Tuesday, October 20th. The kitchen crew returns and installs the rest of the base cabinets, giving the kitchen the shape it will eventually have. The wall cabinets can't go up just yet, because they have to finish spackling around the new bay window, plus it turns out that the built-in range hood is on backorder. Custom is a bitch.
More old siding comes down outside, more spackling goes up throughout the house, and Deck Dude continues to do his thing. The material we chose looks just like teak and needs no care other than an occasional powerwash, with white and cedar-look railing.
Wednesday, October 21st (See? I told you we'd catch up to real-time eventually, and it took only 27 entries). Six trucks are outside by 8AM again - my new favorite sight. First, I go over the placement of the new columns along the front walkway that will replace the aluminum-clad rotten ones. The contractor, his assistant, one of the carpenters and I spend about 20 minutes discussing the most practical way to install them, as they each came in two parts with no instructions or hardware, although they were made exactly to my specs. They're some sort of PVC material and look like craftsman-style wood. Again - custom is a bitch. But finally we arrive at a solution.
The siding guys and I (as well as a translator) discuss some of the trim going up that perfectly matches the imitation cedar shingle siding. We went with a deep taupe-y/brown with white accents that really look sharp. Every other house on the block will turn green with envy - a couple are already green so they'll just turn greener.
More spackling inside, more planning for the next several days, and finally I can leave. But, at this stage I can actually look forward to coming home so I can see each day's progress.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
The Mishaps of October
Wednesday, October 14th. The kitchen floor is finished, which means the cabinets - currently filling the dining room - can be installed the next day. A major milestone.
Thursday the 15th. Shaw and I both stay home as we can't wait to see something (anything) other than the bathrooms actually materialize. The kitchen crew arrives and begins installing an entire wall of cabinets, pantries, and we just stare in wonder at our own magnificent taste. Plus, the installers are doing an amazingly good job, and are almost as compulsively detailed as me.
Which is a little more than can be said for some other people who've touched the house. One of the toe-kick vents that will let air come out from under the cabinets is on the wrong side of where the sink will go, which means the duct would vent right under the dishwasher. So, the HVAC guy will have to move the duct, and the tile guy will need to replace a few floor tiles in patching the hole. The line of four recessed lights placed along the back wall are too close to the cabinets, which means the crown molding will cut across the trim rings of the fixtures. Sparky won't be too happy but they'll need to be moved too.
The siding guys have arrived but it's raining. So they don't even bother unloading the truck.
Friday, October 16th. The air duct gets moved, and while the HVAC guys are here they hook up the furnace so there's actually heat in the entire house. Why, that makes it almost habitable. They also set up the new air conditioning unit so we'll be ready for next summer - whoo-hoo! Next week, though, the contractor tells us a lot will be accomplished.
Monday, October 19th. The forecast is clear all week. By 8AM there are seven trucks in front of our house - Sparky, the painter, siding guys, the deck dude, carpenters, clean-up crew - we actually look like a construction site. First, I explain to Sparky where the recessed lights should have been installed in the first place, and then show him the cabinet lighting which apparently he's never seen before - I can never get past the idea that this is his first job. But his assistant starts cutting up the ceiling. Second, the painter and I go over colors, finishes and schedules. Third, the siding guys - one of whom speaks no English and the other very little - climb very scary-looking scaffolds and start pulling off more old siding. Deck dude is always among my favorites - he doesn't speak English either, works alone, never complains, does precise work, and is always drama-free. The carpenters begin installing the bay window in the kitchen wall, the clean-up guys are cleaning up the mess everybody else is making, and since I realize that things can only go downhill from here I decide to take my leave.
Thursday the 15th. Shaw and I both stay home as we can't wait to see something (anything) other than the bathrooms actually materialize. The kitchen crew arrives and begins installing an entire wall of cabinets, pantries, and we just stare in wonder at our own magnificent taste. Plus, the installers are doing an amazingly good job, and are almost as compulsively detailed as me.
Which is a little more than can be said for some other people who've touched the house. One of the toe-kick vents that will let air come out from under the cabinets is on the wrong side of where the sink will go, which means the duct would vent right under the dishwasher. So, the HVAC guy will have to move the duct, and the tile guy will need to replace a few floor tiles in patching the hole. The line of four recessed lights placed along the back wall are too close to the cabinets, which means the crown molding will cut across the trim rings of the fixtures. Sparky won't be too happy but they'll need to be moved too.
The siding guys have arrived but it's raining. So they don't even bother unloading the truck.
