Garage Layouts and Desires

[Dobish]

drywall is up, getting mud tomorrow. I didn't get a picture of the garage (i will, don't worry), or the siding that they finished up yesterday evening.
We still have 1 side (above the main entrance) that needs to have the siding, but we are on a two week delay for the additional siding. That also means that we have to wait 2 weeks to get the roof on

Bathroom: Its going to be a tight fit for the 60" claw foot tub, but we will make it work. We had to reduce the wall from a 2x6 to a 2x4 to gain an extra inch on either side!

Living Room /Kitchen

Deck framing is almost done, but they had a little issue with their measurements. Apparently in 15 years, they have never had to purchase posts that were messed up (because they haven't messed them up), but they did on my project. They cut them all short by 2 inches, so the slope was REALLY drastic.

Granite is all picked out.... we decided to do the same countertop for the kitchen and bathroom. My son picked it, and this was a good choice, because it was the cheapest. The other option he really liked was the SUPER expensive one. He's my kid alright

 

[Dobish]

Siding

from the inside / workshop area

Standing at the entrance door:

where the tennis ball parking marker is going to be Workshop area on the left.

view from the deck corner looking south

and what you have all been waiting for, the view off the deck to the wood pile

 

[Dobish]

Garage door is in!

 

[Ashful]

Milestone!

The dog doesn't look too thrilled over it.

 

[Dobish]

Milestone!

The dog doesn't look too thrilled over it.

He was barking at the neighbor. He's really good at that!

Drywall texture happened today

 

[Dobish]

Not a huge fan of the drywall texture, but I am not going to be living there, so I think its ok.

Ceiling and Walls are painted (need to paint the back of the closet):

kitchen:

dining room / eating area:

Living room/ front entrance:

I will be prepping the wall for tile work tonight, and tiling tomorrow night.

Floor on thursday, grout on thursday night. Tub on Friday Morning. Wainscotting on friday night. Vanity and cabinets over the weekend, countertop templates on monday. Its really coming together!

 

[Dobish]

mostly ready for tile!

They added a skim coat to smooth out the texture on the windows, which makes me and the wife happy. They tried to sand it down first, but that wasn't going to fly.
Tile going in tonight, and floors tomorrow!

 

[vinny11950]

mostly ready for tile!
View attachment 242003

They added a skim coat to smooth out the texture on the windows, which makes me and the wife happy. They tried to sand it down first, but that wasn't going to fly.
Tile going in tonight, and floors tomorrow!

How many coats of Redgard did they do? Also, how are they going to tie in the tub to the tiled walls?

 

[Dobish]

How many coats of Redgard did they do? Also, how are they going to tie in the tub to the tiled walls?

if by they, you mean me, then 3. Tub is a free standing cast iron tub, so it doesn't get tied into the walls at all

 

[vinny11950]

if by they, you mean me, then 3. Tub is a free standing cast iron tub, so it doesn't get tied into the walls at all

The owner is always the most caring contractor of all.

 

[Dobish]

The owner is always the most caring contractor of all.

I sometimes wonder why I didn't just be my own GC again on this project. There have been a lot of hiccups starting with the quote, but from the beginning we were going to be taking care of the tile, the painting, and cabinets.

Knowing myself, I sort of had a feeling I would be getting more involved. I'm not sure if it has helped or hindered the process, but I guess we will find out!

 

[AlbergSteve]

Most GC's hate having the client on site, but in my experience, having them around to double check on things doesn't hurt and usually prevents having to redo things when the plan details aren't clear. The GC babysits the subtrades and the client babysits the GC.

 

[Dobish]

Most GC's hate having the client on site, but in my experience, having them around to double check on things doesn't hurt and usually prevents having to redo things when the plan details aren't clear. The GC babysits the subtrades and the client babysits the GC.

my project manager is a neighbor, and he's good about making sure things are getting done. Half of the time the subs just come right to me and ask, since i know what is going on with the project. the other day, the GC called me up and asked me the status of a couple of things. I just had to laugh, and asked him why I wasn't getting a paycheck as PM.

I feel a little bad about how much money our cg is losing on this project, as it was severely under-bid. There were issues with the architect not measuring correctly, structural engineering being overkill, delays with the electric and gas company, way more excavation and dirt moving, and a TON more concrete and steel work than was originally quoted. I am glad we are getting to the end of it, and then I get to start setting up the garage for my storage! I can't wait!

