I Don't Do Random . . . . Well

5th Week of October

There are lots of things "in progress" with the house.  Every day we are not quite sure what we will find accomplished.  We try very hard not to second guess the logic of the day-to-day activities.  At a glance progress seems a bit random.  Things we think will happen do not, but we find other things we were not expecting to be done.

After weeks of thinking "any day now", today, finally, the Gas Company's crew showed up to install the underground gas line, to connect from the street to the house.

28 October 2013 - start-up in the morning

I started our application for gas service with Washington Gas about six months ago.  At the time I thought I was being a bit premature; little did I know how long it would take.  Haha - I guess the laugh is on me.  But as with many of our hurdles on this project, patience and perseverance have won out.  They even managed to find a path between the trees!

28 October 2013 - end of day, and the gas line is in

Our Builder manages to sneak in comments every other day, with regard to waiting for something to occur that is holding him up for some particular work effort.  Final grading around the front of the house cannot proceed until the gas line is installed.  And the sidewalk cannot be installed until the final grading is done. And so on.

Meanwhile there are plenty of things left to be done, inside as well as out.  The interior railings arrived on Friday, and we were told that stair railing work would begin today. Contrary to that, you might notice in the picture above some posts above the front entry.  They worked on these exterior railings instead today.

Stairway - 26 October 2013

The base trim has been completed at the stairs, but an opening on the side wall between the stair alcove and the hallway has still not been cut out.  We asked for this "cut out" about 3 weeks ago.  The Builder assures us he has not forgotten.  I think they try to find a day's worth of tasks for particular trades, and such a collection of tasks has not yet warranted this little bit of work.

From Stairs, looking toward Fireplace

And we have not spoken of the fireplace!  Probably one of the last elements to be constructed.  The wood framing above frames the space that will be our stone fireplace.  We have had some discussions with the Builder as to the type of fireplace, how best to route the flue, whether or not to have a raised hearth.  The fireplace unit has been ordered and should arrive within a week.

We thought we would see much more tile work done today.  Instead we only saw a bit more tile installed in the 3rd Bathroom.  We also thought the cabinets in that bathroom would be installed, but not yet.  All of a sudden we noticed light switches and wall receptacles, installed in all the rooms on the first floor!  Another surprise.  We did not expect any of the lights to turn on, but Steve flipped a few switches and we found that two of the downlights in the Living Room came on.

We have lights!

Thus every day seems to bring advancement - we just cannot know for sure exactly what until we see for ourselves.  .  .  Maybe tomorrow, if our luck holds out, we will see the crew arrive to start digging up our septic field.  Their equipment has been sitting in the front yard since Thursday.  Our last "utility"!

This week's weather is predicted to be in the 60's every day.  This might be the best (and last?) good opportunity for earthwork.

P.S.  I love having an excuse NOT to rake this season! :o)

Let the Sun Shine In!

4th Week of October

Sunlight is an amazing thing.  Not only does it make the world go around, but it makes us happy!  When the wood framing was going up I loved the play of daylight with the studs.

2nd Floor Hallway, looking toward Master Bathroom - July

When the roof sheathing was installed the house almost felt like a cave.  We had gotten so used to the sun being part of the space that it took us a couple of days to get used to having lost it.

Then the drywall went up and again it took us a few days to get used to the lack of shared light throughout the spaces.  It makes me appreciate even more all the sight lines of interconnecting spaces we consciously worked to achieve in the design.  And let's not forget all the windows!  We thought we had overdone it with how many windows we have; now I can think of a few more I wish we had.

2nd Floor Hallway, looking toward Master Bedroom - October

Now we have ceilings and walls being painted, and flooring being installed.  And again there are changes to the play of natural light within every space.  It's amazing what a coat of "white" paint can do to brighten a space up - very different from the color of unfinished drywall boards.  The ceilings have been painted, and the walls will be painted sometime this coming week.

In the Dining Room, looking through the Foyer to Living Room

I'm giving you a peak of our slate flooring in our entries.  It's hard to appreciate at the moment because the grout isn't finished and the tiles need to be cleaned.  We have real slate tiles in both the main Entry Foyer and the Side Entry by the Garage.  Anyone notice the daylight?

