Door Progress and Finished Millwork

   The weather is really starting to feel more like autumn than summer with daytime temperatures in the 70's and night time temps in the 50's and 60's.  While these weekend visits are a great break from the work of the week, the time it takes to get up there, visit, and back is starting to become cumbersome on our already short weekend.  I love visiting there, but I'm really ready to live there.  This week brings us the completion of the all the interior millwork and the start of installing the built  ins.  Tile continues to progress up the fireplace column and by the end of the day, the first floor was completed.  I didn't see any progress on the tile in the other rooms, so it seems like all attention is on the fireplace.  The stair railing was drilled for balusters and garage doors are fully functional.  The front porch was finished across the front door and we actually have a front door now!  The tin ceiling was lightened up a bit and the electrical panels are getting filled.  We really are on the home stretch, and it will be an amazing feeling to finally be done.

   The deck installers finished the front left and right fascia of the porch.  I had the twins with me so I didn't have time to take a close look at the install, but from this distance, it looked good.  Both pieces are a white Azek, which from experience, will need an occasional power washing to remove mildew, even in full sun exposure.  All of the front fascia of the front porch is Azek, so I can just blast the whole thing when it comes time to clean.

   The front right fascia of the porch was also finished in a similar manner and the small pile of dirt that was here has been pushed under the deck.  There's still some fill needed under the left side, but since it's a little more visible, we might put stones under there.  Great Oaks is responsible for moving in that dirt and will bill accordingly.  There will be planting beds in front of both of these porch areas, once Great Oaks starts their installation this next Monday as part of the Phase 2 landscaping implementation.

   Hardwood Door and Bevel came to install the front door, but not without issue.  It looks like the template they provided for this door was accurate since no modification of the exterior siding and trim was needed to make the door fit.  Mike was on site to supervise the install, which is good because we didn't know what to do with the security wire.  Jonathon of The Sound Vision was also planning on swinging by to look a the build progress and happened to get there just in time to tell them what to do with the wires.

   Even with all eyes on the install, the threshold is not solid and there are way too many, very noticeable install plugs in the casing.  When you step on the threshold, both the normal part and the extended threshold, it's very soft and makes a crunching sound.  None of the other exterior doors around the house have the same issue, which leads me to believe that they didn't install any padding or foam under the threshold.  Makes me wonder if there's even any adhesive under there.  On the right side of the door, there are three vertical plugs that secure this side of the casing to the jamb.

   For some reason on the left side of the door, there are four in a row and two in a vertical line.  There's absolutely no reason for there to be four screws like this and the plugs they used aren't even stain matched or flush with the rest of the wood.  I'm not sure if they're coming back to finish the install and just barely had enough time to fit the door or what, but so far, this install isn't up to par.

   There's also a small chip out of the finish of the door near one of the sidelites.  This could also be touched up, but the original coating process is a Sikkens application with two coats of stain and three coats of polyurethane.  A touch up won't come close to the same level of protection, so every care needs to be followed during the initial installation.  I'm not sure how careful they were here.

    This is where the security wire comes through the door jamb for the sensor.  It was expected that there would be a drill hole, but what wasn't expected was the large scrape next to it.  Again it can be repaired, but it's an indication of how careful they were during the initial install.  Craig from Hardwood Door and Bevel told me he would stop by to take a look at the install himself, so I'm hoping something will be done about this considering the trouble we had with the balcony door.

   The worst issue with the install is how short they cut the brick molding.  The brick molding is the pieces on the door that's closes the gap between the door casing and the rest of the house.  They cut it way too short, as it's supposed to come all the way down to the deck.  This is installed incorrectly and partially confirms that they weren't careful during installation.  I believe this is an incorrect installation and it's pretty troublesome since you can't just extend the brick molding.  It needs to be a singular piece from top to bottom so the whole piece on both sides needs to be reinstalled.

   The deck installers completed the decking with the center section in front of the door.  It's currently being protected with some of the cardboard since installers are still walking in and out of the house, but the install feels solid with no bounce.  The LiteDeck underneath was sheathed with a piece of plywood and waterproofed, over which sleepers were installed for the deck to attach to.  Single Azek boards span the entire space for a clean installation.

