On the last day of Christmas break

We'd hoped to finish the siding in the entryway.  It's not quite done, but excellent progress.  All done left of the beam.  And up to nearly the top of the door.

And there was light...

On the 3rd day of Christmas

Ian blogged last night, and maybe there is one more board.  Moving forward!

Progress and Picky Inspectors

 We made more progress today on the front siding, but woke up to evidence of inspection of our work that is definitly critical of what we are doing. The inspectors do not understand why we care about external siding on the house and are not completly onboard with the time we are spending on it.

Picky Inspector

We installed 6 more levels of siding (only 5 pictured). We continue to get compliments on the door and the progress from neighbors walking by. It has been a while since we have had positive feedback and it is really nice to have people being postive. We are really excited about how the entry is coming together. The boards are cut up to the top of the window and should get installed tomorrow. One bite at a time.

More Progress

On the second day of Christmas...

We're getting our system down.  Twice as much progress as yesterday, and even more prepped.

On the first day of Christmas

Ok, I know that the 12 days of Christmas are actually the time between Christmas and epifany, when the Wise Men arrived.  But, we're taking the week off work so yesterday was the first day of our Christmas break.  We started finishing the siding in our entryway.  It's been slow starting off as we figure out our process and learn how to keep from having bubbles in the touch up paint.  But the first course is in.

Interconnection Request

 We received confirmation that Tesla filed our interconnection request. We are really looking forward to being able to turn on on new system. Solar and storage should make a fundamental difference in our dependence on the grid, and hopefully, on an annual basis, we will generate more electricity than we use.

Wrapping up doors and air sealing

We spent the weekend finishing up the front door install and making the door to the garage work a bit better. We also got air sealing so the warm should stay inside a bit more.

Surge protection

I took a few minutes over lunch and got the panel surge protector into our garage panel. A nice fringe benefit is that you know the panel is live if the lights are glowing. The lights turn off if the surge protector is overloaded so it is not enough evidence to safely open the panel. You still need to verify another way that the power is cut to the panel.

Ready for tomorrow's inspection

We installed trim around the power walls tonight and hope that all goes well with the inspections tomorrow to move a step closer to being able to use the solar and storage. It is hard to resist just turning everything on and creating more renewable electricity.

Slacking on Blogging and Busy Doing Work

 It has definitely been too long since we blogged last. We have been too busy getting stuff done.

We now have a new back patio, sideyard path, and a front path. It is definitely nice having most of the hardscape done. There was a lot of prep and rough grading to help the contractor understand what we wanted. We are really happy with how things came together.

The next major thing that happened was the Tesla was out to install 8 kW of solar panels and 2 power walls. It was a busy day, but everything got installed in a single day! The crew was GREAT! It was the best experience we have had with a contractor so far in our entire remodel. If you are considering solar Tesla is a great option. This link will get you $100 off your order https://ts.la/ian73996

Even more gratifying is that we got our front door installed this week. It has been a very long process of trying to find something that is basically the size that was specified, the style we want, and available without a custom order. After about 6 months of waiting, our door finally arrived a while back. Due to the patio and solar project, the installation was delayed. We spent Black Friday and the rest of the weekend getting the opening prepped and the door installed. There is still more to do, but we are very happy with the result.

Back Patio

8 kW of Solar Panels

New Front Door

Long time no see

It has been far too long since we blogged and there is a lot of exciting progress to share. Unfortunately, we have been too busy working to update the blog. Hopefully we can find some time to share the recent exciting progress.

Calm between the storms

California is on fire, and we're under a red flag warning with chances of dry lightning for the next day and a half.  Yesterday I mowed, raked, removed dead leaves, and tried to fire proof our front yard as Ian removed the failed attempt of a deck stair left by our old contractor.  

I also rummaged through a pile of material left in the back yard by the old contractor to find the concrete board trim that they purchased for the first phase of our siding project.  They decided not to use it, because I think it was harder to work with that regular wood.  It's much longer lasting though, so even after several years of being ignored outside I was able to scrub them down yesterday, and prime them today.  As I was prepping the boards, Ian installed a ceiling fan in our "pain cave."

The boards look good with a coat of primer. I'm impressed how well they cleaned up.

And Ian shifted gears to installing a towel rod.

