BACKSPLASH and FRONT DOOR

The backsplash is now tiled and we are really pleased with the workmanship as well as the appearance. Sometimes you never know whether you are going to like it till it is done and then it is too late to change.

The front door is FINALLY stained after having been installed about a year ago. I guess the one thing we learned is that the door is well protected from the weather as evidenced by the fact that there were no blemishes from water or other damage. With a little sanding (which would have been necessary had we done it a year ago) it was ready to be stained.

In addition to the stained door, the pic below shows the light fixture we chose for the porch.

I built some shelving in the basement so that we could get some of our "stuff" (junk?) out of the storage units. Yes, we have one in Tipp City and one Huber Heigts. When we put our house on the market way back when, we got one in Tipp to de-clutter. Then, when we sold our house, we got one in Huber to hold all the stuff that would not fit in our office/house. We soon hope to consolidate into one unit and save on the monthly storage charge.

We got the softener installed after dealing with hard water for a month. I knew that a softener was going to be a necessity but I just had not gotten around to buying. I'm glad I put it off as I suddenly realized that I could just move the softener from the office to the house and save ourselves several hundred dollars. Since we only use water to wash hands and flush toilets at the house, having softened water is really not necessary. Adios for now!

IS ANYONE STILL THERE

I suspect my readership has dwindled to almost nothing since we moved in....and I've effectively stopped posting. Nevertheless, thought I would post a couple of pics.

 With the leaves changing, the view in the back of the house is improving. Between the fall colors and a better view of the river due to less foliage it's pretty special. Unfortunately, temperatures haven't been condusive to spening any time on the screened porch.

 Yesterday I finally got the water softener connected. Rather than purchasing a new one, I decided to just move the one from the office since the only water we will use there is for washing hands and flushing toilets. The hard water will work just fine for those limited needs.

 The tile guy has been back to work on the backsplash in the kitchen. He should finish up this week and that leaves the staining of the front door as the only significant project. Your probably thinking "they still don't have that done?". Trust me, I will be glad when it is completed, hopefully this week. My staing guy has been pre-occupied with one of the custom builders in Troy who is "pulling rank" on me.

WE'RE IN!

Monday was a rather momentous day as we finally moved in...408 days after groundbreaking. Took a bit longer than I thought but we didn't have a "hard" schedule. After living on West Main Street in Tipp City for the past 3 years with our bedroom a mere 50 feet from the passing cars and emrgency vehicles, the quiet at our new house is almost "deafening". I'v spent the past couple of days getting washer and dryer hooked up along with other odds and ends. Meanwhile, Barb is setting up her kitchen, a job I'm glad I don't have. We learned that storage units are really not a very good place to keep upholstered furniture and items made of metal that will rust. A couple of the pieces of furniture have a musty smell but we haven't discovered any mold. My treadmill has some rust on the base but it doesn't much matter. We even found some stink bugs that had recently taken up residency for the winter...at least they thought so.

FINAL INSPECTION

Yesterday we had the county out for final inspection. There was one relatively minor item we need to correct but the inspector gave us a temporary approval which means we can move in but are obligated to make the necessary corrections in a timely manner. Sooooo, we have the movers scheduled for Monday. In the meantime, I am finishing up some trim items and trying to get our staining contractor to get the front door finished. Wow, will I be glad when that is done. Sorry, no pictures this time. Maybe I'll get some shots of the Brown Mamorated Stink Bug that seems to have invaded the lot. They're everywhere. Last year it was Cicada Killers which is a type of hornet. Speaking of fauna, Barb saw 7 wild turkeys at the bottom of the driveway this afternoon. I left shortly after her and by the time I got there, they had been replaced by a doe and her fawn. The deer over the past week or so have been almost as numerous as the stink bugs.

CICADA KILLER AT WORK

STINK BUG

MORE STAIRS

I finished installing the balusters on the stirs and it sure made a big difference in the appearance. As is not uncommon, I ran into somewhat of a snag. Without going into all the ugly details, I had to cut the balusters to length with part of it coming off the top and part of it off the bottom. Many tasks are simplified with jigs and/or fixtures and this one was no exception. I built a simple jig to hold the balusters so that I could make the cuts. I used a thin cutoff wheel in my 4" grinder and it proved to be the ideal tool for making these cuts.

Remember that tangle of wires that I showed pics of when we were framing? Earlier this week, I cut a hole in the closet wall and exposed all of the wiring. My main objective was to get access to the wires for the smoke detectors since these need to be operational for the inspection. After we are moved in, I will deal with the security portion of the system. Shown below is a shot of the control panel and the collection of wires. Although it had been 25 years since I last installed a fire/security system, everything started coming back to me and the installation and startup when smoothly.

