Saturday, October 24, 2009

Two Weeks to Go!

I'm in a relative panic, as the move date is set for November 9th and many things still have to be done. Current status on critical areas:
  • The electric is about 85% completed. True Blue Electric has done a great job, and I would recommend them to anyone needing electrical work. It will take them one more day to finish things up, and I want to wait because of all the ceiling fans which are left to be installed. There are still too many contractors on site carrying ladders and other long objects which could easily smash the heck out of a ceiling fan.
  • All the floors are in and just have a little finishing work to be done (like sealing the grout in the kitchen and bath, and putting in transition pieces after the doors are installed).
  • Speaking of the DOORS, the interior doors were ordered through Home Depot. The order has been delayed twice by two weeks each time. I'm kind of running out of time. I'm promised they'll be here by the end of this week, but in the meantime, the carpenters hired to install them aren't available after this week.
  • The window finishing has been coming along. Jeffrey hired two carpenters to finish the windows, since it was taking so long. Paul and Bevin have been doing a great job, and are nearly done. I have all the finishing work yet to do (filling in the nail holes, staining, and varnishing).
  • The back landing and garage slab may be done this coming week. I need the back landing put in; the yard is a sea of mud.
  • I have the VAST Permeable Pavers for the front walkway, but it's been raining and is too muddy to dig the foundations out for them.
  • All the appliances have been ordered and are here or will be this week. The kitchen countertops should go in this week. I'm staining the new cabinets to match the old this weekend.
  • The boiler and hot water heater are in and working. Innovative Power Systems, who is doing the solar thermal, has had the panels on the roof since spring. Hopefully, they'll get them hooked up and working this week. They had to wait until the boiler and hot water heater were in.
  • The clay plastering is coming along. The upstairs level is done except for compressing the clay. The lower level has the first coat on in the bedroom and office, and both coats in the living room.
  • Landscaping is going to have to wait until next summer.

Below are the boiler and hot water heater (on demand), all hooked up. With all the valves, it looks like the mechanics in a sumbarine.


The bamboo floors upstairs.


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Four Weeks to Go!

Wow, things are really moving at a fast and furious pace! It looks like we'll get done by the move-in week of November 9th, if I can last for another 4 weeks. In the next week, the bamboo floors are going in, the boiler and hot water heater will be installed and WORKING (the house has been in the 40s the last four days), the electric will be nearly completed, the interior doors will arrive and get put in, the solar heating panels should be working, and the solar PV panels for the electricity should be on the roof and working.
I took the week off from work to work on the house this week. I wanted to finish the clay plastering, but it's too cold in the house! I had to stop plastering today, and will work on some other tasks until the heat gets turned on Thursday morning (my fingers are crossed).
It's been an interesting week so far. Jeffrey nearly impaled his thigh with a piece of wood caught in the table saw. I'm telling you, construction equipment is dangerous! Luckily, all he has is a really bad bruise. I took a bad fall today, the fourth one since I broke my wrist in May. I was outside in a sea of mud (my yard is bare dirt, and it snowed four inches Monday). My boots were caked with mud and I stepped on a wet plastic tarp, and that did it. Construction sites are dangerous! I've tripped over power cords snaking all over the floor, over sawhorses, and construction material strewn all over everywhere. I have made it a habit to put on my heavy work boots as soon as I get to the construction site, even if I'm not planning on doing any work. Just walking around there is hazardous to my health. My chance of tripping over something is a lot less when I have on heavy boots.
Here's a picture of my new stepladder that Jeffrey picked out for me. He wasn't satisfied with any at Home Depot, so he went to a store that had a much larger selection, and got me this one.
Quite a step up from the one below, which sent me flying backwards onto the basement floor when the ladder collapsed.
Here's the gypcret bathroom floor, painted with sealer before the tile floor was put in.
The kitchen floor was painted with sealer, also. You can see the cabinets a little better.
Below is the bathroom floor, tiled, but not grouted yet.
Here's the kitchen floor (porcelan tile from the ReUse Center) ready for the grout. Porcelan tile is very hard and can be used outdoors. I have enough left over so I can tile my 3 season porch, when it every gets built.
Here's all the boxes of bamboo flooring, ready to be installed. You have to have it in the house for at least a week to acclimate. The installers are coming tomorrow morning.
Okay, this next picture is amazing. This little tiny thing is the boiler. It will heat the whole house (easily!) should the sun not shine for days on end and the temperature go way below zero. It's about the size of a carry-on suitcase. It's called a slant fin boiler.
The water heater is even smaller. It's an "on demand" heater, very efficient. It reminds me of the hot water heaters in Germany. Since it's "on demand", it doesn't keep 40 or more gallons of water hot, day and night. The hot water will be mostly heated from the solar panels. The water heater won't go on unless it's needed.
This pile of snow proves how insulated my house is. This morning, I didn't see snow on any of my neighbor's houses. My north roof was still covered with snow, and late in the afternoon, it slid off and made a snow pile.