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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 3/17/2009 7:11:19 AM
So - here we are and did beware the ides of March. We finally finished sanding and finishing the new hickory floors that we put into the old part of the house. WHEW! Now we are beginning to install the new kitchen cabinets from Pinnacle that we ordered. They have been assembled for a month or so, but we had to wait for the floors to be done to put them into place. We just ordered the final trim and filler pieces yesterday, so we hope to have all of the cabinets installed and the new cooktop hooked up and working in a week or so. We have the new range hood (auction special - $100) hung and now I need to hook up the vent and run it through the wall. We decided to go ahead and renovate the first floor bathroom while we are doing everything else - so we tore out the old vanity and sink so Susan could tear out the floor and begin her tiling work. We found a vanity with sink on closeout at Lowe's (was $159 on sale for $39) and we bought a new high toilet, bath exhaust fan and light assembly, vanity light and towel bar and toilet paper holder - so we are going through that right now as well. I will bring in the HardieBacker board and get that cut this morning so Susan can get her tile work done. We found some marble tiles on sale for $1.98 each - and since we only need about 30 tiles - we went with them.
It's beginning to warm up here, so it's time to start getting some outside work done. I took the old tiller to a neighbor with a shop and he got it running nice for $35, so I have a $50 tiller to begin landscaping and setting up the gardening beds. I am really excited as I have not been able to garden for many years, I've been poring over all of the seed catalogs with absolute garden envy!
I've posted a few pictures for you to see the progress.
Ciao!
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| Sanding the floors |
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| Our bargain range hood |
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| new floor in office/hall |
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| The new cabinets set in place |
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| Bathroom destruction |
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| Wall oven wall |
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| Floor - Hickory |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 2/24/2009 8:57:55 AM
I'll try again to catch up our latest news from the hillside.
We are a large part finished (live-able) in the additions with the exception of having the electrical complete. We are now renovating the old portion of the house. We just finished laying the rest of the hickory flooring throughout the old office, hallway, kitchen and dining room. It's amazing that we still have a LOT of flooring leftover -- we're thinking of selling it to make back some money that we can allocate towards something else, but may keep enough to do the office/guest bedroom area if we decide to make it into a dining room.
We just tore out the other wall of the old kitchen and have been re-wiring and preparing to install the cabinets. We got a real "deal" on a bar sink that we will install, so I have a small amount of plumbing work to do before the cabinets go in. We went to an auction in Fishersville a couple of weeks ago and bought three doors for the master bath, closet and bedroom. We ended up getting two solid fir four-panel doors for $100 each and a cool solid wood door with a unique panel shape for $80. We have John (our framer!) coming tomorrow to hang the doors and do some other work for us. Then I get to kick his butt on the golf course on Thursday!
The sanding and the finishing of the floors is looming in the next week or so -- a daunting task and one I don't look forward to. It's very tedious with all of the cleaning and sanding and cleaning and coating and sanding and coating etc... but we'll get through it. I'm looking forward to warmer weather to get back to some outside work -- landscaping, final grading, deck rails and such -- we need to get some grass planted!
Here are a few photos, with the promise to post more in the next couple of weeks as we get more and more done!
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| Hallway almost done |
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| In the thick of it |
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| The stack is getting smaller! |
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| Looking towards the front door |
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| Wall oven wall |
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| Other end of the hall |
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| looking towards the great room |
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| from the great room in to the hall |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 1/30/2009
Ok, the holidays bit is kind of hard and I was slack in my duties, both as a home builder and as a blogger! I promise to do better - my new year's resolution for '09.
