Garnet Road Project Journal

Construction Journal of the Garnet Road Project

Last updated: 8/2/2004 Here’s the progress, with most recent work listed first.

Monday, August 2^nd, 2004 Walk-thru with minimal punchlist items Closing with new owner Wednesday, July 28^th, 2004 Received Occupancy Permit from the county Tuesday, July 27^th, 2004 Successful building inspection Successful electrical inspection Successful plumbing inspection Monday, July 26^th, 2004 HVAC punchlist worked through Final prep for electrical final inspection tomorrow Hearth slate set Carpet installed Kitchen faucet operational Sunday, July 25^th, 2004 Claw foot tubs installed Saturday, July 24^th, 2004 Last of kitchen cabinets get installed Upstairs pedestal sinks installed Gas cooktop installed Friday, July 23^rd, 2004 Granite countertops installed Final building inspection…two small punchlist items to address Successful final mechanical (HVAC) inspection Saturday, July 17^th, 2004 Last of outlets installed More fans and lights installed Friday, July 16^th, 2004 Final coat of interior painting started Cornice work for patio ceiling installed Monday, July 12^th, 2004 Countertop measurement taken. Last of upstairs trim varnishing complete. Sunday, July 11^th, 2004 Kitchen base cabinets set. Friday, July 3^rd, 2004 Jack and Jill bath floor tile grouted. All tile complete. Friday, July 2^nd, 2004 Brush removed and ready for hydroseeding in the upper meadow. Stained doors get their first coat of varnish. Bedroom 2 (and several other windows) get stained. Jack and Jill bath wall tile set and grouted. Jack and Jill bath floor tile set and ready for grout. Several fans and light fixtures installed. Thursday, July 1^st, 2004 Interior doors get their cherry stain applied. Gorgeous! Wednesday, June 30^th, 2004 All master bath tile set and grouted. Tuesday, June 29^th, 2004 Jack and Jill bath tub installed. Sunday, June 27^th, 2004 Interior oak trim complete upstairs. Thursday, June 10^th, 2004 Completed interior wall painting (first coat). Monday, June 7^th, 2004 Completed exterior painting. Friday, June 4^th, 2004 Completed dip-painting of the porch railing spindles. Continued exterior painting. Ivory trim almost complete. Sunday, May 30^th, 2004 Continued to dip-paint the spindles. Installed antique door locks on all exterior doors. Interior trim continuing. Bedroom 2 complete, master bedroom has all baseboards done. Monday, May 24^th, 2004 Phone line installed from pedestal. Special drain set to divert driveway runoff. Sunday, May 23^rd , 2004 Continued to dip-paint the spindles. Saturday, May 22^nd, 2004 Installation of oak interior trim begins. Started to dip-paint the 102 turned porch spindles. Friday, May 14^th, 2004 First coat of exterior painting completed. Some parts (attic dormers, porch ceilings) have both coats completed. Wednesday, May 12^th, 2004 Oak floor completed. Grass seed sprouting nicely. Thursday, May 6^th, 2004 Hydroseeding complete. Tuesday, May 4^th, 2004 Oak floor continues on first floor. Kitchen better than halfway done. Hunt Country Hydroseeding preps the site for seeding. Davenport installed the basement insulation. Monday, May 3^rd, 2004 Oak floor begins on first floor. Parlour and hallway mostly done. Remaining oak floor arrives Oak fluted door/window casing arrives Sunday, May 2^nd, 2004 The household water system is pressurized…no leaks. Friday, April 30^th, 2004 The exterior painting continues Built-in tub for Jack & Jill bath arrives. Wednesday, April 28^th, 2004 The exterior painting begins. The nest of an Eastern Phoebe (Myiarchus tyrannulus) is discovered above a light fixture in the porch floor above the patio. We’ll monitor the next and hold off on installing the patio ceiling until the eggs hatch and the nestlings fledge. Wednesday, April 24^th, 2004 Mulch bed around house placed. Monday, April 19^th, 2004 One small section of the house get first test coat of color. They look great! Thursday, April 15^th, 2004 Oak flooring complete on second floor Tuesday, April 13^th, 2004 Gables primed. Tuesday, April 6^th, 2004 Interior doors arrive. Last of the decorative gables shingled. Received color nomination package from historic color consultant James Martin Saturday, April 3^rd, 2004 Lots more outlets installed. Thursday, April 1^st, 2004 The oak flooring begins to go