Paper is up

The stucco and siding prep are finished, as near as I can tell. The main part of the addition will be a smooth stucco. The stairwell will be done in some sort of concrete siding. Not certain, but I think the colors will be gray for the stucco and orange (!) for the siding. The original part of the house will be cleaned and repainted. Color there is taupe-ish, I think.

Insulation

insulation panorama A

insulation panorama B

insulation panorama C

Click on the links to see panoramic movies of the insulation.

Roofing

We've been passing various inspections without too much trouble and the roofing guys are busily roofing away. J.D. said that the insulation will be going in soon, and after that the drywall. I've been telling people that we'll host a party once the drywall is in. More details to come.



We're awaiting an official, revised schedule, but we've been able to divine from J.D. that the house should be done sometime in February. (Historical note: The original end date was yesterday.) Not too far off track, but it seems that hitting that date would have cost a lot more money. I don't know if that's because of overtime/weekends or simply paying sub-contractors to "forget" about their other jobs for a little while.

All the windows and doors are in

I can't believe that guy's holding up the window with just one hand.

Where it's at

We met with James and J.D. the other evening to go over some design and schedule items. Looks like we're going to be slipping on the schedule a bit in order to keep costs down. Not sure yet what the new end date is, but we should hear back next week on that.
Design-wise, James brought some seriously cool samples of materials to look at. We have narrowed down the stair treads and upstairs flooring to either the reclaimed, vertical-cut Douglas Fir or a pre-finished hardwood plank (I forget which hardwood it was made of, I'll post a photo soon). The planks fit together like a Pergo system, with no bevel between boards, so you can't really tell it's not smaller strips.
The master bathroom. Very nice array of stone tiles to look at. We're thinking of doing large cuts on the floor, smaller on the walls and an accent strip of colored (glass?) tiles up the vanity column.

Today, the electricians are back to install can lights in the kitchen. I can't wait to have real light in there when I'm cooking!

The structural inspection went very well earlier this week, with only a couple of minor corrections that can apparently be photographed when complete to save the cost of another on-site.

What percentage of this is still a ceiling?

There are now holes for the skylight, low-intensity lighting, high-intensity lighting, surround sound speakers, central air, and fire sprinklers in the living room ceiling. Click the image for an exciting, annotated version.

Post-Thanksgiving door installation

Oscar, the window installer, hung this stairwell door on Friday. He's also prepping the floor for the various sliding door tracks. I love this door!

Drywall delivered

There are now stacks of drywall awaiting their fate. Click on the image for a panoramic movie.

Speaker recommendations

The wiring guys are going full bore, and I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations on in-wall/in-ceiling speakers? They aren't meant to be audiophile quality or anything.

Wiring and stuff

So there is a real hum of activity at the house right now. We've got the low-voltage electric guys wiring rooms up for sound, video, CAT5, etc. The painters come in tomorrow to prime the old part of the house. Stucco man did a walk through yesterday to see what he's up against when the new part of the house gets clad. More windows came in and will be installed soon.

We're waiting on a set of inspections (not sure which ones actually) and then things are going to get going even faster.

One note on the low-voltage wiring: in an effort to cut costs, there will no longer be surround sound wiring in the master bedroom. A moment of silence for that, please.

Refinished

Three weeks ago we moved out of our house. I rented some storage pods and packed up everything that previously sat on the wood floors. Which is to say every room other than the kitchen and bathroom.

We moved into the house of our friends Kathy and Jon, who were going out of town and asked, "Would you like to stay for free in our great, giant house?". We answered "yes".

In that time they have done tons of work, including, but not limited to, removing the hallway wall, punching open the wall between the old and new parts of the house, widening closet entries, framing the skylight, running high- and low-voltage wiring, adding many can lights, and repairing the floors.

This all got done within the three weeks we were out, with the exception of the floors. They weren't going to be done on Saturday. The day we had to leave the housesitting gig and move back in. So, being the incredible family tactician that she is, Erin says "We're going to Disneyland". We went, had tons of fun, stayed overnight, played some more, and returned on Sunday afternoon. The floors were done!

We moved a minimal amount of furniture back in, but the drywall guy is going to be working for three days to "hot-mud" it, so we don't want to move in fully. In fact, we'll keep it spartan until priming and painting are done if possible.

Trench 1, Driveway 0

This is where the electrical will be laid from the new circuit box to the old.

In other news, we aren't going to have the time to refininsh the floors in the old part of the house right now. We were able to get out of the house for a little while, but not long enough. The floors will be repaired, and giant holes covered, but the sanding and finishing will have to wait until we can get out of the house for a vacation during the summer. Bummer.

We're also having loads of can lights put in in the old part. I can't wait to have a brightly lit kitchen.

Meet Carl

He's off topic from the house addition, but I wanted to share him with you. He's a character I rigged for the upcoming Disney animation Meet the Robinsons.