The Plains Theater - Page 14

We didn't know where grade would be, and as jimim said, we didn't want the concrete footer to be above grade as it would expose the waterproofing and the drainage mat. However, I did call the waterproofing company, and they said that this was the standard installation. Grade will be below the concrete foundation all the way around (so no wood below grade), and grade will also be below the waterproofing membrane that's behind the brick. The weep holes will be just above grade.

I rationalized this to myself as the brick is now acting as a hydraulic break between the dirt and our waterproofing membrane similar to the two types of drainage mat we have installed below the brick line. If the brick wasn't porous, we wouldn't need the weep holes, so I figure the water can work it's way out of the brick and into our drainage mat below grade (I HOPE).

Thanks for all the compliments, guys. We're getting a little more excited about finishing this thing everyday!

Thanks again, everyone! We're really happy with the way everything has turned out so far.

There's been a lot of progress, but it's been dusty so I haven't ventured in with my camera much. They've got all of the sheetrock finished with the exception of final sanding in the basement, and they've got a coat of primer on everything else. Here's a poor picture of our dining room to show some of the drywall progress



They also started the hardwoods today. Here's a pick of the stair nosings they were laying this morning.



And finally, they finished the stone on the front as well. They're supposed to pour the porches in the next few days, and should start on the front steps soon as well.



The tile is supposed to get started soon, and we're hoping for cabinets sometime next week or the week after. We'll have to see about that, though. The trim is supposed to be dropped off in the next day or so, so the trim guys will be getting going as well. Our contractor is telling us we're really going to make a push over the next few weeks to get done so we should see a lot of progress pretty quickly.

We are really excited about finally getting to move in. After a year and a half of living with the vast majority of our stuff in storage, it will be nice to be able find everything again.

There are several nice touches that the architect included in the house design, but I think the curved roof is one of best. There is supposed to be some interesting design bits on the back porch as well, but we'll see how they turn out.

Thanks for the confirmation on the colors, Tony! My wife and I agonized over the color of the brick, stone, and shake for what seemed like months. We were originally against the dark brick, but after finding several other brick colors that were out of budget, we "settled" on this one. Now that it's on the house, I really can't imagine it any other way, and I'm even a little relieved that we didn't get to use the brick that we picked originally! I suppose everything works out for a reason

Stopped by today and the've got the hardwoods down, they dropped off all of the interior doors, and all of the interior molding. They're also pouring our porches and steps today. That's a lot of progress for two days. I LIKE IT!

They've got a good bit of the trim in. There are still some random bits that need to be done, but they've had a crew in there the past two days that's been filling nail holes and the like. Here's a few pictures showing the molding so far.



I really like the detail on the windows



I'm also impressed that they took the time to return all of the moldings as well.



Hopefully there will be a lot of progress over the next few days!

As always, I appreciate the compliments. I've been very pleased with the quality of work that each of the subs have done. The painters are out now and they've been going over the molding with sanding sponges working out minor imperfections. That's something you don't see much anymore.

They've started laying tile, but it was too dark in the house this morning to get any pictures (We don't have the power hooked up yet), so hopefully in the next few days I'll be able to get some pictures up.

The brick masons finished up the front porch/steps yesterday, and I think it really made a difference on the front of the house. I can finally get an idea of the proportion of things once grading is done. Here's the pic



We're supposed to have cabinets next week, and they are supposed to do the final grading next week as well which I'm really excited about.

Not yet. Our builder said that once they set the cabinets and make granite patterns they could tell us to within a few days of when they'd be finished. So I'll probably start pressing for a day next week. We were really hoping to be in the house before the new baby gets here, but I don't think it's going to happen.

Amen to that! We've had a lot of fun with building the house, but we are ready to move in! We've got a busy year ahead of us, for sure.

I'm officially NOT saying this, but if I'm lucky, I'll be able to squeeze a little bit of money out of our budget to at least get a start on the theater. We'll see

We figure that's a good way to keep the door-to-door salesmen away



The one on the left is for the septic and the one on the right is the main water supply to the house...... Hmmmm. now that I think about it, I wish those weren't quite so close together

There's also another septic line exiting on the back of the house that will need to be run around to the front. With the way the LVL's were run in the house, they had to exit in two places.

Also, that gives a pretty good idea of how much final grade will come up.

Thanks, RT. I'm looking forward to the interior coming together as well. Right now there seems to be a little bit of everything done, but all of nothing. Most of the hardwoods are down, some of the tile, most of the trim, some of the paint, etc., etc. Can't wait to see how everything is going to turn out.

I was really concerned about how all of the different colors and textures would come together, too. When we discussed it with the designer, none of the individual pieces seemed to work together. Now that it's all on the house, I'm really happy with it! I never would have picked the brick and stone without our designer. Fortunately, our builder includes the designer with the contract. It's almost one of the fine print things, but it really keeps the quality of his homes up. I just can't imagine picking everything for a house without her help. There's been several times where I've asked, "are sure this is all going to work?" She hasn't let us down yet

As far as keeping the basement fresh goes, our basement is open to the first floor so I've put a lot of thought into it. The first thing is the waterproofing. Keep the water out to begin with and you eliminate the primary source of the problem. Next is keeping the humidity down. We decided to try to eliminate the need for a central dehumidifier by going with a two speed HVAC compressor. This lets the AC run longer at a lower capacity which gives the AC the opportunity to get the moisture out of the air. With a single speed compressor, the AC cant run as long without cooling the room off too much. Our basement is on a separate zone, so it can run just in the basement when the thermostat indicates the humidity is too high. I guess this also gives lots of air exchanges down there which is going to help as well.

Yep, we're still building a house! The new addition to the family got here a couple weeks earlier than we expected, so I haven't had time to take many pictures of the house. More importantly, though, we've got a healthy baby boy, 8 lbs 2 oz, and 21" long

As far as updates on the house go, this is the best I can do. This picture was taken the day after the baby was born, and it's the last picture I've got. It's amazing how much different the house looks now that they've done the grading. Depending on how you look at it, the house either looks like it was moved closer to the road, or the house just got bigger. This picture is a little deceiving, but the house sits back about 200' off the road. We've got about 2/3 of an acre of lawn in the front yard. Boy I can't wait for the kids to get old enough to cut the grass!



Since that picture was taken, they've installed most of the cabinets and they've been doing drywall touch-up. The rough grading is finished, and next week we're supposed to get downspouts piped in, final grading done, and the landscaping done. We're also supposed to be getting templates for the granite done soon, so there is a lot going on!