down. Tuesday, March 30^th, 2004 Sucessful septic system installation. Monday, March 29^th, 2004 Most of exterior wood trim caulked. Tuesday, March 23^th, 2004 Wall priming touched up Final ceiling coat of paint applied Heat turned on full time now to begin wood flooring acclimation Saturday, March 20^th, 2004 Driveway gets a bit more tweaking Oak flooring arrives A/C units set and plumbed Friday, March 19^th, 2004 New front door arrives and is set in place Drywallers point up walls Pergola built Wednesday, March 17^th, 2004 Primer shot onto interior walls Tuesday, March 16^th, 2004 Driveway gets it stone laid and graded All windows and doors taped in preparation for interior wall priming Friday, March 12^th, 2004 Driveway fully cut in Tuesday, March 9^th, 2004 Final grading begins. Saturday, March 6^th, 2004 With the drywall hung, we’ve started to install switches and begun to bring light to the house. Friday, March 5^th, 2004 The house is formally on the market! Wednesday, March 3^rd, 2004 Second coat of drywall mud goes on. Rough grading around septic tanks complete. Started to fill the septic tank. Tuesday, March 2^nd, 2004 Drywall hung in garage and basement Final plumbing connections of septic system complete Power lines for septic system set in trench. Well wiring complete. We have water! Monday, March 1^st, 2004 Taping and mudding of drywall starts (first coat) Saturday, February 28^th, 2004 Drywalling starts. All drywall hung on 1^st and 2^nd floors. Friday, February 27^th, 2004 All septic plumbing is connected. Ready for wiring. Drywall is delivered. In-ceiling speaker wires installed All backer-boards for towel bar and toilet paper holder installed. Wednesday, February 25^th, 2004 The septic tank and pump tank are set. Monday, February 23^th, 2004 The septic field install begins with the setting of the Infiltrator chambers. Thursday, February 12^th, 2004 The foundation along the front porch get covered with the brick veneer that Greg cut earlier. Wednesday, February 4^th, 2004 Front door installed. The side lights were damage in shipping from vendor to distributor, so replacements are pending. Back doors (garage and porch) are installed. Saturday, January 30^th, 2004 Furnaces test fired sucessfully. Will turn on full time when doors and 2^nd floor ceiling are in place. January 16 thru January 29^th · Components of chambered septic field deliverered. · Remainder of back porch metal roofing completed. Thursday, January 15^th, 2004 Pressure treated 2x8’s are cut with decorative patterns for use in the pergola.. Wednesday, January 14^th, 2004 The basement door onto the walkout patio is installed. Tuesday, January 13^th, 2004 The propane company connects the propane tank to the house with an external regulator. Monday, January 12^th, 2004 The decorative shingles installed on front gable. Thursday, January 8^th, 2004 The roof tin has been installed on the front porch, bay windows, and cornice returns. The back porch roof is in work. Tuesday, January 6^th, 2004 The beadboard ceiling for the front porch is complete. Monday, January 5^th, 2004 Insulation inspection completed successfully. The beadboard ceiling for the back porch is complete. Sunday, January 4^th, 2004 Gregg uses a brick saw and cuts brick veneer for the front porch foundation. Water heater and lower furnace flues are tied into dedicated flue set into chimney. This was done to minimize the modern looking protrusions through the house walls. Saturday, January 3^rd, 2004 Gregg begins to thin out the underbrush in the south yard. It opens up a nice view of the house from the road. Friday, January 2^nd, 2004 Beadboard ceiling begins to go up on rear porch. Thursday, January 1^st, 2004 Last minute insulation items completed for inspection Monday All video, phone, and network wiring roughed in to the home network box. Monday, December 29^th, 2003 Tongue & Groove fir porch floor boards installed on rear porch. Tuesday, December 23^th, 2003 Wall (and cathedral ceiling) insulation installed. I’m not entirely happy with several items regarding the work, so we’ll get the insulators to fix them before we call the county for an inspection. Sunday, December 21^th, 2003 Installed network box. Saturday, December 20^th, 2003 Mason set the two piers for the pergola Began puling all phone, network, and video