Jody and Preethi Make a House

Feb 16, 2011: The Deck Begins

2011-02-16T19:48:00.000-08:00

"Hey", you thought, "wasn't this house already done?"

Well yes and no. We had put off adding the deck until later. Now is later. So I'm going to update this blog with pictures as the deck is built.

Forms (boards) and footers (boxes) being prepped for pouring concrete later.

It's not officially a construction project until the porta-john arrives.

When we built the fence, we put in a gate so equipment could get in easily (primarily for bushhogging the back lot, but also for this deck work). Guess where I'll be reseeding in a month?

View of the forms for the deck from West side of the house.

Fritz (right) and Wolfie (left) checking out the deck on the South side of the house. It's a wrap-around about 1/2 up each side (slightly more on the West, slightly less on the South)

Dirt mounded up to fill in and level before the gravel and concrete. Also you can see the Romeo and Juliet balconies we left in anticipation of building the deck later.

September 29, 2009: Cleaning near done

2009-09-29T18:30:00.000-07:00

Went out to the house on Friday and Tuesday. Between the two days, glass was put in the cabinets, grass was growing well, bricks had been cleaned, railings had been stained, and the last of the locks were put on the doors. Essentially everything is done now (we have a Certificate of Occupancy) except for some touch ups so I'll probably only update this blog once more when all the touch ups are done.

Most of these pictures are from Tuesday (29th) unless otherwise noted.

View of the house from the front. The bricks have been cleaned and grass is now growing.

Glass installed in the cabinets (from Friday)

Another view of the kitchen.

The outside railings were stained. Also see where the locks on the front door were installed. The front doors still need to be stained.

View of the great room from the dining room. Some painting had been touched up on the steps.

Another view of the steps.

View of the basement from beneath the dining room looking towards the area underneath the great room. All the insulation is now in.

Basement underneath the main level bedroom as seen from the basement underneath the dining room.

View from the East on Friday. It was raining. Mulch had been delivered and spread out in front of the house.

View from the fron of the house.

View from the Northwest

Straight on view from the side.

View from the side yard.

View from the backyard.

September 23, 2009: Closets, Backsplash

2009-09-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

I went out of town at the beginning of the week again and dropped by the house Wednesday evening. The backsplash, outside ground spots, logs for the fireplace, and closet shelves were all installed while I traveled.

Outside lights, including ground spots were installed.

The light post and the garage lights.

The ground spots used to light up the outside of the house. We'll eventually hide them in the landscaping. The boxes are there to limit mud splashing back on the bricks while the bricks are washed (to knock off excess mortar) on Thursday.

We have a street number! Which makes this a real house.

The house from the road.

Backsplash - a mix of marble with absolute black granite insets and some random 1" tiles we found at Home Depot for trim at the bottom.

Another view of the kitchen with the backsplash. After we move in, we'll track down some outlet covers that match the marble so you don't get the jarring white/black combination on the backsplash.

Closeup of the backsplash.

Pantry. Closet shelves were installed.

Coat closet on the main level. With shoe racks at the bottom.

One of the closets (his / her) in the master bed room.

The tub was installed and tiling touched up around the tub.

The covering paper was also pulled up so you can see the master bath floor for the first time in a long time.

Fireplace, now with screen and gas logs.

Switch (Fire switch?) for the gas logs.

The gas line to the outside of the house was hooked up. It'll run to the fireplace and to the range. We don't have a propane tank, yet, however.

To get a Certificate of Occupancy, we had to put railings to block exit from the main level doors that will eventually (year? two years from now?) open onto a deck.

Grass is coming in.

Glass shelf in the main level bath.

Perhaps the most important thing to be done - the water is all hooked up.

Outside faucet on the backside (basement). We can mix and match hot and cold water so we can bathe the dogs in the winter.

The driveway with surface treatment (tar and gravel). We'll pave next summer (not to save money which is why we delayed other things, but to let the ground settle first)

September 18, 2009: Range vent, carpet, and quarter-round

2009-09-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

We made it out to the house late Friday night and the grass seeding was done (I think), a vent for the range hood had been installed, insulation was put in the attic, and carpet was put in over the padding.

Spray-in insulation in the attic.

The outside portion of the hood vent.

The hood vent running through the garage.

And the hood in the kitchen.

Carpet on the floor in the main level bedroom.

Carpet in the top floor bedroom on the east side. If you look closely, you can see that there's plastic sheeting on the floor, presumably to mostly keep the carpet clean during construction, but possibly also for the paint touch ups to come.

Vents on the walls on the second level.

Bathroom hardware to be installed next week.

Fritz looks at the seeded backyard. In the back, you can see a leaf-filled gutter. (The gutter guard was missed out on when fixing the gutter after the tree fell. The gutter guard will be added back and the gutter cleaned, I think next week).

Seeding on the south lawn (over top of the drain field).

Seeding on the north east corner of the lot.

Quarter-round in the upstairs hallway

Quarter-round in the great room.

September 16, 2009: Outside lights, carpet, and seeding

2009-09-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

I went out of town for a few days and a lot stuff happened. Maybe I should try this traveling thing a little more. Pictures are from when I went out to the house Wednesday after a red-eye into town. The garage door was functionsal, exterior lights were up, seeding had started, and.... well, you'll just have to see in the following.

House viewed from the tree in the northeast corner of the lot.

A light in stairwell going down to the basement.

A light post at the corner of the driveway and the sidewalk.

Light on the north side of the garage (it has a twin on the south side)

Preethi inspects a fan in the master bedroom.

A light in the entryway. Looks real nice at night from the road.

A light by the garage backdoor.

Lights over the basement entrance and the eventual (year, two?) deck entrance.

We're seeding the ground with creeping red fescue. (We have a lot of shade).

Some of the seeds on the ground before straw covering.

Floor padding waiting to be installed in the main level bedroom.

Floor padding was installed in the master bedroom.

Glass began to be installed in a cabinet

Glass in the cabinet doors.

The range was delivered, but hasn't been installed yet.

The floor vents were installed. We didn't want the vents that are flush with the floor to keep dirt from falling in when we clean.

Vent cover for cold air intake.

A little flooring covering to cut down on foot traffic as the floors still need another coat (and sealing).

Preethi reflected in one of the vanity mirrors in the jack and jill bathroom.

The other vanity mirror in the jack-and-jill.

That first vanity in the jack-and-jill with a wider perspective.

The shower door in the master bath was installed.

Mirrors in the master bathroom were also installed. You can kinda see both in this shot.

When you raise the grade of the land, roots can have a hard time getting the nutrients they were getting closer to the surface. One way to help this is with a tree well.

A tree well in progress.

A little retaining wall on the northwest corner of the house. The pad in front of the wall is where the propane tank will go.

Garage door from the outside.

Garage door from the inside.

September 12, 2009: Hardwood and Backsplash

2009-09-12T16:20:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we thought the floor would be dry enough for us to try out some backsplash tile, but that also meant we could take some pictures of the hardwood from different locations.

Preethi tries out the tile pattern for the backsplash. A white veined marble with granite insets (absolute black instead of the angola black on the counter top but it's pretty close). We're going with a different edge though - lots of little stones.

A thermostat was put in on the top floor.

A view of the stained hardwood on the top floor. It still has another coat and a sealing layer to come.

A view of the stairs. There's a lot of dust in a new house as shown by the railing.

September 11, 2009: Garage, Floor Sealed

2009-09-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I went out to the house after work. The garage door was in, the hardwood had been sealed and a few things other things were done.

View of the house from the road.

A doggy door was put in on the garage back door. It locks on the inside.

The garage door was installed. Wasn't operational when I was there, so this is the best picture I have.

The hardwood floors were sealed, so we can't walk on them until Monday.

However, I could peek in again at the front entrance. Here's the great room. All the sunlight reflecting off the floor is skewing the light sensors in the camera making the floor look lighter here than it actually is.

Stairs. This is a bit more representative of the color.

Dining room floor.

Great room looking towards the fireplace.

A "temporary" railing was installed on the front porch. We are thinking of doing concrete railings long term, but this looks pretty good so we might put that off for a while and maybe just stain the railing to match the door.

A close up of the condensers (dual-zone)

The freon tubes coming out to the condensers.

And inside the house where the freon tubes go outside.

The driveway was graded a bit, but won't be finished until Monday.

September 8, 2009: Staining and driveway begin

2009-09-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

We made it out to the house on Monday, though not much visibly had been done (Dan was busy prepping for the seeding guy, but that was mostly smoothing out the soil). On Tuesday, however, floor staining and the driveway installation began.

The stained great room floor and stairs. The stain color is English Chestnut. This (and all the floor stain pictures) were taken leaning into the front door as we can't walk on the floor for a while.

