Quick Update

• The new stairs have been installed. The stair guy just needs to finish some small details.
• My friend Ross (a veritable metal wizard) will be fabricating the railings and island countertop.
  
• The back deck has been torn off. As well as all of the old gutters and soffits.
  
• The kitchen cabinets are being delivered tomorrow May 1. Luis will be installing them tomorrow or Friday!
  
• The tile is almost all delivered.....damn ants. Tile guy is starting his prep work tomorrow.
• The millwork will hopefully be all delivered early next week with the Luis the trim carpenter starting immediately.
• The rest of the wood floors will be delivered next week and installed next Wed. May 7.

Expecting the Unexpected

Slowly but surely we're making progress. The painters have started priming all of the walls and ceilings of the house. They should hopefully be done with that today.

The the wood floor materials will be arriving on Monday so that the installers will be able to begin on Wednesday. The installers claim that they will have the job finished in a couple of days. So if everything goes as planned we will be able to have the stairs installed around the 1st of May.

I met with my tile guy this morning to go over the areas being tiled. He should be able to start next week as well. The only hangup there is that some of our materials aren't able to be picked up. Why? Because the container in which they arrived on a slow boat from China is being held up in U.S. Customs due to an ant infestation. An ant infestation!!!! So there is no telling when we will be able to get that marble. And until then we won't be able to tile the master bathroom or the shower of the first floor bathroom. We do have the materials to tile the guest bathroom and the floor of the front and back entries. So we will be able to get that done at least.

I spoke with our cabinet supplier. The cabinets are sitting in a warehouse at Pulaski & Diversey and can be delivered with 24 hours notice. The other trim materials for the house are all in stock as well. The only item I'm waiting on hearing back about are the interior doors. We switched from a painted to going to a stained door. Hopefully that won't hold us up.

We also ordered all of our materials for the exterior of the addition. We are going with a traditional look. So the siding is going to be 7 1/4" Certainteed fibercement with a 6" reveal. The trim is going to be miratec trimboard and will match the windows. F.E. Wheaton is supplying the materials and also pre-finishing them. The siding is going to be an Eiffel Tower Beige while the trim is going to be almost almond colored. I always thought the Eiffel Tower was bronze colored. Nope. It is actually Eiffel Tower Brown which is a sort of milk chocolate color. Mmmmmm. Chocolate.

The Countdown

We are coming into the home stretch. Now that the drywall has been hung the place the house is going to start looking like home. Here's what's left to do.

1. Exterior Siding and Gutters (Materials ordered 4/25/08. Shipping 5/9/08)
   
2. Priming the Walls
3. Laying tile (Materials are all in except some that are quarantined)
   
4. Installing hardwood floors (Materials shipping 4/28/08)
   
5. Installing new stairs
6. Trim Carpentry (Materials ordered 4/25/08)
   
7. Plumbing Trim
   
8. Electric Trim
9. Home Audio
10. Miscellaneous

We are racing against the clock to get everything done in 30 days. We have to be out of the temporary apartment on May 20. It is definitely possible to have it all done. Its just a matter of keeping on task and making sure everyone shows up to do their job when they're supposed to.

Drywall

The drywall has been hung and we are on our way to getting the bungalow in living condition. This is the longest leg of the build process....getting from drywall to finished. Hopefully things will fall into place and we will be living in the house in 30 days. It is definitely possible hopefully doable.

Drywall

Check out my Plummin

Plumbing, HVAC, Electric, Insulation

I have been horrible about the updates. Partially, I didn't really feel like posting photos of the mechanicals because they just aren't that exciting. I mean a well plumbed house is exciting to me but maybe not to everyone. Besides it isn't until drywall is up that the house really starts taking shape.

We passed all of our rough inspections with no problem. The inspectors only asked that we add small items here and there. Once all the inspections were complete I scheduled to have the house insulated. After a long and hard debate we ended up going with fiberglass. We were at one point going to insulate with the spray foam. But it turns out to be about 3 times the cost of fiberglass and it has the same R value per inch. The foam guys would argue that since they make the house airtight it actually makes their product more efficient. However, what they don't tell you is that once the house is airtight you have to start bringing in fresh air from the exterior. This can be done cheaply however you are then bringing "unconditioned" air into the living space and effectively negating the efficiency of the insulation. So, the right way to do it is to bring exterior air into the home through an HRV (heat exchange ventilator) or ERV (energy recovery ventilator) The HRV is used primarily in northern climates whereas the ERV is for hotter and more humer southern climates. In any case, one of these modules will end up costing upwards of $2,000. So, let me break down the math. The spray foam was quoted to us for $12,000 to insulate the entire house. Add in the HRV and its installation for another $3500. Compare that to high density fiberglass which was quoted at about $3,500 for the entire house, requires to additional HVAC modifications and is tried and tested method of insulating. While the foam is more efficient one doesn't really reap the energy saving and recoup the cost of installation unless they stay in the home for five years or more.

I can't really tell yet if fiberglass is the devil. I have been researching and can really only determine that every product whether green or not always bashes their competition. And it is actually kind of difficult to find any objective information. For instance, there are millions of dollars in studies that have been done on fiberglass insulation. However, most if not all of these have been subsidized or underwritten by one of the major manufacturers of fiberglass such as Owens Corning or Johns Manville. I'm also not sure if I care. The reason being that sometimes economics trump principles. It would have been nice to have spray foam but we just can't afford it when taking into consideration the costs of the entire project. That's the unfortunate part about trying to build "green" is that it is pretty much cost prohibitive unless you do the project peice meal or don't care if you ever recoup the costs of the materials. Or to put it another way, I don't give a shit about green insulation if it means sacrificing my flat screen TV. My programs are more important than my gas bill. Seriously, they are....