Status Report, 15 Aug 2022

Big Picture: Where are we?
Mintwood, Wrapping up 2nd and 3rd floor. Focus on 1st floor. Multiple trades finalizing over the coming 2 weeks. *** Movers booked for Friday, Sept 2 ***
Pearl, No change to electrical inspection.
Duncan, Still no change to the punch list.

Corp Update

• McKenna and I were racing again last week, so there was limited progress this week. Well worth it, for sure. (See photo, above)
• Although we were sad to see McKenna and Barrett leave, we were so pleased they came and spent time with us. We are expecting several visitors in the coming weeks/ months:
  • Chris K. (Sept 3-8)
  • Zoe (Sept 10-17) {this is technically a “former employee visit” since she was our VP of Acquisitions and was the original scout for this building}
  • Dad and Susan (Sept 11-15)
  • Mom and Diane are coming in October
  • Papa and Nana are coming in November
• We have a moving date: Sept 2, 2023. (Just kidding – Sept 2, 2022.) They’ll meet us at the storage locker in Allison Park, where we will do a bit of an on-the-fly sorting to get everything that goes on the 2nd and 3rd floors, plus the kitchen. We won’t be moving the living room or dining room until after the hardwood floors are done and the bulk of the punchlist is also complete. (Those rooms will continue to serve as my shop after the floors are installed).

Major Accomplishments

• Booked a number of trades for the coming 2 weeks. Movers also booked. See “goals” section for the full list.

Goals from Week of 8 Aug

• MINTWOOD
  • Finish kitchen hardware installation. {done}
  • Keep beating down the trello board. {on track}
  • Prep for carpet installation on Aug 19. {on track}
• DUNCAN
  • nothing planned.
• PEARL
  • Get the electrical inspection sorted out. {not done}

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Mintwood St

• Finish Work
  • Electrician scheduled for Tuesday, Aug 16 to repair the dishwasher outlet (damaged by BestBuy) I’ll then complete the DW install, which is the last of the appliance installations.
  • We received the marble backsplash for the third floor bathroom from East Coast Countertops in Verona, PA. These are the same folks who fabricated the window jambs for the master shower. They do nice work, and we’re likely going to use them for a countertop in the laundry as well.
  • Progress continues on electrical installations. All smoke detectors are in (though the ones on the first floor are still covered by their “shower caps” to prevent damage/ false alarms during the next phase of work, which will be almost exclusively on the 1st floor). We are still ordering some fixtures for various rooms, so this is going to be a continuing item.
  • We have determined that the dishwasher won’t fit in the space we have (1/8″ too tall) so we are ordering a different dishwasher. Tha may not be in for several months.
  • All cabinet hardware has been installed in the kitchen. Very pleased with a tool I bought on recommendation from This Old House. Here’s the video of Tom Silva explaining the various nuances. Also the Amazon link to his fancy jig (yes, I bought one. Yes, I love it. No, I don’t get any referral revenue from Amazon)
  • Carpet installation is set for this Friday, Aug 19. Kath is beyond excited. We are racing to get a few things finished before they arrive, including finalizing the paint on the stairs. See note below regarding painters.
    Hardwood floors still tracking for mid-Sept due to a specific part they need that is a custom manufactured.
  • In his “down time”, Mark continues to sand doors and window trim to prepare for painting on the 1st floor.
  • We’ve been knocking out bathroom hardware installations too. Office and 3rd floor bath are 100% complete. Master bath hardware is mostly installed. However, we are waiting until after move-in to finalize hardware placement in that area due to the constraints with outlets, mirrors, etc.
  • Granite guys came to template on Friday. They completed 4 of 5 templates (missing countertop, window sill in kitchen, cabinet in the princess suite, and the dining room hearth). They needed more space around the LR fireplace, so Mark and I had to move the trim pile again. This time we were able to use the Egyptican method (placed PVC pipe under it and rolled it out of the LR). Granite team will be back Monday to finalize that last piece.
  • The plaster/ finishing crew will be back this week to do the plaster work on the staircase wall and a few other touch-ups.
  • I haven’t yet found a suitable shop to make the handrails we need. Still investigating options. The first round of numbers literally came in at 10x what they should be.
  • Gutter repair estimate came in. Wm Prescott Roofing (who did the mansard room) will be doing the work, but damn they are expensive.
• Painting:
  • The painters weren’t in the building this week, but they assure me they’ll be here Tuesday and Wednesday, and that will be enough to get the pieces done we need finished for the carpet installers.
  • Kathryn started stenciling the powder room this weekend. She has also completed the painting in the master suite and the 3rd floor bathroom stencil. Other than a few minor touch-ups, the drywall is all painted on floors 2 and 3.
• Design: Design board is available here, though we made some slight changes after this board was produced.

Pearl St.

• We completed our final plumbing inspection at Pearl St this week. This is completely closed out now.
• 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 electrical 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.

No changes at Duncan this week.

• We installed carpet at Duncan this week. It really makes a big difference in how the place looks.
• We also started replacing electrical outlets. This would seem like a small detail, but it creates a much different (positive) impression to see all new outlets. Unlike Pearl St., there was no knob and tube at Duncan- just a lot of armored BX cable. So from an electrical standpoint, it’s better than before.
• I may have the electrician upgrade the panel while we’re doing all of this. It is only 100 amps, and I suspect we’re going to add a mini-split AC unit relatively soon. We would need a new dedicated circuit for that anyway, and we’re out of space in the panel already.
• 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: Painters finished at Duncan. I’d added two doors which yielded a whooping 25% to the painting tab. Didn’t have much choice, though, since the door openings were non-standard size.

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Goals for Week of 15 Aug

• MINTWOOD
  • Plaster work completed (15-18 Aug)
  • Electrical work finalized (16 Aug)
  • HVAC finalized (16 Aug)
  • Carpet installed (19 Aug)
  • Dishwasher delivery/ DJS install (26 Aug)
    
  • Keep beating down the trello board.
    
• DUNCAN
  • nothing planned.
• PEARL
  • Get the electrical inspection sorted out

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Trello Tracking

	18 July	25 July	1 Aug	8 Aug	15 Aug	22 Aug
General	6	4		2	1
3 Princess	4	4		4	1
3 Back BR	6	6		3	0
3 Common	15	14		12	8
2 MBath	14	12		9	4
2 MBR	8	6		5	1
2 Common	9	5		5	5
2 Office	13	12		11	6
1 Kitchen	26	23		22	18
1 LR	6	6		6	7
1 Dining	10	10		10	9
1 Common	12	12		12	12
1 Vestibule	8	8		8	8
TOTAL	86	77		66	56	goal: <48