Tonight we had the annual Gayola block party!
Archive for the ‘Daily Progress’ Category
Today we held a press conference on an aircraft carrier and declared an end to contractor operations in the Kitchen! The deciding factor was that the ice maker finally started to make ice! We knew that the ice maker was finally getting water (there was water in the internal water filter), and we heard it cycle a couple of times and something that sounded like ice falling into the ice-cube drawer but when we checked there was never any cubes. We checked today about mid day and it was full of cubes! We still have some more work to do (back splash, painting, shoe moulding, unpacking etc.), but at least we’re done with the contractor!).
We spent the rest of the day getting ready for the block party tonight. Linda did lots of cleaning inside so we would be ready for giving house tours to the band and neighbors. Linda made 7 layer salad and a couple of batches of cornbread for the pot luck dinner. I spent a couple of hours clearing off the front porch, stacking extra lumber and refrigerator doors in the garage, removing bags of lath and plaster rubble, sweeping, raking up a couple of huge bags worth of acorns from the front yard and sidewalk, setting up band equipment on the front porch. I plugged the iPod into the PA and it was fun to work outside with a huge sound system playing music. By mid-afternoon the sky cleared up and we had blue skies and 70 degree temperatures for the rest of the day – perfect block party weather!
By popular demand, below is a “highlight” slideshow of the cats inspecting, helping, and being bored with our kitchen remodel and home renovations. The cast of characters includes:
- Sienna – yellow female (the inspector)
- Taji – yellow male (the climber)
- Isabeau – black female (the lounger)
- Blaze – tuxedo male (the sofa surfer)
- Sammy – long hair tuxedo female (the camera shy)
The contractor came back today to finish up a few things left on the punch list:
- Fix the ice maker (needs a new valve in the basement where the ice maker water line taps into the cold water)
- Put a coat of polyurethane inside the sink base. This is because they redid the inside of the sink base with 1/4″ plywood to fix all the extra holes from moving the sink base several times to get it centered under the kitchen window
- Fix the screws poking through the side of the pantry. He backed the screws out, tapped the bumps down with a wood block and then touched up the color with a stain marker. It’s not ideal but I think they finally wore us down!
Everything the contractor was supposed to do is now done, but just to be on the safe side, we’re waiting a couple of days to see if the ice maker produces ice.
Called the contractor today to follow-up on the last loose ends:
- Ice maker not working (bad valve)
- Screws punching through the outside of the pantry cabinet
- Back panel for the extra peninsula cabinet we ended up with
They will come back next Tuesday morning to finish up.