Quality of Work

It is great knowing that your general contractor (Jeff Lucas) demands such high standards of workmanship that he can go on vacation for a few days and you know that he will come back in and tear out anything that doesn't live up to his personal standards. Here are some more pictures as things keep moving along. At this point the goal is still to have the house sealed up before the cold weather sets in.
Due to the new rooftop layout, the downspouts had to be redone. CLICK on photos to enlarge.

Blowing Up More Plans

This house was basically designed around the kitchen. I had an idea of what I wanted and where I wanted it and agreed to sign up with de Gulio Kitchen Design and Susan Skilton to help me achieve my vision. They have been wonderful throughout and very flexible. Really I wonder what they say about us at the company water cooler though ;) What I am trying to say is that this kitchen has pretty much been set in stone since the beginning. Well not any more.......
It started with Lindsey wanting two drains instead of just one in the main sink of the kitchen. This led to us losing the space for the garbage and recycling cabinet. To gain some of the cupboard space back we decided to get rid of the second dishwasher. (I swear living in London has probably made us over value storage space but we are terrified of not having enough of it in the kitchen and house)This led to us losing the space for the garbage and recycling cabinet. Trying to find even more storage space was the reason we have decided to get rid of the second sink in the kitchen also.
It may turn out that we have so much space in this kitchen that we are able to rent out storage space to our neighbors but at least it won't remind us of living in London with regards to kitchen cupboards. Please stay tuned for more stories regarding the 2012 version of the money pit... Signing off for now. -William Patrick Kennedy

Mid July 2012 Progress

Before I get to the pictures just wanted to make note of a few of the issues that have popped up lately. The major problem - that led to a handful of other problems - was that 4 inches of interior height disappeared as they placed the first and second floor joists.
This leads to both code problems and ceiling height problems. First the code problems - we now have 3 windows (that were perfectly fine) that are now not high enough off of the floor. City code calls for at least two feet off the floor. These windows will have to be pulled out and re-bricked into the wall. The visual problems are affected by the disappearing 4 inches plus the old sagging roof joists. The ceiling height of the second floor is going to be a solid 7 inches shorter than the rest of the house. The solution is to redo the roof. Instead of having it slope front to back it will slope the the middle. This will give both the front and back of the house higher ceiling heights.
The silver lining here is that this house will now be 97% new rather than the planned 85% when all is said and done. Hopefully it will now last another 100 years.