Week Ending 12/29/07

- Interior painting and trimwork,

- Tiled and grouted boy's shower,

- Boy's and master toilettes installed,

- Boy's and master shower installed,

- Master tub installed,

- Last window installed (downstairs bathroom).

It was an odd Christmas, spent in work cloths frantically laying tile to prepare for the plumbers at the end of the week. We made our deadlines, and were able to enjoy family time and Christmas traditions despite the ongoing project. Grammie Rucquoi filled a lot of gaps cooking and caring for the kids to allow us time for the work. By the end of the week, not only do we have most of the bathroom functions working (showers still need doors and sinks are not yet ready), but the many large boxes of plumbing fixtures are gone from the master bedroom. Along with the Christmas gifts, the children's room took many decorative steps, transforming them from a construction space to a living space. Outside of the continuing effort to trim and paint, the next big hurdle will be receipt and installation of the 26 interior doors.

Week Ending 12/22/07

- Island countertop installed,

- Downdraft installed,

- Cooktop installed,

- Interior trimwork and painting,

- Boys bathroom tiling,

- Installed Jessica's medicine cabinet (Thanks Pete!),

- Diagnosed some issues with the sound system (Thanks Pete!)

- Cleaning,

- Christmas decorating.

Week Ending 12/15/07

- Sheet rock repair,

- Jessica's bathroom plumbing completed (she took her first bubble bath in her new tub),

- Boy's bathroom tiling,

- Interior trim and painting,

- Holiday decorating,

- First fire in the fireplace since rennovation,

- Driving vendors (countertop, tile, doors, windows, GC, etc.).

Week Ending 12/08/07

Finally, after about 9 weeks of waiting for the 4-week-committed interior doors, they arrived. That's the good news. The other news is that they delivered the wrong doors. That's just one example of the job queue this week. Most of the week was spent driving issues to senior levels to gain momentum. In two cases (doors and windows) that includes escalating to senior levels at the manufacturer. Primary outstanding issues for completion and the Certificate of Occupancy include:
- Delivery and installation of interior doors;
- Repair and adjustement to windows;
- Shrinking the footprint of the house about 12 square feet to meet zoning requirements (it was not built to plans, which resulted in zoning violation);
- Replumbing boy's bathroom sinks to specifications (they are 4" off center);
- Delivery of kitchen island counter (and resulting installation of cooktop).

There is much more that needs to be done for the house to be complete, but these are the major hold-ups to everything else. In the mean time, this week:
- Master countertop installed;
- continued installing intioror trim work;
- continued interior painting;
- worked to repair basement stairwell sheetrock;
- continued cleanup;
- unpacked and settled in.