More Details

Here are a few photos from yesterday which show some details.  For example, most of the doors have now been hung, including a door between the mud/laundry room.  In winter this will help cut down on cold breezes from the back door, as this will be the most frequently used entrance.

A door can separate the mud room from the
kitchen and dining area.

The baseboard trim is fairly simple, but it requires many small pieces.  The challenge here is cutting the wood so that it fits together perfectly.  Yesterday Kyle made many trips to the basement, where his saw is now set up, and then he would use another piece of wood to tap a little section of baseboard into place.  So tight was the fit in many cases that nails probably weren't needed — but even so, Kyle would use a couple nails (or five) to make sure that none of these little pieces would never wander.

The baseboard at the wood stove pad...

...and at the foot of the stairway (the vertical board is the
trim for the bookcase).

While Dave was plugging the stairway, Kyle finished installation of the flooring in the office upstairs.  With some baseboard added, this room will be ready for its cabinets and countertop.

The engineered floor in the office is now complete.

Almost all of the plumbing fixtures arrived on site in good shape.  However, a chipped toilet in the half-bath had to be switched out.  And, oddly, the decorative plate for the diverter in the ground floor shower didn't fit (the diverter allows you to switch between the rain head and the hand shower).  It appears that in recent months the manufacturer redesigned this valve.  Helpfully, they sent parts for the old version, but a faceplate for the new one!  Not surprisingly, it didn't fit.  A replacement is on order.

The open hole is where the diverter faceplate
and handle are supposed to be.

Finally, the photo below shows the problem with the pocket doors.  If you look carefully, you'll see that the bottom of the door is even with the casing, while the top of the door protrudes about an inch.  This is most perplexing.  (For a closer look, click on the photo.  Another click gives you a closeup view.  Use your "back" button to return to the blog post.)

Note, too, the windows in the bathroom beyond, and the tub underneath.  When he saw this during his interim inspection, the county building inspector decided that these windows pose a mortal hazard if, for example, a drunken bather lost his/her balance while getting in or out of the tub.  In that event, he said, the tipsy bather might fall through the window to meet a ghastly end on the rocky ground below.  To resolve this issue, he has decreed that a barrier must be installed across the windows to block the stewed bather's path to the hereafter.  I suppose that if said bather were 7-1/2 feet tall (a pro basketball player, for example), and if this person's center of gravity was therefore unusually elevated, such an accident might be possible.  Oh, well.  There are times when one just shakes one's head, and remembers that the inspector must be kept happy.  A jolly inspector is a good thing.

The mysterious pocket door, and the  dangerous
windows over the bathtub.

The snow storm predicted for last night didn't move into northern Michigan until early this morning, and at present we have only about one inch of snow on the ground.  Accumulation of six-to-twelve inches is predicted for the area south of Alpena.  This morning I will run to Walmart to purchase a dry mop (to clean the oak flooring) and to Home Depot to buy a collection of doorstops.  Then I'll head out to the house while the snow is still within the capability of my Scion.  The storm is supposed to continue until this evening. •••