On December 1, we left town for a trans-Caribbean cruise. We had a good trip in the company of our son and his wife. Instead of going home immediately, we joined our Texas daughter and her family to enjoy Christmas. We will be heading home between Christmas and the New Year. This evening, we got a note from "Our" Mike telling us that the final City inspection was done today. This means the electrical inspection, scheduled for yesterday, was also successful. It also means I can take down the building permit we have had hanging in our front window since August of last year. Mike also said the fencing is in process of being installed.
While we were on our cruise, Bob (cabinetry) had his finishing person come out to perform the final cabinetry finishing (filling nail holes, etc.).
We are finally reaching the end of a long journey. While it did take twelve months longer than expected, the resulting final product was worth the wait. There are several tasks remaining to complete (Mike has a list), including the landscaping, but we have a very livable environment to enjoy while those items are finished.
Best wishes to everyone. Feel free to stop by and see the results!
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Friday, November 27, 2015
Second Thanksgiving
This is the second Thanksgiving of our project. Thankfully, we are almost done with the interior and not far from being done on the landscaping.
Early in November, while we were visiting the grandchildren in Texas, Mike and Nate installed the base boards, the bar rails and the south door portico brackets.
This past week, we finally got the remaining wood panels installed on the bar. We enlisted Bob (cabinets) to do this as Our Mike has been very busy with other projects. Mike did spend a couple of days working on installation of the porch steps and Tiger wood railings. This week, he built the railings for the second floor porch and said he hoped to be finished on Monday. We have started a punch list for things that still need to be finished before we wrap up his part of the project.
This past week the masonry people finally showed up and completed the work they started a couple of months ago. They mortared around the hearth and mantel inside and around the outside vent. They also ground out the red mortar between the sunroom limestone sills and re-mortared using a gray colored mortar which will blend in better.
While Mike was here on Tuesday of this week, he helped me mount the television into place above the fireplace mantel. It only took two attempts to get it right. I got the TV hooked up with the coaxial cable and the HDMI cables. While I still need to put ends on the Cat5 cable, so we can hook the TV up directly to the router, we have been using WiFi without any problems. A couple of weeks ago, we moved the cable modem and router from the second floor to the first floor butler's pantry. This improved the WiFi performance in the sunroom and garage significantly, but the performance on the second floor has suffered. I am considering installing a second router on the second floor as an additional access point.
The landscaping has been continuing erratically over the past month. Before we left for Texas, I told John that the pond had an apparent leak. While we were gone, he and Todd found a leak around the bottom drain. John said the pond nearly drained itself indicating a leak near the bottom. Since we returned, we refilled the pond and, while better, there still appears to be another leak. Within two days after filling, the level in the pond dropped about 2". Over the next four days, the drop was only about 1/2". This indicates there is still a small leak near the top. John said he would find it.
The Hornbeams are installed along the east fence, the Serviceberry, Hydrangea and Dogwood are on the berm, the Azaleas are around the red maple on the west fence, the Canadian Red Cherry is behind the pond. The areas to be sodded have been and a lot of walnut mulch has been put in. There are still a lot of muddy areas on the berm. We are still discussing just what else will be planted this year. We believe we will ask John to install some combination of Japanese Falsecypress, evergreen Azaleas, weeping Japanese Red Maple, Russian Sage, Karl Foerster (feather reed grass) and perhaps a red (and/or yellow) twig dogwood.
We have decided to install a Zelkova in place of the Red Maple at the southwest corner of the chess board. John has not found a nice one yet. This is a medium to large, slow growing, upright branching deciduous tree.
It does not appear that much, if any progress, has been made on the exterior lighting. John promised he would work with Wally to have it done before we return from our next trip toward the end of December.
We are also making progress on the plan for the area behind the pond and the sixteen surplus pavers left over from the chess board. T has decided on using them as a sunken patio. There are eight red pavers, seven beige pavers and one broken beige paver. She has decided on the following pattern,
It will be situated between the walkway on the east side of the garage and the neighbor's east fence.
Early in November, while we were visiting the grandchildren in Texas, Mike and Nate installed the base boards, the bar rails and the south door portico brackets.
This past week, we finally got the remaining wood panels installed on the bar. We enlisted Bob (cabinets) to do this as Our Mike has been very busy with other projects. Mike did spend a couple of days working on installation of the porch steps and Tiger wood railings. This week, he built the railings for the second floor porch and said he hoped to be finished on Monday. We have started a punch list for things that still need to be finished before we wrap up his part of the project.
This past week the masonry people finally showed up and completed the work they started a couple of months ago. They mortared around the hearth and mantel inside and around the outside vent. They also ground out the red mortar between the sunroom limestone sills and re-mortared using a gray colored mortar which will blend in better.
