You might wonder what I do all day. I like to arrive early, and leave late. Today I am working on applying the sealer on the mirror I found at Canton. Perhaps at another time, I'd be impatient to get it done, but the days are long and there aren't as many questions from the contractors. Some days contractors arrive late, or say they will be there, but don't show up. I can never be sure, so it's a good use of time to work on some final details to make the final outcome special.
Today, I was told that the granite counter tops would be installed in the morning and they would call first. This surprised me, because they had said they didn't want to deliver until the entire driveway was in. But it so happened that they had another install down the street so they combined the two installs. The problem was, I was there in the morning, but they came at 4 PM. The other issue was that as soon as they arrived they asked me where the 2 sinks were that would part be of this install. Unfortunately, I didn't have them. I had been asked to bring them to their shop because they were Declova sinks that I purchased at Home Depot. I had read the reviews. The pricing is great, but they are not always uniform in manufacturing so it was a precaution to deliver them to the granite company. However, the paperwork wasn't updated and the paperwork stated that they were at the job site. Not!
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| Counters without sinks |
Friday April 24, 2015
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| Hiding Places |
The property hasn't had a clean up since January, if I recall. It's getting to me. As I sat and watched the mason's we hired to build the retaining walls, I asked them what do they put in the cavities of the foundation block? They said, anything. This got me thinking. "Can I get rid of all the scrap tile that the tile contractors have been piling up in various places on site?" Sure, just leave us 2 inches for mortar at the top and, nothing in the cavities that have the rebar, was their answer. Fantastic! So glad I asked. I'm able to pick up my property AND keep it from ending up in a landfill already heavy laden with garbage. Not to mention the appreciation from the crew that would have to load all this into their trailer to cart it off. The weight alone would be a hefty amount. This is just not backsplash tile, but floor tile as well. It takes more than a day, and my husband helps me on the weekend. So grateful. The yard is already looking better, and I need it to be cleared before we can even consider the rough grade with a bob cat.
Sunday April 26, 2015
My husband and I do a little pick up today. The property was too wet to even visit yesterday. So he gets to see the progress inside when he comes into town. I took this picture to show you that despite having the back portion of the driveway poured one can see how the rainwater coming from the next door neighbor's property just weeps through the clay and keeps the back part of the driveway constantly wet, even with the promise of the future retaining wall. One can see why we were unable to get a concrete truck back to this part of the property for months!Monday April 27, 2015
Another heavy rain Sunday night! This is a photo of the higher ground behind our home. The rain stopped early in the morning but it's still passing through our lot to the lake.
I was anxious to get to the property early this morning to see how and if there were new water patterns now that the back part of the driveway was installed. What I found was something totally unexpected. My husband and I had been working on the property until 2-3 PM. So this morning I noticed the garage looked totally rearranged. I looked up and saw that the attic lift specified on the construction drawings had been installed. Except that no construction is allowed on Sunday as per our deed restrictions, what upset me was finding that 3 exterior doors to the home were unlocked, and one of those 3 was totally wide open into the side hall. I climbed the attic stairs to check out the attic and found 3 windows fully opened.. It had rained 2" last night. Not pleased. When I asked my builder about it, he said he didn't know they were coming on Sunday to do it. It's week #47, I'm getting tired. Just doesn't seem right.
Later that morning the granite company comes back with my 2 sinks and installs them. The builder has to be out of town for a funeral, so he gave me a list of what needed to be done today. One of which was to keep the plumbers busy. It took 3 deliveries for the plumbing supplies to arrive correctly. First delivery at 10 AM with 3 appliances, no faucets, or other fixtures. A phone call and 2 hours later they bring out the "other fixtures", but no faucet. By 4 PM I get the faucet. But the plumbers never showed. Apparently they were scheduled for Tuesday, but I wasn't notified. Well at least they will have everything they need for tomorrow, and the sink will have set up in time to do the plumb out.
Tuesday April 28, 2015
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| Cast Iron sink FITS! |
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| Plumbing out the Master |
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| Plumbing out the Tub |
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| Back Hall Tile(Brick) |
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| Wet Bar Old Chicago Brick |
All the floor tile needs to go in before the wood floors go in. The wet bar is getting real brick on the walls, and then grouted. This is a messy project and better to do before the wood floors go in, as well. I found the brick on Ebay. If you want to use this stuff, make sure you buy more than you need. It's packaged in strapped bundles in two layers. Not all of them were acceptable to use, in my opinion. So being able to handpick them on the job BEFORE they were installed was great! Especially the one's that had stamped labels embedded into them.
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| Balusters installed |
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| Just a few added inches |
The trimmer came back to work today. He was able to finish installing the balusters and custom trim just under the oak floor treads. I had this trim made at Davis-Hawn in Dallas because it replicated the trim I saw in Williamsburg Virginia.
The plumbers are missing a part for the wall mounted faucet, so it's not completely done yet. I did find that it worked to my advantage that they started the work before lunch and then left for lunch. While they were gone, I went to inspect their work.
