Foyer and a Clean Floor

   Winter hit back with a vengeance after teasing us with spring like weather.  The forecast for the next week has temperatures below freezing with a few inches of snowfall today and some later in the week.  I made sure to take my big snow shovel out with me to clear some of the snow up near the house.  It was good that I did, but turns out, Mike hired someone local to take care of plowing the driveway.  I got the front of the house cleared and he took care of the long drive to the street.
   The finishing touches continue to me applied throughout the house but we're finally getting out of the final installations of the floors.  The foyer tile was laid but still needs to be grouted and the turret bedroom finally has its wood floor installed.  Signs of floor cleaning are evident throughout the house so once the painters finish with the touch ups and repaints, the final finish on the floor can be applied and we can finally be done.

   Castro and his tile installers made quick work of the foyer during the week and cleared out their tile cutting saws since the were no longer be needed ever again at this house for as long as we own it.  They delivered on the design as planned and did a great job with the implementation.  You can't tell that there's a slight variance in the white border tile between the left and right side and the angle between the wood floor and tile interface going into the rotunda is difficult to spot.  The only way you can pick up the slight dissymmetry is at the white tile basket weave tiles on the angles.  A very slight difference only a very observant person could make.

   Here's what the foyer looks like.  The grout will be light colored so what you're seeing here is pretty much what it will look like when the grout is applied.  We finally get to see the foyer in all it's finished splendor.  The tile has a polished finish so I'm not sure how well it will grip with wet shoes, but we'll probably need to have some kind of door mat or something on both the inside and outside.  There's a white metal supply register in the floor to the left of the door so that's not a great place to put a shoe carpet, but the door swings to the right so that's not a great place either.  Chances are that we won't be swinging the door full open so we'll probably end up putting guest shoe storage on the right.

   Here's a closeup of the transition between the foyer tile and the rotunda wood floor.  I thought they were going to put a strip of bronze metal Schluter between the two, but it doesn't look like it was installed.  The Ditra is used between the tile and wood floor in the bedrooms, so I'm not sure if it's more of a structural thing or appearance thing.  If the primary concern is appearance, then this looks pretty good.  The joint is tight and even with very little gap.  The Schluter is used more often between the tile floor and carpet transition, where there's risk to the edge of the tile next to a soft surface.  Maybe it's not needed in this application.

   One of the good things about having the tile installation delayed in the foyer is that the tile can be laid to exactly match all the baseboard molding designs.  This block was installed as a decorative termination block for the baseboard and shoe molding.  Speaking of which, the shoe molding is installed in the foyer.  I'll have to look back to see if it was already installed and the tile was installed to meet it or if they installed it after the tile was laid.  Kind of odd to have the shoe molding in before the grout is floated, but it shouldn't cause any troubles.  The way the tile design follows the moldings is a really nice touch and screams custom build.  Similar attention was paid to the door moldings around the office door.  The strip of walnut molding is just a place holder for the shoe molding that will be installed in front of the door to finish off the tile to door transition.

      Elsewhere in the house, the wood floor is being cleaned in preparation for the final oil/wax finish.  All the extra building materials and tools have been consolidated to the greatroom.  The majority of the construction dust has been cleaned up and there's evidence of floor scrubbing in some parts of the house.  I saw a mop and bucket, but there's a special soap that's supposed to be used to clean the floor and I'm not sure if that was used or just water.  The floor looks mostly clean, but it's not a pristine clean that you get from a newly installed floor, such as that in the turret bedroom.  I'm hoping that there's more cleaning to do or that the final oil/wax finish will remove the slight haze that's on the floor.

   Alco glass came during the week to install the glass in the cabinet doors.  We decided to use the water glass over the seeded glass since it matches the glass style in the butlers pantry.  Four cabinet doors in the kitchen and 12 in the butlers pantry got this glass.  It obscures the contents of the cabinet, but probably not the color.  I'm still not sure what we'll put in these cabinets, but since the glass does a good job of obscuring the shape of whatever's in there, I'm pretty sure it won't be used to decoratively display anything.

   The corners of the glass panes are curved off to match the curve on the inside of the cabinet door.  This didn't end up costing as much as I through it would, so rather than squaring off glass recess, we just went with the curved glass.  The glass is held in with silicone, which surprised me.  I'm not worried about the holding power of the silicone, but I though there would be window glazing pins inserted or something.  Silicone will prevent the glass from rattling and should be easily removable if we need to replace the glass.

