Tuesday, Sept 27, 2011 -- The Paint Reveal!

The house has been painted!  (Mostly).  The body was painted today in our taupe/brown -- It is a stain actually -- will last longer than paint.  Trim is left for today or sometime later.  Anyway, take a look!  Al and his crew is doing a great job.  Thanks!

In progress pictures:

Also, Rick and his group  kicked some major butt today on the electrical work.  They accomplished alot to wire the inside of the addition.  Check this out!

Frankie and his brother were here as well today with HVAC work -- will post pics tomorrow.  The guts of the house are coming together!

It was a busy day at Fairway!

Monday, Sept 26th -- Garage Doors are In!

Monday, Sept 26th was a good day. The reason we did the addition...  So I can get a garage! 

Well, the garage doors were installed. It was worth the wait! The metal pulls and the motor/drive system need to be installed later.  Anyway, here is an after (and before) pics!

 

September 25th -- Lots to Update

Sorry for the delay in posting -- was having some computer issues and to be honest -- things got kinda crazy at work, home, etc.   The lack of posting doesn't mean that we continued to make progress on the addition. 

Anyway, here are some highlights of continued progress since the last post:

1.  We picked the color.  As the picture shows below, we (my wife) went paint happy and put up 6 colors on the house.  The picture below shows 6 colors -- various shades of taupe/grey and a "sweatshirt gray" that looks blue.  We are going with the one that is leftmost on the house.  It is "something" Taupe.  The picture doesn't do justice, but the color that was our second choice was the stone/gray color that is painted on the top immediately on the right side of the main door. 

2.  Another thing that you may notice from the above picture is the portico that we added over the main door.  We are going to make a slight (but hopefully important) design change and will update the blog when it is completed.  Eric Busa was great about dealing with homeowners who had different opinions on the design.  Thanks Eric.

3.  The basement floors were installed.  Scott from TriScapes came to lay the concrete for the basement floors.  They came out awesome!  Thanks Scott!  I'm already thinking mancave, exercise area, and a kids zone.  See below.

4.  The plumbling rough ins are pretty much  done.  Frankie (from Genove) put in the HVAC system largely -- take a look below.   Lots of tubes for our central air/heat.  We are adding 2 new zones to the house to make for a very efficient system.  Thanks Frankie!

5.  Drainage -- Take a look below.  The drainage system was put in, and they regraded around that area.  No more mini hills and valleys as the kids run around in the backyard.  I wish I was home to see this!  Danny from Trillenium and his trucks are still outside our house today.  My kids and I want to take them around for a spin! :) 


Drainage water will be directed toward these pits that will push water away from the house.  The grass will be nice and healthy around here!

Drainage lines from the house gutters will flow through and into the pits....

 

I believe that the gutters will be linked to these drainage pipes.. hopefully to keep the basement nice and dry...

An existing gutter on the left side of the house has been connected to the drainage system.

The dirt put back over the drainage pits/system:

 

Another view...

 

The curbing removed -- and to be used for the new driveway?

Here is the heavy machinery from Trillenium that did the job:

6.  Further interior partioning -- breakthrough.

Eric, Eric and Derrick broke through on the second floor and they partitioned the new bedroom and hallway closets.  Please see below: 

The second floor hallway connecting the "old" house to the addition!

7.  Painters -- the painters worked during the last week to caulk and prepare the house for painting.  We just need some good weather now!

8.  We started tile shopping!

9.  Electrical and new garage doors are planned for this week!

10.  Insulation has been largely decided.

September 13, 2011 -- Siding complete!

Eric DeSilva and Derrick finished off the siding today.  See the pics below on how the exterior looks now.

From a timing point of view; we have now started the 3rd month.  I think we're doing great according to plan.

On the near term "to-do" list include HVAC, electrical and insulation.  The concrete for the basement remains if we can get some good weather for a few days.  Scott from TriScapes will be doing that.  Also, the deck and the front porch as well.  Exterior paint as well!

Regarding paint -- Eric Busa is going to get a lighter color -- a stone taupe.  I think that will look better...  Will put that up when I get a pic.

I real excited about how the exterior is come together.  Thank you Eric, Eric, Derrick and Anthony.
 
I have also taken the opportunity now to show the "before" pics.  I waited till now -- so you can see the dramatic difference!

View from across the street:

View from the corner:

View from the backyard:

Another view from the back -- kitchen and family room can be seen:

Side:

Garage side:  (to be added)


The "BEFORE" pics below:


The original view from the front sidewalk:

Side of the house:

Rear of the house:

Another view of the rear of the existing house:

The old garage and the tree that I hated:

Bye Bye Old Garage/Shed:

September 12th -- Amazing Progress - Siding and Breakthrough on the 2nd Floor

So, we are at the 2 month mark  -- I started this blog on July 11th, when the hole was first dug for the foundation.  I can't believe the progress that we've made so far.  In 2 short months, we have the holes dug, the foundation poured, the framing up, the siding 99% up (existing and new), garage floor cement poured, windows/doors in, some rough mechanics (plumbing and some HVAC) in, and today, we've now broken through on the 2nd floor!

See the pics below:

This is the view from the addition into the existing house.  Eric and his crew demoed the existing wall and broke through!  Good thing we cleaned it out this past weekend.  Its a bit surreal walking into our existing house from the addition.  Eric left me a text indicating that he wants to run an option for rearranging the bedroom. 

 

The breakthrough from the view from the "addition" portion of the bedroom.  We are "moving" this bedroom to allow for a hallway that is going to connect the existing house to the new addition.  One question remains -- where should we put the closet?

 Eric DeSilva and Derrick did some more work in the back -- the old siding is officially taken down!

What do you think of this color?  I'm not sure if I like it.  Eric, being brutally honest, doesn't like it.  He said it in the nicest way.

Friday, Sept 9, 2011 -- Siding Done in the Front

With the good weather on Friday, Eric and his crew finished off the siding in the front.  From the street at least, I feel that it really does not look like an addition anymore.  Take a look below.

This weekend, we went to a few stores and made some general decisions on tiles as well.  We were pretty productive.  We also have a very good understanding of the color we want to go with for the house.  More to come later!

Thursday, September 8, 2011 -- Poor Weather but Continued Progress

So, the weather has not been friendly to us to get any work done outside.  LOTS of rain!!!  Fortunately, though, Eric had some of the internal mechanics scheduled (and done) this week.  The plumbing crew accomplished alot this week as the pictures below can attest.  Also, Eric, Eric and Derrick put in the front and back doors and did some internal work to prepare for further mechanics work and the cabinets!

Eric also some other people come in for quotes.  For example, I saw insulation and electrical people come in to look inside to provide a quote.  Of course, I know a few people myself who might be able to put in a competitive bid.

The cabinet person, June, gave me an estimate today that the cabinets should be coming in during the week of October 3-10th.  
 
Please see pics below:


Front door:

Back door (from the inside):

 

Back door (from the outside):

Kitchen plumbing, and carpentry to reinforce the walls for future cabinet install:

Laundry room:  

Master bathroom.  Lots of colored wires all over the place.  Red (hot),  Blue (cold), yellow (gas):  White tubes are the drains.

The 6ft jacuzzi!:

Hopefully the weather cooperates tomorrow (it should) so that we can get some final things done on the exterior (siding, etc.)