Lots of stuff

Interestingly, Saturday was the latest sunrise of the year for us with the sun rising at 7:24a. Our days will continue to get shorter than Saturday’s 10 hrs and 4 minutes but thanks to going off of daylight savings time we’ll not see a sunrise later than this until next year at this time.

The past few weeks have been filled with HVAC and plumbing installs along with lots of decisions to be made about HVAC, plumbing, electrical, lighting, AV, cabinets, and numerous other bits.

Jerod making sure ducts are sealed properly.

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Kevin (Select Mechanical) making connections.B1200Mech01 101

Erik (Spring Plumbing) and Kevin. I thought of a dozen balloons for what Erik is saying but I’ll leave it to your imagination.B1200Mech01 102

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Getting up and over a girder truss.B1200Mech01 104

Some may not appreciate this as much as I do. They can’t just put these takeoffs at the end of the box duct run or they’d have too much pressure.B1200Mech01 105

Chris (Jerco) had bits of exterior finish material all over the house sprayed with primer. He sprays all sides before doing anything and then primes the ends after cutting so the finish trim should be quite stable for decades to come! B1200Mech01 106

Chris beveling the edges of some boards to make window trims.B1200Mech01 107

We’ve had lots of meetings about cabinets. While meeting with Mark at Artisan Cabinet & Design he showed us a mockup of our kitchen cabinets. After discussions with Mark, Jeff, TJ, and interior designer Marita we made a few changes. The beaded edge around the drawers will be on the frame instead of the drawer which will look better and Mark says will hold up better since the beading will create an inside corner pressing against itself rather than an outside corner that can come apart with wood movement. Mark & Marita also came up with a custom detail for the frames that Mark is having cutters made for.B1200Mech01 108

The bevelled edges that Chris was cutting allow the window framing to sit flush against the sheathing. He’s also primed all of the exposed edges. Making these with pocket screws like this and priming all of the edges requires a bit more work but will make for a much more stable trim that should hold together and look good for decades to come.B1200Mech01 109

Chris created his shop in our garage. Complete with microwave.B1200Mech01 110

Chris fixing the frames he’s made to windows. We really like the design that Jeff, TJ and Patrick came up with for these windows and the other exterior trim.B1200Mech01 111

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Erik had cast iron pipe delivered. Our builder Rick Hendel uses cast iron for many of the drains within walls to reduce the sound of toilets flushing while enjoying dinner. Another of a lengthening list (trim primed on all sides, …) of reasons why we’re building with Hendel.B1200Mech01 113

Iron pipe waiting to be cut.
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The bosses!  Marita (Kipling House) and my sweetie discussing lighting fixtures. There’s a hierarchy to decisions. As best I can tell at the top are these two. Next is our builder Rick Hendel, designer Jeff Murphy and Marita’s partner in crime Krysta. Snuggled in next and sometimes above is architect TJ Majdecki. And then towards the bottom are Bob ‘The Builder™’ Caswell and I. Marita and Krysta humor me with letting me have my way occasionally. I’ve learned to listen carefully to Bob’s wise advice. All in all we’ve a great team of people working to make this a great home.B1200Mech01 115

Lots of HVAC ducting and plumbing. And they’re not done yet. Fitting it all in so that it will work well takes skill and creativity. I’ve enjoyed seeing how they tackle things.B1200Mech01 116

Kevin and Jerod installing a bit of duct with some help from Erik.B1200Mech01 117

Finishing the sewer line.B1200Mech01 118

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The door to my office in the south end of the loft. Part of me wants to move it over a bit and part of me likes it like this.B1200Mech01 120

Some do-overs are a bit of extra work.B1200Mech01 121