Doug, John, and Chris completed all the touchup and clean up jobs that they had built into a final list of things to do.  They moved the freezer to the basement and plugged it into the electrical receptacle next to the emergency generator circuit box.  They moved the washer and dryer into the new laundry and stacked them  using the hardware kit I got about 6 months ago--luckily our washer-dryer combination was designed to stack, so it only took a $15 kit to put that together.  Doug took the task of bolting everything together and getting it to sit level in the laundry.  John installed all the towel racks and toilet paper holders in the three bathrooms.  Chris spent a lot of time cleaning and dusting off the walls.  Mike the painter was around to touch up the paint where dings and marks had appeared.

Dwayne installed the 5 spots in the kitchen, although the spots need some new bulbs, 50 watt, PAR20 medium base 120 volt halogen bulbs to be exact.

Harry Burd arrived to give us our final building code inspection. He used the exterior stairs that Doug had built for the bumpout door and checked the other door that had been disabled by removing the door handle. The rest of his inspection involved checking the electrical receptacles on the great room wall and in the kitchen.  Everything passed with flying colors and Harry will issue the occupancy certificate to Huston Twp, Envinity, and us.  With that we will be able to transition the construction loan to the permanent mortgage.   

With the achievement of the occupancy certificate milestone, our construction phase II is complete.  Move in date is a moving target, but we have our 'cast and crew' party scheduled for

this coming Saturday (July 31), so we will likely be(somewhat) moved in by then.

Hoss and Empress visited for their inspection: 5' black rat snake greeted them in the coop.

Harry Burd stopped by for the almost final building code inspection on Friday and was completely impressed with the work the crew had done. His only complaint was that the exterior doors need to have easy access (meaning stairs), so after the final grading is done, the crew will install some stairs for the two doors at the bumpout. The final grading will bring the grade up for the main entry, the rear entry, and the breezeway rear entry doors. For those doors we may need to add a stone tread so that the step up to the concrete stoop is not so high. At least Harry gave us the OK to start moving furniture into the new house. He will return to give a final inspection and issue the certificate of occupancy when we have the exterior door access issue corrected. This is important because we need that certificate to transition from the construction loan to the mortgage.

Friday saw more cosmetic touchup and adjustments. Friday evening the cleaning crew arrived to give the house a final once-over. They arrived too late to see well so we had to vacuum the closets, drawers and several corners.
Over the weekend we cleaned up several pieces of furniture that had been stored in our garage for the past 3 years. The furniture was, surprisingly, in good shape and after some vacuuming and washing down to get rid of cobwebs and dust, we moved the pieces into the dining room, great room, and loft. Jonathan's fox holes are now filled with blocks of several varieties and trains.

The drop in oven is now wired up and ready to go, only need the wiring for the cooktop and down draft vent to complete the electricity in the kitchen.
The chandelier over the dining table is up but we'll have to decide on the length of the chain now that the table is in place. This fixture needs a switch which will be located just to the right of the kitchen cabinets. The electrical short in the lighting under the catwalk has been repaired and the replacement wiring has been hidden with some wooden wire chases, so without knowing where the new wiring has been placed, you just can't see it.
The powder room sink has been installed but Jeff, our plumber, found a hairline crack in the faucet, so a replacement faucet is on order. The mirror was moved up and centered on the sink. The light fixture can be installed now that we know how high the mirror hangs on the wall. The claw foot tub is installed; Jeff will make final adjustments to the legs to get the tub to sit so the water flows toward the drain.  This weekend was ArtsFest so I took a picture of the installed daffodil sink to the vendor for his portfolio.

In the basement the electrical circuits for the air exchanger and its programmable controller were installed. The controller can modify the percentage of the time the exchanger is operating and the final setting for the exchanger will be determined, based on the results of the energy audit.

We got our almost final building code inspection on Friday. Harry Burd stopped by and was completely impressed with the work the crew had done.
His only complaint was that the exterior doors need to have easy access (meaning stairs), so after we get the final grading done, the crew will install some stairs for the two doors at the bumpout and the final grading will bring the grade up for the main entry, the rear entry, and the breezeway rear entry doors. For those doors we may need to add a stone tread so that the step up to the concrete stoop is not so high. At least Harry gave us the OK to start moving furniture into the new house. Harry will return to give a final inspection and issue the certificate of occupancy when we have the exterior door access issue corrected. This is important because we need that certificate to transition from the construction loan to the mortgage For most of the day on Friday there was more cosmetic touchup and adjustments and on Friday evening the cleaning crew arrived to give the house a final once-over. Over the weekend we cleaned up several pieces of furniture that had been stored in our garage for the past 3 years. The furniture was, surprisingly, in good shape and after some vacuuming and washing down to get rid of the cobweb and dust, we moved the pieces into the dining room, great room, and loft. The layout of the furniture is sort of haphazard right now.
The drop in oven is now wired up and ready to go, only need the wiring for the cooktop and down draft vent to complete the electricity in the kitchen.
The chandelier over the dining table is up but we'll have to decide on the length of the chain now that the table is in place. This fixture needs a switch which will be located just to the right of the kitchen cabinets. The electrical short in the lighting under the catwalk has been repaired and the replacement wiring has been hidden with some wooden wire chases, so without knowing where the new wiring has been placed, you just can't see it.
The powder room sink has been installed and Jeff, our plumber, found a hairline crack in the faucet, so a replacement faucet is on order. The mirror was moved up and centered on the sink and it all looks great. The light fixture can be installed now that we know how high the mirror hangs on the wall. The claw foot tub is installed and Jeff will make final adjustments to the legs to get the tub to sit properly.
In the basement the electrical circuits for the air exchanger and its programmable controller were installed. The controller can modify the percentage of the time the exchanger is operating and the final setting for the exchanger will be determined, based on the results of the energy audit.

Inspection: passed

Harry Burd, the Building Code Official, visited today.  He makes periodic inspections as the construction progresses and signs off our building permit.  Yesterday he approved the rough-ins for plumbing and electrical so that we can go forward with hanging the drywall over these services.

 water manifold

Jonas added posts on the catwalk so now only the posts along the side of the loft remain before the balusters and cap rail are added.  Jeff added a plumbing manifold down in the basement.  Dwayne continued electrical rough-in.