A floor to Stand On

Week 24: Well it is week 24 or 16 more days until the 6 month mark. This past week we are starting to realize the vision. The siding is looking more complete and the floors are being installed. The stairs are in and the tiling is almost completed. There still are many decisions to be made and we are slowly getting through them all, but is is nice to start to see the end of the tunnel. The appliances arrived and the kitchen and master bath cabinets also arrived. On the next rain day, Joe will be starting to finish the kitchen. We have more rain in the forecast, so that may be sooner than later. If no rain, then he will be working on the siding. We had to re-order some siding since they sent the wrong size, so that should be arriving this week. This week we should see the completion of the floor install, the last of the tiling until we get our custom made mosaic tile, which is supposed to be here on November 7th., then they can finish the girls bathroom. One gotcha was that someone dropped something heavy in the girls tub and it cracked the bottom. Mike is going to get the tub replaced at his cost so it will be a few days to get that in and then they have to tear up the ceiling below to unhook the drain and then the wall to get the tub out. I am meeting a local iron worker to start the exterior hand railing for the front porch. Hopefully no rain so we can get the rest of the siding up.

The siding has started. This is the 4" exposure horizontal Hardie Board siding. It is a cement board that is resistant to fire, rot, and insects. It looks more blue in this picture. It is the Iron Gray color.






The front of the house. The new addition has vertical looking siding.







It is hard to see the gaps in between the boards unless you are close up.











The south side of the house.








Here is Joe our carpenter. He also is doing the siding, here working in the back of the house.







Here is the back where Joe was working.








The horizontal boards with the red roof.








Here is Ralph the tile installer working on the guest bathroom floor.







Here is the guest bathroom shower.











The tile was finished in the mudroom first so that the appliances could be delivered and stored there.








The mudroom being grouted.








Here is the girls bathroom tile being installed. Abby watched him intently.







Here is the end product. They are going to need to replace the tub so they left a gap until it is replaced.







Here is the master bath with a cement coat on top of the liquid rubber waterproof membrane.







The tile in the master bath. The wires are for the radiant heated floor. We put heat in all the bathroom floors.








The shower/tub area with the first layer of tile. It looks darker than it really is.







Here is the bottom layers going on with the bullnose around the corner.











This is a picture of the stairs getting ready for install.








The stairs to the basement...finally.








Here they took out the temporary stairs and are starting the new ones up to the master suite. They had to cut through the ceiling below to glue the risers and shims.






Here are the stairs going to the second floor. They are starting the wrap around stair.







Here is the finished stair with the wrap around. The balusters and drywall will be put in later.







Here , the crew from Waz Flooring, is starting the install of the hickory hardwood floors. The house had to be dry enough to install the boards, so the furnace has been running and heating up the house. They put down roofing paper as the underlayment. They worked very efficiently. They finished the kitchen/dinning room pretty quickly and then the second day, they put down the floors in both the girls room, the master bedroom, and the stair landings.


Here are the first few rows of hickory.











Some of the final product. There is a lot of character in the boards.








On Friday, the kitchen cabinets arrived. They will be installed on the next rainy day that Joe cannot work on the siding.







Here is the corner cabinet that will contain the sink above it. The door is a dark ebony color.







The new refrigerator.











Her is one of the girls bedrooms.








Here is the master bedroom. The floor is oak due to we want to stain it a dark color to match the cabinets in the bathroom. Since hickory does not stain well we decided to go oak.






Here is another shot of the master bedroom floor. The box at the left contains the soaking tub. It is inching it's way towards the bathroom.






Here is the master floor next to the bathroom tile.








This is the white bead boards that will be installed on the balcony roof.

Finishing Touches

Week 23:This was a week of visual changes. The tile was delivered and Ralph has started the installation. He first put down a layer of compound and nailed down the backerboard to create a level floor. Then he installed and grouted the tile in the laundry room and installed tile in the mudroom. The mudroom is going to be the temporary location of the appliances once they are delivered this upcoming week. He also has gotten the NuHeat underlayment installed int he bathrooms. This will keep our feet nice and toasty in the winter months. He has put down a coat of the Mapei AquaDefense liquid waterproofing in the master bath. The furnace was fired up to dry out the house and get it up to temperature for the delivery of the hardwood. The wood was delivered and is getting ready for install. It has to sit for a few days to acclimate to the temperature. The exterior siding started on Monday, but...once again we lost two days of install due to RAIN. They picked back up later in the week and have been concentrating on the trim around the windows and the edges. Once that has been completed, then they will start the horizontal and vertical boards. They also have installed the flashing at the bottom of the house to partially cover the pink foam insulation. The header boards are also installed for the future installation of the deck. It will be ready to go. We also have the final asphalt layer on the hole in the street where the water was tapped into the village system. Travis the plumber was back out to install the Navien tankless hot water heater and prep for the installation of the humidifier. Jeff of DigRightIn, our landscaper, finished the drainage project. Anne's bathtub is officially in the house in our bedroom. It is slowly inching it's way to it's final resting place. Next week they continue on the siding, which looks like the weather may cooperate for the most part with rain on Wednesday possibly. It does look like the later half of the week is going to be very cold though. The tile will be continued and hopefully the start of the wood floors. The appliances are set for delivery on Thursday.

Here is the final layer on the street where the water was tapped into the village system.







Here is the after picture of the garden area. Pretty flat at this point.







Here is the middle drainage inlet.








The new Navien tankless hot water heater. It still needs a few a couple adjustments to be completed.







The furnace with the copper tubing for the humidifier. The furnace is a two stage one. The fan will run slower when the house is at a constant temperature. It is very quite when it is running at the lower speed.










This is the cement board siding from James Hardie. It is fire and insect resistant since it is made of cement. We went with a nice gray color with white trim.





Here is the gray siding.









These are the white trim pieces.







Here is the aluminum trim work under the staircase bump out.








Here is Joe starting the install on Monday. It was overcast and they got a couple windows done and then the rain came for two days.






Here is the ledger board for the future deck install.








Here is the trim around the windows on the south side of the house.







Here is the ledger board and the flashing that is covering the pink foam insulation. It is nicely taped at the top to the tyvek wrap.







Close up shot of the trim around the window.








Trim on the front of the house around the windows and corners/bottom.







Here is the foyer topped with the Hardie Backerboard.








The mudroom with the backerboard.








The trowels of the trade.








Here is the Hardie Backerboard that is installed.








This is the cutout for the tub drain.








These are the NuHeat mats that will heat up the floor tiles in the bathrooms.







The mat installation in the guest bathroom.








Here is the mat in the girls bathroom.








This is one of the niches in the bathroom shower. We decided to put these in all the bathrooms to hold shampoos etc.. They are made out of a Styrofoam like substance. Very light, but waterproof.





The delivery of the tile.








Here is the tile in the laundry room hallway and area. No grout as of yet.







Another shot of the tile. It is a white tile with grey marble like veins. This is the tile that will also be in the girl's bathroom.







Here is the tile grouted with a white grout. It is a little hard to see clearly.







Here is the mudroom that Ralph did on Saturday morning.








The mudroom not grouted yet.








This is the build up for the tub drain. The bottom of the tub is up off the floor, so this will be flush with the tub drain.







Here is the Mapei AquaDefense waterproofing. It is liquid-rubber quick-drying waterproofing and crack-isolation membrane.







Anne's soaking tub.








The guest bathroom floor tile.








The guest bathroom shower accent glass tile.








Here is the oak flooring for the master bedroom.








This is the Hickory flooring that is going to be installed throughout the house.







Hickory.








Hickory. Beautiful shades throughout the wood. Can't wait to see it installed.