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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 10/22/2008 4:31:24 PM
We've been too busy since the last posting to take a minute to update, so will try to bring everyone up to speed! The floors have been installed and finished (reclaimed heart pine that is absolutely beautiful), the tile work has been done, the exterior has been painted (just a day away from finishing), some of the interior is painted, the stonework on the fireplace has been completed, and the kitchen cabinets are being installed as we speak! Some landscaping was also done last week on the bank around the back of the house so we could control the erosion there, and next week they are slated to come back to do the hardscaping in the back and some additional plantings on the side. We're going to try and get down some winter grass in the next couple of days and pray that the winds don't pick up over the next week!
It's beginning to look like the end might actually be in sight, but the list is still long of things to do... and not enough hours in the day or man hours to get it all done. Our bank contact tells us that a couple of extra weeks past our year will not be a problem, so we are relieved to have a little cushion there. We're still hoping to be finished by Thanksgiving, but we'll see how it goes! We locked in our permanent mortgage rate yesterday, so that is a sign we must be close!
Stay tuned...
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| Exterior Painting Almost Done |
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| Porch Ceiling Blue |
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| Laundry/Bath Paint |
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| Stone Fireplace |
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| Heart Pine Flooring |
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| Kitchen Sink Wall in progress |
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| Kitchen Cooktop Wall in progress |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 9/17/2008 8:50:56 AM
The last month has been really hectic around here... Don's parents came the last week of August so his Dad could work on getting all of the switches and outlets in place. There was a little extra time for him to help with getting some crown moulding up as well before heading home. Our dog Lucy passed away while they were here, so it has been a tough few weeks since then. Good thing the house is keeping us so busy!
Most of the doors are in place and the trim except for the baseboard is done (except for some patching and caulking that still needs to be done). We put the interior transoms up and painted the pocket doors since they had to be installed before the jambs and trim. The guy we hired to build the family room and dining room cabinets did a fabulous job and put those in place about 10 days ago. We put up the cove moulding around the beams in the family room and Don has painted those this week. We put up the beadboard in the master bath last week, but will wait to finish the trim on that once the tile guy is finished. He came about a week ago to do the prep work in the bath and laundry room, and came for a few hours last night to lay a few rows of tile. He's working on another job this week, but wanted to get a few hours in here and there to get a head start. We were able to get a coat of primer on the bath and laundry walls, ceiling and trim the first of the week, so may try to get some paint up in there as we can work around his schedule.
Our reclaimed heart pine flooring was delivered about two weeks ago once we had the AC up and running, and the floor installer arrived this morning to get started on that. We were scurrying around trying to move everything out before he arrived since all the tools seem to just pile up everywhere. It should take him about a week and then the guy who does the finishing will come when we're ready -- we may try to get some more paint up first though.
We've hired a painting crew to paint the exterior and they will start the first of next week, although the guy said it was possible they may come the end of this week. We bought all the paint yesterday and it filled up the truck!
So the runaway train continues in Afton...
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| Double Pocket Door & Transom |
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| Transom over cased opening between foyer and dining room |
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| Dining Room Cabinets |
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| Mantle & Cabinets in Family Room |
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| Beadboard in Bath |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 8/14/2008 8:14:09 PM
The sheetrock crew finished up about a week ago, so we have the house back to start on some of the finishing work. So far we've trimmed all of the windows and the exterior doors. About half of the interior doors were delivered yesterday, so we started hanging some of those today. What a pain in the neck that task is! Hopefully we'll move a little faster tomorrow, with our goal to finish all of the trim work by the end of next week. We found a local mill shop to make the riser box for our starter tread on the stairs, so at least that's not something we have to do ourselves. We wanted it to be quarter round on both ends to wrap the wall around the landing, so figured that might be more than we should take on ourselves. Once that's made, we'll make a template for the tread to send to the flooring place that is also making our treads. A real juggling act!
On other fronts, the outdoor AC unit and the garage door were installed last week. The concrete finisher was here today to do the apron for the garage and also a small porch that's on the "front" side of the garage. Don has about finished with prepping (puttying and caulking) the garage for paint, so hopefully we can make our final paint selection and get going on that. We're keeping our fingers crossed that our recent delightful weather will hold for a while longer so that it won't be too miserable for that job.
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| Installing outdoor AC unit |
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| Paint Prep |
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| Garage Door |
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| A door finally installed |
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| Window Trim |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 7/31/2008 6:06:18 PM
We've been busy the last couple of weeks with the start of the finishing work around here. We hired a carpenter to install our tongue and groove ceiling and beams in our family room, and although he and his helper were very slow, they did a really good job. We were able to stain the ceiling before they put up the beams, so we can check that off the list! We will paint the beams and put up cove molding once we start the trim work.
The Sheetrock was delivered on Monday and the crew showed up on Tuesday to put it up. They were here about 11 hours and were able to install ALLof it -- truly amazing! The finishing crew began yesterday, and were back today to do coat #2. It is really beginning to look like we have rooms!
