Week Ending 07/26/2008

This week we received, and submitted to the town, the final "As Built" drawings from the surveyor, which verified and validated our meeting the 20% footprint of the property for zoning.

We continued exterior trim painting, and continued trim buildout, including the upstairs wainscot.

Since the wainscot will be wrapping around and down the stairs, across the foyer and over the front wall of the living room, this also prompted discussions regarding a wood stove and reconstruction of the hearth and mantle area.

Week Ending 07/19/2008

Most of the week has been sunny and hot, exceeding 90. Today will reach 100, with very thick humidity. Most of my work has been exterior painting in the early mornings and afternoons. In between has been camp runs. Once again, our friend Jenna helped (thank you!). Josie also caulked the upstairs wainscot.

While some of our product warranty calls have gone unanswered, I was finally able to get the surveyor to come out and measure, which he did today (Saturday). Once we get his final drawings, assuming the measurements meet requirements, we should have fulfilled all requirements for the town.

Week Ending 07/12/2008

After a few weeks out-of-pocket, we needed to start this week with adminisrative catch up. We checked with the zoning department, who confirmed they were still waiting for the "as built" drawings signed off by the surveyor. Neither the surveyor or archetect could be reached. One of our vendors (a not-so-good one) is threatening to send us to collections for what they claim are outstanding payments, warranting the need to dig into records and receipts to get them to back off. With those and other items resolved, we turned to the house itself.

It was near 90 degrees, very sunny and very humid. Most of the week was spent building out the wainscot on the walls in the upstairs hall. This will take several stages (most of the drawing being completed), and is prompting final planning for the stairwell and fireplace surround.

Finally, exterior painting has (once again) started in earnest. Most of the work will have to be done at sun up (about 5:30am), with a break around 11:00am, then starting again after 6:00pm. Hopefully the constant warnings of thunderstorms will hold off for a while, as there is a lot to do.

Week Ending 07/05/2008

After a couple of weeks away (Block Island and Scout camp), we're back to work. This week we had special help from Pete Hoffman, a very good friend who flew in from Michigan to help us get our automation up to speed. The morning after Pete arrived the cable guy came to set up a 3-1 service, including phone, TV and data. We ended up getting a great guy, and Pete made sure what he did would deliver what we were looking for. Pete worked very long hours for the 4th of July weekend. The result is that we now have wired internet access in most rooms, as he resolved the wiring shortcuts taken by our electrician and the phone guy. We also have wireless access throughout the property. Unfortunately, our main media room lost cable connectivity somehow during the renovation. It appears a wire or connection was damaged. We have yet to identify the exact problem, and may need to open sheetrock to fix it. Nonetheless, all other cable connections are working, and we were able to isolate much of that one issue.

Thank you Pete for all your hard work!!

The building inspector finally made it, and signed off on the building inspection. Next step is the zoning approval, which will result in our obtaining the c/o. We're almost there....