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!

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!