Tile and trim: screeching halt.....

Tile and Trim:  Screeching Halt.....

January 9th & 10th --  Yesterday the tile setter started packing up early, and when I mean packing up, I mean packing up.  It is amazing how each of the different craftsmen brings his particular set of tools and materials to the job site.  When they are here for several days and are not working at more than one job at a time, they will leave their stuff until the next day.  That was not happening with the tile setter. A few hours later the contractor stopped by to explain what had happened.  

We ran out of a very specific trim tile that is needed to complete the master shower as well as the tile around the soaker tub.  Unfortunately, none of the suppliers in my state -- yes, not city but the entire state  -- had any of the trim tile in stock.  The best we could get is an expedited delivery from a tile supply house that is three states away!  We are hoping that the tile material will arrive in 7-10 days and that the tile setter will be able to stop whatever he is doing to return to this job.  The contractor told me that this happens all the time, so I guess that means I'm not special.  Below is a photo of the shower wall in the master bathroom that is patiently awaiting the trim tile.

Two finish carpenters were on site today.  In addition to the mill work around the window, they are adding a second trim piece so that the mill work in the new construction will be close to the original mill work when the house was built.  What this means is that the brown-colored trim has been nailed onto the window and door trim, as shown here.  

This attention to detail and the time it takes is just amazing.  In addition, in the dining room there are four doorways -- to the kitchen, to the sliding door to the future south deck, and into the guest suite (shown in this photo), with the fourth doorway containing the original mill work that is between the dining room and living room.  The finish carpenters added another piece of trim so that the width of the new trim would approximate that of the original trim.  In this photo you can see a white strip of trim to enlarge the width that the second (brown) trim was attached to.

But, early this afternoon the finish carpenters ran out of the smaller, brown trim.  So, there are windows, like the one shown in this photo that have been partially trimmed.

 Nevertheless, the finish carpenters worked on what they could, including the "box" shown in this photo because the original wall by the door to the guest suite closet was "out of plane" with the new wall that was moved and rebuilt.

They decided that they will add a vertical trim piece to the front side of the fireplace in the master bedroom to match the column on the front, but we'll only do that at the right-most edge, since the vent for the fireplace is in the way on the left-most edge.

The shelves were installed in the pantry, and here is a view from the doorway where you can see the shelves on the north wall of the pantry before they wrap around to the east wall.

 Here you can see how the pantry shelves wrap around.  They are really great and include a brace underneath to support the weight of whatever I want to put on these shelves.

  It isn't easy photographing the pantry, but the photos below show the space for the vacuum cleaner with shelves above it.

 They also had to rebuild and trim the window over the sink in the kitchen, which is shown here:

And, the windows in the southwest corner of the mudroom at the rear-entry of the house, required special trim since there is a confluence of windows and door in a very small space.

Although the trim work has stalled out because they ran out of material, the finish carpenters have begun to stage the construction of the built-ins for the mudroom (e.g., benches, cubbies, coat closet, etc), the floor-to-ceiling wall of bookshelves for the north wall of the gathering room, the mantel and AV cabinet on the west wall of the gathering room.  Below they have set up saw horses and building materials have been delivered.  They will move their table saws out of the dining room and master bedroom when it comes time to build.

There is also the trim for the windows in the stairwell to the basement, which they have already finished, as shown here, but

the door at the stairwell landing that will lead into the basement and the door to the crawlspace beneath the gather room, remains to be hung and trimmed.  This won't happen until more trim material arrives next week.

The architect was here today and we discussed the progress to date.  He was very pleased with the work and how the design is coming together, which I have to agree with.  However, he wasn't happy about how one of the corbels was mounted outside and told me that he will have that changed.  Geez...I had no clue.  

As we talked, he made me realize that the scope of this project is really much bigger than I had ever realized.  Also, there are factors beyond our control, such as the great demand for skilled workers as construction work is increasing with the stability and improvement of  the economy.  Besides the trim work that needs to be completed, along with the custom built-in work, there is still drywall, painting, tile work, sanding and finishing the hardwood floors, electrical and plumbing fixtures, and that doesn't even include the deck, porches, gutters, and green house that remain to be built. There is also a skylight that will go into the stairwell between the main and upper levels, and there are three rooms -- the bathroom I am using, my office/bedroom that I am living in, and the living/temporary kitchen room that will require work on the walls, paint, and floors.  All this is leading to the architect's best guess that this house project will not be completed until sometime in March.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but that is a realistic estimate, and I am just hoping that somehow the master bedroom and bathroom can be completed before March so that I can sleep in a bed again soon.

There will be no one working this weekend, so I'm hoping to spend some time 

vacuuming up the dust, in preparation for the workers who will come back next week 

to make even more dust.

  

Hmm, right now it is time to stop as a nice bottle of red wine is calling.