The turn of the screw....

The Turn of the Screw....

November 29th -- After a very quiet Thanksgiving, by 9:00am the activity started to crank up. The painters were back to finish the garage.  Adam was back to work on the floors.  And, I can only imagine the conversation my contractor had with the owners of the drywall company, but it was effective.  The father and son who run the drywall company, who had only previously been around to provide an estimate and to supervise the work, were actually drilling screws into the drywall that were somehow missed or were not installed correctly.  Below you can see the contractor's writing on the drywall, "3/4" screws on both sides," where there is a doorway to the stairwell that will be closed with a pocket door.

Below are a few photos of the drywall with the correctly installed screws. 

Then the contractor texted and asked if I would be around.  Fortunately, I had already done the extent of my post-Thanksgiving bargain shopping, having driven to the Home Depot about 2 miles away to pick up two 50% off  "Black Friday Door Busters" -- a wet/dry shop vac and a 5' ladder.  

The contractor, who is supposed to fly out for a week-long vacation early this evening, told me that the screw inspection was scheduled for this afternoon and that he would be here for the inspection.  He didn't want to leave town for a vacation until the inspection had taken place.  I appreciated that and if I was him I know I would not have enjoyed a vacation with the drywall stuff hanging over my head.

The contractor also gave me a bit of a sense of what will happen next.  Assuming the screw inspection goes well, another team from the drywall company would come in to tape, mud and sand the drywall.  If it all works out, everything about the drywall installation should be done by this time next week.  Although next week will no doubt be another round of trying construction filth and dust, at least the worst of it should be done.  

The next big milestone will take place around December 12th -- at that time all the mill work for the windows, baseboards, and doorways will be installed by the finish carpenter, Jeff and his crew.  The finish carpenters will be here for about 6 days and they will also hang all the new doors and work on the built-ins for the two fireplace mantels, the AV cabinet in the gathering room, the floor-to-ceiling bookcases in the gathering room, the built-ins for the mudroom and the shelves in the pantry.  At that time the kitchen cabinets will arrive, and work will begin on the tile floors in the bathrooms.  Then the bathroom vanities and the cabinets for the laundry room will arrive and be installed.  This week the kitchen sinks that were on back order arrived and soon Ivan, who is doing the granite counter top install, will need the schematics for the sinks for the granite counter top cutouts.  I. CANNOT. WAIT.FOR.ALL.OF.THIS.TO.HAPPEN!!!

The painters finished all the exterior painting today.  These photos were taken late in the afternoon, so the colors will look a bit different in that light.

Here are photos of the sanded and stained timbers, cedar shingles for the covered deck and the corbels.

The blue accent on the garage is shown below

Here is the completed garage from the alley

Here is a photo of the complimentary painting scheme of the house and the garage.

Here is the completed garage door view from the mudroom doorway.




Adam's work on the floor is truly a work of art.  He has completed the gathering room floor, as shown in the next photos.

Adam also completed the landing off the gathering room to the basement stairwell.

 Notice how Adam trimmed the landing ledge -- it is that kind of attention to detail that is so wonderful about his work.

Adam still needs to lay the hardwood floor in the laundry room and the pantry, and he has already set aside the planks for those rooms, as shown next.

So, what about the screw inspection?  

The contractor showed up around 3:00pm to wait for the inspector, and to wait, and to wait.  At around 4:30pm the inspector finally showed up.

Yippy Skippy!  The inspection went well, we passed, and so we're on for the last big push on drywall for next week.