Still hoping for a toilet...

We officially move in to our house tomorrow. I think we will be cohabitating with the plumbers. They have a lot left to do throughout the house. I'm still hoping to have a functioning toilet by tomorrow. Here's the one in the master bath, all assembled. I was all excited to see it until Denver looked closely at the plumbing. She found that it isn't hooked up to the water supply yet. Jonas was unable to get that yesterday.
Denver didn't have to look very closely at this toilet to know it was not hooked up... it is out in the hallway/landing.
Yesterday we got a phone line and satellite TV, but there is a delay with the DSL.

electricians and painters and plumbers, oh my...

EVERYONE was at our house today. There were painters, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, heating guys, tile guys and granite installers. And those are just the ones I saw in a brief visit! The subs have to finish today (although at 1pm we had 0 toilets installed). Tomorrow the carpenters do their clean up and Thursday is carpet day. The we move in on Friday.

Here's what I estimate will NOT be done before move in:

1. Tile -There will still be a lot of tile to finish, both in the master bath and the kitchen, due to lack of tile (back order, ran out etc.).

2. Paint -I had a little trouble getting more paint for the master bedroom. I drove 1 1/2 hours (each way) to Auburn to get the paint (special designer stuff) and despite my calling ahead, they did not have the proper base paint. They will be delivering our paint tomorrow, I hope, but I don't know when they painters will put it on the walls. Also, there are a few areas that need to be fixed, paint-wise.

3. Some lighting -There are some light fixtures that I haven't seen yet. Not sure what the deal is on those

4. Plumbing fixtures -I'm quite sure they won't be done. I am still hoping to see a toilet installed, but will be surprised if we get more than one before Friday. Other fixtures are still lagging as well.

5. Shower glass -The glass guy was supposed to come last week to measure for the showers, but he cancelled. I haven't heard anything about rescheduling, but I know that they wanted us there, so I don't think he's been by yet.

6. External stuff -All the new windows have to be trimmed out on the exterior and in some cases, the siding has to be replaced. That is taking a back seat until the interior is done.

Oops, that was dumb!

In anticipation of occupying our home, I called the phone company to set up our phone. We are transferring our current phone number and service that I set up at the rental to our house. During the winter there appears to have been a conflict between our phone drop and a delivery truck or something. It has been clear for some time that the phone company will need to install a new drop (line from the street to the house) in order to get service to the house. Because it may not be as simple as activating service, I decided to get the phone switched over early -on Friday in fact. That would also give us time to test the new internal wiring, which has all been re-done. What I forgot was that our broadband connection is DSL (not cable modem like we had in Seattle). We lost our internet at the rental! We are a tad dependent on it. Oops. Unfortunately, it gets worse (but the rest isn't my fault) Even though I told the phone company ,when I set all of this up, that we would need a new drop, we didn't get one. It does not appear that anyone came out to verify service, which was supposed to happen. So we don't even have any phone/DSL at our house either. I messed up our internet access for NOTHING. Oh well. Don't try calling our phone number for a few days:)

The painters have been hard at work spraying finish on the woodwork. They have cleaned and re-stained all the beams and have sprayed the ceilings with a flat finish along with the satin finish they have been putting on all of the trim work. The house is all papered and taped, and filled with a nasty chemical cloud. I don't even want to go in there yet, because they were working yesterday.

We don't have any working toilets yet. The plumbers spent quite some time trying to figure out why they couldn't get the new toilet to fit properly in the guest bath. It turns out that the toilets are for a 12" rough-in and that bathroom has a 10" rough-in. Yes, I would think that professional plumbers should have considered that and gotten their measuring tapes out in less than 3 hours. You'd think that the symptoms would be pretty clear. They installed the rough-ins for the two upstairs toilets, which are 12" rough-in, so they may have had it in their heads that all of the toilets in the house were 12". The layout of this bathroom was left as it was built, so this is the original 1965 rough-in and therefor different from the others. Hopefully they can get a toilet installed in at least one of the upstairs baths!

What I hear is that all the subs have to finish up on Tuesday. Then the house gets cleaned up on Wednesday and carpet is installed on Thursday. We move in of Friday. Hmm...

So Much is Happening!

The painters have been lacquering the trim. They have finished the first floor and most of the upper floor. In the picture below, you can see where they stopped at the landing. The color of the alder is nice and rich with the finish.
The kitchen appliances arrived on schedule. The fridge, oven, microwave and range have been installed.The microwave drawer is pretty cool. It is great because it doesn't take up above counter space. It opens up like a big drawer and the food is placed in from above.
The electricians have been busy. We got some of these:
and some of these:
And we got our hot water heater today! When they were done with that, the plumbers turned toward the toilets! Unfortunately, the toilets are more complicated than most, so they didn't actually get one installed today. I do have high hopes that I we will have toilets by the time we move in.

House Update

We took a boating class over at the coast guard station this weekend. We learned a lot of important stuff -like the laws on boating, but then we were totally exhausted.

