Winding down the work

We are nearing the end of the project and are within a week and a half of our final inspections.  I will do one more web update after this one.  The odds and ends to-do list has lots of crossed off items now. 

Major appliance installs are shown below, including the dishwasher, refrigerator, and a direct vent free standing gas stove that is the primary heat source for the living room.  We are running the stove from a thermostat across the room - there is no baseboard heat in the room. 

The direct vent stove has a special flue pipe that includes a 3 to 4 inch pipe that is inside the 7 to 8 inch black pipe that you see here.  The inside pipe is the flue exhaust and the surrounding space in the bigger pipe is the fresh air intake.  The stove draws outside air through this sleeve, which is preheated by the exhaust air.  This eliminates any heat losses that would occur by using interior warmed air for combustion, and also prevents the stove from drawing down oxygen from the living space. 

All of the plumping fixtures are now installed and hooked up.  The one exception is the kitchen sink which is waiting for our countertop install.  The countertop folks seem a bit casual in the scheduling and communications department and are now approaching 2 weeks late on the install.  They don't even call to tell us when they are arriving or when they are canceling an installation or meeting date.  (Can you tell I am not pleased with their performance?)

Both master bath pedestal sinks are done and have a distinct Victorian look.

Specialty Stairs out of Ft Collings spends about 7 man-days building our staircase.  Paint grade risers and newels complement red oak treads, an oak rail, and cherry newel caps.

Mel and I spend many hours hand sanding the hardwoods and applying many layers of a water-based finish.

All the interior door, window and baseboard trim has been installed and all of the misc. electrical tasks are now completed.  Once the countertop and carpeting has been installed, the only major tasks remaining will be the kitchen sink and cooktop installs . . .

There are a number of minor tasks that remain, but are not prerequisite to our getting a certificate of occupancy.