Ductwork, Wires and Front Doors . . . Oh My!

There has been plenty of progress going on at the house . . . let me catch you up.

The ductwork was finished around Christmas and we passed the Mechanical Rough Inspection. Here’s some of the work.







The booster fan for our dryer exhaust.

The refrigerant and control lines that connect the air handler to the condensing unit.

This is where our condensing unit is going.

We finished running the electrical wire between the circuits. Then, we pulled all of the wire to the panels. There are two panels; the second one has a transfer switch that will be used for a future generator. We passed the electrical rough inspection last week! We still need to run the feeder wire from the meter to the panel, this should be done in the next week.

The panels before wire was pulled.

Wire in our Master Bedroom.

The wire going to the panels, before going through the panel tops.

The wires are now pulled through the panels and ready for drywall.

The power.

Adam wired four copper grounding rods and drove them into the ground. These rods are connected to the electrical meter and panel to ground our house.

We installed the front door. This past weekend, we installed the trim around the front door and started on the siding on the front porch. It is wonderful to cover up the house wrap once and for all.

The front door when as it arrived, before being stained.

Staining our fiberglass door.

Adam and his dad installing the front door.

Doesn't it look great?! We still have to touch up the stain a bit and then put the clear coat on.



The curved trim is installed on the top of the door and the side trim was installed today (no pictures, sorry). The siding is up on half of the porch.

So . . . what do you think?

There are still some punch items on electrical that should be done in the next week. Then we have the framing inspection, followed by insulation and the insulation inspection. Then, it’s drywall. Adam is getting prices for drywall now and we expect it to go up in three weeks.

There has been a lot of work going on around the Harris home.

Adam and his dad filled the screw holes on the porch with Bondo. They also will fill the seams and sand everything down before painting it white.

The ductwork is coming along great. Here's the duct in our attic space.

The exhaust fans in the bathrooms are in as well.

The garage door was installed on Wednesday last week.

The house is really coming together now. It is also finally secure!

Adam and his Dad started installing the electrical wiring. Here's some of their handy work.








The front door won't be in until the new year. The ductwork should be finished in a week and we'll get our mechanical inspection before Christmas. We may even have the electrical finished before Christmas as well. Then, we just need to finish the insulation in the walls and it's drywall time. Very exciting stuff.

I am thankful for . . .

the progress we have been making on the house! The arches and soffits are complete and the ductwork is progressing well. Let me show you in pictures.

The insulators put batt insulation above the walls in the dormers.

The soffits on the dormers were finished up Monday, Nov. 9th.

The curb appeal is coming along well.

We installed the glass inserts with integral blinds on the three back porch doors.

This is the meteor shower . . . okay, not really . . . but here's the house with the soffits and arches complete (in the rain).

Here are the glass inserts & hardware installed on the back porch doors. It's looking nice.

We wrapped the bottom and back of the back porch beam. The areas above the columns are getting additional trim, but it's not on yet.

The front porch today.

The siding on the sides of the porch is on - it just needs to be caulked and painted. You can also see the porch arches well.

Insulation on the left side of the bonus area.

Insulation on the right side of the bonus area.

The wall for the HVAC closet was built.

The ductwork above the bonus area that is heading toward the back bedrooms. We are going to have three zones on seperatae thermostats - master suite, back bedrooms and the common area.

The ductwork over the kitchen.

The duct going into the living room. We are putting in sheet metal - which is mainly a commercial installation. But, I work for a mechanical contractor and designed a really great duct system (if I do say so myself), so we are getting a top notch system.

Earlier today I spotted a snake on the front porch. It was scared of us and went under the peel and stick along the bottom of the porch. Unfortunately, the snake didn't know that the back of this is very sticky . . .

Adam and his dad got him off of there . . . but he didn't live long after that.

The garage door will go in next week and the front door is on the way. Things are looking great. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Insulation, soffits & so much progress!