On Friday, all the doors in our house got together and had a little convention downstairs in the guest room. I couldn't get a picture, because they taped plastic across the doorway. Now they are all nicely varnished! The granite/tile folks were also busy. They installed 3 of 4 vanities. Below is my vanity and below that is the 2nd bath upstairs

Also, here's an update on the tile in the 2nd bath. It is done except for grout, I think.
Moving downstairs, into the great room: they started on the chase above the fireplace, which is being being built of alder plywood.
The busy granite/tile guys started on our kitchen backsplash. Unfortunately, the accent tile is on backorder until mid June! They are just leaving open spots that will be filled in later.
The basic tumbled marble look really nice with the counter top.
The big news is that the appliances are supposed to show up sometime today! They probably won't be installed until tomorrow at the earliest, but it's going to look like a real kitchen in no time!

The Great Bathtub Installation

After enjoying the backyard for the last month or so, our bathtub came inside to its new (and permanent) home yesterday. This was a big deal. There was much concern about the process. The tub weighs 440 lbs! The final plan was to remove the window, build a ramp, and bring the tub in through the window opening. The tub sits on a tiled deck, so the deck had to be tiled first, but then they had to be careful not to break or scratch the tiles. Once in the bathroom, the tub was placed on 2x4s and then slowly lowered into place.
I couldn't take photos of the process, because I was given the job of pulling out the 2x4s while 7 men slowly lowered it into place. Only 2 tiles got damaged, so I think the whole thing was a success!

Below is another shot of the bathroom, showing our vanities. Tim's (right) is 6" higher than normal, since he is more than 6" taller than the average guy.
The upstairs 2nd bath tiling is underway. This is almost the same quartzite as the floors, just a little darker color.
The blue tape is kind of interesting. The tile guys nail in some wood, to support the tile (starting with the 2nd lowest row) while they install it on the wall. Then, the next day, when whatever they use to set it has set, they remove the wood and put the lower tiles in, which they hold in place with the tape until set. Next, they will put the tiles in the shower floor, and then the floor in the room. You can't see it in this picture, but they also installed the heating matt on the floor yesterday. That gets mudded in and needs a day or so to dry before they install the floor tiles over it.

Will we really be moving in, in just 2 weeks? We'll see...

The current push is for the trim to get finished, because the painters are came back today to lacquer the woodwork, and touch up the paint, as well as clean up the dark stained beams in the ceilings. It seems (to me) like the trim is pretty much done, so I think we are ready for them.

Kitchen Counters

The granite counter tops have been installed!

Here is a close up of the granite. The dark pink parts are actually garnets. The slabs we got have less yellow/gold in them than the samples we saw, but overall they look really nice with the paint color.
The bar on the island has just been finished, so hopefully that granite will go in soon too.

Scenes from Emerald Bay

On Saturday, we took a cruise down to Emerald Bay. This first photo is from Emerald Bay, looking back out towards the entrance.
This shot is looking the opposite direction, toward the end of the bay. In the middle of this shot, you can see the top of Eagle Falls. At the very bottom along the shoreline you can just make out Vikingsholm, a mansion built sometime in the past, which is now a state park.
And, the island in the middle of the bay.
Below is some shoreline, showing the pretty green color of the water, giving the bay it's name.

Update

We've had a busy few days.

On Tuesday, Denver went to the vet to recheck her kidney function. The treatment seems to be working well. All of the kidney test results were better that last month -some were even normal. Unfortunately her liver enzymes are up to 3x normal. That is a big increase from the very slight increases we saw earlier in the year. She will have an ultrasound of her internal organs and a liver biopsy on Tuesday, when both dogs go get their teeth cleaned.

On Wednesday both people got their teeth cleaned. We drove to the Bay Area to go to the dentist, so that was an all day event. I have had bad experiences whenever I have gone to a dentist other than Dr. Clark. He ruined me for other dentists, so I gave in and decided to travel to go to the dentist.

On Thursday, we put the boat in the water. We practiced maneuvering the boat to a dock, so that we won't embarrass ourselves too much later on. I'm sure we still have a way to go! It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time on the lake!

Not much has happened at the house. Trim and tile continue to be installed. Our street was closed on Wednesday for pavement sealing or something, so there was no access for the workers. The kitchen counter tops are supposed to go in today, which should be really exciting.

The Final Window

The final window for the great room came in today and was installed. It looks great.This is the view from the upper landing. This is an example of what I will see every morning as I head downstairs for breakfast. I can't wait!
Here's the promised picture of the downstairs hallway. The laundry room is done, too.

windows and trim

I was thrilled this morning when I got to the house to find that the window above the bathtub has finally been installed! This is in our master bath, but of course the bath tub is still out in the back yard. The first time this window came in, it was the wrong size. The next time it came in, it was the wrong color. Then it came in half the right color and half wrong. When the window was finally right, we had some bad weather, so it had to wait some more. But today, it is in and the color is correct! Yippee!Most of the windows were all trimmed out, except for the center part when two windows were next to each other as in below. I guess they had to make some special wider piece of wood out of two smaller pieces. Anyway, I guess that was on today's "to do" list, because I saw the window all trimmed out in my work room (below). They put the baseboards in on Friday, so my room is almost done!
Below is some more trim. Jeff got some of the the baseboard in along with some of the vertical trim around the new windows in the great room. Check out the lower part next to the floor.
The quartzite tiles are all in downstairs, but it looks pretty bad mid-grouting, so I'll get a picture of the finished floor tomorrow.

