Leak No More... Appliances Raised. Where is Alese?

After what seems like (and was) months.  And after 3.5 inches of rain this weekend, we can say that the door doesn't leak.  Finally!  It took the work of 3 people to get it all water tight, but after this weekend's rain, some wind-driven we feel pretty confident with the door.

 There have been details worked on while there's also been the struggle with the door.  Baseboards are in on the first and second floors.  But I don't have a photo of the baseboard on the rounded corners. (You'll have to visit to see that.) The outside corners on the sheet rock walls are rounded not square.

In the photo at right, Alese is examining an extension to the stair railing on the second floor.  Because the stairway down started a bit into the landing we need to have the space protected.  The flat area will probably become a holding space for keys, coffee cups, and other things needing a rest on the way up or down. (The blue lines are tape holding down paper to protect the floors.)

Today we had a lift move the appliances up to the correct floors.  It was easier and safer on the walls to do it this way.  In the photo you can see the washer and dryer on the balcony.  Laundry area is just inside that door to the left.  And the refrigerator is arriving on the 3rd floor.

(FYI our builder refers to the balcony as the Romeo and Juliet porch.)


The big news, and you can't see much in the photo at left, is the installation of some of the railing.  They took out the front part of the balcony railing to receive the washer and dryer.  But, more importantly, the railing for the stairs up to the Observatory is in place.  You'll notice, that the 3rd floor landing hasn't been railed yet -- one more thing that was waiting on the leak.

I held the door open and it made a barrier that allowed Alese to comfortably step up the stairs, and finally make her first visit to the Observatory. She was very brave in that the railing isn't yet up around the porch, so she stayed against the house.  Being up one more level changes the view of the Gulf and the land and she found the view amazing!

New, Stronger, Door. Interior door hardware.

 The Vent Hood is now in place, but the glass piece which really makes it look sharp is in storage to protect it from careless workers... recommended by the two that installed it.

Its nice to have the door hardware installed because that also means the doors are in place too.  We wanted levers rather than round nobs because as we get older, those will be easier to use.

There's a new door installed to replace the leaky one.  This one is clearly an upgrade.  Note on the photo to the left, there's an additional latch at the top of the jam.  There's also one at the bottom of the jam.  Those plus a very different threshold are supposed to solve the leak problem.  Unfortunately there's no real rain in the forecast so we'll have to wait a while to know for sure.

Appliances are scheduled for delivery this week too!

Concrete and Baseboards!

Does she look happy?  Something has happened!

We can see get a sense of  how the yard gets laid out now.

And baseboards will get painted to match the walls.

What I don't show is the new door.  Which was delivered and sitting on the driveway.  Yup, we're still not finished with the leak -- though optimistic the new door will solve the issue.

It's been a while... Things moving slowly.

Yes, it's been a while since the last post.  Things have been moving slowly.   We had an issue with the 3rd floor North door, the one that leads to a cantilevered porch, the route to the observatory deck. There has been rain intrusion.  Initially we thought it was because the painters had removed the weather stripping on the door to paint it and not replaced it.  After replacing the weather stripping, it wasn't until the next big rain we knew we still had a problem.   Everyone tells us leaks are hard to find.  Water can travel a distance from the entrance point to where ever it decides to show itself.  It has been a journey, with 4 different attempts to plug the leak, and I think it was actually a series of leaks.

 So, once we feel confident the leak(s) have been stopped, drywall and insulation in the impacted area (basically the second floor below the leak) will be replaced, and of course painted.







In the mean-time, the forms are in for the hardscape (driveway and sidewalks).   The weather didn't cooperate over the past two weeks for this to get completed.  We had rain (reference the first paragraph) and then mud. The hardscape folks were held up completing the jobs on their list in front of ours.  We are finally having warm (70s+) sunny weather and there is no rain in the immediate forecast so we should have concrete filling the forms this week.

The most spectacular change is with the floors.  Until now, they've been covered with dirt, grime, drywall texture and spare materials.   Last week a crew came down from Austin (apparently these are the best folks for this task) and sanded the floors, stained them, and put down the finish.  So all the floors on the second and third floor look like this!

Happy 2015

Those of you who follow us on Facebook saw the photo from New Year's Eve at Port Royal, our neighboring resort.  But do you know how we got to be there for free?

This story is relevant to the house story. We keep track of our neighbor for interesting and free events.   They had a 12 Days of Christmas give-away.  We entered, and each day had the opportunity to win a prize -- all announced on December 12.  I got a message first, winning a free large pizza!  I thought that was a good prize.  Then Alese got her notice -- Free 2-nights stay New Year's Eve and and New Year's Eve celebration. That's why we were smiling.

This was our opportunity to check out both the rooms and the view of our house.  Of course we had to do this.  And now we can recommend both the facility and the food.   It was a great experience.

From our house looking toward our 2-bedroom suite, it's hard to tell where we were.  Way down at the end, 3rd floor, and third porch from the left.

The weather was cold, and overcast, with occasional rain.  But we had to see what our house looked like from Port Royal so we could decide on window coverings.  What we found was that it's very hard to see anything over that distance.

With binoculars you can see more, but we're really not close enough to worry about what folks might be able to see, even at night with lights on.

And, as for progress on the house...  Well, not much gets done when Christmas and New Years fall in the middle of their respective weeks.   We're through that now.  The balusters on the stairs are now white, and the drywall repairs have been made, the painters are busy with second coats, and we're in line for hardscape (concrete) and porch railings.   The floor for the outside porches is in progress and the sewer line is in. (not worth a photo)