While Mike was here on Tuesday of this week, he helped me mount the television into place above the fireplace mantel. It only took two attempts to get it right. I got the TV hooked up with the coaxial cable and the HDMI cables. While I still need to put ends on the Cat5 cable, so we can hook the TV up directly to the router, we have been using WiFi without any problems. A couple of weeks ago, we moved the cable modem and router from the second floor to the first floor butler's pantry. This improved the WiFi performance in the sunroom and garage significantly, but the performance on the second floor has suffered. I am considering installing a second router on the second floor as an additional access point.
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| Bar Rails |
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| Portico Brackets |
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| Final Door Panels Going Into Place |
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| Bar Is Complete |
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| TV In Place Above Fireplace |
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| Outside Plants Brought In Before First Hard Freeze |
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| Brugmansia Still Blooming |
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| Tiger Wood Rails |
The Hornbeams are installed along the east fence, the Serviceberry, Hydrangea and Dogwood are on the berm, the Azaleas are around the red maple on the west fence, the Canadian Red Cherry is behind the pond. The areas to be sodded have been and a lot of walnut mulch has been put in. There are still a lot of muddy areas on the berm. We are still discussing just what else will be planted this year. We believe we will ask John to install some combination of Japanese Falsecypress, evergreen Azaleas, weeping Japanese Red Maple, Russian Sage, Karl Foerster (feather reed grass) and perhaps a red (and/or yellow) twig dogwood.
We have decided to install a Zelkova in place of the Red Maple at the southwest corner of the chess board. John has not found a nice one yet. This is a medium to large, slow growing, upright branching deciduous tree.
It does not appear that much, if any progress, has been made on the exterior lighting. John promised he would work with Wally to have it done before we return from our next trip toward the end of December.
We are also making progress on the plan for the area behind the pond and the sixteen surplus pavers left over from the chess board. T has decided on using them as a sunken patio. There are eight red pavers, seven beige pavers and one broken beige paver. She has decided on the following pattern,
It will be situated between the walkway on the east side of the garage and the neighbor's east fence.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sixteenth Month
As we enter November, we enter our sixteenth month since construction started in August of 2014. We have not seen anyone other than the landscapers for the past two weeks. I called "Our" Mike yesterday morning and asked him what we could expect. We are so close to finishing the interior work, it is frustrating that no one shows up to complete the work. Mike said his plan was to get back over and finish. Of course, there was no commitment as to when that might actually happen. We know that Mike has been been under pressure to finish the large project he has going on over in Clayton.
I asked about the masonry people who told us they would be here two weeks ago to finish the work they started (and have been paid for) several months ago. Mike said he needed to call them. I asked about the electrical which is unfinished. Mike said that Chris was working with him on that day and he would talk with him. I asked about the cabinet facings that Mike had questions on their installation. Mike said he needed to call Bob to get the questions resolved. Mike also said he got the email I sent a couple of weeks ago about going with Tiger wood rails on the west and second floor decks. Bottom line is that our project has not gotten much attention for the past month. Not a surprise, but still disappointing.
Yesterday was a nice autumn day. A couple of guys from the landscapers showed up and started excavating around the valves from the pond pump up to the upper pond. I had mentioned to John last week that it appeared we were losing water and pointed out to him that there was water in the valve boxes. Over the past week, I guess we lost one to two inches of water from the lower pond. That is a lot of water. Thankfully, the guys found a small crack in the PVC tee. They shut down the pump flow and over the course of the day, the upper pond essentially drained into the hole they dug around the valve.
They did not attempt to replace the tee, but once they had found this problem, they turned their attention to making the holes for the Hornbeams larger along the east fence line. They left around 1:30 pm. We later got a text message from John apologizing for not being there and that he expected to be in tomorrow (today) with the Hornbeams.
I asked about the masonry people who told us they would be here two weeks ago to finish the work they started (and have been paid for) several months ago. Mike said he needed to call them. I asked about the electrical which is unfinished. Mike said that Chris was working with him on that day and he would talk with him. I asked about the cabinet facings that Mike had questions on their installation. Mike said he needed to call Bob to get the questions resolved. Mike also said he got the email I sent a couple of weeks ago about going with Tiger wood rails on the west and second floor decks. Bottom line is that our project has not gotten much attention for the past month. Not a surprise, but still disappointing.
Yesterday was a nice autumn day. A couple of guys from the landscapers showed up and started excavating around the valves from the pond pump up to the upper pond. I had mentioned to John last week that it appeared we were losing water and pointed out to him that there was water in the valve boxes. Over the past week, I guess we lost one to two inches of water from the lower pond. That is a lot of water. Thankfully, the guys found a small crack in the PVC tee. They shut down the pump flow and over the course of the day, the upper pond essentially drained into the hole they dug around the valve.
They did not attempt to replace the tee, but once they had found this problem, they turned their attention to making the holes for the Hornbeams larger along the east fence line. They left around 1:30 pm. We later got a text message from John apologizing for not being there and that he expected to be in tomorrow (today) with the Hornbeams.
