Not Much Finished, but Lots of Progress

I haven’t updated in a while, which isn’t all that uncommon, but in this case there’s been a lot going on with the house, we just haven’t finished much. There’s something about writing a blog post about something that we’ve made progress on but haven’t actually completed that is neither satisfying to write or to read. However, enough time has gone by and enough has happened that I feel we should get up to speed on where things are, so settle in for a whirlwind post.

Back in the beginning of August, when I last wrote, the drywallers had just finished and we had primed all the walls and ceilings. The drywallers came back and touched up a few things they’d messed up, mostly around the stairwell and we sent them on their way to get paid and not break any more of our stuff.

Work was finally scheduled to start on the back porch, so we started prep by cutting back some sections of the concrete patio that would be difficult to remove later. Ultimately, it was too thick to remove without assistance, but Dean came to the rescue with his SDS Max rotary hammer and chiseled it out for us. We got the rest of the back yard cleared out and everything was set for the back porch construction to begin.

Work started on the back porch, and I was told it would take “two weeks” which sounded pretty absurd at the time and proved to be completely so. If you’ve ever seen the movie The Money Pit, it’s also especially comedic. Nevertheless, with that work ongoing, we started focusing on the interior. Sarah and I started tile shopping and picking paint colors. I used the sprayer to paint two coats of white on all the ceilings and closets, and Sarah started painting a first coat on all the walls from top to bottom. This was mostly on weekends and took a while, since it’s a pretty big house. Honestly, it’s still ongoing.

We bought all the tile and brought it home in two car trips (with the shocks of our hatchback straining under the load) and loaded it first into the back yard, then onto the incomplete back porch, and then carted it into the house, and finally carried it up the stairs. It was something like three thousand pounds of tile, so this was a real effort. Some of our wrought iron balusters arrived, we started picking out and ordering light fixtures, looking at cabinet hardware, and painting continued. I cut the hole for the outlet that will be in the floor of the kitchen so we can have power in our table/island, but can’t install the box or outlet until we have flooring.

Dean came back out and helped me finish cladding the front porch columns. The contractors had decided back in July that cladding the portion from ground level to the bottom of the porch was somehow not part of our agreement and rather than pay them more to do it, I elected to do it myself, especially since they had left enough material behind to do it. They still need to come back and finish the fascia, soffits, gutters, and one side of the stair cladding. He also helped by using his drywall zip tool to cut the openings for the solar tubes back so I was able to complete the installation of both of those.

Getting the back porch contractors the fifty percent complete payment through the bank draw process was an unexpected frustration that took nearly a month and slowed progress considerably. The porch was quite a bit more than originally quoted, and the GC put the new amount and the new company on the draw paperwork, which complicated the lien waivers the bank required, and then I had to wire them the difference (well over ten thousand dollars) even though there was enough to cover the first draw, because of course that’s how it works. Eventually they got their money and work continued, and I was told it would only take a week or so to complete the remainder, but that doesn’t look likely at this point.

I asked the GC about the front porch, since as I mentioned it wasn’t done and in July they told me it would be about a month before they came back, and it’s been nearly three. I also asked about hardwood flooring and tile. They sent out a hardwood flooring sub to provide a quote, which was again more than we have allotted, and the GC said he’d try to find someone cheaper. Later that day, our cabinets that we ordered twelve weeks ago arrived on six pallets and we loaded them all into the house, very aware that if the hardwood flooring needs to be installed, we’ll have to find somewhere else to put all of it. To further complicate matters, we decided we don’t like the paint colors in the first floor and stairwell, and are now re-painting them all with a lighter color.

I bought a cheap track saw and started work on the interior stair cladding. I ordered some treads and newel posts, but the risers and the sides are just quarter inch plywood that we’ll paint. I sliced up one of the sheets to make the side skirts, and the cut the risers using the table saw, which is better for repeatable cuts. Before I got any further on this project, we had to shift gears due to some developments.

The contractor called and said that the tile guys may show up as soon as Monday, since they’re also deck guys but they would come and tile on the days that it’s rainy. That doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence, neither does the fact I’ve specified Schluter Ditra for underlayment several times and they keep saying Durock. We decided we really wanted to do all the waterproofing ourselves to make sure it’s done correctly. I bought the Ditra and twelve sixty pound bags of thinset and this weekend Sarah and I finished prepping the tub and shower surrounds, including mesh tape and thinset on all of the backer board seams and screws and then covering all of it with waterproofing compound. We wound up using two different kinds because the master shower floor pan came with some and we bought RedGuard to do the main bath surround. After using both products, we prefer the KBRS ShowerSeal. Then we thoroughly vacuumed all of the floors, which were covered in drywall mud and dust, and all three bathrooms are ready to tile.

That gets you all up to present. It’s been a busy few months. The back porch is coming along but it’s still not done, we may have tile as soon as this week, but hardwood is still up in the air. We have a ton of unassembled cabinets to put together, maybe they’ll show up to finish the front porch but it’s at least looking better with the columns done. We have still more painting plus repainting to do, and we’ll probably wind up having to haul a lot of the cabinet parts up to the attic to store.