The dining room floor.

Looking across the great room.

The driveway was graded and crushed stone began to be put down (by the garage), but then a rather large rain storm came up. Not so conveniently while I was there making a small change on a corner of the driveway.

From Monday - the ridge was stained and the dormer was painted.

The outside units for the air conditioners were installed on Tuesday (no inside pics - mud + stained floors),

On Monday, I also noticed that electrical boxes were put in on the kitchen island.

On Monday, we also took some "family" shots on the front porch. From left to right: Fritz, Preethi, Silver.

And here's Fritz, me, and Silver.

September 4, 2009: Let there be light

2009-09-04T23:41:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we did not make it out to the house until after the sun went down. Fortunately, the lighting fixtures were installed which really go a long ways towards making it look like a finished house. For whatever reason, the flash on the camera seemed to make rooms look a lot yellower in the picture than in person.

View of the great room and kitchen. You can see the track lighting on the great room wall (where we'll hang paintings), recessed lights in the ceiling, and pendant lights in the background in the kitchen (there are more lights in the kitchen than you can see in this picture). In the background, Preethi is fiddling with the remote control for the great room fan.

This is the fan Preethi was controlling. It's rather large and moves a good bit of air even when not spinning very quickly.

A different view of the great room which let's you see all three recessed lights on the south side of the great room. There's a total of six recessed lights in the great room. Interestingly, we found that the track lighting did a much better job of lighting up the room (brighter and more even light) than the recessed lights, probably because they aim up towards the reflective white ceiling while the recessed lights aim down.

The track lights.

The kitchen all lit up (except for some recessed lights). We'll have to lower the pendants over the island a little bit.

Lights were in the closets too (here, the pantry)

Light over the sink in the main level bath.

Stairwell lights. Effectively nightlights so you can see the steps in the dark.

The hanging light in the stairwell. Preethi was there when they hung up this light. She said it only took 2 minutes.

Light/fan in one of upstairs bedrooms.

Lights over the tub in the master bath.

The shower in the master bath.

Lights on my side of the master bath.

Lights in a different bedroom on the top floor.

View of the stair light from that same bedroom. Note that smoke detectors are also in.

For perspective on how many lights were put in Friday, here's the boxes for the lights.

Last of the outlets were put in in the basement.

Insulation in the basement. Still a little more to add in a few places like the preceding pic.

The whole house fan is now operational (we tested it for fun).

Laundry room. The last of the hookups were cleaned up.

September 3, 2009: Last Concrete Poured

2009-09-03T21:44:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we went out to the house during lunch (no pics) while they were pouring concrete and then much later in the evening when the concrete was done.

Preethi looks at the sidewalk. The lines in the concrete are regularly spaced control joints.

Sidewalk viewed from the driveway.

Pads for the propane tank (front) and condensers (back).

Basement stoop. Note that the smaller concrete jobs don't get control joints.

Garage stoop and apron. These have control joints.

Heat exchanger has now been wired up for the basement and main level (the other one is in the attic for the second floor.)

A little oval framing was done on the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom

The water entry point for the house was sealed.

September 2, 2009: An end in sight.

2009-09-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went out to the house in the evening. More plumbing fixtures were put in and several more electrical hook ups were made. Also, we now have a completion schedule for the house.

The most important addition - the schedule for the rest of the construction. The last thing to go in are the closet shelves on the 16th (2 weeks).

The dishwasher was installed (actually attaches to the bottom side of the granite)

The shower fixtures went in. This one is on the main level. All the shower heads are the same.

Laundry wash basin was installed. (Washer and dryer are coming from the current house, so they won't be in for a few weeks.)

Shower head in the master shower. Looks a little bit more in place here than downstairs where it looks a little over-sized.

The outlet covers were laid out for all of the outlets and switches to be installed tomorrow.

Lights were installed in the basement.

Electricity for the condenser units.

Water was hooked up to the house.

Where the water comes into the house from the inside.

We're actually going to have both hot and cold water for this outside faucet. It's so we can wash the dogs outside in the winter.

Meant to take a picture of this yesterday, but this is the new and improved archway.

The framing around the ridge is complete. In addition to allowing us to stain the ridge, it has the added benefit that it will allow us to conceal the wiring.

September 1, 2009: Final prep for concrete

2009-09-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I made it out to the house after work. The brickers had been there to finish off the arch modifications and to support moving an outlet. In the meantime the last of the forms for the concrete were put in as well as the supporting rebar. Some light interior work also went on which I mostly didn't take pictures of (second coat of paint in the garage, some polish on the granite, veneer on the railings).

I hadn't taken this a picture from this location in a while so I thought I would. This is from the tree on the northeast corner. Basically all that's left on the outside of the house now is pouring concrete and seeding (and a couple minor things).

How did the water cross the sidewalk? A little French drain.

Forms for concrete pads on the west side of the house. The closer one is for propane, the one further back is for the air exchangers.

Forms for a little pad outside the basement door. Eventually this will expand when we build the deck, but that'll be a while.

Another view of the basement forms and the forms for the garage stoop.

We're going to eventually have lights out by the driveway entrance controllable from the foyer so wiring is running underneath the sidewalk.

If you look for the off colored brick you can see where the outlet originally was (about chest high).

Some panels on the master tub. They're supposed to be doors, however, for access to controls and shutoff and such.

August 31, 2009: Plumbing Fixtures

2009-08-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

Monday was a busy day at the house. Preethi had been by during lunch and said there were 6 trucks there, which is believable as plumbing work, concrete prep, painting, and the culvert pipe installation were done.

The pedestal sink on the main floor bathroom. We thought the space was a little tight so we used a pedestal sink instead of a normal vanity.

Toilet on the main floor bathroom. (I'm not posting every picture of every toilet). There was water in the toilet, but water had not been hooked up to the house yet. I figure the water was there to a) check for leaks, and b) cut down on septic gas flowing back into the house (not that there should be that much yet...)

The laundry room wash basin (some assembly required).

Faucet for the sink in the Jack and Jill bathroom. One of the things that annoys me about the current house are the faucets do not extend out far enough. This means I tend to bump my hands against the back of the sink when I'm washing my hands.

The throne in the throne room.

Hot water heater was installed today.

The faucet on the kitchen sink.

The master bath jacuzzi tub which we'll use like 3 or 4 times a year (though who knows as we get older and need a good soak?). But it's kinda de rigeur for new construction.

Rebar was added in preparation for pouring concrete in the sidewalk.

Rebar was also added for the apron and the garage stoop.

The garage got its first coat of paint.

Another view of painting in the garage. I didn't know that the painters were going to paint the wood "pure white" while the walls were dover white (the yellowish white).

The culvert pipe. Surface treatment for the driveway is scheduled for later this week.

August 28, 2009: Forms for concrete

2009-08-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

We dropped by the house Friday after work. Some forms for were completed and the hot water heater was delivered.

Forms for the sidewalk. It flares out at both the driveway and the steps.

Forms for the apron and the garage stoop.

The backfill beside the garage stoop. We'll likely need to put in a retaining wall in the not so-distant future.

The hot water heater was delivered. It will go underneath the basement steps.

August 27, 2009: Granite and front steps

2009-08-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we went to the house twice. Once during lunch to meet with the granite guys and then again in the evening to inspect the results and go on a walk. Work was also proceeding on the sidewalk and the front steps had gone in on Wednesday.

The granite in the kitchen in the evening after installation (all in). Preethi's playing "find the seam".

Your turn to find the seam. I promise it's there. What is easier to see is where the installers intentionally tore out a little drywall. Basically, the granite is perfectly straight, but drywall is not and if you'll be putting in a backsplash you can cover over the hole later.

Earlier in the installation process with the granite around the sink and dishwasher going in.

Same piece as in the preceding pic, but just after being dropped in (not yet glued and the sink has not yet been attached).

The granite around the sink post installation.

A closer view of the island. The island has a 1/4" bevel edge while the rest of the granite has a pencil edge. (granite edge types)

Another view of the installed granite in the kitchen.

We also put granite on top of fireplace. Oddly, the granite and the crown was cheaper than a traditional mantle piece.

The brickers were back installing the front steps the day before and while they were there I asked them how hard it would be to tear out some bricks rebrick a part which I thought didn't look right. (see the vertical line in the mortar in this picture). Turns out it's not that hard for the masons to knock out selected bricks and re-lay a few.

Preethi, Danny, and W.D. discuss the exact path of the sidewalk during lunch.

The sidewalk later that night. The curved wood is actually masonite.

This is mostly to see the bricked floor in the entryway. Still has to be cleaned.

Dan drops off a fresh load of dirt to build up the support around the piers that will support the garage backdoor pad.

