I'm gradually getting accustomed to the rapid
change around here. The crew came at 7:00AM. This is the third
day, and the roof replacement is moving right along. I'm impressed
with the speed. Here are thumbnails of the progress so far.
Steven C.
Randel, AIA Architect
1775 E Palm Canyon Dr, H302
Palm Springs, CA 92264
760 904-7078 |
SF Bay
Construction, Inc
Brian Kenny
236 West Portal Ave
San Francisco, CA 94127
415-841-1008
www.sfbayconstruction.com |
Robert Gorman, Engineer
PO Box 95
Moraga, CA 94556
925-376-7230 |
Richard C. Najera,
Owner
Trinity Electrical Contractor
1277 Linda Mar
S.C., No 117
Pacifica, CA 94044
650-557-0199 |
The Floor Show
Wood
Flooring: Refinish, repair and more
2547 Eighth St
Berkeley, CA 94710
510-845-4633 |
Saul Espinoza Painting
Exterior - Interior
2876 - 18th
St
San Pablo, CA 94806
510-233-3690 |
Click
on the thumbnail to see a larger picture.
Day 00 - The Day Before Construction Started |
Day 02 - Second Day of work ... the evening I returned from
Oregon
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Day 03 - The roof is going back up and the room is taking shape
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I don't mean to bore you with some many updates,
but the place is changing so fast. Today all of the glass (windows
and doors) are gone from the living room and dining room. The roof
was finished (meaning all is covered with plywood), and the new
windows and doors have been framed. The crew works very fast.
The inspector is coming tomorrow to check off the foundation for the
new fireplace area. Then the cement will be poured. The
electrician will come early next week, which put the pressure on me
to finalize the ceiling lights.
Here are thumbnails of the results of today's pounding and sawing.
Click on each to see a larger picture.
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Day 05: Here are some pictures from Friday. Plywood went
up. On Saturday we had quite a steady rain for 1 or 2 hours. And
that was after I promised everyone that it never rains this time of
the year! The contractor brought over blue tarps and that stopped
the water from finding its way through the cracks in the plywood
room.
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Day 06: On Monday, I
asked that the partition wall be removed.
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Day 07 (Tuesday, the fireplace was frame in and
worked continued on framing all of the old window sizes to receive
the new windows. They should be here on Friday (fingers crossed.)
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Day 8: The roofers came on Thursday. This
took most of the day took most of the day. The new roof lines up
with the old roof a lot better and they did a good of integrating
the shingles and making it look like it's always been that way. The
job will be done when they install the downspouts.
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Day 11: Wiring began on Friday, continued
to Saturday and they are still working on things today (Sunday).
There are lots of decisions regarding outlets, location of
downlights, switches. But I was happy that I was there to answer
them. I am hoping the electrician will have time to fix some
existing wiring problems I have at my house. They also have to
installed "wired" smoke detectors in the bedrooms and hallway
.
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Day 12: All of the windows went in on Monday (except for
the trapezoidal windows in the new dining room.) After they
were in, the slow work of finishing the outside walls began:
moisture barrier paper, building paper, moldings and shingles.
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Today (Tuesday, Day 13, I think), the electrician, builders and
speaker installer are all here working around each other. |
Day 14: There was a lot going on today. The siding
around the windows on the outside is being restored. Inside, a guy
was putting up insulation all day ... to the walls and ceilings.
The
contractor stopped by and said the fireplace would come tomorrow.
However, later on this afternoon, the fireplace installers were here
to place the sealed glass front - gas fireplace and flue.
I think sheet rocking will start tomorrow!
Here are pictures of all of this:
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Day 13/14: Jim called and he and my niece
Kristin were in Walnut Creek. He was bringing a truck load down South and
Kristin was getting a ride back to her home in Corona. They were
able to stay the night and see the progress on Blair Avenue.
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Day 16: Today
(Saturday), the drywall installation began. Also, the
trapezoid windows arrived and were installed. Now my house can
be locked and secured (whew). Shingles continued to be applied
to the outside and the stucco worker came today to look at the
chimney.
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Day 17(Sun): The
rest of the drywall was installed today. The mudding of the
joints begins tomorrow.
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Day 26 (Tues). The wall
board people taped yesterday and today are continuing to plaster the
walls. The stucco wire was inspected yesterday and stucco was
applied to the chimney wall outside. I selected a color to put into
the stucco for the last coat to match the color of the shingles.
I've started to look at paint colors for the interior walls, ceiling
and trim.
And I looked at some exterior lighting fixtures. Trying to combine
style and function is not easy.
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Day 31 (Sun):
The walls of the living room were finished
yesterday. At the last minute I decided to have the old dining room
finished with the treatment (smooth). They are about 1/2 way
through with a second coat of plaster and sanding left. They can
move the stacked up furniture to the living room to finish that
work.
On Friday, they begin
refinishing the floors. I hope painting can start the following
week.
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Day 33 (Wed): The walls of
the old dining room received the final sanding and the floors of
both rooms were exposed. At the same time, the final coat of
the stucco was being applied outside.
The color is pinker than
what I thought I was selecting. I will wait and see how it
goes with the tint in the penetrating seal that will be put on the
shingles later on.
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Day 35 (Fri): The
floors are being sanded today. And there are about 4 places
that need some patching ... none are very big. I think the
first coat of the finish will be applied either today or Monday.
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Day 38-41: The
floors are finished. The electricians were very careful of
them as they installed the halogen recessed lights, plugs and
switches on Thursday and Saturday. The space is nicely lit
now. The painter
starts today (Tuesday) and hopes to be finished by Friday.
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Final Days:
So much happened in the last week. The electrician came and
finished up. He installed 7 "wired" smoke detectors. And
he finished cabling and connecting things in the "structured wiring
box (where the network, telephone and satellite cables come
together.) The
painters came and primed and painted the wall, ceiling and trim.
They did a very careful and thorough job.
The HD satellite dish and
receiver were installed on Wednesday. On Sunday the speakers
were installed in the ceiling.
Gloria spent Saturday with
me cleaning, vacuuming, moving, organizing to get the empty rooms
looking like living spaces. My house is looking like a home.
I put the piano and book case in the "old dining room". The
old dining room table has been put in the area near the trapezoid
windows.
Randy and Bob arrived from
Redlands mid-afternoon on Saturday. The bedrooms had just been
readied. The continued to help me "move in". The big
thing we accomplished was to mount the LCD TV on the wall in the
niche above the fireplace. Three people made this a fairly
easy task.
Our friend Renato came over
with his cousin Juan Ricardo (from Chile) for dinner on Monday
evening. Randy baked a delicious spaghetti pizza.
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