Week 76: Kitchen Dreams

The kitchen ceasarestone counter tops finally went in this week. Our Kitchen dreams have come true. The Pure White color looks incredible against the concrete. We showed the pictures today to Barry and Victor (the installer) from Europe Kitchen Center. They were so impressed with how it finally turned out. It's exactly as we imagine it would be. The flow from window sill to back splash is seamless. The only minor issues were the radius of the sink corners and the grout color. Barry is going to see if they can work on the sink corner to get it sharper, but ceasarestone has guarantee only for upto a minimum radius, we can't have the sharp straight corner that we want. Also the grout color is standard optical white, versus the bluish white of the counters, we're hoping over time, the grout will blend in more.
The island had to be moved few inches due to the misalignment with the range hood, unfortunately during the moving, the oven became off level. Victor promised to stop by to check on correcting it sometime.

Week 75: Almost There

The highly antipicated concrete shower pans went in this week, it looks great! Took some engineering and ice columns that Matt devised. Should have filmed the process. Medicine cabinets were finished by the expert woodworker friend of Matt. It looks fantastic. this whole thing looks much better than we could have envisioned. The Blu Dot Mirror Mirrors turned out to be a great find at 50% off especially. The metal components surrounding the mirror was a perfect base for hinges of the LVM. It's a little heavy, so Matt is going to put extra enforcements.
With these 2 components in place, we are all set for balance of tiling. Only 15 days until the Building permit expires, let's hope that we do not need to apply for another extension.
We passed the BOH Septic this week, in the middle of the huge pile of snow. That was a relief!

Week 74: Shower Pan & More Tiles

This week progress was slow again due to snow. Now just 1 week from our original target date of Feb 15th. It doesn't look like we will make the move in date. Our site was completely covered in snow, which makes the house almost disappear in it.
Shower pans were cast out of concrete, this week would be the week we find out if it works. More bathroom tiles went up in the LVM.

Week 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73 : Bathroom Tile, Kitchen Template & boat load of Snow!!!

These weeks have blended into each other. Between the holiday season, snow every week, the progress has been really slow. Matt and Adam have started on the bathroom tiles, but the progress is stopped by the disappearance of the glass guy. Matt found a new supplier but needed to wait for the track before the tiling can continue.
The first bathroom to get tiled is the LVL guest bath with the 12x6 inch Thassos marble tile. We opted for a 1/3 overlap instead of the traditional subway tile. It turned out to be great, especially due to Adam's meticulous efforts. Took 1 full week to do just 2 walls.
Kitchen templating was done on 1/20. Process was smooth and we had all fixtures on site which made it easier for them.
Matt has started to make a mould to do the concrete shower pans, it's a complicated process which I still can't wrap my had around. As long as he knows what to do, it's ok by me.
The target date to obtain a CO is mid Feb, but I think is slipping each day as the snow has slowed down progress to a halt. No solar power here, even though the system was technically turned on on Dec 28th.

Week 65 & 66: Kitchen!!!

Our Kitchen cabinets were finally delivered and installed this past week. It looks beautiful, even without the counter top. Going with Europe Kitchen Center was the best decision. The quality is great, the drawers and doors are soft close. Very nice layout and should be sufficient for our living needs. We are not doing any upper cabinets to keep things nice and simple.
The closet doors from EZJamb were also delivered this week. It looks really nice for the price. Very heavy duty SOSS hinges, those doors are never coming out for sure.

Week 64: Dry Wall & Solar Panels...FINALLY!

This week was filled with activity. Our drywall was completed for all the rooms and ceilings. The space looks completely different with it. We used 5/8" dry wall for all the rooms. It has better sound barrier and also more rigid in general. For Master bedroom, since our bathroom is open, we went with a moister resistant drywall the entire room. We have good vents, but this is a precaution.
We spent this entire weekend painting the messed up container into "Farmhouse Red" from Behr, it's a great paint brand. Covers well, but since we had that horrible white color paint, it took 2 coats to cover it nicely.
Solar guys finally came back to put up the panels. It looks great, gives the house a more "home of the future" feel. It has a low profile, so it's barely noticeable at all. We're very happy with the results.
The finish line is near...at least for the main house.

Week 61, 62, 63: Interior Insulation & a few deliveries

The last few weeks were filled with finishing off loose ends, media wiring, electricals, plumbing rough in. Finally interior insulation was done last week in the ceilings and walls. We used R30 for the ceiling since we have that rigid foam under the EPDM roof. R19 in the walls. Since the house is a double wall, there is more than enough insulation to keep out the elements. Our radiant flooring is on at 65 degrees, it's very warm. I remember we were skeptical at first about using radiant flooring as the only heat source, but now we realize how powerful the heating is. The best part is that you don't feel any force air circulating around causing dry air.
Our 5.8 Kw system is still not yet finished. When they showed up, they realized the ballast system needs adjustment. Another delay.
Adam put up the curtain tracks this past week, it looks great!
Next week is the drywall...we can almost feel the completion coming. Starting to purchase more furnishings and housewares. Can't wait!!
We had a few deliveries this past week. Master bathroom tiles from Porcelanosa, they are great. The custom 12 foot container that our forwarder had his friend help cut down from a standard 20 foot container. The quality was poor, note to self, don't hire chinese people to do construction related work.