The carpenters moved onto building the porch stairs this week and have not worked as quickly as we expected. Word to the wise: don't agree to an hourly rate without a cap on the total cost! They've done a nice job, but it is costing us more than we had anticipated. Don worked with them today to start the porch floor, and we will do some more of that ourselves over the next few days so that it can hopefully be finished up by Monday.
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| Ceiling is up and stained; beams in place. |
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| Sheetrock arrives |
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| Sheetrock is up - it's a room! |
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| Mud Coat #1 |
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| Front Porch stairs |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 7/22/2008 8:17:39 PM
The last few weeks have been jam-packed... so it feels like we're making some good progress. The crew from the gas company came back the week after putting in the tank and ran the inside lines and the line to the generator. They also installed the tankless water heater and were great about rounding up the exterior wall cap that was needed that apparently the manufacturer did not include in the installation kit. All rough-in inspections -- plumbing, electrical, mechanical, framing -- were completed with relative ease with just a few little picky things on the electrical and framing to take care of before moving forward with the insulation. We were approved for early electrical service which we are really thrilled about since now the 250' wire from the panel of the house we're living in and the multiple extension cords can be taken up (and probably re-used somewhere else). The meter is running!
The insulation guys showed up last week and finished up in about a day and a half, so now we're on to the finishing work! We hired a carpenter and his crew to put up the tongue and groove ceiling and beams in our family room and hopefully they will be finished with that in the next day or so. One of the crew has jury duty this week, so there are only two guys doing the work. Once they finish with the ceiling, they will move on to putting down the tongue and groove flooring on our porch and build the exterior stairs off of the porch. The tongue and groove flooring has been a bit of a nightmare to prep, as we (mostly Don) have had to prime it on all sides prior to its installation.
The drywall delivery is set for next Monday, the 28th, and the drywall crew to probably start the following day. While they're working inside, we plan to be painting outside. Don is caulking and patching now, and Kathy is trying to make the final color selections which is proving to be somewhat difficult!
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| The water heater is installed. |
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| The generator is hooked up. |
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| Insulation begins. |
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| Insulation in the kitchen. |
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| First boards go up on the ceiling of the family room. |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 6/26/2008 9:00:29 PM
The past week has been a pretty busy one with a little craziness here and there when everything seems to happen at once! We've continued to pull all of the AV wire and are almost done...hopefully we can wrap it up tomorrow and cross that off the list. We're planning to request the plumbing inspection for Monday, and would like to have the electrical at the same time if we can just wrap up some of the loose ends there...so we'll see how it goes. Speaking of plumbing, we filled the DWV system with water early yesterday morning and it held fine with no leaks -- YEA!
The fellow who started doing some grading the end of last week was back the first of this week to finish up what we need for now. Just the nicest guy and did a great job. He'll be back when it's time to move the rest of the dirt piles around in the back.
The gas company was here on Tuesday to bury the propane tank and run the line to the house. It was a little unnerving to watch them dig the hole for the tank as it was right where we'd done some grading, but they got it all put back together before they left, except for the trench since it had to be open for inspection the next day (and passed!). They'd only been gone about an hour, when the tanker truck pulled in to fill up the tank...apparently they do it right away so that there's no danger of the tank floating up out of the ground if there's a good rain. I figure they actually just want some $$ right away! They'll be back hopefully next week to run the gas lines inside and to install the tankless water heater.
A landscape designer from the valley was here this afternoon (second visit) to talk about some options for some spots where we need to put some low retaining walls to ensure drainage, etc. She is very helpful and is responding to our sense of urgency, so hopefully we can get that worked out without it being a budget-buster. Not something we had planned on, but it has to be done!
Photos
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| Putting in a gutter drain. |
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| Grading on the porch side. |
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| Grading around the front corner. |
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| Lucy checks out the grading progress. |
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| The gas tank going in. |
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| Filling the hole with sand. |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 6/18/2008 6:59:35 PM
We're still plugging along, juggling the myriad of things to be done...some days better than others! Our plumber finished up the first of last week, but we have had a few leaks when testing the DWV system, so he'll be back this Friday to hopefully fix those. The water pipes are good to go, but the DWV has been a pain! We've fixed (or tried to) and tested several times, but still not to 100%. Hopefully this weekend! Don did the acrobatic work of getting on the roof to put in the vents while Kathy nervously watched and tried not to watch at the same time. We bought a 20' extension ladder from someone in Lynchburg who was advertising on Craigslist and that was really a monster to try and maneuver into place. As Don put it, "this is a two-man job and you're not a man..." that sort of says it all!
We spent the weekend installing a central vacuum system which really wasn't too difficult once we figured out where to put everything. The only pain was trying to work around the ducts, plumbing, etc., but it worked out pretty well. The kit didn't come with enough low voltage wire though, so we still have to get some of that to completely finish it off. Seems kind of odd that you wouldn't get the same length of wire as you do pipe in the kit!
