week 40: schedule, gas, fence, power pole, backsplash, rails, horno

the white house

The sweetheart down the street (she's 93) told me the other day that she and the neighbors refer to our house as "The White House". I guess that makes sense since the house is (ahem) rather white. Bright white, actually. She says she brags to her friends that she knows someone in the white house.

One challenge of taking photos in the house (as you know, it's mostly white on the inside as well) is that sometimes (about 25 percent of the time) I can't get the camera to auto focus, so I have to go rogue (manual), at which point I see why the auto focus has a heck of a time because I have a heck of a time as well. Everything blurs together into infinity. It's rather calming...

the schedule

Not posting a schedule anymore because the schedule is, sadly, a bit uncertain at the moment. That's a bit miffing, especially since we put in our two months notice to vacate on our rental a couple weeks ago based on a recently determined June 7th completion date. Then a week ago we went from "June 7th" to "maybe the end of June". Maybe? The builder says he'll have a better idea after this week. One issue is that it takes up to five days to get an inspection once you put in for one. I noted that there has to be something to inspect before an inspection can occur, and we're not there yet.

We're on the street after July 7th...

we've got gas

And not just from eating at the Texas Chili Parlor. We missed getting a photo of the big hole to connect our gas line to the street. Still not connected to the house yet...

rear fence

The rear fence is partially up, and it looks pretty darn good. Really complements the rest of the place.

power pole

I don't know if it was my pep talk or not, but the electricians finally started finishing the electric.  I think part of the delay was the light guy not putting in our order for lights, so they are arriving later than they should (and somewhat randomly). About a month ago he sent us a note that the light for the pantry was back ordered until late June. We said "That ain't gonna work. What's an alternative?" and was greeted with dead silence. After a week of no response, I bought a light at IKEA and sent him a note to cancel the light order for the pantry, to which he responded "No can do: That light was special ordered and it's now in-house." Thanks for letting me know, buddy...

So for the lights still missing, the electricians have either put in placeholders or blank plates so they can get the go-ahead from the city to turn the power on.

The curly-Q is a holder for a directional art light in the master:

Here's one of the several plates in the house (behind which are wires stubbed off with wire connectors) waiting for final light fixtures to arrive.

Here's the power pole at the garage:

There are three circuit boxes on the property: the one above on the garage, the one outside the house where the wires come out of the ground, and the one in the pantry. That's a lot of boxes!

Here's the doorbell chime (this is one of those all-white photos where it was hard to focus...):

And outside is the doorbell:

And there it is on the approach:

The architects originally had it centered under the window, but that wasn't going to work with the in-wall toilet in that wall under that window. Ditto on the plug. Aesthetically, that would have been better, but here we are...

Here's the CO detector:

And here's the lights in the garage (in battle formation):

Yea-haw! The house looks ready for the "soft electrical" permit, although the floor plugs aren't stubbed off. Not sure if they forgot or are coming back. We shall see...

jumpin' jack backsplash (it's a gas, gas, gas!)

The backsplashes are in, and they look grand!

railing against the world

The beginnings of the railing upstairs has gone in:

horno arrival

The horno arrived, and we are glad to have a horno at the house. A house is not a house without a horno at it. Hornos are warm, cuddly, and ours has a blue plug in its rear. Sweet! Horno love!

Another photo of that shower drain

a visitor...

punch list

There is still a lot to do...

black = builder
orange = us
gray and crossed = done!

master bedroom:
- art can (partial)
- seal outside door
- outside door hardware
- plugs in bedside tables
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills
   - door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop

master closet:
- light
- hanger poles (partial)
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sill
   - door hardware

master bath:
- faucets
- toilet
- tub
- shower faucets
- tub spout
- tub faucet
- mirror
- vanity lights
- above tub light cover
- drawer plug
- drawer adjusts
- switch cover in toilet room
- touch up tile trim
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sill
   - door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
   - pocket door hardware

master hall:
- thermostat
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop

buds and suds:
- faucet
- LED lights
- backsplash
- plug cover
- counter plug electric
- light
- cab adjusts
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sill
   - pocket door hardware

rear entry (hee hee!):
- CO detector
- art can (partial)
- level door
- thermostat
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop

pantry:
- hot water control
- cable/data hookups
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop

kitchen:
- peninsula wood
- back splash
- cooktop electric
- cooktop gas
- fridge
- oven/microwave
- dishwasher
- LEDs
- cab adjusts
- sink faucet
- potfiller
- seal countertop edges
- hood
- hood top cap
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

dining:
- art cans (partial)
- paint pillars
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
- crystal

living:
- speakers
- art can (partial)
- LEDs
- touch up cabs
- cab pulls
- seal upper windows to wood?
- floor plugs
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

entry:
- light switch covers
- door bell chime
- door knob
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows

coat closet:
- pole
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor

powder:
- sink
- light
- mirror
- toilet
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- toilet button
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean window
   - seal sill

office:
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - polish floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

stairwell:
- missing plug
- treads
- hand rail
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - clean windows

romeo landing and hall:
- railing (partial)
- floor plug
- thermostat
- gas to furnace
- ceiling switch covers
- cans
- pendant lights
- door hardware for utility closet
- switch cover
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - install wood floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

guest bed:
- closet pole
- closet doors
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- closet door hardware
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - install wood floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

guest bath:
- faucet
- mirror
- light
- tub faucet
- can light
- shower rod
- toilet
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - clean windows

work out room:
- door hardware
      - knob
      - doorstop
- ERV cover?
- closet bars
- light
- closet light
- the standards:
   - touch-up paint
   - install wood floor
   - clean windows
   - seal sills

garage:
- garage door
- entry door
- entry door hardware
- garage door opener
- stain floor
- switch cover
- lights
- faucet
- back light

outside:
- faucet by master
- plug by master
- cable
- plug by condenser
- water heater
- gutters
- gas meter
- gas connection
- clean up clean out
- wire to outdoor light
- window bottom at front
- window bottom at back
- entry plug
- doorbell
- seal limestone to door
- roof over limestone
- carport faucet
- paint eyebrows
- seal to cypress?
- clean roof

landscaping:
- north side fence Sol
- north side fence fancy
- gate side fence
- gate
- south side fence Sol
- south side fence fancy
- rear fence
- white gravel in back
- mulch in back
- pavers
- grasscrete
- black gravel in back
- black gravel in front
- mulch in front
- feather grass
- trees in front
- trees in patio
- tree on south side

week 39: cans, cubes, covers, cuts, and color

20 days to completion?

cans

The electrician installed cans in most of the house (sans second story and art lights). He installed standard cans in the entry and dining areas where they should be directional cans (to shine on art). Electrician still working off of draft plans. Sigh... Something for the punch list.

cube lights

The electrician installed the cube lights (except for the one on the front wall [there first needs to be a front wall...]). They look good! Their silvery goodness is close to a perfect match to the garage gray color. Will need to come back later and address the slight, but noticeable, slant of the cubes on the garage siding...

plug covers

Speaking of matching the garage color, the standard gray for outdoor plug covers is a shoe-in for the gray on the house and garage:

more fencework

The wood fence is now stained black. Intended it to be stained dark gray, but I guess black is a darker shade of dark gray? Nonetheless, it looks good. The fence is there, but it recedes into the shady background when stained black.

Looking out the main back entry, you can see the "fancy" fence made out of Hardie. It will be painted the same color gray as is on the house and garage (or at least that's the plan; stuff seems somewhat random these days...).

Here's looking at the fence out the kitchen window:

The back fence is starting to go in, but not without a wee bit of drama. The installers have been clear cutting shrubs and small trees along the fence paths. Not a big deal, but that caused us concern that they would chop down the fig tree, a tree the bride is rather attached to. So I attached the following sign to the tree:

The builder called and said the tree had to come down in order for the fence to go in. After the bride became suspicious that I felt the tree was expendable in the cause of the fence (no comment on the validity of her suspicions...), she threatened divorce if the fig came down (it's me or the tree, basically). I explained that to the builder, so he said he would leave a gap in the fence at the tree. I didn't quite get why we couldn't have the fence and the tree (we want it all!) since the tree wasn't in the direct line of the fence. Went out to check on things and saw the problem: They were building the fence five feet in from the back of the property this side of the existing chain link fence. Once that got straightened out (take the old fence out, put the new fence in line with the old fence, leave the tree alone), we have the fence and the tree.