   On the other side of the door, Distinctive Designs installed the interior millwork around the door.  Because of the height of the door and the addition of the soffit to hide the second floor plumbing, there was very little room at the top of the door for trim.  We decided the way around this was to install the same panel look from the rotunda to each side of the door.  This allowed us to use a single panel frame across the top of the door, removing the need for standard trim.  I think the implementation was pulled off perfectly and once again Distinctive Designs came through for us on a difficult situation.

   Here's a closer look at the top of the right panel.  The same corner bead trim was used inside the panel.  There's a thin piece of trim that frames the door itself.  If the door installers need to reset the door, I'm hoping that all this finished work doesn't get in the way.  A small cove trim piece was installed at the top of the paneling on the underside of the soffit but nothing on the sides.  Wood filler will be added to the seams in the panel and paint will coat the entire thing so it will be seamless.

   Unfortunately, with the panel installed, the sconces are now not centered in the panel, so I'm hoping we can correct that.  These sconces are installed in the exterior ICF, so the wall would need to be opened, some more foam removed, box moved, and drywall repaired.  Not the easiest thing to do, but possible.

   Speaking of purposeful drywall repairs, Distinctive Designs installed the steel rods that will support the floating shelves for the study built in.  It looks like they had to remove the drywall to get eyes on the steel studs behind the wall since the steel rods penetrate the drywall, and both sides of the studs in order to supply enough support for the shelves and everything on it.  Most floating shelf kits on available for purchase only rely on screws to secure a bracket to the studs, so the weight they can hold is very limited.  The way these are installed should support much more weight.

   I'm not sure if these are examples of the actual shelves that will be installed or just a convenient place to rest some nice pieces of red oak.  I didn't measure them, but they're under 8/4 boards.  I'm not sure if they'll just use these and drill them out to fit over the rod or if they'll use them to build a torsion box to act as the shelves.  In any case, they'll be stained dark to match the butlers pantry cabinets.

   Distinctive Designs also knocked down the powder-coated finish on the tin ceiling.  The high parts of the tin ceiling have been sanded down to the bare metal, allowing more silver finish through and lightening up the whole thing over all.  Some of the flat spots were sanded down too, which helped lighten all the dark parts.  I was wondering if we would still need a glossy lacquer applied, but I think this is good as is.  Knock another item off the finish list.

   Distinctive Designs have finished with the installation of the dining room ceiling and I'm happy with how it turned out.  It will all be painted with the same color so it will kind of mimic an old plaster ceiling, but it has a cleaner, more modern look.  The mounting plate for the Winter should fit well in that center space.  It looks like they centered the light box, which isn't necessary since the mounting plate will cover the whole area, but it's a nice gesture.  I should take a close look at how that plate mounts up there to ensure we have all the necessary structure.

   They started on the dining room built-in base as well, creating these two "legs".  The only reason they had to install them was because there's a drain pipe from the laundry room that pops out of the wall in the corner of the nook.  The design of the base was supposed to be a floating one, which it kind of still is unless you look at the back.  I don't think it will lessen the impact much since the front of it will still appear to be floating.

   Here's the pipe that's being hidden by the leg.  It needed to go here, after following the path of the interior wall since that wall happened to be sitting right on a concrete beam.  I guess it's gone forever now.  I should request some insulation stuffed in that space so we don't get any running water sounds.

   The tile installers were there when I visited this time so you know they're working hard if they're here on a Saturday.  Two of them were installing the tile on the fireplace column and I got the chance to chat with them a bit.  Installation of the tile is as difficult as I though it would be.  It needs to be installed in layers all the way round the column.  The cut corner exposure is staggered on each layer even though they come in sheets and the exposed cut needs to be polished, even when cut with a diamond saw blade.  Now that they've cleared the major obstacle of the fireplace, they should be able to install more quickly.  This is how much they completed when I left for the day.

   Tanja stopped by later in the day as they were wrapping up and this is where they got to.  This was about 4 hours later so you can see it's not easy to just slap up.  Having the first floor completed is a pretty big step.  They'll need to get on scaffolding to work higher up in the great room, but at least that's only for half the column.  There wasn't any tile progress anywhere else in the house, but I did see some grout staged in the bathrooms that still needed it.

   Here's the progress on the greatroom side of the column when I was there.  They got a little past the top of the TV mount, which still needs to be painted.  I think the look of the tile is working out well with the slight varying thicknesses and widths.  There's definitely a repeating pattern with the widths that's hidden with the varying stone color.  I'm absolutely loving how the metal surround looks with the tile.  It looks both crisp and buttery smooth at the same time.