Friday, October 16th. The air duct gets moved, and while the HVAC guys are here they hook up the furnace so there's actually heat in the entire house. Why, that makes it almost habitable. They also set up the new air conditioning unit so we'll be ready for next summer - whoo-hoo! Next week, though, the contractor tells us a lot will be accomplished.
Monday, October 19th. The forecast is clear all week. By 8AM there are seven trucks in front of our house - Sparky, the painter, siding guys, the deck dude, carpenters, clean-up crew - we actually look like a construction site. First, I explain to Sparky where the recessed lights should have been installed in the first place, and then show him the cabinet lighting which apparently he's never seen before - I can never get past the idea that this is his first job. But his assistant starts cutting up the ceiling. Second, the painter and I go over colors, finishes and schedules. Third, the siding guys - one of whom speaks no English and the other very little - climb very scary-looking scaffolds and start pulling off more old siding. Deck dude is always among my favorites - he doesn't speak English either, works alone, never complains, does precise work, and is always drama-free. The carpenters begin installing the bay window in the kitchen wall, the clean-up guys are cleaning up the mess everybody else is making, and since I realize that things can only go downhill from here I decide to take my leave.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
A Cardboard Nightstand
There's a scene in The Producers where Max Bialystock, the once-rich and successful theatrical lead, is bemoaning his current state of financial flaccidity. "I used to wear four-hundred-dollar suits!" he wails, "and now look at me - I'm wearing a cardboard belt!" I thought of this the other night as I tried putting a lamp, a clock, a telephone, a tissue box and my glasses on top of a cardboard box that's approximately 12" by 18" next to our bed which is now serving as my nightstand.
It's like this. Since the house already looks like a "Before" picture used by Habitat for Humanity, we thought it made sense to have the wood floors on the bedroom level refinished. You know - mightaswell. That meant emptying all the bedrooms, and the floors of each closet. We've basically been living out of boxes anyway, so no biggie. The problem, though, was where to put everything we were packing up and had to move out. The trailer out front was filled to the max, the attic was off-limits because they're still doing some work up there and need the space, the downstairs rooms will have to be emptied eventually so those floors can be done, the garage is ready to explode, the basement remains under construction. so basically we're running out of options.
Invasion of the pod, people. The only course of action was to rent a POD and put it on the front lawn next to the trailer. Yes, we'd look like a storage yard, but the lawn already looks like it's been strafed by enemy aircraft so on Monday morning, October 12th the POD arrives, and the contractor crew and I move all we can into it and the darn thing actually holds all the stuff we need to put away for a few weeks. Including extraneous furniture, which means everything but our bed. And that brings me to my cardboard nightstand.
It's not just a house, it's an adventure.
More news that Monday is the kitchen floor tile starts going in and looks great. Also, we finally get heat, at least in the bedrooms from the new furnace in the attic. Someday when the other new furnace in the basement gets hooked up we'll have heat in the entire house. As the weather is changing pretty quickly we could use it.
Sheetrock From Shinola
Monday, September 21st. The building inspector having bestowed his benevolent blessing upon the insulation, the sheetrock is installed in the basement, the dining room and kitchen. Rough openings are made around the electric outlets, light boxes, and air vents. This takes a total of four days, as the spackling must be applied in three coats in order to dry properly for sanding. On Friday the crew rests. We're happy, because the rooms are finally beginning to take shape.
That Saturday, Gina and Josh - close friends of ours who have almost completely rebuilt their house over the years - eagerly arrive for a visit, as they're anxious to see the construction in progress. We show them the partially-finished stonework outside, as well as the framing for the deck, the sections of siding that've gone up, the completed bathrooms, our cool new plumbing and heating thingies, the new staircase, walls, and all the other improvements, regardless of the state of completion. While pointing out the details of the kitchen and where everything will go, Josh suddenly asks where the refrigerator will be plugged in. We show him where it's going, and then realize that the outlet which had been installed in the framing had been completely sheetrocked over.
This prompts us to look at the photos Shaw had taken of the framing, at the suggestion of the contractor, so that we would always know where the wires and pipes ran after the house was finished (I wonder why he thought that was important). Anyway, our little investigation disclosed that the sheetrockers (or, sheet-for-brains, as it turns out) also went right over one of the recessed lights in the kitchen. I never expected our electrical fixtures to end up on a milk carton, but we eventually figured out exactly where the missing items were hiding, with Josh's help.
