100th Blog Post

This marks our 100th post. And I'm happy to report there's been some more progress. In the past couple of days, our recycling dumpster was hauled away. We filled two dumpsters during the construction, which is less than 1/2 what typical construction sends to the landfill. And many of the items placed in our dumpster will be recycled instead of dumped.

Bob Demarr's crew spent about 7 hours fixing the problems with the rough grading caused by Bartley Corp's team. Bartley's job foreman admitted to Andreas that they really don't do grading work - they don't have the right equipment or labor. That showed with the mess they created. It took Andreas more than 30 hours to dig out tree protection fencing Bartley ran over with a machine and dumped dirt on top of. I spent another 10 hours uncovering the Holly Tree roots they graded over, even though the root protection zone is clearly marked on the grading plan. Alas, we're now on the right path with grading. Demarr's crew hauled away a few truck loads of dirt today, leaving the lot looking much better than it has the past six months!

Inside, Bernie from Clarke County Plumbing, continued work on the rough-in plumbing. He put the vent pipes through the roof (now Piedmont Roofing will come back to seal that all up) and worked on the basement bathroom. Ferguson delivered the tub, toilet wall carrier and shower faucet rough-in and Bernie will install that soon. He also drilled through the EIFS to prepare for the outdoor shower piping, the hose bibs, and the sump pump piping. Unfortunately, he drilled the sump pump holes too high - the sump pump pipes were supposed to come out beneath the deck - so we'll have to work with Bernie to get that resolved.

Also inside, Aaron laid the pex tubing for the bathroom radiant floor heating. I want the shower floor to be as toasty warm as the rest of the bathroom floor, so that had to be laid today so a first layer of concrete can go over the pex tubing in the shower tomorrow. Bernie can then protect the shower floor properly with the rubber membrane and when the concrete floor is poured, it will work out perfectly.

Elmer's crew started work today on the parging. They spent the day applying a metal lathe around the doors and windows. They'll finish that tomorrow then apply the thin layer of cement to the walls and round out the edges by the doors and windows. After that cures, I can apply the American Clay Earth Plaster over the cement parging.

Jay with Quality Window & Door hasn't provided the exact date yet for the corrected clerestory windows to be delivered - hopefully that will be in the early part of next week so the cedar siding can go on Thursday morning.

Shopping Spree

If you're ever in need of plumbing fixtures, just give a call to Abdess Fedlan at Ferguson in Chantilly, VA.  We first met Abdess last August as we were preparing our preliminary budget for the house. We picked out some super high-end items as a bit of a splurge. Then the reality of construction costs set in. We refused to settle for "builder grade" plumbing fixtures so we sought advice from Abdess who graciously guided us through their gorgeous showroom and several catalogs. We shaved our plumbing fixtures budget by about 35% while maintaining a high-caliber selection of fixtures from Duravit, Hansgrohe, and Kohler. Thanks, Abdess, for your guidance and patience with us! 703-375-5800 is Abdess's phone number.

We're now searching for a kitchen range hood. This needs to be purchased soon, in order for the subcontractors to prepare the venting and for Piedmont Roofing to come back to bring that venting through our beautiful standing seam metal roof. Andreas spent a good part of the day seeking range hoods that strike a balance between effectiveness (exhaust in CFMs) and quietness (as measured in SONs or decibels). Oh, and price too. We considered Miele (super expensive but beautiful and they are quiet by reputation), KitchenAid, and others. It's amazing how expensive good quality range hoods are.  We think we've narrowed the brand choices to Haefele or Kobe. Does anyone have any experience with these?

On a related note, the folks at Wittus in Connecticut have loaded our Bodart & Gonay Optifire fireplace on a truck and it is headed our way. The fireplace chimney also will need to go through the roof. 

We also did some more research on wood choices for the exterior clerestory area siding, and the interior ceiling. We dropped by T.W. Perry in Leesburg since we weren't far away and got some ideas there. More fun to come!

Run for Cover!!

And that cover could be under the roof of our house! Yes, there's a roof! Amazing!

Wow, what a relief to have a fast, professional crew back on the job! Hector and his framing crew were back on-site today and they have the entire roof decking up! The forecast for rain throughout the day didn't come true - instead we had grey skies, which were perfect for working outside. The crew will continue work early in the morning on some of the clerestory window framing on the South side and then start interior wall framing. 
The doors and windows are scheduled to be delivered and installed tomorrow, so the house will be completely different looking then!

Before work this morning, I talked today with the folks at Piedmont Roofing who have been very helpful as we've worked through the standing seam metal roof color options and different styles for the related metal items, such as the drainspouts. They'll be on-site this Friday as well, to install the tar/felt underlayment on the roof deck.

And it was great to get back in touch with Abdess from the Ferguson Showroom near Dulles Airport. We spent many hours with Abdess last August picking out plumbing fixtures. He will order those for us and we will have them ready for the plumber to install next week when he's on-site to do the rough-in plumbing in the main level.