We are owner-building because it's a challenge and the potential payoff/self-satisfaction are immense. Bob in Parma, OH

Mike's Forum Posts: 27
Journal Entries: 56
Interview Answers: 62
Average Forum Rating: 3.96



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Carpet and water softener

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 5/28/2011

The last of the floor coverings - carpet - was installed this week by the carpet layers. We opted to have carpet put in all three bedrooms and the stairs going down to the basement. We put carpet in the bedrooms mostly for the comfort factor, so you get up in the morning your feet aren't hitting a cold surface like wood or tile. We also put carpet on the stairs going down into the basement, this time for the safety factor. Hardwood would have looked better, but I don't like walking on hardwood going down stairs because your feet tend to slip a little, and I didn't want to mess with runners. The carpet had a big impact on the house and gave it a finished feel. The carpet layers did a good job on the carpet and it looks nice.

We also had the plumbers back for a couple of hours hooking up the dishwasher in the kitchen, and the water softener in the basement. Both jobs were done quickly and that's two more items that can be checked off as completed.

Photos

Carpet in one of the secondary bedrooms	Master bedroom carpet	Basement stairs carpet
Brine and salt tank of the water filtration system

Appliances installed

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 5/25/2011 2:02:00 PM

The appliances that had been sitting the garage for the past several weeks finally got installed this week. The dishwasher, refrigerator, and cooktop all went in fairly quickly and easily, but the double wall oven was another matter.The main problem was that the space behind the oven to allow for the electrical box inside the oven cabinet was at the top of the oven, but the electrical cord was at the bottom of the oven. This meant the electrician had to come back out and reposition the electrical box. In addition, there was almost no clearance behind the oven, which made the installation even more difficult. But, in the end it all worked out and the oven is now installed.

Photos

The wall oven and refrigerator installed.

Tile backsplashes

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 5/25/2011 1:58:13 PM

This week I began working on the tile backsplashes in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room. The bathroom and laundry room backsplashes went fairly quickly, as they are only six inches high above the granite countertops. I used mosaic ceramic tiles capped off with a pencil trim tile in the main hall bath, and in the master bath I used a combination of 4x4 and 2x2 travertine tiles for that backsplash.

The kitchen backsplash above the granite countertops is a much larger job obviously than the other backsplashes, and would require significantly more time to finish. We chose to go with a travertine tile for the backsplash in the kitchen, along with a framed-off travertine mosaic above the cooktop just below the range hood.

The mosaic between the cooktop and the bottom of the range hood was used as my starting point for the backsplash so that I could center it properly within the background travertine tiles. For the mosaic, I am using 4x4 travertine tiles set in a diagonal pattern to offset it from the background tiles of the backsplash. I am also using a 3"x12" natural stone border around the mosaic to further offset from the rest of the backsplash tiles.

I began the work by setting up the pattern of tiles for the mosaic on the garage floor. Once I had the pattern set in the initial dry run, I made each individual tile cut in place until the whole mosaic was completed. After that, I brought the tiles in the house one a time and set them in the bed of thinset mortar in the pre-determined position on the wall above the cooktop. This was slowgoing work, and it took me about four hours to make the pattern, cut the tiles, and set them in the mortar; but the end result turned out well.

Photos

The dry run for the mosaic backsplash tiles	The mosaic patter transferred to the backsplash wall	A closer look

Finishing up the painting

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 5/25/2011

As I stated in a previous post, the interior painting was a much bigger and more time-consuming job than I had previously thought. But, the end I think is finally in sight. All the bedrooms and bathrooms are done, as is the great room, study, entry, (and as of yesterday) the laundry room. The painting that needs to be completed is some of the arch trim and walls in the main hallway, and master bath. I will eventually paint the garage as well, but that will probably wait until after move-in.

Photos

The great room walls and ceilings painted.	The master bedroom all painted.	The dining room ceiling done. This was one of the more time-consuming areas to be painted.
Part of the kitchen	Master bedroom hallway leading to the master bath.	Part of the main hallway
Main hallway by basement stairs

Painting, painting, and more painting

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 5/7/2011

From the beginning of the project, we decided that we would tackle the job of painting the house ourselves and save some money in the process. If I could go back now, I would have hired a professional painting contractor to do the painting due to the large scale of the job. We are now three weeks into the painting job, and although we have made good progress, there is still a fair amount of work to do. The current status is all the ceilings are painted and about 75 percent of the walls are done. I am currently in the process of spraying the enamel finish on all of the interior Palazzo Bellagio doors. I am using a 40-gallon air compressor with an Asturo spray gun, and the finish is going on very smooth and fine, and the doors look great - I am very pleased with the result.