   Here's the progress when Tanja visited.  There will need to be some fine detail work near the floor on the second level, but once they're past that, it's pretty straight forward.  I'm hoping we'll see this completed by the next weekend.

The car charger was installed, but not hooked up.  I requested a manual shut off switch to sit before the charger just in case I wanted to disconnect it if we travel so I'm guessing hoping that's the hold up for the final install.  The meter isn't on the EV panel yet, so there's no electricity flowing to it anyways, but once it's completed, I'll be able to charge up on my weekend visits if I want to.  Right now I'm charging off a NEMA 14-50, 50A circuit in our garage.  This charger is on a 100A circuit and supplies my vehicles maximum amperage of 72A so I'm hoping to see a near doubling of recharge rate.

   Installation of the rear door is almost complete with only the weatherstripping remaining.  Questions from last week have been answered and it looks like the tracks remain independent and as high as possible on both doors.  The weather stripping on the front doors have been installed, so all that remains is to replace the double bay window section when it comes in, and I think there are faux carriage door looking handles and hinges that attach to the door to complete the look.

   The Liftmaster 8500s were installed and are fully operational.  You can bet that I played around with the doors to see how they operated.  They're different than any door opener I've seen in their operation.  The movement of the door is much louder than the opener itself, and it must have a setting or sensor somewhere to slow the door as it approaches full closed.  It will descend at a certain rate, then slow the last foot for a soft close.  Considering the adjoining garage wall is ICF, it will probably be near impossible to tell when the door is being opened and closed.

   This is the electronic deadbolt for the garage doors.  You can see the dead bolt throw protruding from the track that will impinge upon the door rollers.  When the garage door button is pressed, the bolt throws open and the door can move in the track.  Nice bit of security, but I'm hoping they used a high duty cycle solenoid so I won't have issues in the future.  You can see the manual throw should something go wrong, but it's not accessible from the outside.

   There's a yellow poly rope attached to the lowest roller, meant to be used as a pull string to pull the door down under manual power.  I'm not sure if this is a standard installation, but without a center track, this would be the only place to put it.  The doors lift high enough to be difficult to reach and pull down when open, so maybe this is the only solution.

   There's also a manual pull unlock for the garage door, just like a center track door opener.  This is often the source of security issues since someone can slip a wire through the weather stripping and grab the line, disengaging the garage door from the opening drive unit.  The advantage for this opener is that the line doesn't move with the garage door and can be secured well away from the door making it more difficult to reach from the outside.  Here you can also see the weather stripping, which is a slightly lighter brown than the surrounding "wood"

   Here are the three garage door openers.  I didn't spend the time to figure out all the functionality, but there will be plenty of time for that later.  There were some uninstalled dome lights sitting near by, but I'm not sure how they'll integrate into our system.  There's normally a light on the center drive garage door opener that comes on when the door is in operation.  These were wireless units that only require a standard electrical receptacle.  Considering we'll have sufficient light in the garage, I'm not sure where we'll put these because it wouldn't hurt to have something turn on automatically when the garage doors open.  Then again, maybe the lights in the garage will be integrated into the Control4 system, so these won't be necessary.

   I'm not sure what's going on behind the wall here that they needed to open and adjust, but there was a small access panel cut into the drywall under this box. Previous pictures with the wall open shows that the electrical that goes to this box comes across the wall from the HVAC chase and up through the bottom of the box.  I can't imagine that they fished something new from the basement unless something was accidentally pulled when they were installing the shelves in the study below.  All the wires are secured with retainer clips so the possibility of pulling a wire loose is low.

   The rotunda railing has been drilled for baluster installation.  I didn't get the chance to see if it was perpendicular to the step, but I imagine it has to be.  They must have had some kind of a jig with a set angle to ensure these are drilled properly because it would be difficult to do by hand.  Paint should be starting up pretty soon, so I'm pretty sure that the rail and floor border will be stained before the balusters are installed.  Until then the temporary supports will need to stay in place.

   The final base trim was also installed in the basement stairs, which completes Distinctive Designs responsibility for the basement.  It will be unfinished for move in and we'll slowly implement our basement plans over the years.  At least we have a safe and attractive stairway, which is much nicer than I originally imagined it would be.

