week 17: petal to the metal

A lot of metal work and plumbing and electrical mods going on this past week.

paper, lathe, and stone

On the metalwerk side, the stucco sub has been slowly but surely turning the house black with building paper and "chicken wire" in anticipation of stucco. They've also been installing drip screed, expansion joints, and top joints. It all looks good and straight.

We can tell that they're getting close to applying stucco since they are setting up scaffolding all around the house in preparation. This week?

The stucco sub is also responsible for installing the limestone panels on the front of the house and has been prepping the surface for that:

He's using a finer lath (chicken mesh) for this. I guess the limestone panels will, in part, be "glued" (thinset) to the wall.

Because a steel ledge (a lentel) wasn't specified on the plans, one wasn't installed (surprise! surprise!). This created a problem in that there was nothing to support the limestone panels, originally spec'd at 2 1/4 inches. The solution? Get thinner panels at 1 1/8 inches that don't require a lentel. The thinner panels also help deal with with the reveal of the edge of the window on the left above (a thicker panel was going to cause asymmetry in the reveal on either side of the window). The thinner panels cost more ($800 bucks more), but they solve the problem.

plumbing adjustments

The plumber was back out to make some changes and install the in-wall toilet and plumbing for the showers and baths. Here's the in-wall toilet:

Looks like he had to cut through the wall to install this baby:

Not ideal, but it's in and it feels solid. The plumber recommended that the inside wall be sheathed in Hardy rather than drywall since it will support the cantilevered toilet better. Hardy would require tile. This would be fine with us since we were already thinking we should put tile there.

The plumber also installed the tub in the upstairs bathroom (complete with water!):

The outdoor faucets shut-off valve is moved to under the sink instead of instead of in the backsplash of the bar (the "Suds and Buds Room" we call it):

He also installed the valve for the master tub, which looked at first blush too low, but the tub is only 19.5 inches tall, so that valve is just fine:

And he installed installed the ceiling tub spout:

Hard to see it because it's covered in tape (to keep the spiders out?).

mo wires

The electrician came and ran cable and CAT5 (we switched the phone line out for CAT5 [thanks for the tip, Beaker Bro!]). Here's the central repository in the pantry:

The electrician also installed (most of) the art cans, although this one (at the far end) should be lined up with all the other cans:

mo metal

The standing seam metal roof was installed:

It looks real sharp!

Also noticed that there is now a locking doorknob on the garage. Nope, we do not (yet) have a key...

even mo metal

I collected this pile of metal earlier today from around the perimeter of the house. This is all from the past week! I'm convinced the workday starts with someone spreading nails about the property like grass seed...

treats!

Afterwards, we checked out Verts, a former food trailer gone brick and mortar that serve up Berlin-styled kebaps (yes, I spelt that correctly...). We went with a native from Germany and a lady named Gretchen (not from Germany). That's a hefeweizen in the background. A delicious one!

to come...

Working to install guides for the speakers, figure out security, and decide on a central vacuum (bid came in some $800 more than the hefty allowance...). Will also be working to solidify plans for the hardscape, ordering the lights, and finalizing the cabinets (more on that later). Lots to do! Lots to do!