Main Entry Foyer

I met with the Builder and our head carpenter Monday morning.  We spent at least half-an-hour playing around with the different tile patterns for the slate.  There are four different sizes of tile.  I am very happy with the results.

Secondary Entry, by the Garage

Footnote:  We were warned several times, by both our Builder and the Tile Store people, that natural slate has a rough surface finish that we might not be happy with.  They did everything they could to politely steer us away from real slate (to a porcelain slate-look-alike product).  I didn't budge, and I'm so glad.  Even the Builder has commented as to how nice the slate flooring looks.

It's a Dirt Job, but Someone has to Do It . . .

3rd Week of October

With all the activity and progress on the house it's easy to overlook the "infrastructure" - those things that you don't see when the project is done, but are absolutely necessary.  The utilities.

I could probably write a book about the odyessy of our wells.  But it's almost in the past, which is the best thing I can say about it.  The well was dug several months ago.  We had to prove we had water on our site before our building permit would be issued.  And they wouldn't let us continue to use our original well because it was too close to the house by the newer County requirements.

Installing the well pump

The company who dug the well is also installing the pump and the line to bring water from the well to the house.  Unfortunately the recent rain has delayed getting this groundwork done.  You can see the water line in the picture below, coiled  up on the ground.

Well with the water line coiled on the ground

The very next day the trench was dug and the water line went into the ground, connecting into the house.  I haven't check inside the house, but an electric line to connect the pump to the electric panel board was installed in the same trench as the water line.

And speaking of electricity, the electric service and our new meter have been installed for a few weeks now. We were lucky that the power company did not push to get the meter located on the front of the house.  Our Builder had warned us that the power company might insist on locating the meter at the front of the house, but in the end they were happy to have the meter located very close to where the original house meter was located.

Rear of the Garage

By the way, there will be a concrete pad at the back of the garage, that will be one step down from the garage door.  We will probably put the grill there.

There are two more utilities to get into the ground - the septic field and the gas line.  I have been working with the gas company for months, to get the new service installed.  We were told the line would be installed the week of October 8th, but that was a very rainy week.  It is now two weeks later and I have called the gas company several times trying to get someone to tell me the new installation date.  I'm frustrated that they have not been very communicative.  Hopefully it will be done wihtin the next two weeks.

Front yard, where the septic field is to be re-built

Meanwhile we have Great Falls Septic lined up to re-build our septic field, which is basically the entire grassed area of our front yard.  They are supposed to start sometime this week; we shall see.  If you look carefully at the picture above there is a pink tag on the tree trunk.  Three trees have been marked this way.  I'm pretty sure it just means that roots of these trees will be cut as a result of re-digging the septic field.  I'm okay with that.  Just so long as I still have my trees.  I hope I don't have to stage a sit-in.

Front part of the yard and septic field - the leaves are starting to fall!

Some Perspective

3rd Week of October

The scaffolding has been removed from the front of the house.  The masons have started cleaning up the ground in front of the house.  They aren't completely done with all the stone work, but they are very close. And all the work on the top part of the facade is done.

To give it a little perspective I am showing three pictures of the house, taken from the large ash tree in the front yard, from 3 months ago to today.

Front Facade, with plywood sheathing - 27 July 2013

Front Facade, with vapor barrier wrap - 22 Sept 2013

Front Facade, with stone work almost complete - 22 Oct 2013

There are several small details still left to build at the front of the house - stonework around the sides and front of both stoops, trimwork around the roof edge of the covered entry, railings above the entryway, slate pavers at the steps, railing at the secondary entry, grout joints at the stone watertable cap, a hose bibb, electric outlets, the pendant light at the entry, finish trim around the door, and probably some things I'm forgetting at the moment.

View from the Mailbox - 22 October 2013

But we have a real house!  One month from now all those little details should be done.  And the septic field (underneath our front yard) will have been re-built.

Seeing the Stone Through the Scaffolding

3rd Week of October (week's end)

We have been lucky enough to have most of the rain hold off this past week.  When it did rain it was in the evening.  I think only one day the masons were not able to work.  They're getting there.

SW view of the house Facade

It's hard to really get the right effect with all the scaffolding in front of the wall.  But the stonework at the top of the wall appears to be done! All the stone lintels are in place.  I imagine the upper level of scaffolding might come down either Monday or Tuesday.