   Drywall installation in the mechanical room has extended to the electrical panel wall but there's still a little be left in the future bathroom that needs to be covered.  The ceiling is still uncovered and I'm not sure how much will be covered with wood and how much will be painted to pass COO requirements.  I'm not expecting the glass block window to be trimmed out nicely since it's in the basement and it's just in the mechanical room, but that's something I would like to tackle myself in the future.  I'll also probably practice my mudding skills in this room, just to make it look nice.

   A little work was done in the main electrical panel to connect power to the garage door openers, but most of it remains unpopulated.  I think electrical is scheduled to come back in soon to hook everything up but a large portion of the lighting is dependent upon The Sound Vision.  I spoke with Jonathon, who is trying to coordinate with Great Oaks to run an intercom/camera cable up to the front of the property before the driveway goes in.  He also expressed interest in coming in soon to install speakers and get started on the final install for lighting controls.  It seems like every time I talk to him, something new is out on the market and we're swapping in some upgraded parts.  Technology is always changing, so over the three years we've been working with him, the install plan has been revised a few times.   He suggested I get our internet connection provider set up so we can have access to data and cameras, even before the build is completed.  It would be a vast upgrade to the wireless trail cam I have set up to monitor the site.

   Here's the main breaker for the house panel.  It's a 200A service and takes the main lines and supplies power to the panel rails.  I didn't see a whole house surge protector in there yet, and I think we requested one, but I'll remind Mike about it since it requires the main service shut off to install.  It's not really something you can install later since it requires two permits for shutting off, then turning on service.

   Here's the exterior of the master balcony french door that I didn't get to look at before.  It was just held closed with a bag of mortar mix, so I got the chance to get out there to take a look at the final installation.  Mini person for scale.  We had some issues with this door since the template that was provided by Hardwood Door and Bevel didn't exactly match the curve of the door.  The center could set properly, but the left and right of the door dropped down more than the template indicated.  Because of this, Mike had to have the siding and top trim adjusted and reinstalled so everything matched up perfectly. All the unpainted trim is what needed to be replaced.

   Now that the rear garage door is installed, we have a completed rear of the house.  I was initially concerned about having such a large part of the house without feature, but I think the combination of the stone and siding breaks up the space well.  The addition of the rear walk out sconce will also help to add a visual element to the wall so in the end, the amount of unbroken wall space will be smaller.  Landscaping plans include a small bed in front of this area as well and a small patio connecting the rear walk out to the porch stairs.

   Here's a look a the rear garage door, a mirror of the front door.  Again some faux hardware needs to be added, door hinges on each side and some handles that make it look like an actual carriage door that opens in the middle.  The horizontal breaks in the panels are visible, but if you squint just right, it could almost look like two doors.  It will be nice to have this door open when we're out in the back yard and need to get tools or equipment out of the garage.

   The plumber came and started to hook up the main discharge pump from the grinder chamber.  This pipe doesn't transport any liquids, but is just an electrical conduit that leads from the pipe to a status panel mounted on the house.  It's also an indication on how much dirt needs to be added to get to construction grade.  We always knew that the top of the grinder pump chamber will flush at ground level, but it's difficult to judge the height and how it will look next to the house.  The pipe reinforces how much fill we need since it extends to the house and will be buried by at least 8 inches of fill dirt.   There are also planting beds planned for this area but the planned path will need to deviate from the original design because of the placement of the grinder pump tank.

   Here's where that conduit connects to the tank.  I didn't take a look inside the tank to see how the wires were run if there's something inside that prevents liquids from entering the pipe.  As far as I can tell, the pump is suspended off the bottom with the chain, which you also use to pull it up when it needs servicing.  Of the entire build, this is the thing that makes me the most nervous because if this fails, then the entire house will be without sewer.  I'm not sure what the maintenance schedule is for something like this, but you can bet I'll be on top of it.

   Here's what the panel for the pump looks like.  It contains the brains behind the pup and The panel and connects all the float sensors to control pump operations.  It looks like the float sensors are just the electro-mechanical kind that you see on regular basement sumps.  They float on the surface of the water and when they float beyond horizontal, a physical switch moves and close the circuit.  They're simple and robust, but I installed a solid state water level sensor on our current sump.  It uses hall effect sensors to detect the water level without any moving parts, which I prefer.  I don't think it's possible to use this kind of sensor in this application so I guess the float sensors will have to do.  From what I read on the product page the red light will be on when the pump is running.  I'm not sure if there's much else I can do to check operation, but I'll try to learn about the system.