At one point the builder texted me a photo of the fig tree with the message "Call me." After a busy hearing and meeting filled morning, I called and left a message: "If the tree is gone, you better have a recommendation for a divorce attorney for me." But the tree is there. He wanted to suggest we trim it so it looks more tree-like. The bride is happy; that's all that counts in the end.

power to people!

Well, almost... The power pole on the garage is now in and ready to accept the line from the city pole. Neat that the receiving pole doesn't extend above the garage, so it's more hidden. If you recall, they originally wanted to stick this whole mess on the back of the house (although as far as "the mess" is concerned, it looks real clean) before I reminded them we had spec'd underground utilities to the house.

Electrician said power in the house on Monday? Not sure we believe that...

shower tile

Tile for the master shower is now in, including the linear drain, and it looks good. This didn't go exactly according to plan since the tile was supposed to run the other direction, but it looks good.

missing plugs (mostly) no longer missing

They found the plug in the laundry:

But not the stairwell:

Saw the electrician on site last week, and he explained that plug-finding is the responsibility of the drywaller. Nonetheless, before he flips the power on, he'll do an inventory of plugs and fixtures to make sure they are all there. A missing plug could mean a house fire...

hob hole

The countertopper cut the hole for the cooktop, and it all looks pretty slick! The hole for the potfiller is also in.

reflected light

It's been interesting to see how light reflects off the ceiling and gives the wall a slight brownish color. When I first saw this, I thought that the painters had not done a good job in the living room. But it's reflected light...

schedule

20 days to completion (or so the builder says). It seems possible, but there also seems to be a lot of work left to do, and progress seems slower than it needs to be. We shall see... Three weeks is a lot of time, but then again, it's not.

punch list

inside:

- countertops

- guest bathroom tile

- master bathroom tile

- plumbing fixtures

- lighting fixtures (partial; 80% done)

- plugs

- switches

- speakers (us) (partial; 80% done)

- security plug covers (us) 

- wifi stations (us)

- master bathroom shelves (us?)

- guest bathroom shelves (us?)

- closet poles (partial, 80% done)

- appliances

- gas (partial)

- power (partial; 25% done)

- wood floor

- polish concrete floor 

- drywall touchup (partial)

- paint touchup

- master bathroom mirror

- guest bathroom mirror

- powder mirror (us)

- kitchen sills

- range hood

- range hood cover

- living room floor plug covers

- railing for stairwell

- railing for balcony

- doorbell chime
- missing plug in stairwell
- missing plug in laundry 

outside house:

- outside lighting fixtures

- outside plugs (partial)

- cable

- roof over limestone/bookcase bump

- outdoor spigots

- solar (us)

- rainwater (us)

- gutters

- water heater

- doorbell

- garage door

- touchup eyebrows

- clean roof
- garage floor sealed?

landscaping:

- gate

- fancy fence (partial; 75% done)

- not-so-fancy fence

- back fence  (partial; 25% done)

- plant trees

- pavers

- grasscrete

- grass for grasscrete

- grass

- mulch

- stone

- horno base

- horno  (partial; in transit)

- walls

- wall light and address numbers

- mailbox (us)

- feathergrass in driveway holes (us)

for dan the man:
- bookshelf fills
- plug hider
- wood sill for giant window?
- kitchen shelves
- master bathroom shelves
- guest bathroom shelves
- guest closet shelves

neighbor and neighborhood management

[here's a post I meant to post a long time ago that got lost in the swing of things...]

I work a lot with stakeholders and stakeholder processes in my day job. One thing I've learned is that fear of the unknown is a large fear, and that fear can drive unwanted (and unwarranted) attention and actions. If the 'hood doesn't know anything about your project, it will likely assume the worst (after all, the worst has happened before...). Therefore, it's generally a good idea to reach out to the neighbors, especially the immediate neighbors, about your project. Having a house built next to you is a noisy and perhaps disturbing proposition. And after your house is done, those same folks are going to be your neighbors, so you want to start off (and stay) on the right foot.

