He's Back!

Last year I got quite a surprise when a poisonous copperhead snake was hiding under a big piece of lumber I picked up.

Today, it happened again, although this time he was coiled up under a hose and I actually grabbed him as I went to pick up the hose.  Luckily when I realized it felt squishy I immediately released and backed off, and yep, there he was staring at me.

I must have startled him as much as it startled me, because he didn't start trying to bite right away when I started to pick him up.  This time however, I couldn't let him go with the kids moving in soon, can't have a poisonous snake around!

Mirrors and Fireplace

I hung one of the big mirrors, and the boys' J/J bathroom mirror was installed...

Also fired up the fireplace for the first time and installed the surrounding faceplate trim...

Deck Screens

Screens are installed, the back deck is awesome like a tree house!

Air Replacement Unit 2

They ran the wire in the living room behind the kitchen hood.  Ugg, sometimes house building and making corrections is ugly.  It's drywalled now and will be painted tomorrow...

More Exterior Details

Stairs to backyard being built with proper drainage

More backfill

Catch basin installed to move water coming down the hill past the house

Concrete pad around well

Railing on both sides of the porch because of the height

Landscaping Drainage

The landscaper put underground drainage to far behind the house for every gutter downspout.

Also, on the side of the house that gets a massive amount of water due to the slope of the land, he is installing a 6'' catch basin to collect all rainwater away and past the house.  This entire pipe will be buried and exit into the woods...

Before the catch basin, we would get a creek on the side of the house with a heavy rain...

Inspectors Suck (sometimes ;-)

Truth is, you want your inspector hard on you cause it can save your life.  But in this particular instance, the inspector sucks :)

During rough in, the inspector told me to put T-ply up in the unfinished area under a stairwell.  So I spent a weekend insulating and cutting T-ply sheets to install...

During the pre-final inspection he tells me that's not good enough and that I need to replace with fire-resistant drywall to meet code.  Yeah, thanks buddy.  It's much harder to do now that I closed down the access door to a smaller size after drywall.  Anyway, I ripped out everything this weekend and replaced with drywall...

Update 5/25... I taped and mudded it myself, probably the worse job ever, but who cares, it's in a small access door to unfinished space in the garage and will never been seen :)

Air Replacement Unit

Yeah, if that blog title sounds like B.S., it is.  Had a pre-final inspection today, and the inspector said because our cooktop vent hood is so strong (> 400 CFMs) we need an air replacement unit.  Problem is 1) it's a very new requirement that almost no builder ever gets called on (I've asked around), and 2) it requires electrical and duct work which would be much easier to do during rough in (before drywall).  This is really something the HVAC company should have caught, but either way, it's a pain in my ass now.

Hardwoods being cut to install new vent to the outside...

This will ultimately end up looking like all the other hardwood vents, install is scheduled ...

Pressure detector installed on vent hood duct...

Damper controller installed in the basement...

Yes, those two things need to be electrically hooked up without tearing up our cabinets or tile work.  Looks like the living room drywall needs to be cut so a line can be run from the back of the kitchen wall to the basement.  Then will have to repair the drywall and repaint that area.  Real pain in the ass!

New outside vent to allow air in to replace the air the cooktop vent hood exhausts...

Let There Be Water!

I was so excited to have running water in the house, and that I wasn't forced to do #2 in the disgusting porta potty, that I decided to christen the house.  I was very pleased with myself, until afterward I realized there was no toilet paper ;-)

Door Hardware

Going through the house and installing all the door hardware on our newly painted black doors...

Also fired up the cooktop for the first time today...

Unfinished Space Access Doors

I'm finishing off the doors to unfinished space in the house, and starting to install hardware...

Driveway Concrete

Let There Be Light!

And finally, we have power!

And as with everything in the building process, something had to go wrong.  So we have this ghetto light in place of the island pendant light which was broken and needs to be replaced ;-)