SCRATCH MY ITCH!

Howdy Y'all!

This week finds us in slow gear as the various trades (electricians, plumbers, AV and security installers) are finishing their work. The finish framers are back this week to complete a punch list of detailed items that they needed to wait on while the other trades caught up. This bit of see-sawing will continue until the house is complete inside, inspected (our tax dollars hard at work), and ready for the insulation spray guns. Details, details, details.

Office/Den ceiling treatment frame-out completion

Lowering the master shower ceiling by 12 inches

In the meantime, we have completed the hacking and sawing through underbrush in surrounding trees that have never been touched by man. The back tree stand was finally cleared and, as you can see from the pictures, is a night-and-day improvement of the view. We also discovered it opened up a breeze flow that we hadn't felt before in the back of the house. 

An original picture from four years ago of the back tree stand.

Results after about three hours of hacking and sawing.

Voila!! Instant tree!

View from the back patio now that all of the dead piles have been removed.

I mentioned last week that I decided to clear out the tree stand in the front yard. Well, all was well until it got really warm and I thought I could shed the snake boots and levis in favor of shorts and tennis shoes. Note to self: Do not clear brush in shorts. I managed to pick up a mild case of poison ivy and/or oak along the way, which was really irritating for about 3-4 days. All is well now, and I have gone agent orange on the little *&^% weeds.

Yours truly in the front cleared tree stand.

Part of the activity this week is the completion of all of the exterior details before the stone masons arrive to start rocking the house. Namely, all of the exterior arches (are we sick of arches yet?) must be completed so that trusses can be made to hold the stone in place. This particular arch is over the entrance to the motor court, which will be surfaced with a thick stucco instead of stone.

The big surprise of the week is that we finally had a sample of the stone we've selected mounted on a wall for our review. Jan and I drove 80 miles to an area outside of Georgetown about a month ago, which is quarry mecca here in Texas for stone. We wandered through three quarries looking at all kinds of stone combinations (we are now experts on limestone, sandstone and lueders, so bring on the questions!) looking for the right colors. It also turns out that Texas has a horde of quarries everywhere (who'd a thunk that?). We liked a product called Autumn Blend, which is a sandstone, and our preferred style is a sawn cut with a chopped face. (Bet you didn't know we were that technical!) But, as we soon found out, everybody has their own version of Autumn Blend, so how do you describe it to the builder's stone mason? It is like Ford, GM and Chrysler all making a Mustang, but their own unique version of it, and they all call it the same thing. So, we buried the builder in pictures, color descriptions, and locations of the stone we liked. Luckily, he has shown up with a set of stone colors that look pretty good together and meet Jan's expectations (I'm easy). So, we are going with a modified Autumn Blend with Texas Tan mortar with a recessed V-joint, a dark mocha spanish tile roof, and Beaver Brown gutters and downspouts. The soffits will be stained, and the fascia will be painted brown. (Whew, have you written all of this down?)

This marks an epic chapter in how to pick colors for the exterior of the house and still stay married. Stay tuned for the stucco color highlights at 11:00p!

La piedra Toscana y azulejo para la casa. (The stone masons will understand.)

That's all for now.
See ya later!
- John and Jan - 

PAUL BUNYAN

Howdy Y'all!

This has been quite a week of activity with progress in all parts of the house.

We continue to see progress from the framers, who have been here long enough to qualify as part homeowners. This week they completed  all of the fascia (love that word!) and soffits, and started framing the exterior patio arches. This is really painstaking detail work, yet they continue to amaze me with their craftsmanship.

Bedroom and Office arches prepped for stone.

Completed soffits with Christmas light plug.

In addition to the framing activity, our AudioVisual company arrived to start the sound and TV wiring throughout the house today. More wire! 

Wiring the office for sound, security and TV.

Putting speaker wire into the Master Bedroom (next to the ceiling mirror and swing).