I did have one problem though, with the pocket door in the second bedroom that leads into the main bath. The Bellagio doors are raised panel doors, which makes them a little thicker than normal doors. As a result, I found that the door would stick a little when it was slid inside the pocket frame because the raised panels would rub against the framing members inside the frame. There were three solutions to the problem - tear out the pocket door framing and replace with one made for a wider door panel, or replace the pocket door with a non-raised panel door, or modify the pocket frame somehow to accommodate the raised panel Bellagio door. For obvious reasons, the first option was the least attractive due to the amount of work the tear out would require. The second option was easily doable, but I did not want to mismatch the pocket door from the rest of the doors in the house. This left option number three - modify the existing pocket frame to accept the raised panel door.

After spending some time thinking about the problem, I decided that all I would need to do is to somehow gain an additional 1/8" on each side of the pocket frame so the raised panel door would not rub when slid inside the recess. It took me about half a day's time, but I was able to gain the additional space I need by using some well placed shims in the interior of the pocket door frame. Now the raised panel door slides into the recess without any rubbing.

Photos

The entryway ceiling painted	The painting in the main hallway has begun.	The pocket door in the main bath that caused me headaches
The sliding closet doors in the guest bedroom installed. Still need to put up the trim to hide the sliding rails.	Oil rubbed bronze door levers	The arch trim painting starting

Driveway and some visitors

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 4/21/2011

The last of the flatwork was completed last week when the concrete contractor poured the driveway to the garage. The driveway is fairly long, and measures 127' from the road to the garage apron, and is 18' wide. If you include the apron into the measurement, then the total length is 167' long. 30 cubic yards of concrete were used to create the 4' thick slab for the driveway. My original plan was to put in an asphalt driveway, thinking to save some money, but Masset Concrete gave me a very good price on the concrete driveway and it ended up costing about the same amount of money. Plus, the concrete driveway will be pretty much maintenance free, while an asphalt driveway would need periodic upkeep and would not be nearly as long lasting as the concrete.

We also had some four legged visitors on the property. The last couple of weeks we have seen a lot of deer, mostly white tail, but also some elk and mule deer, on the property. I'm guessing that they coming down from the higher elevations to get the new green plants and vegetation that is springing up in the area.

Photos

The new driveway

Some visitors to the property

Posted by Frank in Elkridge, MD on 4/22/2011 Frank's Forum Posts: 11 Journal Entries: 5 Interview Answers: 59 Average Forum Rating: 4.00 Frank's Selected Image 4/22/2011	Mike, We'll be facing a long driveway as well in Howard Co, MD and like you, we have to decide between asphalt or concrete. What was your sq. ft. price? I realize the price may vary by location, but we could use it as a basis. If you can, tells us some of the specs of the driveway. Frank
Posted by Mike in Westminster, CO on 4/23/2011 Mike's Forum Posts: 27 Journal Entries: 56 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.96 Mike's Selected Image 4/23/2011	The driveway is 127' long and 18' wide and 4" thick and has a surface area of just under 2,300 sf. The driveway rests on a sub base of crushed stone. The cost of the driveway was $5,500 total for materials and labor, which works out to be about $2.40/sf. Mike
Posted by Frank in Elkridge, MD on 4/25/2011 Frank's Forum Posts: 11 Journal Entries: 5 Interview Answers: 59 Average Forum Rating: 4.00 Frank's Selected Image 4/25/2011	How thick was your crushed stone base? Did you have any type of reinforcement for the cement? I've seen some suggestions of wire mesh and 6" on the edges of the driveway with rebars for strength. The cement company provided all the materials and labor? Thanks, Frank

Deck railings

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 4/19/2011

One of the last items to be completed on the back of the house were the deck railings. My original idea was to install the railings myself, since it was a pretty straightforward job and would have taken me probably three or four days to complete. But, now that I am nearing the end of this project, I find myself running short of time, so I opted to sub this job out. I found a decking company that gave me a very good price on the installation of the railings, plus they could knock out the job in a day and half.