Dirt filling in around the pillars. Eventually, the concrete blocks will be covered.

Glass samples we were considering for the cabinets. The left is "ridged" the right is "bubble". We're going with the ridged.

August 25, 2009: Concrete and Water

2009-08-25T16:38:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we made it out to the house shortly after work. They've begun hooking up the water to the house, some concrete was poured and drainage pipes were placed in trenches.

Water beginning to be run to the house. This is the end that will connect to the water hookup.

And this is where the water will go into the house.

A bunch of plumbing tubes.

The concrete was poured to support the front steps.

The concrete piers that will help support the backdoor garage stoop. Dirt will fill in around the piers (dirt has a way of receding over time and if there isn't the concrete support the pad by the door will eventually crack and drop off too)

Concrete piers for the garage backfoor stoop viewed from the master bedroom.

Gutter drainage pipes were trenched in.

Preethi saw some dirt in the master bedroom and a push broom and couldn't resist a chance to sweep.

The attic fan in the house was running when we entered (probably kept the house cooler). And yup, it showed up on the meter. We're all the way up to 1 kWh

August 24, 2009: Forms and veneer

2009-08-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we visited the house shortly after work. Concrete should be poured tomorrow and forms were in place.

Forms for the piers that will support the back door garage concrete pad.

Turns out that the ridge can't be stained (the downside to engineered wood). So now we're building a fake ridge over the real ridge but using wood pieces that can be stained.

My apologies for the misrotated image. But I've rotated it, saved it and reuploaded several times and either the file save is failing or blogger is doing something weird. Regardless, a little more prep work was done on the front stoop. I assume the plastic is there to help with the curing process.

August 21, 2009: Electricity, forms, and a little granite

2009-08-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we got out to the house in the afternoon. The countertop guys had been out to template for the granite and I noticed a couple things that were probably already done that I had just missed.

Preethi inspects a granite sample the countertop guys left. We were considering using unpolished granite on the top of the mantle (for a stone mantle look) but we decided to go with a polished granite piece that will match the kitchen counter tops.

Same piece as before, but now set on the island in the kitchen.

The concrete pad for the front steps is ready to be poured. Preethi told me this happened on Thursday, but I hadn't seen it.

A different view of the drainfield with an inspection pipe for the septic tank.

See that light? It indicates a ground fault interrupt. I assume it's on because the electrician was testing its operation. But also means that the main power line is now hooked up to the house.

Our power meter was installed and reading 0 kwH. I've never owned or lived in a house that showed that. Probably won't stay there for long.

August 20, 2009:

2009-08-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, we got out to the house in the evening. The rest of the cabinets were in place and cabinet hardware had started to be installed.

A view of the slightly update cabinets. The handles on the doors are on, but the knobs on the drawers still have to be added. Also crown molding on the top of the cabinets and a shelf for the microwave was added.

Closeup of the microwave shelf.

Detail of the cabinet crown molding which was added today.

Compared to before, I don't know that the gap between the doors was adjusted much. However, Preethi spoke with the installer again today, and it turns out that we be able to adjust the doors further, which I'll do later to close the gap. Sure the doors will swell and shrink throughout the year, but cabinet doors haven't been that hard to adjust in the past.

The bifold door for the pantry was installed today.

Bifold door on the linen closet in the jack-and-jill bathroom.

Vanity on my side of the master bathroom.

Forms in the ground for the piers for the stoop on the south facing door from the garage.

The rest of the forms for the piers are currently in the garage.

August 19, 2009: Cabinets Mostly In

2009-08-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went out to the house in the evening (Preethi had been there at lunch) to inspect the cabinet installation. While we liked the colors and most of the design, there's some installation issues that need to be resolved.

View of the cabinets from the great room. Preehi is inspecting some doors (more on this later).

We just have cabinets along two walls (and the island seen here).

The microwave cabinet. That's a gigantic gap between the doors which we're not happy about at all as we got full overlay doors which per usual installation has less than 1/8" of an inch of a gap. (See here for a general discussion of cabinet door types). Here, this is well over 1/4 inch and you can see straight into the cabinet.

Unfortunately the massive gaps aren't constrained to just that one pair of doors. All of them were like this where you can clearly see straight into the cabinet.

As to the source of the problem, Preethi is leaning to issues originating with the cabinet designer as the cabinet installer said that was as close as he could get the doors. I'm leaning towards issues on the installation as cabinet doors typically have a lot room for adjustment. And while I didn't have a screwdriver with me to make the adjustments, I have seen this photo from the manufacturer of the line we bought where there are no ginormous gaps.

Regardless, it'll be a fun conversation tomorrow morning.

Preethi's vanity in the master bathroom. It looks better installed (not intended as a full overlay so there's framing between the doors) though Preethi thought there was supposed to be paneling on the right side drawers to match the paneling on the left side doors.

A vanity in the Jack and Jill (this one looks as it should).

The foyer tile was grouted today. Here's what it looks like now. We're happy with it.

Not all cabinets are in place, but most are.

August 18, 2009: Last of the floor tile and cabinets arrive

2009-08-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

I went out to the lot Tuesday evening (Preethi had been there most of the morning) and snapped a few pics.

The foyer tiles. We were going for a kind of carpet look.

The foyer tile area viewed from the dining room.

And viewed from the great room.

All of the cabinets and vanities were delivered for the entire house, which means the kitchen cabinets and all the bathrooms. In theory, they're all going to be installed tomorrow, but they're certainly taking up a lot of space now; this is just the set in the great room.

Here's the cabinets in the kitchen.

More cabinets.

In the meantime, more grading was done on the back yard.

Dan was still busy grading the backyard (drain field) when I was there.

The basement railing was also stained. That probably happened earlier, but I hadn't been down to the basement.

The hole where we'll dump the bodies. Or a foundational pier for the steps. Probably the latter. Probably.

August 17, 2009: Staining and drainfield

2009-08-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we visited the lot and ran into Dan where we found out the drainfield wasn't actually quite done as the number of required drainage lines had doubled, so that now the builders and the survey engineer think the drain field is ridiculously overdesigned (large enough to accommadate a 8 bedroom house - it's 4 bedrooms).

However, by Monday evening, the additional lines had been dug (cheaper than fighting the state for a few months while simultaneously delaying our certificate of occupancy) and some staining had begun on the railings.

View of the house at sunset.

Rebar that will be used to reinforce several concrete pourings in the near future.

The stained railing. Note neither the steps nor the floor have been stained yet. That won't occur until virtually everything is done.

Another view of the stain on the stair railings

Over hte weekend, Preethi and I picked out some tile and made a little pattern for the doorway. It'll be laid tomorrow and presumably grouted on Wednesday.

The larger (twice as big now) and graded (again) drainfield.

A better view of an inspection pipe on the septic tank.

The distribution box with ALOT more pipes. Originally, 4 holes had been left unfilled so that if there was ever a problem with the field, the same box could be hooked up to the reserve field. Now, every hole but one is taken.

August 13, 2009: Drainage and fireplace

2009-08-13T21:01:00.000-07:00

When we visted on Thursday evening, the rest of the molding on the fireplace had been added.

A close up view of the crown molding on the fireplace. Before this is done, there will be a piece of granite on top. Longer term we'll finish out the fireplace in stone or tile, but haven't decided yet and didn't feel the need to commit to it yet.

A further away view of the fireplace.

Drain pipes from the downspouts. They have to release below the drainfield and will eventually be underground.

August 12, 2009: Paint and drainfield

2009-08-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we went to the house with Kate with a subsequent walk around the neighborhood. A second coat had gone on and the drainfield had been graded.

Preethi and Kate inspect the fireplace. You can see where the paint on the wall and the paint on the trim has been touched up and is looking much better.

View of the pantry in the kitchen. At this point, the paint is starting to look neat.

The graded drainfield. With the fallen tree.

The mostly repaired gutter. The gutter guys forgot the cover (lots of trees = lots of leaves = lots of clogs)

I think this an inspection pipe, through which you (or someone you hire) stick a long pole to determine the depth of solid material in the septic tank. When it's "deep enough," the tank needs to be pumped.

The distribution box is mostly covered.

The tile in the bathroom all together.

August 10, 2009: Painting and Drainfield

2009-08-10T20:12:00.000-07:00

Actually visited the house a couple times on the 10th (took some pictures to the carpenter), once midday and once in the evening. Work was going on for the drainfieldpainting, and some light trim work.

A drainfield ditch with a chamber at the end from the middle of the day.

By later in the day all of the ditches and chambers had been hooked up to the distribution box.

The basement still had some balloons from a party (Preethi's birthday) the week before.

The trim around the top of the fireplace will be a multi-layer crown molding. Here you can see the dental pieces whose corners had been a particular concern for me (turned out well).

