Completion!

First of all, still no action by the neighbors. Not even their tree protection has gone up. We are gloomily wondering whether they won't get started now till March or so, meaning that next summer will be affected by their construction. In better news, the sidewalk repairs have been completed. The city decided that our path was obviously in the right place, so they have leveled the sidewalk along it; thus removing any need for us to get the hardscape guys back to make an adjustment (and spend more $$). We are now waiting for the ashphalters to get round to repairing the road surface. Should be all done by Saturday.

And last week we had our final bill from the construction company for $1,000, which we have now paid. Site Supervisor II came over and finished the little list of items we had outstanding; and even the electrician showed up and stayed till everything was working.

I think we may be officially done. Hard to believe!

Update on the Neighbors

I forgot to mention, the neighbors have yet to make any start on their new construction. Goodness knows what that piece of kit was that I mentioned in a previous blog entry. Anyway, it doesn't seem to have been tremendously important. Maybe it was something to do with the basement that they're planning to build. Our neighbor's house has now stood empty for a whole year.

In other news, the City looks like it is going to fix our sidewalk in the next two weeks. Yay!

Maybe a third of one percent away from completion...?

Gosh, I see it has been two months since I last posted on this blog, which is a sign that the house really is so very, very close to completion that there isn't much to say.

We went away on our UK vacation in August, and returned to find the house apparently finished. All the outstanding items on our punch list had been taken care of, with the exception of the exterior lights snafu at the front of the house. We can only have the motion sensor light on if the two garage lights remain switched on; so we end up with the garage lights on all night in order to ensure that the motion sensor light - essentially a fancy security light - would come on if someone approached the front door. The electricians who worked on the house deny having tampered with this electrical circuit, and so fixing this is seemingly outside the scope of the job. (The fact that the lights never had that problem before also seems to be immaterial.)

So we have been living with the house for a month, picking up little things here and there that need fixing. Nothing too major, I hope. The motion sensor light in the back yard isn't working at all. The motion sensor light outside the laundry room door only comes on if you approach it whilst waving your arms in the air. Then there is a bunch of small carpentry items: creaking or rubbing doors, sticking drawer, misaligned bolt, that kind of thing. I hope that Site Supervisor II will be able to tackle most of them pretty quickly, though I wonder whether the electricians will deign to visit us for the electrical fixes.

We had a "duh" moment today. The light in the pool stopped working and we couldn't understand why, as it had been working just fine. Anyway, in an email, SS2 mentioned "the exterior GFI", so I had an "ah ha" moment...took Hubby out into the back yard with a flashlight...found an outlet in the exterior wall and got him to inspect it. Sure enough it had a reset button, which we duly reset and - ta da! - like magic, the pool light came back on. What a team we all are.

One percent away from completion

The exterior screen doors actually arrived yesterday, just after I'd written the day's entry. SS2 will be here later on to install them. He was here this morning to reattach something in the hallway bathroom that the Architect had pulled off the wall by mistake some time ago (!) and also to investigate the non-functioning lights.

We also had part II of a visit from the tub refinishers, who have been working on the guest bathroom tub. I just took a peek. It looks perfect. I guess we shall have to see what happens, as it looked perfect after the last attempt at sealing it. Did I mention that the refinishing stinks?

I had a quick meeting with the Landscape Designer. We had a delivery of another 30 or so plants this morning and she was here to place them out before planting. I pointed out that the pool cover still isn't closing properly and that a stone has fallen out of the walkway by the guest bedroom. She tells me that the grass is forecast to be laid this week.

Our neighbors started their demolition preparation this morning. They actually managed to have a piece of equipment I'd never seen before, and I thought I'd seen it all. (I had to stand on a chair next to the fence to look over and see it. Nosy neighbor, moi?)

Can't Get Enough of That Outdoor Living Thang

I've been spending money again. Today I ordered another extending patio table - this one extends to 130", a full 20" longer than the last one - with six chairs, a 10' by 13' rectangle patio umbrella (in taupe Sunbrella fabric), and an umbrella stand capable of stabilizing 70lbs of weight. As the umbrella is custom made, it won't be ready for about four weeks (i.e. the end of the summer), but the table and chairs will be here next Tuesday. This will give us dining capacity for 22, which is about what we need.

I've also sent my three old teak chairs - purchased about 13 years ago in England - to the patio furniture vendor to be refinished to their original brown color.

Meanwhile, back at the outdoor kitchen, the appliance guy was here again today to tweak the warming drawer, which is now straight in its space.

Inside the house, SS2 was here this morning with Dave the Bath Vendor, who started refinishing the tub in the guest bathroom. It stinks.

Remaining items:

The House:
- two exterior lights are not working.
- screen doors will be coming in about 10 days
- one sliding screen door is loose on its track

The Garden:
- still some plants on site needing to go in
- waiting for some plants to arrive, most notably two espaliered mandarin orange trees for the fence
- grass to be laid in the back
- mulch to be added everywhere
- landscape lighting to be installed (waiting for lights to come)
- the pool cover is still not closing properly every time (small gap on one side)
- pool light is not working, and different subcontractors are currently blaming each other
- mastick around the pool
- cleaning and re-sealing of the stone patio(to combat the redwood staining)
- doors under the outdoor kitchen sink need adjusting (one has sagged)
- fence repair where a couple of planks have fallen down
- creation of gate next to the office, for the "dog run" area
- a stone has fallen out of the hardscape and needs to be glued back in

House Party

As we grind to the close of the project, the blog postings are becoming less frequent. There just isn't so much to say.

(Which is a good thing.)


On Saturday we invited our good friends over and grilled far too much food on the outdoor kitchen. There were 20 of us. The kids splashed in the pool - in fact, so much splashing that we had to top the pool up this morning - while the adults grilled, drank and ate.



The menu was simpler this week: ginger and honey ribs, Kosovan mushrooms, and salmon in cream shallot sauce (from the recipe book); with grilled pork chops, halloumi cheese and sweet pepper kebabs, sausages, Piazza's finest hamburgers (really good, but very big); and a green salad, a corn salad, and a tomato/mozzerella salad; bread and fixings; rounded off with a bottle of champagne to commemorate the first time all our British friends had been over.

Another Final Inspection Passed

Today is a good day.

The city planners were here today to do the final inspection on the outdoor kitchen, and we passed (though only because Site Supervisor II made a last minute cover for the sink, which the hardscaping guys hadn't got round to doing).

The exterior lights are all in. I'll check over the weekend that they're actually working.

SS2 had a major triumph yesterday with the kitchen skylights. The operable windows now open and close and the six blinds do all the various things they are supposed to do (up, down, tilt, etc). I also got a nice thank you card from SS2's wife for a book I sent home with him for his kids: "Fix-It Duck" by Jez Alborough. In the book, the cack-handed Fix-It Duck has to repair a skylight in Sheep's caravan. It seemed all too appropriate for the long-suffering SS2 (though that's not to say that he is cack-handed, far from it!).

The landscapers are still here planting. I think they'll be done with that today, and then tomorrow morning they'll be here to start on the landscape lighting.

And I just received delivery of our new garden furniture: extending table, two benches, dining chairs (should have been six, but one was damaged so they took it away for replacement), a rocking chair, and a sling chair. Looks nice. Now we have to decide what to do with all the rest of the furniture!