October 04, 2004

Well, hurricane Ivan came and went with only about four inches of rain and very little wind to speak of around our place.  Other areas in the county and middle Georgia were not so lucky.

Then along came Jeanne, same story, more rain.  Less than three inches this time, and again, no damage to our property.  Other areas did not fair so well.  They had over six inches of rain with trees down, roads washed out, and other not so pleasant things. 

We did get a small amount of weeping through the brick/mortar of the chimney.  The brick/mortar has been sealed again and we are waiting on another storm to see it leaks now.  If it doesn’t rain soon, we might just put the third coat of waterproofing on. 
 

Below is the front steps and entrance into the house.  The grade will have to be brought up to one brick level over the concrete block in the picture. The steel columns supporting the front porch roof must be enclosed.

The masons have finished their work and the brick cleaners have done their job also.  This shows the brick on the covered porch before it was cleaned.

The picture below shows the same area after it was cleaned.

The walnut cabinets for the baths and game room kitchen have been delivered and set.  Tops were ordered for these this morning.  This picture is for the master bath.  The doors for the cabinets delivered will be put on this week.  The center shelves in the linen closets are fixed and the upper and lower shelves are movable.  Each linen closet will have four doors: two up and two down.

This picture is the base kitchen cabinets for the game room kitchen.  The refrigerator will be on the left, sink where the plumbing shows, a cook top to the right and cabinets to the right of that.  The uppers still have to be built.

Shown below, is the walnut parquet floor, just laid today.  It is hard to see the pattern in the floor now, but I am sure it will stand out when the floor is sanded and finished.  This view is from the dining room into the foyer.  The front door is to the right, left to the hall and on into the family room.

The original plan was to put an indoor/outdoor carpet in the game room downstairs.  This was later modified to linoleum and then to vinyl tile.  It was finally decided to put down porcelain tile in the game room and hall to the garage.  Below is a picture of this tile.  This shows the French doors on the left going to the outside.  The kitchen is to the left and the stairs to the first floor are immediately to the right.

Work was started today on the suspended ceiling in the basement.  Completed today was the study, game room, hall to garage and front bedroom.  The grid work will be completed tomorrow.  The view below is from the same point as the above picture, just looking up.

All of the windows have the jamb extensions, sills, apron and casing done.  The view below is of two windows in the master bedroom.  Over the top of the red trailer is the drive coming in from the county road.  It is about 1100 feet from the road to the house.

Door construction is also underway.  Instead of using pre-hung doors, we are making all of the door jambs on site.  Poplar is the wood of choice here.  The rough lumber was purchased so it could be planed and cut to get the most of the lumber.  The picture below showed the cased opening from the rear entry to the kitchen on the right.  The door visible through this opening is the exit to the garage.  The hung and cased door opening from the kitchen to the sewing room is on the left.  Note that six panel doors are being used everywhere.

Most all of the interior electrical is completed.  All of the light switches are installed and we can now turn on and off lights when it is needed.  About 80% of the receptacles are installed.  All of the recessed lights on the first floor are installed and working.  Still to be done is all of the outside receptacles and security lighting.  Ceiling lighting in the basement is complete to the pigtails to connect the recessed lighting into.  It will not take long to complete the lighting.  The fans will be a different story since a mounting bracket will have to be brought down from the floor joists to support the fan.

A friend from Valdosta came up last weekend and will stay until the painting is completed.  He is now helping with the finish carpentry.  He brought his camper up to stay in until he is finished.

The next big thing is to get the grading done around the house.  That is when the outside will really shape up.  Of course, the finish carpentry has to be completed.  Painting will also need to be completed before the hardwood floors are sanded and finished.  We still have a few weeks work to finish it up.