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.