Construction Journal of the Bolington Road Project

Last updated: 5/31/2006

Here’s the progress, with most recent work listed first.

Wednesday, May 31^st, 2006:

• The interior door installation begins.
• The final driveway work begins.
• The interior oak trim installation begins.

Friday, May 24^th, 2006:

• The septic system and drain field installation begins.

Friday, May 19^th, 2006:

• The interior trim staining begins.
• The tiling of the bathrooms are complete, but we're not entirely happy with some tile along the master bath shower door, so that will have to be redone.

Thursday, April 27^th, 2006:

• The front porch columns are installed.

Wednesday, April 26^th, 2006:

• The
• The side yard is bush-hogged in preparation for the drain field installation.
• The septic tank arrives.

Monday, April 24^th, 2006:

• Most all of the porch flooring in installed,  The herringbone corner looks great!
• The drywall is taped and mudded (first coat).

Saturday, April 22^nd, 2006:

• Pre-primed porch flooring arrives and is hand-sorted.  Selected pieces are brought back to our shop for special milling.  This operation is needed since we're going to use a rather decorative "herringbone weave" for the curved section of the porch where the porch boards change direction.  This technique requires that these "tongue & groove" boards have additional grooves milled in the ends (to match the sides) so the weave gets all locked down tightly at installation.
• The well pump is turned on the for first time.  Pressurization takes only 30 seconds.  So now with water in the house the mason can do an acid-wash of the chimneys and fireplaces.

Friday, April 21^st, 2006:

• The siding on the tower is complete and so is most of the painting up there.  As soon as the last of this is done, the pump jacks can be removed and no one will ever need to get up to this height again!

Thursday, April 20^th, 2006:

• Special aluminum pump jacks are purchased to reach the height of the 3rd floor tower.  These are set on the porch roof and we can finally reach this area.  The siding of this section begins.

Tuesday, April 17^8h, 2006:

• More paint goes on the siding and the north attic's gable.

Monday, April 17^th, 2006:

• The first bit of siding paint goes on the dining room.

Friday, April 14^th, 2006:

• The decorative cedar shingles are complete on the north attic's gable.

Wednesday, April 5^th thru Wednesday, April 12^th, 2006:

• Out of town for spring break.  As usually happens, when the supervisor is gone, not much gets done.

Thursday, March 23^rd, 2006:

• The drywall continues with the first floor, garage and tower.  A seventeen-foot high ceiling in the tower presents a particular challenge.

Sunday, April 2^nd, 2006:

• Window "hoods" are mill in our shop out of clear, straight-grain Douglas fir.  And due to limited time and equipment, a local mill shop makes the window hoods the the four curved-windows.

Wednesday, March 22^nd, 2006:

• The drywall starts to go up.  Most sheets are complete on the second and third floor.

Tuesday, March 21^st, 2006:

• The drywall arrives.

Monday, March 20^th, 2006:

• The insulation inspection is successful, approved for drywall.

Friday, March 17^th, 2006:

• The porch roof framing is complete.
• The insulation is complete.

Monday, March 13^th, 2006:

• The framing inspection is conditionally successful.  We are given the approval for insulation.

Thursday, March 9^th, 2006:

• The exterior siding begins with the first five courses of siding along the front porch.  This will allow us to install the porch outlet required to be in before insulation.

Wednesday, March 8^th, 2006:

• The exterior doors are installed.

Tuesday, March 7^th, 2006:

• The new stairs are installed.
• The exterior doors are re-delivered.  They two had to sent back for rework when they arrived last months with the wrong sills and trim.

Monday, March 6^th, 2006:

• All six sections of the oak stairs are re-delivered after being rebuilt properly with oak stringers.

Monday, February 20^th, 2006:

• Lots of RG-6 coaxial cable (for satellite) and CAT-6 wire (for network and phones) are run to all rooms of the house.  Each line is a "home run" from a particular room to a network interface box in the second-floor laundry room.

Friday, February 3^rd, 2006:

• The tower top rafter framing is complete.

Monday, February 6^th, 2006:

• The framing of the tower top continues with that addition of the plywood.

Wednesday, January 25^th, 2006:

• The electrical rough-in passes inspection!

Tuesday, January 24^th, 2006:

• The framing of the tower top begins

Thursday, January 19^th, 2006:

• The front porch joists are installed.  This normally simply job was complicated by a graceful curved section between the front and side porch sections.  The rim joist was fabricated on-site by laminating three layers of 1/2 inch pressure-treated plywood.  Before the porch decking is applied, the porch frame will serve as part of the base upon which to build the tower top.
• Electrical rough-in complete.