   All the cabinets in the butlers pantry have a glass front and they're all now installed.  I think we're just going be putting various serving glasses in these cabinets so the water glass provides the perfect amount of obscuring.  Good thing the strip light was replaced with the puck lights because I would be worried about installing them after the glass was in place.  The in cabinet lights come on with the under cabinet lights here to simplify the controls.

   Here's another look at the butlers pantry cabinets with the glass installed.  One note for people looking at using inset cabinet doors:  There's no stile between the doors so the slight gap between will allow light through if you have interior lighting.  The glass is smooth on the outside and textured on the back side which is determined by how the glass is made.  They probably float the molten glass over a water textured cooling table so the glass is textured by the table and flat due to leveling.

   The wood floor has finally been installed in the girls turret bedroom.  It's the last room in the house to get the floors installed, so when the grout is floated in the foyer, I can officially say that we're done with flooring install!  This room probably has the cleanest floors too since touch ups haven't been completed in here and there shouldn't be any drywall sanding as there was in other rooms in the house.  the only equipment left in this room belongs to the painters, one of whom was working on the Sunday afternoon that we visited.  He was reinstalling door handles after they repainted all the interior doors to remove paint drips.  I think there will be the least amount of touch-ups required in this bedroom so the floors shouldn't pick up much dust.

   The floor installers finished early enough in the week for Distinctive Designs to install the shoe molding in this room, which completes all the molding installation in the house, except for the piece at the front door.  The picture is a little blown out, but there are nail holes from the pin nailer used to install the shoe molding that need to be filled and painted.  As is the norm with Distinctive Designs, the installation exceeds our expectations.  The miters are tight and the curve of the turret is matched perfectly.

   A minor note, I don't think the electrician came back last week, but we must have missed the swap out of the white sockets and plates  for the gray and stainless plates in the master bedroom dividing wall.  Either the electrician did it, or Mike did it, since you don't really need an electrician to change a wall socket.  This was a minor nitpick item that Tanja caught and asked Mike to do, which he got done without a second thought.  Chance are you won't see it since it's going to be behind a TV eventually, but it's a detail that Tanja wanted implemented.

   Another item on the list of "minor things that needed to be completed" is the installation of the deadbolt on the garage entry door to the house.  It's from the same Emtek lockset as the rest of the interior and exterior door handles around the house so it matches the look at finish perfectly.  the knob has a short throw, moving maybe only 25 degrees in the arc to securely latch the bolt with a satisfying "thunk".  There's no play in the bolt handle and it feels solid overall.  Overall, I'm very satisfied with the quality and feel of the Emtek hardware.

   Another first for the house: first time parking my car in the garage.  The garage has been cleaned of extraneous packing material and tools so I thought it was a good time to get in there and test out the fit and chargers.  The PEV meter will be installed this week, but the circuit is energized, so I can plug in my car to validate the installation.  Unfortunately, the dedicated charger is still set at 12A and the fuses are missing from the 50A 14-50 plug, so I couldn't validate much.  Both the portable and dedicated charging cables are more than long enough to plug into when pulled head in, in the single bay.  I could back into the double bay and still have the cables reach, but I'm not sure that's possible in the single bay.
   Pulling into the single door bay of the garage feels a little tight, but I don't have much experience doing it so it's probably just my perception.  I pulled in as per my normal procedure, look in the rear camera and stop when I'm past the garage door rails.  It's what I have to do in our current garage so I can get as much walking space in front of the car as possible.  Doing the same thing in this bay yields probably about the same results since we have stuff against the back wall in our current garage.  The double bay spots add a couple of feet to the depth and I won't normally be parking in the single space so there should be plenty of room.

   The other fitment test for the garage is clearance to the Falcon Wing doors.  I requested that we get the garage door rails installed as high as possible for the maximum clearance of the doors and it might be a bit overkill.  The rails are at the same height in both the single and double bay doors and they're way above the Falcon Wing doors at full extension.  The roof sensor didn't even detect the ceiling of the garage and open at less than full extension.  I didn't try to open the doors with the garage door open, so I'm not sure if the car will detect the garage doors and open at less than full height.  I'm not in the habit of driving with the doors open but I think they might not clear the garage door opening themselves in t he fully open position.

   So that's about it for this week.  Next week should bring more paint and finish touch ups, but I'm not sure when we'll see the final application of the floor finish.  The stairs still need to be painted and stained, which will happen after all the touch ups are done, and before the final floor finish, so that's a good indication for when we'll be completely done.  The greatroom fireplace still needs some adjustment and the mudroom faucet still needs to be swapped out, but all the lights have preliminary programming and everything is finally functional.  It's getting really close to being done.

