Friday, June 12, 2009

FINALLY A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Now that we have it together with the new foreman, we will at long last see some action.
If we don't finish by August, we have to take out another "Builders Risk" policy.   It is a pretty substantial amount and certainly not something we intend to do.  Nothing we have done has held up this build, so I hope we can at least finish the interior and get our certificate of occupancy?  
This week they started planting trees and are getting ready to do the "terra seeding".  We engaged the company that is providing our planting materials.
This seeding should have been done last year, but the company we hired, could not get it together to complete the job, as you can see in the pictures.  Needless to say they were terminated.
We should finally see some grass in a few weeks.
We still have to pump the silt and topsoil that washed down the hill ( due to the fact that we had no grass), out of the pond.
We  installed  so many "trench drains" and "French drains" to divert water coming from the many springs on the property, it became a ridiculous exercise in overkill.
We had to deal with an environmental "expert" since we are building on the Oak Ridges Moraine.    If  it ever should rain torrentially every day, and all day;  forever more?  We can handle it!
Our inside joke as the solution to every problem that pops up  now is, "install a trench drain"
                                          trench drain can be seen on the left of photo (click to enlarge)

Inside the house, things are at progressing at least.   The hardwood for the upstairs bedrooms is onsite and acclimatising.   I had to have Birds Eye maple, my favorite wood.    I was happy that our local manufacturer Northern Wide Plank, mills this wood.

The tiles for the main floor are laid out and David is doing a great job.
He had a little design dilemma regarding the stair tread installation, which will be resolved by Oleg, the iron artisan when we meet with him on Monday.
Oleg will be finishing the staircase and applying the rest of the decorative details once the floor is grouted.
He will be putting together the iron exterior railings (so the columns can go up), only to dismantle them again until the columns are installed and finished.   I can't wait to see how these columns are going to look, and they should be going up in the next few weeks.

The solar panels are ready to be installed, and I was surprised that they're so large.  I couldn't take pictures because it was too muddy to walk out to the site.
Fortunately they won't be visible except from the top of the hill.   The plantings will conceal them in a few years.

I've barely had a minute to sit down for the past few days, and from now until the house is done, I won't have much time to during the week.
I haven't had a full time job in years, so it is a little hard to get back into routine.   I need more hours in the day, and days in the week.
It does feel good not being able to procrastinate any longer.   Now I just have to survive the stress, and hope that my family, and friends do too!

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