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Finally, we have a fence! Now the golfers can no longer come into our yard – and pool. Someone actually had the gall to climb into the pool when just the rebar was in to retrieve a golf ball.
The pool fountain and other rocks were installed today.
We had rain all day today which will allow the concrete to dry slowly.
The gunite was applied today. I have seen this on TV, but never in person. It takes a lot of strength to hold onto the hose. The weather was perfect (for this application) to allow the concrete to dry slowly; … Continue reading
The pool fence posts were set today. The fence rails cannot be attached until the pool is completed so they have unlimited access.
We passed our first pool inspection of the plumbing, electrical work and the rebar on Tuesday, Nov 25. Construction of the pool will resume after Thanksgiving.
After a call to the County Supervisor’s office on Tuesday, we received a call from the County’s Ombudsman. She was able to get the reviewer to release his comments the same day. The reviewer brought up 3 items that were … Continue reading
All the electric and lights were installed today. Now we sit and wait on the county again! The permit was submitted on 10/24 as an expedited review (3 days) and we still do not have any action on it yet.
The rebar was installed today.
The plumbers installed the pump and the pipes today.
I missed the excavation for the pool while I was in Colorado visiting friends and family. The dimensions for the pool were marked off on 10/29 and the hole was dug on 10/30.
The plumber brought and installed the new water heater today. Right away we could tell the difference in the sound. Hopefully, this third one is a charm. The “Mirror Man” installed all the bathroom mirrors. We are getting down to … Continue reading
The oven repair man finally returned today (Wednesday). I now have a working oven and microwave. The builder still has to attach the water line for the steam option. I had read several reviews about other brand ovens burning out … Continue reading
The cabinetmaker finished installing all the cabinet faces except two. He still has to finish one desk face and the cabinet and door for my appliance garage.
The painters returned today and painted the foundation under the stucco, the front door, and touched up all the interior walls.
The cabinetmaker came today to install the cabinet faces. He had told the builder that I could place things in the cabinets. However, he did not clarify that I should not place anything in the drawers – almost all my … Continue reading
We are slowly getting things unpacked and in order. I forgot how painful moving is.
We had our re-inspection today (10/15) and passed – yea; now we are legal. The window well grate was slightly too big since the stucco corners were not quite square and took the builder and my hubby a long time … Continue reading
We had our final inspection Wednesday (10/8) and failed. The ladder has been installed in the escape well from the basement bedroom, but the grate wasn’t on the top yet. We also needed clips on a few breakers that share … Continue reading
The driveway,sidewalks and the front porch pavers were completed today. It is nice to not have to stomp though the dirt to get into the house. We still can’t fit our cars into the garage due to the supplies and … Continue reading
The tiler completed installing the backsplash in the powder room and basement bathroom and grouting the tile he installed on Sunday. Now the tile is finished. The plumber came back today and installed the toilet in the powder room, steam … Continue reading
The tiler worked 7 days again this week. He installed the backsplash in the kitchen, master bath and the guest bath on Sunday. The backsplash in the kitchen contains a few light switches, but it does not contain any outlets. … Continue reading
Some days it is the small things that make me happy, like this cute little button door stop. I have never seen these before, but they are much nicer than the larger door stops. Other days, it is the large … Continue reading
The sand and pavers for the driveway and the front entrance were delivered today. They will be installed on Monday. We have been parking in the cul-de-sac and have our golf cart stored in a friend’s garage. Due to all … Continue reading
The trim carpenter installed the handrail on the basement stairs yesterday and patched the walls. The carpet contractor came back today to carpet the stairs. We didn’t want the carpet installed until after we moved so it would stay clean.
The tile was installed under the refrigerator today. It’s a good thing we had an outlet nearby. We will be able to slide it back into its cabinet tomorrow. The laundry room was grouted so we were able to bring … Continue reading
The tiler is working on the foyer tile today.
The plumber did not get everything finished. The powder room and the laundry room are not functional yet.
All the furniture and boxes were in the family room since the dining room and kitchen did not have any tile. Now that the dining room is tiled and grouted, we had to move all the furniture into the dining … Continue reading
Since the tile was installed on the sink and cook top side of the island and we could not walk on it, we had to go out for dinner – what a shame! The oven and microwave are not working. … Continue reading
Since we do not have any faucets in the kitchen yet, we had to use the bathroom to wash dishes. The plumber is scheduled to return tomorrow. We have a cook top and the refrigerator, but no oven, microwave or … Continue reading
Moving Day(s)– 9/25 & 9/26! Even though the house is not completed, since we had to be out of our rental and didn’t want to move twice, we moved in. Somehow in the chaos I forgot to take pictures! It … Continue reading
Day one of tiling the floor in the family room.
My induction cook top was installed today. I can’t wait to see how it performs.
The carpet was installed in the basement and the bar was completed.
The granite was installed in the kitchen, dining room, master bath, and guest bath along with a quartz counter top in the laundry room.
The granite and faucets were also installed today in the guest bath.
Building the block walls for the air conditioners and pool equipment.
Family room lights.
The painters were back to finish the basement closets and bathroom so the tiler had to move upstairs and start on the floors.
Refrigerator cabinet. The paint looks blue in this picture, but it is grey with a blue undertone.
The person installing the tile worked Saturday and Sunday and completed the guest bathroom shower. He will move on to the basement bath shower this week. Due to the rain and flooding, he did not work today.
We repainted the master bathroom Friday afternoon and Saturday morning before they installed the cabinets. We’re not real happy about this color, but it will do for now. We left the bedroom blue along with the toilet room and the … Continue reading
Oh my! This turned our a little bright. I love the color, but it is overwhelming in the whole room and in the bathroom. We will be repainting the bathroom over the weekend.
They finally finished the stucco and removed the ugly scaffolding.
