New electricity, new water?

I arrived at the house on Friday to see Brian and Justin doing some very delicate surgery: they were moving our old electric panel to make way for the new, improved electrical room.

They also had to run the cable for our new service from the street to the box on the house. I'm not exactly sure how much that cable weighs, but judging from the expressions and the grunting, it's pretty hefty. Kateyn and Justin were at one end pushing it into the conduit and Bill and DJ were at the top of the street pulling it through. Brian was giving orders.

We're now ready for the electric company to come do their part and then we'll have the new service. Can't wait to see the new electric bills!

I got to the house this morning hoping to see NStar there, but no sign of them. However, the water people did show up to lay the new piping for the water servce from the street. I missed the work, but here's the result... Unfortunately, there was some sort of misunderstanding, so they didn't finish the job and we have no water. But I'm sure Lee will fix it. I did get here in time to see Sal filling in the trench. Tomorrow he'll start working on the grade for the carport area.

Vinnie and his crew were here today moving shrubs away from the edge of the house. He found a place for everything, but we really need to water . It actually looks kind of nice with less stuff around the house. We will be very careful about what goes back where.

Lee just called to say that all has been resolved with the water people and hopefully we will have service tomorrow and the plants will be saved!

He also said that we are having the framing inspection tomorrow and the insulation will begin on Thursday. Very exciting.

Last week, Lee saw how bothered we were about the proposed placement of the A/C compressors. They are just so big that they will take up too much of our small yard space. So he started looking for alternatives unbeknownst to us. He told us about the possibility of having no compressors, but rather digging a well and having the freeon cooled by water pumped up from our ground. What a great idea. Peter and I thought it was a good solution. Unfortunately, today Lee told me that we probably can't do the well thing because of the interior installation we have. But he pushed Chris and I guess Chris pushed the HVAC engineers, and they decided we can put the compressors on the far side of our yard, under the trees so they won't be right against the house. Lee's still going to check with one more company about eliminating compressors, but at least we have a really good plan B.

Timbe-e-r to the maples

Today was a slightly traumatic day. Peter and I finally had to let go of all the maples behind the tennis court so we can make a path and build a shed for the equipment. Matt Foti's guys were back with Fran doing the overseeing safely on the ground as he directed the cutting. This is a good time to introduce the newest member of our team: Laura. She's a landscape architect; she came over on Monday to see the property fo the first time and so we could meet each
other. She got right into it, and spent most of today helping out with the tree stuff and also helping us with deck issues. Peter, Fran and Laura went over the various areas together:

Then the guys got busy cutting:

Peter helped:

We had a conference about where to put the shed and the path:

More cutting:

The result of all that cutting:

I guess the truth is there is still plenty of screen up high, and when we have the structure of the shed, we'll feel very private again.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Brian and Justin are STILL here 'finishing up'. They re-did the lighting in Peter's dressing room:

Katelyn is STILL trimming out the windows:

Kenny is STILL hanging out of the 3rd floor:

And DJ took a brief break from ginding. You can't see it in the photo, but he was surrounded by a cloud of dust:

We don't know exactly what Bill was doing, but we know it was important:

We made a final decision about the deck today. It will be the ipei wood.It was becoming too cumbersome to try to do the stone and have proper support and enough space for the cars. Miriam was very happy. We didn't want her to feel complacent,so we've asked her to explore the possibilities of moving the stairs from the deck to the yard. It'll help the birch trees but it may not work. We'll see. Lee told me he was also glad we decided to go with the wood deck. I guess the stone would have really been a big deal - not worth it.

Tomorrow the electricians will be running our cables out to the street. Unfortunately, Nstar hasn't appeared yet to do their part, so I'm not exactly sure what happens to the cable once it leaves our property. I guess someone will figure it out. We'll see tomorrow.

Windows, windows everywhere

The team has been busy installing the last of the replacement windows. Kenny got the side window in Sarah's room yesterday; and he removed the old window fromEmily's room.

Today he installed Emily's window. We decided to have a fan in her room instead of central air since she seems to be getting used to having no AC in their apartment in Israel. We want it to feel like home when they come back (you are coming back, Em, right?)

The new windows actually look just like the old ones from a distance. But I am glad to see the clip-in divided panes gone. We now have true divided lights on the 3rd floor.

I guess Ken really likes it on the 3rd floor in spite of the heat cause he keeps finding things to do up there. He reframed the inside of the skylights in the bedrooms - it looks so much better now.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Katelyn and Bill got the new window into the kitchen. Naturally I wasn't there when they took out the old or when they put in the new one. But the result is great. We now have a totally unobstructed view of the back of the brick garage they built across the street.

Bill and Katelyn aso put in the new window in Peter's bathroom.When it was sitting on the floor, it looked so much bulkier than the original window, but now that it's in, it looks like it was always there.

