Status Report, 8 Nov 2021

Big Picture: Where are we?
Inside, Finishing team continues to crank along. Work is exceptionally good. Mantle has been removed in DR, and will be reinstalled this week. Furnace has been installed in basement, which is just in the nick of time. It has been below freezing at night (which would be bad for the plaster if we didn’t have heat).
Outside, No changes outside.

Goals from Week of Oct 25

• Finish most of the drywall/plaster work. {OK}
• Get started on tile work on second/ third floors. {not started}

Accomplishments

• Finishing team continues to make solid progress. They’ve cleaned up the “real plaster” along the front wall on each floor, and have done the repair work needed throughout the house. We have a couple of remaining areas to tackle, but it’s just time & sequence.
• We removed the mantle in the dining room this week, and have spent a good bit of time cleaning and polishing it. We have a bit more to do Monday, and Tuesday it will be reinstalled.

Corp Update

• Mom arrived Sunday, Nov 7th.
• Still waiting to hear from SWIF about the audit result.
• We took off Friday and went to NYC together for the weekend. While we were there, we did a good bit of shopping for lighting and other fixtures. Not as many “purchases”, but definitely settled on a lot of “directional” information.
• New windows for Queensberry Circle project are due Dec 6-8, which is pretty much the same as the closing date. Timing will be tight.

Mintwood St

• Demolition:  Work is complete.  See blog post
• Roofing. {no changes from 4 Oct. Roofing is complete}
• Carpenters { No change since 13 Sept }
• Windows: (no change since May 16)
• Insulation {No change from 4 Oct. }
• HVAC Firt furnace (in the basement) has been installed and is fully operational. The one furnace is enough to keep the house comfortably at 64 deg, which is sufficient to dry the plaster correctly. We aren’t done with the third floor unit, but it has been started. Should be done this week.
• Plumbers:  {No change from Aug 30}
• Electrical: {no change from 1 Nov} Panel is fully stocked with breakers and we have juice throughout the building. We’ve installed temp lights in most of the rooms, and have outlets in the bedrooms, so we have reasonable access to power throughout the building.
• Masonry {no change from 1 Nov} Glen came and worked with the plaster guys to remove the mantle in the dining room. Kathryn has done an amazing job of cleaning it (photo above). We will aim to reinstall on Nov 8th.
• Plaster:  Second big week of plaster & drywall finishing. The team continues to do great work. We stripped the fireplace in the dining room, and it has been re-covered with board and plaster. They’ve also laid in the first coats on the stairs, and that all looks really good. Hoping to wrap up this week.
• Finish Carpentry
  • I got the doors back from the strippers. They did pretty good work. Most of the doors will require some level of woodworking before they’re ready for use, but they are in pretty good shape overall.
  • <no change>I have placed an order for millwork. Don’t have a firm date yet, but they’ve said previously that they’re running 4-6 weeks out, which is workable.
  • I also identified a shop to make custom doors if needed. Likely the case for the front door, and possibly a few interior doors as well. I will commit to them this week.
  • We are likely to wait a while for flooring. The preference is to do flooring well after plaster is complete, and often even after painting is done. That would put us into January+
  • Proposal came in from Chris (RetiredWoodworker) for a fireplace mantle in the 3rd floor bedroom. It was a good bit more than I expected, so we may do this in house instead.
• Design:   Kitchen cabinets are scheduled to arrive this week. I’ve also started ordering tile & radiant floor heat components for the various bathrooms. Expecting to start on the 3rd floor late this week or early next week.
  Design board is available here, though we made some slight changes after this board was produced.

Next Steps

• Order tile ASAP. Also order Ditra HEAT underlayment and wiring.
• Pick up doors from stripping company.

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Pearl St.

• Still need to close out electrical inspection. Feels like this won’t get done until Mintwood is also done. Getting Rich to put it on the schedule is tough.
• I finished up a small landing for the steps to the third floor. Since that staircase is so steep, it just feels better to have a fuller spot on which to stand at the bottom of the stairs.

Next Steps  

• Paint door to Zoe’s room.
• Finalize electrical inspection, close building permit.

Goals for Week of 8 Nov

• Finish most of the drywall/plaster work.
• Get started on tile work on second/ third floors.
• Install the mantle in DR