Friday, November 27, 2009

Progress Report

Slow going is all I can say. Andreas worked his tail off in the mud and rain to finish the trenching for the rainwater tank fresh water line to come back to the house. Here are some pictures of his boots, his exhausted face, and the end product.





The next day, the plumber was supposed to come to drill through the foundation to bring the rainwater tank line into the house, but it was raining where he lives (1.5 hours away) so he assumed it was raining where our house is (it wasn't; it was perfectly dry). So he didn't show up. Meanwhile, the banks of the trench caved in and Andreas had to re-dig all of the heavy, water-laden clay out of the trench. I showed up after he had finished and found a wet, unhappy, tired guy who worked hard all day. The plumber is scheduled to come again on Monday and Wednesday. But guess what - rain's in the forecast again, so he probably won't show up.

Meanwhile, the electrician was going to continue on the inside of the house, but he decided he doesn't work during Thanksgiving week. Must be nice.

I spent some time in the basement bathroom working on tile install. The 18" x 18" tiles will be great later on since there will be less grout to clean, but they sure are more difficult to install than the smaller format tiles I have had a lot of experience installing in the past. The new wet saw blade came in handy, but the drill bit I bought from Home Depot probably wouldn't cut through butter, let alone porcelain tile, so I have to find a better option for cutting holes in the tile tomorrow. I hope to finish tiling the basement bathroom tomorrow, then I can move to the guest bathroom upstairs. Here are some pics after I sealed the joints between the Durock sheets, and as I'm installing the tile (which came from Amicus Green Building Center).






We've also worked on other miscellaneous projects, like taping/mudding some drywall in the basement hallway, applying American Clay Earth Plaster around the doors and windows (about 1/4 of the way done with that) and confirming all the details to get the deck started next week.

Any recommendations on a finish carpenter for the trim work? I'm looking for referrals and would love if someone could start soon.