Facade, head o

We labored over so many of the design details for the house.  I truly believe that some of the best designs are the ones that do not try to do too much, and at first glance might appear simple.  And sometimes its not what you see but what you sense that makes the parts and pieces look right.  The balance of windows to stone was one of those details for us. We see too many houses where the windows are so close together that they make a house facade look clumsy. Too many residential developers use building elements as if they can just pick them out of a catalog without thinking about how they will look in the overall composition of the house.  Someone decides shutters would be nice, but when they are installed they are so close to each other that everything looks crowded.  (And don't get me started on shutters that are not "real", at least in their size.)  We redrew the elevation, changing out window sizes and locations, several times, before we felt good about the "balance" of stone to windows. Of course, in the end some of the sense of balance may be personal aesthetic, but our Facade feels right to me.

View from the Driveway

 There is still stonework left to be done at each side of the main entry door, as well as at the base of the secondary entry stoop.  I think the mason could be onsite for the balance of this coming week.  But no complaints.  He is doing a great job.

Footnote:  One of the materials we final-selected this past week was the slate for the front stoops, steps and sidewalk.  Not sure when that work will happen, but we're getting down these finishing touches!

One Stone at a Time

3rd Week of October

The sun came out Monday morning, and the stone crew came back to work.  I think everyone would like to finish the stone facade this week.  It will be weather-dependent.

Stone work continues above the water table

By Tuesday evening they have almost reached the top of the wall on the east side of the facade.  We were curious to see how much progress would be made on Wednesday.

Wednesday evening - the front Facade stonework makes good progress

As soon as I got home Wednesday I went over to see the progress.  What I didn't expect to see were the columns at the front stoop!

Another view of the stone work in progress

It's hard to see, but the stone lintels above the windows are in place on the right side; and the stonework is all the way up to the roof edge.

It's hard to take pictures at 6:30 pm.  The days are noticeably getting shorter.  And tomorrow might bring more rain.  But any progress is great to see.

Down Under

2nd Week of October

Basements don't tend to be very exciting places, particularly if they are not "finished".  In an effort to hold down our costs we decided not to finish the basement initially.  And yet, as one of my earliest blogs suggests, any good idea must start with a good foundation.  So while it might look raw, a lot of thought went into the location of windows, the placement of the utilities, and runs of piping and ductwork.

Basement, looking toward the back yard

The Builder and I had a back-and-forth discussion for two weeks about what direction the joists should run, and whether or not the steel beams should run below the joists or in-line with them.  In the end we definitely made the right decision.  With the steel beams dropped so that all wood joists can run over them we now have unobstructed paths to run piping and ductwork WITHIN the joist spaces.  This means that when we do finish the basement we won't have to create soffits to cover pipes and ducts.

Basement, looking toward the Stairs

The stairs are located just about in the center of the space.  Basically the Basement is done.  There are insulation blankets around all the perimeter walls.

Basement, looking toward the East wall with electric panels

Some left over exterior trim is lying on the floor, the boxes are window screens and some of the plumbing fixtures.  You can see the electric panels on the far wall.  We have bumped up our electric service to 400 Amps.  It sounds like a lot, and it might be overkill, but the service at the transformer allowed us to increase the size, and it can't hurt.  The power connection was made by Dominion Virginia Power a couple of weeks ago, including the meter.

Basement Utility Room

What is left to be done in the basement is the installation of our water and mechanical systems.  Steve and I had to watchdog the planned locations of all the utilities.  It's funny how contractors seem to like to spread out and take up as much room as possible.  We repeatedly verbalized and showed them the limited area where we want everything to fit.  The picture above shows the rough-in of walls around our Utility Room. The HVAC equipment serving the basement and first floor will be in this room, as well as the well pump and any water filter system we may want, and the water heater. Beyond the Utility room is the rough-in for a future Bathroom.

And that is the Basement.

Setting Up Shop

2nd Week of October

Our house has become a carpenter's workshop.  Band saws are set up in several rooms, being used to cut all the window, door and baseboard trim.

Work table set up in the Garage

It's great that there is so much "indoor" work to keep the carpenters busy now.  Wood trim arrived on Monday. Tuesday was spent prime-painting it all.  You can see it stacked on the floor of the Garage (above).

Makeshift tables are set up throughout the house.  Trim around windows and doors is going up quickly.

