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 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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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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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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