    That's about it for this week.  Next update should see some big changes.  Old Country Stone should be back in to install the gazebo stone and Great Oaks should be starting landscaping.  Inside the house, painting should begin soon, but I'm not sure if it will start this week.  Hopefully we'll see more progress on the tile install in the master bathroom since it's the last bathroom to get anything.  I'm not sure what the timetable is for Great Oaks, but I'm excited about finally getting a real driveway.  My car will at least stay cleaner on our visits. 9 weeks!

Basement Stairs!

   A short thaw last week melted much of the snow at the site, but a longer freeze quickly turned the water into the ice that's coating most of the ground around the house.  The driveway in is a sheet of ice and if not for the ruts, would be difficult to traverse by car.  Fortunately, the daily traffic of work vehicles have melted enough ice to make passage possible which allowed our weekly visit to the house.
   Last week, we had a 5 hour marathon meeting with Margaret at Virginia Tile to finalize all the tile and counter top selections.  I'll make a separate blog post later this week to document our choices.
   This week saw more rough electrical installation, gas connections, rough plumbing testing, exterior stone, and most excitingly, the basement stair installation.  Rough inspections are scheduled for this Tuesday so after that, the house will be cleaned up and prepped for drywall installation.  The first floor stairs should be installed soon.

   Defying the cold, the stone masons at Old Country Stone (old-country-stone.com/) have been hard at work finishing the exterior stone siding around the great room but they also installed almost all the cinder block around the back deck to furr out the wall.  Last week they installed the angle iron used to support the block and this week saw the completion of the installation.  I'm not sure if they need to parge this before they attach the exterior stone or if the cinder block is enough prep surface.  I didn't take a close enough look, but I'm guessing the cinder block is tied to the ICF with straps of some kind that don't visibly protrude through the mortar joints.  The plumbers also roughed in a hose bib in that odd corner between the garage and porch.  I can't think of any other purpose to that space, save for a rain barrel.

   The cinder block continues around the gazebo, but stopped short at the fireplace location.  The fireplace slab was cleared of fill dirt so that OCS can begin to install the fireplace.  It will be a wood burning fireplace that we would like to integrate into seating and a barbecue area.  We submitted rough plans to OCS for refinement and price quoting.

   Here's a render I created and sent to OCS to give them an idea of what we're trying to accomplish.  We always envisioned that the raised fireplace hearth would be 18" high and seamlessly mesh into the perimeter benches.  The surface would then raise to counter top height at the corner, which would be where the barbecue would be.  I'll have to get opinions on the safety of having the barbecue under the roof; I'm not sure if there's enough gap to vent the heat or if the paint will be adversely affected.  I've also entertained the idea of a wok burner out there, but might save that option for a later date.  The counter top will probably be a dark granite of some kind, for easy cleaning and weather resistance.  As I said, it's a rough plan that I'm hoping OCS will be able to refine.

   The excavator removed the fill dirt at the outdoor storage door location and cleaned up the dirt from the footing so that OCS can start to install on that side.  They already installed the expanded metal lathe on the side, but not under the porch.  We'll need to remove the brick ledges in these locations to install the stone properly.  The grade at this point will be 2 feet up from the walkout grade, but the stone will still probably go down to the footing.  The hill on the left of the door, up to the gazebo, will be tiered with retaining walls.  Great Oaks will eventually install this wall and it will be made of the same caramel mint stone.  This will probably be the second to last landscaping implementation since we need to work from the backyard forward.  Until then, I hope to grass the hill to avoid soil erosion.

   OCS completed and de-tented the side of the house under the porch.  This portion of the wall is completely mortared and cleaned so this is the final look of the house.  They still have to install above the porch level and will probably complete this when the weather warms up a bit since it will be harder to tent.  I'm really loving the look of the stone and I'm glad we went with OCS.  The color selection and implementation is perfect.

   Here's the front corner of the house where the landscaping stones were removed from.  There's a bit of parging up at the top near the beam, but I don't think they plan on installing below grade at the landscaping wall.  The corner is completed and that's all that's really needed.  I'm also not sure how much will be completed under the deck on the front of the house.  The grade does fall away a little towards the retaining wall and the exterior wall will be visible from the lower elevation so I'm thinking that they'll finish the entire space.