A week of staycation

We took this week off to have time for some longer projects.  Ian did an amazing job prepping to have our back patio put in.  And having a job walk with a contractor. He demoed part of the old sidewalk to make sure that the rose bush would be protected. He also trenched most of the length of the house to run electrical and water in case we want a sprinkler system in the back of the house. And adjusted the locations of our tight lines so that hopefully one of our downspouts will be quieter. And he installed hose bibs in the back yard and on the back deck.  I spent the first half of the week priming trim. And then did odds and ends helping Ian, installing air registers, and harvesting apricots and plums.  It's somewhat eclectic.  But a lot of progress.

Addendum - Backsplashes!

It's been a bit since we blogged.  I have to highlight our backsplashes.  We wouldn't have found this tile if covid hadn't required the tile store to operate on appointment only basis, and some great help from their salesperson.

And we're thankfull that our tile guy was happy to come back!

A three day weekend of progress

Ian and I took Friday off and work on some odds and ends.  Friday and Saturday we worked on a few electrical runs that needed to be finished up.  For a heated floor in the master bath (see the thermostat in the picture) and to the circuit that makes our smoke detectors go off if our fire sprinklers go off.

On Friday, our tile guy and his wife finished grouting baseboards and our front porch.

Today was a cabinet project.  We had some cabinets that were damaged in shipping.  Kraftmaid replaced them, leaving us with the damaged cabinets. Some were beyond repair.  But two are ok for the laundry room and storage area.  So we set them up.  It's great to have them being usable storage space instead of in boxes taking up space.

The front porch

And the laundry.

NFPA

Protip: Use hearing protection when doing anything with smoke detectors. Hearing loss is not on the NFPA's agenda.

Shower doors, stair treads, and a waterproofed front porch

Some remarkable progress was made this week. Our tile guy, Alex started doing the waterproofing to tile the front porch. His assistant was female. I think this was the first woman other than me who's physically worked on this remodel. I give her kudos! The tile that we picked for the back-splashes was discontinued, so we went to Daltile on Wednesday to pick out new tile. There were strict social distancing protocols, we had to make an appointment and anything we touched was sanitized. By having an appointment Odessa, gave us great recommendations and we found a back-splash tile that we now like even better than what we had picked before. Odessa was impressed with our decisiveness and our sense of taste, but this is about the fourth time that we've been there picking out tile. We've become a lot less picky, and a lot better at just picking something that works for both of us. I gave credit to Ian's sense of interior design to his mother. (I hadn't intended this to be a feminist blog, but I seem to be giving a lot of credit to women this week. Mother's day was Sunday, so maybe that's fitting.  Thank you to my mom, who taught me that I could do whatever I set my mind to, even things that are traditionally men's roles. Thank you to Bev, for entrusting us with her family home and letting us embark on this adventure [yes, it's made us late for supper several times, and worthwhile none the less]). Today, while I picked up our car (that had been in the shop for 5 weeks) Robert installed two of the three shower doors.  They are amazing! We're not supposed to use the showers for 24 hours. Oh my goodness, I want to take a long luxurious shower now! Some of the parts weren't in yet, so the 3rd shower should be finished on Wednesday. And yesterday and today Ian (with some help from me) focused on the staircase. The bottom three steps are in. Our cats are not comfortable with the changes to the staircase. I've been amused watching them use all their senses to understand what's being done. They used to jump through the gaps left without blocking for the stair risers. The flooring company says that there should be plywood there. And the precision that the stairs were originally cut to is just not even close to what we expect. So, Ian's measuring, calculating, measuring again, shimming, gluing, screwing, and biscuit joining, I'm making pocket screw holes. And we're getting a much more solid staircase.  It's where i'm going in an earthquake. Wow, that was an essay. It has been a week!   

A Waterproofed porch

Bob inspecting the staircase, disappointed that it's now harder to jump through from below.

The master shower, with a door!

The downstairs bathroom shower.

Handwashing made easier

With all of the talk in the news about the importance of handwashing to prevent the spread of disease, it feels timely to have installed two more sinks this weekend. The counter in the master bath went in on Monday after a long delay because the color we originally ordered was discontinued. Working through the change order seemed to take longer than normal because of the pandemic.  But finally the counters are in! We spent the weekend installing sinks, drawer handles, and re-installing cabinet doors.  Also this weekend we got in touch with "Glass Robert" who came out today and gave us a quote on shower doors.  If everything moves according to schedule, the shower doors for all three bathrooms will be installed on Saturday.  This is feeling like another leap forward. 

Hot and cold news

I was dealing with cleaning the ERV filter and got thinking about the heat pump. I pulled out all the directions and started reading through the installers guide. I ended up tracing cables and realized that the installers used the white wire for the "D" wire instead of brown like is documented in the instructions. I also hooked up a few other items that were not hooked up yet. Low and behold, the thermostat was able to communicate with the air handler and the compressor. This is very exciting news. Now we will be able to cool the house down on those hot summer days. We will not need it much compared to our neighbors. We had a few days recently that got into the high 80s. The neighbors had their air conditioning cranked up and we were fine inside in the mid 70s. When winter comes we will will also be able to heat the whole house instead of relying on the gas fireplace.

Yay!

Pumped up kicks

To get ready for baseboards, we put in the toe kicks in all of our counters on tile.  It's amazing how much nicer the cabinets look with the little extra finish. I'm so happy with my pumped up (toe) kicks!

Another Room and a Pandemic Wrench

We spent the last few weeks getting another bedroom primed and painted. Unfortunately, the sheet rocker left a lot of issues that needed to be fixed like tool marks and bubbles in the mud. That made it take longer than we had hoped, but the final color coat is on, and we got the low voltage wiring pulled this weekend. Cheryl did at least two rounds of mopping the concrete so that should be a lot cleaner. We should be able to move our bike trainers from the storage area to this bedroom shortly. That should save a few minutes each time we want to work out and hopefully result in more exercise.

We got a bit sidetracked because the front door delivery was significantly delayed due to COVID-19. The counters for the master bathroom have also been slowed considerably. This whole virus thing has been a challenging side story. Necessary life details, such as shopping for groceries, just take more time now. Luckily we have been able to keep moving forward.

Stay safe, and remember what matters in these uncertain times.

The Apartment Bedroom

Drawer Pulls

I got the final drawer pulls on in the kitchen tonight. I ended up splurging on a True Position jig for lining up the pulls and am happy with it. It makes the process a lot faster once you get it setup.

Unsure

I have mixed feelings about successfully applying a software update to our thermostat...

A hall, a closet, and a mirror

We got a coat of paint on the hall outside the laundry room and the under stair closet. The closet is probably done, but the hall will get another coat on the walls. We also took some time to install one of the mirrors that came in this week. Despite the pandemic we are still able to make steps forward. It feels nice getting more of the finish work done.

On sort of a tangent

We are in a holding pattern waiting for the front door to arrive so that we can finish the last details and install it. This allowed us to take care of a lot of small unfinished projects like installing switches, light fixtures, and the faucet in one of the bathrooms.

It felt good to use up a lot of the odds and ends we had purchased. Oh yeah, if you ever buy a Kohler faucet, splurge and buy the metal drain kit. The plastic one that Kohler provides in the faucet kit will break and leak if you look at it wrong. In contrast, their metal drain kit is wonderful and so much easier to work with. It is money well spent. 

Front door progress

Since wrapping the master bathroom counter prep and the kitchen window trim we moved onto prep to actually getting the real front door installed. The framing contractor that we hired did not frame the rough opening to a size that matches any available door so I started framing in the opening a bit to fit the door we decided on. We ordered the door on Saturday and hopefully will have it arrive around when we are ready to install it. Once the door is in and trimmed we can move forward with the final bits of the front of the house. It will do a lot to help the curb appeal and we are looking forward to having that step done.

A trimmed window

I got the first of two finish coats of paint on the trim for the window in the kitchen. It is exciting to have more things looked finished.

Earlier this week we had the master bathroom counter measured. More pieces are coming together. Yay!

In their final resting place

The master bathroom cabinets are now tracked in place. There is a little more to do to get them firmly attached, but they should not need to move anymore. Yay!

Dry fitting cabinets

We are another step on the way with dry fitting the cabinets in the master bath. We had family over on Saturday so didn't have a lot of working time. Also the floor slopes about 3/4" from wall to wall, which makes fitting and leveling more complicated.

Back to Cabinets

We got one cabinet installed and are starting to layout the vanity cabinets.