Day - 100 and something

Ok, well I am not sure what day we are on but that is ok. Vanessa and I had a new baby boy 2 weeks ago so I am just now coming out of what I call the newborn fog. Since then My Dad (mostly) and I finished tiling the shower and it looks very professional. Special thank you to Levi for use of his saw for about a week; that has to be worth some brownies or some other treat Vanessa can bake up. Now all it [the shower] needs are some valves, shower heads and curtain (for now) and we can test it out. The big progress that has been happening over the last few weeks has been the Stair Tower hand rail and the red oak floor finishing. The OCI guys have completed the hand rail installation with the exception of the top piece which is currently being stained by Jeff using "Jeff's Mix" stain. Now for the floors. First comes the sanding (not as much dust as you would think), then the staining then the polyurethane (multiple coats). Also the inside trim painting was completed. We hit a snag after the first coat of polyurethane... it just wouldn't dry. The good thing is we realized that the furnace was not completely installed so the A/C guys did that in a couple of hours and we turned on the heat to help the polyurethane cure. It did finally cure and the delay was mostly because of a few cold and rainy days in a row. Yesterday the second coat was applied, and now with that dry, we can get on with other things tomorrow. The plumbing fixtures arrived today and were unloaded into the car shelter. I brought the smaller fixtures inside so we could take a look at the finishes and make sure our lighting choices were correct.

Day - 110 Tiles, lots of tiles

This blog post is dedicated to the tile shower my Dad and I have been installing over the past week.

Early in the design phase of this renovation I thought it would be cool to do my own tile work. After nearly completing the tile work in a 3x5 shower I still think it's pretty cool. I also think that it is a lot more work than I initially thought. I don't recommend this job for someone who has never experienced laying tile, but I had my dad, so it was a breeze. Well if you refer to a breeze as working all day long for 2 Saturdays and most nights in between as fun. Anyway it is turning out great and all I have left is to grout the top third of the two end walls and then some clean up. The things I learned about tiling were to make sure you have a really good tile saw (thanks Levi) and take your time. You just cannot get to far ahead of yourself because most of the cuts will be a little different.

Elsewhere in the renovation... Rick the Stonemason finished up the fireplace this week. Laying the stone for this project was a tedious task that took about a week including the hearth. I am amazed by the beauty and timelessness of this project and I wouldn't change a thing. From the color and size of the rocks to the 130 year old beam that makes up the mantel, this feature is definitely one of my favorite parts of the renovation. Our floors also received their first sanding on Friday and Saturday and the flooring company has plans to come back on Monday to finish the sanding and then start with staining and finishing early next week. Matt, our cabinet guy installed the owners suite vanity and cabinets for the kitchenette on Friday. This guy is fast and his work is good. I especially like the stain/paint color and glazing he and Vanessa picked out for the vanity. This new piece of furniture looks like an antique. To save money and time we ordered a vanity online for the downstairs bath. Most aspects of the project were completed by local tradesmen but were were running out of time and money so this was just easier. It ships as one piece and we can just add a faucet and drop it in place.

The OCI guys constructed the railing in the stair tower this week. It is a true work of art. Except for the stained handrail it has been painted and is complete. This railing is a trademark Trey Cole design, it is timeless, craftsman and unique.

My dad also helped me by buying and installing glass in a custom window that will go high on the wall in the owners suite bath. The final tasks have started and I am beginning to see an end to this project. We still have a few big tasks like painting walls and staining floors, but we are in the home stretch ahead of schedule. Soon we will will tear down the construction wall in the dining room and start enjoying twice this space in this old house.

Day - 104 Primer Doors and Floors

Over the past few days a lot has been accomplished. The red oak flooring is now completely installed along with the oak treads for the stairway in the stair tower. The guys also finished most of trim around all of the doors and around all of the stairs. Painters have also been very busy. Earlier in the week they sprayed primer on all of the walls (yellow) and ceilings (white). Today they were putting the final coat on all of the molding and trim work. The OCI guys also constructed all of the newel posts in the stair tower. The stain on our new "front" doors was applied and the clear coats are added each day to build up a protective finish. The guys also finished adding trim pieces to the beaded board ceiling in the car shelter and on the small ceiling over the exit to the private deck. The stone work on the family gathering area fireplace got started today. Oh, we also purchased all of the supplies for the owners suite shower this week and Dad and I will begin installation tomorrow. I wanted to include a photo of the construction wall which divides our current house from the new construction. We got creative in how we deal with having this wall in our dining room. Oh, and the electrician installed all of the switches and power outlets. We are busy finalizing wall color choices and choosing our electrical fixtures.

