Interior Progress

So we are now finally able to move forward with the interior since the dormer addition is now sitting on the granite columns.  I had such a nice clean interior - vacuumed the entire 2nd floor and then the foam guys came in!!!!  Imagine what it looks like now...
Master Bedroom ceilings and walls...

We opted to pay more for the foam then the fiberglass insulation for a number of reasons - the energy efficciency, the rebates from GA Power and the Feds, the sealing affect of the house overall, and simply because HOLMES on HGTV swears by it!! :)  Viola thinks I would have loved to have married Holmes because he loves construction as much as I do! 

The foam went in quickly - 2 days.  We foamed the entire roof line as well as all 2nd floor exterior walls.  The guest room addition that was done in 98 was poorly executed with no insulation in the walls.  So I even had the foam guys cut sheetrock in there and foam those walls so it is as sealed as the newly renovated part. We also had cold fee in the kitchen because the kitchen is over the garage so I had them cut the garage ceiling open, move the gas line into the ceiling joists (it was hanging down in our garage) and foamed it up.  We are totally sealed!!

Family Room where pipes came down from new bathroom..

 Guest room where we cut open existing walls to add insulation - now allof you guys can sleep comfortably when you visit!!

Viola's room ceilings and walls...

We also did ALOT of soundproofing in the interior walls.  We insulated them with fiberglass so Tilo can play his LOUD stereo and surround sound movie system he is installing..around bathroom walls, between bedrooms and stairwell walls.

How impressive is this stairwell?  And then with the new window at the best it will be so light!!

We are at the lake for a few days now -  I had to  come down from the week's events.  We will head back on Tuesday and will see how the sheetrock looks!  They shoudl be done and Hardwood floors will go in at teh end of the week.

I have to gear up to handle more exterior work.  We are demoing my brick walkway and creating a stone walkway to match the front porch with 2 sets of brick stairs.  I will again place all of the key colored stones and the existing salvaged brick pieces to get the look I am after...Give me strength....:)

DAy 79-81...Drum Roll Please..........

WOW - after an absolutely exhausting week, I have what I want...a beautiful granite facade with aged Lithonia granite - oranges, yellows and grays rounding out the color pallet.

Day 77 we started with the granite column on the right....

 Day 78 the moved on to the 2 columns that support the arch over the front door.

Day 79 the scaffolding was set to granite the entire front face of the addition.

Day 80 the arch started to take form...now my column to the right looked better relative to the size of everything else.  Things started to come together.

Day 80 - the guys even arched the inside edge of the facade - sitting on my porch your view is just as nice as the one from the street. Their workmanship was amazing!

End of Day 80 - the moved so quickly, they finished 75% of the facade in basically 2 days.

Day 80 - the orange and yellow pieces were a NIGHTMARE to include in the design.  No one understood what I wanted. Not even the guys who spoke english.  I hand picked the orange aged pieces at a stone yard, had the delivered and sorted them to be strategically placed on the facade.  No one understood.  Next step - I made a picture and drew orange dots on various points so they knew where to put the colored stones.  didn't work.  Out of desperation on day 3 I climbed the scaffolding with a can of neon spray paint in my hand and painted teh spots on the wall that were to have small and large orange stones.  They finally understood after moving and relocating about 10 pieces....this is the result....

Day 81, the 2 guys at the top are placing the last stone at the peak.  And YES it was an orange one!! :)  The funny thing is that by the 5th day the guys liked this whole stone placement thing and would come down off the scaffolding, view their work, decide on some additional color placement - ABOVE and BEYOND my requests, climb back up and install.  They saw this as an art work.  In the end, after all the frustration, it was fun working with them.  Today was teh last day and I treated everyone to pizza and Corona!!

You can see them leaning back to admire their work and craftmanship - 2 brothers Poncho and Cabina.  EVERY single stone was hand cut and shaped with a little chipping hammer.  Small, medium and large they guys gave each stone its shape!  The pattern was also thought out and planned.

Here you can see the blends of the aged, weathered and regular stones.  Imagine how simple gray it would be without those additional colors.