Yesterday we had final inspection for the plumbing and we finally have running water, operating toilets, hot water and other amenities. Even though we have sump pit, I was hoping that we would not be required to equip it with a pump. That might sould strange but the main reason I wanted a sump pit was in case I ever need to install radon mitigation. The fact is it will probably never see a drop of water from the footer drain. Well, the plumbing inspector said that I have to drain the water heater pan to the sump and thus I need to also have a pump installed. This despite the fact that the only way the pump would ever need to operate would be if the water heater leaks or if the pressure relief valve was to actuate.
Since I will have a pump in the sump pit I will now run the softener drain to the sump as well rather than to the sewer pit.The good news is that the inspector will allow us to move in even though this work is not complete.

Speaking of moving in, we have the final inspection for the other items (i.e. electrical, HVAC, etc) scheduled for this coming Tuesday and have the movers scheduled for the 7th. We're keeping our fingers crossed that there are no surprises Tuesday and that we can proceed as scheduled.

Today I set the door between the utility room and hallway. Since there was so much traffic through this doorway, I decided to leave it till this point in time. Tomorrow I will be working on some baseboard that had been left undone because adjacent items such as the stairs and aforementioned door had not been installed. The electrician will be finishing up the last items on his list over the next day or two so that we will be ready on Tuesday.

GETTING CLOSER

I know, I know....it's been forever since I have posted. My recent time has been spent finishing the stairway. This is undoubtedly the most challenging of the jobs I have chosen tackle. In order to get the newels mounted solidly, I installed heavy oak boards in the holllow portion of the newel and extending out of the bottom. The oak was then mounted to the rough framing below the floor. Consequently, the newels are rock solid and all of the fastening takes place below floor level and out of sight. For the upper newel, I even removed a portion of the HVAC sheet metal so that I could gain acess to a beam to which I lag screwed the oak extension. Cutting the handrail and getting the angles and length correct is somewaht nerve wracking. I tend to measure often before making a cut. Since all the parts were stained ahead of time, matters are complicated if you have to scrap a piece because of a mis-cut. I am happy to report that everything came together nicely and most of the joints are pretty decent. In order to provide a durable stairs, we used maple for the treads while all else is poplar. All the other woodwork in the house is poplar so sticking with poplar on the stairs made sense. Cutting the treads was also a bit tedious. Since the stairs is closed on both sides, the treads need to be cut precisely to butt up tight against the skirt board. Due to slight variations, none of the ends are exactly 90 degrees so I made a simple gage to measure each tread and then transcribed those measurements to the tread itself before cutting. This approach worked well and saved me the cost of buying an expensive "store bought:" gage that I would only use once. Oh, I also spent $60 on a brand new blade for my radial arm saw and that proved to be a smart move as well. I now have to install the iron balusters on the stairs and will be finished. Ran into a little hiccup on that phase which I will not get into at this point.... I am expecting the security panel and smoke detectors that I ordered on-line to arrive soon. Once I have those installed and the plumber and electrician spend 2 or 3 days finishing up, we should be ready for final inspection. I am shooting for getting approval for occupancy by September 30th.

MEASURE UMPTEEN TIMES...CUT ONCE

The old saying is "measure twice, cut once". I am now involved in the stairway and it's more like measure 3 or 4 times and cut once. I've got the two box newels pretty much complete. For both of them, I used a sturdy piece of 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" solid oak which extends from the framing below the subfloor and runs up into the newel about 18". This allowed me to get a very sturdy installation without any external screw or mounting brackets at the bae. In other words, it's a very clean look and solid. It's a little nerve wracking cutting into these pieces since they are around $100 each plus they are prestained. So, one bad cut and it sets me back on the schedule and also in the pocketbook. That's why I measure more than twice before cutting. Some of you may recall our stirway in the house on Neal-Pearson. I set the bar pretty high when I installed that one as it came out really nice even though I never had any prior experience putting in a stairs. That one was actually more difficult because the open side required compound miter cuts where the skirt board and risers intersected. Plus, that was oak which is a little harder to work with. For this one, I am using poplar except for the tread, which are maple to provide added durability.

Above pics are from the stairs I built 25+ years ago.

Below is the modest progress made through today on the new house.

COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET

No, it's not what you think. I've been working on shelving in the closets over the past few days and still have the kitchen pantry to finish up. As you can see, I installed the Closetmaid units in the walk-in closet and it turned out pretty nice.

In the other closets, I am using the the wire type shelving, Rubbermaid in this case.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Well, I don't know that the demand was popular but there was at least one stalker crying for more. Sorry for the long period of silence.

There have been some significant changes since my last post....carpeting is now in, kitchen and master bath countertops have been installed and the shower is complete except for sealing the grout.