The stucco should be complete by the end of this week.
I can’t wait until they have finished applying the final coat on the stucco. It makes a mess and I’m getting tired of looking at the scaffolding. The color is a tan with a slightly yellow base, but looks different … Continue reading
The painters have been working on priming and painting the ceilings. By the end of the day, they are covered head to toe in paint. It’s been so dry this week that the spray that falls to the floor dries … Continue reading
The master and the one of the guest showers are “snail” showers, which are popular here. They do not have doors. You walk in and turn 180 degrees into the shower. We have one in our rental and I thought … Continue reading
The painters removed all the doors so they could stain and lacquer the tops and bottoms to keep any moisture out of the wood. Also, removing them negates the need to cover them with paper while they paint the walls … Continue reading
Building the closets. This is part of the master bedroom closet. The shelves on the right make up my shoe rack. Ok, maybe my hubby can have a shelf or two for his shoes.
The painters stained the doors and woodwork today. The stain was sprayed on and then hand sanded. It was finished with a lacquer sprayed on top.
The interior doors and woodwork are knotty alder, which is very popular here for doors and cabinets. Our cabinets will be select alder (no knots!).
The garage doors were installed on Friday and Saturday.
Our builder said his worst nightmare is a leaky shower; they are extremely expensive to repair. The drywall contractor placed the cement backer board in the shower. Our builder had his tile installer paint the cement board on the walls … Continue reading
They are applying the texture to the drywall. We choose the lightest texture – Santa Fe. It is a very subtle low profile drywall texture. It can be described to appear as two smooth layers of drywall, the top layer … Continue reading
The drywall installation is complete. The next step will be to place another coat of compound on it to create a slightly uneven surface. They do not smooth out the compound here; the walls are textured. They range from a … Continue reading
The electric company came again today to inspect the main line and failed it again because the stucco guys covered the main box with a small piece of plastic so they didn’t get stucco on the box. The electric company … Continue reading
In order to apply the stucco on the roof line and the chimneys, they had to load it into buckets and pull them onto the roof with a rope.
These guys are at our house until 7:00 at night. They work 12 hour days Mon-Fri and shorter days on Saturday. Sanding drywall is not my idea of a fun job.
I haven’t posted any pictures this week due to a camping trip to the Coconino National Forest outside Flagstaff. I will try to post some pictures of the trip on the “Local Interests” and “Critters” pages this weekend. They completed … Continue reading
The drywall installers came today. They worked in three teams of two, one cutting and one hanging, in different areas of the house. They were able to get the garage, the back patio ceiling, and the ceiling and upper walls … Continue reading
They finally dug the trench to install the main electrical line. It will be nice once the electric company connects it to the house so we won’t have to use the generator when Tom works in the house. Yes, if … Continue reading
The drywall was delivered and stacked in every room in the house. They were not able to get the large sheets down the stairs so they had to remove the window in the basement window well so they could drop … Continue reading
The roof tiles were delivered and stacked on the roof so the weight will help to settle the house.
We met with the pool contractor and the cabinetmaker today. After we select a pool design, we must submit the plans to the county for a pool permit. I hope it is not as painful as it was in January … Continue reading
The stucco guys worked on the trim around the top of the house today. They should finish tomorrow.
We were not allowed in the house today because they were installing the spray foam insulation. The installers wear air purifying respirators during the process. Paper measurement tools are placed on the trusses and walls to ensure the proper depth … Continue reading
They are still working on placing the foam and lath on the house for the stucco. They work at the same snail’s pace as the air conditioner sub-contractor. The roofer completed installing the battens on the roof on Saturday. Next, … Continue reading
We are placing a radiant barrier and scalloped battens on top of the felt paper on the roof. The radiant barrier will reflect the heat from the roof. The scalloped battens will allow the heat to flow from the edge … Continue reading
The roofer started installing the felt paper today. The stucco sub-contractor is almost finished with installing the paper, foam and lath on the exterior of the house.
The air conditioning, electric, plumbing, gas and fire sprinklers have all been roughed in. The plumbing and gas were inspected on Monday and passed. The electrical and fire sprinkler systems will be inspected tomorrow. The orange pipe in this picture … Continue reading
We were hoping to get the felt paper on the roof before we had any rain, but we missed it by one day. We had about an inch of rain with 1/2 inch inside the house. We swept the rain … Continue reading
They placed the first coat of the elastomeric roof coating on our roof walk deck this week.
There was a host of activity today. The framer had to come back to run a soffit in the basement for an air conditioning duct. The air conditioning contractor should have all the duct work completed today. The plumber is … Continue reading
The framers finished on Friday and we passed the frame and shear inspection on Monday. All the windows and doors that were delivered have been installed. Some of the windows were cracked on arrival and others were not included in … Continue reading
This ceiling dropdown will be over the kitchen island. We decided not to include the soffit as we thought it may make the room too busy and detract from the dropdown.
The framing is almost completed. They have to finish the soffits, the other ceiling designs, the bar and some odds and ends. This frame will be placed on our bedroom ceiling. The frames on the floor will become the family … Continue reading
This is one view from the walk deck on top of the rear patio roof. This was by far the most difficult task, excluding the roof, in the framing process.
They worked on completing the inside doorway arches and starting placing the roof trusses on the back patio today.
This is the frame for the front entryway roof and columns. It will be interesting to see how they lift it upright into place on top of the column footers.
They brought in a crane today to put the glulam headers in place to hold the roof trusses.
Now that all the underground and prep work has been completed, we are seeing some real progress. This is where it gets exciting.
Our builder captured this picture of a diamondback rattlesnake on the lot while waiting for the pre-slab inspection.
This is the start of setting the plumbing for the main floor.
The stem wall frames were completed and passed the county inspection today.