There has been lots of progress around the Harris Residence recently! Thursday, we put up the middle arch on the front porch beam. Friday, the vinyl soffits and insulation began . . . it was pretty busy.

The front porch arches are in place. Adam's truck is in front because we were using it as a ladder to finish putting all the screws in the pvc sheeting.

For insulation, we are using closed cell foam for most of the roof insulation and open cell foam for the areas that are first floor only. Both foams do not require the roof the be vented, but the closed cell is moisture proof. It's really great stuff and will keep our electricity bill low.

Here is the guy spraying the foam on the underside of the roof.

The bonus area on the 2nd floor.

The insulation around the dormers. They will be back on Monday to finish spraying the foam. The walls won't be insulated until after electrical is complete.

Soffits are almost complete.

The soffits are complete along the back of the house.

Here's a closer look of the overhang on the back porch.

The soffits along the front are complete except for the dormers. You can also see me putting the final coat of paint on the dormers.

The right side of the house is complete.

The left side of the house is done. There is an exhaust duct sticking through the soffit and the round grille is on the window ledge below.

A close of the left gable and porch corner.

Adam ran the wire to everything in the front porch and soffits - a flood light in the back, two outlets in the soffit for Christmas lights and the front porch lights.

Here's some of Adam's handywork.

Stacy paints the final coat of paint on the dormers.

Adam and his dad cut the last arch in the pvc sheet. This one goes on the inside of the middle arch on the front porch. It's in place now, but I forgot to get a picture.

The soffits and roof insulation should be finished on Monday. Ductwork will start in one week and will take about three weeks. The garage door and front door should be here in two weeks. The glass inserts on the three back porch doors will be installed tomorrow. After the main ductwork is in place, Adam will begin the electrical wiring. Things are really progressing and it's been a lot of fun to see everything fall into place.

Siding & Front Porch

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post . . . but we've been working away at the house.

We finished the siding on all the gable ends and the dormers.

In this picture you can see the finished gable end on the left side and the dormers. I still need to do a final coat of paint on the dormers, but other than that they're done.

The front door needs to be installed before we finish the siding on the front porch. It should be here in a couple weeks.

We have also been working on the front porch. The beam and arches had to be built out to fit the size we want. Here's some pictures of the process so far.

Here's the left side of the beam built out.

Adam is nailing in the wood for the boxes we built that will be on top of the double columns. PVC sheets were used to cover the wood for the finished beam. It is going to be a smooth finish that never has to be replaced.

We put up two of the arches on the front of the beam Sunday night.

Here's what it looked like a couple days ago, very nice. We put up the middle arch last night. I'll get pictures soon.

The vinyl soffits started going up today. We prepared for the soffits by adding additional flashing on the roof and putting the exhaust ducts in place. Insulation started today as well. The glass inserts arrived for the doors on the back porch yesterday and we will install them soon. I'll try and update with pictures of the soffits and insulation this weekend.

More Siding

We've been spending most of our time at the house putting up more siding. We are about half way done with the siding and are getting much faster with it. Check out our progress . . .

This is Adam finishing up the siding on the far left gable end. This was the largest gable and took a lot of time because we were constantly moving ladders.

Adam is painting the trim around the window white. We successfully protected out shingles with plastic.

Here's the finished look.

Then, we started on the far right gable end. We rigged up a ladder (it was tied to Adam's truck in the backyard), so we wouldn't have to balance on a 10/12 pitch - it worked great! Adam is painting the flashing black, because our roofers didn't.

Here's the finished right gable end - caulked and painted. You can see Adam and his Dad starting on the hight right gable.

Here's the trim (most of it) up on the high right gable. We finished putting up the lap siding today - but I forgot to get a picture. You know, you get pretty tired balancing on a ladder on a roof all day. It's really coming along now and we're getting faster with it. We had to order special curved trim for the dormer windows - so that should be in in a couple weeks. Siding isn't so hard once you try it - and it's even rewarding when get can make a lot of progress each day.