Day 188 - Playing Pool

We've had lots of glorious rain this week - several inches - to help ease the drought and make our house site a messy, muddy place.  But you'll hear no complaints about the rain even though it delayed outside work by several days.

Inside work moved right along, including two trips to San Antonio pick out yet more selections from Ferguson and a trip to Boerne to select materials for the pool.

Selecting door hardware, bathroom accessories, and cabinet hardware can be a daunting experience.  There are so very many choices available that it can be overwhelming.  Our Ferguson advisor, Kendra, told us a story about a client looking at a wall of hardware and bursting into tears!!!!  It wasn't so frustrating for us since we were matching hardware to previous plumbing selections.

We opted for a simple, but hefty hardware set for the front door.   We are trying to "age proof" the house and chose door levers since they are easier to grasp than door knobs.

Front Door Handle in the Middle

Levers for inside doors

We are still in the process of selecting the cabinet hardware and will make another trip to Ferguson next week to finalize selections.  Below are just a few of the displays of available cabinet hardware.

Options

More Options

Even MORE Options

The tile guys continued to make progress in the bathrooms and are doing a beautiful job.

Master Tub Surround of Onyx Mosaic Tile

Detail of Surround

Floor Transition into Walk-in Shower

Ivan and his trim crew continued their measuring, sawing, cutting, fitting, nailing, and sanding the many pieces of wood creating the trimwork.

Cove Ceiling Trim

Front Entry Trim

All of that lovely rain fell on top of the trenches and pipes being laid for our rainwater collection system  still under construction........so the cisterns are still dry, but hopefully not for long.

James Riley covering up rainwater pipe trench at garage

Exposed pipes in front of house

Soggy mess and exposed pipes

Despite the rain and mess, the pool crew made a lot of progress on creating the pool.  I cannot begin to explain all of the protruding pipes!!!!

Lots of rebar and pipes

Water Feature Structure in Back

Closer Shot of Water Feature

Pool Skimmer

Lots and Lots of Pipes

Pool Equipment will be Located Outside of Building

 And, we had another unwelcome visitor in the house - the first scorpion we have spotted - and it was a big critter.  The exterminator can't come soon enough for me.

Poisonous, Unwanted Visitor

Day 183 - Rainy Day News

The really big news today is about weather.......we had much needed rain during the afternoon.  It poured at the house site and we watched all that glorious water roll off the roof into the gutters, down the spouts, and into the ground..........not into our rainwater collection system because it isn't yet complete. We really hope we have more rain showers in the coming weeks after the collection system is  ready.

The trim crew was back at work and making great progress.  We decided on a simple header for the doors and a notched corner for the baseboards.

Door Header

Notched Baseboard

And we wanted lots of storage space in the house since we will be living 10 miles from town and can't "run" to the grocery store quickly.  So, we utilized the space under the stairs for a storage closet, designed a large closet off of the upstairs bonus room,  and put in an ample pantry in the kitchen.  Ivan and his crew are in the process of building out these storage spaces.  All of the shelves will be braced, edged, and painted.  Our challenge will be to avoid collecting a lot of unneeded "stuff" just because we have room to store it.

Under Stairs Closet Layout

Under Stairs Closet Shelves in Progress

Rod For Hanging Items on Back Wall

The closet off of the bonus room will be for guests who are staying upstairs and for storing things like Christmas decorations needing climate control.

Future Home for Christmas Decorations

Door to Right Accesses Attic HVAC

The pantry has shelves of different widths and hopefully will be convenient storage for serving items and small electrical appliances in addition to food.

Pantry Shelves

It's been a while since I've done a furry friend of the day or a featured flora.  If you are squeamish about bugs, don't look any further.  All sorts of creatures like to take up residence in a

house under construction.

This Pod was Full of SPIDERS!!!!

Weird Bug in the Garage

Cluster of Weird Bugs in Garage

Day 182 - A Tale of Tiles

Since the tile was delivered, the tile crew has been working long days - including Saturday and Sunday!  The four bathrooms are in various stages of work and it has been fun to watch the progress.

Master Bathroom

Remember this decorative tile from the previous blog:

Newly Delivered Tile

After several hours of work, here is the decorative tile surrounded by the overall bathroom tile on the back wall of the master shower.

Shower Wall Mosaic

And here it is nestled in the shower soap niches.