The contractor heard about this latest gaffe and the holes were made where they should have been the next Monday. That week the walls were primed so more and more shape was taking place. The next week most of the molding was installed around the doorways and windows, even in places where molding shouldn't have gone... like behind cabinets. But, whenever we made a correction or comment it was taken care of.
That Friday the power company finally arrived to move the meter to its new location. The job took half the day, during which the power to our entire block was shut off for about an hour while the transformer was changed. If the porta-potty and the trailer on our front lawn hadn't wowed the neighbors, I'm sure this would. The next week all of the exterior stone is completed - now that the electric meter has been moved. And, now that the stone is finally complete, the siding can go up. Some day this may be a house.
That Saturday, Gina and Josh - close friends of ours who have almost completely rebuilt their house over the years - eagerly arrive for a visit, as they're anxious to see the construction in progress. We show them the partially-finished stonework outside, as well as the framing for the deck, the sections of siding that've gone up, the completed bathrooms, our cool new plumbing and heating thingies, the new staircase, walls, and all the other improvements, regardless of the state of completion. While pointing out the details of the kitchen and where everything will go, Josh suddenly asks where the refrigerator will be plugged in. We show him where it's going, and then realize that the outlet which had been installed in the framing had been completely sheetrocked over.
This prompts us to look at the photos Shaw had taken of the framing, at the suggestion of the contractor, so that we would always know where the wires and pipes ran after the house was finished (I wonder why he thought that was important). Anyway, our little investigation disclosed that the sheetrockers (or, sheet-for-brains, as it turns out) also went right over one of the recessed lights in the kitchen. I never expected our electrical fixtures to end up on a milk carton, but we eventually figured out exactly where the missing items were hiding, with Josh's help.
The contractor heard about this latest gaffe and the holes were made where they should have been the next Monday. That week the walls were primed so more and more shape was taking place. The next week most of the molding was installed around the doorways and windows, even in places where molding shouldn't have gone... like behind cabinets. But, whenever we made a correction or comment it was taken care of.
That Friday the power company finally arrived to move the meter to its new location. The job took half the day, during which the power to our entire block was shut off for about an hour while the transformer was changed. If the porta-potty and the trailer on our front lawn hadn't wowed the neighbors, I'm sure this would. The next week all of the exterior stone is completed - now that the electric meter has been moved. And, now that the stone is finally complete, the siding can go up. Some day this may be a house.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Life In the Slow Lane
The kitchen is gone. Our microwave and refrigerator are in the living room, along with lots of paper plates and cups, plasticware, and a large bag of dog food. We have two tray tables and bridge chairs set up in the upstairs study, where we enjoy all of our glamorous in-home microwave and take-out dining al messco.
Everybody I complain to tells me that we should just focus on how beautiful it will be when it's finished, and that all the inconvenience will be worth it. One of my favorite cousins gently reminds me that she and her family underwent a similar major renovation about 12 years ago, with three small children and no kitchen for a month, and that they all managed just fine.
There's nothing more annoying than rational perspective when all you want to do is be pissed.
As August coasted on toward Labor Day, prep work began on the kitchen. We met with Sparky the Electrician to lay out where all of the outlets and recessed lights will go. It's been decided that we want as many outlets along the countertops as possible. We also want the kitchen to be well-lit. Miles and miles and miles of electric wire are threaded throughout the walls and ceiling, and I'm thinking we'll be able to perform microsurgery in the kitchen by the time we're through.
The inspectors give us approval for the rough electric and plumbing. That means they come and look at the blue boxes and other stuff in the framing and say, "Those are some blue boxes" and "Boy, are those pipes." The contractor tells me that once the rough inspections are done we'll be able to just sail along. The next step is to have the framing itself inspected, which occurs a few days before Labor Day weekend. Simple, right?
Not so fast. The building inspector examines the house, likes the new dining room and kitchen, and then checks out the basement. What are those? he asks, pointing to the skeletons of two closets. Closets, replies the contractor. They're not on the plans, he advises, and then tells the contractor that we need revised floor plans before he'll approve the framing. And, without framing approval they can't install the insulation which will also need to be inspected. Without the insulation they can't put up the sheetrock. The contractor tries to explain that they're just closets that we added, nothing structural. Too bad, he's told. So it's back to the architect to get new floor plans.
And so, with the wait for the re-drawn basement plans causing a total stoppage in the interior, and the delays in getting the right stone veneer bringing the exterior work to a screeching halt, the first two and a half weeks in September are completely wasted. If only I could be.
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