Our electrician who is doing a few things for us after his regular workday is here as we speak, wiring the generator. That will be a big item to cross off the list for sure. Now the only cables left to pull are for the telephone, TV, AV and thanks to the extreme helpfulness and generosity of an old friend, we should be able to get that all pulled by the end of the week. Talk about a small world, one of Kathy's childhood and teenage buddies (who she has not seen in about 30 years), happened to read this blog since he has just started his own O-B project, and after reading that we were starting to think about AV stuff, emailed to offer his help. Kathy put two and two together, and could not believe the coincidence! Although we're very thankful for the help of course, the greatest blessing is reconnecting with an old friend. THANK YOU, VICTOR!
We found someone to help refine the grading on the driveway side of the house... Don called him this morning, he showed up an hour later and after talking it all over, said he'd be right back with his backhoe... and he was! He did a fabulous job and will be back on Monday to do grading around the front. The timing has worked out really great on this, since the gas company is coming next Tuesday to bury our propane tank and run the line to the house.
We've also been getting some bids on the insulation and drywall this last week, trying to get that lined up. Hopefully those bids will all be in within the week so we can make some decisions. Just trying to stay ahead of the 8-ball.
Photos
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| Mr. Cash checks the pressure on the water line. |
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| Don the acrobat on the roof. |
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| Don works on the vent. |
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| Grading between the house and the driveway to make a swale. |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 5/23/2008 4:24:09 PM
The past week has been a busy one... the septic guy actually showed up early (last Friday rather than Monday) and got started. He has several jobs in our area, so is moving around between them every day to keep it all on track. He's about done with us (passed inspection!) and has also used his backhoe to do a little grading for us on a swale we need on the left side of the house. He'll be back tomorrow to do some clean-up work at the road entrance. Our plumber started on Tuesday and we are counting our lucky stars that a) we found him, and b) that he was willing to be more than part-time to do our job. His business is Al's Part Time Plumbing, but apparently he is really working full time most of the time. He's the greatest guy and says he'll wrap it up the first of next week after the holiday weekend. Don has been his assistant (doing the "grunt work" as he calls it), and Kathy keeps them fed and watered with coffee and treats every day. So things are perking along, and we're especially thankful for the beautiful weather of late...the temps have still been kind of cool, but we're warming up to around 70 during the day this week -- perfect!
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| Septic Tanks Arrive |
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| Working in the Trench |
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| Septic Field |
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| Our plumber's license plate |
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| Plumber's Helper Don |
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| Plumbing Handiwork |
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| Lucy & her baby hang out on the job site |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 5/15/2008 3:56:33 PM
Our well company came today to install the well pump and run the pipe and wire to the house and to the garage. They also installed the pressure tank under the stairs (last minute decision to put it there rather than in the crawl space). Our plumber is lined up to start on Tuesday, and we are really thrilled about that. He is actually retired and has a part-time plumbing business (which sounds like it has turned more into a full-time proposition). Originally he was just going to lay out everything with Don doing the actual work, but he has agreed to do the job for us...and Don will help him by doing the "grunt" work! The septic guy is supposed to come next week to put in the tank and run the lines, and someone from Crutchfield is coming out next week also to give us a consult on AV wiring... so looks like next week will be a busy one.
P.S. A couple of these photos are duplicates of ones posted last time of the power work... don't know how they popped up again, but so be it!
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| Digging Trench Between House & Well |
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| Dad Mows the Pasture |
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| Pump, Pipe & Wire |
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| Pump, Pipe & Wire |
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| Trench to Garage |
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| Pressure Tank Under the Stairs |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 5/5/2008 7:34:46 PM
It's been a while since we've had time to post some new pictures... that, and apparently there's not much photogenic about electrical work! We've continued to plug along with that and are about to wrap it up. Hopefully the generator will arrive in the next week or so and the electrician "consultant" can come back to get that wired up and get the breakers in the box. Don has started the plumbing work, cutting all the holes, etc. The siding is done (except for the decorative bracket detail and the painting), so that's marked off the list. The guy from the power company came by last week and marked off the trench for the underground power line, and lo and behold, the crew showed up today to dig the trench and lay the conduit, etc. The foundation drain is in, but grading has not yet been done (still working on getting it figured out in some problem spots). The kitchen and laundry room cabinets have been ordered, as well as some other fixtures that were too good of a deal at the time to pass up, so we're crawling along!
Photos
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| Foundation Drain |
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| Bay Window |
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| Power Company Digs the Trench |
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| Conduit |
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| Filling in the Trench |
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| Lucy Hangs Out |
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Posted to RabbitRun by Don & Kathy in Afton, VA
on 3/25/2008 9:08:56 AM
Our siding guys just about killed themselves working from dusk to dawn last Saturday to get the porch ceilings up. All that's left for them to do is the bay window routing and trim work, which hopefully will happen this week. We're still deciding on the trim pieces to use, and have yet to finalize the bracket decision for the decorative part on the gables, but guess that will be all in good time...
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