February 9, 2010
There’s progress this week, but with all the inspections planned there’s lots little bits of this and that while waiting for the inspectors. The fire sprinkler re-inspection is tomorrow and if it’s completed early enough we can have the rough framing inspection Thursday. One of the little things completed was drilling through the foundation for the sewer line:
February 8, 2010
The house is looking good; there has been a day laborer there for the last couple of days to clean up all the junk and dust lying around everywhere. We almost-but-not-quite passed the fire sprinkler inspection on Friday, so today the fire sprinkler guys were bolting on a few of the pipes more solidly as required. They will be re-inspected tomorrow, and then we’re planning on the rough framing inspection Wednesday. If all is going according to plan the insulation will be going in towards the end of the week.
This appears to be the time when the homeowners cause the building to become delayed with change after change. Until the wallboard goes up, changes are still largely possible; once the wallboard is up, big changes become very expensive. We already had to adjust one wall a bit so that everything would line up in the kitchen, which will allow us to have a narrow set of built-in bookshelves in the family room. We’re also considering putting in a false beam over the kitchen. That was part of the original plans but we thought it wasn’t going to be possible due to some beam placements. We’re also finishing up the electrical placements and moving a speaker or two. Overall we’re not making big changes and hopefully we’re not causing any significant delays.
February 7, 2010
The pictures from the first week of February are now available.
February 5, 2010
We had heavy rain last night, which served as a good test for the roof. Everything in the upstairs was nice and dry, but there was quite a puddle in the basement. After asking around a bit, I found out that one of the electricians installed a light in front of a drain pipe and drove a screw right into it. When the plumber went to test the drain line, the water went all over. A very junior guy was working in that area, but still, he drove a screw right into the PVC vent pipe; I don’t know how you could do that without noticing. Since our plumber has a sense of humor, he has setup a plumbing graveyard in the family room. It’s labeled “WHY ELECTRICIAN?”
February 4, 2010
There are a lot of jobs finishing up before the drywall stage, and there are a lot of details to cover. The barbecue walls are now extended out and the carpenters were working on the last bits of siding today. The fire sprinkler guys were testing their pipes today to make sure all their joints will hold. The electrician thought he was done, but I found one connection he forgot–this gray conduit needs a cable run through it down to the sump pump that sits just beyond the exterior basement entrance:
February 3, 2010
The fire sprinkler guys are virtually done with the main floor and second floor, and were working on the basement today. The low voltage guys tested all of the speaker-, keypad control-, network-, and tv- wiring and it all passed, so they are done for a while. The electricians are done as well. On the outside of the house they moved the telephone panel, cable tv panel, and electric panel up a few inches so they will not be in the way of the stone as it wraps around on the side of the house.
The master bathroom and the bathroom in the basement will both have tile floors in the showers, so they need to be hot mopped before the tile. This involves heating tar to a high temperature and spreading it over the lower parts of the shower areas. This was done yesterday, but even today the smell was still quite strong. Here’s what the basement shower looks like now:
February 2, 2010
Today we spent some time looking at a completely rebuilt mockup of the framing around the fireplace, complete with a piece of cardboard to stand in for the painting we plan to hang over it. There will be built-in bookcases on both sides of the fireplace, and we might have the mantel tie into those somehow. Given that it’s all going to line up on the wall, we’re trying to make sure it doesn’t appear too flat or boring. We also need to decide what will go around the fireplace itself (tile or stone) as that affects whether we should have some wall space to each side of the fireplace.
February 1, 2010
Because of building codes, we need to have a fire sprinkler system in our house. It’s the last major set of pipes to fill up the walls before the inspection and then drywall. The sprinkler team has been working since last week to put in the pipes, but have just started to put in the sprinkler heads as you can see in today’s picture:
February 1, 2010
The latest pictures are now available.
January 30, 2010
Alison and I visited the house today because I wanted her to see it again before all the wallboard goes up in a few weeks. She was very interested in all of the wiring, asking me what everything was for. She was even more interested in the duct work.
The shingles are now completely up in all of the gables, including the front archway:
