Before our contractor headed out to pick up the roofing material, he asked me to come over to the job site to confirm the roof color. The 25-year roofing has the exact same color as our existing roof but the 50-year roofing had a few darker slats. Decided on the more durable 50-year roof. Figured that nobody would actually notice the difference in roof color.
While I was there, the roof guy asked me to go around the house with him to pick downspout locations(!). So unexpected! Thankfully I just had to figure out which sides of the windows I wanted certain downspouts. Other locations, he just pointed out where they would be located and just asked for approval. Because we have a different roof now, the downspouts are not necessarily in the corners of the house anymore. In the back of the house, we have one in the middle. Hopefully it won't be too ugly when they finish! :p
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, July 22, 2011
More decisions
As of today, we have
The contractor is definitely very happy with the progress of the house considering the rough beginning. He thinks we might be able to finish by October. The only thing that would hold us back would probably be my decision making. Since lovely husband has given me full license to all house aesthetics decisions, I'm the only one to blame for slow decision making.
Our contractor called me today to remind me that I needed to make a gutter decision by today. The reason? Prices for roofing and gutters go up by 10% on Aug 1 so he needed a decision to get his supplier to place the order asap.
Cute contractor story:
In early summer, our contractor's wife wanted him to redo all 4 bathrooms in their house as a wedding anniversary gift. So he sets out to do it. We're going to check out the 3 out of 4 finished bathrooms. He designed each one differently and is very excited about the one he put together for his little girl. He told me that if I liked what he did, he wants to design our kid's bathroom. haha!
(Today, he told me that his men really liked his daughter's bathroom.)
As for our kitchen, we're waiting on structural engineering to complete their calculations before submitting to the city.
- picked and ordered skylights - the blackout shade cost more than the actual skylight *sigh*
- picked rounded wall corners (versus square corners)
- definitely spending $2700 extra for central A/C
- picked out ogee curved gutters (never thought we had to make this decision!)
- determined where all the TV outlets go
The contractor is definitely very happy with the progress of the house considering the rough beginning. He thinks we might be able to finish by October. The only thing that would hold us back would probably be my decision making. Since lovely husband has given me full license to all house aesthetics decisions, I'm the only one to blame for slow decision making.
Our contractor called me today to remind me that I needed to make a gutter decision by today. The reason? Prices for roofing and gutters go up by 10% on Aug 1 so he needed a decision to get his supplier to place the order asap.
Cute contractor story:
In early summer, our contractor's wife wanted him to redo all 4 bathrooms in their house as a wedding anniversary gift. So he sets out to do it. We're going to check out the 3 out of 4 finished bathrooms. He designed each one differently and is very excited about the one he put together for his little girl. He told me that if I liked what he did, he wants to design our kid's bathroom. haha!
(Today, he told me that his men really liked his daughter's bathroom.)
As for our kitchen, we're waiting on structural engineering to complete their calculations before submitting to the city.
Roof decisions
July 15
With the new roofing going up, we needed to decide whether to fix the old roof. You can see from the pictures below that under the eaves of the old roof is missing (what I think is called) fascia board which prevents the wood from behind exposed to the elements.
Adding the fascia boards would also mean replacing the old gutters.
Our GC looked at our old gutters and shook his head - they clog easily and he could tell by the design. :p
I also got two boards of roofing color samples and gutter samples. Yay, more decisions!
July 22
Replacing the entire roof would be quite pricey and since the old roof has another 10 years on it, we decided to just add the fascia board to the original part of the house. This way it would look the same as the new part - with new gutters too.
Old roof
New roof
With the new roofing going up, we needed to decide whether to fix the old roof. You can see from the pictures below that under the eaves of the old roof is missing (what I think is called) fascia board which prevents the wood from behind exposed to the elements.
Adding the fascia boards would also mean replacing the old gutters.
Our GC looked at our old gutters and shook his head - they clog easily and he could tell by the design. :p
I also got two boards of roofing color samples and gutter samples. Yay, more decisions!
July 22
Replacing the entire roof would be quite pricey and since the old roof has another 10 years on it, we decided to just add the fascia board to the original part of the house. This way it would look the same as the new part - with new gutters too.
