September 3, 2009: Last Concrete Poured

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.

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August 31, 2009: Plumbing Fixtures

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.

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August 28, 2009: Forms for concrete

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.

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August 25, 2009: Concrete and Water

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

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August 24, 2009: Forms and veneer

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.

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August 17, 2009: Staining and drainfield

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.

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

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.

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