A lot has happened since the last post. Last week saw final plumbing, and electrical being put in. Toilets placed, switches and outlets in as well as all lighting fixtures. Also we had the microwave drawer, range and refrigerator put in. We think this week we can get a certificate of occupancy by week end. 

It was a banner week. The cabinets were mostly installed, the painting is 98% complete (touch up needed in the future) and the masonry was completed. All of these milestones give us a feeling that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Most of the HVAC mini-split head units are installed. Next up, kitchen and bath tile, and granite counter tops. 

The water softener was installed early in the week. We wanted it in before any fixtures and appliances get installed. Since we have high iron, manganese, and hardness we opted for a "green sand" filter for the iron and manganese and a conventional salt softener for the hardness. 

The paint prep has been ongoing this week with all of the trim getting puitty and sanded, and the front two rooms are mostly prepped for paint. First the primer coat goes on then the ceiling and walls. 

The snow has delayed progress on the outside for now. 

All of our interior doors are installed, and the door and baseboard trim is being installed. We're hoping that painting can begin later this week. 

This week the drywall was completed and the mud and taping was completed. Starting yesterday, the guys started the wall texture. We picked an "Old World" texture which features some voids for character with smooth walls. These guys are amazing and super hard workers. Saturday they put in 13 hours from 5:30AM to 6:30 PM. Meanwhile, the front patio soffit is getting completed and should be done this week. This allowed our carpenters to star wrapping the columns for subsequent masonary application -- the engineered stone was purchased several months ago. Finally, part of our stairs and railing arrived. We are missing three skids containing the remainder of the treads, landing, and railing posts. More on this later.

We have finally reached the point where the drywall installation is beginning. We passed the shear wall inspection and immediately loaded in the drywall and our drywall installer began on Saturday. What a wonderful milestone. Meanwhile after receiving the water test results from the well water sample, we settled on a local water treatment supplier for an iron and softener treatment system. We've also settled on the remaining fans we are installing in the great room and upstairs -- we already have all the bedroom fans. More on that later. 

These last couple of weeks saw some accelerated progress. As the electrical rough in wiring was finishing up, we installed twelve high intensity 6000K color high bay LED lights in the garage/shop. These exceeded expectations and also are now dimmable. I was concerned that for normal use, the lighting would be too intense, so we installed wiring that added a 0-10v dimming control circuit. Our electrical contractor was ignorant of this control circuit, but they eventually figured it out. 

We added more garage door controls, and heated up several outlets throughout the house to aid in interior construction. 

And...we passed our interior framing inspection including plumbing and electrical rough in. It was a great milestone on the way to completion. 

Finally, today began interior insulation. A lot of progress in a couple of days. We're into the home stretch with drywall and finishing cabinets/carpentry/counters. 

The past two weeks have seen all the recessed lighting cans installed. That allowed the fire sprinklers to be installed next. Meanwhile, K&C installed two exterior doors including the front door. 

All three trades were working this week. The HVAC guys had an opening so they started running refrigerant lines for the 9 head duel unit mini-split system we're putting in. The plumbers also started this week and have plumbed the vents to run up and ven out of one of the cupolas. On top of that the garage door guys installed both garage doors. We're hoping this accellerates the completion of the house.