Friday, March 28, 2008

Photos As Promised!

Here are some recent photos of the house as promised!

Exterior on an Overcast Morning:


Insulation:


Drywall:


Taping:


Texturing:


Painting and Cabinets:


This morning, Mike and I went over to Morro Doors to pick out all the hardware for our interior and exterior doors. Hopefully, our back door will be delivered today *fingers crossed* as promised. Tomorrow, we will be heading over to Precision Tile and Flooring to finalize our tile order for our showers, and hopefully to pick out some wood flooring for the rest of the house! 

Next up... The cabinet install, appliances, and flooring

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Windows and Doors Revisited

In a previous blog, I talked about some problems we were having with the windows and doors we ordered from Hayward Lumber, or, more specifically, problems we were having with Hayward Lumber. I said that, "Our salesman was not returning phone calls from Nick (or Mike), and when he finally did, he never showed up when he said he would. In the end, Mike took a trip to Hayward Lumber to sort things out, and I must say, everything has since been handled satisfactorily." Well, I have decided to rescind the latter portion of that statement.

One thing that I did not mention in my previous blog was that our back door had not been delivered at all. No big deal, per a conversation with our salesman, we expected that it would take a little longer to arrive. Well, it has still not been delivered. After multiple calls to the salesman regarding the status of the order and delivery, we have been given (at least) three different delivery dates - yesterday was the most recent. Apparently, our door has actually been in for a month, but they "have not had any other deliveries to make in Morro Bay," and for some reason would not make a trip out to deliver our door by itself. (By the way, Hayward Lumber is in San Luis Obispo, and for those of you not familiar with the Central Coast, it is only 12 miles from Morro Bay). If this door cost us $50, I'd probably think that was a valid claim - it would cost them more to pay a driver for an hour of his time, wear and tear on the delivery truck, gas, etc., than the door was actually worth. However, this door, combined with the cost of our front door, was about 25% of our total bill.

At this point, to say that I'm frustrated would be the understatement of the year. The worst part? In any other instance, I'd just call them up, and speak with our salesman's supervisor; unfortunately, our salesman is the supervisor of the window and door department. And, to top it all off, we have to re-schedule our painter to stain and seal the door... again. *sigh* Their slogan is, "So You Can Build." I think they should change it to, "So You Can Build... Someday... Well, Maybe."

On the bright side, a representative from Milgard came out and adjusted all our windows, so they work beautifully now; the crew from Drywall Dynamics completed taping and texturing; our painter is rockin' and rollin' on the interior paint; and our cabinets were delivered today!

Pictures coming soon... I promise!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Another Quick Update

OK, unlike the last "Quick Update," this one really will be quick! Since the last blog, our walls have all been insulated by the crew from Broken Drum Insulation. Gotta' love their tagline, "Broken Drum Insulation - We're hard to beat." Not only did the crew show up an hour early to get started (big points!!), but they also finished the whole house in less than a day.

After insulation went in, the crew from Drywall Dynamics took over. They finished installing drywall throughout the house and DensShield in areas where water would damage regular drywall if we ever spring a leak (such as bathrooms, laundry area, behind the kitchen sink, dishwasher, and fridge). Installation took about a day and half, and after inspection on Monday, they came back on Tuesday to tape joints and cover nail and screw heads.

Pictures will be posted soon, so check back!

Next up... Texture, paint, and then kitchen cabinets!

Friday, March 7, 2008

A Quick Update

Wow, it's been a while since I've given y'all an update! Well, not too many photo-worthy things (except exterior paint) have been going on in the past couple weeks, but quite a bit of work has gotten done! Our electrical work is complete and will *hopefully* pass inspection today. Plumbing is complete, and our bathtub has been set in the master and shower pan has been set in the guest bath/laundry room.

Oh! I don't think I have mentioned that we picked out the granite for our kitchen countertops. We went down and saw Steffanie at Valley Tile and Stone in Paso Robles, and she walked us through the yard to pick out our slabs. It was so cool! They have some amazing material out there. We decided to go with one called "Juparana Columbo Gold." It has a medium gold tone with black and green flecks, and some really cool movement. We also picked out the slate for our kitchen floor and travertine for our master bath at Valley Tile and Stone. They had an amazing selection and were extremely knowledgeable when it came to helping us pick the right products for our application.

This past weekend, we went to the Ferguson Showroom in San Luis Obispo to pick out plumbing fixtures for the kitchen and bathrooms. We had done our rounds at the big box home improvement stores, and we were not too happy with the selection, or the quality of products we found there. Ferguson, however, was awesome. The showroom was awesome, and we got a ton of personal attention from our sales associate, Carol Jean. They had a huge selection of products on display for any budget, and shelves full of product binders just in case you were looking for something they didn't have on display.

After our trip to Ferguson, we went to Stollmeyers Main Lightingin Morro Bay to pick out our indoor and outdoor light fixtures. Again, tons of personal service, and tons of catalogues to look through. We managed to pick out our pendant lights for the kitchen and chandelier for our dining area, but we'll be back this Saturday to finish up.

Anywho... here are the latest exterior pictures of the house, enjoy!





Next up... Insulation, drywall, and kitchen cabinets!!!