August 27, 2009: Granite and front steps

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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May 1, 2009: More Roofing Work

I made it out to the lot around 6:00 PM and then again a little after 8:00 PM (where we came across Dan preparing to do some backfilling tomorrow) so the light shifts a bit in this set. In this set, a bit of the sheathing has gotten done. We're hoping to get the temporary roof done before tomorrow's rains come as once it starts raining, it's supposed to continue for the next week.

View of the house from the road.

View frm the tree in the northeast corner of the lot. Notice that most of the sheathing is in place on this sde as well as most of the visible wall dormer.

View of the entrance around 6:00.

View from the Southwest corner. A good bit of today appears to have been sheathing.

Preethi stands in front of the wall dormer, partially obscured by some temporary supports.

View from the road again, a little later with more sheathing completed.

View of the great room. Notice that most of the rafters are now covered (sheathed) by plywood.

View of the roof dormer beginning on the South Side of the great room.

Preethi and Dan (partially obscured by the ladder) inspect the gret room.

View of the master bedroom. Eventually there will be a wall between the great room and the master bedroom.

This is one of the two rooms on the second floor that won't have a flat ceiling. Right now you can see some of attic space, though this view will also be closed off by a wall.

A view of the great rom from in the dining room.

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