Week 23: Nov 30 - Dec 4

Tile work in the bathrooms is finishing up. I am very happy with the detail that Jared Hill has given to our home. Not only has he done a very detailed job with the placement and layout of the tile, he has also been very deliberate with all of the preparatory steps to insure we have a product that should last many years. I was initially afraid of tile in the shower as I have heard many horror stories of leaky showers that lead to a lot of frustration, remodeling, and additional costs. After watching Jared put in place multilple layers of water proofing protection I have more confidence in having a tiled shower. He and Viki worked closely together on all of the design work. It looks great.
Electrical is all but done. Kevin came out and spent a late evening with me and we finished the kitchen by fitting the island with an outlet at each end. We also wired and installed the double ovens and the microwave and installed the doorbell.


Countertops have been installed. Soapstone is what we chose to use in the kitchen. It is an interesting material. The benefits we like in soapstone are its unique appearance of different shades of black, gray, and white with a hint of green in the background, it's tolerance to heat - Viki can take something directly out of the oven and lay it directly on the countertop without worrying about damaging the stone, and it does not stain. One downside is that it scratches easily. However, repairing the scratches is easy. With a high grit sand paper scratches are easily removed and mineral oil is all that is used to keep the surface sealed. This is our first experience having a solid surface countertop so hopefully we will have a good experience.


This is soapstone before being sealed with mineral oil.


This is what it looked like after I applied the mineral oil.


The remainder of the countertops in the home are laminate. It was interesting to watch the process of countertops being made. The man first built the countertops out of wood, sanded and shaped them and then glued the laminate to the countertops that he built. I had always imagined that the countertops were built in some factory so it was neat to see them constructed on site.
We have running water and functioning toilets!!! The closest gas station is over a mile away so it has required some planning in the bathroom department before going out to the house to work. For the most part the fixtures are chrome except in the kitchen where we chose a brushed nickel which seems to match the stainless steel look on the appliances.

Garage doors are all functioning now. I had stopped the installers previously from finishing the job because I wanted the utility door high lifted. Usually the runners the door rolls on begins to angle back horizontally from the wall just above the top of the garage door. Because the utility door is only 7 feet tall I would have lost head room in that area of the garage. I had them high lift the door up closer to the ceiling to reduce the loss of head room.

I also had them install weather stripping on the door trim to keep the cold Idaho winds out of the garage. All that is left is to have them install the decorative handles on the outside of the door. Back early in the building process I had the builder move the support beam in the garage up higher and back into the garage farther. I am glad that I did because the garage runners barely fit in the current space. However, we had to go with garage openers at the side of the garage door because overhead openers required more space than was available between the beam and the opening of the garage door. This turns out to be a good change because the side mounted openers are much quieter and take up less space than an overhead opener.
In the end, coordinating the purchase of the doors from one company and the installation from a different company has led to some miscommunication which has lead to delayed completion time and frustration. However, we have good quality doors that look great, so I am happy.