Wednesday, January 18^th, 2006:

• The plumbing and gas rough-ins pass inspection!

Tuesday, January 17^th, 2006:

• The HVAC rough-in passes inspection!
• Last of the plumbing punchlist items are addressed.

Friday, January 13^th, 2006:

• The HVAC rough-in is complete.

Wednesday, January 11^th, 2006:

• The shingling of the main roof is complete.

Tuesday, January 10^th, 2006:

• The roofing begins.

Monday, January 9^th, 2006:

• Gas line rough-in begins

Thursday, January 5^th, 2006:

• Remaining windows are installed.

Tuesday, January 3^rd, 2006:

• All first floor windows are installed.

Friday, December 30^th, 2005:

• The garage roof paper in installed.
• About 75% of the water plumbing rough in is complete.

Thursday, December 27^th, 2005:

• The electrical rough-in begins.

Friday, December 23^rd, 2005:

• The last of the interior walls are framed.

Thursday, December 22^nd, 2005:

• The shingles arrive.
• The rafter bracing and kneewalls are complete in the master bath suite (above garage).
• HVAC rough-in continues.
• Several of the windows get installed.

Wednesday, December 21^st, 2005:

• The stairs are installed
• HVAC rough-in continues.
• The basement landing is framed.

Monday, December 19^th, 2005:

• The stairs arrive.

Monday, December 12^th, 2005:

• The HVAC ductwork rough-in starts.

Sunday, December 11^th, 2005:

• The roof "paper" installed.  Actually, we used a roofing material called "Titanium-UDL", a synthetic roofing underlayment.  This will stand up to weather longer while we wait for shingles.  It also provides safer footing for the roofers since we have such an extreme roof pitch (18:12).

Friday, December 9^th, 2005:

• All of the long (24 foot!) rafters of the garage installed.
• The dormers for the master bath begin to be framed.

Thursday, December 8^th, 2005:

• The garage roof framing begins.
• The rubber membrane is applied to the flat-roof section.

Wednesday, December 8^th, 2005:

• The rear (interior) chimney is complete.
• The main roof is complete and fully decked with plywood.  A temporary roof is built to cover the opening where the tower will go.

Thursday, December 1^st, 2005:

• The windows arrive.

Wednesday, November 30^th, 2005:

• The north attic part of the roof is fully framed and decked with plywood
• The south attic is 50% framed
• The playroom is 75% framed.
• With the installation of two sloped pieces of bluestone where it tapers, the front (exterior) chimney is 100% complete.
• The rear fireplace is complete to just above the master bedroom fireplace.
• The interior oak trim arrives from the mill.  It's certainly earlier than we need it, but the mill got the wood early and couldn't afford to store it any longer.

Wednesday, November 23^rd, 2005:

• Successful throat inspection of master bedroom fireplace.

Monday, November 21^st, 2005:

• The scaffolding for the front (exterior) chimney comes down.
• The first of the roof plywood goes up.
• The master bedroom fireplace is built and ready for a throat inspection.

Friday, November 18^th, 2005:

• All the roof rafters for the main ridge are up except for four left out to allow the masons to set up scaffolding for the building of the rear chimney.
• All rafters for the northern front roof are installed.
• The hearth foundation for the fireplace in the master bedroom is poured.  This foundation is wider than the fireplace since it supports a chimney that has flues from the family room fireplace (clay) and the basement furnace and water heater (PVC).
• The exterior chimney is complete consisting of one large flue for the study fireplace and one dummy flue tile.  This dummy flue tile will hide 8" metal flue for the basement's wood stove.

Thursday, November 17^th, 2005:

• The master bedroom hearth passes inspection.

Wednesday, November 16^th, 2005:

• The hearth is formed for the master bedroom fireplace.  Weather permitting, the county will inspect Thursday and we'll pour the hearth Friday.

Tuesday, November 15^th, 2005:

• More rafters are set.
• The ceiling above the third floor hall is set to provide an early platform to work from when building the complex roof behind the tower.
• The exterior chimney is complete up to the eave.

Monday, November 14^th, 2005:

• The main ridge beam is erected.
• The tall center load bearing wall on the third floor is built.
• The first of the long roof rafters are set.

Friday November 11^th, 2005:

• The main gable openings are measured for their vents.  Due to the extreme pitch of the roof (18:12), we'll be making custom louvered gable vents in our shop.
• The small studio "tower room" walls are built.  This room will have a 17 foot ceiling with three high windows to let sunlight stream in.

