Day 143 : Kitchen countertop

The pace of work picked up considerably during the last few days. We are pushing to wrap everything up (well, most of it anyways) on Friday so that we can move some furniture into the house over the weekend. We still do not know when we can actually spend the first night in the new house. Maybe Monday...

The painters are back working on the trim, doors and completing the second coat of the wall paint.
At the same time, the plumbers are installing the faucets and shower fixtures. The electricians also are back installing light fixtures. And the rain gutters have been installed as well (sorry, no photos yet as it was too dark when I got there).

But the most prominent update for today was the outer part of our kitchen countertop. We picked a black quartz material (Silestone "Tebas Black") that is not quite as shiny as granite (hopefully showing less fingerprints and water stains). We plan to install a tile backsplash at some later point in time. The island part is scheduled for Friday (tomorrow) morning.

Kitchen countertop with sink and faucet

Integrated wall oven/induction cooktop and microwave

Once we have moved in and are settled, I will post more photos of the finished rooms, but here are just a few examples of the other components that got installed over the last two days:

Master bathroom shower door

Ceiling fan in our porch

Day 128 : A very busy day...

We had a big day today. I counted at least 12 cars at the site when we visited around noon time. There may have been more... it seemed like an extremely busy place with people almost stepping on each other's toes.

But let's start from scratch: The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities had been delivered yesterday. By noon today, the first wall cabinets have been installed already.

Then we had one crew painting doors and another one installing all the trim (baseboards, door frames) and the wide hardwood window sills. Here is an example of the window sills:

Next was the flooring team that was wrapping up the floor installation in the basement with bamboo and then continuing with the floor tiles in the master bath.

The electricians were back as well and started installing outlets, lights and switches. However, I found them installing the wrong type of devices. Half a day's work needs to be redone tomorrow when they bring the Decora type switches we specified... It was again an oversight or miscommunication on their side, but it only shows that you really have to watch every single step.

And last but not least: The framing crew was also back, completing the cedar pergola and starting on the deck railing system:

On the porch side, the EzeBreeze windows were installed in part today and one section on the inside got finished with fir tongue and groove boards. All of the sudden, this room has a completely different character. Hard to describe with photos, but I believe this will be one of our favorite places to hang out, not just in the middle of summer.

Today may have been the last really warm day of the season with temps around 80F. We are entering a rainy phase over the next few days, so keep your fingers crossed that at least some work on the outside can continue.

Day 84 : Electrical installation

The electricians have been roughing in the wiring. It includes 120V and 240V circuits for all the lights and outlets as well as special cabling that I requested for LAN, security cameras and speakers.

I am posting a few photos from a very early stage in the utility room (it looks clean now with the switch panels installed). There are those blue boxes for switches and outlets everywhere! I would like to know the length of the sum of all cables that went into the walls and ceilings.

Utility room in early stage

One of the larger (4-gang) switch boxes to control lights in the living room

Switch and outlet boxes in the kitchen. You can even see the three ceiling boxed for the island pendants.