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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 11/8/2008
Here it is November already and we have a new president! We are hopeful that the change will help with current economic conditions. Things are slow here for all of our subs (although my business has been booming) and they are all griping - even Paul the plumber - ha! The financial crisis is close - our bank is now out of the construction loan business. I guess we did this just in time - I hope that's the worst of it for us.
We've been busy with finishing up the kitchen addition so we can break through into the existing house. Right now our opening is where our sink and dishwasher are, and Susan doesn't want to hand wash dishes on the bathtub - so that is our mission now. We ordered our cabinets from Pinnacle and put them together - it was pretty easy - we installed the wood flooring and set the cabinets- had the fabricator come measure for the solid surface counter tops and primed and painted the room within two or three days. It was pretty amazing - they measured on Tuesday and delivered and installed it on Friday. It included a sink and back splash for free" (ha!). The marble medallion looks great set into the wood floor in there also.
Our boy Jonny is here to help with painting and to finish the Scagliola counter top and back splash for the master bedroom. He is also doing a wonderful wood-graining of our front door. He will also paint my mother's condo while he is here since we will be putting it up for sale soon. He has been with us about a week now, worse than a teenager, but we are somehow enjoying him and getting the help with things here.
Susan has worked really hard on the bathroom and it's looking great. Jon helped her with grouting the tile floor and painting. Jon and I got the steam shower bath put together and ready to install. I finished all of the wiring and plumbing and tied it in -(phone line and all) to the unit. It reminds me of a time machine. I'll have to post more pics of the bathroom in a few days as we will be adding the cabinets and counter tops - and our vessel sinks are due to arrive on Monday.
WHEW! I have sheetrock dust in every orifice and every thing we own is covered in it. AH - the beauty of living through this process - not quite as bad as renovating an 100 year old house (which I have done and living in it through the process - but pretty darn close! Soon come, mon!
PEACE!
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| View from the kitchen window |
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| Susan's barn view |
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| Sink and cool faucet _ great ebay find! |
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| rear entry and pantry |
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| Victor helping with the flooring - learning how to do it right because we will be doing the rest of it - |
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| looking in from the door to the kitchen, note medallion in floor |
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| Corner of kitchen area |
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| Wood graining the front door |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 10/22/2008 10:21:43 AM
Pretty exciting stuff here! We got insulation done last week, got our final plumbing and electrical rough-in inspections completed and the sheetrock hung over the past couple of days. The crew is here taping and mudding now - they should be done with the first two coats today, skim coat and touch-ups on Friday, the they will be back to sand and finish on Monday and Tuesday next week.
So now the real fun begins for us with flooring, painting and trim to begin as soon as possible. We were going to have our friend Jon come up and paint and help us here for a week or two, but he's in jail. He was supposed to get 15 days of work release and we have been trying to get it transferred up here to our little county jail, but, for now, he's in the SLAMMER in the big city of Richmond. Not much fun for him, and we don't get the help. Losing all the way around on that one.
More to follow.....
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| Stairs going up |
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| Great Room end wall |
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| Great Room Front wall |
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| Great room back wall |
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| Master bedroom 1 |
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| Master bedroom 2 |
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| Shower framed in |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 10/15/2008
So, the leaves are changing and the weather is cooling down - actually, it was 85 here today, but cool nights and clear skies. Perfect time to close up the house - so that;s what we are doing.
We have had the plumbing system finished and inspected and electrical rough-in was passed today. Pretty close call considering that the insulators were here putting it in when the inspector arrived. These inspectors in this county have been a pure pleasure to deal with. Very helpful and informative!
Susan has been working really hard on the bathroom - got the hardie backer down for the tile floor she's doing, and as soon as the drywall goes up on Friday, she will be setting the tile. Her parent s are coming this weekend and she wants to get that done. We have to assemble the tub now that the soffit for it has been built and begin to hook it up. We are both so looking forward to our first steam shower/bath in it. We hope by Mid-November.........
Our friend Jon the painter is coming to stay with us for a little while to help with painting and setting his scagliola for the bathroom. We hope he will be able to make a matching scag back splash and some detail pieces to add to the bathroom.
Still waiting on color choice for the outside of the house. We will try and decide in the next few days/ - Stay tuned for more/
Photos
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| Main Electrical Service entrance |
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| OUr glass block window |
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| Our discount medallion - found at auction for $ 70.00 |
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| Our tankless water heater |
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| Our new front door (not yet installed) |
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| Tile trial |
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| Our quarter round windows mounted differently on our master bedroom bed wall. |
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| Our main mountain view with leaves changing color |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 9/25/2008 11:36:50 AM
Thursday, September 25, 2008
1:28:48 PM
Fall is here and we are moving right along with the project. We have begun some renovation of the existing house along with the building of the new - we are really enjoying living through it! Susan's been a real trooper hanging in with all that's happening and the associated drafts, noise and mess. I guess that's part of why I married her!