Saturday, October 31, 2015
The Second Halloween During the Project
A year ago today, the time of the first Halloween of the project, it was becoming very clear that it would take longer than we had hoped to finish. One of our neighbor's at the time reassured us that, "a year from now", everything will be finished and we will be enjoying the finished product. Well, while we have made a lot of progress, we are not yet finished. But, we are very close. If we can just get someone to show up to work, the inside work could be finished in just a few days. Weather permitting, the first phase of the landscaping will be done in a week or two.
No work at all this week inside. The stone masons were supposed to be here last week to finish the work they started several months ago. The electrical is still unfinished and the carpentry is unfinished. Once the carpentry is finished, we still have Bob's cabinetry finisher to come in to touch up all the blemishes. Again, if anyone would show up, this could all be finished in a week or so.
All the work this past week has been landscaping. Thursday and Friday were nice days. Scot worked on finishing the stone walls on the back side of the pond while John's other folks brought in trees and shrubs. It is really starting to take shape. Today (Halloween) it is supposed to be rainy all day but clear off tomorrow. By Monday, it should be nice weather again with the highs in the mid-70's and little chance of rain until Thursday.
Wally called last night to say he will be stopping by today to present us with the lighting proposal.
No work at all this week inside. The stone masons were supposed to be here last week to finish the work they started several months ago. The electrical is still unfinished and the carpentry is unfinished. Once the carpentry is finished, we still have Bob's cabinetry finisher to come in to touch up all the blemishes. Again, if anyone would show up, this could all be finished in a week or so.
All the work this past week has been landscaping. Thursday and Friday were nice days. Scot worked on finishing the stone walls on the back side of the pond while John's other folks brought in trees and shrubs. It is really starting to take shape. Today (Halloween) it is supposed to be rainy all day but clear off tomorrow. By Monday, it should be nice weather again with the highs in the mid-70's and little chance of rain until Thursday.
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| Sod area and flag stone steppers |
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| Beech Tree |
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| Junipers along chess board, Service Berry and Arborvitae by pond (and Spenser) |
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| Azaleas around Red Maple |
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| Flag stone around bay |
Wally called last night to say he will be stopping by today to present us with the lighting proposal.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Rain Delay
Throughout the day Monday, they feverishly worked on the water feature. It was the third and final day for Todd and his crew. I had my doubts, but they finished the day with a finished product...or at least one that John can now finish.
Our initial impression was that there was too much water flowing across the fall and too much noise. We considered the alternatives and decided to install a valve in the line from the pump to the upper pond. They used the same type of valve (knife) as they used in the purge line. It was not an easy installation and they worked hard at it. When finished, they covered the area around the pond due to the pending rain and departed.
Later, I started closing the valve they installed to reduce the flow. Unfortunately, there is something wrong. I completely "closed" the valve but there is still a lot of water flowing. We let the water circulate, but I informed John that we needed to procure and install a variable speed controller on the pump. Turns out these are not very expensive and readily available.
On Tuesday, for the first time in over a month, it rained all day. It was not a down pour, but alternated between a drizzle and light rain throughout the day. Hence no work either Tuesday or Wednesday. It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy our sunroom and the cool wet autumn weather.
On Thursday (today) John's crew returned. They worked on the stone wall behind the pond and brought in some foliage. T and I met John at a 100-year-old nursery distributor in downtown St. Louis to look at some trees and shrubs. It was very interesting and T has decided to alter the original landscaping plan.
Wally stopped by and we finalized the first phase of our exterior lighting plan. It will include ten path lights, a submerged pond light and a light on the water stream between the upper and lower ponds.
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| Basic Construction |
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| Upper Pond |
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| Masked the stone "wall" |
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| Starting to fill pond |
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| Full and circulating |
Later, I started closing the valve they installed to reduce the flow. Unfortunately, there is something wrong. I completely "closed" the valve but there is still a lot of water flowing. We let the water circulate, but I informed John that we needed to procure and install a variable speed controller on the pump. Turns out these are not very expensive and readily available.
On Tuesday, for the first time in over a month, it rained all day. It was not a down pour, but alternated between a drizzle and light rain throughout the day. Hence no work either Tuesday or Wednesday. It was a wonderful opportunity to enjoy our sunroom and the cool wet autumn weather.
On Thursday (today) John's crew returned. They worked on the stone wall behind the pond and brought in some foliage. T and I met John at a 100-year-old nursery distributor in downtown St. Louis to look at some trees and shrubs. It was very interesting and T has decided to alter the original landscaping plan.
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| The pond water has clarified nicely |
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| Stone wall on back side of pond |
Wally stopped by and we finalized the first phase of our exterior lighting plan. It will include ten path lights, a submerged pond light and a light on the water stream between the upper and lower ponds.
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