Thursday November 10^th, 2005:

• The two end gables and two front gables are tipped up in place, and it took four men each to lift them.
• Interior chimneys always present additional challenges with the requirement to include a fresh-air vent need to supply the fireplace with adequate combustion air.  Getting the firebox air vent piped to the exterior of the house has presented a real problem with this house design, but after lots of head scratching and a consultation with no less than three inspectors with the county, we hit upon a novel solution.  Building codes allow a fresh air vent near the fireplace instead of in it, so we're going to install antique Victorian round floor grates with closable louvers next to the hearth.  The we simply duct these to hidden soffit vents.  These will provide better airflow that the standard in-the-fireplace air vents and will look very classy.

Wednesday November 9^th, 2005:

• The gables have their fascias and frieze boards installed.  Triangular openings were cut into the top of the two larger gables for some custom-made gables vents I'll make in our shop.
• The exterior chimney continues to climb.  Just below the second floor deck now.
• The interior chimney (for both the family room and master bedroom fireplaces) is built up to the second floor deck.  Ready to form for the bedroom hearth.  But further work has stopped until we resolve an issue regarding positioning of the fresh air vents for these two fireplaces.

Monday November 7^th, 2005:

• Most windows made these days (even the high-end ones we use) some with standard window sills that are only about 1-1/4 inches thick.  But most old homes had must more substantial looking sills.  So we custom milled some more historically appropriate (thicker) window sills in our own shop based on the engineering drawings from the window manufacturer.

Friday November 4^th, 2005:

• All front gables and side gables are fully framed.  But we'll probably install the trim and siding on the end gables while they are conveniently flat before erecting them.  This will save work up on a ladder or scaffolding.

Wednesday November 2^nd, 2005:

• Main house roof lumber arrives.
• Brick and block to complete chimneys arrive.
• Front gable framing begins.

Tuesday November 1^st, 2005:

• Dumpster pulled (first load)
• All the kneewalls for the third floor and attic are built and stockpiled.

Monday October 31^st, 2005:

• The well and gas line trench get filled in.
• Almost all the second floor interior walls are up.
• Most of the main roof rafters are cut and stockpiled.

Friday October 28^th, 2005:

• Throat inspection for the fireplaces are successful.
• Third floor wall lumber arrives.

Thursday October 27^th, 2005:

• The third floor deck complete.  This complete all floor decking for the house.

Wednesday October 26^th, 2005:

• Both the study and family room Rumford fireplaces are complete up to the smoke chamber.

Monday October 24^th, 2005:

• The third floor deck is about done, save for a few sheets of plywood waiting for one missing floor joist.
• One of the two 42" Rumford fireplaces on the first floor are built up to the top of the throat.  A throat inspection is needed before any flue tiles can be set.
• The fresh air intake for the exterior fireplace must be mounted to the outside of the chimney, but I hate the ugly aluminum grill that is normally used.  So I asked the mason to set a "soldier course" of bricks with a fine mesh insect screen behind it as a more appropriate looking air intake.

Wednesday October 19^th, 2005:

• The hearth foundations in the study and family room get poured.
• All but three of the third floor joists are up.  Due to tall second floor windows, the header above these windows must be buried in the third floor deck.

Tuesday October 18^th, 2005:

• The hearth inspections pass, so we're ready to pour the hearth foundations.
• The third floor joists begin to go up.
• A load of #3 gravel is brought in for the re-graded driveway.

Friday October 14^th, 2005:

• The second floor interior load-bearing walls are up.

Wednesday October 12^th, 2005:

• The gas tank/lines pass inspection.
• Hearths are formed up, rebar installed, and flues for the furnace and water heater are pre-positioned.

Monday October 10^th, 2005:

• The last of the second floor exterior walls are up.
• The gas line from the propane tank is set in the now-shallower trench and is pressurized for the inspector.
• Foundations for the study and family room fireplaces are built.

Thursday October 6^th, 2005:

• The well trench is partially filled in to safely cover the water line.
• As hole is dug and the propane tank is set.

Friday September 30^h, 2005:

• The second floor deck is complete.

Wednesday September 28^th, 2005:

• Most of the second floor exterior walls are up.

Monday September 26^th, 2005:

• Framing of the second floor walls begin.
• Dominion Power installs meter and begins service.

Friday September 23^rd, 2005:

• Service entrance (power) inspection successful).  This will allow power company to hook up power.

Thursday September 22^nd, 2005:

• Waterproof enclosure build around panel box to allow service entrance approval before house dry-in.

Wednesday September 21^st, 2005:

• Much of the second floor plywood installed
• The service entrance (power) lines are buried by the power company.