Master Soap Niches

The same large tile has been placed on the master bathroom floor with inserts of cut onyx for decoration.

The Green Things Are Spacers

Upstairs Bathroom

Underneath the tile work is a green waterproof sealant.  Here's a shot of the upstairs bathroom after the sealant and before tile.

Waterproofed Walls in Upstairs Bathroom

Since this bathroom is off of the upstairs bonus room, the color scheme deviates from the very neutral, serene colors of the downstairs.  And it brings a tiny bit of maroon and white to the house making Bruce very happy.

Decorative Tile and Matte Subway Tile

The tile crew is still working on the walls and shelf, but you can get an idea of the finished product.

Upstairs Bathroom Wall

The tile floor in this bathroom was also laid today.  The picture isn't great, but it looks a little like grasscloth.  And, of course, all of the tile you see still needs to be grouted.

Kinda Looks Like Grasscloth

Pool/Powder Bathroom

Meanwhile downstairs, the pool/powder bathroom was taking shape.  To have fun with the multiple use of this bathroom, we selected sliced pebbles as the accent tile.  The large tile will be used throughout the area from the powder room to the garage - the utility hall, the mudroom and storage closet.

Pebble Mesh Still in the Box

The pebbles will line the back of the shower niches, surround the window, and accent the vanity area.

Pool/Powder Shower

 Guest Bathroom

The tile floor in the guest bathroom is designed to look like wood and will wear much better than real wood under the often wet conditions.  It will look much prettier when complete and cleaned up from  construction dirt.

Guest Bathroom "Wood" Tile

The crew has done an impressive amount of work in just a few days.  Some areas will not be tiled until later on in the project.  I can't wait to see the finished product.

And, I have to share with you some shots of the rugged work going on to dig out our swimming pool.  Anybody need any rock????

Trench to Pool Equipment

First Layer of Rock Removed

Rockpile

So, fire up your SUV's and come get some landscaping material!!!!

Day 180 - Can You Dig It?

The last two days have been filled with activity by several trades - the trim crew, the tile crew, the pool crew, and the rainwater collection crew have all been hard at work.

Trim Crew

Ivan and his trim craftsmen have hung all of the doors and are using great care to make sure they are installed correctly.  It's been very interesting watching the guys trim the drywall and fit in the door casing before hanging the door. You've probably heard of a door shim before, here's one in place on the mudroom storage closet door.  This piece (or pieces) of wood is used to make the assembly level and plumb.

Door shim

And did you know the decorative trim around the outside of the door has anatomical names?  The two vertical pieces are called the legs and the horizontal piece across the top is called the header.  The legs go up first and then the header.

Two legs, no header

Tile Crew

Garrett and the tile crew delivered pallets and pallets of tile for floors and showers.  They first staged it on the front porch and them moved it to rooms where it will be installed.

Bruce and Garrett and tile

Tile Staging Area

We were very excited to see our selections in the natural light of the house.  Here's one of the decorative tiles - sheets of onyx squares for the master bathroom.  This selection will encase the soaker tub, line the shower soap niche, be used in a wall design in the shower, and edge the vanity.

Master Bathroom decorative tile

Pool Crew

The pool crew laid out the markers for the new position of the pool - we moved it further from the house.  After they sprayed paint and put in metal spikes to mark certain specific locations, they started building the perimeter with stakes of wood.

Tim and Arnold from Pristine Pools

Wood for stakes

Cutting Stakes

Outlining the shape of the pool

After the crew outlines the perimeter of pool with stages, the heavy equipment came in and started digging!!

It is tough to dig in this rocky area!!

Check out the big rocks unearthed by the backhoe!!

And when the rocks were just too big to handle, the crew used a hydraulic hammer to beat them into submission!!!

Hydraulic Hammer

Rainwater Collection Crew

James Riley, our rainwater collection expert, was also hard at work digging the trenches to lay the pipes for our rainwater collection system.  The water will roll off the metal roof into the gutters, travel down the downspouts, and flow into the pipes that will be laid in these trenches.  Then the water will travel to the cisterns for storage.  Filtration, purification, and pumping to the house then follows.

Trench for rainwater pipe

See the downspout location and trench below it

Trench in front of entry porch

These trenches may not be very glamorous, but they are very, very important to us and we are thrilled to see a whole lot of digging going on!!!!!