Another slow week, but some progress

The carpenters have continued installing the trim around the windows. They still have a few more days to go, but then will be caught up until the interior doors arrive. The painters were not seen this week. The stone masons were back today to do the flagstone on the front porch. Here one of the masons looks for the right size piece to finish his jigsaw puzzle. Next week they'll be back to grout in the cracks around the stones. Once the sidewalk gets poured, we'll also cover it with the same flagstones. The support column on the corner of the porch will get wrapped in cedar. Click on pictures for a larger view.



The masons also started prepping the fireplace for its stone. Here they have nailed the lath in place and also framed out the hearthstone area. The area in the middle that isn't covered with lath is where the mounting bracket for the TV will go. The yellow wires are where the speakers will eventually be installed. The mantel will get fastened to the wall between the TV and the firebox.

Trim Carpenters Come Back

The trimmers finally came back late last week. They have been busy trimming out the windows and the exterior doors. Here Cheryl stands in the doorway of the recently trimmed out door leading to the deck.



The carpenters are shown here wrapping trim around the collar tie beams.

The painters showed up one day briefly to stain the upper great room windows while the trimmers still had their scaffolding in place. Here the upper windows have been stained and the lower windows are still unstained. The painters then disappeared again. We think they are waiting for the trim carpenters to finish all the trim before they come back.

A slow week, but some progress

Things have been pretty slow since the last post, but that's not to say we haven't seen some progress. The painting crew continued to do priming for a few days, but then disappeared. The trim carpenters finished the ceiling, then started trimming out the windows. Here you can see they have gotten the upper windows wrapped in trim wood, which will evenutally be stained the same color as the kitchen cabinets. But then the trim crew disappeared too. We hope they come back someday.



The granite crew came back and installed the island slab. Unfortunately, they were given the wrong sink, so the slab came with a round black sink installed instead of the square cream colored sink we were supposed to get. We're in the midst of trying to resolve this with the builder and his suppliers.

We took the photo below from a few steps up on a ladder to show a better view of the grain of the granite. You can't tell from this photo because the painters have covered up the granite on the counter with plastic, but the grain flows from the island onto the counter slab. The granite overhangs the island on two sides about 10 inches so we can have seating at the island.

Click on photos for a larger view.

A slice of Brazil arrives

Three slices actually. Most of our Brazilian granite was installed on our counters today. The first two pictures are the master and upstairs guest bathrooms. You can click on the photos for a larger view.

This picture is the kitchen counter. It is actually two pieces of granite but the grain in the two slabs matches exactly at the seam and you can hardly tell its a seam at all. The granite for the island is yet to be installed.

8 Weeks to Go?

Our builder, Tim, says we have about 8 weeks to go. This week, we saw a number of smaller things completed. Click on pictures for a larger view.

The radiant floor people spent two days installing the tankless hot water heater system for the under floor heating. They call it tankless, but its sure looks like it has a tank to us (a little one anyway).

We had dueling mini track hoes for a couple of days as the electrical crew were trenching in the power cable from the transformer up to the house (on the right) and Super Dave was back to finish building the wall of rocks along the driveway (on the left).

Super Dave also finished our trail from the house up to the old logging road. This picture was taken from the logging road looking down at our house.

The stairway crew spent two days installing our staircase. Here, one of the crew installs the newel post at the base of the stairs.

We had them wrap the bottom two stairs around the end of the stairway.

In this shot, you can see the railings above. All the pieces are made of red oak.

The tongue and groove ceiling crew continues to make progress, although things have slowed down since they are working higher off the ground now.

More Finish Work

Work continues on the tongue and groove ceilings, although it seems to go very slowly. The boards are fit very tightly and seem to require a lot of adjustment cuts before they are nailed into place.

Here, the installers are almost finished with the Master Bedroom. The white box is where the ceiling fan will hang. It took them 2 days to finish this room. At the current pace, this work will take several weeks at least.

This morning we met our granite man, Viktor, at the house. He is making templates to take back to his shop for use in cutting our granite countertops. When this picture was taken, we were making some decisions on how much overhang to leave for the seating area at the kitchen island. You can also see in this picture that the hardware has been installed on the cabinets and drawers.

Super Dave was back this morning and started on the path we are having him cut up the mountain to a point where we can access the old logging road that goes on to the top of the mountain. If you look closely at the top of the picture, you can barely see his yellow track hoe up the slope.

It doesn't have anything to do with our new house, but we caught these turkeys napping on a fence rail in our neighborhood Sunday.

Flooring Done, More Kitchen Progress

All the hardwood flooring is done (except for sanding and sealing) and the tile work is also finished. The cabinet installer is almost done with the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry. Click on the photos for a larger view.

This shot shows all the kitchen cabinets in place with doors and drawers. Tomorrow he will finish the trim pieces. The wood is maple with a hazelnut finish. The gap on the far wall is where the hood for the cooktop will go.

This is the vanity and cabinets in the upstairs guest bathroom. The wood is cherry.

We included a shot of the bathtub in the upstairs guest bath since we realized we'd never posted any pictures of it. This is the only tub in the house as we opted for showers everywhere.

These are vanity cabinets for the master bath. They are also cherry.

This is a matching storage cabinet in the master bath.

The tile work in the foyer is done now too. The clear spot in the middle is where we will have an inset with antique chestnut wood.

The installers for the tongue and groove ceiling got started on the screened-in porch today.

Here is a better closeup of the ceiling wood. It is unstained spruce with a clear coat of urethane. Its the same ceiling material we are using in the rest of the house.

This is the flag stone we selected for the front porch and the sidewalk. You can see how carefully the delivery people unloaded it. We picked it because it is same colors as the natural stone on our property.