The railings are all wrought iron and came with a baked-on enamel finish. The only somewhat tricky part of the job was drilling into, and securing the railings to the seven brick columns that are incorporated into the decking structure. In the end, the decking company did an excellent job with the installation and saved me several days of my own time. With the railings done, the exterior of the house is now essentially complete.

Photos

	Under soffit lights at dusk

Finish work begins

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 4/8/2011

This past week saw some of the finish work being done on the electrical and plumbing, as well as the completion of the stucco accents on the outside of the house. The electricians came in and started installing the light fixtures, fans, switches, and outlets throughout the interior and exterior of the house. The electricians also completed all the connections at the fuse boxes and installed all the breakers. Having working outlets and light fixtures in every room now makes life a lot easier while working inside the house. I no longer have to run numerous extensions cords from the previous single working outlet that was located in the master bedroom. A nice convenience indeed.

While that was going on in the inside of the house, the stucco contractor was on the outside putting the finish coat on the front bay windows and entryway ceiling. With the stucco now complete, the exterior of the house is basically complete. The only other job on the outside that needs to be completed (except for landscaping) are the wrought iron deck railings in the rear of the house, and those are being installed today and should be all finished by the end of tomorrow.

Photos

Finished stucco on the garage windows	One of the bedroom windows	The stucco ceiling in the entryway.
Garage lights		One of the 27 exterior soffit light around the perimeter of the house
The front exterior of the house is now basically complete	The rear of the house now complete except for landscaping

Kitchen and bath countertops

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/20/2011

Another job that was completed on Wednesday (it was a busy day!) was the installation of the granite countertops. Out initial plan was to put granite in the kitchen only and do tile countertops in the bathrooms. However, the price quote we received from our granite installer (Stone International out of Colorado Springs) for the countertops in the bathroom was so good that we decided to go with the granite everywhere, except in the laundry room, which will still have the tile countertops. Later on, I will be doing the tile backsplashes for each of the granite countertops.

Photos

One of the master bath faucets in place.	Powder room vanity countertop.	Make-up vanity countertop.
The master bath granite countertops.

Some small projects completed

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/20/2011

Over the past week, I was able to knock out a couple of small projects that needed to be completed - namely the mantel trim around the two fireplaces. In the great room, I wanted a solid oak mantel stained the same color as the hardwood floors, and in the master bedroom, I opted for a painted finish to match the trim in that room. I constructed the oak mantel using 3/4" solid oak boards with solid oak trim for accent. The mantel is about 6' wide, 1' deep, and 16" high. This will give me enough surface area on top of the mantel to place a 60" thin-panel LED television that will eventually go in the room. I constructed the master bedroom fireplace mantel and trim out of pine and MDF boards, and they will eventually be spray-painted the same color as the base and casing trim in that room.

Photos

The great room fireplace mantel with a fresh coat of stain applied.

The master fireplace mantel and trim done. Just needs to be painted now.

Posted by Tim in North Pole, AK on 3/23/2011 Tim's Forum Posts: 17 Journal Entries: 25 Interview Answers: 66 Average Forum Rating: 4.20 Tim's Selected Image 3/23/2011	Nice fireplace surround and mantel! The granite countertops look good with the cabinets as well. Tim
Posted by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/23/2011 Mike's Forum Posts: 27 Journal Entries: 56 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.96 Mike's Selected Image 3/23/2011	Thanks!

Stucco accents

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/18/2011 8:28:28 PM

Work began today (Wednesday) on the stucco work around the large bay windows and porch ceiling in the front of the house. The bay windows, which may be more accurately described as "popouts", are 8 feet wide and 8' high with a depth of about half a foot, and there are four of them in total. The work is being done by Bothwell Stucco, which has been in business in this area for quite some time. The stucco on the house is strictly for accent purposes and is not a big job, so it will take the stucco guys only three days to complete. Today they were able to paper and lath the windows, and tomorrow or Friday they will apply the brown coat. Sometime early next week they will put the finish coat on and complete the job. The exterior stucco work is the last job that needs to be completed on the outside of the house, and when it is done, the exterior of the house will be finished (except for landscaping).

