pboehmer.com

2013.10.09

The flooring and stairs were finally completed on the 26th and turned out very nice. I have mixed feelings about the overall transaction concerning the flooring. I found out when I returned the unused flooring, that the installer was actually sub-contracted out from the sub-contractor Lumber Liquidators contracted (LL does not do their own installs) which apparently is a big no no. While the installer was very nice and did an OK job, they really did a number on my walls as far as scrapes and scuffs (which he offered to repair, I declined) and a couple of compromises had to be made as far as the stairs. In the end, would I do business again with LL? Most likely. Here are some pictures of the final product, though I seemed to have omitted taking pictures of the stairs, go figure.

I'm about 90% complete on the trim work in the family room and working on trimming out the stairs and door to the adjoining kitchen. Since I can no longer use power tools in the addition, I've had to use the garage as a cutting area, thus leaving my car outside once again. I think �Maggie� (name of my car, derived from the color, Magnesium Pearl) doesn't like this, since I've had the heater/AC control back lights, analog clock back light, and even one of my HID fog lights stopped working this morning.

2013.09.24

Installation of the flooring started yesterday, and in typical fashion of late, disastrous. Installers were supposed to be at the house around 8:00am, but instead didn't show up until sometime around 2:30pm. The installer at least called me at 8:00am to let me know that they had been pulled off my job to do an emergency repair and would be at the house around noon (which obviously took longer). So, at the house it was quickly discovered that the salesman didn't order any nails and totally dorked the order in regards to the parts for the stairs. They stuck around for about 2 hours and needless to say, didn't get much done. Biggest issue with the stairs is that the builder put cheap softwood treads on (as planned) and the plan was for me to paint the stringers and risers and the new treads will cover the existing ones. What wasn't mentioned was that the new treads are around 1in thick and do not have a "bullnose" on them. Treads were custom ordered and can't be returned, so the plan is now to pad out the risers to match the softwood treads and cover the risers with the flooring material.

The wife and I will be taking turns staying at the house for the install which was scheduled for four days this week. Today was her turn, and day 2 of the flooring installed in proving to be off to another bad start. Around 9:00a, I called the wife only to find that no one had showed up yet. I call the installer and he is at the flooring place getting nails (which doesn't open until 9:00 and apparently they don't sell nails anywhere else). Installer assures me that his guys should be at the house within minutes and on top of that, has a couple of extra guys to help out.

As of 9:45a, only two of the installers are at the house, one of which is the guy that was at the flooring place... grrrr.

2013.09.06

The addition work pace went from 0 to 100mph in two weeks flat. Since my last update, we have ordered the flooring and it's scheduled to be installed the week of 9/23. We are having the stair treads covered with the same flooring as the family room, so it's up to me to paint the risers and stringers. The family room flooring is dark, almost black, so our initial color choice of painting the risers/stringers white should be interesting. If it doesn't pan out, I have a couple of interesting ideas for at least the risers.

On top of that, we purchased the sectional sofa that we've been looking at for the past couple of weeks. Naturally, this will be delivered before the flooring is installed, so while it gives us plenty of time to figure out how everything will be laid out, it also means we'll be moving it out of the room. We have a fairly small house, so I think we'll be climbing over furniture for a better part of a week.

After the flooring is installed, all that is left to do is the floor trim and moving the furniture in. One big gotchya is my home theater equipment. It currently resides in a converted closet, and we are (actually I am) having problems finding a suitable shelving system for it. I drew up some plans for a custom cabinet for my builder, who just happens to build cabinets. Still waiting on a quote for it though.

2013.08.21

I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I managed to get quite a bit accomplished this weekend. Painting is complete and cornice is starting to go up. I cut down some 2x4s to 1x1s and brad nailed the 1x1s to the studs. Then I brad nailed the crown molding to the 1x1s. This makes a perfect channel for the lighting to sit in. Here are some pictures of the work in progress, but I'm saving the finished product for a future post. This weekend's favorite tools, pneumatic brad nailer and chalk snap line.

Before nailing the crown molding to the cornice, I needed to fish low voltage wiring in the wall for the lighting. At the same time (and to aid in the fishing of the wire), I installed the in-wall speakers for the upper front surround sounds.

The in-wall speakers are off center due to an A/V equipment rack going in on the right side of the room. I'm planning on having the bulk of the corning wiring done this week. If the stars align, we may be ordering the flooring for the addition this weekend. We are pretty much sold on bamboo flooring from Lumber Liquidators.

2013.07.30

The wife and I put the final coat of paint on the family room walls last night, so bulk of the painting is complete. The ceiling turned out pretty cool. I wasn't exactly sure how the pearl glaze would look, but it actually turned out quite nice. We are still trying to figure out what color temperature lighting we want in the room. We started off with your basic incandescent (2500k, yellowish) bulbs for the can lights and then Dana picked up an 3500k LED bulb (slightly whiter yellow), followed by a 5000k (white). So now we have a mix of different lighting in the room and cannot get a consensus of which one to go with. I think we are going to wait until the flooring is installed to make a final decision.

Now that the family room is just about complete, I noticed a huge crack in the stairwell drywall. Turned out the crack was the metal infused corner tape pulling away due to the mud being too dry when I put it on. To fix, I needed to cut out all of the bad tape and replaced it with the fiber mesh stuff. I also need to finish up some odds and ends upstairs as well.

Nothing new going on with the 300 lately. I have a stack of parts sitting on my desk waiting to be installed, but just haven't had the time. On the todo list: an engine dress up kit, smart gauge wiring, rear view camera re-wire, replacement fog lights, and probably some other stuff that I can't remember at this time. It doesn't help that I am so jonesing to start working on getting the garage setup as a workshop either.