The House Project: More Finishing Touches

I know that a lot of my readers find this house project very interesting; I guess the rest of you are waiting for me to get this house complete, so that you can see my political and historical commentary instead. Believe me, I'm getting tired of this house project, too! It has consumed just about all my spare time for the last few weeks, and as we approach the end, it is gobbling even more time.

The sequence is all beginning to jumble together a bit, but I think Thursday evening we went up there and discovered that to solve the problem of water pooling on the driveway apron, and then ending up in the garage, we know have a drain in the front.


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Supposedly there is a similar drain on the rear driveway apron, but I haven't thought to check.

The motion detector exterior lights that met my wife's esthetic requirements are all in, and they definitely detect us driving up to the house. These lights are all on switches inside, so we can force complete darkness, complete light, or motion detector mode.


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On Friday, the counter guys finished putting the Silestone counters in place in the kitchen:


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The builder discovered, as they were getting ready to cut a hole in the counter for the faucets at the kitchen sink, that he was going to have to raise the window sill a fraction of an inch. Even worse, Silestone is three centimeters thick--so the standard faucet attachment hardware isn't quite long enough. The plumber is having to hunt around a little for adapters to handle this.


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The cooktop is now integrated into its counter as well, although the heating guy still has to get everything connected up and working.


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The entry hall light fixture.


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The builder received a box of heating registers (the things that go into the heating/air conditioning vents in the floors), but Rhonda wasn't happy with the color--it went well with the color of the tile grout, but not with the tile, the carpet, or any of the rest of the interior color scheme.


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We found some registers that looked good with both tile and carpet, and then had to run around to two different Lowe's to get enough to finish the house.


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Bathroom two at the far end.


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Bathrooms two and after the counters were installed, but the plumbing not yet done.


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Bathroom three with the counter in place, but still in need of some cleanup:


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Bathroom three now complete:


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Well, almost. We had to relocate the towel rack to avoid collisions with the shower door.


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Objects in mirror heavier than they appear! (Would funhouse mirrors that make you look fat be appropriate in the bathroom as a diet aid? Or would adding to a house funhouse mirrors that make you look just a little thinner be an effective way to sell houses?)

Bathroom two after the plumber got the faucets in--apparently the extra counter thickness was not a problem for this faucet. This bathroom is now done, except for the mirror.


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Master bathroom after the Silestone backsplash went in for the jetted tub:


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All the closet organizers from Treasure Valley Closets (who should be advertising here, hint, hint) are in place, such as this hall closet, and in one of the bedrooms.


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Ordinary closet shelves might have been a little cheaper, but these are easily reconfigured in a variety of forms.

Oh yeah, the master bedroom closet.


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The more I look at this, the more I think we could have gone a bit smaller on this closet, a little larger on the master bath, and a bit smaller on the master bedroom--and used the space to enlarge bedrooms three and four.

I needed a lot of bookshelves in the closet to replace the built-in bookshelves in our current family room. This set in the office (also by Treasure Valley Closets) should do the job--roughly 9 1/2 feet by 9 feet of adjustable shelving.


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I went up Saturday morning--and discovered that there is no choice. I must buy a four wheel drive to get up that hill.

That little red speck is my Corvette at the bottom of my driveway.


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I fell twice coming down the driveway--a few days of sunlight means the snow melts just a little, then refreezes at night.

We weren't happy with the knobs on the bifold closet doors in two of the bedrooms, so we bought some brushed nickel replacements--which, of course, came with screws that were too short. But you can see in this side-by-side what a difference it makes.


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Still waiting on:

1. The plumber needs to come back with the appropriate adapters for the three centimeter thick counters, install the lead filter in the garage, and get the water heater running.

2. The electrical guy needs to get the telephone jacks, coax, and Ethernet connectors installed.

3. The heating guy needs to hook up the stove.

4. We are expecting the counter depth refrigerator, washer, and dryer to arrive and be installed on Monday.

5. Final inspections on Tuesday.

6. Certificate of Occupancy on Wednesday.

7. Appraisal on Monday.

8. Lots of little cosmetic fixes in the house--including five cracked tiles. (The builder is still trying to figure out why they cracked.)

Last house project entry.

Professor Paul Mirecki

I mentioned a few days ago my skepticism about Paul Mirecki's supposed attack by Christians upset with his plans to teach a class attacking Intelligent Design. Michelle Malkin has a detailed set of links that raise serious questions about whether Mirecki's claims about what happened pass the sniff test.