Finishing touches were placed on the interior face and we were finished.Next week it will be the brick steps and stone walk way. Then the exterior will be complete.

Day 78 - There is NO turning back now.....Take a look!

So this is what progress is ALL about!! I am sooo excited.  It is difficult because I am having some problems getting the masons on board with what I want but the product is AMAZING.  Here is the "before" picture when we just finished the brick porch last week...

And this is the next day with the stone porch...
We used Crab Orchard with Blue Stone edging..I am so proud!!

The next day was the single granite column to the right...now don't be SHOCKED like I was...It looks really really BIG....
So I lost a whole night's sleep over this column, kicking myself for going with a square size larger than the other ones...Was the death of me for 24 hours.

Awaking to a new day, it was time to start the other 2 full columns that tie into the arch.  There was ONE BIG mistake...I specifically went over the "look" I wanted with the mason and the head guy, taking them to my "dream granite facade" home in the 'hood....

And they ordered the stone promising me that it was the stone in the picture above......10 tons of granite gets dumped into my driveway and guess what,

There was maybe 2 orange stones in the entire tonage!!  They started to put up the granite while I was away at work, came home at lunch and had a heart attack because it was ALL gray!  So after a helter skelter, carrie moment, where all the hispanic men stopped working and waited for my next move, I pulled myself together and got them to give me phone numbers of stone yards in atlanta. Now one might ask, "Where is the guy you are paying to do your stone work?"  Great question, and the answer is who the h_ll knows????  Got him on the phone, tod him this is not what I want and he starts to argue with me.  I hang up and make my calls.  Within 3 hours I locate a stone yard with aged orangey-yellow granite and off I drive in my Golf to pick some up!  Due to the weight I could only put 4 pieces in my car but it was enough to make the 2 arch columns...we are half way done...

 

The special colored pieces are hard to see in this picture and with the thick unprepared mortar joints, but it makes a HUGE difference.  The Mexicans think I am LOCO but at least I make them laugh.  The word "uptight" does not even exist in the Mexican language!! Not in their nature to be uptight!!

So as you can imagine, it is 11 at night and I am 3 vodka/cranberries into my evening, recollecting the days' events and having a good laugh at my day.  It will be beautiful I KNOW but it might just kill me too! If nothing else I learned some new spanish cuss words today!!!  Always helpful in my line of work!!

Tomorrow the arch goes in and my other hand selected rocks arrive.  Hopefully the lead mason dude will show up so I can give him a peace of my mind!!  I will post more "after pics" tomorrow.  We also foam insulated the whole upstairs...we are ready for sheet rock on Friday.  More pics to come..

Educational Tid Bits PART 2

After a 4 week delay I had LOADS of time to reflect on the construction process and wanted to highlight a few of the preventative measures I came up with for those of you following for potential educational benefits....(actuallly it is a dreary Sunday morning and I feel like writing :)  so bare with me).

1. Checking the subcontractors work while they are still onsite - I got a little laxi-dazy the last few weeks and assumed that if I gave the subcontractor the list of "ToDos" and actually walked him through each line item, he would get the list done - WRONG.  It is something you will have to realize - most subs are not looking at this like their own home.  They want to get in and out and dont have much attention to detail.  I have decided to have teh sub call me when they are finishing up so I can come out and look at the list and what they have done.  This may seem like overkill, but in the end it saves you and the sub a lot of frustration and time because what got missed can get fixed before they pull off NOT requiring another trip back for them. You desire a certain product and will have to step up to ensure you get it - no matter how "over the top" the sub thinks you are being!

2.  Keep up with the dirt, dust and grime - Make each subcontractor clean up after himself.  Require it at the first meet and greet, establish your expectations and stick to them.  I lay out a broom and shop vac in eye sight as a reminder to them to use it when they are done and it works!  If you do not keep up with site cleanliness, it will overtake you and then at the end, when you are ready to move in, you will have to hire a FULL cleaning crew to clean up everything.  Very important is you have the subs vacuum the ceiling/floor joists out before putting subflooring and sheet rock up.  This cuts down on residual dust in your home after it "settles".