cables. Friday, December 19^th, 2003 Framing inspection passed. Thursday, December 18^th, 2003 Electrical rough-in inspection passed. Tuesday, December 16^th, 2003 Pressure tank and water heater installed. Monday, December 15^th, 2003 Decorative octagonal shingles installed on garage gable. Saturday, December 13^th, 2003 Fix of electrical items for rough-in. Friday, December 12^th, 2003 Pull-down attic stairs installed. Thursday, December 11^th, 2003 Top section of oak staircase installed. A lot of fussing was needed to get the stingers of the upper and lower sections lined up nicely. Wednesday, December 10^th, 2003 Electrical rough-in inspection. Minor punch list of fixes needed. Thursday, November 27^th, 2003 Minor wrap up work on electrical rough-in. Wednesday, November 26^th, 2003 Siding continues. Siding views West West South South East East North Saturday, November 22^nd, 2003 Work on electrical rough-in continues. Wednesday, November 19^th, 2003 Chimney almost complete. Half a dozen more courses to go. Saturday, November 15^th, 2003 Work on electrical rough-in continues. Monday, November 10^th, 2003 Lower section of oak staircase is set. Upper section is tricky so we’ll wait until I can coordinate with chief carpenter to perform this operation himself. Siding continues. Friday, November 7^th, 2003 Front view Chimney continues to climb slowly. There are a number of “corbels” where the brick steps out several inches over 3-4 courses. When these courses are set, if weight is set on them before the mortar set, the bricks will roll out and collapse. So when ever new corbel is set, work must stop until at least the next day. It made for slow work, but a stunning chimney. Thursday, November 6^th, 2003 The back porch columns are set. Wednesday, November 5^th, 2003 Main roof is shingled. Tuesday, November 4^th, 2003 Exterior trim and siding installation begins. The first part is the “water table”. This is a 12 inch board that wraps the entire house and provides an architectural “base” for the siding. This is a component you don’t see much anymore, but was the norm in better quality older homes. It overlaps the intersection between framing and brick foundation and is capped with a drip edge to shed water. This drip cap has a bead along the top that proper kicks out the first course of siding so we don’t need to apply an extra shim. This drip cap is one of the very few place that we choose to use a plastic material due to the high water exposure it gets. Monday, November 3^rd, 2003 Chimney climbs another 12 feet. Sunday, November 2^nd, 2003 Electrical work continues. First power flows in the house as each floor is given a temporary circuit to run the power tools and work lights. Friday, October 31^th, 2003 Power meter is set. Thursday, October 30^th, 2003 Service inspection successful. Tuesday, October 28^th, 2003 Chimney construction begins. Brick completed up to the height of the smoke chamber, just above the firebox. Roof shingles arrive Lower patio posts set Monday, October 27^th, 2003 HVAC rough-in inspection successful Last of the windows are installed Saturday, October 25^th, 2003 Electrical rough-in work continues Friday, October 24^th, 2003 Oak staircase arrives Power line trench is backfilled Thursday, October 23^rd, 2003 Rumford fireplace built NOVEC installs power line from power pole to meter box. The meter itself will not be set until a “service entrance” inspection. Wednesday, October 22^nd, 2003 Miscellaneous HVAC rough-in punchlist items fixed Dormers trimmed Front porch posts set Tuesday, October 21^th, 2003 Brick arrives for chimney Minor plumbing rough-in items fixed Monday, October 20^th, 2003 Power line trench inspected successfully by NOVEC Sunday, October 19^th, 2003 Power line trench completed Saturday, October 18^th, 2003 Lots more wiring completed Friday, October 17^th, 2003 Back porch roof sheathed Power line for NOVEC started Chimney foundation formed, inspected, and poured. The wood in the center are two-by-fours placed to hold open a hole for the ash dump. Thursday, October 16^th, 2003 Gas inspection - passed Plumbing inspection – failed for 2 minor punchlist items HVAC inspection – failed for 5 minor punchlist items Fireplace foundation wall set and furnace/water heater flue elbows set Wednesday, October 15^th, 2003 Rumford fireplace package arrives