Old roof
New roof
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Family room has a roof!
With the roof on, the entire house seems to be more complete. :)
Looking into the new family room from the old part of the house
View from the patio
Looking into the new family room from the old part of the house
View from the patio
Friday, July 1, 2011
Kitchen gutted
You can see the complete gutting of our kitchen. All that's left is the wall-mounted faucet!
What's left of the kitchen
Lone faucet
Garden window
All of our windows left to install
What's left of the kitchen
Lone faucet
Garden window
All of our windows left to install
Thursday, June 30, 2011
June Summary
June 06: Rough plumbing and underfloor inspection failed.
Visit to window store.
June 08: Rough plumbing and underfloor inspection passed.
Subfloor insulation laid down.
June 09: Initial kitchen cabinet design.
June 10: Subfloor insulation inspection passed.
June 11: Visit to appliance store.
June 13: Visit to second appliance store.
June 14: Subfloor covered.
June 15: Framing begins!
June 16: Apparently the city manager himself has visited our site.
June 20: Removal of kitchen interior walls.
June 25: Second visit to first appliance store - made a decision on the fridge!
June 27: Visit to granite warehouse.
Subfloor insulation
Framing begins
Kitchen walls removed
Framing in progress by the end of June:
Visit to window store.
June 08: Rough plumbing and underfloor inspection passed.
Subfloor insulation laid down.
June 09: Initial kitchen cabinet design.
June 10: Subfloor insulation inspection passed.
June 11: Visit to appliance store.
June 13: Visit to second appliance store.
June 14: Subfloor covered.
June 15: Framing begins!
June 16: Apparently the city manager himself has visited our site.
June 20: Removal of kitchen interior walls.
June 25: Second visit to first appliance store - made a decision on the fridge!
June 27: Visit to granite warehouse.
Subfloor insulation
Framing begins
Kitchen walls removed
Framing in progress by the end of June:
Monday, June 27, 2011
Granite!
Took a trip to IRG to take a look at materials for the kitchen countertop. Most likely we'll be going with granite but will consider quartz. Did not even glance at the beautiful marble -- I don't have the personality to handle marble aging gracefully.
Here are some of the ones we are considering...
Arctic Rainbow - Brown granite from Canada
This was my favorite last time we took a look at granite. However, it wasn't available in the showroom I visited. It's located in their other one...further away.
Volga Blue - Blue granite from Ukraine
Another favored one (that I don't really care for). Too dark. It'll hide every spill and stain, making it hard to actually clean ironically. But best price!
Blue Pearl - Blue Granite from Norway
Similar to Volga Blue but lighter. More of a charcoal gray color than black. Very uniform grain.
Lemurian Blue - Blue Granite from Madagascar
Like the inside of an abalone shell. Only saw a tiny portion of this since the slabs were hidden behind another gigantic slab of something else.
Blue Louise - Blue Quartzite from Brazil
The absolutely most beautiful piece! (Picture does not do it justice.) And, of course, the most expensive. Price is 4 times that of the Volga Blue. It's so expensive that they sell it in smaller slabs compared to the other granites. haha!
Notice a blue theme? :p
Here are some of the ones we are considering...
Arctic Rainbow - Brown granite from Canada
This was my favorite last time we took a look at granite. However, it wasn't available in the showroom I visited. It's located in their other one...further away.
Volga Blue - Blue granite from Ukraine
Another favored one (that I don't really care for). Too dark. It'll hide every spill and stain, making it hard to actually clean ironically. But best price!
Blue Pearl - Blue Granite from Norway
Similar to Volga Blue but lighter. More of a charcoal gray color than black. Very uniform grain.
Lemurian Blue - Blue Granite from Madagascar
Like the inside of an abalone shell. Only saw a tiny portion of this since the slabs were hidden behind another gigantic slab of something else.
Blue Louise - Blue Quartzite from Brazil
The absolutely most beautiful piece! (Picture does not do it justice.) And, of course, the most expensive. Price is 4 times that of the Volga Blue. It's so expensive that they sell it in smaller slabs compared to the other granites. haha!
Notice a blue theme? :p
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