Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

mkane09 · May 31, 2013

Much Mo' Betta!!! Wow, that's some heavy duty washer/dryer! I can't believe how much better almost everything looks. I'm not crazy about the black can lights outside...could they be painted to match the house? I really like the lighting inside, everywhere. The fireplace room turned out beautiful. Peter, are they going to have the upper cabinets installed before final inspection or is that not necessary? How's the punch list coming? Mom is going to be happy!

mkane09

murphy1244 · May 31, 2013

Going to be awful tight doing laundry in that room

pclausen · May 31, 2013

Here's my understanding of requirements for final inspection that have to be met in order for the county to issue an occupancy permit:

One cleaned up fully functional bathroom (meaning hot and cold water, working septic, etc)
Ability to make food (ovens are working now, the cook top still needs duct work completed)
All electrical fixtures installed and working or cover plates over all non-mandatory uncompleted work (like exterior outlets, additional ceiling lights per room, etc)
All breakers clearly labeled

So upper kitchen cabinets do not have to be in, nor does the fridge.

My punch list still includes:

Master bathroom vent ducted to outside
Move phone and power to wall desk in kitchen
About 10 trim corners need additional sanding/painting
About 3 areas on the walls that need additional sanding/painting
Add trim to both sides of dishwasher
Make end panels math at end of bookshelf wall in kitchen
Secure window well to basement wall
Rake fascias
Install 3x4x4 down spout adapters in 4 locations and paint exposed parts to match house trim color
Missing shoe molding in a few places
Power wash stamped concrete and seal
Paint exterior electrical trim plates to match siding
Strip and paint main and garage secondary door
Replace seals around garage door
Replace lag bolts for carriage bolts on railing
Replace bar sink with utility sink
Add 2 or 3 loads of #57 gravel to driveway, then a load or two of #10 dust, water and pack down, then spread 2" of the brown stone on top

pclausen · May 31, 2013

murphy1244 said:
Going to be awful tight doing laundry in that room

Agreed. Which is why I want to see about getting those appliances closer to the wall. We need all the space we can get in there.

ljnelson109 · May 31, 2013

pclausen said:
Here's my understanding of requirements for final inspection that have to be met in order for the county to issue an occupancy permit:

One cleaned up fully functional bathroom (meaning hot and cold water, working septic, etc)

Ability to make food (ovens are working now, the cook top still needs duct work completed)

All electrical fixtures installed and working or cover plates over all non-mandatory uncompleted work (like exterior outlets, additional ceiling lights per room, etc)

All breakers clearly labeled

What about final inspections for all trades? Usually at this stage they have not received final on anything. Issues like those lag bolts on the deck should be caught in a deck final (I assume that is a separate permit, it is up my way). More often than not, they point out something that catches them off guard on one or more of the finals. Unless, of course, they have some sort of deal going with the inspector. Also, in my county, you can't call all of the finals and U&O on the same day. It is assumed to be a given that some of the finals will need follow-up.

I know we have all said this before, you are not getting paid (or a discount) to be the GC here. But since it seems you have to be, it may be worth checking the status on all of these inspections. Do you have online access to the permit site for your county? I can check all of that info directly rather than rely on the GC to keep me informed.

Are you hoping for U&O today?

Lee

pacerron · May 31, 2013

Peter,
Looking a lot better.
After everything calms down you might want to review your pics and look and/or take new pics of the troubled spots.
Whether it passes or not, a couple items that I would want:
A railing from the deck corner out to the flower box so no falls off the edge into the box lower down on the hill occur.
Cut out that foundation corner that sticks up on the right side of the basement stairs, or at least paint it red.
The sharp corners at waist level should be rounded wherever possible. We old folks have a tendency to run into sharp corners.
Ron

FairfaxStu · May 31, 2013

Peter:

I agree with everyone else. It is starting to look really nice. Two things come to my mind: 1) Make sure the gas company converts the stovetop to LP from NG - most everyone I've seen ships setup for NG. 2) I cringed when I saw that aluminum flex pipe sitting in the window. If they use regular sectional vent pipe with an elbow in the wall, you can get the dryer much closer to wall. However, I see you went with the super tall washer and dryer. If you move the washer back as well, it could be that you would not be able to get to the water shutoffs in the event that a hose bursts.
-Stu

murphy1244 · May 31, 2013

The washer dryer stuff are on stands. The water valves should have burst protection but open those doors and no room to move clothes.

EddieWalker · May 31, 2013

Is the step outside the sliding glass door, near the deck, code? I thought it had to be the same height as the threshold? The way it is done in your picture, it looks like a tripping hazard.

Eddie

Pixguy · May 31, 2013

Example of dryer vents that alleviate that bumped out look. My wife religiously shuts off the water after each washload, which would be impossible with their hose setup.

These builds are always fun to watch and there are always ups and downs. Fortunately for your mom, you've been there to bring the quality up to where it should have started, not ended. I personally would not let this builder use the house as an example of their work, because clearly it is better than they would have delivered.

Great job Peter, I look forward to a smooth move-in.