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.