 

[Ashful]

Most GC's hate having the client on site, but in my experience, having them around to double check on things doesn't hurt and usually prevents having to redo things when the plan details aren't clear. The GC babysits the subtrades and the client babysits the GC.

A buddy of mine is a residential GC, mostly doing high end custom work. He always says most of his job is managing the client, preventing “project scope creep”. When folks contact a high-end GC, their imagination is usually bigger than their wallet.

 

[MTY]

A buddy of mine is a residential GC, mostly doing high end custom work. He always says most of his job is managing the client, preventing “project scope creep”. When folks contact a high-end GC, their imagination is usually bigger than their wallet.

I am the GC on my remodel and also doing as much as I can find the time for. The wife's imagination is bigger than my wallet.

 

[Dobish]

I am the GC on my remodel and also doing as much as I can find the time for. The wife's imagination is bigger than my wallet.

I was the gc and the labor on the last project. I am still trying to put back on the weight that i lost!

 

[Dobish]

Finished up the major tile work last night. grout and beadboard tomorrow.

Flooring was started this morning, I think its going to look good....

 

[vinny11950]

Finished up the major tile work last night. grout and beadboard tomorrow.
View attachment 242081

Flooring was started this morning, I think its going to look good....

I like big tiles = less grout lines to clean and mold up.

 

[Dobish]

I like big tiles = less grout lines to clean and mold up.

Another reason we are doing gray grout

 

[vinny11950]

Another reason we are doing gray grout

On closer look, are those the Leonia tiles from Lowes?

 

[Dobish]

On closer look, are those the Leonia tiles from Lowes?

They are from home depot. Clearance, $.50 per square foot. Porcelain tiles. I don't remember the brand.

 

[vinny11950]

$.50 per square foot. Porcelain tiles.

That's a great price for porcelain tiles.

 

[Dobish]

Siding is all up, scaffolding is down. Now they can work on the roof!

Flooring is almost done (*yes, i still need to paint the closet!)

baseboard and trim happening tomorrow... its all painted up!

We failed the attic insulation inspection, because the ladder was NEXT to the space, not in it.

 

[Dobish]

well, we had snowmageddon this morning (actually it started out as rain), but right when they came do deliver the tub, it started to get super bad! I was really worried that I was going to have to cut out the tile or ground down the tub, but apparently the 3 year old needs to work on her tape measuring skills....

now that it is placed, i have the drain laid out, so that can be finalized and we can finish up the last little bit of flooring. I'm not sure what is going on with my grout, there are some spots that are really dark, and everything else is the color it is supposed to be (light gray). I am hoping that it is just still drying.... hmmmm.

we did get a chance to try out our new storm drain inlet and pipe today with all the water. The city came back and realized that there was a storm drain that came from the street that just dumped water into a dirt runnel, that then ran into the creek. everything was completely eroded and there was a lot of turbulence going into the creek. they came in with the heavy equipment and started digging stuff up. first bucket full, this is what they discovered:

yep, that was a buried concrete mixer)

They ended up building a little pool, putting in an inlet box, and buried a 10" pipe under the ground. They ended up having to use some of my dirt to get out, since it was pretty slick, so they brought in 2 tandem loads of dirt to back fill and ended up grading a bunch of my land too. They tried to take my rocks, but my PM told them to bring a truck of rip rap for by the creek. they threw down some native seed, and mat to get it growing. They even removed a bunch of the downed limbs and other stuff that i've been meaning to clean up!

 

[Dobish]

well the city has decided that they are going to come back and replace the remainder of the storm drain. probably a good thing since i completely made a mess of the grading they did by trying to drive a load of maple out back... i almost ended up with ole rusty buried back there with the rest of the stuff we found!

we have all the trim up, just a few pieces to replace. Wainscott is up in the bathroom. (i sort of want to put some in my bathroom now).

Doors are installed

they installed the wrong vanity (the one that was too big) so i have to tear that out and put in the smaller one. not a big deal, just annoying

they finally figured out the stair configuration for the deck too, so we will be getting that wrapped up shortly. i had to get some help running the cable line under the existing deck

they wrapped up the siding and got my "ventilation" covered up. even though it wasn't super cold last night, i could feel that the draft that had previously been there from having the insulation exposed was gone

the foreman is making sure grammy is doing her job