Another view of the fireplace.

August 7, 2009: Tree falls, and more painting

2009-08-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

On the 6th, a storm came through and knocked over a tree onto the house. Nothing significant happened to the house (a gutter got banged up). Preethi said it meant the choice of brick paid for itself.

In the meantime painting continued.

The tree, now laying across the drainfield.

Where the tree broke off.
In addition to the painting, the pipe for the culvert was delivered. Eventually, it'll look like this.

View of the great room where the first coat of the wall paint has been made. It's kinda blotchy at this point, but will look better later once a second coat is applied. You can also see some of the trim beginning on the fireplace (the firebox is pretty big - 42").

View of the kitchen.

View of the dining room. Basically, the kitchen, dining room, and great room are blue while the rest of the house is off-white.

Deer came right up to the backside of the house to munch on leaves. Never left even though they saw me standing 5 feet away (but inside the house).

Another view of the deer.

Aug 3, 2009: Paint and tub tiles

2009-08-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we visited the house in the evening. Painting had begun on the ceiling and the first coat on the walls was up in some rooms. Also some tile work was still going on in the master bathroom.

View of the dining room. As painting traditionally starts with the ceiling, that part is about done even though there's not yet any primer on the wall (which will eventually be bluish grey shade you see in the corner (top part). The railings will remain covered for quite a while.

The ceiling in the kitchen.

A railing was measured and cut for the stairs. It'll go down as soon as the painting begins on the walls.

View looking up the stairs. Here you can see where some of the walls are beginning to be painted an off (yellow) white. That color was chosen mostly because we don't really have the furniture we want for the house yer and thought it would be a nice neutral color.

View of the walls in the master bedroom. If you look closely, you can see a gap between the walls and the ceiling. That'll be filled in eventually, but a little gap makes spraypainting the walls easier.

View of the walls in a different second-floor bedroom.

Tiles around the master bath tub. The little row of small tiles uses the same tiles as on the floor of the shower - in theory tying it all together. That's actually the last of the tile except for the foyer.

July 31, 2009: Steps, tile, and paint prep

2009-08-02T11:55:00.000-07:00

We actually visited the house on Thursday and Friday, but I didn't get around to posting pictures until after Friday's visit, so there will be some progress shots of the same room in this post. Work focused on completing the steps (done, except for staining), tile work, and prepping for painting, which begins in earnest on Monday.

The completed steps (well except for staining, which is why the feet are above the steps) viewed from a low angle in the great room.

View of the great room. And Preethi.

A couple steps were built in the garage to lead into the main house.

Some casing around the garage opening was added.

Tiles in the laundry.

Tiles on the floor in the master bathroom.

Another view of the tiles in the master bathroom.

Yet another view of the master bathroom. You should generally stay off of the tiles while the thinset is curing, hence the slight barrier.

Tiles in the downstairs bathroom.

A view of some of the channels in the drainfield from the master bedrooom.

In prepration for painting, the tiles were covered.

Covered tiles in the laundry.

Actually, from the painters' perspective. they've already started painting as they caulked the trim around the house, which you can see if you look closely at trim around this closet door on the second floor.

The caulk is a little easier to see when the trim isn't also white (it will be painted white along with the rest of the trim).

July 28, 2009: Drainfield begins

2009-07-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, we dropped by during lunch to meet with a paving cotnractor and to look at progress where work on teh drainfield was ongoing. Earlier we had dropped by on Saturday to mark out where the sidewalk would go. Of perhaps greatest interest to us, W.D. told us he thought the house would be done by the end of August or the first week in September.

A view of the dirt dug up for the septic tank. I found it hard to get a good picture of the drainfield and this is included mostly because I liked the view of the tree.

Looking up one of the trenches into the hole for the septic tank.

A trench for chambers.

Chalk lines to guide subsequent trenches.

A different view of the house (from the south) with one of the trenches dug.

If you look closely you can see the flags we laid out for the sidewalk. Mostly, it's intended to be in two sections - one section parallel to the garage, and another parallel to the front porch - with a S joint in between.

A different view of the sidewalk flags. The colors have no significance.

The frame for the master bathroom tub. It's bulging out a little because the framers screwed up and made the a couple inches too small, but actually in terms of width instead of depth. The

July 24, 2009: Tile and Railings

2009-07-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

After some travel earlier in the week, we got out to the house on Friday and snapped some pics. Work is going a little slower, but it is still progressing with the master bath tiled in and most of the balusters for the stairs installed.

The stairwell. I originally thought that I wouldn't like the balusters, but I think they look pretty good. The bottom covers won't be dropped until after the wood is stained.

View of the stairwell from the top. As you can see, there's still a bit of work to be done on it, but it's taking shape.

The shower was tiled off. A view of the shower. The band around the shower is from the same 2x2 tiles that we used on the floor. We think it ties the whole thing together and will be reusing those tiles on the floor and around the whirlpool. You can also see an inset piece to hold soap and shampoo. I didn't know that these existed before this project.

View of the shower corner seat. Useful when a certain someone needs to shave their legs.

View of the shower from across the master bathroom. One of the things we realized on Friday is that the shower is just big enough that we can walk the dogs into the shower when we need to give them a bath in the winter.

The tiles in kitchen are covered, presumably in preparation for painting.

I'm not entirely certain, but I believe these are for putting together chambers for the drain field.

July17, 2009: More Stairs and Tile

2009-07-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

On Friday, we went out to the house briefly before going out to Rustburg to meet the granite company. Tiles were laid in the kitchen and the stairs were completed. On Monday the stair railings will start going in.

Tiles in the Kitchen. They're 2'x2' Ivory tiles from the Marazzi Stone Collection layed out in the brickwork pattern.

Closer view of the kitchen tiles.

Preethi ascending the completed stairs.

Ballustrades and posts for the stair railings.

Trim in around the front door. I hadn't seen it before, but Preethi said it had been in for a while. The curved trim on the top is a bit more challenging than normal.

July 16, 2009: Grading, Stairs, and Tiles

2009-07-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

We got back out to the house on the 16th where the front yard had been graded and the last of the backfill on the front of the house was complete. Work also continued on steps and tile.

Grading on the front yard viewed from the driveway. All of the gutter drains on the front are now covered.

The bottom portion of the steps were completed (still have to be painted and sanded). You can see how the bottom step opens out into the great room.

The tiles were laid in the Jack-and-Jill bathroom.

Another view of the tiles in the Jack-and-Jill bathroom. The white things are spacers.

The little divot in the corner (white line in in the corner) and the tile will hold up a corner seat in the shower.

July 15th, 2009:Stairs, Trim and Tile

2009-07-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, I finally got out to the lot (thought I think I really ought to be calling it "the house" now) where work on trim, the stairs and tile.

Work was progressing on the stairs. The stringers are in (on the side supporting the steps) with most of the risers in and a few of the treads. The riser on the bottom step isn't done yet as it's going to stick out and a little bit for the bottom post with a slight curve in the handrail into the great room. There's a discussion of stair construction terms in this DIY article.

While we're not putting in crown molding anywhere (the vaulted great room would screw it up) we are installing chair rails in the dining room.

More chair rails in the dining room.

The baseboard trim was finished in the great room.

Tiles were delivered. These are for the master bathroom.

Close up of the master bathroom tiles.

A rubber mat is down in the shower as a vapor barrier on the floor. (How to tile a shower)

Tiles for the Jack-and-Jill bathroom: "Moss" colored.

It felt like I hadn't posted an outside picture in forever, so here's a view from the woods' edge. You can just make out the front covered entry on the left.

July 11, 2009: Drains and Electrical Work

2009-07-11T14:52:00.000-07:00

We visited the house on Saturday with some friends. The gutter drains had been mostly installed and some

From left to right. Soham, Ashwini, Deept, Preethi, Malik, and Rekha. Also if you look closely the electrical box on the outside has been mounted.

At the front corner of garage, drain on the downspout, not yet attached.

Drain pipes flowing out from the house.

Exterior electrical outlets are in. I think I'll get the cover changed as I don't think the plastic looks good. The hole on the right is for a water faucet.

Other outlets on the outside.

Light switches in the great room.

The electrical boxes are in.

The copper tubing for the heat exchanger / compressor.

The gutter guard has been in for a while now, but I don't think I've posted a picture before now.

July 8, 2009: Baseboards and Wonderboard

2009-07-08T20:44:00.000-07:00

We visited the house on the evening of the 8th (Wednesday). The remainder of the Wonderboard was in and baseboard trim was started on the second level. A couple places struck me as a little odd as I'm used to doing baseboard after tile (to get a snug fit) but before carpet (to tuck) so I'll have to check up on it.