Photos

The metal lath, paper, and 2" foam around the two garage windows.

Master bath window.

Retaining wall

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/18/2011

Another project was finished today (Wednesday) - the large retaining wall in the rear of the house. The masons finished the job in the late afternoon with just a few small flat stones to spare. As you may recall from earlier in this journal, the foundation workers constructed the retaining wall out of 10" thick concrete when the foundation walls were poured back in July. The masons then applied the Teton Shadow cultured stones I purchased from the brick company to give the retaining wall a nice finished look. The wall is 35 feet long and 11 feet high where it meets the walkout basement wall, and then tapers down to 4 feet at the end of the wall. I think it turned out great and it really completes the brick facade of the house. There will be several smaller retaining walls on the the other side of the house where the foundation is stepped, but these will be made of landscaping bricks and will be constructed by the landscapers at a later time.

Photos

The rear retaining wall in the rear of the house is now complete.

Another snow day

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/17/2011

Well, we got some snow on Friday. It wasn't a lot, about 3-4", but it was enough to put a halt to any outside work being done. I was the only one at the job site on Friday, but I was able to get a lot things done on the inside of the house without being interrupted by subs asking questions or needing problems solved. It is supposed to be back in the 60's tomorrow and for most of the weekend, so the snow on the ground will be very temporary. The only problem will be dealing with the mud that it will leave behind.

Photos

The snow starts falling	The covered portion of the rear deck doing its job by keeping most of the snow off the deck.	We ended up with a few inches total of the white stuff.

Exterior flatwork started

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/17/2011

The concrete workers from Masset Enterprises, who poured my foundation and caissons, are back this time to complete the exterior flatwork. The concrete guys were able to get the driveway apron, the rear under-deck patio, and front porch and stairs poured before the cold and snow hit on Friday. Like the garage slab, I had the concrete contractor pour the driveway apron poured to a depth of 6" instead of the more typical 4" because I believe the extra weight from the thicker slab counterbalances somewhat the small amount of swelling soil I have near the ground surface under the slab. There was only a small charge for the extra concrete, and it also eliminated the dirt I would have had to bring in to bring the ground level up.

The rear under-deck slab was poured at the usual 4" depth. Best of all though, is having a front porch, now making it much easier to get in and out of the front door. Unfortunately, the concrete guys could not get all of the flatwork complete because of the change in weather Thursday night/Friday morning. We ended up getting about 3-4" of snow during the evening and early morning hours, so they will have to finish up the rest of the flatwork next week sometime.

Photos

The driveway apron		The walkout basement patio
	The steps leading to the front entry door and porch.

Cabinets and tile

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/13/2011

Over the past few days, the trim carpenter was able to get all the cabinetry in the house installed, and the tile setter now has all the tile work in the house completed. The cabinets that we have chosen for the house are a solid cherry hardwood with a medium mocha colored finish with a glazing applied to the doors. The cabinets go well with the hardwood floors, which have a nutmeg stain on them. The carpenter has also found the time to install all the cherry crown molding and end panels on the cabinets, which really makes a nice touch. It was a time-consuming task for the carpenter, but the end result is outstanding.

Now that all the cabinets are installed, the granite contractor is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday to install the granite countertops. Our original plan was to just have the granite in the kitchen and do tile on the bathroom countertops. This plan changed when the granite guy gave us a price on the bathroom countertops that was hard to refuse. So, we will now have granite countertops on all the cabinets in the house, except the laundry room, which will have tile. We will still stick with the tile backsplashes, since I think this will look better with the granite countertops.

During this same time, the tile setter finally finished up with the tile in the bathrooms and laundry room. The tile setter experienced some difficulty with the shower floors, which was the main reason it took him so long to finish up the job. In our showers, we opted to have poured pans instead of the more common prefabbed acrylic pans. The tile setter originally had some problems with a leak in the master shower floor, and it failed to pass inspection with the building department. After some effort by the tile guy, he was able to fix the problem and pass the inspection. The tile work is all complete now, but I will have to have him come back to redo one of the shelves in the master bath, because I did not like the way it turned out.