We're in a good position because we are building a house we plan to move into. Developers will tend to have a harder time, especially if you (the developer) are touching a touchy topic. One of the big issues in our neighborhood is duplexes. The large lots in the neighborhood beg for duplexes, whether for rental or for selling individual units (kind of like a condo association with two owners [don't laugh: these are common in Austin, particularly for modern]). However, many parts of the 'hood have deeds that disallow duplexes. That has not stopped some developers from building them. The 'hood has wanted the city to enforce these deed restrictions (an unreasonable request, imho...), and the city has refused. Trying to rectify a situation where someone has ignored a deed restriction requires a lawsuit (unless you control the water and power or have the ability to levy a fee and lien).

Other issues that pop up from time to time in our neighborhood are building more than one story and putting the garage in the back, something that we (ahem) have done. Some parts of the neighborhood have deeds that restrict the number of stories and the location of the garage; however, our deed includes no such restrictions. Yet another issue is trees. Some folks don't want you cutting anything down (STEP! AWAY! FROM! THE! MOWER! MISTER!!!), so they will call 911 (no joke) as soon as they hear a chainsaw.

We reached out to the neighborhood on several fronts. First, we hooked into the neighborhood watch group (and the associated supper club) for our part of the neighborhood. Second, we got in direct contact with the immediate neighbors. Third, we developed a special blog for the neighbors (we don't advertise this present one [austin cubed] because, well, it's a little much...). And fourth, we sent a note to the entire neighborhood listserv (about 2,000 subscribers!) about the project and the special blog. Doing that last bit gave us pause. Just like any listserv, there's (how shall we put it...) a variety of personalities out there including certain types that love to share their refined (and unrefined...) opinions on everything, including design. I know it may come as a shock (egads!!!), but not everyone appreciates modern or, for that matter, change. So we braced for the worst, and were greeted with... nothing but sunshine and rainbows!

Well, that's not exactly true. The builder got out a wee bit ahead of us (our fault...) which resulted in a neighbor calling 311 because of tree removal. The builder also got swamped with a number of neighbors stopping by asking what was going on. But with the site up a day or so and 800 clicks in three days, our neighbors now have a sense of what's going on.

week 32: cabs and touches

The big news this week is built-ins, cabinets, and some finishing touches on the outside.

built-ins

The carpenter stopped by over the past week to carpent. He put in rods and shelves in all the closets.

One side of the master closet:

The other side of the master closet:

We didn't do anything fancy (we're not fancy people...): Single pole for half of each side and double-pole for the other half.

We also requested a single pole/double-pole split for one of the upstairs closets:

With access needed to the ERV, couldn't do double-pole on both sides (and probably wouldn't have gone that way regardless).

We had single pole installed in the other upstairs closet:

Forgot to check the coat closet, so hopefully there a pole in there as well!

The other thing the carpenter installed were the built-in cabinets in the living room:

We spec'd 'em to be painted white, but they sure look good wood when paired with the cypress ceiling. They could probably still be sealed natural, but, as the carpenter noted, he chose less savory wood, especially for the back, since they're supposed to be painted. Nonetheless, we're thinking we'll leave the fronts of the drawers sealed as natural wood to add a wee bit o color on that wall and visually tie the wall in with the ceiling.

Speaking of the drawers, they soft close!

Whoop! Whoop!

One thing that we weren't able to do was have the shelves extend across the space without center support, something the plans called for:

This would have been ideal since the horizontal dimension would have been emphasized with the dimensions of the shelves echoing the dimensions of the windows above. However, the carpenter felt that wooden shelves that long would warp over time, especially since we plan to put books and antique electric fans on those shelves. I wasn't completely pleased with that, so I requested that the center supports extend the minimal possible distance out from the back to support the shelves. Unfortunately, that got lost in translation, since it didn't happen. And if anything, the completed product emphasizes the verticality of the support (it extends out farther than the shelves). At the end of the day, no big deal: They still look nice. But it does cause a problem other than not obliging my unhealthy fixation on the horizontals: LEDs are supposed to run across the entire length of the upper shelf.

That thar wire connects to LEDs that extend to this side of that center support...