Tile, tile and more tile

When I got to the house this morning, there were 10 cars parked near the job! I'll bet that's a record. The place was swarming with people, getting in each other's way. We've got guys from two companys laying tile, as well as the carpenters, so a lot is getting done. Here's our entry hall, and the laundry room. Salty's guys say they'll finish laying the tile tomorrow and then they'll grout on Monday.
Meanwhile, the other tile guys are making progress on the guest bathroom shower.
And they've been busy upstairs in the master bath as well. I totally love the travertine that Augustine and Ruban have put in.
And look what's in the back yard? It's our bathtub. It is cast iron, and really heavy. Since no one wanted to carry it up any stairs, they drove down from the street above (across a neighbor's yard as well as ours) us and dropped it off in the back yard.

Windows

Below is a picture of the great room windows "before" And this is after the new windows were put in. One of the windows is not here yet. The two windows above the atrium doors will be replaced with one large one (just like the one on the right). And yes, that is snow on the deck. We had snow yesterday, but it's mostly all melted now.
And here is my workroom with it's new floor.
Salty's guys are cruising down the lower stairs with the quartzite tiles and should get started on the laundry room floor today. They expect to finish the downstairs hall/entryway tomorrow. Meanwhile the other tile company is tiling the guest bath (below)this morning and will then move upstairs to work on the master bath this afternoon. Jeff is trimming out all the new windows.
And for those of you who have been wondering if I've been knitting, I haven't. But last night, I cast on some basic toe up socks using STR "Fire on the Mountain" (medium weight) using Wendy's "Toe-Up socks with Gusset Heel" pattern. I was inspired by Emily, who tried this pattern a while back. I was waiting to see the finished pattern and what kind of heel she would use. I cast on 14 stitches, instead of 10, because my foot is so wide, plus my gauge is a bit small. I chose to continue using #2 needles, rather than go up to #3, because I prefer a tightly knit foot.

House Isssues Part 3: Hallway

As far as I know, this is the final installment of the House Issues (things that have to be re-done) series. We had the "oops, the floor is not safe, lets put in some new beams" issue and the "uh-oh these windows have failed, lets replace 29 windows and toss the three new ones we already installed" issue. This final one is more minor, hence it is only now being mentioned. It was finished yesterday, which explains the timing. In other words, if I show pictures, and tell you that there has been progress, it might help to know about the project. If I just told you that Jeff framed in the lower stairs yesterday, you might ask, "Wasn't that done months ago? " Yes, it was. Somebody (not me) realized that the floors downstairs were different heights. It is all concrete slab down there, but not just one. They poured each of the three slabs differently. The hallway was the highest slab. Then on the right (according to the picture below), it drops down to the guest room/laundry room by ~2 inches or something. On the left (in the picture) is Tim's workshop, where the floor drops ~1 inch. The whole thing was going to be exaggerated because of the stone we put in the great room (yes, that is upstairs, I'll explain). The stone in the great room is ~ 3/4" thick plus the mortar and the board it goes on. It ends up being ~1 1/2" above the sub floor. In order to make the stairs meet code, they then have to be built up an equal amount. All stairs must have the same rise within a series. Even though the stone for the stairs is not as thick, it has to be built up to the same ultimate height. This left us with a problem. If we followed this approach all the way downstairs, down this hall and to the Front door (top of pic) we could potentially have a 3+ inch drop walking into the guestroom. That seemed like a trip hazard, and we actually like the people that we hope to have visit us, so we weren't very keen on the idea. The solution was to remove the slab in the hallway, and pour a new slab that would work, relative to the guest room. So, Tim rented a jack hammer and he and Jeff removed the entire slab. The picture below is the dirt floor after it was removed. Sorry, no "before" picture because that is when I was sick with a nasty cold.
Then Salty & his guys poured a new slab. The picture below is taken from the doorway, the opposite of the previous picture. This solution has one "uh-oh we have to re-do something" caveat. Now the rise for the bottom stair is longer than the others, because the floor is lower.
Jeff had to pull out the (brand new) stairs and re-build them. The dogs We didn't like his first solution...
... so, yesterday he finished the newly rebuilt stairs. Hopefully that is the final set, because Salty & crew are about to tile them with stone.
Just in case you are keeping track of these things and noticed I hadn't mentioned it, the guys got the other beam in yesterday for the "oops, the floor is not safe, lets put in some new beams" issue. This one is in Tim's work shop.
That means 2 out of the three "oops we have to re-do things" issues are finished. The final one ( "uh-oh these windows have failed lets replace 29 windows and toss the three new ones we already installed" issue) is in full swing today. The windows were supposed to be delivered this morning but were not there yet when we stopped by. In anticipation, the guys were pulling out the "brand new, but let's toss them" windows.This picture is a good example of how/why we can go from 29 to 11 windows. In this bay here, instead of the 9 full windows you see, there will be 3. The two lower and one middle window will be replaced with just one big window. I think it will turn out really nice... stay tuned!