Week 33: Waiting on the Rain

The recent rain delayed work on the driveway and landscaping which also meant that we have to move the inspection back. It's not a big deal since we're still on schedule but it's not looking like we're going to finish ahead. The protective fencing around the house have been taken down and the driveway was completed. Our glass backsplash is taking longer then expected although it isn't needed for final inspection but the hope is to have it install before we put in the stove. There are still a bunch of little detail work that needs to be done but the GC feels confident that they will be ready for inspection this week. While he takes care of getting the house ready for inspection, we've been starting to plan the front and backyard landscaping. I really like to get that done before we move in because right now the backyard is just a patch of mud and clay...

First time I can take a picture from this angle without a fence in the way!



The crew have started to clean up the inside in preparation for the inspection and because they're close to finishing:

Find out which app is using a port.

I always forget and have to do a search, but to find out the process using a port the following can be used:

lsof -i :<port>

or

netstat -p

Week 32: A Contemporary Traditional Asian Inspired House

We're about a week from final inspection so the stucco and driveway is starting on the exterior and in the interior it's the appliances, towel bars and other details.



To the office:



To give a sense of height:



Cabinet hardware:



Exterior lights:

Mobile sheet cart loaded

Here are some pictures of my mobile sheet cart all loaded up. It works really well and freed up a ton of space in my garage and I've been able to roll the cart around the garage myself.

Here is the side for larger sheet goods:



The middle part is used for holding lumber with the top using as a shelf:



This side is for holding misc sized parts and dowel rods:

Week 30-31: Countertops, shower doors and more trimming

The kitchen is coming together with the installation of the counter tops and cabinet doors.



Main sink:



Kitchen island sink:



Laundry room:



Shower doors now installed in my walk-in shower:



Other bathroom:







I had the painters paint the walls in the garage since it always drove me nuts to see the sheetrock tape.

Plywood and lumber cart.

Much to the dismay of my wife, my woodworking hobby resulted in our garage getting filled with plywood, wood and scraps from the different projects. One of our shelves was inaccessible since it was blocked by full sheets of plywood, and my wing chun stand became a spot for random pieces of wood to lean against. The walnut that I had were stacked under one table and was hard to sort through and the weight of everything discouraged me from moving any of it. It was time to do some organizing so I decided that I needed to build something to store both the sheet goods as well as the lumber and scraps.



Thanks to K who sacrificed two afternoons to help me with this project. We put together a sheet goods cart based on the plan in The Complete Book of Woodworking by Tom Carpenter. This design is pretty common and many examples and variations of it can be found through a Google search. I like this particular design because the cuts and assembly are pretty straight forward. Some of the nice things about this cart are:

Small foot print -- It takes up only 12 sq ft.

Mobility -- casters makes moving around easy even when fully loaded.

Holds sheet goods on one side, scrap bin on another, and full length lumber in between.

Top can be used as shelving.

The plan even had one end of the cart be a clamp carrier, but I decided not build it for now. I can always add it in the future.



Now, a few lessons learned from building this that wasn't really highlighted in the book. One, it's not easy to do this alone. It's possible but will take a lot longer. The cart is very heavy so when the author says to flip it to its side to install the caster it really takes two people.

Two, among the tools needed, I would throw in a nail gun. It helps to hold pieces in place during assembly. It's not essential, but helps a lot.

Three, have a good set of clamps handy. In the book it showed the use of just a couple of quick clamps but have some larger parallel clamps handy since wood isn't precision materials and will not just "fit". The clamps help to hold the pieces together while you screw things together.

I really enjoyed building this especially since the end result is very functional and useful. The garage is a lot less cluttered now and I can actually get access to my materials again!