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.

Click to read more.

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.

Click to read more.

March 30 - Concrete and Silt Fence

On Monday, the concrete for the basement walls was poured in the forms and the silt fence went up. Plus the amended permit was reposted (amended to clear up a confusion on the lien agent).

View near the main entrance. You can see a little bit of the rebar sticking up through the top.

Looking out over the dining room (closest) entrance (square in middle-right) and great room (farthest away).

To handle the slope of the land, the garage will be a couple feet lower than the rest of the main level.

View from the driveway over the forms.

My shadow extends onto some interior supports which were also poured on Monday.

View of the silt fence (southwest) from just outside of the soutwest corner of the basement.

Silt fence wrapping around the eventual drain field.

View from silt fence back towards the house and Preethi. The silt fence is actually set back quite a bit from the house (large drain field).

The permit as amended on 3/8/8 (click to enlarge I'm pretty certain that's an error, but it amuses me, so I posted it). The no trespassing sign (and others) was put up to discourage hunting after we found a pair of deer carcasses. Turns out its a neighbor kid who's been known to shoot deer in other neighbor's yards as well. Wouldn't have bothered us if he hadn't left the carcasses. There's a valuable insight there for dynamic spectrum access somewhere in there.

Click to read more.

March 27 - Forms Finish Going Up

In between the rain storms, the interior walls for the forms went up on Friday with concrete to be poured in between the forms to create the basement walls on Monday.

Forms on North Side of Garage

If you look closely, you can see the rebar between the forms that will be help reinforce the concrete.

Looking southwest. The wood braces (not angled) seem to be there to help provide horizontal bracing.

Interior walls looking southwest. The walls are braced with the wood beams to hold the concrete while it cures. While the southwest side looks incomplete, it’s actually done (from a forms perspective) as the portions above ground will have framed walls rather than poured (concrete) walls which are being used below-grade (and a little bit above).

Click to read more.