Family Room, with trim around the windows, and baseboard at the floor

The trim profiles are simple, relatively flat pieces, with a rounded shape at one edge.

Living Room

I took these pictures at about 6:00 pm yesterday.  Between the overcast sky and our shorter days, it is almost dark out now when I get home.  (Most of the pictures I have taken throughout the house construction have been taken during the week, between 6 and 7 in the evening.)  I will have to do most of my picture-taking on the weekends from now on.

With most work happening inside now, and machines and equipment to safeguard, the builder locks up the house at the end of each day.

2nd floor Hallway

Today the doors arrived.  I know what I will be taking pictures of tomorrow.

Rain, Rain, Go Away . . .

2nd Week of October

Well, I guess it had to rain some time.  We were blessed with a gorgeous September, so now it's pay-back time.  I'm so glad that 90% of the outside work is done!

View from the Mailbox

It might be hard to tell from the picture above, but the cast "stone" caps arrived! They were put in place the day they arrived (I think Monday).  Now the mason can continue with his stone work.

Stone work continues slowly, due to rain :o(

I'm sure if I didn't point it out to you, you would not be able to see the added stone work, but they have laid stones around the lower portion of the two projections to either side of our main entry door, and at the side of the steps.  I don't think they will be able to start up again until Monday; rain is predicted through the weekend for us.

Stone Wall versus Drywall

1st Week of October

Given all the frenzy of activity over last weekend, it has seemed quiet at the house this past week (except for the Spanish music that seems to be a constant companion to the workers).  The mason works with a crew of 2 or 3 guys, who sort and cut stone, and prepare the mortar.  Inside the house there has been one guy, taping and spackling all the drywall board seams and screws.  Just one guy.  He has a very nice disposition and seems to really enjoy his job, which has to be boring after about 5 minutes.

Garage interior

While a crew of about 8 guys laid up all the drywall in 2 days (still can't believe how fast it went), the spacking of all the board joints takes time.  I'm surprised there is only one guy doing it, because it is a big job. But as with most of the workers, he is doing a very good job.  And having one person do the work actually maintains a level of "quality control".

Looking from Living Room through the Entry into the Dining Room

Every day he works from one end of the house to the other, bottom and top, applying more spackle and smoothing the surface; a new, thin coat every day.  We spoke to him yesterday (Saturday) and he said he would finish that day.

Family Room, looking up

Family Room, looking at Stairs

In some places there almost seems to be more "white" spackling than drywall board surface!  The spackler (I wish I knew his name) said that they will let the spackle dry for 48 hours.  Then they sand!  Probably the messiest job of the entire project!  Drywall dust is the kind of thing that seems to linger everywhere for weeks, no matter how much you clean and wipe down surfaces afterwards.

Family Room, from Balcony

Alex's Study, looking out to the front yard

Once the spackle is sanded they will prime all the walls.  Next will be doors and wood trim!

The Water Table

1st Week of October

What is a "water table" you ask?  I have actually had a few people ask me this question, so I will tell you.  In architectural terms a water table is a masonry feature on the exterior of a building that typically projects out from the face of the house.  The intent of a water table is to defect water away from the lower level of the house.  The water table is always at the base of a wall, and can serve as a transition between materials. Over time this element of a house has become partially decorative as well.  The extent of water tables can vary, but they typically stop at either the first floor line of a house, or just below the windows; both of these locations are good places to provide flashing along with a change of materials.

Stonework begins at the lower level of the main house

The water table portion of the stonework wraps around all sides of the garage and the stoop of the secondary entry to the house.

The rear of the Garage, with the mason at work

Stone work around the Garage

The stone work is done at the Garage, literally stopping at the windows.  The entire front Facade of the house however will be stone!  

There is to be a precast masonry "cap" piece at the top of the water table level.  It has not arrived on site yet, although the builder says it should be here any day.  I hope so, because the mason is ready for it.  As the pictures show, in one week all the "water table" stone work has been completed.  Hopefully the cap pieces will arrive on Monday, because until they do the mason cannot proceed.

Stone work on the front Facade, completed up to the window sill line

Footnote:  The mason is doing a terrific job, taking his time, fitting the stones well, balancing color and size distribution.  He is a true craftsman, something you rarely see in construction any more.  We are lucky to have someone who really seems to know what he is doing.