As usual just the prep work alone, prior to the crew getting started with the stone work, took longer than I had expected. The majority of the work involved was the timber work that surrounds the chimney about a third of the way up. We had some timbers left over so I decided to make use of them for the mantel as well as the band that kind of breaks things up.
The hearth stone will be a flagstone that has yet to be picked out but will probably be chosen this week. There will be some hearth stone also incorporated onto the top of the timber band. It will hopefully give it more of a tapered look, or at least soften the difference in the upper and lower chimney.
The first step for applying the stone was to brown coat the entire face of the fireplace surround / chimney.
Once this had set up the stone could start to be applied. With four people working on it, it went relativley fast but still took them two days to nearly complete it.
Also, the granite for the counter tops has been picked out, ordered, and hopefully will soon be fabricated. This was quite an education how the whole process works. First off we needed to chose the colors that we wanted in the granite and then decide the thickness of the granite. Once we had this decided we needed to make an appointment to pick out the slabs of granite. When picking out the slabs they have them all lined up so that they are in succession as to how they were mined so as to keep any lines running in the granite together once it goes into fabrication. As it turned out, we needed three slabs to complete the kitchen, and the laundry room. Another slab of a different color was chosen for the master bathroom, and guest bathroom. The powder room off of the kitchen was also a different color granite and was chosen from the companies remnant selection.
Obviously, with the granite soon to be installed most of the cabinet ( kitchen and bathrooms) installation is complete. Some doors and smaller cabinets need to be installed but this part of the project is winding down.
The office cabinets are slated to be installed shortly after the fourth of July, with the desk top being fitted and installed shortly there after.
The tile has also been quite a process to get picked out and to get someone set up to do the installation. We had originally planned on doing this ourselves, and actually were looking forward to it, but time is not on our side and thus this is one of the things that needed to be contracted out. All of the tile will be porcelain tile which was a bit of a sticker shock but in the end will hold up much better than ceramic.
This week should see the delivery of the evacuated tubes, ground mount kit and other materials needed for the solar portion of the radiant floor. This is a ways away from installation due to..... you guessed it time constraints, but we figured we better get it ordered now because it doesn't appear that shipping prices are going to be getting any less expensive!!
If any spare time is had, we have been trying to devote it towards getting more siding installed. As you can see there has been little change since my last update but our hopes are as we get more of the inside work completed we will find more time to make a bigger dent in the siding project.
And lastly, a garden update. I seem to be a bit behind this year on getting everything in but it is coming along nicely. Just wish for the garden's sake and the rain catch tanks sake the monsoons would start up soon!!!
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