The House Project: Appliance Excitement in the Kitchen

I have been very busy the last couple of days. My wife and I went Monday at noon to meet with... I can't quite remember. Anyway, there were a lot more lighting fixtures in place. Here you can see the dishwasher in the cabinets, but not yet hooked up. (I think we are waiting on the plumber.)


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Here's the mysteriously missing cooktop arriving, and yes, it is as cold outside as it looks:


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Lighting fixtures not only installed, but working!


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This is the cheap counter for the laundry room. It isn't nailed in place quite yet. It is also a good bit more green and beautiful than it appears here.


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Oh, and here's the last big (in the physical sense) headache. There was a miscommunication between the builder and me about the dimensions of the refrigerator. I ordered a conventional refrigerator--and compared to the counters, it looks like an elephant in pantyhose.


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Here's your hint for when you have a house built: if you order a refrigerator, order one that is "counter depth." Kitchen counters are typically 24" deep. A typical full-sized refrigerator, like this behemoth, is 33" deep. A "counter depth" fridge is about 24" deep, not counting the door. The door brings it out to about 27" or 28" -- stll deeper than the counter, but not so grossly sticking out that it looks dumb.

In any case, the change was only about $300 more for the counter depth fridge, and a $50 restocking fee.

Tuesday night we get a call from our builder. There are no outside lighting fixtures--and we need some hardwired fluorescent fixtures from undercounter lighting in the kitchen. We had picked some out at Grover's, but apparently neglected to tell them what we had picked out. The electrician is trying to get everything finished up for electrical inspection Wednesday, needs those light fixtures, pronto.

So my wife and I blast over to Home Depot on the way to the property, and engage in a slight battle of the wills over the exterior light fixtures. I'm thinking of motion detector fixtures with enough output to melt snow, and get the deer to medium rare while they stand there. She is thinking "decorative." At first, it appeared that there was no middle ground on this, but we found some fixtures that had motion detectors and satisfied my wife's esthetic senses.

And then today, we had to run over to Grover's to pick up the items that we missed in the planning stage: another front hall interior light fixture; a big fancy fluorescent fixture for the master closet; and the simplest possible fixture for the pantry. (You open the pantry door, and a switch turns on the light. Very neat!)

Just to add to the excitement, my wife got a late start. The salescritter at Grover's was brand new, so everything took twice as long--and my wife had to go administer a final exam to her students at 1:00 PM. We transferred the fixtures to my Corvette about noon, and I drove up to deliver them.

I have previously suggested that the Corvette just needs the traction control turned off to solve the snow problem. Well, almost. I reached my driveway--and discovered that no matter how I tried, it just wasn't going to climb that driveway. (The electrician reports that he wasn't able to climb it in his enormous Dodge 4x4 a few days ago, either.) This isn't all that steep a driveway at the start, either. It was 15 degrees outside--just cold enough that any temporary melt turns back to ice--but just warm enough that the weight of a car causes a temporary melt at the surface, preventing you from getting traction.

So I walked up the hill, carrying light fixtures, and getting a very complete cardiovascular workout, what with temperature, slope, and yielding snow.

For the first time, the house looked like it was truly under construction.

The Silestone installers were busily putting in the kitchen counters.

The installers from Treasure Valley Closets were putting in the closet organizers and the bookshelf in the office--very cool looking.

The electrician and his son had installed all the exterior lighting, and were starting to pull the well pump wire from above ground to conduit.

The builder was putting the concrete blocks upon which the backup generator will be located.

The builder's son was installing the permanent front door.

It was just a flurry of activity. Tomorrow, the appraiser for the permanent loan comes by--and everything better be pretty much in place.

I think I am going to have to look into a serious 4WD for winter.

Last house project entry.

Someone Didn't Understand The Concept of Figurative Speech?

I mentioned last week about Professor Paul Mirecki's announcement of a class about Intelligent Design that was really quite astonishing in its lack of objectivity:

"The fundies (fundamentalists) want it all taught in a science class," Mirecki wrote in the e-mail. "But this will be a nice slap in their big, fat face by teaching it as a religious studies class under the category `mythology.'''

It would appear that someone doesn't understand the concept that "slap in their big, fat face" was figurative in nature:

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A college professor whose planned course on creationism and intelligent design was canceled after he derided Christian conservatives said he was beaten by two men along a rural road early Monday.

