White Rock - Construction Page 4

May 2015 - Starting on the Home Stretch

Well, "home stretch" may be hyperbole, but we have passed the halfway mark with the draw on our construction loan. There are however more big ticket items like the septic system, dock and boat lift, pool, HVAC equipment, concrete work, tile, countertops, flooring and finish carpentry. Front and waterside stairs should go up in the next couple of weeks. Painting and landscaping probably will be two of the last items. We've purchased most of the furniture we'll need but are waiting for Memorial Day deals on the washer and dryer, dishwasher and at least one new TV for the living room.

The drywall subcontractor taped just about all of the drywall throughout the entire house, while Ben and his crew completed most of the flooring on the main gallery (aka porch) . They had finished casing the beam on the 3rd FL porch and, no doubt will be starting on the main gallery tomorrow which, with some flooring, looks great and seemed just about big enough for rainy day bicycle polo (well, compared with the grand, W. Somerset Maugham, colonial verandas of Africa and Asia, maybe tricycle polo!). The roofers completed work on the water side of the house and were working on the north (front) side after the other workers had departed, late afternoon of Wednesday, 6 May. Foul weather is forecast for late Thursday and early Friday with gusts over 30 MPH which helps justify the long hours. We love the roof color!

After a day of full sun, I checked the under-eaves areas to see how well the 3 inches of sprayed, closed cell polyurethane foam was performing. The temperature under the roof deck seemed to be within about 10 degrees of the ambient temperature within the house. Even without air conditioning, with all the insulation, the interior of the house was noticeably cooler than outside temperatures. We'll monitor the performance of the unvented footprint of the house compared with the vented porch areas as the temperature continues to rise throughout the spring and summer.

What a surprise on Friday, 15 May to find a first coat of paint on the entire house. The color is great. When we left just after 17:00 on Thursday, the painters were not onsite, although a great deal of caulking had been completed. Both the gallery and 3rd floor porch wood flooring and PVC, beadboard ceilings are complete and the drywall is nearly finished. Work continues on both the front and back exterior stairs.

Our neighbors reported a thunderstorm on Wednesday evening with wind gusts over 50 MPH. As anticipated, our new roof metal roof, even only partially installed, weathered the storm without a problem. Unfortunately, the front roof panels were misaligned and had to be redone.

Late Friday, 22 May we enjoyed the breeze and the view from the 3rd floor porch. The outside steps on the water side are nearly complete while those on the front are well underway. The drywallers finished up this week, so there are lots of activities scheduled for next week after Memorial Day. We continue to receive items (TV, sinks, toilets, bedding, etc and the garage at our rental is filling up.

Archie's finish carpenters had installed many of the interior doors and much of the trim by 10 June. We selected a different style and model of solid core interior doors when we learned the price of the model we originally had selected. We settled on pretty standard 6 panel doors with steel double doors between the garages and the utility room. Brent Wheelwright of Beaufort Tile Works and his crew had begun tile prep and started the bath tub surround in the guest bath. The tile we ordered for the shower in the master bath arrived at the local Lowes in Morehead City, but with few or no hints of green, bore no resemblance to the tile we ordered. The new tile will be fine and we actually like it better than what we originally selected.

Kemp Guthrie delivered the mahogany frame for the front door and it is in the garage awaiting installation. The garage doors are installed and, with locksets on the exterior doors, the interior can now be secured. We have a house key! We also picked out interior paint colors and decided to install 3/4" x 4 1/2" quarter-sawn yellow pine flooring throughout the 2nd and 3rd floors. The flooring will be random lengths with a natural finish. Dennis Willis Hardwood Floors will install the flooring which was milled in New Bern, NC. We visited a flooring retrofit job which Dennis had in progress in Pine Knoll Shores and the fit and finish looked great.

By 20 June, Archie's crew had completed most of the front stairs and almost all of the interior window and door casing and other finish carpentry. We decided to add beadboard wainscotting to the master bath and this will be painted white to match the rest of the woodwork. Dennis Willis` crew had started the flooring. It is beautiful material.

Earlier in the week, we dropped off a rekeyed lockset and hardware for the front door with Kemp Guthrie. The frame for the front door is now in place and he plans to begin installing cabinets next week which will set on finished floors. The soapstone and sapele countertops are on the way.

Mid-week we met at the lot with a landscaper, Michae Hall of ProGreen Turf Management, to discuss options. We also received the CAMA permit for our dock and work on that should be starting soon. Havelock Pool and Spa should be starting the pool by the end of June, as well.

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Page 5 Construction Photos