Day - 98 Doors and Floors

The guys have been working on doors floors and trim for the past few days. We purchased 10 antique (some distressing) doors to use for the interior of the new addition. The guys were able to find a couple 3 Hemlock doors that are about 3 inches thick and weigh enough that two guys have to carry them. It will be funny to see the first person who grabs the pocket door and is surprised by how thick and beefy this door is! All of the doors are very unique and have 6 raised panels to match the existing doors in the house. Because of previous renovations over the years we only have 2 original 6 panel doors in our current house. Even so, we wanted to remain true to the original designer who 90 years earlier thought 6 panel doors would be nice. Also, the guys put up the beaded plywood on the car shelter ceiling and started to work on some trim in this area as well. Speaking of trim the guys are doing a beautiful job of matching the original trim around all of the doors and windows in the new addition. The drywall is complete now and we have begun trying to choose colors for the new areas. Finally, the red oak flooring is starting to get installed. It is stunningly beautiful. As of today the entire owners suite area floor is complete and the welcome landing has been started. Vanessa and I took care of a few odds and ends like picking out the top (granite) for our vanity. We stumbled across a great deal at Prestige Marble where you could pick out a left over piece for a greatly reduced price. Next we pick out all of the lighting fixtures and finalize the paint colors. One more thing the HVAC guys installed the line set and condenser out back so our Heating and Air will be complete very soon. I think all they have left to do is run one more supply line to our dining room and install a condensation pump to get the water outside. I also included a photo of the new tankless heater, because I couldn't remember if had posted one. Nice, 4 showers at once, and hot water forever!

Day - 94 I locked the door tonight

Yes, I locked the door. It may be a temporary handle and lock, but it made the project seem more real this evening when I actually locked a door. For so long we just walked on a board to get in or climbed a ladder, but now we have doors and locks. We also have drywall! In two and a half days we went from studs and insulation to full drywall with one coat of tape and mud. Tomorrow they will sand and coat again, and before the end of the week they will be done. It's hard to believe we are already at this stage. The stone mason delivered some stones for the fireplace today and they are spread out downstairs staged and ready to go. The OCI guys picked out and delivered our antique salvaged doors today. The doors look good and will make the new part of our home blend seamlessly in with the original. Also, delivered today were a few bundles of the oak planks we will be using for our flooring. Vanessa visited the lighting store today and we started going through catalogs tonight to get an idea for what type of lighting fixtures we will be using. We also picked out a rug yesterday that inspired a color palate for the walls and trim. The electrician was able to power up (permanently) the lights in my downstairs shop as well as a few outlets in that area. That is the first part of the electrical to get turned on. Well, today is exactly 2 weeks until we bring home boy #2 and although the project is not scheduled to be finished by then, we will be nearing the final few weeks. I guess as the noise dies down from the construction it will pick up from the new baby... ha! That is all for now, thank you for reading.

Day - 89 Progress Progress Progress

Lots of things to update you on. Today we had our weekly meeting and decided on the final design for downstairs cabinets and the upstairs vanity. We also went over what had been completed during the week and what is coming up next week. We also decided that we need to get paint and stain colors finalized in the next few days. We are less than 3 weeks away from bringing home our new baby boy so we want to make all of the decisions to get us to the end of the project sooner rather than later.

Last window (one with the tempered glass) was installed today. The railing for the parking shelter was constructed along with a column for support on the open side. Also the guys installed the concrete caps on the brick piers in the parking shelter and installed the final columns on these as well. After they finished work on the car shelter they spread a few tons of topsoil in between the strips of the drive and gave the area a finished look.

We passed the framing and electrical inspection so the guys from the insulation company were back today and finalized the insulation installation. With the insulation installed the guys put up the osb walls for my workshop. Tomorrow the sheet rock will start.

Levi, took on the task of planing down the 130 year old beam we removed from the house and started construction on the mantel this morning. By this evening it was mounted above the fireplace and now the stone mason can begin laying the 6 inch Tennessee field stone.

The electrician put up 4 florescent lights today 3 in the workshop and 1 in the outdoor storage room.

The plumber installed our noritz tankless gas water heater 2 days ago and it is working great. We now have hot water forever. Really! it never runs out. Good thing because I think Vanessa's claw foot tub holds about 75 gallons of water.

Over the weekend I ran speaker cable (200ft) for 7.2 surround sound. Now all I need is a receiver and speakers capable of this technology. Tonight I put up 200ft of cat6 cable. Some for Internet and some for the HDMI signal to the TV.

Earlier this week the guys put the screen porch back together and also constructed a landing for the door off of the family gathering area and the screen porch exit. The back yard is finally getting put back together! The guys also constructed the door for the crawl space and trimmed it with thick treated lumber so I can install a handle and deadbolt lock. Finally the framing for the pocket door in the owners suite bath was completed. I am sure I am missing something, but I will mention it later, I promise. The last thing I did tonight was put my car in the driveway, because I could.

Day - 81 Shingles, Forms, and Pavers

Today ended with the guys going the extra mile to help us lay down some brick pavers. In actuality 7 guys created a beautiful brick courtyard in about an hour. All perfectly level and smooth. This was something that I was supposed to do and it wasn't in the contract. They have definitely earned the baked goods Vanessa has been making and will continue to bake in the future. I was also informed that at case of PBRs goes a long way... Point taken, look for them on Friday. Besides that the guys finished the cedar shingles on the bump out. Nailing up the shingles is tedious work and it takes a true craftsman to get all of the angles correct on the 3 sides of this area. Adrian is the man for the job here and he has no fear of heights because he was working on a ladder which was perched on top of two levels of scaffolding. Finally the roofers arrived today at 1:30 today and worked until 8:30 (sorry neighbors) to finish the roof in one day. Oh, almost forgot... the guys spent a lot of time today forming up the drive for the ribbon paving they will complete tomorrow. The slope here is nice and smooth and it will be so much better than our old driveway which was so steep you had to spin the tires to get out. Last but not least the brick masons increased the height on the retaining wall beside the parking shelter and topped it off with a nice concrete cap that will match the look of the pier caps.