The home stretch

by Ed Rozmiarek

Another couple of busy weeks means that I have fallen behind on the house updates. Things keep moving forward, not always as fast as we want, but we are definitely heading in to the homestretch. We still can’t get a firm date out of the builder (which I can understand given the variables still left) but we are targeting a move date on June 1 and the builder said that should be a fairly safe bet. So let’s see if we can catch up.

Several items have made good progress or been completed during the last few weeks. It seems the key piece was the kitchen countertops. Several other items were lined up behind the countertops. Unfortunately the countertops were, of course, running behind schedule and held up the other trades. We never got a good reason for the delay, but they were finally installed about a week late. Not a major problem other then the irritation.

Once the countertops were installed, a couple other trades were able come back and finish their work. First off the tile guys came back in to do the kitchen backsplash. They also finished up the master bathroom and main entryway. (I’m not sure I want to tell people or have a picture of the entry way yet. I may just make people come out to see it. ) The electrician was also able to come out and finish the outlets and such. Over the last couple weeks the electrician has also installed the lights and ceiling fans.

The lights and fans have been installed.

The fireplace façade was rocked.

The masons were also out over the last couple weeks to complete their work. They came out before the countertops to do the bar front. They also built the fireplace façade. For both, they used the same rock that was used on the house.

We got some real good news on the septic system. After all of the soil tests and design, the septic came in under budget! Almost $3000 under budget. That really helped offset some of the overages in other areas and gave us enough money to comfortably afford a concrete driveway. We planned to have a concrete pad outside the garage, but we thought we would have to do something cheaper than concrete for the drive from the street to the house. Nope, concrete all the way.

Speaking of upgrades and overages, we have been waiting for one of them to be installed and it finally was. A while back, while browsing the web for decorative metal items for the house, Susan stumbled upon a place out of Washington state called J. Dubs that makes metal balcony panels. After some discussion we decided to order one for our library loft over looking the living room. The panel has been sitting in a box in the garage for three weeks and this past week it was finally installed. You can see the pictures of it below.

The loft panel & railing were finally installed!

The loft railing viewed from the living room.

I have also been getting in to the act the last couple weeks. I have been working on installing the closet shelving in the bedrooms. It took longer than I planned but I got it done over the last couple Sundays. I still have the panty and linen closets to do but I should easily get those done before we move.

The list of major items is getting shorter and most of the remaining work is finish work. The driveway was laid out last Friday and hopefully will be poured early this week (if the rain holds off long enough). The plumbers still need to come back and do their finish work installing the fixtures. Also, the HVAC guys need to come back and install the outside A/C units and trim out the ducts. After that it should be clean up and touch up painting, final flooring (carpet and wood floor) and the front door.

With our old house sold and signed off, we can turn our attention towards the physical process of moving. Finding a mover, packing up and moving what we can, changing addresses, etc. We have also been looking at and deciding on window coverings and such. Still lots of work to do but more things that are in our control.

As always, you can see additional pictures of the house in the house photo album.

Posted by Ed Rozmiarek at May 2, 2005 5:52 PM