Tuesday September 20^th, 2005:

• The garage walls done, except for a small portion over along the back slab porch.
• The service entrance (power) installed.
• Remaining second floor joists over the first floor are complete and are ready for plywood.  The portion of the second floor deck that extends over the garage is pending arrival of some large LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beams that span the width of the garage.
• The well line and well pump power lines installed in trench, ready for inspection.  This same trench will carry the propane line, though at a shallower depth.

Monday September 19^th, 2005:

• The garage walls begin to go up.
• Back porch slab pre-pour inspection successful.
• The trench from the well to the house has been dug.

Thursday September 15^th, 2005:

• 100% of exterior first floor walls are up, braced, and covered with Tyvek housewrap.
• The second floor joists start to go up over the kitchen and family room.
• The back porch structural slab is formed and ready for inspection.

Wednesday September 14^th, 2005:

• Lumber for second floor deck and garage wall arrives.

Tuesday September 13^th, 2005:

• Dumpster arrives.
• Excavator installs lines to run the foundation drain and two independent floor drains to the property edge ("run to daylight").  This precludes the need for a sump pump.

Monday September 12^th, 2005:

• The last of the backfilling is complete (under the front porch.
• The front lawn is cleared and gently sloped toward the road.
• The driveway is cut to its more final slope.
• Most of the first floor exterior walls are up as well as the interior load-bearing walls.

Sunday September 11^th, 2005:

• Site cleanup day in preparation of final backfilling and grading tomorrow.

Thursday September 8^th, 2005:

• The first floor walls begin to go up.  The exterior walls on the north side of the house are up, as well as one section in the study.

Wednesday September 7^th, 2005:

• Porch piers are set.  They stared up from the pier pad with cinder blocks, then transitioned to brick before they rose above final grade.
• The first floor wall framing begins.  The walls are framed flat on the floor deck, covered with sheathing and wrapped in Tyvek housewrap before erecting.

Friday September 2^nd, 2005:

• The first floor framing is complete.

Tuesday August 30^th, 2005:

• A bit more floor joists are set.

Monday August 29^th, 2005:

• Part of the porch framing has started.

Thursday August 25^th, 2005:

• The basement and garage slabs are poured.
• The rear basement stairs are also poured

Wednesday August 24^th, 2005:

• The slab prep for the garage and basement slabs is done.  During this prep, the flatwork crew installed a second "crock" for any future sump-pump needs, if they ever should arise.
• The basement stairs are formed.
• About 1/3 of the first floor joists are set.  Completing this part of floor framing allows the crew to move to framing the front porch immediately.  This is important so the mason can build the brick porch piers using the porch frame as a guide and have perfectly positioned piers.

Tuesday August 23^rd, 2005:

• The first floor joists are cut to length and ready to set.

Monday August 22^nd, 2005:

• The subslab plumbing passes inspection.

Friday August 19^th, 2005:

• The county plumber inspector again fails to show!

Thursday August 18^th, 2005:

• The county plumber inspector is schedule to inspect the sub-slab plumbing, but fails to show.

Wednesday August 17^th, 2005:

• The plumber installs the sub-slab plumbing.  This includes a basement floor drain, a floor drain for the basement walkout stair landing, basement bath, and an pit to support a future sewage ejector pump.
• Porta-John arrives

Monday August 15^th, 2005:

• The remainder of the foundation is brick-faced.

Saturday August 13^th, 2005:

• The remainder of the sills are set.

Friday August 12^th, 2005:

• The brick-facing of the foundation begins.

Thursday August 11^th, 2005:

• Nine cubes of "Portsmouth Modular" bricks arrive.
• The steel beams are set and most of the sill plates are positioned.  The steel company mis-located the holes that are used to bolt the beams to the lally columns as well as secure the splice plates.  They will have to send a guy out with a welder to make this right.
• The remainder of the foundation drain in complete.

Wednesday August 10^th, 2005:

• Most of the foundation drain is installed and backfilled.  The area around the front porch is left clear due to the access the mason will need to build the brick porch piers.
• The basement steel is set, as is about half of the green plates (sills).

Tuesday August 9^th, 2005:

• The foundation is damp-proofed.
• The basement steel arrives.
• The surveyor performs the wall-check survey.

Friday August 5^th, 2005:

• The forms come off.

Thursday August 4^th, 2005:

• The foundation walls get poured.  Due to the limited access to the site for concrete trucks, we again had to use a concrete pumper.

Wednesday August 3^rd, 2005:

• Final adjustment day on the wall forms.  We walked the site with the concrete foreman and addressed several minor tweaks, then agreed upon the depth of the brick ledge around the perimeter of the house.

