We're in the HomeStretch

Since my last post, we've entered into a sales contract on our house in villanova and we close on the 15th of December. Everything seems to be going well in that area. We're happy that a family of 6 will be enjoying our house...it's a house perfectly made for them.

So that puts the pressure on our hardworking architect/supervisor and contractor to get the house done enough for us to move into it by mid December. I'm not sure they are sleeping much these days.

And much progress has been made. Almost all the new wood flooring has been laid. Sanding and finishing should begin towards the end of next week on the new floor. sanding and finishing of the old floor should be done (i think) in two weeks. Trim is going up faster than I can imagine (crown moldings, window trim etc). Looks great. And the old parts of the house pose interesting issues for the trim guys as they try to manuever around walls and ceiling that aren't quite level.

The roof is pretty much done on both the house and the cabana...just a few little tweaks. And it looks FANTASTIC!!! just like i wanted.

Stucco on the outside may be done this week. we've had the worst time getting consistency on the stucco finish (which is a retro pattern from the 30s). its been the most frustrating thing in the past few months. I think Emil (our contractor) is at wits end. But supposedly they've got the idea now and will fix it. we will see.

Ceilings are painted. The Cabinet guys are working on the kitchen redo. The interior doors have arrived.

Elevator guys are working on the elevator innards and we expect it to be done by mid November.

We worked with John to layout our costa rican tiles (that we bought 2 years ago) which will go on the outside of the cabana at the shower and a few other spots on the exterior of the house.

The new stair case is supposedly coming in a week or so...flooring in dining room needs to be done first.

The precast moldings that go around the outside arches and garage door are turning out fantabulous....so happy...so much more reasonably priced than the travertine we originally planned. And speaking of travertine...its still on the boat from Turkey. We figure they must have gone around the world first...very frustrating. We have large terraces and our bathroom waiting for that travertine. So looks like we'll have to go with some other material. grrrrr.

besides the travertine hiccup...we also had a bit of a glitch with the HVAC system leaking (a broken condensate line) and flooding the yet to be floored bathroom and seeping under the newly laid family room and dining room floor. fortunately it didn't get the wood wet...but we've had to remove all the underlayment...try out the concrete subfloor and relay everything...two areas about 100 s.f. total...ugh.

Here a couple of pics...will have more in a few days when I upload my photos.

Progress

Much has happened since we left for (and returned from) Bali. We have an almost completed roof. Drywall is up and is ready for its final coat prior to painting. Stucco is almost ready for painting. Once the Stucco is done, a/c units will go in and the new floors will be laid. Here are a few recent photos:

End of August LookSee

As Jerry and I wing our way to Bali, work continues at a good clip in St. Pete on our home that we really hope is down in November. Report from our architect/project manager today:

The plumbing materials finally arrived, Steve from quality marble found some matching travertine that looks great, the underlayment roof work is complete, interior doors are on the way, the terrace waterproofing is underway, stucco work continues, the misting rough in is complete, the electrical rough in work is nearly complete and the plumbing rough in work starts again today. Rain is predicted all week but a little water won’t stop most work.

And a few photos from our last visit:

Fans, Alarms, Stucco, More Paint Decisions, Molding

Had a good meeting with John on a muggy kind of thundery day in St. Pete. I was happy because John, organized as always, presented me with my list of things to do and on what days list. I'm a happy camper when you give me an outline of projects.

so today we started discussing ceiling fans of which there will be 12 (and we only have one old one worth using). So we have the catalog and will plan a date with Stan at Dans FanCity and pick them out. Apparently they make the a/c go a lot further with less energy usage and god knows we want to avoid those astronomical energy bills.

speaking of energy bills. we're doing a number of things to use less energy:

Storm rated windows are also more energy efficient and we have them throughout the new section of the house and in the kitchen (part of the old house)

Extra insulation: soy based foam. We are also insulating the older portion of the house which was only half-assed insulated before.

About 85% of the lighting in the house will now be LED lighting which not only uses less energy but is very, very cool (temperature wise) so you use your a/c less

We're installing new high efficiency heatpumps for a/c/ heating.

we're sealing all the cracks around the old windows in the old part of the hosue

And the fans...all 14 of them...to reduce dependency on the AC units

The rest of the day was playing around more with the 2x2boards of paint... deciding on most rooms but still stumped on a few...back for another round of color boards. Met with a guy about estimates for an alarm system and frontdoor speaker system. and we decided on the size and style of molding (floor and ceiling).

