Dirt

We're out of town, but have heard, from our Homeowners Insurance Agent, that they were bringing in dirt and doing the final grade yesterday. No other news.

No News

We're away on vacation, so don't have any construction updates to post. Yesterday morning, before we left, I saw our builder. He said he is trying to work around the cabinet issues so we will not have any delay in the end date.

Cabinets - Some Miscommunication

I got the opportunity to compare the installed cabinets against my Notice To Proceed submission. Most cabinets were fine, with some minor dimensional variances, but the kitchen island was not. We had planned a 48" x 33" island, with the cabinet fronts on the long, or 48" faces. To accomplish that I'd specified one row of cabinets that was reduced depth to 12" and had full height doors and no drawers. We planned to use this for glassware and it was right across from the dishwasher / sink for easy access. The cabinets on the other side of the island were both to be reduced depth to 21". One was to be 18" wide to use as a small sink base, while the other was to be 24" with three pot drawers. There was a 6" filler.

I found that four 18" deep by 21" wide cabinets had been installed, with drawers. This also meant that the plumbing was in the wrong position for the sink. I talked briefly to the cabinet installer who called my builder. After review of my NTP plans he agreed that the cabinets were wrong and would be changed out. There was no issue with fixing it. We caught it before the measurements for the counter tops were made. Pringle will have to sort out where the miscommunication occurred, and it might even be with me, but we'll get the cabinet configuration for the island that we wanted.

The bathroom cabinets were installed in the Master Bath and the Guest Bath. The Powder Room cabinet came in 3" too short, so will also have to be reordered.

We'll have to see what the impact is on closing date. The cabinets have a three week lead time, so should be in on October 15th or 16th. If the other trades will work around the missing cabinets, then we could end up with no slippage.

The window labels were all removed and the windows were given a first cleaning. They'll have to be cleaned again before closing, but do look much better.

They started locking the house up on Friday evening, so we'll not have as easy access to check on progress. However, it's good timing, as we are going away to visit Judi's Dad and "vacation" for the next week or so. I have had some comments that I'm retired and thus on vacation all the time now, but it will mean a change of pace / scenery. My builder said that he would email to me with progress next week.

Work Continues

The tile crew finished up the tile installation today, except that there is no shower drain in the master shower. They tiled over it, so it will have to be cut out. Not a big problem.

The cabinet installation team was busily at work installing the cabinets. There are a few issues that I'll have to discuss with my builder on Friday. Most look fine.


The door from the laundry room to the garage is not where we expected it to be. This causes a problem as we had planned to put our "extra" refrigerator in the laundry room and it will stick out 3" in front of the door. This is likely my fault, as I did not get the exact dimensions for the door location spelled out on the print. From the location shown, if you scale the dimensions, it is wrong, but without exact dimensions, the framers field locate things.

We met with our builder about this and agreed to downsize the door from 3' 0' to 2' 8" to gain the 4" needed. This avoids a major redo of a load bearing wall.

The Pringle photographer was out to take new pictures, so there should be some on the picture site tomorrow.

Cabinets Arrive

Our cabinets arrived today. This afternoon the installer was removing them from the shipping boxes and staging them near the installation point. He said that he and his partner would be installing them tomorrow, and perhaps into Friday. They look nice on the floor.

The tile crew had one person working finishing the floor tile. They still have to finish the master shower tile.

It rained all day today, so no other work was done, and it was very quiet in the subdivision, with very few of the outside trades working. We need the rain.

Driveway Poured

Today the exterior concrete flatwork was done. The driveway, sidewalk by the street, sidewalk to the front door, floor for the cage, and the various pads (e.g. A/C Compressor, exit from the cage) were poured in the morning. By mid-day they were finished working them and had covered them all with large sheets of plastic to protect against the afternoon rains.

The tile crew was continuing their work. In areas where the floor tile had been grouted, they had installed covering brown "butcher" paper to protect the floor. They were working on the tile for the tubs and shower.

The next steps on the critical path are cabinet install, then countertops, then HVAC (furnace / AC coil & compressor) install and startup.

Today I also obtained Homeowners Insurance coverage effective just before my projected close date.

Garage Doors

Today the garage doors were installed.

The tile crew continued work on tile installation.

J&N Stone finished installing the decorative stone accents on the house front.

As of mid-day, no concrete had been poured for the driveway, sidewalks, etc.

More Tile Work

On Saturday, by 12:30 PM, the tile crew had laid out lots of tile in the Great Room, Nook, Kitchen, and Hall. They also had put in the base for the "no step" walk-in shower in the Master Bath, with a continuous slope to the drain. The crew supervisor was very proud to show us his work. He told us that the tile work should be done by the end of the day on Tuesday. Great progress.

Tile - But No Concrete

Friday a tile crew started work. They scraped the slab to clean up the residue left from the drywall, put down "red guard" around all the saw cuts in the slab, and stacked all the boxes of tile on the rear lanai. By Friday evening they had placed, but not cemented, two long rows of tile from the front Study all the way though the Great Room and through the Nook. Since we are having tile laid on the diagonal, this is the longest contiguous run of tile.

The outside concrete flatwork for the driveway, walks, and cage was not poured. A crew came by and adjusted the forming for one pad that was off a bit, and the supervisor said they would probably pour late Monday morning.

Our Builder discussed plans for next week with us and agreed that my projection for closing of between November 5 and November 10 was looking like a good estimate. Of course, there were no commitments to a firm date, as there is a lot of hurricane season left between now and then.

