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!

Nearing Completion on Exterior Finishes

   Even with the disappointment of moving the completion date two months back to the end of October, it feels like we have a little more room to breath and get everything done perfectly.  Before I was told of the shift in timing, I was still holding out hope that something would have kicked into high gear and all the final finishes would be installed before the end of August.  Looking at it realistically, there's no way this could be accomplished with all the fine details we're installing.  Those details are finally starting to come to a close with respects to millwork and the exterior finishes.  Especially on the exterior, we're beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the list of things to complete shrinks well into the single digits.

   A lot of changes to the exterior this week.  The columns are painted and the gable pediments have been installed above the laundry room window and on the end of the garage.  The barrel vault at the front door and the gazebo ceiling were also stained by Nick, the exterior painter.  I didn't take a close look around the house to see if there was any touch up paint needed, but I think the exterior paint is completed.

   Here's a shot of the front of the house from the end of the garage.  I really like how the painted posts came out and they really add a nice clean pop to the front of the house.  The completed fascia below the deck should add a nice weight to the bottom and the addition of the black railing shouldn't detract from the bright look.  The 1/3rd deposit has been paid to Great Oaks for the retaining walls and driveway work so they should be starting that work soon.

   There was a 4x8 and some small post trim pieces on the front porch, which I think should be for the gazebo.  Distinctive Designs is working on some brackets for the posts in the round part of the deck to match the arches on the rest of the porch.  There's still some trim on the two front posts at the front door but those will wait until the end when that section of the porch is installed.

   Here's a look at the side deck with all the posts painted.  Some mortar needs to be installed at the base of the cobbles and the railing needs to be installed, but those are the last two remaining parts that need to be completed.  Even with them missing, the deck is an awesome place to walk on.  We had a good rain while we were visiting this time so it was nice to see where the water was hitting.  First off, it was such a nice place to be when the hard rain was falling.  The water really only ever wet the first foot of  deck on the back corner.  I'm sure it's dependent upon which way the wind is blowing, but it's nice that we have the water channeling installed in that area anyways.

   Here's what the front gable pediment looks like installed.  On the ground, they look huge, but I guess the scale of the house makes them seem a little smaller.  The one above the laundry room on the front of the house looks like it could have been a little bit bigger to fit the scale properly, but the one at the end of the garage looks proportional.  They're both the same size and were sized to the width of the windows below them, but I think the laundry room has more gable above the window than the garage does.

   A closer look at the front gable pediment.  I think it looks a little smaller because some of the framing is lost behind the roof fascia. I think for it to look proportional, it could have been taller by a foot or so.  I also think that if it was bigger, it would look like the house was smaller since the decorative elements were sized up.  Keeping it like this doesn't diminish the size of the house.

   Here's the gable pediment that's on the end of the garage.  It's not visible from the front of the house, but once we have the deck installed on this side, it will be a nice feature to look like.  This side looks more proportional because it takes up a larger percentage of the vertical height of the gable.  Hopefully we won't have an issue with birds making nests in the contours, but if we do, I'll just have to get up there to clean them out.

   Here's the stained barrel vault at the front door.  We were a bit surprised at how dark this and the gazebo ceiling came out.  Nick the painter said Mike discussed it with him and decided to go with two coats and a clear poly urethane.  The sample Nick initially provided only had one coat on it, but Mike felt that it was too light and, although it matched the deck, with the white beadboard ceiling, the light stain would wash out and lose impact.  This darker application closely matches the front door and the stain will only lighten with time, so I'm not worried about it looking bad in the future.  Once the paint masking is removed, we'll be able to make a better judgment about the appearance.

   Here's a shot of the side of the house with all the columns painted.  We went pretty quickly from metal posts at the base to columns from ground to roof!  We're still a little undecided about what we're going to do with the uncovered post.  Since the actual post footing is deep under ground in the retaining wall, we can't install a stone base.  We can't put down a piece of stone at the new grade and install a post on that since the winter ground heaving might destroy that post or push up the deck.  It would be ill advised to just run the wood post covering down to the ground because then you would have to worry about the wrap rotting away.  It might be possible to make a wrap out of mostly MDO, then the base trim out of Azek or something, but that will probably have to be something we do on our own.  The plan of painting it gray and having it hide away in the landscaping is probably a good option right now, and we'll see if it bothers us enough to change later.