3. Exterior Decisions - make sure you work through these before completing your foundation work.  Do not assume that the material you need and/or want is readily available.  Do your research the minute you break ground, working together with your mason to secure the materials.  Knowing what you are suing is key to the framer who has to frame to the thickness of brick, stone, or other veneer.  If you change it up like I did late in the game, additional costs will apply since the framer has to "reframe" the overhangs, soffits, etc.  Remember 90% of all change orders are typically generated by client actions, not by a shady contractor trying to take advantage of you.

4.  If you are living in the house during construction here are some "extra" pointers:

•  Plan out the entire process - from where things are stored to where things will be moved around around to accommodate the process so you have access to things/spaces when needed.
•  Have a back up storage plan - I already researched the mini pods in case we need to have one dropped in the driveway mid stream.  We may do it when we transition back up stairs and have the downstairs to do.  Having already gotten the pricing, contact, etc. it will be a simple phone call and I will have a pod within 48 hours.
•  Have a back up overnight plan in case there is work going on that requires you to be out of the house. - hardwood floor sealing, sheet rock sanding.
•  Stock up on plastic drop clothes, rosin paper and blue tape to cover your things during construction.  We have a daily routine of covering everything in the plastic and laying a paper pathway for the subs to use when coming into our living space.
•  Go easy on your self and the cleanliness of the house.  it will be chaos but realize it will be over in 3-6 short months.  Everything will go back to normal quick enough.  We actually enjoy the close quarters!

The list is "To Be Continued"......
        

Day 74 - We are bricked in...

After many weeks of waiting, searching and begging, we finally have a brick porch and a bricked in new window.  All brick has been completed.  Look at the before and after comparisons...

Big Change #1: The house - original porch to the new larger, extended porch with window...

Brick job looks good right?  We are anxiously waiting for the custom mortar to dry so we can see if it matches....I am really nervous!!! From this perspective it looks perfect but we aren't quite there yet. The stone didn't get done today. All stone work will start Monday and be done by Thursday. House will be on it's permanent posts by Tuesday mid day.




Big Change #2: The arched opening into our stairwell, to the 9ft opening with window!  What a change.

 

 

 Don't be afraid to veer away from the norm - that is Tilo's influence. He would rip open every opening if he could.  we have a few more "holes" to make in a few more walls on the first floor when we are finished with the 2nd..Keep your fingers crossed that it all works!!

My next Blog will be "Tips and tricks" part 2 about this latest phase of the project - what I have learned and tips on how to handle the hurdles.  Til then...

We are bricked in!!

So the porch brick is on....had to make some tweaks, switching out a few bricks here and there to make the colors work but I think we have a match.  The mortar is wet and not dry so it is truly hard to tell if we picked it right  but keep your fingers crossed that it looks like the existing....look at the progress picks thus far...

 This is with the window brick removed, front porch about to be bricked up...

 This is the "Junior" mason - replacing some bricks for me...the mortar looks dark but it will dry in the next 2-3 days and match (hopefully) the old mortar of our house.

And we have a NEW window in our stairwell.  That is Maurice the MAIN mason on our porch...

What do you think??

Tomorrow they will complete all brick work and do the stone landing.  Then is is concrete block posts and granite which will be delivered Monday.  we are rolling now.  Insulation is now Monday instead of Saturday, which is honestly okay and then we will sheet rock Thurs or Friday and head our of town during that process! 

I ordered my tiles yesterday and am SOOOO excited about the colors.  I think both the bathrooms will look amazing.  So many decisions, this is not my thing honestly.  I like to build it and have someone else deal with the finishes.

Once brick and stone are done, Ruben will come back and finish the exterior trim work - getting all windows and exterior doors trimmed out, installing a porch ceiling, columns, etc.  Then I can paint and get some gutters on so we dont have a leaky basement!!

Will post more tomorrow!!  

YES YES YES

I apologize for the lack of blogging over the last 2 weeks.  It has been a rollercoaster ride, which is to be expected!  I fired my brick mason last weekend and have sinced hired another - Omar Salazer who is awesome.  I have been waiting 3 weeks for samples from the other guy and within 2 days of hiring the new guy, I am ready to brick tomorrow!!  He made me brick wall samples to test mortar colors and I was picking out my stone today at the yard. Everything got delivered this afternoon and by Saturday afternoon I will have a brick porch, landing, and stairs.  Check out the final decisions....

