Details, details! Wks 22-23 Roughly 11/25/07-12/05/07

I learned my lesson. I'm not going to even try to do this update in one post. This system doesn't seem to be able to handle it.


As mentioned in the other post for today, we finalized the electrical. There were quite a few changes, mostly in the guest bath where the errant toilet caused them and in the kitchen. Plus, the electrician pointed out some code issues, so we changed things because of that, too, like I have to put up with some can lights instead of using the outdoor lights we planned to use around the tubs. He said it wasn't an electrical issue. The concern is that if someone starts to slip, they will grab for any light not flat on the surface of the ceiling or wall.

So I was too busy deciding to take any pictures until he, Trout and Dave were discussing the shop wiring.

Some of you may remember that Trout wanted a real arch into the little alcove entrance into his shop office. This is how great it turned out. Bob, the electrician, is standing in the archway. He's about 6'7" so that gives you a hint at the size.

The electrical discussions were dependent on things we didn't even think of. For example, Bob needed to know how wide the vanity would be in the guest bath so he could center the bath bar light wiring. He also needed to know how big the mirror is so he could wire the sidelights properly. Fortunately, we already own the mirror and we knew what we were getting to put the sink in, so we could provide those dimensions.



Here's the guest bath vanity. It's now at Kelly's waiting to be modified for the sink that will go into it. We won't tile the top but rather apply that kind of coating put on bars to resist the water.



And this is the guest bath mirror. You may recognize it from the Travels With Trout blog.

We haven't selected the lighting for the guest bath yet, but these are Trout's vanity side lights. He won't have a bath bar light because he picked a mirror that is so tall it would look ridiculous and not be helpful up that high. We're still having the wiring put in though at the normal standard height of 7'. It will be covered up by the mirror.

I haven't picked my mirror yet, but these are my lights. They will all be the same length. One will be used as a bath bar light and the other two will be side lights. They will be set at the standard heights and locations. My mirror will probably be a more normal size.

This is what Trout picked as a bath bar light in his shop bath. He won't have any side lights in there. Note, this is just the silver strip with the lights. The black part is the background from the website.

When we finalized the doors and windows, we also picked door hardware. These are some pictures I scanned in from the catalog. The color we picked is Silver Patina. Not all the pictures are shown in that finish.

This is the front door handle.

These are the handles for all the rest of the doors that swing except of course they will be Silver Patina. This was actually our 2nd choice. The first one looked great but was uncomfortable to hold. This looks great and feels good, too.

The deadbolts will look like this.

The front door bell will be like this, but Silver Patina.And the pocket doors will have the usual kind of "handles".

Now I know.. Wks 22-23 Roughly 11/25/07-12/5/07

When we started on this project many, not just a few but many, people said they would never be brave enough to build a house from scratch. Some had even remodeled places, but doing a whole house was just too daunting. We thought that people do this all the time. How hard could it be?

Well it's not particularly hard, just time-consuming and complicated. And we're at a place now where lots of decisions have to be made, pieces of paper have to be signed, etc. We are also at a place where each day brings signficant visible progress to the project and that's very exciting.

In the past couple of weeks we did the following: finalized the window and door selections, selected hardware and stain color for the doors, finalized the electrical design, selected and bought a piece of furniture for the guest bath and a mirror for Trout's vanity, decided where the AC unit would go, selected lighting fixtures for the master bath, shop bath and front porch, acquiesced on can lights (I hate 'em) where they were mandatory due to code, paid the down payment on the cabinets, etc. etc. etc.

Oh, yeah, and the framers just kept on framing. I'll start with the most fun part. The basic viewing deck above the shop was framed along with the steps up to it. We finally were able to get up there and look around.

This is how the stair framing began. This is a view from the west courtyard.

Here is it a little farther along.

These are the stairs finished.

These are the scuppers that allow the water to run from the deck onto the shop roof. The floor of the deck is heavily raked to allow for that, too heavily as it turns out, so Dave will adjust that to make it a little flatter but still drain properly.

Once we got up there we could not only see the fabulous views. We could also see how the top of the roof looks.

This is the top of the house roof. I was pleased to see that we could get access to all the house roof from the viewing deck. As a result, we told the electrician to put plugs in a couple of places for us to use for Christmas lights.

These are some fairly seeable crickets. They go to the scuppers that take the water off 1/2 the shop roof and on to the garage roof.

And this is the view.One day we kidnapped our next door neighbor, Tony, and took him out to see the progress. It was late in the day and we never expected to see any action, but while we were there our builder showed up with the porch posts. So Trout and Tony got to help unload.

Then a car guy in the neighborhood, Neil, stopped by to introduce himself. We ended up going to see his house and shop. He's building a Manta sports racing coupe for Bonneville. I learned from his wife, Joline, that there is an aerobics class in the area. So maybe I'll get the energy to do that occasionally.

Here are Trout and Tony surveying the shop.

Here are all the guys unloading the trailer.

This is how those posts and corbels were put to use. These are the first two supporting the front porch.

This is a close up of a post, a corbel and some of the rafter tails.

And this is an even closer view.


One of the other decisions we had to make was on the height of the bar. The work counter top is 38" high instead of the normal 36". Most bars are 42" high, but if we made it that height there would only be 4" between the kitchen counter and the bar counter. So we decided to make the finished height 45". Trout wanted 48" but that was just too high. This is the framed island, but it will have to be adjusted down a bit.

Remember the fireplace? Here're Trout and Dave doing some handwaving over it. As of 12/5, nothing had changed, so I guess that will wait awhile before we get a picture.