also needs to be installed under the vanity, but to do that, they need to install the tile base molding around the room. This tile needs to be installed and grouted before the wall sconces, mirrors, and finished plumbing can be installed. There's a lot of things riding on the completed installation here and it's slowing everything else down.
Lighting is being installed elsewhere in the house. These unique lights were installed in the turret bathroom vanity. They're powered by individual halogen bulbs that I might swap out for LED. They give off a nice light pattern on the wall and really add a lot of shininess to the room that the girls should like. There's one more light in the shower/tub, so this is the primary lighting for the small room.
I think that even if they're the only light in the room, it should be enough for a bathroom. Sure eventually they'll be using this light to put on make up, but there's enough light for fine tasks. Currently, all three switches in this room are functioning, but that's not the case in every room. Some of the other bathrooms have fixtures installed, but the dumb switches on the walls aren't controlling them. Mike said it's because they still need to be connected in the basement, which I'm surprised the electricians haven't done yet.
The matching four light surface mount was installed in the turret closet too. I'm not sure how this will be received by the inspector. It's technically an open bulb, which is a no-go in the closet, but each bulb is pretty well encased and not directly accessible to incidental contact, so it might be considered a sealed bulb. The door clears the light by about 6 inches so there's nothing to worry about there.
The wood floor in the closet needs to be installed before California Closets comes to install the system in here. We're not installing closet systems in the other two bedrooms yet because we don't know how they're going to be used. This room will have the wood floor running perpendicular to the back wall if it follows the rest of the house, but technically we can have it run any direction we want.
That's about it for this week. I really have no idea what to expect in the coming week. I know that the front porch railing is in production but I don't have a solid installation date. The wood floors, tile, and electrical installation just needs to keep chugging along before we can start the last finish: plumbing. It might not seem like a lot of boxes to check off, but it really seems like the production has slowed down so it's anyone's guess on when we'll actually be in the house. Thanksgiving is definitely out and at this point, I think we would be lucky if we got Christmas in there. I'm still remaining hopeful though that we'll be able to enjoy our first Christmas at the new house and I can spend all break organizing moving boxes.
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