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!

Spread the Dirt, Build the Rails, Moving the Goal

   Another perfect day for a visit with temperatures in the low 80s and sunny skies.  Progress on the porch columns leaped forward with the near completion of all columns on the front porch, above and below.  All the fill sand has been spread and compacted in preparation for the driveway installation.  On the inside, the rotunda railing is going into place and more materials are on site to complete the paneling.  Rooms are starting to be prepped for final finishes.  There's still a lot to do before we're finished, but each week is another step forward.

A new dumpster sits on the newly spread fill sand in the motor coach area of the driveway.  Mike brought in enough fill sand to take the grade 15" below final, which is what Great Oaks requested for the driveway installation.  The bulldozer used to spread and compact the sand is still on site since it will be required around the rest of the house.  Great Oaks will be coming in this week to start the retaining walls needed on the back of the house so that final grade work can continue.

   The fill sand is pretty well compacted and hard enough drive on.  The dumpster gouged some divots in the sand, due to the weight and how it's dropped off the transport truck, but the multiple tire tracks tells me it's compacted enough.  The sand near the walls is a bit softer since the bulldozer can't get close enough to it to compress.  It's nice to finally stand on top of the retaining wall and now there's a ton of room up there to park vehicles and materials.

   All the porch column wraps have been installed both above and below the porch.  There's still a little bit of cove trim to install in the panels, but they'll make short work of that this week and they can be painted.  Having all the columns completed looks fantastic, and they even fixed one on the front that looked like it overhang the porch roof too much.  The columns look amazing and really add character to the house.  We still need to figure out what we want to do with dressing up the columns on the round part of the porch, but we have a meeting this Tuesday so we'll nail down the design then.

   This is the area that still needs some work.  The rest of the porch has arches between the posts, but since this area is curved and lower, we couldn't install the same arches.  Our idea is to add little "wings" to the tops of each post to mimic the arches a bit.  They won't be connected between the posts, but it will give the illusion of a continuous arches.

    The lower posts still need the cove trim in the recessed panels and I'm hoping that will be completed this week.  After that, they need to fill the nail holes then they can be painted.  The glass block for the mechanical room will be installed this week, finally completing the windows.  It should provide more than enough light in there, while keeping security and privacy.

   Here's what the lower and upper posts look like now that they're near completion.  The white fascia will tie the lower and upper posts together nicely.  I'm not sure if they're going to install a piece under the curved part of the porch.  It's entirely possible to put some material there, but we would have to be concerned with trapping water there.  Since it's close to the edge of the deck, water would make it's way between the boards.  If there's a non-permeable material under there, water could get trapped and cause the wood decking structure to prematurely rot.  The solution would be to install the material at a slight angle to drain water, or to use a perforated material so water could pass through.  The latter solution seems easier to implement and I'm okay with that.  They had a hose connected to the water supply in the basement that ran up to the front of the house. I'm not sure what they were using it for since the only water application would be for tile mortar.  There wasn't any new tile installed, so maybe they were using it to spray down the fill sand to reduce dust.

   A piece of rough sawn cedar was also installed on the bottom of the steel beam that supports the porch.  I wasn't sure how they were going to finish this edge, and I'm happy with the implementation.  This will also probably be painted white to match all the other trim.  We've decided that instead of painting the red beam black, we'll try to find a gray paint.  Gray will blend away a little better against the backdrop of the house and black might stand out a bit too much.  We'll just have to locate a gray Rustoleum paint to cover those beams.

   Here's the side porch looking towards the front of the house.  While the fascia is installed, there's a widening gap between the top most fascia board and the lower two.  It's tight at the rear of the house, but the gap increases as you go towards the front.  I'm not sure why this is and I don't know what they can do to fix it, but hopefully they'll find a solution.  It's not difficult to see, so something will need to be done about it.

   The copper finial we ordered and had sitting in the house has been installed.  I don't think any adhesive was used to attach it since there are shingles underneath it.  Copper nails were used to nail straight through the shingle  and roof decking.  It doesn't have a large wind profile, so I'm not really worried about it blowing away, even with only eight copper nails attaching it.

   Here's a little closer look at the final on the gazebo.  The corners of the flange do line up with the roofline, but since the asphalt shingle softens the edges, the flange is spaced off the roof a bit.  I don't think there's any need to worry about the application.  The only thing I might worry about is wasps making a nest up there.  They would probably get baked with all that heat, so there's probably no concern.

