Moving along...

This week ended with a little bit of progress everywhere. A couple of coats of finish on the upper level porch floors, priming porch posts while installing the rest of the railings, and so on. Siding installation was started as well, but much of this will have to wait until our doors arrive in early- to mid- February.

Starting to look like a finished home on the outside. Unfortunately, the siding work can't continue much beyond what you see until we have the doors to install, which may take another 1-2 weeks based on current projections.

Upper-level porch floors are 4 coats into their 6-coat process, and railings have been installed in all ares except the master bedroom, which was a work-in-progress as of late this afternoon.

The view from our neighbor's back yard. Not too bad, and will improve with a couple of palmetto trees to help break up the hard lines of the building when complete.

New work included the start of the electrical rough-in, which we spent way too much time stressing over, completion of the HVAC rough-in, the majority of plumbing rough-in, and the grading and forms needed to allow for pouring of the ground-level concrete floor.

Let's get that slab just right so we don't have any issues with water flow across the property! It's going to be close as we try to balance grading needs with overall building height requirements and keeping an acceptable garage height. Inspector Bonnie in the background.
 

Electrical rough-in has only just begun.

On the interior finishing side, Bonnie met with our designer to review tile and hardwood options, and started the grueling process of reviewing the lighting, plumbing and cabinet proposals we've received over the last week. Some of these have eye-popping numbers associated with them, so we will need to do some pruning in the coming weeks!!

Sadly, the time-lapse camera we installed to take construction photos at 10-minute intervals has bitten the dust... it looks like it was swept off of it's mount to who-knows-where since a Bobcat was used to move some earth in preparation for our concrete pour. No cool time-lapse construction video for us, unless we find it soon abandoned somewhere in a pile of rubble...

It's hard to keep up with everything that's going on right now. Let us know if you'd like to hear more or less about something as we navigate through a multitude of decisions in the coming weeks!

In the meantime, we're looking forward heading to the Charleston Boat Show this weekend to look for a future fishing machine! Between the tidal creeks, Intracoastal waterway, rivers, Charleston harbor, and of course the ocean to explore, it's a much more difficult decision than one would expect, but not a bad problem to have, at all..

Enjoy!
Ron & Bonnie

Organized Chaos

Another beautiful weather week contributed to another week of outstanding progress! We stopped by the house a couple times and are very happy and impressed with what was accomplished. Multiple trades are working in concert...

HVAC work is still in progress, with insulated ducts installed throughout the attic and, as of this afternoon, hanging like spider legs throughout the first floor. The plumbing rough-in started yesterday, so we had to settle on some decisions and actually make commitments, which seemed more stressful than it should! On the exterior, the permanent porch posts were completed, and railings are appearing, along with the rough framing for the outdoor fireplace on the rear porch.

Ductwork on the upper level was completed earlier this week, while work on the main level was in progress at week's end. 

Framing for outdoor fireplace was completed yesterday. Now we just need to decide how it will be finished; maybe ship-lap and brick? Stucco? Too many decisions! 

Hard to tell from this picture, but this will soon be the soaking tub in the master bathroom.

Main level porch floor has been laid and much of the railing has been installed. This might be the perfect spot for a porch swing, sometime in the not-too-distant future!

We also met with our new designer yesterday at Charleston Lighting and Moluf's Plumbing to start work on the selection process for lighting fixtures, sinks, plumbing fixtures, and so on. It was a good way to start the engagement, and she's ready to dive in head first to help us through these and the areas that will follow.

Among many other things this week, we worked with the builder to design our bedroom bookcase/entertainment wall. It should end up looking something like this.

Adding to this week's organized chaos, the metal roofing materials were delivered today. Our property looks like a lumber yard showroom complete with piles of treated lumber, cement-board siding, tin roof planks, plumbing supplies and more.

Metal roofing material was just delivered. Inspector Bonnie in the background taking inventory of a lumber-yard full of different materials...

Next week will be equally busy with ongoing work in all of these areas, planned start of electrical rough-in, cabinet layouts, bookcase wall design for the family room and, possibly, pouring of the concrete floor at ground level. We should also have some proposals for lighting and plumbing to evaluate, and start the "cost/benefit analysis" for the many options we will need to consider.

That's enough for this week!!

Ron & Bonnie

We've gone from walking to running!

At the start of this week you would have thought it was winter(!) but the last few days have been more like early summer; highs in the 70's to 80, no rain, clear skies, making for ideal construction conditions.

This week, most prominently, the house shell was wrapped with its Tyvek weather barrier, and as of this afternoon the last of the windows were being installed. The decking for the main level porches and porch posts are still in progress, as crews spend time on the higher priority areas needed to get the house sealed up against the elements.

Windows installed in future study/office area 

View from the southeast corner (rear) of the property. Starting to look like home!

Inside, foam insulation was sprayed throughout the attic and rim joists. With the underside of the roof deck and attic walls insulated, the entire attic space will be conditioned like a YETI cooler! This will protect the air conditioning ducts from the brutal South Carolina summer heat, allowing the system to operate most efficiently.

On a related note, today the HVAC contractor started installation of the metal boots for the heating and AC outlets and air returns.

Decking boards for the main-level porches are being installed as a prior to installation of the permanent porch posts. The post on the right in the photo is permanent, with the others being temporary supports.

This doesn't look like much, but it's one of four important "shear" walls inside that help ensure structural rigidity and protect against lateral forces like hurricane winds or seismic events.

"Are you sure?"

Finally, though it seems like a long time ago, earlier this week we more or less finalized electrical plans, plumbing fixture and gas line placement, and hired an interior designer to help with decision-making. We'll be meeting next week to create further confusion and stress help with design considerations, starting with lighting selections, kitchen and fireplace design, and many others areas to come. 

That's it for this week... enjoy!
Ron & Bonnie

Welcome 2017 - Week 11

As we welcome in the new year we realized we're already 11 weeks into our little construction project!

Being a short week (Monday holiday), and with some rain on Tuesday, construction progress was made primarily in less visible areas like framing adjustments, and getting the initial seal layer down on the upper-level porch floors.

This is the balcony off our master bedroom, after the foundation coat of the HydroStop sealing system was applied. Once this cures there will be four additional coats of sealants and wear layers to help ensure a long-lasting finish and dry porch ceiling below!

On Monday we met with the electrician and plumbing contractor to review placement of fixtures (at least preliminary) and are expecting their updated proposals soon.

At week's end, we have 34 windows sitting in our front rooms awaiting installation! The weekend is supposed to be quite cold and rainy, but next week looks like 60's and 70's with plenty of sunshine, so getting the house wrap and windows installed should be no problem.

Windows, windows, and more windows, awaiting installation

Decisions on things like tile, interior paint colors, plumbing and lighting fixtures, cabinets and counter-tops will be needed soon!! In the coming week we'll entertain proposals for interior design help in these areas, and spend time with the builder on details for the family room and rear porch fireplaces and, potentially, built-ins for the master bedroom.



That's all for this week!
Ron & Bonnie