Someone's gonna have to drill a fair-sized hole in the center supports to get 'em to work.

cabinets

The cabinets are here! The cabinets are here! The cab installer (no, not a bartender...) spent a chunk of Friday putting cabinets together (what needs to be put together) and arranging them in the appropriate parts of the house. They look nice!

Cabs in the buds-n-suds room:

Cabs in the kitchen:

There's a bunch more boxes in the master bedroom (not shown). I suspect they'll get all arranged and ready over the next week...

floors revealed

You may have noticed from several of the photos above that the floor protection is up. The floor is pretty dusty, but we're getting more of a sense what the final floors will look like. The sealant unexpectedly (for us, at least) darkened the floor more than we thought it would. But it's still pretty nice. There are a few cracks already in the slab (to be expected, sadly...), but they've interacted with the sealant in a weird way:

Where there's a crack, the concrete is light gray. Not sure what the final finish will look like, but this is what the floor looks like at the moment...

dat art wall

I don't think we highlighted it last week, but the art wall came out great clad in cypress.

Those black pillars will get silverized to match the anodized aluminum (if not covered with anodized aluminum).

a-door-able

The doors are back in. They will all be painted white...

cypress to impress

We are just loving the cypress on the house. It really makes the place pop! And we really dig how the inside and outside visually connect via the cypress. All those early machinations with those huge beams allowed this detail.

white walls

They finally painted the walls on the "front porch" white (been driving me crazy...). Looks nice-nice-nice!

last of the limestone

Earlier today (7:15 according to an angry neighbor...) the cladders finished the limestone around the corner. They had to chip off the base quickset and then directly quickset the lime directly to the mesh. Seems to have worked...

plucking eyebrows

The builder removed the scaffolding out front so we now have an unadulterated view of the front eyebrow:

Frida Kahlo would be proud!

The plans call for anodized aluminum to visually connect the windows to each other. Not sure if that's going to happen since the builder was concerned about sealing issues....

 it's green again

The trees have really greened up over the past few weeks, so it's neat to see how they impact sunlight on the house. This one back yonder by the master bedroom is already doing a nice job of shading that side of the house.

I took a few minutes to check out how much direct sun was shining through the southern windows. Some, but not much. It will be interesting to see how much comes in once summer is fully upon us. 

tile for awhile

The tile work, for whatever reason, has stopped. However, the floor tile has shown up. I played around with how we should arrange 'em. The tilers were playing with having them laid out like brick work, but I think a quarter offset will be better:

 can I see you pee?

 The square window in the powder room located over the toilet peers out onto the front entry area:

That has me wondering: How much of that window do we need to frost to keep peering eyes from seeing peeing (or pooping!)? Some of it? All of it? None of it?

Some pals that live around the corner engaged me in conversation on this matter, which prompted several bouts of simulated urination and attempted (accidental?) peeping tommage. In daylight, at least, it seems difficult to see in the window, although things might be different if a light was on inside. In darkness, I think, it will be easy to see right in when interior lights are on. Not sure you would be able to see a squatter (will need to test that...), but you would definitely see a stander.

View out the window if you were (ahem) taking care of bidness...

We'll wait until everything is in (pooper, lights) before making a decision, but I'm thinking a partial frosting (half) will be in order.

orphaned outlets and plugs

Spent some time today somewhat methodically looking for orphaned outlets and plugs. By orphaned, I mean they were drywalled over and not cut out. I reckon the electrician will do this once he re-enters the building-the-house picture (I hope he has a master plan...), but I've found three orphans so far: An orphaned can light in the kitchen, the doorbell chime box, and a plug in the laundry room. One of the things I haven't blogged about yet is documenting everything in the walls before insulation goes in. We did this with a video camera. Good thing, because I wondered if a plug was missing in the laundry room, and I was able to confirm it with the video.

Orphaned plugs are concerning because if no one notices one, once the power is turned on, there's a good chance of fire. That would really suck at this point!

coming up...

Fencing: Should get started. Several convos over the past week on design and materials and whatnot.

Cabinets: They should be getting done.

Countertops: Once the cabinets are in, the countertops will get measured.

Horno: Is done and should be arriving next week.