Our trusty plumbers have been working the last two days running galvanized pipe throughout the house for propane to the HVAC, cooktop, and outdoor BBQ area. (They also plumbed the dryers for gas, but we didn't have the heart to tell them that they were electric.)

16 feet up in the ceiling smiling before he found out about the electric dryers.

In the event of a power outage, we are installing a generator for automatic switchover. This was the day that the Kohler generator rep decided to show up to meet with the electrical foreman to discuss how both systems needed to interact. Yours truly lasted about 60 seconds into the conversation before I was completely lost. They kept talking and nodding, so we assume they have all of the power requirements covered. If it works as advertised, it should be a totally seamless transition in the event of power interruption. The wine will be happy we did this.

Lenny the electrician, Dave the Kohler rep, and Jeff the PM adding up the $$.

We also had the security systems designer out today to discuss the wiring system for the exterior cameras. We are totally amazed at the latest technology which allows us to monitor all of the cameras on an iPhone or iPad from anywhere in the world as long as we are connected through a wireless system. We'll be watching....

And last, but not least, today was the day that the company (Cedars Eaters) we hired to clear all of the brush in the trees arrived to begin their work. By the end of the day, they had cleared a 20 foot-wide path along the driveway, and were working on a back tree stand with another centuries-old Live Oak. Also, this last week yours truly got tired of waiting for them to show up, so I went all Paul Bunyan-like on the front tree stand and cleared that out. Looks pretty damn good! (This is why I went to college.)

Front tree stand with a 300+ year old Live Oak (on the right).

View from the front. The tree looks like a Harry Potter version.

Another view of the fabulous work. :-)

Thinning out the forest.

Working on the tree stand on the back of the house.

Okay, so cutting and clearing bushes isn't very exciting, but we promise it will look terrific when done!

But Wait, There's More.....

Jennifer, Tristan and Lauren visited this week, and the munchkins got to pick out which bedroom is theirs when they come to visit (like there is a big choice). In any case, it is always fun to have them here, and reminds us of why we moved to Texas.

Jennifer, Lauren, Tristan and Jan

That's all for now!

See ya later!

- John and Jan - 

THE TWEENER

Howdy Y'all!

Yes, this is a 'tweener update because more of the same is getting done, so no great changes this week. We are basically between the completion of the electrical, HVAC, plumbing, and detail carpentry work on the exterior, and the beginning of the masonry activity next week.

We also discovered we had another "oops" that needed to be corrected. If you recall, the carpenters were hanging cedar stringers and corbels below the soffits last week. Unfortunately, they were not told that the stringers needed to be radiused until they had hung about twenty of them. So they've had to go back and remove them and recut them properly. The following pictures show some of the detail. (We brought them fried chicken for lunch yesterday, so they are only pissed at the builder, not us. We hope.)

The 'oops'. Notice the square cut. Problemo.

Taking down the stringers one by one to recut.

Emiliano radiusing the new look.

Polishing the radius cut.

This is the way the stringers are supposed to look once recut and completed. The stone will tuck up to, and under, the small, grey, ledge fascia to complete the weather seal once the stain and sealer is applied to the wood portion.

Almost a finished look.

In addition, the process of taping all of the seams is fully underway. This needs to be completely done before the masons can apply stone, and stucco accents, to the house.

This has been a busy week with 8-10 people working daily on their respective responsibilities. I've been told we have about 2000 yards of wiring being pulled through the house, but we have no way of verifying the accuracy of that number. All we know is there is a boatload of yellow wire in the walls and ceiling.

Yellow wire guy

Last but not least, the plumbers hard at work locating valves, pipes, vents, hot and cold water lines, etc.

Fidel Castro the plumber (really, that's his name).

The other project underway running concurrently with the main house is the detached garage construction. This has sort of lagged the main house activity, but is now almost on track as we push to complete the electrical and plumbing projects.

Stairway to the apartment.

The apartment over the detached garage still needs to have the bathroom, closet and kitchen area roughed in. This is where we intend to stash unruly grandkids (or kids), and long term guests. Just kidding (only about the grandkids).

