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!!!!

We ascend to the heavens...okay just to the second floor

Met with John and Emil at the house. Emil had built a scaffolding so jerry and I could climb up to the second floor for the first time. It was really exciting. They’ve been doing framing inside so we can see our bedrooms, bathroom, and closet. Walls are going up around the upstairs lounge. Views are great. Space is great. Love it, love it. Roofers were there doing the “stuff” that will go under the tile.

Captions from top down:

Framing second floor wall for "lounge"...roof section will follow shortly

Emil standing in the door to "jerry's closet"

View out of Jerry's bedroom door onto the covered terrace.

Jerry and John relaxing in our "lounge"

Those will be concrete stairs from 2nd floor terrace to ground floor

My room...the arched window will be stained glass (roseate spoonbill)

Jerry and John contemplating many lazy afternoons on the covered terrace.