   The glass block on the mechanical room window was finally installed.  It's a pretty large opening, and I don't think I've recently seen such a large glass block installation.  Glass block makes sense here since we'll never need to vent the room and security is better with this material.  It allows a good amount of light into the otherwise dark room while providing privacy.

   The last column wrap on the bottom level was installed and painted.  There was another one sitting on the corner of the house but I'm not sure where it goes.  Everything looked complete, so maybe this one is extra.

   The columns on the master balcony were re-wrapped to fix an out-of-plumb issue and make them look similar to the other columns around the house.  It's really awesome that they did this since the original wraps really didn't match anything.  Now the look from the lower porch to this balcony is continuous and everything looks plumb.  The actual load bearing inside the column couldn't be moved since it's tied to the deck structure, but it shouldn't cause any issues.  Glass railing will be installed up here.

   As I mentioned earlier, the gazebo ceiling was stained.  This closely matches the exterior wood door color and since there's no Azek in the gazebo, we don't have to be concerned with matching the floor.  The darkness brings the ceiling down a bit, making the space feel a little more cozy.  I'm sure I'll appreciate the darkness when dust and debris starts to accumulate.

   Here's another look at the whole gazebo with the columns unpainted.  Once the masking is removed, we'll get a better look at the final product.  The columns will probably be painted once the stone is finally installed, which should be happening this week.  After the stone is installed, they need to add the bottom trim, along with the panel detail, then paint.  A bit more work in this area, but it should be completed in a couple weeks.

   Moving to the inside, Distinctive Designs has installed the lower part of the rotunda railing and newel post.  The balusters have yet to be installed and will probably be done after stain is applied.  There were two balusters on site but I didn't see a huge stack of them anywhere.  The stairs were marked for baluster placement but the railing was still being supported with temporary supports.

   Here's how the bottom newel post attached to the stairs.  The fasteners are once again drilled through pockets and plugged with the same species wood.  This is done on two places on two sides for a very secure attachment.  I didn't crank super hard on it, but there was very little to no wiggle at all.  The lowest tread was cut to fit the newel post so the screws probably attached directly to the laminated stringer.  During the last paint design meeting, we decided that the stringers and risers will be painted white and the treads will be stained to match the floor.  We might hit the stringer with a flat white and the risers and detail with a satin just to set them apart.

   These two balusters were stashed in the rotunda to provide an example of what will be installed on the stairs, rotunda, and greatroom overlook.  They're both solid stainless steel, with one being a straight pole and the other flaring to hold a round faceted crystal.

   Here's a close up of the crystal.  We're placing them one every sixth baluster, which works out to one every two steps on the stairs.  The baluster with the crystal has the crystal closer to one side than the other so if you wanted to, you could alternate the height to give a staggered effect.  Since we're placing them more sparsely, we'll have them all at one height.  It seems like the balusters will need to be cut a bit to fit the height of the railing.  From pictures I've seen online it looks like the balusters are installed by drilling a pocket in the railing and base or stairs and placing the rod in to set, so unless they mask off each baluster, they'll probably stain first then drill and install the balusters.

   Here's a look at where the stair railing meets the top landing newel post.  As expected, the railing needs to transition to the rotunda railing though a height adjustment.  You can see the pockets for the attachment screws but those will be plugged.  I think the railing makes a very nice transition and I'm happy with the implementation.  Temporary spacer blocks are placed to ensure a uniform height.

   Here's how they finished off the underside of the upper newel posts.  A piece of trim was attached to cover the bottom edge.  The trim sits a little proud of the post and adds a nice detail to the bottom of the post.

   A pieces of the corner bead was added around the rotunda on the bottom of the halo.  I was wondering how they were going to finish off this edge.  The addition of this piece keeps continuity with the panels installed on the rotunda and great room.  The edge of the wall outside the rotunda won't be trimmed with any extra pieces so this is basically the final implementation.

   All the corner beads were installed in all the panels in the rotunda, completing the installation.  Distinctive Designs just used the standard wood corner beads for the curved parts of the wall since the radius wasn't too tight to bend the trim pieces.  I think we decided at the paint design meeting that we'll paint the panel and frames in the same white satin finish.  I've seen some pictures of wainscoting that uses a different color panel vs frame, but having a single color will provide a more traditional look. It's only paint and we can change it later if we want something more modern.