Baseboard in the upstairs hallway. This is on top of the hardwood, so it's expected (though staining might be harder).

Wonderboard down in the jack-and-jill bathroom.

Some baseboard down in the master bedroom (this will be carpet).

Wonderboard in the master bathroom.

My "huh?" moment as there's baseboard on the wonderboard in the "throne room". Is just the quarter round going to sit on the tile?

Baseboard in one of the master bedroom closets (carpet).

Baseboard in another bedroom (carpet).

Different view of the wonderboard in the jack-and-jill.

Wonderboard and baseboard in the laundry (tile floor).

July 6, 2009: Wonderboard and doors

2009-07-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

When we visited on July 6th (Monday), most of the second floor doors were in and Wonderboard had been laid for the tile in the kitchen and foyer.

Looking from the great room into the kitchen. The grey stuff on the floor is the wonderboard.

Closeup of the Wonderboard in the kitchen.

Wonderboard in the entry (foyer).

View of doors in the bedroom on the east side of the second level. That's a closet on the left, entrance in the back, and an entrance to the second floor bathroom next to the entry door.

View of the mini-hallway in the master bedroom. Those are closets on either side and the doors to the master bathroom in the back.

View of the upstairs hallway. The doors are all in. That's the laundry on the right and another bedroom in the back.

Updated view of the great room. The window and door trim is all in. Wood is down. Drywall is up.

July 3, 2009: Interrior Doors Start

2009-07-04T07:04:00.000-07:00

On the 3rd of July, we dropped by the house in the middle of the day where Danny was in the process of finishing trimming the windows and installing doors. All of the interior doors were in place on the main level except for the pantry where the wrong door was delivered and the second level doors were about ready to install.

The coat closet door and door down to the basement viewed from the foyer. They'll be painted a white that matches the trim.

Trimmed in entrance to the kitchen from the main level hallway.

Doors in the guest bedroom. From left-to-right: entry door, bathroom door, closet doors. Our closet doors are primarily double doors for slightly easier entry.

A really tight trim joint in the main-level bathroom. Danny had to cut off a little bit of the standard trim to make them fit together.

Door on the second level waiting for installation. As you can see, they're prehung, which generally makes installation easier, except when you have to adjust the trim as in the preceding.

Matching double doors for the master closets (they come off on either side of the the hallway to the master bath that you see in the center of the photo).

ADS pipes stacked up in the garage for underground drainage from the gutters. Basically, the further downhill you can release the roof runoff water from the foundation, the happier your foundation will be.

June 29, 30, 2009: Hardwood and Gutters (and window frames)

2009-06-30T19:08:00.000-07:00

I got out to the house on the 29th (Monday) and the 30th (Tuesday), but only had a chance to post pictures today so there's a little bit of a mix.

This week, trim is going up around the windows, the flooring is starting, and the gutters are going up on the outside.

Silver checks out the hardwood (oak) going in the great room and the dining room. We looked at bamboo initially, but didn't like the colors it came in and didn't have the option of staining it ourselves. There will be tile in the foyer, so there's a kinda square cutout there. In case you're curious, the subfloor (black) is asphalt felt and the board direction is perpindicular to the floor joists. (A quicky how-to guide is here.)

Detail of the 45 degree (mitred) joint at the corner of the foyer tile area. We'll eventually sand and stain the wood a fairly dark brown. But that won't be for a while (almost the last thing done).

Wood on the main stairs landing.

Also wood in the hallways on the second floor. All the bedrooms will be carpet and the bathrooms tile.

Cutouts for the vents. They may look small, but we wanted more a diffuser to limit the amount of dog hair and other dirt that ends up in the vents.

The staggered pattern for laying hardwood.

The great room with the wood all down (next day)

View from the dining room looking back into the great room. All the hardwood for the house was laid in two days.

We're using a mix of picture frame and stool and apron styles for the window trim. Our bathrooms are a little small (intentional) so we went with the slightly less intrusive picture frame there but with the more formal stool and apron elsewhere. (All about window trim trim here). This is a stool and apron trimmed window in the garage.

More stool and apron trimmed windows, but in the master bedroom.

A picture frame trimmed window in the master bathroom's "throne room".

Window in the guest room with its stool and apron without the head or side casings. This is the normal order they're installed which allows for a perfectly seated butt-joint by resting the side casings on the stool.

A follow-up picture to the rounded drywall edges on the kitchen arch.

Gutter installation started on the west side. Mostly the down spouts (click here for gutter terminology / installation) will be positioned to be on the sides and rear of the house to be less visible from the front.

Close up of a downspout and run on the outside of the greatroom (northwest corner). As you can see from the shadow in this picture, there's a lot of trees around the house, so the gutters will have the aptly named, "Leaf Solution". I don't know that I'll be able to get a good picture of that though.

June 26,27, 2009: Cornice work and drywall

2009-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

After some more travel I got out to the house on the 26th and 27th. Since mostly cleaning occured on the 27th, I've grouped together pictures from both days.

While I traveled, the cornices were mostly added with just the gutters to add. In the terminology, I'm used to, the cornice is the part of the roof that extends out beyond the wall and is made of of several parts including the fascia (flat part on end of roof line) and the soffits (on the bottom part of the roof overhang). The best conceptual picture I could find of the fascia and soffits was at this Bob Villa site, but its terminology doesn't jive with what I'm used to. What he calls a cornice, I would call a frieze with the frieze, fascia, soffit all part of the cornice.

Picture of the house from the tree at the northeast corner of the lot. Most of the final grading has been done except for right up against the house.
Closeup of some of the cornice work. The front facing pieces are the fascia and the pieces on the bottom are the soffits.

Different view of the house with the cornice work done.

In preparation for the final grading, the added cinder blocks were sealed to limit water penetration. After that dries for a few days (read as next week) the back fill will be completed and graded.

A few trees got nicked with during the brick laying. The bark was trimmed (to limit insect infestation) and sealed. We had actually noticed this earlier and had trimmed the bark but hadn't sealed the trees as the folks we spoke with suggested that sealing actually retarded healing (sorta like a bandaid).

Trim getting ready.

The beadboard ceiling for the front porch.

Danny mostly finished off the basement steps. There will be a railing on the right, but this is about all we will do on the steps.

View of the house from the back. In addition to the cornice work, you can see where the Hardie plank has been added for the master bedroom bumpout and great room dormer. Those parts couldn't be brick (at least at a reasonable price) because there was no direct support for the weight (actually the weight only matters while the mortar is setting). An interesting note for me is I was spelling Hardie plank as "Hardy plank" for years until a few weeks ago when I saw it spelled out for the first time. Basically, it's concrete fiberboard and is "hardier" in all the ways that matter as compared to vinyl and also looks better (the last part is my opinion). However, it's actually named for its inventor - James Hardie.

Close up of the master bedroom bumpout.

In the not so distant future, there will be a concrete pad underneath the side (rear, really) door entry to the garage. To support the pad, there will be a couple concrete piers which has been prepped in the square holes visible in the picture above.

The drywall was finishing up on Thursday. I just thought it was cool to see someone working on stilts.

If you looked closely at the previous picture you would see that the drywall around the arch appears rounded. That's because we're using bullnose archway beads around the arch. While we've seen it in a few houses in Lynchburg, apparently the pieces needed for it (seen above) were not available in Lynchburg so they had to be brought in.

The first interior door was hung - between the garage and the rest of the house. The kitchen (and most of the rest of the main level) is to the left as you enter. That's Kate in the background in the bathroom and Preethi's head is poking out.

Virtually all of the ducts are now connnected. (This is the same room where the earlier War of the Worlds tripod attack occurred).

June 19, 2009: Bricks, roof, and drywall

2009-06-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

Due to travel, Friday was the first chance I had to visit the house in about a week. During that time, the bricks were finished (except for the front steps which have to wait on the ground to settle as they’re not on the foundation), the shingles were finished, the last of the dry wall was hung with two courses of mudding and taping (one more course to go, then sanding), and the last air handler was installed in the basement.

View of the house from near the Northwest corner. The front porch with its two arches was completed. The arch is kind of a repeated design element as we replicated that launch angle of the arch in the arch that divides the kitchen from the great room. The cinder blocks you see are used because they’re cheaper and will either be below grade or covered with steps.

View from the driveway. The last part of the shingles that needed to be installed were the portions where the brick walls extend above a roofline. If you look closely, you can see the brick step flashing which is one of the various things added to either keep or vent water out from behind the brick.

View of the west gable where you can see the gable vent and where the shingles meet the brick.

Close up view of the brick flashing above the front entrance.

The airhandler in the basement (zone 2).

Some of the duct work in the basement.

Preethi walking up the stairs in the basement. We like the open stairs landing we have in our current townhouse and carried over that element to the new house.

