Monster Post

A long-ish post today, lots to see and discuss.

Beehive

Lots of activity at the house, and on the street today.  Here's a rundown of who was working here today.  You can count at least one truck or van per bullet point.

• Peter, the trim carpenter
• Milton, the painter
• The usual crew of 3 who were painting and installing exterior panels.
• Paul and his assistant, installing soapstone counters
• Crossford had someone else here parging the foundation wall.
• Jane and I were back and forth the the house quite a lot today.

Add into the mix:

• Gerald stops by several times a day with his big truck.
• We got a truckload of topsoil delivered today to backfill around some of the foundation.
• A crew from the city was pruning the large trees on our street, and had to get the trucks to move out of the way.
• A crew from Techno-Post was here to sink the posts that will support the deck abutting the new entrance.
• We live across the street from a school, so there is the usual slew of vehicle and foot traffic when school begins and ends.
• Someone came through the day to do an estimate for railings we'll need for the bedroom and second storey deck.

A few pictures...

more wood panels and Hardie board panels have been installed.  The wood panels were given a second coat of stain.

parging on the foundation wall, and some topsoil to backfill.

corrugated metal siding, ready to be installed.

Soapstone-fest

Paul's assistant, sanding a seam.  This is the last photo of the counters before they got their first coating of mineral oil.

to the left of the stove.  There are veins of this slab where look of the marbling changes significantly.

The black circle is the hole for the water supply and drain for the expresso machine.  The white splotch on the counter looks almost aquamarine in some light.  There are other aquamarine areas here and here throughout the counters.

near the sink, there are some splotches that look emerald green in natural light...

...and more or less blend in under artificial light.

We're airing out the upper cabinets to help get rid of the paint smell.  From now on we can start to actually use the cupboards to store things.  Soon, we'll be unpacking some of the dishes in storage downstairs.

The Way Forward

We're actually at the point now where we can foresee when we should be able to use much of the new space.  The past few weeks have been more like purgatory were work has been going on, but we didn't have a sense of getting tangibly close.  For the next while, here's how things will hopefully play out:

• This week and next, the trim will be finished, and the painter will be painting.  Hopefully some wall tile too.
• We'll get the plumber to hook up the main kitchen sink this week or early next week.
• Towards the end of next week, the floors will get their final finish coat.  We'll take the cats with us to Les Suites for a couple of nights, probably Friday/Saturday of next week.
• After that, we'll be able to get the appliances in the kitchen, and the kitchen should be up and running.
• ...and as long as most of the painting has been done, we should be able to recall the POD, and get our furniture and clothing back!

After that, there will still be people working in the house, especially in the basement, but we should be living in most of the new space.  There will still be a bunch of things to do, but it won't really be housecamping anymore.

Dare to dream!