Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Utilities are great!

Our gas meter was hooked up today. We have a gas stove in the upper unit, a gas line for a future fireplace in the living room, and a gas line running to the back yard for a natural gas grill. We also have running water in the basement! You'd think we're close to moving in but we still need a Certificate of Occupancy (CofO) to do so and we need to have railings, no wires sticking out of the wall and more or less finished for that. The goal is to move Eric in before we leave for Pablo's wedding in Turkey and to move me in when we get back!


Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tile and wood floors too

Other things we've been working on are glass mirror tiles in the 1/2 bath (me) and hardwood flooring upstairs (Eric).


Also we settled with our deadbeat electrician's insurance company for $2,600 yesterday. I think Eric has settlement remorse because our full claim due to Bruce going to prison and delaying our project, including interest, double housing costs, re-keying our house, etc. was $5,000, but $2,600 was the actual cost of correcting the flaws in his work and because we settled we get paid in 30 days instead of having to enforce some unenforceable judgment. We actually settled with the master electrician, so we can still go sue Bruce later, which we might do...

Big day, toilet installed!

Our plumber has been trying our patience over the past week but finally showed up with his helper today and have been knocking some things out.





Friday, July 16, 2010

Counters and floors

Lots of progress today.

Check out the Silestone shelf to finish off the basement tub surround.


















And the basement kitchen.































And, drum roll, the wood floors. It's kinda redish in the light, so pretty!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Tops are coming in...

This is white silestone (composite quartz) going into the kitchen. Wood flooring is starting today too and the plumber comes on Monday!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Because we fired our tile guy...

Eric and I became experts in grouting glass tiles yesterday. We started in the basement bathroom and will need to do the master bathroom next weekend. We also have to set and grout glass tiles in the 1/2 bath and both kitchen backsplashes. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but turned out really nice. I'd rather take the time to get it right than live with the crap Jose's guys were delivering. We had to get this done because our countertop guy is coming on Thursday to install Silestone kitchen counters and bath shelves. We listened to the World Cup Final on the radio, which may have been more entertaining than the game itself since the commentators were so negative! Helen was also at the house on Sunday installing our Minka Aire ceiling fans, yay!














Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Progress update

Argent, our HVAC contractor who we paid top-dollar for because the manufacturer of our HVAC system told us they were the best, has been holding us up. They scheduled us for 2 days and have been working on our install for about 3 weeks now. The condensate lines don't seem to be run behind the walls correctly, which is causing some of the units to drip, which is obviously a problem since drywall is up now and we want to get wood floors in. I think they are down to just a couple of problematic air handlers, which will hopefully be resolved today. They seem to be fixing the problem by installing small, quiet, fish-tank like pumps to the units behind the walls to pump the condensate into the lines and away from the units.

Also, Helen is coming today to start wiring up switches plugs and fixtures. Phil will be here to work with Eric on basement trim (they did the basement bedroom on Sunday and it looks great) and tomorrow Winkhel, our countertop guy is coming by to take final measurements. Eric thinks they may start laying the wood floors upstairs tomorrow, which is so exciting!