Tip: Try as much as you can to check out the work of your tradesmen BEFORE they leave for the day. Let them know you would like them to let you know when they are ready to leave. While the plumbers were out to lunch I noticed the drain just installed was not installed correctly. It was leaning like the Tower of Pisa. It needed to be installed perfectly perpendicular to the tub. In addition, the installation guide for the drain and drain plug was left laying on the floor. I could easily see the diagram showing all the pieces of assembly and noticed that the package included two options for the tub drain, "contemporary", and "traditional". The tradesman had not asked me which I preferred, and had automatically installed the contemporary. Thanks to my smart phone, I pulled up a picture from the manufacture's website to verify the angle of the outside tub drain that was being installed. When the plumbers returned I asked them to make the changes. Adjusting the placement of the tub, remedied the drain position. Unfortunately the chrome piping was now cut too short. They did some of the changes that day, and the next day (they had to furnish and replace parts that they had cut on that "angle" installation. Looks great now!
Wednesday April 29, 2015
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| Getting rid of standing water |
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| Installing the forms |
Say what????? The concrete crew showed up today to prepare the area for the rest of the driveway. Their company can secure a date for the concrete for NEXT Monday at 3 PM. My builder has a larger account with the concrete company so my builder feels he can get the concrete sooner. So now it's all about making sure we're ready for it when they can deliver it. I'm so hopeful.
Thursday April 30, 2015
Today there is a small chance we can get concrete delivered. We're in line for today, but only if someone else cancels. I don't see that happening, the entire area is backed up for concrete because the above normal rainfall this season. So let's focus on something else. The electricians! YAY! They're back!
It must be great to be light, agile, and petite, not me, ofcourse. But for my electrician, it's a true God send. Alturo wasn't able to install these pendants until the island counter tops were installed. He had located the wires within the framing, approximately, then left the final placement until the the island was in it's precise location.
Friday May 1, 2015
Dreams do come true! I never thought it would happen. Let's face it, I've been cranky. Who knew not having a driveway could be such an ordeal. But today is the day the concrete is scheduled to arrive at 1 PM!
Uhhh, it's now 2PM.....and tick tock tick tock, it's now 3PM....tick tock tick tock.Wait, look, they are here! It's 4 PM! A tad late, BUT the truck is here!!! It feels like Christmas day, my birthday. This is a day that my husband and I have been waiting for.
Let's just savor this, shall we? Truck #1 of 3 scheduled for today bringing a total of 25 yards of concrete. Truck #1 has 10 yards on it.
They place the rebar on the driveway as the truck moves forward. The truck can't drive onto the rebar, for those of you who didn't know that.
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| Truck #3 |
Truck #2 arrives with 10 more yards of concrete.
Truck #2 finishes up the driveway, but we're still waiting on truck #3. It finally arrives after 6PM. It has the last 5 yards. We need this for the footings on each side of the pipe. The masons will add foundation block and finish it off with stone to conform to the rest of the neighborhood.
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| Poured footings |
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| Clean up |
It's after 7PM by now. I'm headed home. But the concrete crew that arrived just past 1 PM today still has 3 - 4 hours of work ahead before they can call it a night. I really appreciate their hardwork. Today I danced a happy dance, and I didn't care who was watching! Thank you LORD!
Saturday May 2, 2015
This picture isn't going to win any photography awards, for sure. However, this is a great Saturday picture for us. Our builder's first attempt to install the driveway was back on February 4! The materials have been laying around since then. All was going well in the morning, but later in the afternoon he had a thought to add more driveway to the back. Once he made that decision, (I was upstairs refinishing beadboard) it changed the scope of the project. Now there needed to be retaining walls built. Prices needed to be quoted, materials had to be purchased, and even more than that, the weather had to cooperate. Since February 4 until the final concrete was poured it has been 85 days! Of those 85 days,it rained on 36 of them. Our clay soil needed 4-5 days after each rainfall to dry out. In just 85 days we received over 18.7" of rainfall.
No one is working at the property today, so it's an errand day, picking up wallpaper, paint for the floorcloth I'm going to paint in the guest bath, getting the Chevy towed(it didn't start last Tuesday), and showing my husband some furniture choices that he can sit on and test out. We take in a late lunch/early dinner at Juicy's and have some great fries, onion rings, hamburgers. Comfort food, that's what I'm talking about. Time to rest.
Okay, about that floor-cloth I'm planning on doing..... I painted the bonding primer on late Friday. We came by on Saturday to put the second coat on, but it was too tacky. So we went to Canton early this morning to try to find some bed headboards with foot boards, as well as chairs for the breakfast room in the morning. Do you know how frustrating it is to walk around for 3 1/2 hours and actually FIND something that you think will work, but you can't take it home because the Chevy is in the shop getting repaired? I don't know why I torture myself this way, lol. The good news is, that it is possible to find some great savings and get really nice furnishings for the home without buying everything new. I just have to get something to drive it back home in. I'm working on that. On the way home we stopped by the house, and I got my second coat of bonding primer on.
Monday May 4, 2015
Today is another big day! The wallpaper hangers are coming to install the papers. I want to get there before they arrive so I can let them in. The flooring crew has beat me to it. They are here working today too. Fun, fun, fun!