So here it is late January and we are back to work again, this past week has been starting the renovation of the old part of the kitchen. We designed, measured and designed again, and finally came up with what we wanted. Ordered RTA cabinets again from Pinnacle Products -- the same model of cabinets we put together and installed for the kitchen addition. So, we tore out the old cabinets against one wall and decided to tear out the old sheetrock to facilitate rewiring for the wall oven and outlets along with speakers and a volume control (of course) to sit on top of the wall cabinet. We brought in one box at a time and assembled the first two cabinets -- the large pantry cabinet and the wall oven cabinet -- the two biggest cabinets we had. These cabinets took a bit more time and a little struggle to get put together than the smaller cabinets. HINT -- if you;re going to do RTA cabinets, have plenty of wood glue and some clamps, and a few weights to keep things straight)
After a bit of re-alignment for the outlets and wall oven receptacle, the rest went in fine -- unfortunately, one of the glass doors on one cabinet came out of the box broken, but they are sending us a new one. Pinnacle has been great to work with! So one wall of our kitchen renovation is done.
We found great deals on appliances at the Sears scratch and dent warehouse in Richmond. We were looking for (but didn't think we could afford) a stainless steel, five-burner cooktop and a wall oven of some sort. We ended getting a nice Jenn-Air wall oven and a Bosch burner gas cooktop for under $1,200. We were pretty happy, and we finally got the parts for the washer and dryer we had bought there back in November. Now we can finally attach the appliances to the pedestal stands and hook up the washer (we've been using the new dryer already. They are both Kenmore He2 models BTW).
We've been finishing the master bathroom slowly, after we eventually solved our small leak with amazing shower. I still have not completed the electrical work necessary to get final inspections done and so we are still living off of extension cords in the great room and up in the master suite. We had found on Craigslist a ventless gas log fireplace for $60 back in the fall, and the gas was in place and working, so we have done well with keeping warm between the two stoves, one in the basement as well.... We just picked up a chestnut mantel from Lowe's (reg $549 -- on sale for $189 ) and put it together together tonight together. AND installed the fireplace into it to dress up the room. It is rather large and we may reconsider... we'll see !
SO, I MUST FINISH THE ELECTRICAL THIS WEEK!
Enjoy the pictures and stay tuned...
Photos
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| Cool faucet we found on ebay - only $300 and super heavy duty! Great buy for us!
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| The shower, almost finished and working! |
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| One of my old radios in the great room looking towards the front of the house.
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| New kitchen cabinets in renovated old part of kitchen. |
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| Another view of above. |
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| Our new "temporary" spice cabinet... |
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| Another shot of the master bath... getting there.?!?!? |
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| My son working hard -- at playing video games... |
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| Fireplace and mantel. |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 12/17/2008 8:00:23 AM
Wow - it's been a while since we posted here -
Here it is in early December and we have the rush on to get moved into our new bedroom so we'll have a place for Susan's daughter when she comes home from college for Xmas break.
We do have the new kitchen sink and dishwasher installed and we have cut through from the old to the new on that side. It is nice not to have to walk out and around to get into the new kitchen area.
So we have been flooring for the past couple of weeks, We had bought some 2600 sq. ft of Hickory flooring (not pre-finished) and Susan and I have been moving the wood, laying it, sanding it and finishing it for what seems like forever. We are finally down to the final fine sanding and putting on the final coats of poly. We are using the water-based poly in the great room and bedroom, but ended up with oil-based in the kitchen area, due to my lack of glasses while at Lowe's (getting old means not seeing things very well). So we are now waiting on the final coat to dry in there, while fine sanding the other floors to put on the final coats of the water-based tonight. We have been slowly moving Susan's things out of storage and it's like Xmas for her, getting to see her things after having been in storage since August.
The trim carpenters are finishing up the last bit of trim in the bedroom, bathroom and great room today - also, hopefully putting up the shelves in the pantry (if the floor dries enough) so we can begin putting some things away in there. I have a bunch of electrical work to complete, so I will be all over that today.
We will have some more finished photos and more to report as of this weekend - so I will post more then...
