It's been nearly three weeks since I last posted...which is hard to believe! Time flies when you're working, traveling for the holidays, building a house and have a 2 year old and a newborn! I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner!
With Christmas comes the possibility of moving into our new house! Things are progressing quite smoothly, with many of the finishing touches falling in to place. I've also managed to get several of the jobs I had planned to do myself finished - though not without some late nights!
Dad and I finished up the upstairs trim over the thanksgiving weekend. We also decided to 'face' our monster exposed beam with pine 1x12 boards. The beam itself is pine...so it's really just a prettier representation of the mammoth piece of engineered lumber that supports most of our second floor. All have agree that it looks much better than if I had tried to trim in the actual beam. It just wasn't designed to be in view!
My 'cousin' finished all of the stone work...WOW! He worked the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend and I even helped a bit. But the fireplace, porch columns, and front of house are complete and look great. The fireplace is really quite impressive - it is 7' wide and 18' tall - and we've already gotten several compliments on our choice of stone.
All of the countertops were installed right after Thanksgiving and also look fantastic. The color selections we made for the laminate material worked out well. You never know how that little sample square is going to look once it's spread all over your countertops! But it turned out well and the installation job looks great. Thanks Tom!
Our painters have been working all last week and this week and plan to be finished by Monday, 12/14. I can't imagine how stressed out I would be right now if I had tried to tackle that job. They're doing a great job...and certainly a better job than I could have! They are also doing the staining which is really turning out nicely. Can't wait to see the finished product!
Last weekend my buddy Tony helped me finish up a few 'heavy lifting' tasks which I had been dreading. But, having Tony around made it easier and more fun. We put up a bunch of insulation, and we got the basement walls drywalled so that the downstairs garage is cut off from the basement and so that the bedroom wall that supports the living room floor is a bit stronger. The tricky part was carrying the 10' sheets of drywall from the car, down the hill to the back door through 8 inches of snow with the same amount of MUD underneath! Yeah, we both saw our lives flash before our eyes more than once! But we made it, and hung the drywall successfully.
Tony also cleaned up my workshop for me while I unsuccessfully tried to hook up the gas supply for the workshop heater. That darn heater has given me more trouble and I now see why the contractors wanted to charge $700 to install it! To save that $700, I've put in DAYS of work by myself and with help from my dad...only to find out that the gas leaked! Frustrating...so I called the contractors and begged them to come hook it up. Gas leaks make me nervous and I'd rather leave it to the pros.
However, in the process of working on the gas line, I discovered that there were some problems with the insulation...it's a long story, but the insulation is not as expected. It does not completely insulate the workshop from the bedroom above - which is not good! I'm sure True North will get it fixed though...they've come through on everything else.
The deck is now complete with railing and all. It looks great - though now it has a foot of snow on it! I'm sure we'll enjoy it next spring!
Luke finished all of the siding and it actually looks like a house now which is good! We've gotten lots of compliments on that too. It's a bit darker than many of the other houses in the neighborhood so it stands out a bit. Luke did a fantastic job and really gave it some nice touches - like taking the time to side all the way down to the ground rather than stopping at the concrete foundation. Many companies don't do this because it takes too much time to mount the siding on the concrete. I think it's classy and makes for a more finished look.
I think that's about it for now...I'll keep you posted!
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