We are thrilled with the tile work. Tom Cramer who lives here in Tipp City was really helpful in making suggestions on how to make it look nice. We kept things simple with no accent pieces, etc. but it is nevertheless attractive.

I have been tackling the job of outfitting the walk-in closet. You may recall that we were able to score a good deal on a bunch of ClosetMaid product a few months back. We returned to that store and picked up some light fixtures that were marked at about 1/2 the price they originally sold for in Home Depot.

Earlier this week I had a an engineering firm come out and check elevations so that we can submit a Letter of Map Amendment, or LOMA. "A LOMA is a letter from FEMA stating that an existing structure or parcel of land - that is on naturally high ground and has not been elevated by fill - would not be inundated by the base flood." Since a portion of our lot IS in the flood plain, we would have to pay for flood insurance without the LOMA. The LOMA essentially establishes that our house is NOT in the flood plain even though some parts of the lot are. This will allow us to insure the house without paying for flood insurance.

The major project left on my plate is finishing out the stairway. Material is in the shop of the guy that is doing our staining. As soon as he delivers the stained poplar to the house, I can get started on that.

The plumber started with the final stage of his work and was out to install some valves where fixtures will go. By this time next week we should have a working toilet so I will no longer have to commiserate with the "bears in the woods".

TRANSOM TALK AND SEPTIC

Yesterday, I finished the transoms over three arches.... a large one between the foyer and great room, one between the kitchen and sunroom and one leading into the bedroom. I would like to claim that the idea of the transoms was my own but I stole it from the Houzz web site. We think it adds a nice touch!



In the last picture, you can see the arch leading into the master bedroom. We weren't entirely comfortable having the bedroom door immediately off the family room so with this arrangement we have a short "hallway" (or foyer ?) which helps to separate the bedroom door from the family room.

I reported in my last post that the septic system is now complete. Once we get a toilet installed I can quit emulating a "bear in the woods". I had always been under the impression that it is not a good idea to have trees in or near the leechfield. Apparently that is no longer considered an issue as ours is entirely in a wooded area of the lot which was the only practical location. Fortunately we only had to remove one small tree about 5" in diameter to make this work. It was necessary to cut into the roots of some larger trees but hopefully they will survive the trauma.

AFTER LEECH LINES COMPLETE

 DIGGING HOLE FOR SEPTIC TANK

Barb has decided on quartz countertops and has just placed the order. Originally she was thinking granite but after thoughtful consideration changed her mind.

 

v

CREATIVE INPUT WELCOMED

I have yet to post a pic of the porch since Barb finished staining the timbers so here you go...

As you can see, the front door still has not been stained. Part of the reason is that we have not been able to decide on a suitable color. Anyone starting to detect a recurring issue here? We are leaning towards a dark brown color. Anyone care to give their two cents worth?

BIG SPIDERS

Several posts back I wrote about big spiders (among other creatures) lurking about our new house. Thankfully the house is pretty tight so they are outside instead of inside.
Yesterday I was moving a tarp around and spotted this fella' shown below....

As you can tell from the ruler, his leg span is about 3". I suspect that if we ever start discovering these INSIDE the house, Barb will have us putting up a "For Sale" sign in short order.

Since we started building, I have seen more snakes than I saw in the entire 25 years we lived on Neal-Pearson Road. Don't know whether it's because we are in the woods or because of the river....probably a combination of the two. On the plus side, we are also seeing lots of birds that we never or rarely saw at our old house. Occasionally we hear a big old bullfrog down at the river so the sights and sounds are an interesting change from what we were used to.

GRASS FLOOR?

Last Thursday, the flooring installers showed up to put down the "wood floor". Actually, it is bamboo and since bamboo is technically a grass, I guess  you could say we have grass floors rather than wood floors. This stuff is significantly harder than oak so it makes for a durable surface.
Unfortunately, the sales people at Lowes screwed up when they told me that it could be stapled or nailed down even though it is designed to be a floating floor. My plan was to have the floor installed all the way to the walls in the kitchen and then set the cabinets on top of the flooring. Since it became necessary to change to a "floating" installation, I became concerned about setting the cabinets on the flooring. The concept of floating is to allow the floor to "move" if it wants and having cabinets installed over the flooring is normally not recommended since it will prevent the floor from moving. So, I called Lowes and explained THEIR mistake and asked about installing the cabinets on the floating floor. He assured me it would be OK. On that basis, I had the flooring guys go ahead with the floor in the kitchen. The next morning, I called the manufacturer with a question and decided to ask him about cabinets installed over the floating floor. He said no way that should be done. As a result, I instructed the flooring guys to pull up what they had installed in the kitchen and explained that they would have to put it back down after the cabinets were in place. Grrrr!