   Here's one of the copper nails used to nail in the finial.  I found this one nailed into a 2x4 so I know the length of the nail is probably about 2 inches.  That should be long enough to get through the asphalt and bite into the roof decking.  I tried looking around for the nails but couldn't find a local source for them.  They're either a specialty item, purchasable through non-retail venues, or only special order.

   A few materials remain in the study, for use in the interior mill work.  Preset are a few bundles of the corner bead trim used tor the inside of the panels.  There are also some gray painted lengths of wood of unknown purpose.  The stair railing is being stored in this room as well.  I haven't seen any of the railing balusters around, but I'm hoping they'll be here soon, just so I can see how they'll finally be installed.  We probably won't see them until after paint and stain so we'll just have to be patient.

   Distinctive Designs have started installing the rotunda railing.  I guess they've completed installing the railing, but still need to install the individual balusters, but installation so far includes the railing and two newel posts.  The railing itself terminates into the wall next to the turret room and there are no other supports between the newel posts.  There are temporary posts installed to support the weight of the railing, which I assume will be take up by the baluster when they're installed.  I didn't know that balusters could be structural, but ours are made of a solid tubular stainless steel so I don't doubt they could support the weight.

   The stair railing still needs to be attached, and I think will probably need some kind of gooseneck height adjustment to land on the newel post correctly.  The posts are hollow, and bolted to the floor with some manner of fastener.  I'm not sure what they used since the holes are already plugged, but the posts are very stable with no wiggle to them.

   Even though the balusters aren't installed, you still get the feeling that the rotunda is a little more closed off.  It's amazing the difference a little visual horizontal rail makes to the feel of the room.  I'm sure it will feel even more enclosed, smaller once the balusters are installed.  The railing and newel posts will be stained dark to match the floor.

   Here's the landing baluster, with the fastener plugs installed.  Although these plugs will still be visible when stained, they won't be glaringly obvious.  They're made from the same red oak, but the grain is different, which may affect how the stain is taken.  This is really the only way to install these posts, so I don't have an concern.

   The plugs for the terminating newel post aren't installed over the fasteners yet, but I couldn't get close enough to see what they used.  Judging by the size of the holes in this picture, it just looks like some kind of wood screw, so I'm surprised they're so stable.  Depending on the length, the lower screws might be tapped into the concrete floor, but the upper screws look like they're attached into the floor border.

   Many of the rooms upstairs were closed off with blue painters tape.  I couldn't determine why they would block them off other than noticing that these rooms were clean with no extra building materials in them.  Perhaps they were indicating the rooms were ready for paint?  It was a mix of bedrooms and bathrooms, but the laundry room wasn't closed off, which is the most complete.  Whatever it is, it's exciting to think that they're getting close to some major phase.

   The two gable pediments were painted and are awaiting installation.  Distinctive Designs is going to be installing these two pieces, one above the laundry room window and one at the end of the garage.  I can't wait to see how the house looks with these installed.  Besides the corbels, it's one of the distinguishing elements that make this a Victorian house.  The floor plan of the house could accommodate many exterior styling, so having these elements is important to define the feel of the house.


   There are a couple of stacks of tile sitting in the garage right now that are slated to be installed in the master bathroom.  We're still waiting on all the tile to be delivered before the work will commence.  The master bathroom is one room where we had to scale back the amount of initial install.  We had a beautiful tile all ready to purchase for the curved feature shower wall, on the tub side, but unfortunately, it's way over our budget and out of pocket coverage right now.  The good news is that the wall can be painted right now and the tile can be applied at a later date, hopefully soon.  We're trying to minimize these setbacks, but they'll inevitably come up.  The powder room is another where we'll have to implement the full design after move in, with everything being stubbed.  While inconvenient, it will be better to reserve completion of these special rooms until we have the cash.

   I believe this is what we're using for the floor tile in the master bathroom.  It's not a natural stone, but you couldn't easily tell just by looking at it.  It's a porcelain tile made by Caesar Ceramic, called Statuario Venato that is supposed to look like a Statuario marble and comes in a 2'x2' format.  The master bathroom is also the only room in the house that will have in floor heating.  Everyone else gets cold toes.

   There were two boxes of these profile tiles sitting on top of the pile.  Each box contained about 10 pieces and were very securely packed in special Styrofoam boxes.  I know they're going in the master bathroom, but I'm not sure where they're going.  We're not installing a wainscotting in the room like we did in the guest bathroom but these look very much like they're for that application.  They appear to be made of real marble, so these are probably a very expensive tile.  It will be exciting to see where they go.