Then we ran and got our obligatory blizzard from Dairy Queen because today is Miracle Treat Day when 50% of the proceeds of all blizzard sales goes to the children's miracle network. We had to do our part.

Here are pics from the house today. As Emil and his guys appear to be tearing apart the old house once again. But not so bad today...just finding a place to put in waterproofing so if the window isn't rotted now it won't be in 40 years. You go Emil.

Paint, paint, paint

We're back to St Pete for about 12 days. We have lots to do before we head off for Bali for a month.

Yesterday we roamed around the half finished house schlepping around 2ft by 2ft plywood boards with various paint colors we're considering for the house. Made some decisions but put in an order for 8 more boards before we go further. (like i always knew) paint looks a lot different in big spaces than in those little tiny paint chips. And really just how many whites are there?????

The stucco guy is starting prep work for doing the stucco, which means once again i have loads of material and equipment parked on the backyard lawn. at least this time they are avoiding putting stuff directly under the trees on the root zone.

They've started to work on forming the arches over the garage doors, have "found" the well head pump that they accidentally covered up when the poured the cement for the patio. (we use well water for irrigating the yard). Electrical work is almost done...getting a little anxious on that front because they won't start drywall work until its done. plumbing fixtures are supposed to arrive soon (gosh, where are they going to put everything???).

And of course they continue to work on the old part of the house. Emil is doing a great job working with the old windows to make them more moisture/water proof, so if they aren't rotted now they won't rot in the future.

Photos from the site:

Emil trying to see just how big a problem we've got and how to fix it. Results: not too bad and not too expensive/hard (this time)

this window is in my bedroom. It will hold a beautiful stained glass art piece of a roseate spoonbill wading at the shore (complete with underwater scene and sunset).

This is what the old walls look for...the OUTSIDE wall.

Emil and electrician conferring over plans on a makeship "table" which covers what will be the stairwell to bottom floor dining room.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Today we ordered the new back fence (the old one fell down), decided on all the new doors (there are something like 25 doors), approved the plans for the kitchen cabinets, family room and lounge bookshelves/entertainment center, bathroom cabinets, etc. We also got great bids on the doors, and insulation that are cheaper than first bids. Good news! Now the not so good news....more rot. More repairs to the old house:
That thing that looks like a doorway used to be a wall and window (the window that is resting against the interior wall of what will be my office). They had to take it down today to get to the rot that needs fixing. Sigh.

Progress, Progress

Its been a busy 10 days with decisions,decisions, decisions. But progress is being made. Windows are in. Stucco prep starts MOnday. Electrician is ALMOST done then insulation, drywall can start. Work continues on roofing prep and we FINALLY chose the exact mix of tiles for the roof. Bids are in for cabinetry...will decide by Friday. Made first cut at paint colors for interior, will have samples in August and make the "almost final" decisions. Met with landscape architect and approved the design plan and budget. Adding a large number of palms and trees (having to take out two, a dying birch and a dying tangelo). Cool plants designed to attract birds and butterflies. creative trellis to support golden/peach bougainvillea up the walls. Bananas, papayas, and mangos. Awesome

Here are some photos of our progress:

This will be the entrance to the north garden where the pool and main garden is. We had to rebuild the fence which was falling down. Those grills were just installed today. They were made from molds of the original 1928 grills that are in the walls bordering the north side of the garden. The column caps will have a green lt green glass block under them with LED lights in them to glow at night.

These two photos are from window installation day. In the top photo they are putting in the arched window into my bedroom. It will ultimately house a gorgeous stained glass window of a roseate spoonbill along a shoreline. The bottom photo faces the front of the house where there will be a lovely tropical garden in front of the dining room doors. The 2nd floor will be Jerry and my lounge.

Surprises

Almost everytime we have to do anything with the old house we find some unpleasant surprise. We've had to shore up places where there wasn't adequate foundations, replace window framing, search for sources of leaks and repair, etc. This requires opening up walls and ceilings and fishing around. These pics are from the 1928 portion of the house, gives you an idea of how it was built (lath and plaster etc), notice the absense of insulation...we're fixing that with a spray foam insulation (made out of soy amongst other things).

We have WINDOWS!

After weeks of delay, the windows arrived from Oregon in a BIG A#$ truck! They arrived last wednesday and were stored everywhere there was a weather secure space. They are now being installed making the new part of the house water tight which means that drywall and flooring preparation can begin SOON! They are priming the eves of the house. Repairing old rot and decay from an old roof leak in the old part of the house. They managed to repair the ponding on the old 2nd floor balcony without finding anything unexpected, thank heavens. The interior stairway is being constructed off site. The exterior stairwell is being sanded and finished.