Everybody else was pretty busy doing other stuff:

The roofer (I think his name is Steve) finished the flashing on the front chimney, and is now working on the back one.

Chris was working on the piping for the HVAC connections. I guess we'll actually have the equipment soon. Although the house has been reasonably comfortable most of the time. But I'm sure there will be days when AC will be appreciated.

DJ was doing his usual grinding routine. He is a mess - covered with cement dust. But the ceiling is really looking good.

Yesterday Lee and Wayne were back from Huntington to tie up a few loose TV cables.

And today, Brian and Justin tried hard to look busy while they were waiting for the electric inspection to happen.

The inspector did finally come and we passed! Yay! Now we have to have the framing inspected, then we can do the insulation and then we can plaster. This place may start looking like a real house again soon.

Yesterday, Miriam and Lee had a meeting. It was the usual - Miriam brought over new plans and Lee pretended to read them. If you look closely, you can see that Lee's eyes are closed.

I love our team.

Grind it out, baby

I'm really looking forward to the installation of the exterior doors in the indoor/outdoor room. But Bill patiently explained to me the other day that they have to wait til the ceiling is ground down. Then Lee patiently explained the same thing to me today. So I guess we have to wait. The good news is that DJ is valiantly grinding the ceiling which is very dusty work. He's getting all the excess paint and mortar off the brick. It's starting to look good, but it is slow and messy work. Hopefully it'll mean we can use the existing ceiling and not have to cover it. In the mean time the doors will stay inside.

We watched the fireworks from our Boston terrace last night. It was really terrific, but unfortunately it was raining. So we were standing outside with our umbrellas, feeling a bit damp and chilled. It's a shame since this was our one chance to see it here because next year we will be back in Brookline for the fourth. Unless.... Don't even think about it, Lee. We intend to watch the New Years Eve fireworks from Brookline next year.

I'll be off site for the next few days. That usually means that some major event happens. Maybe I'll come back Monday and find the tennis court gone. (I hope not; that REALLY isn't in the plan)

Field trip

Yesterday I met Heidi at the United Tile yard to look at remnants for counter tops. We want to have stone tops in the laundry room, basement 'pantries', and the we bar in the indoor/outdoor room. We found some interesting stuff that I think will work nicely. We also found a piece of granite that will be really beautiful in Peter's bathroom on his vanity. Originally I was going with marble, but I've been warned that the one I selected is very prone to staining. That just won't do. After we made the selections, we went to the retail store where Kristen drew up the sizes based on my figures. Later she sent me an estimate. I have to admit I was a bit shocked at how pricey this is considering it's supposed to be 1/2 off for remnants. Even bargains aren's bargains any more.

I stopped in at the house where I checed in with Brian. We made a few electrical changes in the kitchen and I hope that is it for re-wiring. Every one else was busy, but there was really nothing new to see. Katelyn is still trimming the bays; and I got up to the 3rd floor just in time to see Ken climbing back in Sarah's window.

Here are a few photos of the outside with windows and trim.

Expect the unexpected

We've had a couple of surprises lately. Nothing that can't be solved (translation: nothing money can't fix)

The roofer went up to check the roof and found that the chimneys need some serious repair. He spent the heat wave redoing the flashing around the chimneys. The rest of the work will be done by the chimney guy, I guess.

And Lee told me there was a little problem with the placement of the compressers. We were hoping to have all 3 in the same general area. But the distance from the 3rd floor air handler to the compressor did not meet code. We tried to find another spot, but there really isn't one. So we had to find a new interior route for the wiring. Lee was able to do so, probably by going on Mapquest and asking for shortest route. Unfortunately it meant opening the walls a a bit of floor in the master bedroom and dining room. So now, the front hall is the only place in the entire house that hs not been touched by this construction. I wonder how long that will last...

The good news is, we will be able to put all the compressors where we originally intended.

We also are making changes to the lighting scheme in various rooms. Unfortunately we are doing this after Brian and Justin did everything according to plan. But they are really helping us figure out what works best for us.

The basement windows went in very quickly. There seemed to be minimal prep work and Bill and Andrew got them in with no trouble. The house looks a little less haunted now.

We had a meeting with Lee and Miriam to discuss the wall for the tennis court. Miriam had designated it at 2 feet and we thought 4 feet would be better. So Peter sat at our 'terrace'. To make it realistic, he read his email while he watched Lee being a four foot wall and Miriam making a net shot. (She's not a very good tennis player, but she is a very good architect. Lee is a very good wall and a very good builder.

)

Friday afternoon the exterior doors for the indoor-outdoor room arrived. They weigh 600 pounds each and had to be carried from the side of the house around the back and into the room. I would have helped, but someone had to take the pictures. They are very big - Lee measured,just to make sure and they do fit in the space. That's certainly good news.

I can't wait to see them go in.