Punch List

Kyle and Dave are working through the punch list of items left to do.  It's actually getting fairly short!  One remaining task is to assemble the cabinets and countertop for the office.  We hit a glitch when Kyle found that the baseboard radiator interferes with getting the right-hand drawer unit up against the wall.  If this was a cabinet unit with doors, notching out the back would be a simple fix.  However, with a three-drawer unit, the notch means I must lose the bottom drawer.  I suggested that the drawer front, separated from the drawer box, be hinged at the bottom to create a flip-down opening.  Then, instead of dead space behind a blank drawer front, I'll have a place to stash awkward things, e.g., phone books.  Seems like it ought to work.

The office work surface, roughly assembled.

Notching out the back will clear the radiator, but it will also
cost me one drawer.  Solution: a cubby behind a flip-down door.

Dave was down in the guest bedroom working on the bi-fold doors for the closet.  I've used these all my life, and they seem so simple — until you try to put one together!  Dave is a patient, careful guy.

Dave installs the bi-folds for the guest bedroom closet.

Meanwhile, Kyle was on the stairs, continuing to do the baseboards.  After wrapping baseboard around the center wall at the landing, he finished this run with a little cap piece which faces the edge of the last piece of baseboard.  Without this, the baseboard would simply...stop.  It's details like this which separate the pros from the greenhorns.

Kyle nails in baseboard on the stairwell's center wall.

To finish, a cap piece is buttered with glue...

...and then held in place until it sets up.

Another task which remains to be done is to paint the interior again.  A few weeks ago, when the first, custom-mixed wall color proved to be something other than what I had intended, I went back to the paint store in Grand Haven picked one of their stock colors.  The painters applied a first coat of this new color a few days ago, but a second coat is needed to achieve full coverage.  However, I think we might wait until after the house is "officially" finished before taking care of this job.  In addition, when the painters stained the windows, they neglected to mask the radiator in the living room and the over-spray left a mess which now has to be cleaned up.  Kyle checked to be sure paint thinner will take it off.  We'll do this project tomorrow.

Kyle tests paint thinner on the over-sprayed radiator.

Incidentally, I didn't show it yesterday, but I also have a sink in the half-bath.  This is the same model as in the first floor guest bathroom, but in this case it's mounted on a pedestal.

A pedestal sink in the half-bath.

The great snowstorm didn't produce much in Alpena, and not even a slippery road out at Presque Isle.  It looks like the northern edge of the storm passed just 2-3 miles south of Lake Esau.  However, I'm told that the central counties got hammered. •••