Photos
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| Glass block wall in the master bathroom |
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| New kitchen sink with the awesome faucet... this guy sells these amazing faucets for less than $300 on eBay |
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| Our steam shower/whirlpool tub installed
We can't wait to get in and use it - water is ready, but waiting on power switchover to use steam, etc. |
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| Late fall view out of the kitchen window... mountains appear to be getting larger! |
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| Faux wood grain on "cheap" front door |
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| Bath countertop with vessel sinks and faucets installed - counter made by our faux finisher -it's called Scagliola |
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| Kitchen floor after first coat of poly |
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| Great room with a coat of paint and the flooring waiting to be installed |
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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 in 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 countertops 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 backsplash 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 countertop and backsplash 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 countertops - and our vessel sinks are due to arrive on Monday.
WHEW! I have sheetrock dust in every orifice and everything we own is covered in it. AH - the beauty of living through this process - not quite as bad as renovating a 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, then 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 HardiBacker 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 backsplash 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 Ssrvice entrance |
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| Our glass block window |
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| Our discount medallion - found at auction for $70 |
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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
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 trouper 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 tankless 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 things 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 sheetrock.
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 3x3 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 weird 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 accommodate 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 time we are working on the new addition and having to continually move things around as we accomplish this goal. For example, we are beginning 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 siding 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 dark 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 works well on Hardie? We have been thinking Duron or Pittsburgh paints.
We went to a building 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 Tuscany - kinda looks like knotty alder! We will get all of the cabinets we need (a lot!) with the discount and free shipping for around $4,500.
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 Craig's List! |
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| Susan desperately 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 will 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
It's 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. It's 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.
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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 second 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 trusses 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 have the concrete guys coming to prepare and pour the basement slab on Thursday. The framers will be moving on to the stick-built hip roof for the kitchen addition on Monday, and hopefully will get all of the doors and windows set this week as well!
WHEW, enough for now, I was waiting for my pipe and slippers and breakfast in bed -- but guess it's not happening this Father's Day. Hope all of you other fathers get better service from your kids today!
Photos
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| Week two of framing -- from the back of the house... |
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| Kitchen addition from the driveway. |
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| You can sort of see the whole house from this angle. |
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| Here is the mountain view from our bedroom window. |
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| The crane setting the last roof truss. |
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| Trusses nearly done. |
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| Trusses are up! |
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| Another of my Craigslist bargains.
A Troy-Bilt Pony tiller -- works great,
thirty dollars!
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 6/11/2008
The framing crew is now in their second week of framing and the structure is really beginning to take shape. They took about a day to build the floor and walls for the kitchen/laundry room addition. They are now building the walls for the master bedroom suite. Everything is going along on schedule pretty well. The framer told me that he has ordered the crane for this Friday morning to lift and set the roof trusses for the big addition. The kitchen addition will get a stick-built hip roof instead of using trusses and that will go on next week. The framers also told me that their next job got delayed. so they will move right on into setting windows and doors and then siding and exterior trim, so we will be ahead of schedule on some things.
I had the septic tank pumped and cleaned yesterday and he marked the pipe from the house -- so today I will dig around it so that we will be ready to do the ground plumbing for the big addition early next week. I hope to be able to get the concrete pad poured next week as well. I have not mentioned that we are getting married on June 23rd; so my hope is to have the concrete pad done by that time, so as we give tours to visiting family members, we can take them into the new basement.
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| Looking up at the new back wall of the house... |
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| Looking pretty tall... |
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| From the back. |
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| Another look from the back. |
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| The kitchen/laundry room addition from the driveway. |
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| Looking down on the kitchen addition from the back window of the great room. |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 5/30/2008 8:23:47 AM
Well, the block work is done. The guys did a fantastic job and the crew was great to work with. If anyone in the Central Virginia area is looking for masonry work - I highly recommend Moore Masonry. On-time, on-schedule and on-budget and very easy to work with!
