Road to Oracle

Rain!

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 13:05:24 -0700

On Friday, 28 November, Mike went to Oracle for a weekend stay (see his Oracle Observatory report for 28-30 November 2008 for more photos). It had rained a lot on Thursday and the roof had leaked (not surprising at this stage). There was no construction work on Thursday or Friday due to the Thanksgiving Holiday. Here is what sunset on Friday looked like through the great room “window”:

The sky cleared up on Saturday, so there should be no impact to further construction activities this coming week.

Doors Ordered, and a Surprise!

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:10:12 -0700

This morning we met with the door supplier (Sonoran Products). Laurraine picked out the glass for the front door and we ordered the three exterior doors. These will be delivered and installed in early December (we hope). We went to the site in this afternoon. It was raining in the area but none was falling at site while we were there. Some more mechanicals work has been done. Here’s the fan and light fixture housing in the master bathroom:

Also, the framers have done more work. The east windows in Laurraine's room have been enlarged and lowered (for egress) and her big window has been framed.

The master bathroom shower stall has been framed:

We got a surprise. The framers made arched doorways over the areas where there will be no doors. Here’s the one leading from the entry way into the great room:

The place is looking nice!

Mechanicals Work Started!

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:35:08 -0700

The house is shaping up nicely, as seen in the photo above. The “mechanicals” work (heating and air conditioning) has started. When we arrived at the site this afternoon (under cloudy skies) we noticed that materials for the ducts had been delivered:

Some of the duct work had already been installed:

The framers were still working. The big window in Laurraine’s room is starting to look right:

The interior walls are being strengthened:

And the remaining roof work is nearing completion:

Yesterday, we were unable to visit the site. We spent the day at local Tucson stores getting quotes for the appliances and tile. It looks like Laurraine finally found tile locally that she likes.

We have received a quote for the low voltage systems (security, intercom, central vacuum, ethernet) from Cascade Electric. We will be talking with other companies to get additional quotes for the work.

Today we spoke with the door installer. The exterior doors need to be ordered. We will meet with the door supplier tomorrow to finalize the selection and order the doors. The windows and doors will be installed in early December.

Insulation Again, Shopping

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:41:00 -0700

We visited the site today. We were unable to go yesterday as we went up to the Phoenix area to get some quotes and pick up a light. More on that shortly. Today we noticed that the replacement insulation had been delivered. Hope it is correct now. We also noticed that the location of the skylights (on the roof) have been marked on the slab. Here’s one example:

We saw several divots in the concrete slab. Such things happen during construction. We’re assuming they get repaired before the wood flooring is put down. We have emailed our consultant about that.

We went up to the Phoenix area to visit The Great Indoors, Lamps Plus, and the EXPO Design Center on Friday. We had visited The Great Indoors and the EXPO Design Center in April to see what they had. This time we went to get some quotes. We went to the The Great Indoors and got a quote for all the appliances. We then went to a Lamps Plus to get our dining room chandelier. We liked the one we had purchased in 1997 for our home in California. We left it there when we sold the house earlier this year and have been trying to find a similar one for several months. Laurraine noticed that Lamps Plus had a similar model (but in chrome instead of black) so we picked one up. Lastly, we made a final selection on the bathroom tile and received a quote from EXPO Design Center. Laurraine really didn't like what we saw locally, so we went back to where she saw what she liked. It was a busy day. This coming week we'll visit some stores in Tucson for more quotes.

Still Driving Nails

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:07:45 -0700

We arrived at the site this afternoon to the ongoing sound of nail driving. That’s been the case on most of our visits since the actual framing work started on 30 October. Here you can see one of the guys working on the great room bay window roofing. Inside, a couple of guys were working on the interior walls:

Here’s a shot from the master bedroom window looking west through the house:

And here is the fourth member of the framing crew working on the west side eave:

One of the things we noticed today were the extra studs where the “load bearing” portions of the roof trusses are located. Here’s an example:

We also noticed some work on the attic floor: