Week 52: Floor Polish and Septic

Our floor polisher finally finished with the last stage and got the courtyard polished and sealed. It looks unbelievably luxurious, completely feels like another room in the house. We are so happy with the results of the floor. There are some lighter spots but that's the natural concrete look, if we wanted a more uniform it, it would have required a lot more sanding to bring it down even more. But the inconsistency is quite beautiful.
The Septic tanks went in this week while the floors were being polished. It was good timing but met with rainy weather. This was the rainiest week all August.
Today we also met with Barry at European Kitchen Center, the company we decided to go with for the kitchen. He's a total kitchen dictator, but that's why we clicked. We also stopped by NYKB last weekend, what a joke that place was, I can't believe anyone uses them.

Week 51: Slat Wall Done!

Slat walls in the courtyard are done. It's so beautiful. Matt decided to go with white aluminim behind the slats instead of Kynar just in case of future rust issues. He also slatted the mechanical room door which was such a surprise. We have to move the outdoor outlet and audio cable to prevent interference with the clean lines.
Cedar Ceiling is going up now, we can tell it's going to be AMAZING!!!
Also, we found out this past Monday that our door company Modern Doors made a mistake on our received door order. Instead of 8'0" height doors, we got 80" doors. Unfortunately, they had a new assistant and placed the door production order entirely wrong. We should be getting replacement in a about 1 week. So it all works out for us, but we feel bad about Luis, the owner of Modern Doors since he didn't make any money out of this at all.

Week 50: Big A** Front Door

Our custom size front door finally arrived from Solar Innovations. It took about 3 months for this custom order. Size 9 feet x 5 feet, double pane, argon filled glass. The locking mechanism is something I've never seen before for residential applications. There are 6 closure points once you lock it along with 6 hinges that make it smooth to operate. The hardware is not our style, but I think we rather not mess with that serious lock.
The slats in the courtyard is almost complete. Devan, the plumber has started the rough-ins for the bathrooms.
It's all coming together now. Meanwhile, I received a letter from the town about renewing our building permit for 1/2 year. Apparently only 2 half year extensions will be granted for $100 each. Our permit expires in September, so half year extension should do it.

Week 49: Courtyard Slats

Our decision to put cedar slats in the courtyard proved to be the best decision ever made. Even in it's current unfinished state, it gives a totally new dimension and feeling to the house. Looking at the slats and large sliders give the house a very modern and expensive feel. The slats + workmanship added another 10K to the project but it's well worth it. This house may be the most expensive looking LVL/LVM. Next week the cedar ceiling is going up. Can't wait!

Week 48: Framing and Harvesting

This week, the LVM interior walls went up. Walk in closet, Bathroom and Mechanical room. This allowed us to continue our wiring. Speaker cables, Ethernet cables all were tested and they work! This whole wiring process was much easier than expected. We're no longer afraid and need to rely on "experts" to do these kinds of things.
We're full force ahead with the cedar courtyard slats...costly but we're going to build only 1 house in our lifetimes, so why not!! We chose the clear expensive grade of cedar, they are beautiful and knot free.
Our home security system arrived this week, it's very cost effective but requires a bit of deciphering on the manual. It's so cryptic, can't understand it at all on the first read. The forums have been very helpful and we hope to attempt testing this weekend.
On another note, our watermelon and squash (first ones) was harvested yesterday. Going to bring it to work tomorrow and finally enjoy the fruit of our labor.