Stairs going in!

Started installing stairs. All treads cut, first two and landing fully installed (looks good); balance to go in tomorrow. Risers painted, but not cut. Maybe tomorrow. Needless to say, all the old 2x4 stairs are gone. Needed to adjust one of the stringers - going in nicely - the baseboard are not totally square, which impacts the spacing, but probably something that only I'll see...


Final paint coat on built-ins, first shelf installed. More shelves to be built, drawers to be assembled (thanks Jason), doors still being designed... then, paint those pieces... got polyurethane to ensure the paint doesn't come off on books, etc...

No additional progress on master bath tile or paint. Picked up additional thinset and some cement to pour the shower basin...

Kids' bathroom toilet valve installed. All parts in hand - only time prevented the toilet going in today - will probably wait for me to return from travel...

It's all coming together. The only "do-it-ourselves" project not yet started are the closets (shelves, etc). One decision on carpet was made (downstairs), waiting on one final number for the upstairs decision. Likely to hire the hardwood floor re-finish tomorrow, schedule for week of 13th? If can't meet that date, we may do ourselves... been looking into that... so that may be another project not started. Looking like move-in on the 25th is a realistic goal; outside shot we could beat it by a week, but don't think it will slip past the 25th.

Stairs are here!

Thanks to Andy, Jason, and Dave today. Good progress on built-ins, kid's bath, and started on master bath tile.

Also of note, the stairs arrived! We'll probably work that tomorrow. Tile too, more painting and built-ins... picked up the paint for the master bath too.

Floor Lessons

Took day off work - lots of errands - have master bath tile (except for 9 accent tiles), wood for drawers and shelves for built-in. Good progress on finishing built-ins...

Another item today was the third quote from another floor finisher. The hardwood didn't hold up very well though all this. It swelled and cupped throughout - the reason is in question. Could be the loss of A/C during a hot and humid summer, or else moisture from the crawl space - which could be from sweating A/C ducts or the "sink-hole" I mentioned a few days ago.

As for the sink-hole - here's the deal: on the extreme opposite end of the house from the crawl space entrance, is a hole (deep, down below the blocks, to the poured foundation), filled with water, and the water main into the house and sewer line out are both "in" the hole. I hadn't noticed previously, but during the last trip in there, there is a large amount of sand piled up, under the plastic, adjacent top the hole - as if it was purposely dug up. Also, there is a "Terminix" tag hanging from an insulation hanger over the middle of the "pond" - they check for moisture and termite activity quarterly - never reported a problem, in fact, always checked it out as "OK", including moisture...

In any event, today's vendor actually tested the hardwood floor for moisture - and told me it was dried out. The hole is still there, and still full of water, so I'm thinking it was the absence of A/C that damaged the floor. The good news, the floor will recover. Need to figure out the pond though... my plan is to pump out the water, fill in the hole with the adjacent sand, install some crawl space fans, and re-inspect a month later - see what's going on. More to come...

As for tomorrow, have lots of supplies, plenty to do - finish kid's bath, work on built-ins, master bath tile... come help if you can!

Mantle and More Paint

Sorry no blog yesterday - Will turned 2 - dinner, presents, and cake.

Today, more built-ins (mantle installed, lots of priming), kids' bath - painting. More help from John A., JP, and David - broke the 700 hour barrier... He might be uncatchable... I'm still at 635 - next week work begins mandatory OT at work and I also have 3 days of travel next week (8 hours max allowable each day), so Thurs and Friday need to be 12 hours workdays at the yard... so I have this weekend... then probably nothing until next weekend...

...so I'm taking tomorrow off to make what headway I can... Lots to do - come help if you can.

By the by, we went to see "The Expendables" tonight late, after all was done, just to get a break before the big 3-day work weekend... we were hoping it would be a classic ensemble action movie... think "The Magnificent Seven" for 2010's... and well, if by Magnificent you actually mean Really Crappy, and by Seven, you mean Five, then it was... Very expendable... save your $$ - I should have...

Built In

Built-ins installed! Look awesome.

Kitchen sink working!

Kids bathroom shower working!

Kids bathroom paneling up! (not painted)

A good day. Thanks to David (685 hours) and John A. for coming out again - made great progress today.

Tomorrow, finish trimming the built-ins and start priming them. A little sanding too. Maybe paint the kids' bathroom paneling... with that done, second floor toilet can go in!

Getting closer...

"Timeout" Here...

Made great progress on the built-ins - David finished all of the face frames, and installed the bench seat and frames into the wall, and started caulking. Also installed the vent grates and A/C plenum - works great.

Big surprise today, John A. is in town - came out to help - prepped walls for cabinet installation; he'll be here all week - able to spend some more time here tomorrow. We'll put him to work for sure...

Tomorrow, more built-in progress, maybe some more plumbing in the kids bathroom, beadboard, maybe some painting. Making good strides - still hoping to have these items finished by the weekend, and hoping to have the stairs and master bath tile soon...

Running out of blog titles...

Started on face frames for the built-ins today - Thanks Uncle Bill for the tools and hardware - awesome... picked up some molding to trim them out. Painted some before rain started... Hopefully, by week's end, they will finally be finished.

Installed a new kitchen faucet, and Jen installed the faucets in the kids' bath.

Tomorrow, more built-ins...