Tuesday, October 14^th, 2003 Gas rough-in complete Plumbing rough-in complete All but a few windows installed Monday, October 13^th, 2003 Front gable trim complete and gable window set. Plumbing and gas rough-in continues Electrical panel box wiring starts Saturday, October 11^th, 2003 Wiring continues Work on cornice continues. We routed the bathroom vents to tiny inconspicuous inverted vents mounted flush in the soffit. We wanted to avoid, where possible, ugly wall-mounted vent exits. Most of the HVAC rough-in is complete. The very accommodating HVAC contractor installed custom-made register boxes mounted below the first floor to allow me to install antique floor heating registers. I use these in my own home and they look and work great. It’s all in the details. Friday, October 10^th, 2003 The first windows get set. Dumpster pulled and replaced. Thursday, October 9^th, 2003 Basement stairs set. I’m not happy with the fit due to the height of the landing, so we’re going to remove the bottom half of the stairs, lower the landing, and reset them. Propane trench filled in. Wednesday, October 8^th, 2003 Front porch piers set. Patio piers set. Work on cornice continues. Tuesday, October 7^th, 2003 Windows delivered. Basement stairs delivered. Back porch roof rafters set Successful propane line inspection Monday, October 6^th, 2003 Propane line is set and pressurized to check for leaks. Saturday, October 4^th, 2003 Electrical rough in work begins. Most wires pulled and boxes set on second floor except for overhead lights. Plumbing work continues with most of the major work done. Friday, October 3^rd, 2003 Cornice work continues with the carpenters are working counterclockwise around the house, leaving a 5 foot gap where the chimney will be built. Propane tank gets buried and the gas line trench is dug. Thursday, October 2^nd, 2003 Work begins on the cornice, starting at the back side of the house over the garage. Plumbing rough-in begins. Tuesday, September 30^th, 2003 The rear porch deck is framed. Saturday, September 2th^th, 2003 Minor work continues on HVAC rough-in. Will complete in two weeks when flues are installed and first floor heat register boxes are set. Wednesday, September 24^th, 2003 The rear dormer is built. Tuesday, September 23^th, 2003 The front dormer is built The front porch roof is framed. Saturday, September 20^th, 2003 The majority of the upper HVAC rough-in is complete. This includes routing the flue for the upper furnace out the side of the rear dormer. Due to the layout of the house on the lot, this dormer is almost invisible so it can be used to hide such things to minimize modern roof protrusions. Wednesday-Friday, September 17^th- 19^th, 2003 No progress as we all stand down for Hurricane Isabel. Monday, September 15^th, 2003 The roof paper is finally on. Friday, September 12^th, 2003 The sheathing of the roof is complete. Ready for roofing paper. Thursday, September 11^th, 2003 The sheathing of the main roof is almost done complete. All that remains is some plywood over the master bedroom and some stick framing over the master bath. The power pole is set in line with an existing power line that cuts across the back yard. Monday, September 8^th, 2003 The blocking and sheathing begins on the main roof. Saturday, September 6^th, 2003 The blocking and sheathing is complete on the garage roof. Ready for roofing paper. The lower furnace is set and the main HVAC trunk lines are installed. The furnace is tucked under the basement staircase so the main supply plenum above the furnace was fashioned with a sloped top to fit. Friday, September 5^th, 2003 The power pole (to be set in the back yard) is delivered. Monday, September 1^st, 2003 The blocking begins on the garage roof. Tuesday, August 26^th, 2003 The largest trusses were lifted by crane and set. Smaller ones will be set later as the main trusses are aligned and blocked. Thursday, August 21^th, 2003 The trusses were moved by hand up onto the property and the crew began sorting them and pre-assembling some pieces in preparation for setting into place next week. The second floor walls are aligned with reference lines and braced in place prior to setting the trusses. Wednesday, August 20^th, 2003 The trusses were delivered, but since the truck could not get into the driveway (it was a 42 foot semi), the