Day 84 : Shower and bath tub

I'm back in business again (with a working computer). There has been lots of progress since end of August and I will describe various topics in separate blog entries.

The first one is about the guest bathroom shower and our main bathroom tub. The hardware arrived and got installed in the meantime. While we only have a shower in the smaller guest bathroom, we opted for a good sized round model (36+ inches). It was the largest size we could fit in next to the entrance door! The glass door is here as well, but will be installed last.

In the master bath, we have a new-angle shower base (that has been here for a while) and a large air-bath tub from BainUltra. We always wanted to have a tub like this and will finally be able to enjoy this system. It is not a whirlpool with large, ugly and hard to clean water jets, but has a row if tiny holes at the bottom which will blow pre-heated air into the water. In addition, the backrests are heated! It is a drop-in tub, so a platform has too be built (see last photo) which will be tiled eventually. You can see the air pump in the first photo below mounted to the tub, but we decided to move it into the utility room below to keep the noise level down. The utility room location in that back corner of the basement turned out quite convenient for this.

Hardware problems...

Yes, we are still here, yes, the construction is still going on. And yes, I am still taking lots of photos. Unfortunately, my computer's graphic card decided quit on me so I cannot use my desktop computer that hosts all the images to post photos. And mobile devices are not set up to handle the raw photos from my SLR camera.

So instead, here is a verbal only update about what happened the last few days. Photos will be added to the story once I am up and running again, computer-hardware wise that is.

The electricians where at it last week and everything should be wrapped up now on that front. Those guys were very responsive and installed not only the many 240 volt and 120 volt circuits, lights and switches, but also the special cables for network, speaker and security cameras in various locations. I had planned to take photos of all the walls, so that I know where all the wires are located.

In the meantime, we got the shower base for the guest bath as well as our big master bathroom air-bath tub from BainUltra. The framing crew (at least part of it) is back and dealing with all kinds of small things like building a platform for the tub. All of the sudden the bathroom does not look that big anymore... They also installed the outer frame for the entertainment room "star ceiling". More details on that in a seperate blog entry. And on Thursday, the staircase arrived and was installed. It is simply beautiful: all parts are made out of beech wood and there are stairs on three sides. We did not have the space for a platform halfway down that is typical in these turnaround setups, so it almost feels like a circular staircase. 

On the outside, the main drain pipe has been hooked up to the septic tank. The perimeter drainage pipes and rain gutter pipes have been extended and buried. The driveway is being properly connected to the garage with an extended culvert. And the ground surface is being graded.

There will be more major milestones this coming week with insulation and drywall installation. The outside siding is also on the schedule....

Day 78 : Heat pumps

Some more photos from the plumbing activities: Water is hooked up now (see the pressure tank) and the heat pumps are being installed. There will be a 1 ton (12,000 BTUs) pump on the basement floor and a 1.5 ton (18,000 BTUs) heat pump on the main floor.

Water supply pressure tank

Outdoor compressor units for the two mini split heat pumps

Indoor head of the main floor heat pump

Reference photo 2014-08-27

Day 76 : Plumbing progress

While the framing crew is currently dealing with another job site before wrapping up on our house, the plumbers were working on the ducts for our ventilation system, hooking it up to the ERV unit un the utility room (looks quite elaborate, see photo). They also completed the hot/cold water lines as you can see with the red and blue plastic pipes in the photos. In the old house we still had all copper lines. But nowadays, only the very ends of the lines are copper so that any end-point valves etc. can be soldered on. It looked like the system was being pressure tested while we visited today.

Ductwork at the indoor side of the ERV unit

Ductwork and water supply lines below the powder room/kitchen area

Detour ahead: Working around the main load bearing beam in the basement

For our tub in the master bathroom, we needed a larger size hot water heater. With the heat pump unit on top, this looks like quite impressive.

Heat-pump hot water heater

Day 70 : Windows and doors

We are ten weeks into construction since breaking ground today! Hopefully that is more than halfway to move-in day.

The plumbing crew made progress installing the concealed tanks for the wall-mounted toilets

Concealed (in-wall) toilet tanks... not very common in this country (yet?)

At the same time, the framing crew started installing windows and doors. We are still waiting for a few more windows to be delivered this week, but it is looking more and more like a real house now.

It's really amazing to see how a dream on paper becomes more and more a reality!

Dining area window sets

According to the workers, these windows were way heavier than expected. I guess the third glass panel and foam in the frame itself do make a difference. These are all awning and casement windows. No double hung sliders here as they do not close that well. I operated some of the bigger ones (main floor) and the crank mechanism feels smooth and does not translate the weight of the windows at all.

Lowering the ceiling on the main floor has been completed as well. For the living/dining/kitchen area, they used a metal frame that will hold the ceiling drywall just as well as the lumber joists in the bedroom. Now there are only a few smaller things to complete for the framing crew.

Living/dining room with lowered ceiling

Kitchen area with wall brackets to support the cabinets 

Day 67 : More porch details

Here are a few more photos of the porch from Saturday. With that truss design, we will have "cathedral ceilings" in that room. :-)

We will the porch from the kitchen/dining area and then there will be a door leading to the deck. It is just slightly bigger than our old porch and there is plenty of deck space left for our big round outdoor table that seats eight.

The crew also continued framing in the basement and started lowering the ceiling on the main floor as you can see here in the master bedroom. 

In addition, work has started on the plumbing side with the first pipes installed. There is also an electrical box now with two circuits. I am just not sure if power has been hooked up on the utility side of things yet.

Day 65 : Porch construction, roof shingles

This is the week where Huntley Road is closed at the southern end due to a culvert installation. The way to the site from Essex and Jericho is a few miles longer. That and the bad weather on Wednesday kept us from going there more often this week.

I have checked the progress on Tuesday evening, but nothing much happened since Saturday. Only the deck over the garage has been completed at that time:

Wednesday was a complete washout I thought (constant rain, heavy at times), but obviously someone was working on the porch (or three season room). It was shortly after noon when I got there today (Thursday) and the main porch structure was up and a reduced crew was working on the roof trim already.

At the same time, another team installed the asphalt shingles on the main roof. We picked a light grey color to keep the roof cool in the summer (and help slow down Global Warming). 

In the meantime, our triple pane PVC windows have arrived! Well, most of them with the exception of the tempered ones, which will be delivered next week. But the framing crew focussed on the porch roof, so that the shingles can be installed there as well. So the windows (and patio doors) have been placed into the garage for the time being.

I also met the plumbing crew and we discussed duct locations. It is amazing how many details are still left open even after a very good set of architectural plans...

Reference Photo 2014-08-14