Victory

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Yes, it's true! We have finally reached the point where we have an official close of escrow date! December 29th! Unfortunately, as a close date, it sucks! Right in the middle of our Christmas travel plans. However, we've made the decision that we aren't moving in until the end of January since there are a number of aftermarket items we want to complete before getting furniture and personal items settled into the house.  We have a complete repaint of the inside scheduled for January since the builder would not do the color Jan wanted, wallpaper accents, floating shelves, rock on a TV wall, maybe some additional tile work, etc. As you'll see below, our builder is making progress on the final items of the build process, namely the pool and landscaping. The big trick is making sure we are getting the right plants, and planting them in the correct locations. Our resident police woman, Jan, is ensuring that happens. Side Walkway Nothing special here ot...

At long last the pool finally got its first coat of Shotcrete cement this last week. Unfortunately, Jan and I were in Kirkland visiting the kiddies for Hadley's 3rd birthday celebration, so we missed the pool event here with everyone splashing around in cement. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but our last pool in San Marcos was done with Gunnite, and I was curious as to the difference between it and Shotcrete. It turns out that Gunitte is spec'd at about 1500 lbs/sq inch, whereas Shotcrete is spec'd at 3500 lbs/sq inch. This effectively means that because of the tensile density of Shotcrete we should never see any pool cracks after the PebbleTec is applied. It also sort of consumes the backyard, at this point, since the hardscape hasn't been installed yet. KITCHEN On a different front, the countertop guys were in to replace the quartz backsplash that had a vein/seam that didn't match. Given that the cost of quartz backsplash these days could float the economy of ...

Hi Everyone, Not much to post these days as it seems we are in a holding pattern waiting for the pool Shotcrete date (October 19th) to commence more work on the house.  Most of the stuff inside has been fixing small things that we've commented on (moving light fixtures, centering a pedestal sink, sheetrock repairs, etc) and waiting for cabinet parts that haven't arrived yet (glass doors).  Once all of that has been completed, they will reshoot the interior house paint again and start the touchup process. Master Bathroom As we mentioned before, they forgot that we were installing a jetted tub, so the original design had to be demo'd and rebuilt to accommodate the door to the jet pump in the event of a repair. This is finally underway now, and the tile guys were here today to get started. The Culprit Guest Bathrooms Along the way, they have managed to complete the guest bathrooms. We'll quietly replace the curtain hangers with glass enclosure on one of the bathrooms right...

Back again after a couple of weeks of inactivity, or not enough activity to spend time preparing a post. But, alas, we've had movement this week! Kitchen The kitchen, at this point, is almost complete. The refrigerator, ice maker, cooktop, and vent were installed today, which completes the ensemble of appliances that we selected. The cooktop, although slightly smaller than the one in San Marcos, is still cooler than I expected. (And, we are trying to eat less 😁.) That is the good news. Unfortunately, the bad news is that the refrigerator panels all need to be replaced because of dents in the stainless panels from "Gorilla and Sons" shipping. The installers had already notified their folks about the panels by the time I got there, so either a replacement refrigerator is on the way, or new doors. The builder also forgot the drain for the ice maker, but that is easily remedied since the IM sits next to the bar sink. But still... Lastly, the glass cabinet doors are still to ...

We chose to skip over Week 38 since nothing significant really happened at the house except a couple of re-dos, basically a damaged window sill, a replaced cracked window, and enlarging the wine cooler wall enclosure (a second time). Apparently the window sill was damaged when they installed the quartz counter in the Command Center. It has since been removed and replaced, and looks fine now. Kitchen Area The plumber(s) finally arrived and all of the sinks, faucets, toilets, etc. were installed the later part of last week. Jan still needs to check each room to make sure what we bought was actually installed (right model, color, etc.). The bar sink and faucet is a smaller version of the main sink. We went with black granite sinks, similar to what we had in the Texas house. After 7 years, the sinks still looked great, and unlike stainless sinks, the granite sinks tend not to show scratch marks. The faucets are a 'touch' on/off technology, with internet and Alexa-enabled connectiv...

Finally , after hearing all of the nightmare stories regarding appliance delays and shortages (yes, they all have computer chips in them!), we've started seeing delivery of real appliances being installed in the house. As you can see below, the dishwasher is in, French oven and steamer oven is in, and the all-important beverage cooler is installed. Still in the boxes are the double-door refrigerator/freezer, ice maker, and the gas cooktop. Lots of holes to fill, but we are still waiting for cabinet glass doors to arrive before the installs can be completed. The electricians have been in and out sporadically installing outlets in both the backsplash and countertops, and also managed to install a couple of pendant lights in the process. I almost feel like these guys are doing us a favor by showing up! The main island quartz work appears to be done absent the polishing of the edge seams. Backsplash seaming behind the countertops turned out okay, but still needs some finish work on the...