Slow progress

Front stoop completed in July

The front entrance was built about a month ago and nothing was done to protect it from the numerous contractors who made continuous trips in and out of the house sometimes dragging equipment across the steps with little regard for their condition.  Ronnie just this week asked our mason, Jack Haas, who built them for a resolution to this problem.  I have to say he was as disappointed with the disregard for them as we were.  He had in fact covered them with plywood upon completing their construction but it was removed.  Who knows why?  So, the same day Ronnie asked, he covered them again and we'll see how long it will last this time. Thank you Jack Haas!

Stoop today

Building report cards.

 We have passed the electrical, plumbing and framing inspections.  The stickers of success are posted at the

entrance of the house.

Custom made for the building inspector.

  It is also noted that we have a temporary staircase built because the building inspector would not climb a ladder to inspect the second floor.  How do these guys get these jobs? 

Gas stove insert similar to what we plan.

The fireplace is being built.  We will have a gas stove( http://www.heatnglo.com/en/Products/Tiara-II-Gas-Stove.aspx )  installed which will be placed in the fireplace like the example above, from one of the builder's previous homes.

Jack Haas built firebox

It will be a lot more energy efficient than a wood burning fireplace.  I had my fill of that in our Yankee Barn. 

The room below, the largest of the bedrooms, and will be a grandkids room with access to the cupola and a pass through to another bedroom.

We thought we might save some $$ in the second floor of the house by keeping the old oak floors. However the floor contractor is less optimistic.  Staples from the carpets are still in the floors and the floors' unprotected exposure to the elements for the past 5 months has beaten them up pretty badly.   Removing the staples and resurfacing the floors may cost as much as laying new floors.

Largest of the 3 2nd floor bedrooms.

 Not sure what to expect in the coming week.  Insulation and sheetrock needs to get installed but they want the siding on first.  The siding contractor is the same contractor that did the roof and his bill came in at  twice the builder's estimate so some new siding contractors are being considered. Basically the house is enclosed except for the front door.  We had planned a custom made 3-1/2 ' wood front door made out of fir.  We learned the door maker won't warranty a fir door without at least a 4' overhang. Guess who doesn't have a 4'overhang?  Guess who is now waiting for a price on a custom made mahogany door?

Mystery of the missing water line



This is the snapped off water line.  Unrepairable inside the foundation.



Cut out of crawl space floor to locate water line. Ripped off line is at the full depth of the hole.

 As I mentioned in closing on the last post. The plumbers were unable to find the water line they had capped and elevated so it could be accessed after the basement was filled.  Add 2 days of unexpected work to the plumbers schedule.  A small section of the new crawl space had to be cut and dug out down to the old basement floor.  Apparently someone had broken off and stolen the copper and brass setup at the basement wall.  

On a more positive note, Windows were delivered on Monday-bright and early. 



The beautiful Monday never materialized and by mid afternoon it was raining lightly. 




Kids tolerating a picture with the grand
parents on the steps to the new house.

 

Being the Columbus Day holiday the kids were off from school and the all the disappointing events of the day were overshadowed by the visiting family.  A tour of the house followed by hot chocolate at Sweet Tease http://www.sweetteasedesserts.com/classic.php?page=1 in Manasquan. 



   Our favorite place to go for a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate and a treat.  We lucked out and hot chocolate chip cookies were just coming out of the oven.  Meg and I passed up the cookies for a favorite Vanilla bean scone.



Preparing the window opening

  Where was I, oh yeah the house. By the end of the day Tuesday the windows are all in.



Porch enclosed.







View of the house from the left front of the property.



    The plumber, Brian Perry-Perry's Plumbing and Heating of Toms River- lots of "atta boys" due him- and the electrician Adam Taylor- High Calibre Electric of Toms River- are hard at work. 

The plumber has to find a new place to locate the hot water heater after the HVAC return duct line was run through the utility room in an  area where he was planning on putting the hot water heater.



Former hot water heater location.





  

Getting used to slow subtle changes

Roof - shown for color.

After the fantastic progress shown in the last posting, I was looking forward to posting more big changes. I had a few trips to keep me occupied thankfully, because the progress has been disappointing. Along with a couple of miserable weather days there were some threats of storms which kept the roofer from finishing last week as expected.

HVAC tentacles

more HVAC

The HVAC and Plumbers got back on site this week and there is some obvious work being done in those 2 areas.  The framers are making changes to meet the blue prints (god only knows what they were using for their work).

Plumbing

More plumbing

Small deck off the greatroom and porch was started.  This will join those two rooms with exterior doors and also step down to a patio.

Deck off the porch

Just returned from paying the balance on the windows and doors which are due to arrive at Atlantic Architectural Millwork (http://www.aamwindows.com/home.html) today. Hope to have them in by the weekend.  Roofers should finish today.  And framers return to install windows tomorrow.  Siding contracter should be able to start next week.  Of course, there is always an unexpected problem. I.E.  The plumbing contractor explained that the water service which he disconnected and capped in the basement is now under 5 feet of bluestone and concrete.  Maybe we'll have the only home in Manasquan with an outhouse and no running water.  I've been assurred "it's no big deal".

Standing at the fireplace looking forward to the front door.

Standing at the front door looking toward the future fireplace.