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

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.

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May 7: Windows begin

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.

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