7 - 20 Januar (Days 70-79) Almost Finished

The pace of work has slowed to a crawl--not because of contract issues or any such thing.  Things are slow because there is so little left to do--which is a good thing.  The Punch list is done with the exception of two minor issues.  The gutters are up.  The new blinds are up.  The only things that remain are the shower enclosure in the bathroom, the Audio Visual system, and those nagging punch list items.

The interior clearly has Starbucks' paw of approval.  There are plenty of sunny spots that happen to fall on soft carpets.  Perfect for a dog to relax.  The landscaping is a different issue.  Now that the work is essentially over and we can reclaim the work site.  It time for irrigation, drainage, sod and plants.  I feel my Spring being fully occupied.

The shower enclosure really should be complete except . . . when they brought the glass out last week, they discovered that they had manufactured the panels upside down.  Because the walls are not absolutely plumb (off by 3/8" over 6'), the glass had to be cut slightly out of square.  Sound OK so far--just turn it upside down.  Not so easy.  The glass panels were drilled to support towel rods.  Once you flip the glass, the towels rest on the floor.  Off to the scrap yard with those panels.  New install date is Wednesday.

We placed the final order for the A/V gear.  Only one problem.  Two of the speakers that we want are back ordered because of weather delays FROM ENGLAND.  Everything is scheduled to be on hand on 29 January with a 31 January install date.

And of curse the punch list.  As expected, it is real minor stuff.  One item is simply cleaning up the debris from the stucco job.  The other issue is the damn plastic plugs that cover up the screws in the exterior door.  Watching the door installs on this project has been like a Marx Brothers movie.  The supplier says we have the doors--then we don't have the doors--then we will install the frames with dummy doors so that work can continue--the the dummy doors (both of them) swing in the wrong direction--on the next attempt improvement is made--only one door swings in the wrong direction--then dummy doors are installed but the real doors are waiting to be found--then the real doors arrive missing the infamous screw plugs--then the screw plugs are found and someone drives all the way up from Jacksonville to install $1 worth of plastic plugs--but they are the wrong size.  I think that we have been installing doors since before the time of Rome.  It should be perfected by now.  But on the other hand, if this is the biggest issue that we have outstanding, we are in pretty good shape.

Day 63-69 (December 23 - January 6)

We have made significant progress over the holidays which I did not expect.  Our new project manager has been instrumental in ensuring that the pace continued over the holidays.  There were a couple of setbacks which I will discuss below.

First, the exterior stucco is completed.  I was curious about how the shells are embedded in the coquina, but I was surprised by the technique.  Once the wet finish coat is in place, the shell pieces are simply thrown at the siding sort of like rice at a wedding.  Not what I envisioned, but the effect is eerily similar to that on the original structure.

The electrical finishing is 99% complete.  The ceiling fan is up.  This one is nice in that there are no operating pull chains.  Everything is remote control--capable of being operated from our iPads.  All of the ceiling lights are up and working.  The new security system is in and tested.  The blinds are on order.  We have transitioned our home phone from the land line to another cell phone (no number change).

The flooring is complete.  It has been difficult getting all of the haze and dirt of the floor.  I suspect that this will continue to be a battle until the final day.  The medallion that we had put in the floor came out well.

The niches that we had put in to display small items also came out well

Nonetheless, we did have a couple of aw shits.  Last Friday we were scheduled to install the shower enclosure.  Shortly before the appointed time, the glass company called to inform me that they did not have all of the parts and that there would be a three working day delay.  No real impact on our lives.

Today, the electrician was having trouble getting continuity and voltage to some of the outlets.  We pulled out the prints to find that the drywallers had drywalled over two of the outlet boxes that were now behind the stone wainscoting.  Fortunately, I had pictures of the all phases of the construction process, and we were able to locate them.  Unfortunately, this meant breaking into the stone.  Initially we had hoped to clear all work permits tomorrow, but this will delay the process until Friday.

The new blinds are scheduled to arrive on the 13th.  They will be installed shortly thereafter.  That we leave only the AV system to be installed.  We are targeting the week of the 20th for that effort.