Looking up the stairs into a bedroom.

One of the bedrooms on the second level.

Preethi walking into the master bedroom.

View of a bedroom on the second floor.

View of the great room.
View of the East attic gable vent through the opening to the attic.

Yet more dirt delivered for backfilling in around the foundation (think cinder blocks).

June 12, 2009: Bricks, Drywall, and a Gable Vent

2009-06-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

Friday evening, we visited the lot with James and Kate. The bricks had finished off on the main east gable and the main north gable and had started on the entryway. Much more drywall had been hung as well. At this point, the remaining only remaining drywall to be hung appears to be in the master bedroom and in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

View of the house from the tree on the northeast corner of the lot. The white boxish looking thing is a gable vent that was added. There will be a matching one on the other side of the house.

Preethi and Kate step out onto the front porch. Bricks columns were added which will support arches.

Looking up the stairs where a bit of drywall was hung.

Preethi and Kate inspect the kitchen, which had the last part of the drywall hung.

Drywall in the laundry.

Kate inspects a closet in an upstairs bedroom.

Preethi steps into master bathroom.

Preethi stands in front of the throne room in the master bathroom.

View of the walls in the stairwell on the second level.

June 11, 2009: More Bricks and Drywall

2009-06-11T23:08:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, ALOT of drywall was hung and the bricks started to look close to being done.

View of the front of the house. They think they'll be done with the bricks on Saturday if there's no rain.

View of the house from the Northeast corner of the lot. The unbricked side gable will have a vent installed tomorrow morning and then bricks will continue on up.

View of the garage (east) side of the house - all done with the bricks.

Closer view of the northeast corner. Here, you can see where the jack arches over the windows are slid out a little bit (5/8") from the wall

With the scaffolding down, you can see the full soldier course over the top of the garage.

All of the drywall is now hung in the main level bedroom.

And in the main level bath.

And in the great room - including the fireplace.

Still looking at the greatroom, but now back towards the dining room. I really love this view simply because I've never lived in a house with a 55' long sight line (corner of great room 20x30 to corner of dining room 14x14). Hopefully when the decorative column is added, the effect won't be lost.

The fireplace.

View of the stairwell on the second level.

Viewing the second level near the stairwell and looking towards the master bedroom. The large hole is the whole house fan.

Preethi stands on the front slab. Tomorrow brick arches should start going up on the slab to frame the entrance.

June 10, 2009: Bricks and Drywall (and a lot more)

2009-06-10T20:56:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, the bricks progressed until it started raining, the basement step rough-in was completed, the front entry slab was poured, the whole house fan was installed, more dirt was delivered, and... whew. That's a lot!

View of the house from the northeast corner of the lot. Bricks have gone up on the garage side and a bit on the front.

View of the bricks on the garage side.

Close up of the soldier course and iron angle above the garage. Pretty, but weaker structurally than the staggered pattern.

We had some insulation added around the master bed room to cut down on sound wafting up from the great room.

The master bed room all insulated in.

More drywall in the great room with the dormer filled in.When you hang drywall from the top down (as you're supposed to) and you have a 24 foot ceiling, it takes a little bit to work your way down.

The kitchen drywall was mostly completed (except for the mudding).

Looking out from the kitchen towards the great room.

Looking from the kitchen towards the dining room.

The pantry.

The dining room.

The main level (guest) bedroom.

The main level bath.

Some more dirt was delivered for finishing the filling around the house after the brick work is done.

Our whole house fan. The concept is to expel all of the air in the house out through the roof and replace it with air from outside in about 3 minutes.

View of the basement stairs from the main level.

View of the steps from the basement.

The front slab was poured, but is covered to protect it from the elements.

June 8, 2009: More bricks and air handling

2009-06-08T21:20:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I made it out to the lot late in the evening and quite a few more bricks had been added as well as some additional work on the inside (air handling and some work on the steps).

View of the fron of the house. This was around 8:30 PM, but the brick masons were still working. On the 6th (Saturday), bricks had just started to go around the front and now you can see that they're most of the way up the front.

Closeup of the dining room window.

A row (course) of "soldier" bricks was placed across the top of the garage. Typically, this is for appearance, and that was also a motivation here, but it wasn't part of the original plan. Instead, when the iron angle was placed to support the bricks over the garage, the masons noticed that the bricks were not going to line up well over the garage, so we told them to do a soldier course to clean up the lines. For consistency, this is now going to be reflected over the two windows on this side. Also since the iron angle was inset a little bit, we couldn't bump out the bricks 5/8" like we did for the front windows.

View from the tree in the Northeast corner. The last parts to get bricked will be the center side-facing gable and / or the front entry (not visible).

View from the backyaard. The back and this side were were already done last time I came out, but the yard was too muddy to walk out and take this shot.

The stairs to the basement were roughed in except for the steps.

The steps between the basement and the main level as viewed from the basement.

We also checked up on all the settings for the interior doors with Danny. The door salesman had done the initial markings, but we still had to change about 1/3 of them. Above shows the markings on our pantry door which indicates a 2' 4" door, swinging out, with the knob on the right side (for easier access from the kitchen which is to the right when facing the pantry).

The attic air handler was constructed (had been in pieces before) and connected to the ducts / vents for the second floor.

One of the ducts running in the attic. I'm assuming the duct is slightly elevated to allow the spray-in insulation to avoid direct conduction with the ceiling (below).

The attic air handler venting into the master bedroom.

June 6, 2009: Bricks, drywall, and insulation

2009-06-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was out of town for a week-and-a-half (3 trips, 2 *very* brief stays in Lynchburg) but it rained quite a bit so not so much happened on the outside, though several things happened indoors.

View of the front of the house. Bricks have started. The doors are open, presumably for airing out the house.

One of the keystones that will be going in the jack arches over our windows.

Bricks wrapping around from the front to the garage.

The brick ledge underneath the windows.

It was too muddy to walk out into the backyard to take a picture, but this is what the back looks like leaning out from the basement.

Insulation in the garage. Except in a few places, the insulation is done.

We had the ceiling of the shelving wall in the main-level bath lowered.

Stairs out of the basement have started. That's the framing for landing that you're seeing on the left.

View of the landing from the basement.

Preethi is standing in the great room and the insulation is in. More importantly, the opening for the whole-house fan is now in.

We had to cut back on some of the shelf space in the master bedroom to make room for some venting in the attic. This also meant we had to eliminate a recessed light (just hanging for the moment)

Insulation and duct work in the master bathroom looking towards the shower rough-in.

The rough-in for the arch in the opening between the kitchen and the great room. Loosely, this is supposed to mimic the arch at the front of the house.

Drywall for the kitchen ceiling is in. Also a recessed light was moved a little for balance on either side of the window.

Drywall going in on the great room ceiling. As you can see, we're leaving the ridge exposed. It'll eventually be stained to match whatever color we use on the floor.

All of our drywall is being screwed in as opposed to nailed in. This should cut down on nail pops, though screw pops have been known to occur.

The first room finished with hanging the drywall (but not the mudding) was the attached closet (originally just wasted space) over the entrance.

As you can see some water got into the house in the heavy downpours (roofs not quite finished). So here's the front door open wide (both sides open up to give us a 5' wide opening to move through furniture) to help air out the house a little.

Before they packed up, the workers got the gypsum boards off the ground to avoid the water.

A new pile of dirt to for some of the remaining grading (I think we'll need at least another load to do both the back by the garage and the front).

In addition to the rain, the house was attacked by a tripod from War of Worlds. Or maybe this is just duct work waiting to be finished off in the basement.

Two flooring colors we're considering for the hardwood. Currently we're somewhat conflicted as we like the darker color, but it's smudging too easily (as you can see if you look closely). So we'll need a different hardwood solution.

May 30, 2009: Adult Legos

2009-05-30T13:52:00.001-07:00

It rained through Wednesday, but on Thursday and Friday, the bricklayers were able to work. By Saturday when I got out to the site (travel), almost half of the house had been bricked. Further work had gone on inside making some minor framing additions and the front door was installed.

View of the front of the house. You can see where the front door has been installed. It's 8' Mahogany with 3/4 view, an arched top and needs to be stained.

A closer view of the front door. You can see some of the bricks on the bottom right. We'll have small capstones over the windows in the front, but they haven't been delivered yet, so the brickmasons got started mostly on the back of the house.

A close-up of the front door. We like it a lot, so there's perhaps too many pictures.

Front door from just beyond the foyer.

Front door from the the middle of the great room.

Bricks on the lower front of hte house and some of the scaffolding on the west side.

Closer view of the bricks on the front. The concrete blocks will be below grade.

The west side of the house bricked up to the top of the main level.