We're headed south in 2 weeks when we will have a major push to select the cabinet guys and finalize details about the kitchen redo, bookcases/shelving, and the master bedroom closet layout. We will also need to decide on paint colors for the exterior, stain colors for windows and doors, and narrow down interior colors for the walls.

Late May Report

Its been raining...alot...so we've slowed down a bit (also due to the slowness of the window delivery). But progress is still being made mostly interiorwise. Work on Jerry's office (raising ceiling, additional supports, leveling the floor etc. plumber and electrician are trying to finish the rough-ins if we can ever get the final LED lighting plan done and confirm the layout of the tub. Hoping to see the windows within two weeks..once they are on...they can start with drywall inside, even if its raining.

This blue "form" is the beginning of a mold that we are going to use to create replicas of the garden "grids" that are in the old historic walls and that we are going to put into the new part of the wall (part of it was falling down). One of the original grids is the picture right above the "blue" one. We found this great guy Jerry Karlick who owns Florida Statuary & Molds. He can do absolutley amazing things with cement, concrete and fiberglass. Amazing!

Our May Trip

Don't have a lot of photos yet...will take some tomorrow...but progress continues on the house. We are experiencing some irritating delays on the windows which will delay us on drywall etc inside. But electrical, plumbing, air conditioning proceed well. Still working on LED lighting plans and starting to work with a landcape architect/plant people. Here are a few photos from the trenches...so to speak

So many things going on!

Progress continues to be made on all fronts with only a few delays (so far). The Roof Deck over the 2nd floor lounge is mostly complete. Today they are doing the junction boxes and rough in wiring so that they can complete the rigid insulation and underlayment for the built up roofing (so its watertight). DLM Rough Framing (Doug, Lucas, John, Buddy, Youri, and Jason) continue to do a great job. they are now involved with anchoring, connecting, joining, and constructing the rough framing. John is pleased with the quality of work.

Emil's crew has removed the portion of the old roof (on the existing structure) to complete the roof farming from new to old construction and to modify the roofline over what will be Jerry's office/closet.

Modifications/remodel to the existing living room stair continue. The ceiling/floor beam was installed and the old stair partition was removed. It looks great!

(There was a wall on the left side of the stairs originally.)

The final plan for lighting and LED lighting is almost finished. DAn Wells the consultant is reviewing our last set of comments and revisions.

Working on deciding whether to use soy foam insulation (spray on) instead of more traditional materials. There is a cost difference (soy is more) but we like the idea of it and think it will be more energy efficient and will take up less room in the attic. So waiting to review latest cost estimates to decide for sure.

Rough in plumbing continues with good progress being made. Next step, we have to decide on exact fixtures and fittings.

Decided on the hydraulic residential elevator...smoother and quieter ride...more reliable in testing situation...nice doors and safety/failsafe features.

In Progress: John and/or Emil/Jim along with sub contractors are currently working out pricing, availability, and delivery estimates for new Daikal "slimline" heat pumps, travertine, wood floors, painting, stucco work, windows, rooftiles, wood flooring, castings for handrails and walls.

A little concerned about availability (and hence price and delivery dates) for roof tiles (some manufacturers are temporarily suspending operations because of reduced demand) also got bizarrely high bid on travertine, will have to go to another installer or materials if we can't get a more reasonable price...just isn't worth it;

Good news on masonry wall front in backyard. The City will allow us to put the wall where we want if we replace the portion of the existing vitrified clay pipe (ancient) that is on our property. Getting bids...but will do this for sure.

We head down to St. Pete next Monday...with a very large "to-do" list waiting for us.

Transom Work

Jerry met with John and Geri at the house today to look at a sketch of the transom stained glass "in place" to make sure the scale is okay. looked fine to everyone. You can see some water on the floor at jerry's feet? there were soaking rain and winds, lightening, tornado watches to the north all morning. They had to postpone their meeting to the afternoon to avoid Geri having to drive down from Dunedin in the bad weather.

Stairs and Eaves

The forms are off the stairs...with a color concrete that will match the travertine tiles on the patio and terrace. And the carpenters and John have come up with a great roof eave treatment.

We have stair! bromeliads and the final second story wall

Jerry sent pictures from his iphone today of:

1. The stairs (in progress) that will lead from the downstairs patio to the upstairs terrace

2. The final second story wall to be framed

3. His treasure trove of bromeliads that he acquire Tuesday night at the Clearwater Bromeliad Society monthly meeting!!!!