Status Report

Work on the new home is nearing completion. The primary holdup is the concrete work for the driveway, front walk, and east side pad. The landscaper needs to complete a paving stone patio and walk in back. The weather has either been too cold or too wet to permit the work to proceed.

We also need stairs built for garage and deck entry.

Need to have a concrete walk laid up to fence line in back.

Electrical work needs to be completed. The light fixture outside the garage door needs to be changed, a blank needs to be installed for the great room light switch, and a number of outlet covers need to be installed. Light fixtures above vanity in powder room are crooked and need adjustment.

An additional outlet has been installed in the hall bathroom. According to Todd of Silverline Electric, the circuit for the bathroom will handle 1440 watts. Our current space heater pulls 1320, so we'll have to get a smaller heater. The 3rd pendant line has been installed in the main kitchen, and an additional switch has been installed for the can lights over the downstairs kitchenette. The LED covers have been changed.

There's still work to be done in the storage room, including installing the vent cover, wrapping the furnace ductwork, and covering a hole in the ceiling.

Trim around fireplace needs to be reattached, and floorboard in front of hearth needs to be installed.

Toilet seat in hall bath is missing.

Temporary shower panel for hall bath remains to be installed.

Touch up painting remains to be done (paint cans in utility room).

Talon Homes, Inc. performed a thorough walkthrough to identify drywall repair and touch up painting required.

Chip Grisham, Talon Homes, Inc.

Mike Creamer, Talon Homes, Inc.

Atrium delivered window screens Thursday. They are stored in the garage. Also in the garage are excess light fixtures that KIE needs to pick up.

There's some hardware (e.g., mudroom closet door pulls) that needs to be attached.

There are items in the garage that need to be retrieved (e.g., old kitchen window, lumber).

Northwood is scheduled to do their "bump and adjust" on the cabinets next Tuesday, the 11th.

Northwood will add hole and grommet to desk to allow electrical/phone wires.

Other fixes are shown in the photos below. Cleaners are working at the house this weekend and any further work in the house may require that they return. Subs should be instructed that shoe/boot covers are mandatory. Laying cardboard will not suffice. Painters should use measures (tarp, tape) to avoid spills.

Access door in master WIC needs to have a handle attached.

Talon is going to arrange to have a lattice work fence built to protect the compressor wire by the deck.

Stuccoed deck posts need to be painted.

Some laminate flooring is not flush. The gaps need to be filled/caulked somehow.

Washer drain needs to be installed.

Bottom of door frames in places not flush with flooring (this is entry to master WIC).

Light Fixtures and Switches

These are the switches for the light over the fireplace and the fan light.  The switch on the left needs to be changed to a tan color.

The overhead smoke detector is too prominent placed here. It should be moved left by the corner wall.

These floods were mistakenly placed outside the patio doors. They are for under the deck.

Three pendant lights are to go over the peninsula.  One of the lights was missing and the others are hung 8" too high.

Installation of dining room chandelier

Fan light near fireplace

Utility room flush mount light

Downstairs bathroom lights

Hall bathroom lights. Note placement of switches.

Master bathroom lights

Problem with switch in master bathroom

Downstairs bathroom switch turned sideways

Wet bar

Under counter light problem over wet bar sink

Owner Electrical Walkthrough

Contractor's construction supervisor asked me to walk through the house and decide if electrical switches, outlets, and such met our needs. These are my findings.

First, I was unable to identify ethernet connection plates, so cannot comment on whether or not they are adequate. Second, I didn't check the crawl space (access in master WIC) to determine if a light fixture was installed there, and I am unsure about whether there's a switch in the WIC for such a light. Third, I was unable to determine of the attic had been wired for an electric fan (if we decide to have one installed). Fourth, I am unable to tell whether a blower fan has been installed in the dryer vent. Finally, there's a switch in the mud room that may have to be moved once cabinet drawings are finalized for the added cabinets going in there (coordinate with Koglin at Northwood).

Other than that, and the few exceptions noted below, outlets, switches, TV, and phone connections are where they should be.

We asked for spots over the 2 walls between the 3 great room windows. The spots are there, but only one switch has been provided (see photos). This necessitates both spots on or off only. It would be better to have a switch for each.

Switch at left wall.

No switch at right wall.

We'd like an outlet added on the NW wall of the master bath, to the left of the door looking from the bath into the master bedroom (see photo).

Need an electrical outlet here.

We'd like an outlet added in the NE corner of the foyer just to the left of the den door (see photo).

Add an electrical outlet in this corner.

On the lower level, there doesn't appear to be a TV cable connection identified in bedrooms #3 or #4.

There needs to be a light in the closet in the basement bathroom.

Electrical Walkthrough, 9/21/2010

Today we did an electrical walkthrough with Brad Tapani (left) and Dave Milloy (rt). We're in what will be Patricia's bedroom.

Richard reviewing the plans with Brad

Brad showing Richard a dance step he employs on Saturday nights at the Branding Iron in Kennewick

The direct vent, gas fireplace will have an on/off switch to the right, just above the built-in bookcase

No big surprises on the walkthrough, although we did have a few changes. For example, because we've chosen to go with a full size refrigerator instead of a compact in the kitchenette downstairs, we eliminated the phone outlet on the right wall and placed it elsewhere in the rec. room. We also reduced the number of lights in the entry hall to the powder room, added a crawl space light and switch in the master BR, and made some changes to the types of lights we were using above the walls between the windows in the great room. We also added Ethernet outlets in various places in the house. Dave took copious notes on all of this. He and Brad were extremely helpful with details and suggestions. A very worthwhile exercise.

When Brad is ready to do the wiring, he'll get in touch with me and I'll go along to discuss some details on the placement of somethings that are TBD based on further construction.

Discussions with the Silverline Electric

Stephen and I met with Brad Tapani (Silverline Electric), who'll be doing the electrical work on the new house. We discussed wireless and wired, i.e., ethernet, data communications, and decided to stick with the plan of wiring most rooms in the house for ethernet. We'll employ a wireless network, as well.

With regard to audio, Brad's recommendation was that we go with a 5.1 surround sound system in the Great Room on the main floor, and the same in the Rec Room on the lower level, and we agreed. Brad said that he uses RG6/U quad shielded coax, as we described in the previous post.

We discussed putting the central wiring panel (CWP) or media panel in the Storage Room on the lower level. Brad said we should look for as centralized and accessible a location as possible for the CWP in order to reduce the length of wire runs to the various media locations, which is reasonable, as long as the CWP isn't obtrusive.

Brad gave us a run down on using CAT-5e vs. CAT-6e wire and we opted to stay with 6e.

The spec sheet addendum contained an item for pre-wiring a security system and we opted not to do that.

We are not going to prewire the entire house for stero, but will put dual speakers (with volume control) on the deck.

Silverline is also doing the plumbing for the central vac system, and we discussed the product line they're using, MD Manufacturing, which sounded fine. We opted to go with the "hide-a-hose' system on the main level.