Home Renovation : Full steam ahead.....

Full Steam Ahead....

December 18th -- Yesterday I fulfilled my civic duty by reporting for jury duty. It was a break from the current routine of being consumed by the details of the house and the almost unbearable amount of construction dust and grime. I am beginning to recover from the nasty upper respiratory virus that caught up with me. Given the connections among stress, the immune system and illness, it is really pretty amazing that this is only the second bug I've been hit by since this process started.

I am very fortunate to have dear friends who welcomed me to sleep at their home to escape the dust while I recover.

With jury duty behind me, I had a two-hour meeting with the contractor; the first time we've talked in person since he returned from vacation and the first drywall crew was fired. It is very easy to get upset and frustrated, but that doesn't do any good. The problem with the drywall crew was the result of a perfect storm -- there is an unbelievable amount of construction going on all throughout the city. It is really amazing how much demand there is and how crews that have been very loyal to contractors will suddenly decline a job -- even after a verbal agreement -- because they get a better offer. My contractor is known among his subcontractors for being very loyal and having long-term working relationships. His usual drywall crew backed out of my job because they were offered more money and a lot of work by a developer. The contractor had to go with a new drywall company that was a disaster.

Although we have lost 6 weeks, the real problem is that this came at a crucial time where a sequence of things was supposed to happen, and now everything is pretty much messed up, or to use an old military term -- FUBAR (F*ucked Up Beyond All Reason). The approaching Christmas and New Year holidays is also contributing to a slow down in the work flow. I am getting my head around the reality that I will most likely NOT have a functional kitchen or a bedroom in which I can sleep on an actual bed until February......2014.

The painter/drywallers have to get the walls textured and the hardwood floors installed before the cabinetry can be set. However, the cabinets have already been delivered, and the new doors have been delivered, and all the trim for the windows, baseboards, and doors has been delivered. There is no place to store this stuff except in the work space so the work has to go on around, on top of and over everything that has been delivered. I finally met the head of the finish carpentry crew, who is a really amazing guy and exceptionally nice. As we talked he looked at the pile of trim on the floor between where the kitchen cabinets are to be set, and said that he would probably have to move the pile of trim several times in order to get the cabinets installed. Unlike the hardwood floor guy who is easily 6' 4' and over 200 lbs, it is a good thing that the finish carpenters are shorter and trimmer because there isn't a whole lot of space to maneuver.

The contractor and I finalized the dimensions of the deck and pergola that will be built on the south side of the house that will be accessed through the sliding doors in the dining room. I will order the decking material at the end of the week once the contractor figures out exactly how much material I need. The painters spent a good part of the day sanding the walls in the dining room, as shown below.

By the end of the day, the head of the painting company asked me if he could come to my house in the evening to texture the walls in the dining room, guest suite, guest bath, master bedroom, and master bathroom. He is scheduled to leave town on a flight Thursday afternoon to spend 10 days with his family. He has to get the walls textured before he leaves. He also told me that he is packing his paint brushes because he will spend the days before Christmas painting a family member's house!

At 9:20pm as I was staying at my friends' house, I received a text message on my phone from the painter letting me know that he was working in my house with portable lights and hoped that I didn't get a phone call from the police to say there was an intruder in my house! I told him I would see him in the morning and he said he would be there until noon.

Before the finish carpenters left for the day, they unpacked some of the cabinetry for the kitchen, and I caught my first glimpse of them. In these photos you can see the wine cabinet that will go over the refrigerator. You can also see one of the wall cabinets, and if you look to the right on the floor, you'll see the pile of trim that will get moved several times. You can also see the boxes, some still unopened and some of the base cabinets freed from their boxes.

Here are the new four-panel, pre-hung doors that will be installed on the main level and the upper level of the house. They are stacked in the mudroom waiting to be hung. And, here are more cabinets in and out of their shipping boxes.

Here is a better view of the pile of trim that will be moved just to get the cabinets set.

The hardwood floors have been laid in the master bedroom suite and nailed down with the exception of one small area in the bedroom. Here you can see the unfinished hardwood floor in the hallway leading to the master bedroom and in the closet.

Here are photos of the hardwood floor around the fireplace in the master bedroom.

And, above is the one section of the master bedroom where the hardwood floor will be nailed down tomorrow.

While all this progress has been made on the hardwood floors, master bedroom ceilings and walls are ready to be textured in the wee hours of the night.