That, my friends, is the much anticipated Finishing Trailer. It is not just fiction.
The siding has gotten off to a much slower start than anticipated and we’ve been sticker-shocked yet again with the price of concrete, but the end is near. Now it is just a war of attrition. Will we get to the finish line before we fall down from exhaustion or run out of money?
These last couple of weeks have seen things pick up speed as the rough construction winds down and the finer finishings get started. We saw the end of the drywallers as they wrapped up the sanding a couple of days later than expecting, creating a bit of a domino effect with the painters and then the flooring installers. The painters in the end, got through to finishing the ceiling paint and priming all the walls. There are a couple of bedrooms at least that have the finish wall colour on them as well, but that part of the job will now have to wait until after the flooring install is complete…and boy is there a lot of flooring!
The siding also picked up speed which I think is a combination of the type we chose and the fact that our builders usually subcontract that work out to companies that just do siding. Either way, it took a bit of time to work out the kinks and our usual contact on site was away on vacation around the same time as Jeff. It just left us mice (me and Josh – the finish carpenter) to play in their absence and well, you can image how that went. With Jeff an Adam both on the job again it seems things are moving right along and we have some lovely siding going up at a faster pace.
The interior doors and trim have also arrived and are camping under the covered deck for the time-being, at least until the flooring is done and they can start installing. The doors are set to be stained at the moment, but we are attempting to get a cost estimate before committing. There are two camps (actually three) – clear stain because the wood is really nice, white to match the trim, or stained “driftwood” like wood roof colour in the living room. If I had voting buttons I’d let you all weigh in. I am firmly in camp #3, to stain them driftwood.
Somewhere in there the sub-contractor doing the tiling is going to get started on the bathrooms. This starts with some waterproofing, but will move into properly tiling the showers and tub surround upstairs quickly as the flooring gets finished. The trim and doors will follow quickly along with the kitchen cabinets in about the 3rd week of July.
We also saw the milestone pass where they temporary utility door has been removed from the mudroom. This was the door that was being used as the primary in and out for the house and we had asked that a temporary be placed so the actual door did not suffer any damage during construction. The mudroom is now sporting a fresh look with the match to the front door finally being installed. It is gorgeous.
Despite the fast pace of the finishing work, we are not holding our breath for a smooth finish in September. It sounds like we might have some trouble with countertops arriving in time so we may move in with plywood if all else is done…I’ve lived with plywood and we will have to if the delay goes beyond Sept 30. We’re wrapping up our tenancy at the rental here in Jaffray by then, so we need that occupancy permit with or without countertops!