Week 24 – Doors, paneling, walls, and rants

After the abysmal production in week 23, largely due to the July 4th holiday, it was great to see house construction get back into full swing. The trim guys continued to work on the trellis beams and installed the Eichler siding, all walls received primer, the interior doors arrived, and the landscape guys FINALLY got back to work on the retaining wall.

Eichler siding, installed as interior paneling, got a coat of primer.  The paneling/siding was installed in three areas;  The dining room/playroom, master bedroom, and here in the family room

 

Rant #1 HOW DOES FRAMING INSTALLATION KNOCK THE CORNER OFF OF A FOUNDATION???  There’s ANOTHER chunk missing in the front!

 

Detail of north elevation trellis.  I meant to put the north and south trellis detail back to back to see the difference but I’m too lazy to sort through the pics.  There is a subtle difference in the distance between the framing and the beam in those areas.  Not sure why, but it affects how the trellis beams get notched to line up with the previously existing fascia

 

If you scroll back and forth between these two you’ll notice about a 1/4″ visible variation between where the beam meets the roof framing.  Maybe it’s just me now that I’m looking at it! 😛

 

The lone pallet of Versalok left on the front of the property.  More coming!

 

Trellis beams getting sanded in the guest bedroom

 

Liam’s bedroom gets primed.  LOVE the color!

 

You know all those stories you hear about the amazing deals people get going to salvage yards etc?  Well, until this week, that hasn’t happened.  Everything has been RIDICULOUSLY expensive for this house, however, we took a trip to Stovers Two http://www.stoversliquidation.com/ and found the PERFECT tile for the laundry room.  It has flecks of beige/brown to match our wall color and flecks of grey to match the washer and dryer going in.  Guess how much?  71 cents a square foot!  BOOOOOOOM!

 

No, this isn’t a tile job done by a four year old (no offense to all the four year old tile fitter professionals out there) we wanted to make sure we had enough tile, since these are seconds and we can’t get anymore.  What do you know?  We have more than enough.  Whew!

 

The private hallway after a coat of primer

 

Shower area still awaiting some trim work before drywall is installed

 

Directions to the “space tub” as our builder calls it….

 

Unlike the electrical and plumbing guys the HVAC subs protected their work after rough-in!  It’s almost like they had done this before.  These return rough-ins are non-standard to say the least.  Not only did we have to purchase custom egg crate grilles for them, they were mucho expensive because of the “oversizing”.  $195 EACH!  For RETURN GRILLES!

 

Not sure how this is going to look on everyone’s monitors but the large nook in the master bedroom gets a lot of afternoon light so the warm brown tones really showed through

 

Eichler siding in master bedroom.  It will eventually be painted a med-dark brown.  Our dark brown italian platform bed is going to look AMAZING in front of it!

 

We just LOVE this huge window in the master bath.  VERY futuristic. I’m questioning our obscure glass choice (reeded) but the options were limited in the line of windows we went with.  Should be fine, but the neighbors might still get a nightly show.  Heck, I may go outside with binoculars every now and then! 😉

 

Rant #2 OMG!!!!  We spent over $22,000 on pristine, high quality electrical wiring for this house.  The best money can buy.  Everything was installed to the highest standard and all the colors were clear and vivid.  I remember installing lighting in our previous house and looking at the directions.  Connect the black and white wires together.  Connect the green wire to the ground.  Black, white, and green?  All I see is BEIGE!  How did this happen?  Well, now I know.  The painting subs came through with the BLOW AND GO spraying every surface in the fricking house!  Thank GOODNESS, the HVAC and beams were covered, but most of the electrical boxes were not.  Is this the electrical guys job to protect these?  Is it the painters job as part of their prep?  All I know, is that I’m kicking myself over and over for not taking 45 minutes to cut some cardboard out, stuffing it into the boxes, and protecting all the BRAND NEW beautiful wiring.  If you are building PLEASE take it upon yourself to make sure the contractor and subs are on top of this kind of stuff!

 

A shot of the unfinished, unused pieces of Eichler siding.   We thought about staining it, but the sales guy talked us out of it as the “voids” in the plywood would be impossible to cover using stain

 

The MASSIVE retaining wall.  Over six feet tall at the garage.  The wall outside the dining room/playroom will receive a double retaining wall, since it is the highest elevation, and we didn’t want the wall to look so tall and menacing

 

The dining room/playroom trellises have been installed.  The trim guys tacked on the 1×12 fascia as per plan.  It looks really odd to see it from the side, and the architect gave me the go ahead to remove it, but it looks great directly in front, and covers the notches were the trellis meets the beams so it serves a purpose.  We still have some time here to make a final decision

 

At the bottom of the picture you can see the “half-moon” where the second retaining wall is going to be installed.  There will be a waterfall in the middle

 

This was going to be a full half-moon, but the landscaper wants to save a tree behind it so it is a foot short of being a full “half-moon”

 

The Versalok blocks from the back

 

Trellises looking GOOD.  Still not sure about the fascia as mentioned above.  Can’t wait for these to be stained but they have to get below 14% moisture before stain can be applied

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Another view of trellis and block work.  Here the entry to the garage looks pretty good!  Trying to carve out enough wall to give us some pull-in and backup room was tough.  We decided on 26 feet.  Should be fine as long as we stay with small cars!

 

Marker for the electric meter.  Odd I know, but it beats having it installed on the house

 

Pipe for utilities to be routed under the driveway and into the garage

 

Versalok blocks secured with rebar and concrete!  This wall is not going ANYWHERE….

 

Another view of retaining wall and garage access.  Looks tight at this angle…

 

North elevation trellis.  Still a work in progress.  Tough to get right!

 

View of north elevation trellises from family room

 

Eichler siding installed in family room

 

Flat framed area for refrigerator.  The humongous LG fridge we are getting will still stick out, but at least not as much

 

Oh, did you need to use these electrical wires?  Well, we left a small opening for you.  Sincerely, the Drywall guys.

 

View of public hallway from front door.  The Eichler siding is REALLY going give the interior of the home more character

 

Eichler siding detail work.  It only comes in sheets up to 10 feet high so cuts have to be made somewhere…

 

The trim guys setup in the dining room after we ran them out of the garage for a door delivery.  Hey!  I just swept in there!

 

More trellis sanding.  The plan called for resawn, which would have saved a lot of time, but the beams looked so smooth after staining we felt the 3x10s needed sanding to match

 

The beautiful Eichler siding in the dining/playroom.  Some installation issues are going to be fixed a little later

 

The huge 3×10 trellis beams look so chunky above the planter.  We LOVE IT!

 

Another view of the planter trellis.  Finally got a first coat of Cabot solid stain.  Miratec fascia will get painted a matching color

 

The lovely interior doors have arrived!  The solid core birch doors look incredible even unfinished.  They are nearly as  heavy as the 3×10 trellis beams!

 

Look at that grain, folks!

 

Another view of the doors.  The top five are the slabs.  Two more pallets have all the prehung doors

 

The large pallets of doors.  Luckily, the landscapers brought a Bobcat with forklift attachment making quick work of moving these from the truck to the garage

 

View of north elevation trellis beams

 

The south elevation FINALLY gets it’s first trellis beam.  Work in progress…

 

Next week: Trellis work continues, along with retaining wall work, and some interior trim.  Basement interior doors may also get installed while we wait for the arrival of the ceiling tongue and groove.