They sand and prep the concrete floors first, before laying down the engineered wood.(photo, left). They know the wallpaper hangers have a mural to install on the second floor so they start on this room first, (photo, right).
Tip: If it isn't specified on your construction drawings, make sure you let them know which way you want your floorboards to run. I'm usually on site every day, so they ask me before they get started. But I have interviewed home owners that did not, and it usually isn't a redo if not caught before hand.
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| Getting prepped |
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| Close up |
The first room the wallpaper hangers work on is the scullery. They sand the walls, repair where the paper has been torn from the drywall, and add primer at all the edges where the paper will have a cut edge. This is so exciting, since all the other surfaces were based on this paper. The selection of the backsplash, trim paint, counter tops and even the floor were based on this singular choice. The paper selection was inspired by a serving tray that I found at Frisco Mercantile, in Frisco Texas.
The concrete crew return to take off the forms. I'll follow behind later to pick up the nails with a tool that we picked up from an estate sale for 10 bucks! It's easier to pick up nails, screws, and razor blades now, then after the soil is relocated when the rough and final grades are done.
I'm able to put on a first coat of Porch and Floor paint for the beginnings of the floor cloth. You can purchase the CAUTION tape at the home improvement stores. It helps to let people know that there is a project in progress and that there is wet, or even tacky paint on site.
Yesterday the men were able to completely finish the scullery and the powder bath room. They measured, laid out and cut all the strips for the master bath room yesterday as well. So they returned at 9 AM to finish the last two rooms today. The master bathroom took a while, it had the most rolls to apply. We got upstairs to put up the mural, but the manufacturer had "added" some inches to the width, so it would not work. The order was for a width of 85". The wall width is 84 3/4". The mural was shipped with a label reading that it was 7' 1". However the wallpaper hangers laid it out first to verify the measurements BEFORE adding paste to it. The mural actually measured 88" wide. The manufacturer was contacted and a redo is in the works. We should receive the correct size later this week, or next week.
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| Redo on the mural |
Tip: Verify any and all custom work before your installer gets onsite. This product was completed and shipped to me back in March! But because I didn't have a "clean" space to check it out, I kept it in the box, rather than mishandle it in any way. In my case the delay is not too bad, except that the installer has to make yet another trip to the property. But had I checked it myself, there would have been time to replace the order and have it here for the installers so they didn't have to make another trip. I'm learning.....Hope this information is helpful to someone.
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| Extra long? Anyone? |
The plumbers also returned today. They had needed a part to finish the laundry sink, and the tubroom, but the tile crew needs to get in to do their backsplash in the laundry and the tile can't get done without the plumbers returning to install the faucet and caulk the sink. Sounded pretty straight forward to me. They did their thing, left and then I did a walk by,(remember my tip about checking their work before they leave?) I didn't follow my own advice. I took a picture and sent it to my salesperson, asking "do you think this looks right?"
You can hardly get your hands into the sink to wash them, let alone a watering can. Gratefully she has a solution, easy fix, another order....but we have time....a little time.And yes, it rained today. The driveway is done, it's alright! Happy day!
Wednesday May 6, 2015
Today is garbage day. I really should put this in all uppercase. I haven't seen a garbage collection in perhaps 4 months! The builder likes to let it pile up enough to fill the landscaper's lawn cart(photo, left). There was so much stuff to pick up today he could not get it in one trip. It was driving me crazy, so I broke down most of the lighting, plumbing and appliance boxes over the last several weeks. I carted away 8 lawn and leaf bags of garbage myself last week.
Tip: Ask your contractor how he/she deals with trash. Is pickup based on quantity, or periodically picked up? There are some advantages to not having a huge garbage container sitting on the job site each day, especially if you think others will use your container, and you are being charged by weight. If we were being charged by weight, the rainfall alone would have added pounds to the contents.Three garbage pick up days in 48 weeks is a bit scant.
Now that the wallpaper is installed in the master bathroom, the painted walls just above the shower tile look like primer. The color is too close to the shower tile, and just off enough to make it look unfinished. The same paint is used on the ceiling, and it looks great with the ceiling crown molding, and the wallpaper. It just doesn't look good against the tile. I had my first walk through with the builder today for this week. When I mentioned that I thought that this color would make an improvement he said his painters will be charging me for the decision. So I told him I'd get on the ladder and paint it myself. I purchased the paint this evening. Now just have to wait for the drywall crew to return to the house to repair the missing mud in this space that I wish to paint.
The last task for the day was to receive and place the materials: foundation block, mortar and stone for the culverts. It was delivered later in the day, hoping the soil would have time to dry out enough to move the products onto it. We also needed to relocate bricks to the back of the driveway for the completion of the retaining walls. Unfortunately the bundles of brick that didn't have pallets to support them, fell apart while trying to pick them up with the fork lift. The masons will have to wheel barrow 2 bundles on their own, to the back. The 3rd bundle can be sent back to the stone yard as soon as I repack it on a pallet that was laying around. But first, I'll focus on that floor cloth.
The best part is we have a driveway now. I have a smile on my face and I don't mind the long days of constant busy. It's all worth it!!!! I find myself singing in the house after everyone leaves.....it's happening....we're almost there.
Praise GOD!