Photos

Kitchen cabinets in.	Crown molding installed.	End panels on the oven cabinet.
The range hood.	Master bath shower.	Hall bath shower.

Posted by Mark in APO, AE on 3/16/2011 Mark's Forum Posts: 12 Interview Answers: 63 Average Forum Rating: 3.93 Mark's Selected Image 3/16/2011	Hey Mike, I'm curious why the corner wall cabinet is so close to the countertop. How do you intend to make use of the countertop below it? The house is looking great! Mark
Posted by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/16/2011 Mike's Forum Posts: 27 Journal Entries: 56 Interview Answers: 62 Average Forum Rating: 3.96 Mike's Selected Image 3/16/2011	Hi Mark, The corner cabinet will sit directly on top of the granite counter. They are sitting above the counter level now, because the carpenter left a space for the granite contractor to slip the countertop under. When the granite is all installed, the carpenter will drop them down.

Gutters, stone work, and decking

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/11/2011

With the exterior brick work done, the gutters and downspouts were installed on the house by Guaranteed Seamless Gutter out of Pueblo. In total, 376' of 5" gutters, and 178' of downspouts were installed on the house. The job took the workers 8 hours - the entire day - to complete. The gutters really make a difference in the appearance of the house, and the workers did a good job with them.

In the meantime, the masons started the stone work on the concrete retaining wall in the rear of the house. There are a lot of stones to set on the wall and it will probably take a full week to complete the job. Part of the wall was completed by the end of the first day and gave me a chance to see how the stone will look against the brick, and so far it looks very good.

In the rear of the house, the work on the deck continues, as more of the decking is being laid by the carpenter. The rear deck is fairly large, about 800 sf, and is multi-level, so the work is somewhat slow-going, but progress is being made. Right now about 70 percent of the decking is down, which is nice, because I no longer have to walk on the wood joists to get around on the deck. The other nice thing is I can now get started on the wrought iron railings, which will make it a much safer place back there.

All in all, a fair amount of progress was made this past week on the exterior of the house. Now I just need to find a company to get the stucco work done on the front of the house. I will be making some phone calls this week to get some bids on the job, and hopefully find a company that will do a good job for me.

Photos

Gutters are up!		Downspouts on the rear of the house.
Stone work on the rear retaining wall	Some of the rear deck complete.	Gutter and soffit returns on the front of the house.

The brick work is complete

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 3/4/2011

When I originally hired the masons back in October to do the brick work on the house, I was told the job would take 6-8 weeks to complete. Well, after 15 long weeks, they laid the last brick and the job is finally done. The last part of the house that they worked on was the large arched opening in the front of the house at the entry door. The arch over the entryway is fairly large and I was a little concerned about how that would turn out, but the mason did a good job and the arch looks good.

And, now that the brick is done, the last few jobs on the outside of the house can be completed - namely the gutters and the concrete flatwork. The gutter contractor, Guaranteed Seamless Gutters out of Pueblo, is scheduled to be out in a couple of days to install the gutters and downspouts. As soon as the gutters are installed, the concrete workers will start the driveway, sidewalks, rear patio, and the rest of the flatwork. After that, the only other thing to be done on the outside of the house, other than the landscaping, is to get the stucco done on the bay windows in the front of the house. I have a couple of bids on the job, but I still haven't hired anyone to do the work.

Photos

Brick work completed

Interior work continues.

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 2/16/2011

Not much going on with the outside of the house, but inside, the work continues. The tile setter has most of the tiles set in the bathrooms now, and the poured showers just passed inspection. Once the tile shower floors are done, the tile work will be pretty much complete (this should happen by the end of the week). Meanwhile, the hardwood flooring contractor finished up laying the hardwood. The floors are also stained and sealed with a coat of poly. Once the rest of the work in the house is complete, they will come back and put the finish coats on.

The trim carpenter was also here this week and started installing the kitchen and bathroom cabinetry. The cherry cabinets look good against the stained oak flooring, something I was worried about before seeing them together. A couple of issues did come up with the cabinets - one of the main bath cabinets is the wrong size and needs to be sent back, and the range hood blower is missing a part that is needed before it can be put up.

