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October 25, 2004
Well, another busy three weeks have passed. All of the door frames have been
made and doors throughout the house have been hung. That is four cased openings
(no doors), 26 door openings with five of those for double doors. As reported
in the last update, all of the doors were made on site from poplar.
All of the crown molding has been completed throughout the house. This was a
fairly major undertaking since Joel and I cut and installed it all. Crown
molding is really a misnomer in this case since we used a cove type molding, but
it still fits between the wall and ceiling. The molding would be harder to
attach to the metal studs, so a 2x4 nailer was cut and installed first. This
way, the molding could be nailed anywhere along its length. The picture below
shows the 2x4 around the great room and kitchen area. Note that the inside
corners had to have the 2x4 off the walls about six inches so the molding could
go all the way up into the corners. All of the inside corners were coped
instead of using the inside miter as most carpenters do.
The picture below shows the same area after the crown was installed. That is
Joel in the picture as he was applying the caulk. Note on the right side of the
picture just to the left of the kitchen window a red pole. This is called a “3rd
hand”. It telescopes from five to twelve feet and can be “jacked” with a
squeeze type handle to apply pressure at a given point. In this case, the
molding needed a little help to stay in place until it was fastened. After
fastening, a release is pushed and it is ready to be moved. We only needed it
several times, but it was sure worth having it around.
This is all of the cove molding we had left over when we finished. I just about
cut it too close, having only 654 feet to start with. You can also get an idea
of the shape of the mold by looking at the end pieces.
The entire base is complete except for a couple of pieces in the basement where
we ran short and where cabinets have to be installed. All that remains for trim
is complete fastening of the base to the wall, which Joel is doing today, and
the stairs from the basement to the first floor and casing out the exterior
doors.
The gutters were installed yesterday and today. A six inch white gutter is
being installed with a gutter guard over it. This is not the name brand gutter
guard, but I think will work just as well. The picture below shows a four foot
section of the guard. It has small slits that let the water pass into the
gutter and holds the leaves and trash out. When the leave dry, the wind will
blow them off the guard. The small tabs that are turned down go down into the
gutter and screws are used between the tabs to fasten it to the gutter. The
edge towards the camera slips under the shingle to shed the water into the
slits.
This picture shows the completed gutter and the guard installed.
The installer of the HVAC duct was in this morning and installed the registers
(vents) throughout the house. This really is starting to make the house look
complete. The picture below shows the registers in the game room in the
basement. Each register fills in the 2x2 grid of the ceiling, so there will not
be any tile to have to cut and fit in this area.
The rough grading has also been completed around the
house. This has probably made as big an improvement as anything done since we
started. The picture below is the front of the house. More work will still
have to done in this area. The drive will be lifted some more to make a gentler
grade coming out of the garage. The front sidewalk and parking area also have
to be completed.
The most improvement is in the sides and back of the house. The picture below
shows the south side and retaining wall. Gone is the walk way next to the wall
and the mounds of dirt piled around the edge of the opening from the beginning
of construction.
Below is the north side of the house and the retaining wall. It is starting to
look good now.
If and I do mean IF, we ever are able to build a pond, this will be a view of
the house from the pond. The stake with the yellow flagging tape in the
foreground of the picture will be the shore line of the pond. It is about 200
feet from the house to the shore line.
The game room kitchen upper cabinets have been completed. The doors are
scheduled to be installed this week. This is what this kitchen will look like.
The doors have been put on all of the bathroom cabinets. This is what the
master bath looks like with the doors installed, however the picture does not do
the cabinets justice. They are truly beautiful. The cabinet hardware still has
to be selected and installed. At this point, Becky is looking only at knobs on
all doors and drawers with no pulls.
We had a real unusual thing to happen on Sunday morning. The plumbers came in
on Friday and put a temporary water supply into the house. A PVC coupling split
about an inch long and was spraying against the sheetrock wall. Joel happened
to catch it not too long after it started, based on the small amount of water on
the floor. We shut the water off and swept everything out the garage door. The
equipment room walls acted like a dam and kept the water fairly well localized.
It did not get near any of the porcelain tile. This is a picture of the split
pipe. The pipe on the right with the split coupling is fed from the well. The
pipe in the foreground will supply water to the house from the county, if and
when we get it. The plumbing is being installed so that when it is available, a
couple of valves can be changed and the house will be on county water. The
outside faucets and shop will remain on the well.
When the trim work is completed, Joel will start his caulking and priming of all
of the unprimed wood. Painting will follow and then the finishing of the
hardwood floors. Outside, the garage floor needs to be poured as well as the
porches, sidewalks, drive slabs and patios. We are at the slow point now and
don’t need to get in a hurry to finish up. We sure don’t want to mess up what
is currently a very good job.
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