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said the men referred to the class when they beat him on the head, shoulders and back with their fists and possibly a metal object, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

I would like to believe that anyone who claims to follow Jesus Christ would know better than to attack Professor Mirecki's for his nasty remarks. Of course, I would also like to believe that Professor Mirecki is accurately describing what happened, but there has been quite a number of "hate crimes" lately that turned out to be frauds by the victim. And like this one. And this one. Or this one.

House Project: Most Of The Lighting Fixtures Are In

We ran up there today--and my, how beautiful all the snow is! Those aren't optical defects--those are ice crystals reflecting sunlight back at us!


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Light fixtures and fans are installed in most of the house. I will thank you not to laugh at our taste in such!


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We are going to have to get some extensions for the fan controls, obviously. Either that, or hire very tall servants!

Recessed lighting in the kitchen in place.


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I'm sure that there was a reason we picked a fluorescent light fixture in this part of the kitchen, but not elsewhere, but I haven't the faintest idea what it was.


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Light fixtures in the bedrooms and halls are all of this form, either in the large (three 100 watt bulbs) or medium (two 100 watt bulbs) size. This is the master bedroom, with two additional light fixtures above the bed (and wall switches to control them at bed height).


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Yes, we decided to go for brushed nickel everywhere--it matches the finish of my wife's carry pistol. (That's not why we picked it.)

The covering plate is not in place yet, but this is the forced air heater for the bathroom. I'm told that this is more efficient than a heat lamp (which requires its own circuit). This will be very nice on the mornings when it is subzero outside.


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I don't recall requesting this lighting fixture above the master bathroom shower stall, but it seems like a good idea.


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That metal strip is the track that holds the bifold closet doors in bedroom four. The sliding closet doors never seem to work very well, and the bifold doors open very wide.


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A very few of the light switches actually turn on lights--but most are still inoperative. The smoke detector clearly doesn't have power yet--it is chirping up a storm.


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This fluorescent has power.


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The doorbell is in, but not yet powered.


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How do you protect exterior outlets in a place with this much snow and ice? I haven't ever seen these before.


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These icicles on the north face of the house are bent. Does this mean that the wind was blowing hard as they froze?


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The Silestone counters are supposed to be installed tomorrow!

Last house project entry.

House Project: Doors, Knobs, Light Switches

We drove up Friday night, and found a bit more complete. The kitchen door now replaces the construction door. It's a bit plain, but it adds a lot of view to the kitchen.


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The microwave oven is still waiting for the appropriate surround--and for the electrician to provide an outlet for it.


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Dishwasher is still sitting in the family room, waiting to be installed--not sure what is holding this up. Plumber?


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All of the interior doors are now in place, and painted. While the French doors on this bedroom look too white compared to the others, that's just because it was completely dark in the (no working light fixtures yet), and the flash overexposed them.


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Here's an amusing example. My wife lit up the door knob on this closet door, because I could not quite see anything--but the flash solved the problem.


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Another door in place, with the knobs.


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Light switches in place by the front door--but the breakers aren't installed, so they aren't powering anything yet. Still no light fixtures inside or out.


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Our builder asked us to go pick out a counter for the laundry room from what was in stock. It turned out that it is easier, because of the small size of the job, for him to personally cut a hole for the utility sink in an existing counter, and install it, then to get a craftsman up there to make a countertop for the existing sink cabinet. That was part of why we drove up there in the cold and the snow--to measure the space, and then pick out a one-piece countertop at Home Depot.


Last house project entry.

House Project: Appliances Going In

I was actually up there yesterday, but I've been so busy yesterday and today, what with patent forms, X-rays, getting stuck in the snow....

When I got up there yesterday, the builder's son had just installed the wall oven, and was working on the microwave oven's position.


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Wall switches are in for most rooms:


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But there's a few places where it appears the electrician was kidnapped part-way through the job!


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I had mentioned the problem of how to surround the jetted tub--while still having a way to get access to the various moving parts inside. One reader's suggestion worked out rather well. (The wood still needs to be cleaned.) One screw holds the whole thing together, rather like a clever puzzle.


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The dishwasher is still out in the garage, as are the washer and dryer. (The cooktop has been mysterious in its movements, and the trash compactor was delayed by snow.)


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There's a downside to snow, of course--but look at this view from my back porch!


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Last house project entry.