Finish Carpentry, Stucco, and Paint

Well, its been a couple of weeks since I updated, but that's because a lots been happening.  Unfortunately, its all been stuff that just takes a while to finish.  They got through mudding and taping around the 16th or so, but that seemed to take forever!!  They kept on adding more layers of mud and round-corner edging and it just seemed to go slow.  The tile guys also showed up that week.  I happen to go to the house during my lunch break one day and found that they had laid out all the mesh subfloor in the kitchen/dining area.  I quickly had to stop them and told them that we were putting laminate in there, not tile.  I guess there had been some miscommunication.  That would have been messy to pull all the tile back off the floor! Good thing we caught it just in time. The next week (week of the 18th), the finish carpenter arrived to put up all the trim and finish the closets, stairs, railing, etc.  The finish carpenter was pretty nice.  He took me to the closets and asked how we wanted them arranged.  I told him that I wouldn't mind shelves in them instead of so much hanging room.  He readily obliged and didn't even charge us extra!  We have some pretty pimped out closets now! :) This week (the 25th), the painters are in and painting.  They won't be done until next Tuesday.  Also during this time, the stucco guys have been working.  They got our house all prepped up by putting the chicken wire base on the exterior walls, tented the whole place up (to help the stucco warm and dry during the winter months) and took off.  About a week later, they showed up to actually put the stucco on, and then a week later they put on the color for the stucco.  It's been frustrating having to walk under a tent in order to get in the house.  The first time they had the tent up, I walked around the house looking for an opening.  One of the workers saw me and showed me where the opening was.  As I walked in, crawling through and dodging all the scaffolding, I heard a faint hiss.  I stopped and looked down.  In between my feet pointing strait out was a propane torch with a five foot flame heating up the area.  One more step and I would have lit my foot on fire.  Anyways, here are the pics.

Here's Rebecca checking out the trim in the Master bedroom.

Here's part of the Master closet.

Here's one of the kid's closets that they added shelving in.

Here are the stairs and railing that go to the bonus room.

Another look at the stairs.

This is the railing that looks down on the kitchen.

The finish carpenter also put in a toybox for Sarah's room.  She is so spoiled.

The painters have primed the house and painted the trim and doors.  This is the back of the Front door.  The front of it is painted a different color.

Here is the Master Bath in the middle of painting.

Here are the extra trim pieces laid out for paint.  They will be installed after the laminate floors are in.

Here are the doors set out for painting.

This is the closet and extra shelves in the bonus room.



Here is the house after the tent was lifted.  It still needs facia, soffit, gutters, and cement work, but looks mostly done.



Here's a view from the other side.



The rear of the house.




The other side of the house.



Finally, the front of the house.  It is so difficult trying to pickout brick, rock, two stucco colors, soffit color, and door paint that matches.  Hopefully, everything works out.

The Brick is On!

This week involved finishing up the mud and tape phase of the interior and then beginning the exterior finishes.  The bricklayers showed up on Wednesday and finished up the brick on Friday.  It was interesting to watch the brick go up because the bricklayers had to tent up the sections of the house they were working on and heat the area to allow the mortar to set properly.  Friday afternoon, the stucco guys showed up, set up their scaffolding, and then left so they could begin on Monday.  Saturday, the rock guy showed up and set up some of the rock on the archway just outside the front door. Here are the pics:

Here is the "before" picture.

And the "after" picture.  The brick runs halfway up each side of the house as well as sections of the front.  The rear will be exclusively stucco.

Another shot of the brick on the garage.

The rock on the archway.

Another picture of the rock being set.

Sheetrock, Mud, and Tape

This week, the four way inspection was passed off by the city on Monday.  The builders started sheetrock on Wednesday.  This really made a difference in the way the house looked.  They started around lunch time on Wednesday and sheetrocked the basement that same day.  They worked their way up throughout the house over the next few days, finishing up at the end of the day on Friday.  Friday afternoon, the tapers showed up and taped all the seams Friday night.  In fact, we had gone to Temple Square that night and on our way home, stopped by the house.  The tapers were working by worklights at 8:00 pm.  That is one thing I have been impressed with so far with this builder, there haven't been too many wasted days and people work long into the night and on most Saturdays to get the house done.  In fact, today (Saturday), the tapers were mudding with a new coat of mud on all the seams and the screw holes.  They put the bullnose edging everywhere today as well.  Here are the pictures.

Here are Josh and Daniel checking out the mayhem of the sheetrock crew.

Here a worker is cutting out the windows in our Master Bedroom.

Here Rebecca is checking out Josh and Daniel's room.  (They will probably still share a room because Becca wants a craft room.)

Daniel checking out the basement bedrooms.

The kitchen and garage entry with the edging and first coat of mud on.

One of the workers mudding the house on stilts, something I will never be coordinated enough to use.

The Master Bedroom.

One half of the bonus room.

Here is the current view of the exterior of the house.  There is plastic and wood on the garage door openings to help keep the heat in the garage to dry the new tape job in there.  The furnace is on as well in the house to help dry the mud.