Unfinished apartment view from the stairway.

Lower level of the detached garage and apartment.

That's all for now.

See ya later.

- John and Jan - 

SILVER SNAKES

Howdy Y'all!

We probably shouldn't title anything around here with 'snakes'. Our ranch neighbors next door just killed a five foot rattlesnake (Jerry raked it to death) this last week, and our ranch neighbors across the way, also building a new ranch house, have had a couple of 'visitors' as well. Typical for the time of year, and the fact that we are disturbing the ground.

What we were really referring to are the heating and air conditioning tubes 'snaking' their way through our rafters the last couple of days. The past installation methods were to form tubes out of sheet metal, duct (hence the word) tape them together, and hang them from the rafters. We all remember those. Well, Buckey, no more! The latest technology is a tube, wrapped in insulation, and covered with a foil-like material. Supposedly, this limits cool air becoming warmer, and vis versa, to no more than a three degree loss, and no more than 4% air loss. Not that we're going to get up in the rafters and measure it, but it sounds impressive. Who knew?

Little silver snakes

Okay, enough about rafter snakes. The electricians also started today hanging 'cans' in the ceiling where the prints show overhead lighting. They will also locate light and plug switches on the walls as well. We are scheduled for a walkthrough on Monday with the electricians and our lighting consultant, from the lighting supplier, to make sure everything is properly located. (The older we get, the blinder we get, so if you are wondering when you visit why there are a gazilian lights in the ceiling, you'll know why.) After the walkthrough and everyone is happy with the locations, then the electricians start to pull wire through the walls.

Dejesus hanging patio cans (OSHA approved ladder position)

Cans, HVAC ducts, water lines for HVAC (not finished)

In the meantime, the framers have been busily finishing the soffits (previous blog post) and have moved on to hanging the corner corbels and cedar rafter stringers. These corbels are solid cedar and weigh about 25-30 pounds each, and there are 25 of them that these guys have to carry up the ladder and attach. We got tired and sweaty just watching them! The stone work will cover the green wood and reach up next to the corbels. (It will look better than it sounds.)

Corbels over the front doorway

The rafter stringers in between the corbels will be trimmed and radiused (is that a word?) at the front of the soffit to match the corbels. In the end, all will get stained and sealed together. This completes the supposed 'Texas Tuscan' look according to the architect. Don't forget the arches!

Rafter stringers in between corbels

In addition, the framers have started to 'tape' the house. The black tape that you see is a ZipTape that seals the gap seams between the sheathing, is supposed to completely weather-proof the house behind the stone exterior, and limit air loss (like we're hermetically sealed). Once this is completed, and the electricians, sound guys, and pest control guys are finished with their wiring pulls, they can start foaming (insulation) the interior of the walls.

ZipTaping the sheathing (more construction talk)

Of course last, but not least by any stretch, is the fact that all of the windows and exterior doors have been hung (minus the front and wine room doors). This now gives us a good idea of the natural lighting levels we will see during the day with the lights off, and how the sun will affect room lighting. Good to know before you start nailing cans in permanently.

Kitchen table eating area

Great Room exterior patio view

Great Room interior view

And, of course, every project has the occasional "oops". In our case, the plumbers located the toilet drain too close to where the framing ended up being built. The bad news is that they had to chip out almost 14 inches of concrete, but the good news is that there is 14 inches of concrete in the slab surface. They will relocate the drain forward, replace the rebar, and refill the hole with new concrete.

Oops!

But Wait, There's More.... 

As we have said before, Jan has a virtual menagerie of deer that visit every morning. This is probably due to the fact that she feeds them corn almost every morning. But today, out of nowhere, we noticed three 3-point bucks, and one 4-point'er. Thankfully for them they were in her presence, otherwise there might have been venison in the freezer tonight. 

That's all for now.

See ya later!

- John and Jan -