|
December 12, 2004
I thought when I got to this stage of completion I would have more time to take
care of these updates. WRONG!!!!! I have been covered up the past few weeks
with doing, helping do and getting materials for everyone else. Anyway, much
has happened in the past seven weeks.
One of the things shown in the last update was the crown molding installation.
The picture below shows a good close-up of the finished job with two coats of
paint and the walls painted. This is the family room and the room in the
background is the sewing room. Remember from the last update that the molding
was actually a cove design and the inside corners were coped and not mitered.
We have had many good comments on the finished job on the crown.
All of the trim on the first floor, including the baseboard, windows, door
casing and doors on the first floor are complete. Joel still has to do some
base, the two windows in the basement and the stairs before he finishes painting
in the basement.
Abb, who has consulted and tutored me with all of the details of the house, had
a special way to install the stairs for both an appearance and structural
standpoint. A piece of ½” plywood was put up before the stringer was put in
place. The risers are primed and then put in place being sure to keep them
level side to side. The skirt board is then installed on each side. The riser
is plumber upward and the tread outward to give the outline of the stair case on
the skirt board. The skirt board is then cut and it will now drop down into
place fitting the riser and stringer level of the tread. The risers are shimmed
out as necessary to make them match the plumb line cut from the layout. The
treads are then cut to fit in with a very tight fit and then fastened in place.
The back of the riser is then fastened into the tread to firmly attach it in
place. In this case, we screwed the tread down and then plugged the holes with
walnut plugs. The picture below shows the finished product of the stairs from
the landing up to the first floor.
The picture below shows the stairs from the basement floor to the landing.
Another big thing to do in the past few weeks is get the form ready to pour the
concrete. As soon as we did, the weather turned bad and we have only been able
to pour half of the slabs. It is to be sunny this week, but cold at night (down
into the 20’s) so I am hoping we can finish the concrete tomorrow. The backyard
area is still muddy, but maybe they can get the truck in and out. The picture
below shows the front parking area. It is wide enough to hold two cars. The
gravel area towards the front porch will be the front sidewalk. This concrete
will be colored to a slate gray and will have saw cuts to give a design. The
front porch will also be colored the same and have the same pattern cut into it.
The picture below is the parking area outside the garage
with the walk to the door to the garage and back porch on the left. The step
from the garage level to the back porch will have a landing that will have the
same colored concrete and pattern cut to match the front and back porch. This
was taken before the garage was poured.
The forms below show the slab area for the back yard. There will be a slab out
from the French doors with a sidewalk over to a slab in front of the garage
door. The concrete will go up and wrap around the slab the HVAC compressors are
sitting on. This slab will be the slate grey, but without any saw cuts.
The HVAC units are complete and working now. We needed the heat in the house
for painting. The units are Amana with a 16 SEER rating. They have a life-time
warranty on the compressors. Both are two-stage, with the basement unit having
a 2/3 ton rating and the first floor a 3/5 ton rating. Both air handlers have a
DC fan motor for variable speed control. You can barely hear the unit in the
basement running and cannot hear the unit on the first floor when they are
running. They units still have to be balanced from room to room. Dampers were
installed in all of the duct work to each register.
The septic tank system has been installed now and ready to use. With the type
of soil on the property, we had to install an anaerobic and aerobic unit plus an
effluent tank to pump up to the drain field. The county almost made me put in a
drip system that would have been double the cost of what we have. The picture
below shows the line up of the tanks. The first tank is the anaerobic tank, the
middle the aerobic and the third tank the effluent tank. The pipe to the field
line had not been installed when this picture was taken. The three tanks are
parallel to the wall on the south side of the back yard.
Of course with a system like this you need controls. This picture shows the
power mounted on the retaining wall to the right of the HVAC units. The
distribution panel in mounted on an aluminum plate. The top red light is an
alarm for the air not going to the aerobic tank and the lower red light is the
alarm for high level on the effluent tank. The air compressor for the aerobic
tank is at the bottom of the picture.
Just about all of the plumbing in the house is complete. All of the toilers are
set and most of the faucets are installed. The water heater is set and the
pressure tank connected. A little work is needed to finish this.
The cabinets for the kitchen are now set. The picture below is from the family
room into the kitchen. For reference, the double oven cabinet is right behind
the saw.
This is the wall on the right walking through the kitchen from the rear entry to
the family room. The double oven is in the big cabinet and the refrigerator is
in the opening at the right.
The picture below shows the cabinets from the front of refrigerator with the
family room back to the right.
We are still waiting for the doors and island to be delivered this week. The
top will be set this coming Wednesday the 15th. The island is 42” x
101” and will have a granite top on it. It will sit centered of the room and
will still have 3 ½’ to 4’ of walk space around it. The doors will look like
the game room kitchen shown below. The counter top will be the same design in
the main kitchen. It is seamless man-made marble.
The master bath shower and tub surround has been finished. The glass shower
enclosure and mirror will be set this week. The picture below shows the status
today.
A French drain has been installed in the back yard to help keep the water out of
the area. Also all of the downspouts are run underground to a drain to keep the
water away from the house.
The insulation has been put in the attic. It was blown in and has an R-30 value
to match the insulation in the walls.
That about wraps up what I have done for the past seven weeks. This week I hope
to get the concrete poured, kitchen counter top set, glass doors to shower
installed, mirrors for all baths installed, the painting just about completed
and the columns enclosed for both of the porches.
I will try to give you an update right after the first of the year.
|
