construction: month eleven

Right after the construction: month ten post, we got our permanent electricity hooked up.  This  was a huge deal, that I hope to write about in more detail when I get around to it.  For now though, the short version is that we paid Seattle City Light a few thousand dollars to move the high voltage wires a few feet farther away from the house, in order to get the power hooked up.

The contractor installed our water and sewer lines up to the property line with the neighbors and then installed the retaining wall.

In a few years we expect the parking in our neighborhood will be in higher demand since there’s a large new development in the works nearby.  The little parking spot we squeezed in next to the house will be nice to have, and now it’s constructed!

Now that the corner trim is on the corten siding is completely done.  They also built the steps along one side of the house.

Lastly, we did some more electrical work, putting in switches and fixtures, and the contractors started on the final stairs.  Below left is looking up at the powder room door on level three.  Below right is looking down at the stair stringers from level three.

My recent today in pictures post referred to the sewer and water easement with our neighbors.  It’s more or less resolved now that we are throwing more money at the problem. 
Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary in the eyes of the bank, although they didn’t start until late August.  We’ll see if they can finish it this August. 
The complicating dependencies are that the stairs are needed to install the elevator, which is needed to move the appliances from the basement to the third floor, which is needed to finish the electrical work.  The smaller kitchen counter pieces also needs to come up the stairs and the largest one has to come in a window with a crane.  The plumber can’t finish his job until the sewer and water are hooked up.  Other large tasks are putting in the metal spiral stairs, the primary stair railings, the railings on the roof and the fence in the yard.

today in pictures

Deception Pass again

 

Our fourth of July camping trip is now a venerable tradition in its second year.    We reserved only six months in advance instead of the nine months that is permitted so didn’t get as nice of camp sites.  Aside from one of them being next to a rocky, precipitous drop off in to a pond, they were okay though (sites 343, 345, and 346).   A couple of us stayed three nights and the weather was dry and comfortable.   

D and his friend had lots of common interests like digger toys, plaid shirts, wearing bike helmets all the time, biking and playing in the car.  They only called OnStar twice.

Down at the lake the kids swam a little, went out in a canoe, flew a kite and played in the sand.

Getting a good group shot proved to be difficult.

There was a pair of owls living in the campsite that we saw several times.   In the picture of the kids on the rock we tried to keep them happy by saying “oooh look there’s the owl”.  Below, one of the owls has a huge rodent for supper.

construction: month ten

At this point, we’re wondering how many more of these monthly posts I’ll be writing before we get to move in.  The original schedule put completion in May, which quickly became unlikely.   The next big date is the one year mark, in mid August, at which point the bank can start charging penalties.   It’s been a stressful time, since so much is out of our hands.  The contractor has drawn 90% of the construction money from the bank and they don’t get the final 10% until the house is officially complete, which is supposed to motivate them.  We hope it works. 

Based on every other project we’ve heard about, we expected some problems during the course of construction, buy yet the specific problems we’ve encountered are still somewhat surprising.  I guess that’s life.  The small size of the lot presented more complexity than anticipated.  Utilities have been a headache and though we’re happy with out site and our house, the calculation in favor of building on a vacant lot versus a starting with a tear-down house is less clear than it once seemed.

Our efforts this month were directed towards nagging the contractor, re-homing large rocks, getting much better at making up electrical outlets and wrapping up a signature campaign with the neighbors.  It took us two and half months to get notarized signatures from the owners of five house with which we’ll be sharing a sewer.  Now the paperwork, which just says that we’ll evenly split future maintenance on the shared portion of the side sewer, is waiting on a meeting with the contractor so that we can apply for the next sewer permit and walk the precious signatures over to King County Records. 

The big progress this month was on the siding and a few interior carpentry things.  The second siding material is corrugated corten steel.  It will rust to the color of the picture below on the right.



We’re really excited about this shelf that runs beside the staircase for a couple of levels. 


Most of the tile work was done last month, but the accent tile installation is new and I didn’t include a picture of the entryway tile in last month’s update.  They also installed some pocket doors and the rest of the kitchen cabinets. 



The house was also broken in to over lunch time on a Saturday.  A couple of guys were working and in the 45 minutes they were gone for lunch, someone who was creepily watching them, smashed open the door and stole some tools.   They got staple guns, but didn’t take the larger saws.

All of the rocks from the rockery are finally removed and we’ve had a second wave of craigslist folks come to pick them up.

no honor among thieves

Last Wednesday, along with eleven of my new randomly selected best friends, I convicted a man of burglary (1st degree), robbery (1st degree), assault (1st degree) and assault (2nd degree) with three deadly weapon enhancements.  The process was sobering and fascinating and with all due respect to the system, enjoyable at times.  In this post, I’ll tell you about the crime, the trial and my reflections on the process.

mother’s day at the beach

 

Jack’s stepdad’s family brought back an old tradition a couple of years ago.  Almost 30 of us rented cabins at the same resort some family members first visited 40 or so years ago.

It was clear and windy, as you can see in the video below.  At first D was reluctant to get wet or dirty, but he got over it, though falling on hard, cold sand while short on sleep led to some tears.  My mom and Jack’s grandma joined us, and with help from both of our moms we got some time alone together and I got to sleep in on mother’s day in our beautiful cliffside room.  We also got to play a board game with Jack’s cousin and and his wife, who also had a built-in babysitter in Jeff’s parents.  D enjoyed his time with his cousins.

 

Part of a Mariner’s game was D’s first sanctioned hit of TV, which explains the solemn expressions on Jack and D’s faces, below right.

I like how my mom and D have both shadows and reflections in this one.  In the other, Jack impresses D with his moves.

Group shots