My framers have started on the floor framing for our great room and I expect we will get to setting a wall or two today as well. My hands are cut and sore from splinters and nails. I had to tear off part of the old deck and dig a footer for a pier at the back corner of the house where the new kitchen addition is going on. I wanted to get that done so the masons could set a pier there for me before they finished up (yesterday). I think I will invest in a good quality pair of working gloves to protect my hands, because playing keyboards is hard with my hands hurting from the cuts.
We are also having a container delivered this morning to handle all of the trash and debris leftover from the building process. Very exciting stuff. Unfortunately, we are expecting rain this weekend, so I probably won't be renting the Bobcat excavator this weekend. I have a lot of dirt to move around and also some trenching to do for the electric and water lines for the irrigation system and also to our new "Tiki Lounge" patio area at the bottom of the yard. Hopefully it will be dry enough next week to get that done.
More to follow...
Photos
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| Block work complete on front wall of main addition. |
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| Block work from below. |
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| First sill boards going on. |
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| Piers for the kitchen/laundry room and pantry addition. |
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| The old deck gets torn off! |
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| The floor for the new Great room goes in! |
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| New floor from office window. |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 5/24/2008
Found a great resource for windows in Virgina... BSS, Builders Salvage and Surplus, in Fredricksburg, VA. We got some great deals on Jeld-Wen, plus more. Highly recommend them... ask for Victor. They also have surplus columns, cabinets, etc. worth the drive. Today we picked up a wonderful arched window that we forgot on our last window, but also found the KraftMaid vanity for our master bath. We had priced this at Home Depot... huge savings here!
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| The Vanity! |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 5/22/2008 3:10:35 PM
It's beginning to look a lot like a structure now... this is after two days of work. I expect they will probably end up finishing up next Tuesday, since Monday is Memorial Day. They also still have to lay some block for the piers that the kitchen addition will be built on. Progress feels good and the timing is working out well since John (our framing contractor) is just finishing up his other job... I expect he'll be framing here by the end of next week. I am motivated now, so Alex and I will be tearing out a couple of doors and walls to allow for temporary access to the new great room. Whew-hoo! Maybe going back to BSS for some more windows and doors also...
Keep following and I'll keep posting!
Photos
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| Beginning to look like a real foundation!
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| Alex loving it -- new Music room! |
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| Doors and windows? |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 5/22/2008
We have cleared hundreds of trees and regained our mountain views...
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| From the front porch. |
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| From the back parking area.
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| Trees being buried in ground. |
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 5/21/2008 3:33:08 PM
Well, after much delay in getting going, it looks as if we will finally close on our construction to permanent loan next week. After getting all of the budget work done by verbal quotes and average construction cost estimating calculations for my area, the loan officer told me he would need the written bids for all of my budget items. Well - that took an extra three and a half weeks of constant telephone and meetings with subs, many of them who never could provide me with a written estimate or quote.
So, me, having no patience decided to go ahead and get started. After checking with the loan officer and the title company, we cleared about an acre of small to medium-size cedar trees and opened up our view of the Blue Ridge. ( I can't wait to see what the views from the third floor master suite will be like!) Back in early April, after double-checking with the county, I found out that my setback from the property line was 10 feet farther than I had planned on -- requiring a redesign of the kitchen addition. Subsequently, I acquired the building permit for the main addition and will add on as soon as we finalize the kitchen addition plans.
Anyway, here it is May 21st and the block is just staring to go up for the three-story addition on the west end of the house. We decided to build off the back of the house for the kitchen addition -- and to build on piers to avoid having to deal with the buried electrical and telephone lines that come in on that corner of the existing house. WHEW!
More to follow soon...
Photos
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| First day of block work. |
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| Block goes up!
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| New basement!
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Posted to Victor--Susan-08 by Victor in Ruckersville, VA
on 1/19/2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
10:02:57 AM
Susan and I have decided to build an addition on to my house here in Ruckersville, instead of trying to sell both of our houses and buy something new. So, I have decided to start this blog to share with our friends and family of how our project goes -- from planning and designing to final completion. Stay tuned for more!
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