   The metal fireplace surround was installed on both sides of the fireplace in the greatroom.  It's a painted metal plate that comes in two pieces, one for the surround around the fireplace and one more at the bottom "hearth".  We needed this piece installed before the tile install could progress since the tile returns and terminates against the metal.  Now that it's in place, I hope to see some quick progress on the fireplace column tile.

   The finish on the metal is kind of a darkened copper/bronze paint, lightly distressed to keep the darkness. I think it will match well with the Hubbardton Forge Theta we'll be hanging above the fireplace.  This was created by one of Margaret's metal workers, who we'll probably contract to create the base of the dining room table, powder room cabinet base, and study desk.

   The metal is surprisingly thick, at a quarter of an inch.  The hearth plate will be proud of the tile but a little bit, but it's not really wide enough to sit on.  We could place decorative items on there as long as they're not prone to melting since the fireplace will put off a good amount of heat.  I'm not sure what kind of paint was used on the metal, but I'm pretty sure they know to use a high temp paint.  I'm not sure how much heat will be emitting from the fireplace on the surround sides, but I think the top and front has the possibility to get pretty hot, so we'll have to make sure people are careful not to burn themselves when the fireplace is on.

   Nick the painter was there on our Saturday visit.  He wasn't spraying anything, but was up on the scaffolding, prepping the coffers for paint.  You can see the caulk he was applying to the joints of the trim pieces.  It's a ton of work and it's all above your head, making it more stressing on your shoulder muscles.  I really appreciate the time and effort being put forth from our installers, especially on a weekend.

   Distinctive Designs also finished off the corner bead trim on the curved part around the rear speakers in the great room.  The addition of this completes the paneling in the great room as well.  It looks like they used some kind of composite material instead of wood.  It feel similar to the curved crown molding material with a grainy/powdery texture.  It seems like they had to cut the profile of the trim in their shop, then heat bend it to the shape of the curve, either in the shop on a template, or in the house.  The miters created with the other trim pieces are perfect and once painted, you'll never be able to tell what's wood and what's composite.

   The master balcony door was finally delivered and Mike's guys will install it.  Hardwood door and Bevel has been done with our front door and we're waiting for a response on when they'll install it.  If you'll remember, we were delayed on receiving this door because the recorded height was transposed.  Instead of ordering a 98" tall door, they ordered an 89" door.  It was only discovered when they tried to install it, well after assembly and finishing.  Hardwood Door re-ordered the door at the correct height and assembled and finished it.  Hopefully everything fits well.

   Here are the two french doors for the master balcony.  These are going to allow tons of light into the room, but it will be somewhat filtered since we have an 8 foot roof above the balcony.  This door faces north and is somewhat shielded by the great room.  It's a thermopane glass, but I don't think it's as tight as our Soft-lite windows, so I'm expecting some kind of heat loss in this location during the winter time.  We might try to mitigate it with thicker drapes, but we haven't really broached the subject of window coverings.

   Here's what the glass block window in the mechanical room looks like from the inside of the house.  It looks like they perfectly installed short blocks on the top and bottom and middle with four rows of full square blocks, in order to perfectly install the height.  If you think about it, there's no such thing as cutting down a glass block, so the height needs to be accounted for exactly when choosing the blocks.  There's no shimming the casement to make up for plumb, so you need to rely on the thin grout line to adjust to true plumb and level.  I would like to dress up this room a bit so maybe in the future, I'll finish off the sill casement with some nicer trim.

   More drywall was installed in the mechanical room on the server side.  The gray box will contain the first floor lighting controllers.  To the right of it will be the video and audio distribution hardware rack.  I might want to add a data server rack down here too once the dust clears.

   Mike's guys also started installing some code required fire blocking on the ceiling of the mechanical room.  There are so many wires and pipes up there, it would be difficult to box everything in, but there are some wire chases that can be covered up and brought to code.  We just need to provide a fire barrier against the foam ICF so even this particle board will work.  Hit it with some white paint and it will just disappear.  There aren't many places on the ceiling where we can just close it up, so we still might end up painting it with the fire retardant paint.