bundle of trusses were left along the side of the road! This was not noticed until the next morning. Monday, August 18^th, 2003 The front porch slab and back porch slab both get poured. Saturday, August 16^th, 2003 A phone line was found awhile ago that ran across the property blocking the driveway from being cut down to the proper grade. After finally getting hold of a Verizon engineer, I received permission to excavate and re-bury the cable deeper to allow the drive excavation. So VERY carefully, Dale (the carpenter who also owns a skid-steer) dug a deep trench next to the cable. We then hand dug the cable out of the side of the new trench and set it at the bottom, then refilled the hole. Slabs did not get poured Friday, reasons unknown. Thursday, August 14^th, 2003 Front porch slab pan inspected, ready for pour tomorrow. Wednesday, August 13^th, 2003 Second floor framing completed. Garage walls complete. Garage truss-supporting ledger board anchored to wall. Tuesday, August 12^th, 2003 Second floor wall framing continues. All exterior walls up except for the master bedroom front wall. Interior partition framing underway. Garage walls framed except for wall over door. Monday, August 11^th, 2003 Front porch pan formed for pouring the slab. The carpenters had to relocate their temporary supports to hold up the second floor. Since we are low on soil, we didn’t want to waste it to fill in the porch cavity. So the flatwork contractor spanned the porch with 16 gauge corrugated steel sheets to provide the base for the slab. A side benefit here is this allows the homeowner to punch a doorway in the basement wall to build a fully concrete-encased room suitable for a wine cellar or tornado shelter. Rear patio slab formed. Second floor wall framing continues. Friday, August 8^th, 2003 Second floor wall framing begins. Thursday, August 7^th, 2003 Second floor deck complete. The kitchen has “clipped wall” for architectural purposed and to allow more room on the back porch. But the bedroom above it has a normal squared-off corner that overhangs the kitchen window. This little trick is easily performed by running a large header off the second floor corner out to be held up by the porch columns and all this framing is nicely concealed in the porch ceiling. Wednesday, August 6^th, 2003 All joists positioned except for a handful over kitchen nook. Tuesday, August 5^th, 2003 Second floor deck installation continues with positioning of about half the joists Monday, August 4^th, 2003 Minor first floor wall punchlist items fixed. Second floor deck installation with positioning of large header over front porch Saturday, August 2^nd, 2003 Last of the first floor interior walls go up. Last of foundation brickfacing completed. Friday, August 1^st, 2003 Last of the first floor interior walls go up. All foundation brickfacing completed except front wall and around chimney Thursday, July 31^st, 2003 Most of the first floor interior walls go up. Brickfacing of garage started and finished. Back wall foundation brickfacing started. Wednesday, July 30^th, 2003 Most of the first floor exterior walls are up. Tuesday, July 29^th, 2003 First floor exterior walls start to go up. Monday, July 28^th, 2003 First floor deck construction continues with the installation of the last of the joists and the start of the plywood. The joists are wood I-beams, which are stiffer and more stable that similar sized dimensional lumber. Its design make it very strong under bending loads. However, it is not designed for downward compression loads. So all along the perimeter of the house, directly below any load-bearing wall above, the joist has “squash blocks” nailed to each side to properly hold the load from above without squeezing the joist. While often left out by modern builders, I always install wooden “cross-bracing” between the joists in a row down the middle of the floor. Being diagonal, they help stiffen the floor by allowing any single load on a joist be shared by the joists on either side of it. It also helps prevent twisting of the joists. They get nailed to the top flange of the joists, then after the entire floor is constructed, we go underneath, push the cross-brace up tight and nail the bottom. Old fashioned, yes, but I like a VERY solid floor. Friday, July 25^th, 2003 Load-bearing wall behind stairs