So, John and his crew have been here for the past couple of weeks and we've been getting the siding done and more. It has just started raining here and they are moving on inside to work on framing the pantry in our kitchen addition and finish the headers over the windows and doors.
The gas man is here today running the new gas lines and installing our new Rinnai tank less water heater. Then I will be able to tie in the plumbing and get ready for that inspection. The inspector has passed our framing and HVAC - and I picked her brain about the electrical and realized that I have a couple of thing s to fox with that. The insulation crew should be here to spray foam the attics and under the kitchen addition (since it is on piers) sometime early next week. The fiberglass insulation installers should be right behind them and then we will be on to sheet rock.
Oh yeah, we went to a building supply auction across the mountain a couple of weeks ago and got some great deals on several things; a very contemporary glass and stainless range hood - about 1/3 of regular price - oak handrail and a newel post for our stairs, a wonderful 3 x 3 marble medallion, contemporary glass mirrors for the master bath, some wall sconces and a few other small things - we probably saved about $700.
More to come - enjoy the pictures!
Photos
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| The front of the house with the siding done and the half-round window installed at the top. |
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| A piece of our beautiful Hickory flooring. |
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| The back of the house/ Siding going up |
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| The second floor side - our wierd windows |
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| Sunset through the glass |
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| Sunset next to our main mountain view from the bedroom |
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| Back end of house |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 9/15/2008 6:32:57 AM
Well, here we are in the middle of September and we are finally getting close to insulation and drywall stage. John and his crew are back after a 6 week break, and they have begun putting up the siding and other miscellaneous framing work to get us ready for the framing inspection later this week. I am doing the last of the electrical work and supply line plumbing (PEX) this week and hope that we can have all of the necessary inspections done by the end of this week. I have the spray foam crew scheduled to come and spray the attics and the joist bands next Tuesday.
Part of our slowdown on the project was due to the fact that Susan was able to find a renter for her house in Richmond and so we moved her up here at the very end of August and we have been doing a lot of sorting and unpacking and repacking to accomodate her (and her cats and horse). We are very happy to have her here, but it is a bit tight right now. We are trying to do some renovation of the house at the same tme we are workign on the new addition and havfing to continually move things around as we accomplish this goal. For example, we are beginnning to cut through from the old kitchen to the new kitchen addition, but the cut-though goes right through where the kitchen sink and dishwasher currently reside. Going through some of this will be very awkward and may require us to eat out for a couple of weeks. (SHUCKS!)
We were going to pre-paint the sding before it went up, but due to all of the other things happening, we haven't made our final decision on the color and still doing some research on proper paint techniques for the Hardie siding. We had found a drak green that we like, but I am still having some reservations about using such a dark color on the house. Since we are doing very little trim on the outside of the house, there will only be the outside of the vinyl windows (white) and so we want to add color - as opposed to using a neutral gray or something similar..... Anyone have a recommendation on a brand of paint that wokrs well on Hardie. We have been thinking Duron or Pittsburgh paints.
We went to a buiding supply auction across the mountain this past weekend and found some bargains. We got oak handrail for about half the regular price, a newel post for $35, a fancy, contemporary glass range hood for about 1/4 of what they sell for normally, a frosted glass Pantry door, some light fixtures and some odds and ends. They had kitchen cabinet sets, but they weren't the greatest bargain. We have decided to purchase RTA cabinets from a company called Pinnacle Home Products, who also has ceiling fans and some other items at greatly discounted prices. We ordered a sample of their premium cabinet line and love the quality and finish on it - it is the Rustic Tuscanny - kinda looks like knotty alder! We will get all of the cabinets we need ( a lot!) with the discount and free shipping for around $4500.
That's it for now - I will add more soon, as work has picked up again and we should be seeing major changes over the next few weeks as siding gets finished, insulation goes in and sheetrock gets put up. Stay tuned for more!
Photos
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| The whole house from the back - I wish it was the front! |
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| The deck end of the house with siding on. What color?????? |
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| The deck off of our MAster bedroom from below |
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| The kitchen addition from the back. |
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| Getting ready to cut through from the old kitchen into the new. |
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| The low-voltage wiring panel going in.. |
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| The tub base for our steam shower! We went to an auction this past weekend and saw many similar steam shower and tub units - they were going for more than twice what we found this one for on Craigs List!
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| Susan desparately trying to sweep the deck clean! |
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| The whole house from the front corner - kind of! |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 7/30/2008
So, I finally made a decision on HVAC (after much research) and we contracted a local company to do the install. I signed the contract on a Thursday morning and they were out delivering ductwork that same afternoon! So, in just over a week, they have almost completed the rough-in of the ductwork. They delivered the air handler for the upstairs system yesterday and will be installing that today. Moving along nicely!
Also, I made a decision on the roofer. We ended up going with a local guy who has been in the business for many years. What I like about him, is that he hand nailed all of the shingles instead of using a nail gun. More control and better result! It did cost a little bit more than the other guys, but he did a fabulous job and now we have shingles on our roof!