   The plumbers had to move the two in-wall faucets in the master bathroom slightly to the right, requiring the drywall to be removed and the pipes extended a bit.  When they initially installed the valves, the installed them with the entire valve body centered to the sink.  Without the vanity, it seemed to be okay.  Now that the vanity is in and the mirror cavity placed, someone noticed that the faucet isn't in the center of the valve body.  If it remained installed like this, the faucet would not have been centered in the sink.  Luckily it was caught before the tile went up so the repair is minor.  Once it's closed up, it's like it never happened.

   The parts for the heated floor in the master closet arrived and is stored in the master bedroom.  The system is made by Schluter, and combines the Schluter Ditra tile decoupling mats with the hold down dimples for the heating wire.


   I think this insulating material is applied to the floor first, which helps direct the heat upwards instead of into the floor.  This is especially important for us since our floor is all concrete and would act like a giant heat sink.  The label on the package also says it's supposed to act as a sound control, which I could see.  The material is a quarter inch think and feels like a thick felt.  I think it's applied with a thinset and helps act as the mechanical break between the tiles and floor.  It's possible that the floor will expand and contract.  Wood floors can flex slightly and with enough flexing could break the mechanical and chemical bonding of the thinset to the subfloor, causing tiles to pop.  This material attaches to floor and tile, but is flexible, allowing the tiles bonding to be decoupled from the movement of the floor.  The fibrous felt material grabs on to the thinset better than a flat subfloor, providing a better level of bonding (think gum in hair vs gum under a table)

   The Schluter sheets have these octagon dimples that you can feed the heating element wire into.  The dimples hold down the wire to which you float thinset into over which you apply your floor tile.  The wire is applied in a continuous piece and these sheets protect the wire from penetration and kinking.


   The back of the Schluter sheet also has the felt material, but not as thick as the insulation barrier.  This helps promote adhesion to the subfloor, or in this case, the insulation substrate, while adding more flexibility and decoupling from the floor.

   Here's the box for the heating wire.  I don't think this system is meant to be a replacement for room heating.  If you get in-floor heating, you don't need any other supplementary heat.  This is just a comfort installation, warming the otherwise cold tile, but not purposed to heat the whole room.  The cable will run to the water closet, which I'm hoping will have some kind of timer so we can ramp it up and down when we'll most likely be in the room.  I'll have to read to see how much electricity it consumes.  I have read that some people just leave it running all the time.  Seems like a good application for the thermal camera.

   Apparently, there's a special Ditra thin set that's recommended or required for the installation of the other Schluter Ditra products.   8 bags are present, which will handle the installation of the floor tile in the water closet and main bathroom floor, but not the shower since wire isn't running in there.  We'll have to see what kind of height transition we'll be dealing with after all this stuff is installed.  The floor is 3/4" thick and it seems like the hole Ditra system and tile will be more than that.  I'm hoping we'll be able to get away with no threshold between the two master bathroom doors (bedroom and closet) since all the other rooms have a seamless transition.

   Here's a prototype of the post brackets that Distinctive Designs left for us to look at.  These will be place at the top of each post in the curved porch, to carry on the arch look.  We could probably get away with not having something there, but it looks a little unfinished to leave it be.  I think this will work out well because the height of the soffit is the same height as the top of the curve between the other posts, so all we need to do is soften the corners of the posts and it will give the illusion of continuity.

   It looks like they considered some other decorative options for the post brackets, but we don't really want anything more gingerbread.  It looks nice, but meant for a more traditional Victorian house.  It's pretty awesome that Distinctive Designs is willing to put the effort in to trying to please us and it shows with all the great craftsmanship.

   Thanks about it for this week.  The next update should see some installed exterior doors, hopefully the installed front door, but I'm not sure when it will come.  I think we'll be getting in the garage doors and expect to see more tile work completed.  Hopefully Old Country Stone will be coming by to complete the gazebo and final mortar around the house.  I'm also hoping that Great Oaks will be moving in to complete the retaining walls, steps, and driveway.  There's a huge effort needed to prep for interior paint and the drywallers are returning to repair any dents and pops before paint goes up.  Interior millwork should be winding down soon and final electrical should be coming in to prep for their work.  The geothermal wells should be hooked up soon so we might see some more interesting progress in the mechanical room.  Although we got our completion date pushed back to the end of October, things are still moving forward at a great rate.  The countdown is back to 11 weeks!