As I expected, this past week has been a busy one as construction work wraps up. The mirrors went in, the last of the bamboo flooring went down, and almost the last of the tile backsplashes went in.
Mirrors
Mirror-maker Mo was back on Tuesday with the mirrors for the master and guest baths, plus a repaired antique mirror that will go in the master bedroom. He uses this way-cool laser device that guarantees a level mirror.
Once he locates the horizontal and vertical centers on the wall, he uses the laser to show them along the full width of the space. By raising or lowering the height of the horizontal laser line, he can identify exactly where the mounting holes should go.
And the end results are…
…in the master bath, and…
…in the guest bath.
Office floor
Kurtis is back from vacation, and so we kept him busy, first with the floor for the office. Here he is laying down the glue for one of the final runs of the boards.
There’s too much glare coming from the windows to get a good idea of the color. This is a better image of the whole floor.
Those white holes are openings for electrical outlets, which have now been installed. Their dark brown covers match the floor almost perfectly.
This floor had to be glued down because the boards were not built to snap together the way the ones in the bedrooms were. The glue also serves as a vapor barrier from the concrete below, and there’s no need for that padding under the bamboo that we had to use in the bedrooms.
Backsplashes
Kurtis also installed the tile backsplashes in the kitchen. Here’s the backsplash above the cooktop under the overhead lights.
And here’s the backsplash under a little side area with the under-cabinet lighting turned on.
You can also see, right under the upper cabinets, the power and switch bar. By placing all of those controls up there, we didn’t have to worry about cutting tile to fit around the switches or outlets. If I want, I can add other things, like a clip to hold–and power–a phone or tablet, a USB port, or other things into the conduit with little effort. It’s almost “plug-and-play.”
Monsoon storms
Finally, July is one of our monsoon months, and that can mean some pretty stout storms. As I was leaving the house on Thursday, this storm was doing its thing out on the far side of the San Pedro Valley.
For reference, the Mule Mountains off in the distance just behind the storm are 13 miles away.
There’s more wrap-up work to do but I’m expecting the final inspections to also be done this week and the county to issue the Certificate of Occupancy. I’ll close on the mortgage in early August and soon after that it’ll be time to move in.
What am I expected to do after you move in? August is not that far away! What will you write about then?
I don’t know, Jackie! I don’t think anyone wants to read about the usual throes of getting settled in the new place. Or about the process of selling the old one. I’ll figure something out, I’m sure. Which is fine for my end. For you…?
Closed on the new mortgage today, so the construction lenders will be happy and I don’t have to worry about them anymore. Certificate of Occupancy should be issued tomorrow. I expect to start moving in stages after that, once most of the finishing work on the punch list is done. SO much left to do….