BAMBOO FLOOR IN SUNROOM

On Saturday and Sunday, a guy that had been recommended by the cabinet shop and I installed the kitchen cabinets. We got most of the job complete but there is a some trim work that will have to be done later after we get the necessary moulding. Yesterday, I had the electrician come out and help me install the microwave and the oven in the tall cabinet that houses both appliances. We have had appliances sitting in Sears back room since November and I am sure they were happy to get rid of some of it. We still have a refrigerator and dishwasher there but should be able to get those items soon.

Had a somewhat embarrassing situation today.... I noticed the absence of a floor register in the laundry room. I called the HVAC contractor and asked if they would normally have one in the laundry room. He answered in the affirmative and asked me whether it had perhaps been covered up. I discovered that when I put the underlayment down in that room, I did just that! Fortunately it's an easy enough problem to solve...I'll just cut out the flooring in that area. 

On Monday, the excavator started installation on the septic tank and leach field. I'll report more on that in the next post. In the meantime, I'm continuing work on hanging interior doors and trimming them out.

THE LATEST

Most of the past week has been spent on the laundry room. I put down underlayment and Barb and I together put down the tile. It came out really nice if I do say so myself.
I also set all the doors in the laundry room and trimmed out the window. Still have to trim out the doors but we want to get a coat of paint on the wood before it goes up. Unlike the trim in the rest of the house which is stained, the laundry room will be painted white. We will, however, be using the same design.

As you can see, I also installed the cabinets in this room.

The wood flooring is scheduled to be installed Thursday and Friday. I have a guy lined up to install the kitchen cabinets and I will be helping him with that on Saturday and Sunday. Then, the flooring people come back Monday to put down the carpeting.

This week I will be working on the flooring in the master bathroom and also installing the vanity. The tile guy started on the walk-in shower and hopefully he will make some progress there this week. If I get that done, I will start setting some of the stained doors in areas where carpeting will be installed.

Next week I am expecting the excavating contractor back to install the septic tank and leech field. Then we can get the plumber back to run the line from the house to the septic tank and at that point toilets can be connected.

UPDATED PLANS

I recently discovered that I had never posted updated elevation views of the house. So, here 'ya go....

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH....

Don't ask me to explain the heading. It's just something that popped into my head.

Due to complaints from several dedicated readers, I am forced to post something even though there hasn't really been much going on. Over the past couple of days, Barb has been staining the cedar timbers that make up the front porch structure. That is, when she is not swatting at carpenter bees.

These guys have taken a liking to our beadboard porch ceiling. Fortunately, they are not overly aggressive and I believe Barb has achieved "Ace" status with 4 kills. However, the holes they leave in the beadboard are a bit unsightly. I've read that varnish may provide some protection so may have to put a coat on the ceiling. In the meantime, Barb just dabbed some stain in the holes to make them less obvious.

BEFORE

AFTER

On Sunday, we finally ordered our flooring. I believe I reported earlier that we should have done so weeks ago. At the time we placed the order, Lowes told us the lead time was about 1 to 2 weeks. Well this morning when I called to get a firm date they said the product is on backorder and it would be the first week of August (#$@**&^%). Unacceptable! So we needed to choose a different one. This afternoon we went back to Lowes and found an acceptable substitute that is priced about 30% higher. I told the flooring salesperson that he would need to do something on the price and he didn't hesitate and said they would make the substitution at the lower price. And it is in stock at the warehouse.

I've finished all the trim around the windows except for a few pieces of quarter round that I ran short on. Since then I have been working on odds-and-ends that I have been putting off....installing seal around the garage door.....cleaning a birds nest out of one of the exhaust vents (I knew I should have gotten that vent cover on sooner)......adding jamb extensions on a couple of doors.....etc.

When we were at Lowes in Trotwood a few days back, we noticed a store where the HH Gregg used to be. I convinced Barb we should check it out. The place looked like a dump from the outside but I reminded Barb you just never know what you might find. The place looked like a dump inside as well. They essentially stock a lot of....junk! But, they also have a lot of castoffs from Home Depot. Apparently they take a lot of the stuff that customers returned, closeouts, damaged goods, discontinued products...you get the idea. My hunch served me well. They had several skids full of Closetmaid items which is just what I need to outfit our walk-in closet. For about $430 I got stuff that was retailing at Home Depot for about $1,350.

CLOSETMAID STUFF

FINISHED PRODUCT (?)

Met with a tile contractor today to discuss the tilework for the master bath shower. Hopefully we can get him started soon although he is not on the critical path. Brad the electrician was out today and connected some more wires so a lot of the light switches are now functional even though there are just bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. But, hey, it's light just the same!