Just floored....

Just floored...

November 30th -- I am just floored by the beautiful job Adam continues to do on the hardwood floors.  He arrived this morning at 10:00 and didn't leave until after 4:30.  But when he left today, he took all his tools after moving several bundles of oak flooring to the upper-level for installation into the master bedroom, hallway and closet.  Adams will come back to work on the upper-level floors after the drywall is completed, and he has quite a bit of patch work to do on the main level.

Here is the view, looking through the kitchen to the gathering room.

Here is the work that Adam finished today in the pantry and the laundry room.

Here is an example of the patch work that Adam will return to complete.  Below to the left you can see the gaps in the oak floor where the old wall used to be between the downstairs bedroom (now guest suite) and the dining room.

When I see how these oak floors have been "trashed" by the drywall guys, I just keep remembering the line in my contract that reads that the contractor will repair and restore the floors.  Adam also told me that his brother will come in to sand and refinish the floors.  When that is done, I can't can't to put on a pair of thick socks, get a running start from the living room and slide through the kitchen into the gathering room to test out the finished floors...sort of like that scene with Tom Cruise in "Risky Business."

After a few hours Joe, the roofer showed up.  He is also a very nice guy and he returned with a member of his crew.  Joe has been working to make the covered deck off the master bedroom waterproof so that the rain and snow won't leak through the gathering room roof.  Contractors and roofers really hate when architects design exterior decks over living spaces, such as my covered deck off the master bedroom because it is over the gathering room.   Joe had been by earlier to install a rubber liner to seal the covered deck floor, and today he was back to install a drain pipe.

Joe explained that he would leave a grate or cover off the pipe because he wants to make sure any moisture will do down the pipe shown below.  There will be decking over the rubber liner and siding up the walls of the deck.

The drain pipe goes through the roof and out through a newly drilled hole in the brick above the fireplace vent in the back of the house, as shown below.  The drain pipe will connect with the downspout from the roof gutters once those are installed and painted.

As Joe and one of his crew members and Adam were all leaving at about the same time, I wished them well and told Adam that I hoped he enjoyed a nice Sunday with his two little girls and wife.  Joe said that he had a little boy and girl.  Joe's crew member, looked at Joe and Adam and said, "Well, I've got my freedom."  It was a pretty funny moment and we all enjoyed a good laugh, until Joe said, "Yeah, for now."

I am thinking that no one will come to work on the house tomorrow, but who knows.  

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.

Construction roller coaster.....

Construction roller coaster...

November 27th -- Well, the suspense is over.  At 7:15am two drywall hangers showed up.  It was a classic moment; they knocked on the front door and told me that the lock box was frozen and would I let them in.  I said sure, and then showed them the dry walled closet and said that I had no way to let them in because they had put the closet wall up and did not cut out a passage way as they were supposed to do.  One of the dry wall guys suddenly remembered what he was supposed to do yesterday.  Great way to start the day...more on the dry wall later.

Since the base of the garage was previously painted a shade of gray that was similar to the gray for the accent for the house, the painter suggested "flipping" the colors for the garage.  So, gray is the base color for the garage, instead of the trim.  The base color for the house has now become the trim on the garage.  Here are some photos of the painting of the garage that is in progress and that will be completed on Friday.

The door from the garage to the yard, above, is opposite the new rear entry of the house, shown below, and picks up the door color.

The painters are also putting a clear stain coat on the timber beams and cedar shingles on the rear covered deck and the corbels, as shown below.  You can also see the blue accent color has been painted on the gutters on the garage to pick up the blue on the house.

Adam, the floor guy, showed up as I was getting ready to leave, and I wanted to compliment him on the beautiful work he was doing on the floors.  I went off to work and as I was leaving, one of the dry wall guys told me that they should be done today.  In the meantime, the contractor called me to say that he was trying to schedule the screw inspection for Friday.  Okie, dokie.

When I got home a bit earlier than usual, the contractor was just about to leave.  He told me that the drywall was installed but they have to make a few changes with some of the screws in order to pass the inspection.  He was calling for the inspection on Friday, right before he leaves for a week of vacation.  Okie, dokie.

All seemed well until the roller coaster ride started.  Unfortunately, the drywall guys had "breached" the plastic barrier I had set up between the dining room and my living room/temporary kitchen. My temporary kitchen area was absolutely filthy with dust and debris.  It looked as if they simply untaped the barrier and intruded into this area.  I was not happy, to say the least.

 Not only have the dry wall hangers consistently left the biggest mess of all craftsmen, but they do absolutely nothing to clean up or at least move their detritus to a central pile. They have shown the least amount of respect for my living area or my house, for that matter.  I don't know how they can work among their own mess, and they certainly have little regard for me having to live among their mess.  In absolute contrast there is Adam who is so neat and tidy that he actually cleaned up some of the mess left by the dry wall hangers because he couldn't stand seeing it and didn't want me to have to see it.  Nice guy who is doing beautiful work on the floors.

Adam was still working away when I started to tackle the mess that was made by the drywall guys.  I also had to figure out how to repair the breached barrier.

So, after I changed into my grungiest clothes and put on a respiration mask, I got the shop vac and went to work.  I cleaned all the dust and dirt out my temporary kitchen and then I installed another layer of plastic sheeting (on top of the two that had been breached) and then on the dining room side of the barrier I hung a large, thick tarp, as shown in the photos below.

I spent about 2.5 hours cleaning, running the shop vac and hanging and taping the plastic sheeting and the blue tarp.  It was not a fun job, but it had to be done before I could feel comfortable enough to make and eat dinner.

       On other fronts, the mason removed some of the brick from the 8-inch thick front wall for the mail slot that I asked the contractor to install.   In the photo to the left, you can see that the mason has removed enough brick for the brass mail slot and the wooden box that will be built to catch the mail.  

Below you can see my temporary passage way through the new closet in the guest suite. The photo on the left is the view from the foyer.  The photo on the right is the view from the guest suite looking into what will be a nice guest closet when the temporary passage way disappears.

Adam will come back on Saturday to finish laying the new flooring and then to repair the floor in the dining room and guest suite.  Although there are drywall dust particles flying in the air, you can see below how the oak floor will run through the kitchen into the gathering room.

The mudroom will have oak flooring, and there will be a 4' by 4' patch of ceramic tile to hopefully catch the mud and dirt from the yard.  Adam created a "picture frame" (shown in the photo to the right) where the entry tile will be laid to meet the oak floor.

Back to the dry wall saga....all the dry wall has been hung.  In the photo below and to the left, there is the dry wall around the original hutch that was in the kitchen.  Below and to the right is one of the kitchen walls.

The dry wall has been hung from the ceiling on the main floor, and below you can see where it "joins" the original lath and plaster ceiling, which will eventually be covered by a "light orange peel" texture so that the original plaster ceiling and the new sheet rock ceiling will look the same.

This photo shows the dry wall on the ceiling of the guest suite where plumbing and heating chases had to be "boxed in" with the framing and then drywall.

  I don't know if someone from the drywall company will come to address the issue about the screws that need to be fixed before the inspection scheduled for Friday.  For all I know, they could come tomorrow or Friday morning before the inspection.  Okie, dokie.


Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.  I will be thinking about the Thanksgiving feast that I will prepare and enjoy next year in my house!