   Here's what still under the tent.  The side of the great room looks completed with filled mortar joints and installed stone ledge, but the back still sports unfilled joints.  With warmer weather coming this week, and water installed in the house, I'm sure they'll make quick work of this section.  Future landscaping will see the installation of a paver patio under the deck in this area.  It extends around the corner to the said basement walkout and offers yet another nice place to convalesce.  We're considering if we need some kind of water diversion system in the deck above, to keep this area dry.

   Here's a closer look at the installation of the stone sill below the window.  It's made up of two sections of limestone and fits perfectly in the space left by the stone installation.  The surface is honed and feels slightly rough, which is perfect for this setting.  There's currently an extension cord coming through the partially opened window if you're wondering what the cable is.  While there's a live electrical receptacle on each floor on the interior, none of the exterior sockets are live.

   Here's a pallet of limestone sill sections ready to be installed.  I'm not sure if these are going to be used under all the windows, or if there are longer sections for the first floor stone ledges.  They're fairly heavy and being made of stone, not prone to break free flexing, so it might be possible that these short sections will be used for the majority of the house.

   There's a pallet of corner pieces in the garage waiting for installation.  It's amazing to think that these were once small boulders that were cut on two sides.  I'm sure there will be more needed than these for the entire house but this seems like it's enough for most of the house.  They won't be needed on the gazebo since it's a larger angle than 90 degrees.  It will be used on the back porch, around the garage, and on the front of the house above the porch.

   Here's what's completed on the back of the great room basement level.  This is the walk out for the exercise room and it's mostly completed.  I think all that's left is to fill the mortar joints and add the stone ledge under the windows.  I don't see any flashing installed above the windows so I'm guessing that the mortar and window flashing is enough to waterproof the exterior.  There will eventually be another stone patio at the walkout, but not as extensive as the side walk out.  All these patios will be connected with a blue stone path, which will in turn lead to the outdoor storage and back yard.

   The carpenter is still hard at work cutting and installing the arches.  He's there everyday whittling down his to-do list and these arches are pretty demanding.  The spaces between the posts aren't consistent around the porch, but to keep the look of the arches consistent, the ratio of arch to post needs to be similar.  A lot of calculation is required to pull this off.

      The arches are installed on both the back and front of the beams and will look like they sit on the top of the post once the post sleeves are constructed.  We're having some trouble figuring out how these arches will extend around the round portion of the porch, so Mike is bringing in an architect to get some ideas on how to complete the look, ensure structural integrity, and provide a good final product.

   On to the inside, the stairs to the second floor were temporarily removed so the electrical installers could finish the rotunda lights.  We're hanging a large chandelier from the center of the rotunda, so an electrical box was required.  The installers weren't comfortable with spanning the rotunda with platforms so the temporary stairs were removed so they could use a tall ladder to install the rough box.  I'm not sure if they removed the stairs so the stair installers could get the basement stairs in since I didn't get to watch the procedure.  The temporary stairs were reinstalled a few days later so the inspectors could regain access to the second floor without climbing a ladder.

    The biggest addition this week, in terms of size and cost, was the curved stairs to the basement.  The stairs were constructed in their workshop and installed as one pieces.  I'm not sure if they went through the basement or front door, but the thing has to weight a ton and I can't imagine how they did it.

   The stairs are a consistent width up the stairwell but since it's a section of a large spiral, they're curved in two planes.  The treads are solid oak and the risers are oak plywood.  If I recall correctly, we'll have the treads stained to match the floors and the risers painted white.  There's something very liberating about walking up and down stairs in your own house for the first time.

   The sides of the stairs are constructed from veneered bent and twisted laminated beams.  I don't know if they formed up the laminations in the shop or purchased a laminated beam and bent it to match the curve radius, but if I had to guess, I would guess the former.  I don't know a lot about stair construction, but I've seen pictures of curved stairs being made in a shop, and they make a template that mimics the walls and construct the stairs within the template.  It's entirely possible they built up the laminations in the template then filled the treads and risers when those were completed.

   The treads are protected by a sheet of polyethylene sandwiched under a quarter inch lauan sheet so construction traffic won't mar the final wood.  The lauan is stapled to the tread so before the tread is stained and finished, it will probably be lightly resurfaced.  Each lauan piece is cut to the same dimension as the tread so the full coverage ensures that no damage will come to the stairs.