The brick fork lift (I'm sure it has a different name, but that's what it is) lifting up a pallet of bricks to the workers on the backside of the house.

View of the bricking process from the rear of the house. The main level is complete and they're working on finishing off the bricks on the master bed / bath beyond the bumpout. If you count closely, you can see 7 workers in the photo, which explains how they managed to get so much done so quickly.

Bricking around an exterior outlet box.

Another outlet box (under the window) and a light box. The plastic is on the windows to reduce the chances of scratching the windows.

A close up of the bricks. The type of brick we used is called Dan River Hand Craft (it's actually engineered with very straight lines) and the mortar pattern is called grapevine.

Sand for making mortar and the mortar mixer.

View of the bricks on the garage side of the hosue. In the earlier shot of the back, the bricks were about 5 feet down from the roof. 20 minutes later, they're nearly up to the roof.

Tiles we were considering for the kitchen and foyer (Marrazzi Stone Collection). The whiteish tile was a given, but the choice was between the greenish-grey tile on the right and the straight-grey on the left. We're going with the greenish-grey.

We're considering these tiles (Marazzi Jade Sage - slightly green). Here we were checking out if we could set up the tiles on a diagonal and have them line up right with the shower and the "throne room" (they did).

A roughed-in step in the garage was added during the week. Originally, we thought we were going to need two steps, but we were able to make the inspector happy with just one (less space taken up in the garage).

A wall for shelves in the main-level bath.

The framed-in fireplace.

I was curious to see what heating / cooling work had been done in the attic, so I climbed up. This also let me see things like the top of a shelf in an upper bedroom.

Another shelf in one of the upper bedrooms.

The shelf in the master bedroom.

The attic fan with the dual pole single throw switch (turns on with attic thermostat and when whole house fan is on).

The air handling equipment I originally came up into the attic to see.

This was the inspection sticker on the front door. It's really just posted here for my personal amusement as that's the name of one of my nephews.

May 22, 2009: Bricks delivered, basement poured, more ducts

2009-05-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday, the basement was poured and bricks were delivered (to start on Monday), and more ducts were run. Unfortunately, we didn't make it out on Thursday to see the rebar mesh for the basement floor.

Preethi inspects a brick (half thickness);

The pile of sand, presumably for mixing with cement, lime and what not for the mortar.

The initial pile of bricks. They're covered with plastic in anticipation of rain this weekend. (Bricks are supposed to be a little wet, but not soaked for construction)

A pile of bricks.

Cement blocks for the below grade portions.

As seen from the main level, the basement floor was poured. They had just finished smoothing (screeding I assume) when we arrived.

Looking at the basement floor from the basement door (southwest corner) back towards where the stairwell will be.

Looking across the den in the basement and the smooth floor. There's both rebar below and a vapor barrier (seen in earlier pictures)

Duct work leading from the stairwell back to where the top zone air handler will be (over the bedroom whose ceiling is not open to the roof)

Some of the ducts running in the attic.

Looking from the master bath into an adjacent (non-master) bedroom, you can see the freshly added ducts.

Close up on a duct leading into a vent.

The front door was delivered, though it won't go up for a while (don't want it damaged during the construction). It's 5' wide and 8' tall and made our of mahogony. Oddly, this was FAR cheaper than the equivalent 6'8" door made out of fir. Turns out the higher-end door is kept in stock while what should be the lower end door has to be custom made.

A little casing was built around the cold air return in the pantry.

Some additional water pipes were run. These are in the garage and connect to some earlier rough-ins in the master bath (above the ceiling on the right side of the picture).

Two 20A wires through the floor of the kitchen for outlets on the island.

May 20, 2009: More venting and duct work

2009-05-20T20:29:00.000-07:00

When we visted on Wednesday, more venting and duct work had been run.

A bathroom fan with a duct running out to the side. Typically this runs to the closest wall as you want to get that air out of the house as quickly as possible.

The previous fan vented out to the wall shown.

A close up of the venting of a bathroom fan out of the house in the attic.

The dryer vent in the laundry room.

The bottom side of the dryer vent coming out in the ceiling of the main floor.

And then running on out to the nearest wall.

View of the basement where a wall had been changed to a cased opening. Most of the house has a fairly open floor plan and that principle also extends to the basement.

May 19, 2009: Electrical Rough ins Done, Heating / Cooling Begin

2009-05-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

We didn't make it out to the site on Monday, but did on Tuesday. Some more work had been done on the shingles, plumbing, heating / air, and the electrical rough-ins are now "finished".

View of the house from the tree on the north east corner. Most of the shingling is done now.

View of the shingles on the back of the great room.

Electrical rough-ins on the outside were also completed. This one is next to the garage door.

Preethi inspects some of the cans for recessed lighting in the great room. More cans have been hung in the back.

Cans for recessed lights in the kitchen. There's two over the sink, two over the range, and two over the kitchen desk. (You can only see two in this photo).

Stair light rough-ins. Effectively night lights so you don't fall down the steps.

The huge set of wires that will go into the electrical panels in the basement.

Pipes for water for a bath/shower. Hot and cold are mixed and sent up the single pipe.

View in the shower/bath. Still need to add some fixtures (faucet, shower head).

A different view of a shower where you can see the water pipe extending above the the top of the surround for the shower head.

Underneath a shower rough-in.

Tubes that will eventually be filled with freon to connect a compressor with an air handler (we're dual-zone).

Cold-air intake on the main floor situated on the side of the pantry closest to the dining room (for the lower zone).

Cold air-intake at the top of the stairs (for hte upper zone).

3 vents in the master bedroom. On the top floor, the vents will be in the ceiling as the air handler will be in the attic.

WIth the vents, plumbing, and electrical rough-ins in, it's starting to crowded in a few places.

View of the registers in another upstairs bedroom from a closet. You can also see a wire hanging down that will eventually power a fluorescent light.

On the main level, the vents are currently on the floor. However, we wanted them off the floor to cut down on the amount of dog hair that falls into the ducts.

View of the main level vents from the basement,

More of the freon-filled (eventually) tubing that connect air handlers and compressors. One of the air handlers will be in the basement.

Fritz checked out the basement on his own.

Silver verified that the silt fence had been fixed after last week's storms.

Probably close enough to merit cutting down, but it's leaning away and it's a real nice looking tree.

May 16, 2009: Rain, wiring, and plumbing

2009-05-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

We didn't make it out on Friday, but did on Saturday with Bruno and April (current neighbors). Friday it rained in the afternoon and a lot in the evening, so not quite as much happened.

Electrical rough-ins in the garage.

Bruno and Preethi look at the Great Room. Wiring for the recessed lights is above. We're not quite certain if that's in the right place as we want the lights to be further up on the ceiling than where the wire is, but the large loops may indicate that the electrician is planning on it being higher than it is.

Rough ins in the great room with Cable / Phone lines running. The fireplace will be about (slightly to the right) of where you see those two higher boxes.

The wire for the great room fan is hanging down here.

The doorbell wire at the entrance.

A couple more pipes were added for hot and cold water to the washer in the laundry room (on the left).

Preethi, April, and Bruno look out the great room bumpout.

Wires (orange / black) running up for what I assume is the upstairs air handler (sits in the attic).

Coils of wire awaiting the final run out to the air handlers.

One of the master bath vaniy rough-ins. If you're really attentive, you can tell that the rough-in for the electrical and the plumbing moved to the right by about 8 inches.

Looking down from the stairwell into the greatroom. Mostly, this is to show the blue box on the ledge that will be used for track lighting in the great room to illuminate some paintings.

Plumbing vent up through the roof. It may have already been there, but I just noticed it.

Because the gap between supports for the door and windows in the Great Room was so small, the electrician had to get creative attaching the electrical boxes (in this case for a switch). Here, screws had to be sunk into the side of the box rather than nailed as is typical.

Here's what an electrical box is normally attached - simply by nailing the in on the top and/or bottom (with depth set to match the dry wall).

Another example of what had to be done to work around the tight framing around the windows / doors in the great room. Here an angled hole that cuts through some of the supports was made to get access to exterior wall between the french doors and the window.

View of the south side of the great room. If you look closely, you can see the roughed-in wires for the lights that will go over / next to the door on the deck.

Some of the wires for the lights that will go outside of the basement entrance. In theory, this is supposed to mimic the appearance of the French doors opening onto the (eventual) deck above.

We got 3 inches of rain overnight, which was more than our poor little silt fence could bear.

The rain also washed out the driveway some with gravel distributed down the culvert. According to forecasts, this week will be dry.

May 14, 2009: Shingles, basement prep, wiring, and plumbing

2009-05-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

With the house frame up, a lot of different things can happen in parallel. For instance, on the 14th, more backfilling was done, shingles were started, prep work was done on the basement for pouring the floor, and more wiring and plumbing rough-in work were done.

