September 11, 2009: Garage, Floor Sealed

On Friday, I went out to the house after work. The garage door was in, the hardwood had been sealed and a few things other things were done.

View of the house from the road.

A doggy door was put in on the garage back door. It locks on the inside.

The garage door was installed. Wasn't operational when I was there, so this is the best picture I have.

The hardwood floors were sealed, so we can't walk on them until Monday.

However, I could peek in again at the front entrance. Here's the great room. All the sunlight reflecting off the floor is skewing the light sensors in the camera making the floor look lighter here than it actually is.

Stairs. This is a bit more representative of the color.

Dining room floor.

Great room looking towards the fireplace.

A "temporary" railing was installed on the front porch. We are thinking of doing concrete railings long term, but this looks pretty good so we might put that off for a while and maybe just stain the railing to match the door.

A close up of the condensers (dual-zone)

The freon tubes coming out to the condensers.

And inside the house where the freon tubes go outside.

The driveway was graded a bit, but won't be finished until Monday.

Click to read more.

September 8, 2009: Staining and driveway begin

We made it out to the house on Monday, though not much visibly had been done (Dan was busy prepping for the seeding guy, but that was mostly smoothing out the soil). On Tuesday, however, floor staining and the driveway installation began.

The stained great room floor and stairs. The stain color is English Chestnut. This (and all the floor stain pictures) were taken leaning into the front door as we can't walk on the floor for a while.

The dining room floor.

Looking across the great room.

The driveway was graded and crushed stone began to be put down (by the garage), but then a rather large rain storm came up. Not so conveniently while I was there making a small change on a corner of the driveway.

From Monday - the ridge was stained and the dormer was painted.

The outside units for the air conditioners were installed on Tuesday (no inside pics - mud + stained floors),

On Monday, I also noticed that electrical boxes were put in on the kitchen island.

On Monday, we also took some "family" shots on the front porch. From left to right: Fritz, Preethi, Silver.

And here's Fritz, me, and Silver.

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.