   Here's the underside of the stairs, to highlight the construction technique.  A plywood support block is nailed and glued to the inside of the laminated stringers and a wedge is installed on top of that to ensure the tread is level.  A vertical wedge is installed to ensure the riser is plumb since the support block can be installed off-square.  Blocks are installed where the front of the tread and riser meets to secure the two together.  It looks like glue is used between every joint to help prevent squeaking but after time, some adjustment might be necessary.

   This view won't be available when the basement is completed, but I'm not sure if drywall will be installed on the studs before move in or if it's up to us to get it done during the basement finishing.  The stair stringers form a double helix as they go up the stair well and it's a shame that shape will be hidden.  We'll get a little under-stair storage, but we're not sure what we'll use it for yet since we have a whole area devoted to basement storage.  It's curved, so nothing particularly long can fit in there.  Maybe I'll just make some curved shelves to line one of the walls.

   Another view that won't be possible once the first floor stairs are installed.  This is a shot down from the top of the rotunda.  The supports were there for a piece of plywood and are generally not needed anymore, so I'm not sure when they'll take them away.  Yes I bumped my head on it.  There will be fewer first floor stairs since they only have to ascend 9 feet plus the thickness of the floor, rather than the 10 ft plus thickness, for the basement.  The design of the first floor stairs will also be different.  The first floor will have an open stringer on the inside of the rotunda rather than a solid stringer.  Of course, there will also be a railing and balusters that will connect to the railing around the inside of the rotunda on the second floor.  As with the treads, the railing will be stained to match the floor color.

   One more shot of the under-stair storage in the basement.  I've seen some creative storage solutions for the space under stairs, but since the steel stud walls are structural, we can't cut in doors or drawers to the sides.  Any solution will need to be from this opening, which is made to support a door.  The distance to the designated basement storage room and this space is basically the same, so it doesn't offer any distance advantage.

   The outlet floor penetration for the kitchen make up air has been cut, but the ducting hasn't been completely installed yet.  This will sit under the base cabinet for the cook top and provide passive air make up when the kitchen vent hood is turned on high settings.  The gas for the cook top was also installed, through some trouble.  The gas pipe installer verified the pipe path with Mike, but decided to change the install, which took the pipe path through the middle of the theater room ceiling.  We've been working hard to keep the ceiling clear of mechanicals so we could maximize the height in the room.  I spoke to the installer about moving it, and he was super reluctant to do it.  It would have involved cutting and re-threading the pipe, which he didn't want to do.  A quick note to Mike set him on the installer to do it right and the installer acquiesced.  Nothing like having a bulldog in your corner.

   The supply of the make up air duct has been installed in the basement wall, but again, the duct run itself hasn't been installed.  Unfortunately the duct will have to go under the beam, but we'll find a creative way to box in the entire beam and hide the duct.  At least there's a good chance it won't impinge upon the basement ceiling.

   Porter and Heckman were busy completing the HVAC installation in the basement to the first floor since the second floor is complete.  Part of this is to install the ERV, pictured here.  What this does is provide fresh air to the house while recapturing the energy in the exhausted air.  It's an energy exchanger between the conditioned and exhausted interior air, and the unconditioned fresh exterior air.  It looks like some kind of industrial unit and as cool as it looks, I'm glad it's hidden in the mechanical room.

   One of the big questions remaining was how the second floor would be zoned separately from the first floor.  Since the first floor uses the in-duct inflating bladders, there was questions as to how the second floor would work.  Here's the answer to that question.  It looks like P&H installed a solenoid actuated baffle in the supply trunk that goes up to the second floor.  The solenoid will receive signals from the heater supply controller and open when the second floor thermostat requests heat.  Since the blower is variable speed, I don't think we'll need a bypass duct.  In systems with a single stage blower, a duct is needed from the main supply to the return so that extra air velocity can be blown off somewhere when the second zone baffle is closed.  In our system, when multiple thermostats call for service, the blower can increase in output velocity to supply more open ducts.  There should be some kind of indicator on the duct to show how open the baffles are, so I'll keep my eye out for it in the future.

   An impressive number of supply ducts have been installed that supply the first floor and basement.  All joints are sealed with mastic, which is code now.  When installation is complete, a blower door test will be performed to evaluate the amount of leakage in the system.

   Here's a shot of the current state of the mechanical room.  Eventually, the temporary furnace will be removed, opening the center of the room, but we still need to place and install the desuperheater, water heater, and A/V/D equipment.  Even still, the room is filling up fast.

