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.

Click to read more.

June 19, 2009: Bricks, roof, and drywall

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).

Click to read more.

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

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.

Click to read more.

June 6, 2009: Bricks, drywall, and insulation

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.

Click to read more.