We're not done but we're moving anyway!

Anyone who has been in the position of paying a mortgage and rent at the same time will understand how important it is to get moved into a house as quickly as possible.   We have been working feverishly getting all the items done that our building inspector requires so we can "camp out" in the house while we finish everything else.  One of those items is the basic framing of the porches.  Here is a good start on the back porch framing.   This porch is 11 feet by 40 feet and the joists are 12" on center.

On one end of the back porch we will be installing a hot tub.  This will require strengthening of the structure since a full hot tub can be pretty heavy.  To do this I'm adding an additional pier which will support a beam which will carry the weight of the hot tub.

A tripled up 2x8 will support the floor joists mid span and increase the structure's strength tremendously. The joists will also be doubled in this area just to add a little extra load carrying capacity even though it probably won't need it.

Back on the inside of the house we started the installation of the plumbing fixtures.  Here we are drilling the holes for the master bath vanity faucets. Measure twice, drill once!

Here is the finished installation.  One down one to go.

Our local Kuhns Bros. representative stopped by to see how we were doing and gave me a hand installing the kitchen faucet.

Here you can see the completed kitchen installation.   The black pipe to the right is the vent and incorporates a pro-vent at the top (located just under the counter).  This allows venting of the sink without a vent through the roof.  This was the easiest way to vent the plumbing in this location and is approved by the local building code.   You can also see the installation of the garbage disposal and the drain line from the dish washer.  It looks complicated but it's really not.

Finally running water!

After the plumbing for the kitchen was complete we started the wiring for the lights.  Be very careful when you mess with electricity.  Not only can it kill you but it can ruin your whole day!  If you're not a professional electrician make sure you have a good wiring book handy.  I'm no pro so I referenced the book constantly.  The good news is that if you're careful and follow the recommended procedures 99% of the time everything will work just fine.  The other 1% will take you hours to figure out what you did wrong.  Been there done that!

This is what a finished switch installation should look like.  Neat and clean....... and everything works.

The next item we needed to complete before moving in was the sanding.  During construction and before the roof was on this wall was subjected to the sun every day and yellowed quite a bit.  You can see the difference in the color after sanding and it is rather dramatic.   When we finished we just opened up all the windows in the house (it was a windy day) and I used a leaf blower to get as much dust out of the house as possible.  Believe it or not this worked very well.

We also needed to install the door to the crawl space.  This will keep our cat from getting into trouble.

The final job before moving was to install the HVAC duct grates.  Again this was more to keep the cat out of trouble than anything else.

Here you can see the "boss" in her empire.  As you can tell we finally moved.  Although we have a fully functioning kitchen and master bath there are still tons of other "stuff" that isn't installed yet.

Here we have installed the dining room light.  You can also see in the background that our phone system is also completely installed.

Here is a shot of part of the master bathroom vanity.  To the left is the shower and left of that the business end of the bathroom.  This vanity is "L" shaped and is larger than appears in this picture.

We also took the time to complete the laundry room dropped ceiling.  This was only done after we were sure there were no leaks in the plumbing that lies above this ceiling.  The light and electrical connections have also been completed since this picture was taken.

We are also continuing work on finishing the interior walls.  This is the top wall of the upstairs guest bedroom.   We have company coming in a couple weeks and they will need a finished bedroom to sleep in.

This is the completed section.  The electrical box is for a smoke detector.  We will have a smoke detector located at the highest level of both floors as well as in each bedroom.  They are on their own circuit and are all tied together so that if one goes off they all go off.

This is the entire wall completed.

That's it for this month.  We will be updating this section of the site on a monthly basis now that we have moved.  We plan to complete all electrical and plumbing finish work as well as all the remaining tongue and groove (inside) in the next month.  Once this is done we'll be back outside completing the log siding.  We're in the dry season now so that can wait till we get the important stuff done inside first.

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