Tuesday August 2^nd, 2005:

• The remaining wall forms are placed.
• The concrete foreman removed a small section of wall to make the forgotten foot cut for the toilet.

Monday August 1^st, 2005:

• The foundation wall forms are unloaded and begin to go up.  It was noted that the footing cut for the bathroom toilet was missing, and needs to be cut before the wall pour.
• The stone for the base of the basement slab is placed, as truck access to the basement is lost once the walls are up.

Monday July 25^th, 2005:

• The footings are poured.

Thursday July 21^st, 2005:

• The footing forms are installed.  Footing "cuts" are made in the footing my putting a styrofoam block in the form to keep concrete out of a particular section.  Then once the footing and walls are poured, the foam is easily chiseled out leaving a passage under the wall where needed to run any sub-slab pipes.

Tuesday July 19^th, 2005:

• The excavation is complete, with the basement now dug to its full 9 foot depth.

Monday July 18^th, 2005:

• Finally, we break ground on the project.  The excavator cuts 75% of the dirt out and defines the perimeter of the basement and garage.

Friday June 24^th, 2005:

• Building permit issued.

Wednesday June 22^nd, 2005:

• Septic permit issued.

Friday June 3^rd, 2005:

• Health Department site visit.

Wednesday June 1^st, 2005:

• The last of the dumpsters are hauled away.  Total dumpster count for house removal was eleven.

Saturday May 28^th, 2005:

• The house site is staked for a final review by the Health Department prior to issuance of the building permit.

Thursday May 26^th, 2005:

• We closed on the property.
• The old house is successfully demolished.  So far five dumpsters are loaded and being slowly hauled away.

Monday May 23^rd, 2005:

• We receive the demo permit.

Wednesday May 18^th, 2005:

• We finally received the certification letter for the proposed drain field.

Tuesday May 17^th, 2005:

• The old overhead power wire to the old house is removed by Virginia Power.  This is a prerequisite to being given a demolition permit.

Tuesday May 10^th, 2005:

• We received preliminary approval of the certification letter for the proposed drain field.  We're expecting the formal approval any day now.

Monday May 9^th, 2005:

• The construction driveway is put it in.

Thursday May 5^th, 2005:

• The blueprints are submitted to the building department for approval.

Monday May 2^nd, 2005:

• The final plat showing the surveyed drain field area is received by the health department.  They indicate that all looks good and after a final site visit to see the stakes, we should have out drain field certification letter by week's end.

Tuesday April 26^th, 2005:

• The yield test and chemical analysis tests come back.  The chems are clean and the yield test revealed a rate of 4.2 GPM.  This is twice what we expected and four times the minimum.

Saturday April 23^rd, 2005:

• The yield test is performed on the well to establish the well’s yield.  Water is pumped out continuously for around a number of hours while every fifteen minutes a one gallon bucket is filled and timed to see how many seconds it take to fill it.  This test is repeated until the time to fill a bucket levels off.  That rate is the established yield.  For a well to be approved, it must have a yield of at least 1 gallon per minute.

Wednesday April 20^th, 2005:

• The soil scientist meets with the health inspector to review the site and dig an additional test hole.

Monday April 18^th, 2005:

• The well company installed the well pump and drew a sample of water to send out for chemical analysis.

Wednesday April 13^th, 2005:

• The property survey is complete and delivered showing the newly laid-out drain field and 2 foot contour lines.  The topographic lines will let the health department access the new drain field sighting.

Wednesday April 6^th, 2005:

• The steel casing of the new well has been grouted to bedrock.
• With a health department inspector in attendance, the old well is grouted shut.  This was a requirement of the real estate contract and a prerequisite to tearing down the old house.

Monday, March 28^th, 2005:

• Well drilling continues.  Six inch bore taken down to total depth of 400 feet.  Flow test indicates at least 2 gallons per minute of water.

Saturday, March 26^th, 2005:

• Major site cleanup day.  Lots of debris and brush removed.  We burned what we could, everything else went into dumpsters.

Friday, March 25^th, 2005:

• Well drilling begins.  Holes drilled to 107 feet and 8” steel casing installed.
• Dumpsters arrive for tomorrow’s cleanup day.

Thursday, March 24^th, 2005:

• The well drilling rig arrives and gets set up.  Not an easy job considering the slope of the back corner where the well is to go.
• The existing well line is removed from the old soon-to-be-abandoned well.

Wednesday, March 16^th, 2005:

• Fill dirt removed from proposed drain field site.
• Path cleared for access to well site by drill rig.