Day 85 - Brick and Insulation

On a rainy evening, we went to the house to see how far along they got on the brick in one day. They actually didn't get quite as far as we thought they would have in one day but they might have had to stop for rain. The brick we chose is a tumbled brick and they recommended using the grapevine mortar joint. We also chose a dyed mortar.

They also started doing the insulation today. There is some batt insulation in the attic and they put up some kind of backing where they will blow in insulation between the wall cavity and the backing. Here are the photos...

Brick by the walk-out basement.

Brick in the back.

Insulation used.

Backing for blown-in insulation.

Fireplace vent.

Insulation in master bedroom.

Spray foam in all holes through floor and ceiling.

Insulation in basement.

Day 78, 83, and 84

Well since August 11th till tonight, August 20th, I have been at the house every night either working on running audio cables, cat 6 internet cables, and installing central vac with my dad. Many nights I was at the house well after dark working under the light of a work lamp.I took Thursday and Friday off work as well as my dad to install the central vac. We worked roughly 28 hours between those days and Saturday as well. I tested the system on Sunday and am pleased to say that everything works as it should except for one leaky inlet (seems to be an issue with one of the faceplates). Obviously being so busy, I have not done well at updating this blog, so this is an attempt at an update.

There are a couple pictures from day 78 showing the covering over the front door and some more HVAC. Day 83 and 84 shows some items delivered to start bricking tomorrow. It was supposed to have started on Monday, but they had to finish up another job. Hopefully insulation will start tomorrow as well. Here are the pictures from those days.

HVAC connections upstairs.

Hose bib.

Protective cover on front door.

Plumbing and wiring for AC units.

Sand pile for brick mortar.

One lonely brick.

Masonry equipment.

Day 77 - Final Framing

So today, the final framing was done for the corner tub in the master bath, the fireplace, and the basement walls. They also finally installed the front door today as well. The electrician finished things up today and the plumber finished most of his work as well. I had some help tonight wiring the house audio from my cousin Josh. Now all of the speaker wire and cat 5e cable is run for the whole house audio system. I still need to run the cat 6 for the internet, some RCA cables, and speaker wire for the surround sound. I wonder how many more nights this will take...

Corner tub and shower in master bath.

Frame for tub and step.

Shower with ledge.

Shower faucet.

Front door from above.

Framed out fireplace and gas line.

Framed office closet.

Half frame by office window.

Day 76 - More Plumbing, HVAC, and electrical

Spent some time on Sunday and today at the house prewiring for whole-home audio. Sunday was a very long day figuring out exactly how to route the speaker cable and Cat-5e cable for the keypads. I was there for 8 hours on Sunday and was utterly exhausted by the time I left at 10:45. In 8 hours, I was only able to run wire to the master bedroom, master bathroom, and deck. Today in 4 hours, I ran wire to the kitchen, living room, and dining room. I still need to run cable to the garage and the basement for audio, the great room for surround sound, and cat6 for internet connections to the home theater in the great room, the office, and the whole house receiver.

Some of the pictures below show the huge hole in our front yard to run the sewer line into our house as well as water lines. This was done on Saturday. Today, there was a lot of people working in our house. The electrician, plumber, HVAC guy, and framers were all working today. The plumber ran the PEX water lines (in lieu of copper) to most of the locations. They HVAC crew ran a lot of the duct work in the attic for the upstairs furnace. And the framers framed out the main HVAC trunk line in the basement as well as the side wall of the basement by the stepped foundation. There are inspections being held at the end of the week for all of these areas and hopefully, insulation and drywall will go in next week. Enjoy the pics...

Sewer line going into the house.

 

Sewer line going to the sewer. The water line goes above this once they put a couple feet of fill above this line.

Me after 8 hours running wire.

Some of the wire that I ran.

Main water valve.

 

Dryer vent.

Water line for refrigerator.

Air ducts in attic for second floor.

Master bathtub.

PEX water lines in master bath.

PEX to copper for toilet.

Refrigerant line for upstairs furnace unit.

Water line for tub.

Shower plumbing.

Return air ducts for second floor.

Basement framing.

Framing around HVAC trunk lines.

Framing in basement half bath.

Dirt covering where the sewer line and water line was put in.