   Porter and Heckman has nearly completed connecting all the basement ducts through the floor penetrations on the first floor.  There are many places where the air will be supplied through the toe kick of a base cabinet, and in these places, appropriately bent ducts are installed.  In cheaper installations, these will often be open to the base cabinet and the installers will simply use the base cabinet cavity as a heating chase, cutting a vent in the toe kick.  I'm not sure if it's code, but it's a pretty bad way to route condition air since some of it will be lost to the cabinet space.  This duct will be extended to the toe kick vent when the base cabinets are installed so all the condition air will reach the room.

   Here's the sticker for the rough HVAC inspection approval, performed on 1/26/17.  I must have missed it in previous visits.  HVAC rough inspection is one of the easiest since the inspector is just looking for floor penetrations and return openings, not final duct installation.  The rest of the inspections are coming this week and Mike says that the drywallers are on standby for installation so we should be closing up walls soon.

   The gas pipe has also been installed to supply the two fireplaces, as well as the dryer on the second floor.  This installation is clean and falls within one of the cavities left after the temporary support was removed.  Besides the gas supply to the back porch barbecue, I think all the gas has been installed in the house.

   Here's where the gas pipe comes up and branches off for the first floor fireplace.  I found the spec for our fireplace sitting in the area, so installation location was performed with the final product in mind.

   Here's where the gas pipe terminates at the second floor fireplace location.  Again, there was a fireplace spec here, so I'm not worried about installation.  Both fireplaces will have a blower to help circulate the heat. I'm hoping that with all the steps we're taking for insulation and air penetration efficiency, we would be able to heat the entire house with these fireplaces.

   Initially, the gas installer encountered some problems running the gas line for the second floor laundry room.  The wall between the laundry room is situated right on a beam so a direct penetration couldn't be done.  The water lines run in the garage storage space and in the first floor ceiling to reach the necessary locations on the second floor.  Mike used the mechanical chase created in the garage storage to route the gas line up to the second floor without any issue.

   Here's where the gas pipe comes up into the second floor and to it's final location.  The mechanical chase below is matched above where the master closet meets the laundry room.  Although it wasn't initially planned as a mechanical chase, it worked out well.  Word of advice for those in the planning stages, look for cavities to run mechanicals in.  It will make your life easier.

   All of the basement drain plumbing has been attached to the sewer system.  I found this particularly interesting looking.  It's the plumbing stack for the first floor guest bathroom.  There's an unconnected vent pipe in the ceiling in place for the future basement bathroom.  I was confused at it's purpose at first, when I saw the capped off PVC pipe, but then realized what it did when I traced it up to the attic.

   Here's the single roof penetration for the drain vents.  They disconnected it and put on a temporary cap and pressure gauge.  I guess both the supply and drains are pressure tested for leaks so the connection to the grinder pump must be closed off some how.

   This is the result of Mike negotiating with Porter & Heckman about the sufficiency of the supply in the turret room.  Mike was concerned with the number of windows in the turret creating a cold draft during the winter and suggested another supply duct be installed.  The two ducts that supply the room were initially placed in the ceiling.  During the design phase, P&H ran a schedule J to determine air supply load so they insisted the two ducts would be sufficient.  The compromise was to move the two ducts to the turret itself so that any cold air from the windows will be tempered with heated air.  This will work well since the air return is on the other side of the room.  This also works well to hide the air supply vents.

   The electricians were also hard at work trying to complete all the installations around the house.  I still haven't seen the cable run from the car EV panel to the garage, but this high gauge wire was run to the kitchen for the double electric stoves.  We also requested a 220V at the stove top location just in case we want to switch to electric induction in the future, which has yet to be installed.  Not much more left to complete before inspection this Thursday.

   The county finally got out to turn on the water and they painted the valve the standard blue.  There's one spigot currently installed in the basement and it is functioning so our house officially has water!  Just in time for the drywall installers.  Mike also finally got a sign up at the street.  Too bad we're kind of isolated from the main traffic because he deserves more exposure.

   That's about it for this week.  Next week should see the completion of all rough inspections and maybe a drywall delivery, but that might be premature.  The weather should be a bit more mild this week so we'll probably see progress on the exterior stone.  I'm not sure when the second set of stairs will be completed and delivered, but I'm excited to see them go in.  The porch storage access door will be cut on Thursday so we'll finally get to see what's in that tomb.  Next weekend should see some pretty exciting developments.