So, overall it has been a productive week so far, at least on the inside of the house. Hopefully, now that the weather is improving, the brick on the outside of the house will be completed by Friday, and the stone retaining wall on the back side of the house may be done by the end of next week.

Photos

The tile in the master shower.	Hardwood floor in the kitchen.	Design in the main entry - it mirrors the stepped ceiling above.
Flooring in the great room.	The great room fireplace is now complete. The mantel will be stained the same as the floor.	Some of the kitchen cabinets installed.
Some more cabinets.

Weather delays

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 2/6/2011

Because of the snow and cold that almost all of us have been experiencing lately, work on the house has been somewhat slow going. The brick work on the house is mostly complete except for the arched entry in the front of the house. There's not much left to do, but we're still waiting for some weather warm enough that the mortar won't freeze. Until the last bit of brick is done in the front of the house, the gutters will have to wait to be installed. Also, the cold weather is holding back the concrete contractor from finishing the flatwork on the outside of the house.So, right now the weather is dictating the pace of work on the outside of the house.

Inside the house it is a different story. The tile setter has done a fair bit of work on the tile work in the bathrooms, and now has the shower pans poured and waiting on inspection for those. The trim carpenter has as much of the trim up as he can do right now, and also has some of the doors hung. All he is waiting for is the wood floors to be finished, so he can complete his work. I'm still working on the ceiling crown moulding and am about halfway done with it. The wood flooring contractor started on the floors on Thursday and is also about halfway done. So far, everything is looking pretty good on the inside of the house.

During the few nice days of weather that we've had, I started another project involving the deck on the rear of the house. One of my goals with the deck was to have it dried in so that I would be able to have a finished ceiling on the underside of the deck, especially where the lower patio on the walk-out basement is located. Some added benefits of having a sealed/dry deck are that all the water from rain and snow will be carried away from the house and the foundation, and it will make all the decking joists last for a lifetime, since they will always be protected from the elements.

I spent some time looking at what my options were for sealing my deck and found that there were two ways of accomplishing my goal - under-deck drainage systems, and over-deck drainage systems. The under-deck waterproofing didn't appeal very much to me, since it limited the types of ceiling I could put under the deck, and they were generally very expensive - at $6K - $8K for my size deck. The waterproof systems installed on the top of the deck allowed more flexibility in regards to the ceiling I could place under the deck. Probably the best of these systems in the Rain Escape drainage system. This is a very nifty system, but again, for this size deck, I was looking at $4.5K - $5K, a little more than I was looking to spend.

After doing some more research, I came across a very economical deck drainage system from this website - deckmagazine.com/article/33. The simplicity and low cost of the system appealed to me, and I decided that this was a drainage system that I could install myself. The material that I used was a 40-mil EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer). This is a rubberized material most commonly used as a roofing and pond liner. Installation of the system was pretty straightforward, though time-consuming (mostly in cutting the material). The system is comprised mostly of troughs and returns that are formed under the decking to collect and carry away any water that should get under the decking. On the underside of the deck, a gutter and downspout are installed to collect the water from the troughs and carry it away from the house. Once installed though, the drainage system worked like a charm. All the areas under the deck should now be completely dry, and the deck joists will be protected from the elements and should last a lifetime (with proper maintenance).

Photos

The crown moulding is now installed in the dining room.	The crown in the stepped ceiling in the main entry.	The tile work in one of the secondary bathrooms.
The floor tile in the mud room started.	The rear deck drainage system.

Deck columns done

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 1/21/2011

The brick masons completed more brick work on the house this week and now have the deck columns in the back of the house done. The columns were the most challenging part of the brick work for the masons, but now that they are done, the only work they have left is the large arch in the front of the house. Unfortunately, due to the way the house is situated on the property, the arched area in the front of the house is in shadow for most of the day, except for the first couple of hours in the morning. This means that this area is almost always cold and below freezing most of the time, which makes it difficult to keep the mortar from freezing and setting right. Fortunately, this coming week is supposed to bring mid-fifties weather for several days in a row, and may allow a good window of opportunity for the masons to get that part of the house done. In addition to completing the deck columns in the back of the house, the masons have the brick fireplace in the great room almost completely done, and it turned out very nicely.

