Andrea and I have officially moved into this construction mess! The second floor apartment is functional enough for us to temporarily use the kitchen and shower, while the basement is far enough along that we can move many of our boxes into temporary storage. Though living on site while we are still moving full speed ahead on construction will give us some headaches, it will also make it much easier for us to coordinate the construction work as we won’t have to make the trip three times a day to talk with contractors. This also allowed us to rent our current apartment to new tenants which will certainly help make up some of the difference in our drastic cost overruns that we’ve had to date!
On with construction – this week started with our HVAC contractor delivering and setting up the gas furnace. Similar to the 2nd floor unit, we installed a high efficiency furnace burning at a 97% annualized fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE rating), which we will pair with one of the newer smart thermostats. Though we are conscious enough to make sure we program temperature setbacks into our thermostat, we are looking to go with a control thermostat that will help recirculate the air, to offset stratification in our duplex, as well as help the indoor air quality by monitoring humidity levels. This forced air furnace is separate from the slab heating system, with that system hopefully being installed next week.
Next, our millwork specialist contractor is continuing with his work from the previous week. Our the weekend, he completed the windows and guardrail in the stairwell. This week, he is working on the main unit doors and the built in bench in our unit. The main unit doors he actually transported to his warehouse and stripped them there because of their size and location he didn’t have to worry as much about getting the stripper chemical in contact with our finished floor and the entry tile. He had previously taken several of our smaller interior doors to his warehouse, but instead of stripping them by hand, which he’s been doing with the detailed millwork, he dipped them into a special chemical bath that washing away the old paint / stain.
Also this week, we had our countertop contractor show up to deliver the 2nd floor island slab, as well as the shower slab pieces in all bathrooms in the building. For the 2nd floor kitchen, we went with simple light granite to offset the darkness of the floor and cabinets. In the bathrooms, we went with either matching or contrasting slabs to coordinate with the shower floor tiles. Due to popular demand for white carrara marble, many of the local stone warehouses are out of stock so we’ll have a little bit of a wait until we can get the 1st floor kitchen slab delivered.
Finally, our carpenter came through for a day this week to check off a few more items from the to-do list. Alongside a few minor corrections and touch-ups, our carpenter has built the gate from the alley. We built a simple, but tall back gate to deter anyone from cutting through the property (which our neighbor has informed us has been a problem in the past). Using the same cedar wood from as the gate, we built in under counter storage for the 2nd floor kitchen. We decided against built-in island cabinets in the rental unit due to cost and wear-and-tear concerns, but we also thought that the open shelving concept can provide a more versatile storage option. We’ll poly the shelving at a later date, but we’ll probably keep the lighter color of the cedar.
IT STARTED ON SAWYER 