Big Picture: Where are we?
Mintwood, Kitchen floor tile is all in place. Painting continues
Pearl, Requested plumbing inspection, but no response yet.
Duncan, Not yet completed. Significant punch list, but on hold until we get Mintwood done.
Corp Update
- Some minor delays this week as I had poison ivy, so I went to urgent care.
- Apprentice continues to work out well. Hard working, detail oriented.
- Kathryn is off from her day job this week, so she’s going to spend more time on site.
Major Accomplishments
- Kitchen floor tile installed. (needs grout)
Goals from Week of 27 June
- MINTWOOD
- Install microwave and finish pony wall trim. {done}
- Install flooring – “good” would be to have all the tile down by end of the week. {done}
- DUNCAN
- none.
- PEARL
- Get the plumbing inspection scheduled {not done}
Mintwood St
- Finish Work
- Completed trim work on the kitchen island, including building some custom “pillars” in the corners. Installed rough electrical in same.
- Big news was that we installed all of the kitchen floor tile. Kath made a pretty bold tile choice, and it looks fantastic. Worked out pretty well, with the exception of completing the “racetrack loop” around the island. Tiles lined up perfectly on the X-axis, but were out by 1/4″ on the y-axis. I compensated by adding 1/16″ to each of the last 4 grout lines. We’re going with a light colored grout that closely matches the field color of the tile, so we are hoping it won’t be very noticable.
- Installed microwave. Had to customize the trim kit, as it assomes more open space above the microwave than we actually have. May add a small thermostatically controlled fan to the cabinet just to improve ventilation. Trim kit also needs slight adjustment.
- I’ve noticed that the counter is actually a bit lower than the spec for our dishwasher. This is basically a function of having installed the cabinets, then such a substantial flooring. (The Schluter Ditra plus the tile chews up about 5/8″+). It isn’t clear whether this is a hard limit, or the adjustable feet on the DW might allow us to lower it enough to make this work. Will be investigating this week. If not, we’ll have to give on the Bosch dishwasher and move to a model that is shorter.
- Allied Millworks owner Chuck came back to the house to a second time to measure one more time, so that they can order the glass. His glass costs went up 30% effective July 1, so he wanted to get my order placed before then.
- Mark continues to work on sanding of the pocket doors when I don’t have him helping with tile. His attention to detail is very solid, and he still works at a good pace.
- We had one more vendor out for carpet selection. They’re part of a Costco’s program, so there would be a rebate from Costco on the purchase. Numbers from Molyneaux were very high. A&S installation guy seemed indifferent to the work- declined to bring samples with him because it was “too much of a hassle”. (By comparison, Costco had them overnight shipped to the house, and she brought about a dozen other samples with her for other products that met certain criteria I gave her). Expecting to finalize this week.
- Painting:
- Kath continues painting. She’s finished with the last of the touch-ups in the MBR/ vestibule/ hall closet, dressing room. She is currently painting the ceiling in the master bath.
- Painters started working on the doors on 3rd floor.
- Design: Design board is available here, though we made some slight changes after this board was produced.
Pearl St.
- I called for a final inspection of the plumbing, but haven’t heard back from them yet. I’ll continue to chase them this week. This is a challenge because I’m not a licensed master plumber. For other trades, where I can be the contractor of record, I can log into a system in Pgh where I just place an online request and schedule the inspection. Plumbing is not set up that way- you have to be a registered master plumber to get a login. So instead I have to catch the inspector at his desk to schedule the inspection.
We had our finish plumbing inspection, but did not pass. There are 4 updates to make. They aren’t difficult items, but need to be done before we can pass inspection.- Install double check valve at water meter.
- Remove spigot near water meter.
- Install expansion tank on HW heater.
- Install backflow preventer on outside hose bib.
- No work on the walls this week. Painter stopped by to look at the flaking problems we’ve had. It appears that the oldest layers of paint are splitting off from the wall. (The newest latex paint is adhered to a couple of layers beneath, and they’re coming off in a group). So I’ll need to skim it up with setting plaster and then repaint.
- Roofing inspection passed. Permit closed, exactly 23 months after it was opened.
- The inspection report was actually uploaded in March, but was placed in the wrong location in the web site. My electrician is trying to get it corrected so that they will close the permit.
Duncan St.
I reviewed Duncan St and there’s a fairly lengthy punch list remaining there. Some of it is stuff I can hand off, and some is work I will have to do myself. I’ll hand off what I can, but the remaining work is being prioritized after Mintwood. Our carry costs on the building are relatively low, so it doesn’t make financial sense to pay the crew to finish these out.
- Electrical: {no change from 21 March} The rough-in electrical inspection was completed on Wednesday, March 16. We are now good to hang drywall.
- Framing/ drywall: All compound and sanding work is complete.
- Kitchen: <no change>
- Bathroom: Flooring installed. Tile work was finished on Thursday. I don’t yet know if they grouted on Friday.
- Plumbing: Rough inspection passed on 7 March 2022
- Painting: Painting started on Thursday.
Goals for Week of 27 June
- MINTWOOD
- Grout kitchen floor.
- Clean up microwave trim kit.
- Measure for granite countertops.
- DUNCAN
- none.
- PEARL
- Get the plumbing inspection scheduled
Entropy Properties LLC 