The Concrete guys poured the back porch footings, including the rebar. I was in meetings all day and couldn’t keep an eye on things, but when I went out there after a bit they left I noticed that the footings at the bottom of the stairs were six or eight inches above grade. Since the concrete was still wet, I grabbed a trowel and a level and scooped the sonotubes down to where they should be, level with grade. I also shoveled out the small section of sidewalk they had thoughtfully poured with extra, despite me asking them not to since we have pavers for that area. It’s been a couple of weeks and the dumpster is still in the back yard. Now he says tomorrow?

New footings

There’s been some further back and forth with the architect, expeditor, GC, porch contractor, and myself, trying to get permit moved along. I’m not sure how much longer it will drag out. On a positive note, I got an email today from the cabinet maker that price changes go into effect on January 1, but while most prices are going up, cherry wood prices are actually going down, so we may actually save money by waiting. I’m not feeling like we’ll need those cabinets before mid-February at our current rate of “progress”.

This past weekend I got to work on the radiator lines in the attic. I mounted the manifold in a closet and got the supply and return pex tubing installed to each of the radiator locations. There’s a bit to do yet. I installed framing in front that we’ll eventually mount the radiator to, but I still have to do the same in back. I also need to terminate all the lines with the stainless steel pipe I bought and then cap them so I can do a pressure test. I’m still waiting for some more parts to arrive before I can do the mechanical room work, but there’s plenty to do before then.

Meanwhile, I’m hoping that the GC can at least install the new house wrap, called “Blue Skin”, since I think some of the penetrations we’re waiting on will actually need to be set up after it’s installed because of the exterior insulation panels. He says tomorrow or Friday, which I take to mean Friday at the earliest.

They’re also going to ‘reset’ all the windows. I think I mentioned previously that all of the windows (except for the basement), which I installed using clips provided by the distributor, are installed incorrectly because the clips are actually for a completely different brand of window, which explains why they were such a pain to use. They are going to remove the clips, foam, and wrap around the windows and put them back in, but proud an inch or whatever so they’ll be flush with the exterior trim.

So! The next update should have some exciting progress.