   The other stack of tile in the garage is made up of these.  There's actually some of these thin tiles, and the rest look to be a 1'x2' format that I think is going on the shower walls.  I could be completely wrong and these might be the floor tiles and the large porcelain ties are for the shower walls.  I can't remember what was decided in the tile design meetings, so it will be a nice surprise to see what gets implemented.  There is a large stack of these tiles, and a smaller stack of the larger format, so this could be the case.  These thin tiles have a bull nose edge on one side, but they seem too short to be a baseboard tile.

   Some hardware was added to the dutch door between the mudroom and kitchen.  This astragal lock is similar to the one used on the study french door, and locks the top half of the door to the bottom.  Since the top half doesn't have a door handle, or latching hardware, it can swing freely and not be held shut.  When the astragal lock is engaged to the bottom half of the door, the dutch door operates like a normal door.  When it's unlatched, it can swing freely and remain open as the bottom is closed.

   Here's what the doors look like when they're not locked together.  The astragal lock bolt just goes into a plate attached to the shelf in the lower door.  the latching plate is surface mounted an not mortised down at all.  I'm a little surprised they didn't mortise the plate down into the wood since it seems like there's more than enough room to do so.  Maybe they'll still do it and just attached it temporarily to get the location correct.

   We decided to leave a few finishing items at the house so they'll be available when the time comes to install them.  We left the Tesla wall charger in the garage, the gooseneck exterior light in the pantry, and the dragon in the laundry room.  The gooseneck lamp is meant to be installed above the exterior storage door, so the pantry was the closest, out-of-the-way location to store it.  The dragon is in the laundry room because there isn't much left to do in that room and it was one of the only rooms upstairs that wasn't blocked off.  With it comes the cardinal direction markers and the copper ball that separates the two.  Hopefully they'll be able to install this soon.

   These shelves were added to the turret bathroom in the odd space across from the vanity.  We considered putting a door on this space and making it a formal closet, but with the position of the entry door, it would have been very difficult to access.  We left it open so it could be used as open storage, or maybe a second vanity.  We'll probably request to remove the lowest shelf so we can get a built-in, tilt out hamper made for the space, and maybe remove one of the higher shelves to get a counter top effect.  Since we'll have two girls in here, it might be necessary to add some more "prepping" space in the shared bathroom.  These will be painted gray to match the vanity in the bathroom.

   I think the painter left a sample of the stain for the barrel vault and gazebo, but it was just sitting there, so I'm not sure if it's official or just an experiment.  We'll find out at the paint meeting this week.  Here's the sample of the stain next to the exterior mudroom door, since this is what it will be matching in the gazebo.  It's a pretty close match, but not as dark, which is to be expected since it's a different wood species.  I think it's a good enough match, especially since the two surfaces aren't right next to each other.

   Here's the same sample sitting on the front porch Azek.  This match will be a little more critical since it will be the color of the barrel vault above the deck itself.  There's an obvious surface specularity difference, but the color itself is pretty close when you get rid of the reflection glare.  I don't think the differences will be so glaringly obvious when you're standing in the space, especially since they'll have different light exposures.

   I don't know if I've updated what's going on in the electrical panels lately so I though I would include a shot.  Left to right is the geothermal panel, car charging panel, and main house panel.  There's one sub panel in the outdoor storage space under the back porch that will be used for pool equipment when we finally get to pay that piper.  The geothermal panel looks like it has all the required breakers to complete the installation.  The EV panel has the two lines for the 100A and 50A circuit running to it from the garage, but still need the two breakers installed. The main house panel contains breakers for a few receptacles around the house, but that's it. Hopefully these will get populated soon, and I can call the energy company to come hook up the meters.

   How we're going to cover all the insulating material in this room has always been a concern.  By code, the foam does need to be covered with a fire blocking material, but the ceiling is so littered with electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, that it would be difficult to do so.  Mike is looking into a spray application for the ceiling, but it looks like they're starting to install some drywall in here.  There have always been some large drywall sheets in the basement, so maybe this is what they were slated for.  I wouldn't mind the finished look of drywall, even if it isn't mudded and taped.  I could do that myself at a later date.

   That's about it for this update.  Next update should see the last two exterior doors delivered and maybe installed.  Stone work should start up again on the back porch.  The fireplace is getting the metal surround this week so stone work should progress.  We're meeting this week to choose interior paint colors so that might happen soon too.  Some slightly bad news, Mike is requesting until the end of October for completion, so I guess we're adding one more month to the build.  Considering all the extra interior millwork we added, I guess that's a reasonable request.  There's still a good amount of work left and the extra time will allow us to get our current house in better order to sell.  7 more weeks!