Lots of Progress

After a short week of camping I am back to work on the house. The bathroom tile upstairs is almost done. We started working on our mosasic tile centerpiece for the entryway. Patti & I made a pattern and cut out some some colored paper and placed them on a 4 sq ft area. We worked until midnight cutting the tile on my tile cutter. I started working on the walls in the great room. The scaffolding will arrive Monday afternoon, then I can start the rest of the room ceilings.

Full Speed Ahead

The interior work is in a full speed mode. All of the insulation is in and the sheet rock is going up. I have put up 72 sheets of sheet rock already. Just a few more left. I have the first floor bedroom ceiling done in pine tongue and groove boards. The moldings are also done in that room. The kitchen moldings and wall are done. The kitchen cabinets are arriving tomorrow. I installed the tile in the tub area in the bathroom. I also tiled the bathroom floor upstairs. The wiring is going good. All of the outside outlets are working now. Patti and I also installed glass block tile in the bathroom upstairs. This will allow light to come in from the great room.

Insulation Going In

Today was day two of installing the insulation. They will be done tomorrow. The ceilings will have a R-41 insulation value. We opted to go with more R-value so the energy bills will be lower. I'm not to sure what the price will be? The pictures show the kitchen/loft and upstairs areas. The tongue and groove pine boards will go right over the foam board. We also had a inspection today for the bank and that went well. For your pleasure I added one picture of the swim raft I put in the other day. I will be working on the walls again soon. I also tried a new Weed Razor today on the lily pads floating in the lake. It worked wonderful! I'll work on them another day to clean them up so they don't take over our swimming area. I'll show you a picture of it another day. Its looking good!!

Porch railings are up

We had a busy weekend. Patti & I stayed last weekend and built a swim raft. John is just about finished the railings and Builders Insulation will start installing the insulation tomorrow. We also put up the last of the 25 sheets of sheet rock and will be ordering more so that can be completed. We are also burning lots of wood that we cut down this winter at the beach as well as scrap lumber. Today I put out the raft and took a nice dip. The last few days have been in the 90's. We also had a visit from the Eurasian Milfoil crew from the Lake Dunmore /Fern Lake Association. I talked to them and gave them a location of some I found and they took care of it for us.

Interior Work Started.

After a long wait the interior walls are going up. Patti and I stayed our first night last Saturday and worked on both bathrooms. The outside bathroom walls are up and its starting to feel like a home. The electrical work will be roughed in this week and the insulation will be installed next week. When the insulation is done the interior work will go into a full steam ahead push to complete the home. The plumber put in a temporary toilet and sink on the first floor. This will make it easier to work on site. The kitchen cabinets are ordered and will be here soon. The upstairs bathroom floor is almost ready to go in. I made a step up to the tub. We had our first barbecue at the log home on Saturday, cooking hamburgers. Patti cooked on the grill using scrap lumber from the construction. They tasted great!! The roof is completed and the front entrance is done. John has the railings to complete on the deck and he will be done, with the exception of a few small odds and ends he needs to complete. We had our first visitor late Saturday night. Patti and I were resting and watching a movie in the temporary great room bedroom and out of no- where a bat flew by us. It circled close and fast as it circled through out the home it made the evening quite a remembering first experience. I opened one of the doors after awhile and we think it flew out. Let's hope we don't have any more of those visits. We did have some of our close friends come out on Sunday to see the house. They all seemed to love what we have done and are very happy for us. Patti & I spotted our first Loons on Fern Lake Saturday and Sunday. They have been endangered in the area for many years and this is the first time they have visited the area. They had one nesting pair on Lake Dunmore last year. They sound very beautiful and was very pleasant to hear during the work weekend.

Final Days of Exterior Work In Sight

While nice warm days has given time to complete the outside work, which is now almost finished. The interior work is now in full swing. The plumbing is roughed in and the electrical is coming along very nice. John has the front entrance to complete and some finish trim work to complete and he will have that stage done. He will also be putting the railings on the porch and deck along with stairs for the back deck. Patti and I will be meeting with Lowe's on the kitchen plan tomorrow. We now have water flowing from the well and all doors are in place. The house will be locked from this point on. This has been a concern for me from the start. Builders Insulation will come tomorrow and price out the insulation for the house. Last week I put in three sonic tubes for the back deck that had to be moved. This was all done by hand including pouring the concrete. With this done he now can finish his work and I can be a few day's ahead.

Outside Work Almost Completed

As work continues on the log home progress on the outside is getting near completion. As the inside plumbing has been roughed in the electrical is next to get into full swing. Two of the pictures shows the bathrooms with the plumbing roughed in. As you can see by the entrance side we now have a front door installed. All of the siding is completed and the drip edge over the windows is in place. Jim Ploof came today and graded in the front. We finally got rid of that plank!! Tomorrow we are going to talk to some one about the kitchen cupboards. I had a chance to try the fishing this year and check out the picture. A nice bass about 15" just under 2 lbs. I got him on my second cast. I did put him back because the season hasn't started yet. It looks like another good year! Hutching Has the entry porch to put in and some interior work some roof work and the porch railings/steps and he will be done. The bees are doing great and I am hoping for another great year working with them.

Lot's of Progress

The kitchen wall is now in place as you can see from the picture. John also made the wall for the stairway. We had to make the upstairs bathroom one foot larger so we could put in the shower and tub we wanted so I included a picture of that as well. Work also continues on the roof. John has the roof about 80% done and it looks real nice. We had to take the dining room door out as well as one of the kitchen windows so my brother Peter could do the wiring for a switch box for the porch and outlets for the kitchen. There is a hole and channel in the frame work for the wire to rest in. Now that the wiring is done the windows can be installed permanent. All windows are in except the four in the basement. The front and back entrance door also need to be put in. The outside is looking great with only the great room log siding left to complete. The rear entrance needs to be made and the stairs and railing on the deck need to be completed. Macintyre plumbing will be bringing the new showers and tub hopefully this week.

We Now Have Doors

The doors in the great room were installed yesterday as well as the dining room. They also installed two more windows the one up in the loft area and the other in the dining area. They have four more windows to install in the walk out basement level. The front door and the lower basement door need to be installed. With good weather they have completed many projects that needed to be done. Natasha took a second off from running around the property for a photo shoot. She is standing just about where the kitchen sink will be.

Windows, Windows And More Windows

We now have the great room windows in. John and his crew installed them today. The look great!! They will be installing the rest of them tomorrow as well as the doors. The side views of the house show the roof work being done. The weather has held up so far but the roof won't be completed this week. The upper shed dormer area is already shingled on both sides. Also the porch roof is done.