Shingling started and got through about 1/3 of the roof.

The shingle guys are set up for the backside on the great room (see the brown packets of shingles)

Dan was busy finishing off the backfill while we were there. They were trying to make the house as nice-looking as possible before the bank came out the next day before approving the first draw.

The mound of dirt being used to finish off the backfill.

More backfill / leveling in progress. I just thought it would be cool to have a picture of construction going on outside of the house from inside the house through a window.

Pipe for water spigot by the garage.

Looking into the guest room from the garage. The electricians move fast as none of these rough-ins were there yesterday.

A lighting fixture in the attic positioned on a collar.

The attic fan. There will be a whole house fan approximately right below it.

Some of the intricate wiring runs around the steps.

Rough-in for a toilet in the master bathroom.

Rough-ins for one of the master vanities. Unfortunately, we got an offset vanity and they were assuming a centered vanity, so the pipes and wires had to move a little to the right. (That's also an example of why we're out there every day - to catch things like this early before they become big problems later)

Looking at the rough-in for the jack-and-jill bathroom,

On the top floor, most of the cables in the electrical boxes were stripped so the switches / outlets can be quickly wired after the drywall finishes (1-2 weeks in the future).

We also had to move the pantry door towards the kitchen so we could fit in the main-level's cold air return. Also see the mass of wires running through the pantry wall and down into the basement.

Wiring continuing in the great room. A bit slower there as it's a little harder to reach up high in there.

Rough-ins and wiring looking from the dining room back towards the garage (coat closet and bathrrom to the left, stairs to the right).

Wires for an outlet on the (covered) front landing

View of the basement floor from the entrance to the basement. The plastic sheet is there to cut down on water wicking back through the concrete after it's poured (plus I think it's required to meet code).

View of the basement floor from the main level.

Fritz couldn't wait to see what had gotten done in the house. Silver (in the back) preferred a little more stately approach to the house.

May 13, 2009: Electrical Rough-ins begin

2009-05-13T18:46:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, we got out to the lot fairly early, which should mean better lighting and better pictures, but I apparently screwed up a setting on the camera, so the pictures were blurry, which I didn't notice until later. The electrical rough-ins began (intentionally started after the plumbing rough-ins under the theory that it's a lot easier to adjust the path of a wire than the path of a pipe) and some light carpentry (opening for false stairwell to attic, roughing-in the front doorway).

Some more backfilling occured around the front.

A few more pipes were run in the main floor bathroom.

View of the master bedroom from the stairwell. You can see where a lot of the wires were already run. A lot of the electrical roughins on the top floor occured on the first day. (Cable, phone mostly happened the next day.)

View of one of the bedrooms from the stairwell.

Looking back through the previous bedroom.

Looking through the laundry room to the master bedroom.

Master bedroom and closets.

Master bedroom ceiling with the fan / light roughin. There will also be a couple recessed lights on the shelf.

Rough-ins around the master bathroom.

View of the laundry room from the master bedroom.

Looking up into the attic from the master bedroom. The higher blue electrical box is there to hold the smoke detector for the master bedroom.

Rough-ins in another bedroom on the top floor.

A vanity light roughin in the jack & jill bathroom.

The opening for the false (pull-down) stairwell to the attic in the top floor hallway.

Some holes drilled in stairway supports tha will eventually have wires running through them.

Preethi, Fritz and Silver hanging out in the great room.

Roughing in the front door. I can't find a picture of it online, but it's really a rather cool looking door that doesn't have all the superfluous (from our perspective) grill work.

Wires coming down into the basement where the electrical panel will be. Basically it's underneath the kitchen in what will someday be a basement office / bedroom (not during this construction) so we'll likely have to build a little closet around it. This is after one day; there will be a lot more wires later as we'll be using a double panel.

A view of the house from the West that emphasizes the varying roof lines.

May 12, 2009: Plumbing Rough ins and basement leveing begin

2009-05-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

With the windows in, work has started putting in plumbing rough-ins. As rough-ins may not be the most interesting thing to see, I've added a few pictures from different perspectives.

Preethi is in a bunch of shots (as is typical), but is wearing a facemask. She had the flu and thought it might be getting exacerbated by sawdust.

View of the house from the tree at the northeast corner. Windows in, house wrapped, paper on the roof, backfilling not quite done yet.

Preethi walking into the house.

A drain line in the garage and a drain from the master bathroom.

A rough-in near the main floor bathroom.

Holes are cut before the lines are put in. This is near the main floor bathroom

Different holes to eventually run water lines.

The shower in the master bathroom (and the topside of that drain from before.) Unlike the other bathrooms, this shower will be tiled in rather than putting in a one-piece unit.

Preethi standing in the master bedroom with the great room in the background. That'll be closed off when we get to drywalling, but it looks pretty cool now.

View of the Great Room looking into the kitchen (below) and master bed room (above). Currently, we're planning on having track lighting spot lighting some nice paintings on that upper wall.

View of the Great Room looking back towards the dining room.

Danny had been spreading rocks to start leveing out the basement so the basement floor can be poured next week.

Preethi next to a steel support in the basement. That's approximately directly underneath where the dining room and the foyer meet.

A rough-in extending into the basement.

Preethi walking out of the basement. Lots of windows even in the basement (at least where it's not below grade).

View of the house from the Southwest. This is the view I call "The house of glass" because of all the windows that open out onto the backyard. While that would be annoying for bedrooms, it should hopefully be great for entertaining areas which is what virtually all of these windows are for - the exceptions is the bumpout in the master bedroom and the winow at the top right corner of the house in the ummm throne room.

May 9: Windows all in

2009-05-09T17:23:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we made it out a bit earlier and serendipitously met up with Wilbert at the lot (he was out for a ride and happened to be there). All of the windows were in.

View of the house from the road.

Outside of the garage. That's a window to the bathroom and to one of the bedrooms. You can also see some of the flashing (tape, really) around the windows. Helps cut down on water infiltration.

Door and window in the garage.

Preethi next to her favorite dining room windows.

Preethi and Wilbert in the Great room viewed from the kitchen. You can see where the 3rd window (center) is in. Lots of light.

View of the great room from the foyer. The french doors will eventually open out onto a wrap around deck, but not in the immediate future.

Detail of the ridge line and the rafters in the great room.

Looking into the master bedroom and the bump out.

One of the dormer windows in a bedroom.

View of the house from the west. You can see windows in the Great Room above and a basement window below.

Plumbing rough-ins in the basement. More importantly, the trench has been filled.

May 7: Windows begin

2009-05-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

We didn't make it out to the lot until late on the 7th (something about having jobs...) but windows had gone in and the dormer work was effectively done.

View of the entrance to the house. Bottom left is the dining room and the right (installed!) twin window is in the great room. The gaping hole is the entrance. We were still deciding on what we wanted to do for a door after our quest for an openable (hinged) sidelight fell through.

Here you can see where the dormer framing was finished off. The two smaller windows are bathroom windows. The bottom one was not on the original plan, but umm... I'm under no illusions that my sh*t doesn't stink.

Inside the great room looking from near the main entrance. Lots of windows. The plan originally only called for singles on the back wall (which Preethi is facing). We changed that to doubles. Additionally, there was not going to be any windows on the right side, which we thought was a bad idea in general and a travesty given the back yard. So we added the matching French doors flanked by singles. (Only had so much space coming back on that wall as there will be a fireplace sans chimney and needed some place for a TV)

Preethi and the dogs check out the sliding window in the kitchen.

One of the smaller windows for light in the great room. Eventually there will be 3 such windows (originally 2, but there was also originally a chimney).

One of the shower/ bath units dropped into place.

Another change to the plan, originally the space over the entrance was just closed off. But we noticed that there was more than enough overhead clearance to add a door to then use the space as a walk in closet. The original, adjoining walk-in closet may now be used for a kid's desk or maybe just more storage. Options are good and it's easier to build them in now than later.

A detail of the underside of the roofing transition from master bedroom roof to bumpout roof. No windows there yet, however...

Looking down into the greatroom from above (this will be closed off). Sorta like how Mike Tyson would flash before punching you in PunchOut, cyborg dogs' eyes will glow right before they pounce. Or maybe it's just red eye.

View of some of the supports for the roof. One of the many differences between a stick-built roof (do what you want with the shape) and a trellis roof (mostly prefab).

The "dining room" windows are quite large, 6'2, and they're triples (as opposed to singles or twins). Here's Preethi standing next to them and the hole where they'll be put in tomorrow. I say "dining room" because the room may or may not actually be used for dining. Right now we're thinking more along the lines of a formal living room, but we'll see.