August Construction Update

House Report, 8-24-15

At 5:30 today Roland said I am still trying to get the guys into the house on Friday. It all depends on inspections. This morning the above ceiling and framing inspections passed for the dining room and the new rear entry. That means the closing and finishing work can be completed there.

Today the place was crawling with people, other than our House Corp. members who toured after our morning meeting. The parking lot was just about full. A big part of that was for the heating. There were people there from Nashville to help in activating each of the individual units in each of the study rooms. All of the plumbing was being pressure tested again for leaks. It was all done once when installed, now it is done again to find if there are any nicks caused during construction. Door hardware was being installed. There were some doors that were a problem to fit into the existing concrete walls, those were being adjusted and closed in today. The electrician is still putting in lights. The painter was busy, getting real close to finish. There were at least three guys working on staining the front stair railings and the foyer walls.

Outside fence around the dumpster was being installed. Really tough digging there for the posts. The house was being pressure washed in preparation for painting of all of the trim and the fire escape.

Oh yeah, I did a little bit of watering too, had to wait until the pressure washer was finished for the hose bib to be available.

A lot of clean up occurred Saturday and Sunday, sure does make a difference in appearance. Must have been a lot of trips to the dumpster.

Mostly small things, 8-23-15

Outside the parking lot got cleaned up Thursday and Friday, just about everything that had accumulated was removed. There was some left over heavy steel tubing so it was installed as bollards to protect the incoming electric panel. Saturday the lot got swept in preparation for power washing. One of the requirements to get our occupancy permit is the parking lot must have all of the lines painted, parking blocks installed and the handicap signs installed. I know, it sounds silly, but things like this have been going on for months.

Inside, the dry wall patcher and finisher was working Saturday. The framing crew and the electrician was on site. I am not sure how many clean up guys there were. Things were getting picked up and hauled to the dumpster inside and out. The painting is progressing, not very much more large areas to do. A lot of touch up to do, it is amazing how many places the dry wall has had to be opened for all kinds of reasons. It sure keeps the patcher busy.

There is quite a bit if work to do in the basement and the new rear entry but that should change noticeably every day. A bunch of small things does make a lot happen.

House and Landscape Plus, 8-20-15

Once in a while we have to get lucky. June had 24 days with rain in Columbus, not good for our project. We had about a half inch of rain last night, just right to get the grass seed wet and wet down the straw cover. Perfect!

It still looks good outside. Those of us involved in yesterday’s exercise know that it takes a good landscape to properly set off a building. We start with a good looking AGR house, but it takes us horticulturists to offset some of the atrocities sometimes committed by some of you animal guys, like the boxwood we replace yesterday that someone had trimmed into square shapes.

Yesterday the plumbing passed inspection, today the heating passed the pressure test. One step down, one to go. Need the gas turned on for final heating inspection. For some unknown reason the gas meter is locked and the gas company says they cannot come out to unlock it until next Wednesday. Don’t get our superintendent started about government and inspections.

The painter said tomorrow will finish the painting and Saturday he will start on the third floor and work his way down checking for any touchups that are needed. The rest of the work was much like yesterday. When the painter is finished in the dining room the floor can be installed. Some of the lights are installed in the dining room. The dry wall finisher is still smoothing, the banister guy is still refinishing all of the spindles of the front stairs and railings are still being installed on other stairways. The door to the patio has been replaced, the old double door no longer was up to code. It was replaced with a single wider door. The air conditioner was up and running on the first floor today. The roofers were up top today, replacing shingles on the dormers and the front porch. I did see the concrete cutting truck there today. I am not sure where they might have been cutting a hole today. It is hard to fathom the number of holes that have had to me made in the walls and roof of our building. It just seems to go on forever.

Day by day we keep getting closer. Back tomorrow to see what is changed.

Bill