So, now the real work for me begins, as I wil be doing all of the electric wiring, the supply line plumbing work, and, of course, all of the low-voltage wiring. I will also be roughing in for a central vacuum system. I'm hoping to get all of this done and inspections so that we can try and get insulation and sheetrock done by the end of August!
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| The new shingles on the old part of the house. |
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| Back of house - showing shingles |
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| The second floor ductwork |
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| The basement main trunk line |
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| Our "Bargain" master bath vanity - |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 7/17/2008 8:50:57 AM
Its been slow out here for the past week but HVAC and roofers will be coming soon. We finally made a decision on the contractors. And we have our friend Jon here this week making us a scagliola countertop for the bathroom. If it works out we'll have him do some matching accent tiles as well as some work in the kitchen. Its a cool process to watch. He will add the rebar for support and pour the back today. We should be able to see the finished product by this afternoon. I can't wait
Photos
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| the mold |
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| jon |
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| the colors |
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| the sample |
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| leftover slurry |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 7/17/2008
The countertop is really coming along nicely
Photos
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 6/30/2008
Well, we took a short break from the construction to get married. A beautiful thing! We had family from all over the country -- from as far as Alaska, here for the wedding -- and, of course, house tours!
Everyone remarked how big the house will be when finished and how they loved the layout. The views of the mountains were clear and spectacular that day they were all here. It was also a perfect summer wedding, with the weather cooperating marvelously!
So, while Susan and I were on a very short honeymoon in the mountains, the framing crew was busy putting on the deck. We actually had a KFC picnic out on the deck on Thursday night. On Friday they began installing windows and doors and continued with that again today. They will be working through Wednesday this week - getting the rest of the windows done and putting up the soffit and roof trim boards. They will be taking off for a few weeks to frame another house and then come back to do our siding and exterior trim at the end of July.
I have gotten two bids on roofing - they are about $1,200 different, so I am calling for a third bid tomorrow. We have been struggling with making the right choices for HVAC systems and will wait to get a couple of additional quotes before we make our final decision. I know that we will be using a small heat pump for the 2nd floor (master bedroom suite) - a 1 1/2 ton unit - and a second dual-fuel unit with electric AC and propane gas for heat - probably a 3 1/2-ton for the basement and first floors. Susan's brother has a friend in the wholesale HVAC business who has offered to sell us equipment at wholesale pricing, but finding someone who is capable to design and fabricate the proper ductwork and who can setup the HVAC units - if I buy them wholesale. I anticipate having a hard time finding someone who will work with us on this basis, but I am still trying.
Since we are tight on budget, Sears is another option for HVAC we are looking into since they also offer attractive financing options. Unfortunately, they can't get someone out to see me for almost two weeks! It may be too late, since we are under roof and I need to know where the equipment and ducting is going so I can begin supply line plumbing and electrical and low-voltage wiring.
I have been researching hardwood flooring, tankless water heaters, radiant floor heating, foam insulation, and HVAC. WHAT FUN!
I ran into an old friend of mine who is owner-building a project down the road from me in Afton, VA. I was able to help her out with her low-voltage wiring (my business) and they will be selling me their leftover electrical and plumbing supplies. Hi Kathy and Don!
That's it for now -- a glass or two of Barboursville Merlot is sounding pretty good to me right now!
Photos
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| The deck is on and some windows in! |
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| The deck from the back of the house. |
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| Great Room front wall w/windows. |
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| Susan's special window over the door to the deck from the great room. |
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| The big Jeld-Wen window in the great room. |
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| New basement floor. |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 6/15/2008
OK, so I am taking it a little bit easy this morning. Waiting for my teenage son to wake up and help his old man out with a good, old-fashioned job site cleanup.
This past week was not nearly as hot here as it had been the week and weekend before. The framing crew is really cranking it out and so the crane came on Friday morning and we set roof trusses for the big addition. The only issue we had (not a problem, really) was that the crane couldn't get perfectly level and so could not put on his last extension. So, when we went to set the first truss (the back gable end truss w/overhang built on), it was just a foot or so short of reaching -- so we had to lift, push, shove, the beast until we could move it into place and secure it. It is almost 50 feet down to the ground from there and really scary for me... but we got it done. The rest of the trussed went up in a snap with no problems at all. We were finished in about three hours!
I have met with several HVAC companies, and called back a very local company again, as I felt they were only company that seemed to take the time to actually engineer and design based on the proper criteria. I had met with a HVAC design engineer and consultant the previous week who got me a bit more up to speed on systems, design and engineering. Every other HVAC company I spoke with seemed to be just guessing at sizes and loads and throwing out a figure. So, I plan on trying to get one more reputable company to give me a full design and price. I need to make a decision about the HVAC as soon as I get back from our very short honeymoon...
The plumber is coming on Monday and we hope to get the ground plumbing done and inspected by Tuesday afternoon. Then I h |