Nearing completion

We are nearing the finish line. Here are a few photos of the progress over the last three months. (I'm skipping over all the repairs.)

And today we came home to this:

Appliances!  Woo-hoo!  Nine months without a kitchen - we can't wait to cook!

Interior trim starts tomorrow. Countertops are installed Friday. Exterior painting next week. 

We're packing everything on the first and second floors. In a couple of weeks we'll move it all out for a week. The dogs will go to the kennel and we'll stay with friends while all the floors are refinished. And then it's over! We can't wait to move out of this:

 and this:

 .

We are so appreciative of the many people who have helped us through the last six months. While we have seen some bad elements of the construction industry, we've also seen the best. We have been blessed with the support of many friends who have provided shoulders to lean on, sympathetic ears when we need to talk, and wonderful home-cooked meals. We can't wait to have a party for all of you!

And we think it will all have been worth it.

Many months later . . .

A long time has passed since the last post in February. Suffice it to say that the contractors disappeared (Windsor Homes), the owner, James (Jim) Wolohan, declared bankruptcy personally and the company went bankrupt. Blogging about the house lost its appeal. One lawyer, many dollars and many moons later, we signed a contract with a new company that has done a wonderful job correcting the many, many serious problems left behind by Windsor. Essentially it cost us as much to fix the job they did as we paid them to build it.

The owner of Windsor is now building 2-3 miles away under a new company name (Halsey); the VP of Windsor, Justin Mackovyk, and our Project Manager, Neil Thompson, have started a new construction company (Dobbins Construction). Gotta love the Maryland construction licensing and laws!

So, that said, I will start a new post to show all the wonderful things happening with the addition now.

Another week . . .

Time for the weekly update. Here's how it looks in the new room today:

 

No, you're not crazy. It's the same as last week. We have a new project manager as of Tuesday (due to a change at the construction company). We're disappointed to see the old one go but are optimistic about the new guy. He's spent the week getting up to speed. We had a good meeting yesterday and hope to see movement this week. We're on the verge of a change in the roof that will fix the ceiling height problem (hopefully), as well as the beginning of plumbing, electrical, and roofing. 

We're also hoping that the final wall goes up early this week so the kitchen designer can measure for the cabinets. We're really wanted inset doors in the kitchen, but compromised with overlays on the bottom because of price. The cabinet company has announced a promotion on inset doors for cabinets ordered March 1-14, so we may get lucky and be able to have more inset that we expected! We'll see. These details could drive us crazy if we let them, I suspect. We're working hard to just go with the flow (now, there's a contradiction).

Here's Carole standing in the screened porch-to be (viewed from the kitchen doors).

And here she is on the porch: 

In the meantime, some of you have been wondering how we're living in the remaining space. Not too gracefully, but it's working. (Proceed carefully; rooms were not straightened before these photos. Frankly, there's just not much of a way to straighten them.)           The kitchen:

The living room, complete with confused dogs:

 And, amidst it all, Carole's post-its, labeling everything in Spanish to help her vocabulary grow:

Currently waiting for: dumpster removal, windows, solution to ceiling height problem in the addition (not 9' as hoped), historic commission approval of rubber membrane roof (since the pitch is too low for there to be a roof warranty otherwise)  - meeting canceled because of snow so answer was delayed. - Still waiting for meeting ...

New issue - what to do about the fact that the second set of stairs from the deck doesn't fit where planned (would end in the middle of the greenhouse windows from the basement)- - Solved by narrowing the stairs.

New - Final answer about fixing the ceiling height

Hope to have a lot of new pictures of progress next week!

We have doors and windows!

While we're out working (and shopping), the framers are busy, busy. Three full days of work this week (one holiday, one day elsewhere).

The week began with this:














Plumbing issues continue. The ceiling has been removed from the old kitchen and the sources of the leaks have been revealed. All in all, it wasn't as bad up there as we had feared.

 

We've also learned (the hard way) that our sewer pipe in the front yard is cracked and leaking, so we will also get to dig up the front yard. The Roto-Rooter camera will be coming next week to mark the spot.

We also need to replace the laundry sink, but that's no surprise. We do still have the original from 1925 and they don't use the same drain setup any more (and probably haven't for quite a long time.)

Here's the old kitchen, soon to become the new bathroom:  

This is what remains of the old red spice cupboard:

And, saving the best for last, here's the new kitchen space:

The doors go to the screened porch. The windows are on the side of the house.

Here's the rest of the addition (including the doors next to the one above, all leading to the new deck). The windows are on the other side of the house. The second picture shows the full back wall, with the doors on the left to the screened porch from the kitchen, space for a tall kitchen cabinet to the right, then the rest of the doors to the deck.

Currently waiting for: dumpster removal, windows, solution to ceiling height problem in the addition (not 9' as hoped), historic commission approval of rubber membrane roof (since the pitch is too low for there to be a roof warranty otherwise)  - meeting canceled because of snow so answer was delayed.

New issue - what to do about the fact that the second set of stairs from the deck doesn't fit where planned (would end in the middle of the greenhouse windows from the basement)

Many, many choices

It's been choices week. Plumbing, electrical, appliances, tile ...
We pretty much finished everything but tile.
First, the downstairs bathroom . . .  (The finishes will all match, but not in these photos.)

 

 I can't remember the name of the toilet, so you're on your own to imagine it. I would like to know, however, who names the toilets. Memoirs? - Seriously?

The kitchen:

++

Then    

Then the exciting part

  
(Just the hood above)  And last, but certainly not least:

Very exciting!

Bye-bye kitchen

 

 

Waiting for the dumpster to be changed:

Bye-bye kitchen wall and hello new space!

  

Currently waiting for: dumpster removal, windows, solution to ceiling height problem in the addition (not 9' as hoped), historic commission approval of rubber membrane roof (since the pitch is too low for there to be a roof warranty otherwise). . .