In the meantime, the tile setter arrived a couple of days ago and has most of the tile floors laid now, and should have the shower walls done sometime next week. I also have the trim carpenter at the house starting on the trim. He has all the shelving in the closets done right now, and is starting to hang some of the interior doors and working on the casing as well. While the trim carpenter was doing his thing, I continued on with my work on the crown moulding. I now have the kitchen, study, and main bath done. It's slow-going work, but I at least have a sizable dent in it now. I'm also going to try get the hardwood flooring contractor in sometime next week, but this will depend on his schedule and the availability of the oak flooring materials.

The next big project for me will be laying down the decking material and installing the metal railing. The lumberyard delivered the Moisture Shield decking planks last week, and they're sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. Before I put the decking down though, I have to get the under-deck waterproofing done first. I picked up the EPDM polyethylene material from the landscaping company a few days ago, and I now have to cut it to form the troughs between all the decking joists. I hope to get the entire 800 sf deck done by the end of next week, but I'll have to keep my fingers crossed on that one, depending on how quickly (or slowly) I can get the EPDM liner down.

Photos

The deck columns complete.		The brick around the garage is all done now as well.
The keystones above the garage doors	A closeup of one of the keystones.	The great room fireplace complete with herringbone feature.

Snow day

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 1/12/2011

Work on the house slowed down a bit the last couple of days as a snowstorm swept through  the area, dumping about 7 inches of fresh snow on the land. This is the first significant snowfall we've had in this area this winter. Although this area has fairly moderate winters, the lack of snowfall this year is a little unusual. Fortunately, the few mild days we had before the snow came allowed the masons to do a little more work on the exterior brick. At this point, they have the entire back of the house completed except for part of one column. Once the snow started falling, they moved to the inside of the house to start the brick work on the great room fireplace.

While the masons were busy working on the fireplace, I began work on the crown moulding that will run throughout the house. I have hired a trim carpenter to do the base moulding and the casing around the doors and the windows, but I have reserved the more detailed trim work like the crown and raised panel moulding for myself. Partly because I can save a significant amount of money doing it myself, but also I have a significant amount of experience installing trim moulding, and I am confident in my abilities to do a good job. On another note, the tile contractor will be starting on the tile work tomorrow, and hopefully, have all the tile work in the bathrooms and laundry completed within the next two weeks.

Photos

		Snow in the canyon just west of our property.
	The brick work on the rear of the house complete, except for part of one column.
The trim work was started with crown moulding in the kitchen.	The masons also started the brick work on the great room fireplace.

Glass block windows project

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 12/31/2010

Update on the current status of the project - the drywallers finished up last week and the walls are now ready for painting. The doors and trim have arrived from the lumber company, so the trim carpenter can get to work very soon. The tile guy has laid all the underlayment for the tile, and is just waiting for the tile to arrive before he can start setting them. A lot of my time has been tied up with cleaning inside the house now that the drywallers have left. The cleanup crew for the drywallers did a good job cleaning up the place, but there was still a lot of that fine powder on the floors from the sanding stage. This meant having to go over all the floors with my shop vac trying to get that powder off the floors.

Photos

The two glass block windows in the master bath.	The glass block window in the water closet. Wood trim will go around the window to finish it off.
The trim package has arrived. Still waiting for the casing though.	The brick work almost done on the back of the house, except for the columns.	Just washed brick on the front of the house. The bay windows will be have a stucco finish applied to them.

Some more brick work

Posted to Goodpasture by Mike in Westminster, CO on 12/16/2010 2:53:54 PM

The brick work on the house has been slow going, especially with the delay in the soffit work, but the end is slowly coming into sight. The masons have been steadily plugging away at the brick work and have about 70% of the house complete now. Hopefully, they will have all the exterior brick work on the house completed within about 2 1/2 weeks. Then they can start on the 14' high brick fireplace wall on the inside of the house, and when that is complete, move on to the stone retaining wall in the back of the house. If the weather stays good, all should proceed relatively smoothly.

Photos

The brick work meets the soffits	Nice, clean bricklaying around the soffits and eaves.	One of the rear deck columns capped off - there will be a total of 7 of these columns supporting the deck.
One of the bathroom windows showing the soldier column details.	One side of the house completed - three more to go.	How do you brick around an arched window? Like this.