Floor show...

The hardwood floor guys arrived bright and early this morning. They unrolled a paper backing over the existing subfloor and while Ray laid out the oak floor boards, Rich fitted them and began nailing. These guys really know their stuff. Rich started in the main entry hall and worked his way into the living room/ kitchen area.




Here's a before and during shot of the living room. The boards are laid out but not yet installed. After all the boards are nailed down, they will be sanded and coated with two coats of urethane. The third and final coat will be applied after all other construction has been completed, right before we move in.



While Ray and Rich were installing the hardwoods, I was busy installing the floor in the master bath. We decided to install radiant heating beneath a tile floor, which necessitated an extra step in the process. I first installed cement Hardie board over a 1/4" of thinset mortar, screwing it down to the subfloor every six inches to ensure a nice, level surface. I then installed a grid of Warmly Yours electric heating coils over the Hardie board. These coils are thermostatically controlled, allowing us to set times and temperatures for heating the floor. I'm really looking forward to a nice warm floor in the bathroom this winter. The next step will be to cover the grid with a 1/8" coat of polymer thin set mortar. After that sets up, I'll apply another 1/4" of mortar and set the tiles. A final coat of grout in the cracks and a seal coat will finish the job.



Speaking of finishing a job, I wired the final breakers in the electrical panel last week. What at times felt like a never ending job is finally finished.

Fit & Finish...

The pace is definitely picking up. I have installed Armstrong Exelon tile in the utility room and the downstairs bathroom. It is a commercial grade tile and looks great with a few coats of industrial strength floor polish.



George has been busy installing the trim around the windows and doors. He makes it look easy, and I know for a fact that it's anything but easy. Susan and her sister spent the day priming all the door frames and the two sliding doors in the living room. After they dried, I coated them with the same semi-gloss paint that we are using on the doors. The hardwood floor guys are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, so while they're inside doing their thing, I'll take all the doors outside and paint them.



Back in the early 1980's, I lived in University Park, TX - a suburb completely surrounded by Dallas. My son was riding his bicycle on our block and saw this stained glass window on a pile of junk by the curb. An elderly neighbor was cleaning out his garage and had put this window out for pickup. He was more than happy to let me have it, and after replacing a couple of broken panes and refinishing the wood, it looks pretty good. We are delighted to finally have a permanent place for it in our entry hall. We had Pella make a tempered glass double paned window the same size as the window, so it is protected from damage and has the same thermal qualities as the other windows.




Over the years we have accumulated some interesting old stuff that we hoped we would some day put to use. The large fixture is one that Susan has been carting around for many years. Because of its considerable size, there was really no place to put it. Fortunately, it fits perfectly in the stairwell to the basement.
The other fixture is one I salvaged from an old farmhouse that was being demolished in Boise. I thought it was too neat to be destroyed, so I brought it home, thinking that some day I might find a place for it. It now hangs in our entry hall, and looks great.

Railings & trim...

This picture is of the completed deck that connects the house to the garage. George did his customary excellent job building the deck and the benches.


George then went to work installing the stairs to the deck and the rest of the railings. Note the snow on the hillside behind the house. Hopefully that will be the last of it until next fall. Between the cold rain and the incessant wind, it's been a rough spring to be working outside.



With the railings on the deck and the stairway installed, the house is beginning to look finished. Trees and shrubs and a bit more dirt work will complete the look.



Last week Susan and I finally got all the wiring up and running. With the exception of the furnace and a few fans and light fixtures, all circuits are tested, completed and operational. With that phase of the project wrapped up, we took advantage of the sunny weather to finish painting the rest of the baseboards, door and window trim. I also painted the first two of the nineteen doors in the house.

We have sold the little manufactured home where we have been living. The closing is projected for July 25. This prompted Susan and I to come up with a time line listing all the unfinished work on the house. It's going to be close, but we think we can have the place ready to move into by then.

Time will tell...

Catching up...

The past couple of weeks have been spent finishing up a lot of loose ends around the place. I have been busy finishing all the electrical, including installing the various light fixtures, fan controls, and light switches. I would have to say that my biggest mistakes so far in this project have been not testing all the circuits before the sheet rock went up, and not thoroughly diagramming the routing of the wiring for each circuit. Although I haven't run into any major problems, I have lost some time tracing the wiring by using a 6v battery and a test light. All in all though, I'm very pleased with the way the wiring has worked out.


Leave it to Susan to come up with a novel touch for the living room. I wanted to find a big piece of slate to use for our fireplace hearth but learned that I would have to purchase an entire 6' x 12' slab which would then have to be cut to the 5'5" x 1'6" size we needed, making that idea cost prohibitive. While we were looking around in the stoneyards, Susan spotted a granite remnant for about $100 that would work. We had it cut to size and I installed it in front of the fireplace.



The hardwood flooring was delivered last week. It will sit in the dining room for about two weeks to acclimate to the Ola temperature and humidity. In the meantime, we will begin installing all the interior doors, door trim and window trim. I'm having the hardwoods installed, but I'll install the tile floors in the bathrooms and the utility room.



While Susan and I have been busy inside, George has been hard at work building the side deck, the back deck stairs, and laying the decking on the back deck. I had originally planned to build the decks myself, but I quickly realized that there was no way I could do the quality job that George does. We were originally going to use redwood, but after considering the ongoing maintenance it requires, opted instead for a manufactured product called EverGrain. A white railing system made by TREX will finish off the deck and staircase.