Little Bit Here, Little Bit There. Slowly Coming Together

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We've had several days of absolutely gorgeous weather. And while we love the sunny spring days, it feels like our subcontractors have come down with senior-itis or blue-sky flu. Brian has had to work around contractors and iffy schedules to keep making forward progress. 

With the flooring installed on the first floor, Brian started installing cabinets while Hank installed all the first floor baseboards. Pictured above is the wardrobe and credenza in Scott's office area in the den. The right side of Scott's desk will end at the wardrobe, the left side will extend to the far wall over shelving that will be delivered in a couple weeks. 

The wardrobe in the laundry is installed along with the upper cabinets and the sink cabinet (not shown). The wardrobes in the den and laundry are white with white doors, but they both have black counter tops that die into them. Brian trimmed them out with black end and top panels creating what I feel will be a very polished look.

Ryan the painter dropped off the bathroom fan covers, painted to match the ceiling. Brian installed the fans and the covers this week. He also installed the wall mount lighting at the stairs. The fixtures are scribed into the wall and then taped and mudded so all you'll see is the small recess from where the light will shine.

Jake the sheet rock guy was on hand this week to tape and mud the soffit by the refrigerator area. He cleaned up a whole bunch of sins since he was last here including the hole by the EV charger, fishing holes in the garage ceiling and the mess by the solar equipment.

Ruben the tile guy installed the linear drain in the primary bath shower. This entailed more cement work and sealant. In the photos below the linear drain is covered with blue painter's tape. Donald then applied a layer of different goopy stuff over the floors and baseboard areas that will be tiled.

Ruben was supposed to be back on Thursday to begin tiling. Wednesday night Ruben's son told his dad that his U.S. Marine induction ceremony was Thursday in Portland. As excuses go, it's a good one. Maybe we'll see Ruben Monday.

Friday morning I went to the house to meet with Ruben (silly me) and Brian wasn't there. I could tell he had been because the bathroom fan covers were installed and the lights were on. He pulled up a few minutes later. He had been down at the City offices talking to the engineer about the driveway curb cut. Apparently our plan calls for a four foot apron cut, but the city regulations say seven feet. Not practical on our lot or about 80% of the other lots in Astoria. The city engineer was pleased that Brian had asked and agreed with our (already approved) plan. Important because the curb cutting guys were coming...now. 

I'll let Scott jump in here and tell you about the equipment...

What at first looked to me like a lot of spare parts randomly thrown together turned out to be a well thought out, efficient piece of machinery. The diamond cutting blade was mounted on a motor that could be raised, lowered and angled by the operator. It had a watering system and "fenders" to control the dust and watered down concrete slurry and places to store the levels, sledge hammer and shovels the attendant needed in the process. After three passes, plunge cutting deeper each time, the curb was broken off with the aforementioned sledgehammer. Needless to say, I was impressed with the efficiency of the process.

- - Scott

Brian the flooring guy was on hand several times this week, for a while. He has been focused on finishing the bedroom on the second floor and is almost there. He has several pieces glued and clamped that will fit into the edge at the north wall by the sliding door and the edge of the south wall of the bedroom to complete. If he shows up I'm sure he'll finish that room and leave again.

Meanwhile, Brian has laid more flooring in the living room area.

The gutter guys came back this week and fixed the west side gutter. It's not a big change, but I think it looks much better. The angle of the downspout now matches the angle on the east side. It also looks more intentional.

This week? Flooring, maybe. Tile, maybe. Cabinets in the bedroom upstairs, maybe. But we will be submitting amendments to our Right-of-Way, and Erosion and Grading permits along with a Structural permit application for our, newly revised, landscape plan. More on that as we hear comments back from the City!