We're way behind on a blog post because.....we've been frantically unpacking and getting settled in. The movers arrived on Dec 22 and we got ourselves into the house, which was in great shape thanks to a hurculean effort on the part of the crews.
So lets back up and update you on what's been happening the past few days:
- Our slate arrived from Vermont Natural Stone, this time shipped by Old Dominion freight, a much better shipper than SAIA that wrecked our last batch. All arrived in order and was installed on Friday. I'll get a picture out soon enough, it looks terrific. We tried out our Napoleon fireplace during the holidays and it works just great.
- Our half bath granite vessel, automatic sink faucet from Faucet Decor and Toto washlet were all hooked up. If you have never tried a washlet before, I highly encourage it. We had to add a magazine rack in the bathroom...you have to love that heated seat and the warm air dryer.
- The cable rail was finished on the stairway. It was a challenge to get it all to connect right in a tight spot but Brian and Barney of Structural FX made it work. I have to say, it looks awesome and makes the staircase area really stand out now.
- The carpet was all installed just before we moved in. No problems and high praise for Paul Ondricek who carried out the work. He even came back on a Saturday to finish our stairway just before Christmas.
- Once we moved in, we logged a list of minor issues that needed to be addressed, pretty normal for a new house. Things like screws missing, trim pieces not quite sticking, plumbing switched around. Brian and team quickly addressed these and the list is getting down to almost nothing.
- Above and beyond the call of duty, the Structural FX team helped with a lot of other things outside the scope of their work - putting up blinds and bike hooks, helping move stuff in, cutting extra shelves etc. We're really thankful for that and it's made our move much more pleasant.
- Jason and the painting crew came through once more to touch up all the little dings made during the move and frantic days leading to our getting in the house.
- the deck work started with concrete being poured for the main pillars and the sub structure went up Friday. If all goes well, we should have a deck out of the family room patio door on Monday! This is the last major project being tackled, everything else is just wrapping up.
- the landscaping crew continues to make good progress. They completed the irrigation systems across the property, finished the bender boards for the planters and laid out sod which we sourced from the Grass Farm in Gilroy. We used their special blend of primarily fescue grass. The sod was well needed, providing a welcome escape from the mud. All that is left on the hardscape is to finish a wall hugging the house under the deck and complete some stairs cut into it. Next up will be plantings.
Speaking of fences, we had a nasty wind storm here the day after Christmas and it ended up blowing down one of our fences. We'll have to change that one early now and have talked to our neighbor about it, who seem willing to split the cost. At the same time, a huge gust of wind ended up lifting our landscape trailer and crashing it into our car causing some nasty bumper damage. I've never seen a gust like that and it makes you appreciate what it muct be like in a hurricane.
We have yet to connect our solar system to the grid. We've been disappointed of late with Ready Solar. The latest gaffe was that we have the wrong inverter designed into our system. We expect to have the proper one in couple of weeks although we've lost some 6 weeks already on hooking our system up and generating power.
Aside from this, the project is coming to an end. It will be sad to see the crew leave but what an awesome house they have left behind for us to enjoy! And what must be a record build - 7 months from complete tear down to move in. We could only hope to build another house with Structural FX!
