Big Picture: Where are we?
Inside, *INSULATION Inspection failed*. We passed for the walls, but failed the roof. Working to get this resolved this week while hoping to still move forward with sheetrock.
Outside, No changes outside.
Goals from Week of Sep 13
- Get second quote for replacement trim for Mintwood. {Not done}
- Do all drywall prep work. {done, save for insulation issue}
Accomplishments
- Insulation inspection happened this week. We passed for the walls, and the inspector is OK with us putting up sheetrock on the walls but not the ceiling.
- Did a bunch of clean-up work getting ready for the sheetrock team.
Corp Update
- Mom’s visit has moved to November.
- Still working on getting clarity with the increased insurance rates. I have a phone number to contact the and a possible path to appeal the assessment.
- CPA has announced that taxes are complete. I need to review and submit.
- I’ve identified a possible property for acquisition. It’s near other units we own, and is reasonably priced. We would rent it out “as is” for now, and then do a big rehab once we get Mintwood finished. Second inspection scheduled for Monday.
Mintwood St
- Demolition: Work is complete. See blog post
- Roofing. Got the estimate for the “clean up” tasks on the roofing. It’s extremely high for the amount of work to do, so it is likely I’ll go another route.
- Carpenters { No change since 13 Sept } *Framing inspection passed on Friday*. This was a big deal. The actual inspection was pretty simple. I booked an “overtime inspection”, so that we could get one scheduled for Friday. Inspector arrived ~7:00am. We reviewed the plans, and he then looked at construction. He was mostly focused on the load paths, which makes sense. He had a couple of comments (wanted squash blocks in the basement, and also wanted the fireproof foam done on all three floors.). We were able to make some runs to HD and get the work done in time for him to stop by later in the day to sign off. This allows us to move forward with insulation next week. We also got the subfloor installed in the kitchen, which is VERY exciting.
- Windows: (no change since May 16) Windows were installed this week on May 13-14. This actually included the odd sized window in the kitchen, which was good news.I haven’t inspected the final results yet, but will review on Monday.
- Insulation We failed the insulation inspection. The walls passed, but the inspector said we didn’t have enough insulation for the spray foam on the roof. There are three paths to passing an insulation inspection- prescriptive (install a specific R-value), demonstrated (use a blower-door test and prove that you fit within the limited number of air changes per hour) and calculated (computer model). My insulation company has now generated a computer model, and we’ve submitted it for approval. The model shows we’re 19.1% more efficient than the standards require, so I’m waiting to see what the inspector says.
Until we pass the full inspection, we aren’t allowed to sheetrock the ceiling under the roof. This means sheetrock work will focus on first and second floors. for the moment. - HVAC Spoke with the HVAC company. They’ll set the furnace after the drywall is done.
- Plumbers: {No change from Aug 30} I have downloaded the completion certificate from the county website and submitted that to the City of Pgh as part of the “closing docs” for the framing inspection.
- Electrical: We relocated the service entrance to the far right edge of the front of the building. It looks much better there, and is less visually intrusive. It was reviewed on Friday, and we’re looking forward to having power connected on Wednesday Sept 29th.
- Masonry {No updates from Aug 30} Once again, Normandy Masonry came through for me again this week. The roofers pulled the fascia off the front of the building. Rob was able to come out and point the front of the house under the box gutter, so they could reattach the fascia.
- Plaster: About half of the drywall has been delivered to the first floor, but not stocked up to the second or third floors. There is no moisture resistant (MR) drywall stocked yet.
I completed the installation of the Schluter Kerdi-board in the 2nd floor (guest) bath and 3rd floor (“kids”) bathroom this week. I haven’t done the master bath because it is on outside walls and we weren’t done with th. inspection yet. I’ll start that early this week. - Finish Carpentry The mill in Mars PA has delivered an estimate for costs per lf of trim. I need to pull a full list so we can get an actual quote together. I’m going up this week to pick up the samples and discuss with them. I’ll be having lunch with the RetiredWoodworker.com guy as well. I also plan to visit a couple of other mills this week.
I’ve received 3 bids now for flooring. Two are pretty close, and one is pretty high. Will make a decision shortly. However, flooring won’t be instaled until near the very end of the process. - Design: Not too much progress ordering more finish materials this week. Need to get back on that so we have materials to install.
Kitchen Cabinets invoice has arrived, which means they’ll be shipping shortly.
Design board is available here, though we made some slight changes after this board was produced.
Next Steps
- collect millwork samples and send out for a second quote
- Start installing sheetrock
- get insulation approval
- hook up electrical
Pearl St.
- Painter hasn’t reappeared this week. Going to poke him shortly to see if we will make progress soon. I don’t want to be fighting cold weather to get this done.
- We had a roof repair guy out to clean up some failings of the roof installation. They didn’t put a boot on a vent that pierces the roof, which is a big no-no. Also, the seam between us and a neighbor was poorly done, so we tightened that up. The roof repair guy is a good guy, and we’ll continue to use him on small roofing projects.
- Still need to close out electrical inspection.
Next Steps
- Paint railing out front.
- Paint rafter tails and door post on back porch
- Paint door to Zoe’s room.
- Finalize electrical inspection, close building permit.
Goals for Week of 27 Sept
- Get second quote for replacement trim for Mintwood.
- Get insulation approved
- Get sheetrock underway
Entropy Properties LLC 