 The Lithonia granite to the right will be the veneer- we will mix it with some weathered Lithonia to get some tans and browns in there.  Love the VEINS in the stone.  The rest of the stone is Crab Orchard which will be my porch floor and walkway.

 This is a close up of the granite - it appears much darker than it is..I think it will be beautiful!!

 These are the two small wall samples - the one to the right is too light and the one to the left is too dark, so they will mix the mortar 50/50.

 We have our window space.  Tomorrow we will install our new transom window!  It will light up the stairwell and give some balance to the front door since it is not centered under the addition.

 we took the plastic off and removed the temporary wall last weekend in preparation for the sheet rock work.  The arch you see will also be gone tomorrow.  We are opening up the walk way to the ceiling - 9ft high!

Will take some photos of the stone that got delivered - the BEFORE and tomorrow afternoon I can start posting some after pictures!

Making headway

So we did get lots done last weekend.  The house now looks like a home with our subfloors down...Between the crew being here on saturday and Tilo throwing on his tool belt (well actually he doesn't have one - he uses a duffle bag which he carries with him) we are ready for the next phases ... ALMOST. You have to literally look over everyone's shoulder to make sure your "ToDo" lists get done.  Unfortunately mine is always in english and everyone here only speaks spanish!  BIG TIP - have your lists and items translated into spanish to give to your workers.  I guarantee your percentage of completion will sky rocket!!

Here is where we are now..
The Master Bath - looking towards the shower and our window:

 Viola's bathroom looking into her new bedroom:

Everyone came out on Saturday to help, even Ruben's son helped bring in lumber - he was a Happy camper!!

 "Machine" (okay that is not how you spell his name but that is what it sounds like and since my spanish is a little rusty from my days growing up in Miami this will have to do) - now machine didnt look too happy.  I had the framers putting in insulation for me.  You can imagine how that went over...but I did buy everyone Subway for working on Saturday!!

Tilo is the best in all of this. Ask him how our renovation is going - "AWESOME" - Piece of cake". He gets to put on a tool belt and play Construction man on the weekends.  He LOVES swinging a hammer (thank goodness he is good at it or we'd have stress between us - Luv you honey!!)

 Our Master bedroom:

 Viola's bedroom (I think it may actually still be bigger than our master!!):

All in all we can't complain.  It is looking good. NOTICE how clean - have you ever seen floors that clean on a renovation?  you can tell I am a little lost without activity on the job site.  I get nervous and the first thing I do is Vacuum!!

Next is Insulation, then sheet rock, then hardwoods and tile.  Crap time to get ordering!! Just when you think you catch up, the next items need to be ordered and arrive on time. Tile will be tricky ESPECIALLY since the guys this weekend lost my custom band Viola created.  It is now nestled somewhere below my subfloor.  I hope we can still order it.  Will go there this weekend to see. A bit nervous that we wont know the colors in the sample anymore...YIPES>> See SH_T does happen even to me!! Stay tuned.....

Day 56 - Already??

So we have had a MAJOR 3 week delay but we are about to kick it into HIGH gear.  My 3 month goal has been blown but my budget well I am trying to keep it on track.  We paid for lots of extra framing work with the ceiling crash but I  am hoping to make it up in other areas!

Stone samples are on their way this week. Once in hand, we will pull the trigger and get the outside done.  OF course we have had PERFECT construction weather for 3 weeks now and when we are ready to start the exterior we will get another ice storm! You can bet on it.

The WINNING house design is....

We were busy all last weekend putting in the subfloor, and I vacuumed for HOURS.  I KNOW I have the cleanest construction site in history!  I need to get rid of my pent-up energy and so i am going wild with the SHOP vac.  The pour construction guys don't know what to do with me as I chase them around with the vacuum cleaner, sucking up any speck of dirt they generate!  I will post pictures later this evening so check back with me.  We also found some countertops, and will post those pics as well. Until then...