Landscape Meeting

We had our Landscaping Meeting this afternoon. Judi and I had drawn up a plan showing what trees, shrubs, and color items we wanted and our preferences for where they would be placed. We're probably unlike many LoMD residents as we want more than 35% of the area devoted to planting beds, not less.

The landscaper reviewed our plan, made several recommendations and suggestions, and we agreed on some changes. We also agreed on some upgrades that we will have to pay the landscaper directly to have done.

This was, overall, a good meeting as we had gotten the base plan ahead of time and taken the time to research the various tree and shrub options. I strongly recommend going into the meeting prepared, otherwise the number of choices to be made could be overwhelming.

There was no other action at the house today.

More Paint - But No Inspection

The painters were busy today applying the second coat of paint to the interior. All the doors were standing lined up in the Great Room, with a coat of paint on them.

The forms for the pad outside the door at the rear of the cage were set, as well as the forms for the generator pad. My builder came by and we talked about getting some rebar put in around the pad outside the cage, since there is a big slope to the ground outside it.

Because of a scheduling issue, the form inspection was pushed to Thursday, so the driveway should be poured on Friday.

The painters had a step ladder on top of the Master Bath tub. My builder and I discussed this, again, both from a protecting the tub surface issue and from a safety issue.

The landscaping contractor called this morning and asked to reschedule our landscaping meeting to tomorrow, which was not an issue for us.

Inteior Painting & Driveway Forms

Tuesday was a busy day. The interior ceiling and wall paint was applied. The crew was working until about 7 PM to complete the job.

Also, the forms for the driveway, front sidewalk, rear cage, and A/C pad were installed. They will return on Wednesday to finish forming two more pads, one for a generator and one for a second door from the cage. The irrigation crew put a plastic irrigation pipe under the driveway for me so I can later install the wire for my Invisible Dog Fence, without having to cut the driveway slab, or bore under it.

The form inspection is due tomorrow and then the pour will likely be Thursday, weather cooperating.

Inspection Report

My inspector found only one minor item with the metal corner bead at the Nook doorwall. When I talked with my builder, he advised that the crew was already on the way to fix it, so painting could start on Tuesday.

Paint Arrives

Sometime between Friday mid-day and Saturday evening, the interior paint was delivered and left in the garage. No other activity was observed.

Inspection Day

There was no activity on Friday. My outside inspector was scheduled to do the pre-paint inspection, after the drywall was hung, taped, mudded, and texture was applied. I'll get the results on Monday.

Texture & Doors

Today there was good progress. As of mid-day, the walls and ceilings had been textured. There was also some "free" texturing of the painted stucco on the lanai, some exterior windowsills, and a closet door. Another clean-up or do over.

There were two workers installing the interior doors and the door / baseboard trim. The bi-fold guest linen closet door that we were worried about opens with plenty of space to put things in / get things out of the closet. It is a few inches wider than the linen closet at our rental home, and that makes a tremendous difference. The doors are all 8' high, and the closet ceilings are 11' 4", so there is a tremendous amount of space. I supposed we can stack light things, like a case of TP, on the top shelf, in case deliveries are interrupted for a month or so during hurricane season. ;)

There are a few fit / finish issues, but I suspect it is too early in the process to worry about.

I did my weekly drive around Lakes of Mount Dora checking on construction today. I found several homes that had been completed and closed that were started in mid to late April. That effectively means that Pringle is bringing in homes in about four and 1/2 months from the time the slab is poured.

There is a complete new set of pictures available from the www.LakesofMountDora.org home page link.

Wednesday - A Day of Rest

Apparently the crews are making up for working on the Labor Day Weekend. As of 1 PM, there was no work being done on our home. I had expected the drywall texturing company to be at work. There still are no window sills.

Tomorrow I'll take some time going through / around the home and update my punch list. It appears that most of the items I had last week were resolved.

I've asked Cliff to find a way to protect the Master Bath tub, which seems to be accumulating lots of debris in it. He said he will have a piece of plywood cut to go over it.

No other news about the house.

Exterior Painting

On Tuesday, the exterior painting was done. They use both a hot stucco primer and a Loxon waterproofing paint. The house looks nice, at least to us, with the colors we chose. I'll try to get some pictures on Thursday.

Also, all the interior doors and the trim were delivered by Ro-Mac and stacked in the garage. No interior work was done, although our builder, Cliff, said he expected the window sills to be installed on Tuesday.

Electrical Fixes & Finished Drywall

On Monday, Labor Day, the electricians and the drywall crew worked. The electricians put in the smoke detector that had been missed in the Study and adjusted some ceiling light fixtures in the Kitchen that had been moved out of alignment by one of the trades.

The drywall crew finished all the mudding and cleaned up their mess inside the house. There is a giant pile of scrap drywall pieces in the front yard, just beside the dumpster. This is because the dumpsters were full. I told Judi that we should just consider that the drywall gypsum is being used to amend the soil for better growth later.

More Taping & Mudding

On Saturday of Labor Day Weekend, the drywall crew was at work doing the rest of the taping, and some of the second coat of mudding.

Drywall All Hung

Apologies - I've been delinquent in posting and will try to catch up.

On Friday, the crew completed hanging the drywall, including the interior ceiling board, the lanai ceiling board, the interior wall board, and the Dens board which is used as the backer for the tile in the wet areas of the bathrooms. Then they started on the taping and mudding.