framed. This wall, like the walk-out wall will support floor joists in conjunction with the foundation walls. Living room floor joists set. Dining room floor joists set. Thursday, July 24^th, 2003 The basement “walk-out” wall is framed. Setting of rim joists continue. Wednesday, July 23^rd, 2003 First floor deck framing begins. Lots of time is spent establishing reference lines to which the first floor deck is framed. This is critical because all the house wall positions are based on an accurately sized and positioned first floor deck. Began setting rim joists. Began setting main joists. Tuesday, July 22^nd, 2003 Basement slab poured Garage slab poured Monday, July 21^st, 2003 Remainder of the sills set. Garage slab pre-pour inspection – passed. Basement slab pre-pour inspection – passed. Saturday, July 19^th, 2003 Basement slab prep complete. Consists of a simple 4” slab with two small areas “thickened” to provide some load-bearing wall support. Garage slab prep complete. Consists of a 4” slab with two integral “grade beams”, which are simply two “ribs” cast into the bottom to help stiffen the slab. While the slab is cast upon fill dirt, that fill will eventually sink and the slab will be supported by a ledge precast into the side foundation walls of the garage. Friday, July 18^th, 2003 Garage backfilled to allow garage slab prep. Rough grading/backfilling performed, except where the driveway first enters the property. We found an unmarked, active phone cable that need to be lowered several feet to allow proper grading of driveway entrance. Steel beam set. Carpenter begins setting sill plates. Wednesday, July 16^th, 2003 Subslab inspection – passed. Back-fill inspection – passed Well line and pump lowered into well Steel beam delivered Met with excavator to work details of rough grade elevations. Tuesday, July 15^th, 2003 Well trench dug Drain tile (foundation drain) installed Part of garage backfilled, leaving draintile exposed for inspection tomorrow Well line and wiring prepared for installation Arbor piers installed Monday, July 14^th, 2003 Subslab plumbing installed and pressurized (to check for leaks) Foundation walls sprayed to damp-proofing. Friday, July 11^th, 2003 Forms removed. The brick ledge can be clearly seen here. The large gap in the wall is were the basement floor is at grade and will provide walk-out access to a patio under the porch. This opening will be framed with lumber once the basement slab is poured. View Thursday, July 10^th, 2003 Walls are poured. Wednesday, July 9^th, 2003 Form setup complete. All that remains is to prepare for the “brick ledge” which will be done the morning of the pour. The outer face of the wall will step back 4” to allow courses of brick to be set from the ledge up to the top of the wall. The positioning of the ledge is based on how high up the wall the grade is expected to be, so brick is only used where the foundation will show. This ledge is formed by first forming the walls to the final thickness. Then either a wooden form or large sheet of Styrofoam is placed in the main forms where the brick will go to displace the concrete. When the forms are removed, the Styrofoam is chipped away leaving a stepped edge for the brick. View Tuesday, July 8^th, 2003 Concrete wall form setup begins. Wednesday, July 2^nd, 2003 Footing forms removed and footings allowed to further cured. View showing basement column pier pads View Tuesday, July 1^st, 2003 Footings poured. The strip down the center of the footings is a “key” to help the wall lock to the footing and resist sliding sideways when backfilled. View Monday, June 30^th, 2003 Footing work complete. The dirt inside the forms has been further excavated by hand to provide a smooth level surface before the pour. The dirt removed is placed outside forms to prevent concrete leakage under forms. View Friday, June 27^th, 2003: Footing work begins. Forms are placed first to define the edges of the footings. View Wednesday, June 25^th, 2003: Excavated for basement and garage Saturday, June 21^st, 2003: House site cleared and house location staked. View of clearing operation View of stakes Wednesday, May 28^th, 2003: Closing on land on Garnet Road

We welcome your comments and questions. Please e-mail Piedmont Vintage Homes LLC, President John C. Broman, Jr. at: john@piedmontvintagehomes.com