Happy New Year, cb! It is unusually cold in your lovely city tonight. We flew above your house - phew, the plane barely missed it 
How did the FAA overlook this hill?! JK!! But I was really almost hanging out of the window trying to figure out which one of the lovely houses was yours!
Yes, very very cold in San Diego. I think it’s the coldest I can ever remember. It was 35 degrees New Year’s Eve night about 11pm. Unbelievable to us
Discovered something amazing when we arrived at project on Wednesday morning. Views from the living room of snow-covered mountains from the living room and dining room windows! It was just Wow, ocean to the left, snow covered mountains in the distance to the right. I tried to take pictures with my cell phone camera, but they don’t do it justice
PROGRESS UPDATE
We are still moving along through the holidays.
Stucco guy came today and finished up all the stucco and texture. I always enjoy when he comes because he works for all my competitors (including the guys with Flipping San Diego TV show) and I get to hear all about their projects.
We can start painting the exterior tomorrow!!
We finished painting all the interior doors, especially the pocket door that needs to get installed into the pocket. I always like to paint them first because it’s difficult to get them painted after they are installed in the pocket
All plumbing complete and we are ready for inspection on Monday. I drove my lead crazy because I wanted the shower valve installed on a different wall than the shower head (see picture). I don’t like to have to get inside the shower stall, turn the water on, and then have to hop back out of the cold water waiting for it to warm up. So, I try to always place the shower valve right on the wall when you open the shower door. Turn it on while you are still standing outside the shower door and wait for hot water! I think it will be more evident when we get the bathroom finished
Part of getting ready for plumbing are all these ridiculous things we have to do so that the inspector doesn’t have to crawl under the house to check for leaks. I had to go to a plumbing specialty store and get a big rubber ‘weenie’ balloon (yes, it is really called that!) which cost $100!!!. We have to open up a cleanout in the main sewer pipe and inflate this thing so that all water running through drains is stopped. Then I have to buy ‘test plugs’ for every open pipe at the sinks, toilet and shower (tops of pipes). Then we have to get up onto the roof and fill all the pipes from the vents down until water is level up to top of the vent in the roof. When the inspector comes, all he does is get on a ladder and shake the black vent pipe to make sure that the water didn’t recede (leak out somewhere). A total waste of time and money.
My agent came over today and she could care less about the big metal fence through the kitchen window. I discussed some cool ideas I have for some ‘coastal’ style wood beadboard (wide plank type bead board) painted really crisp satiny white. I want to put it in as wainscot with heavy trim in the entry area under the big run of windows. And… really thinking hard about installing it as ceiling in the kitchen. Saw a couple of pictures where that had been done and it really was eye catching!
She convinced me that I need to go out and find the exact same old white oak flooring and install it all the way through the kitchen. This will provide a continuous wood floor and make the space appear larger. Otherwise, we have to chop up the floor at kitchen entry and put down some kind of contrasting tile. I’m a little leery that buyers might be opposed to real wood floors in the kitchen because of potential water damage, but I really think it is the trend right now. People like the warmer, softer floors in the kitchen. Also, in the long run… tile floors are not comfortable in a kitchen. They are cold and hard on your feet if you are standing there a lot.
The greenish gray has been ruled out. It looks OK when the front of the house is in shadow, but when the sun is shining on the front of the house it looks to ‘limey’
More photos loaded
I have wood floors (well - bamboo) in my kitchen, it looks great and has held up well. And when you drop stuff it generally doesn’t break.
At the entrances (everything else in the house is oak t&g) they just cut it straight across and installed a board perpendicular to the floor boards to create an edge, and the transition looks fine.You could do something similar if you wind up with flooring that doesn’t exactly match what is there.
No fancy digital mixing valve in the shower?
Will you put pipe insulation on the pipes to reduce the noise?
All of the pipes are strapped to floor joists or studs along their runs. We put the foam insulation tubes on the hot water lines under the house and the bit of pipe outside at water heater.
We’ve had wood floors in our kitchen for 25 years now; 1 refinishing so far and they still look great, and I cook all the time.
I think your agent is exactly right. I put hardwood in my kitchen 3 years ago when I gutted it and I’ve been thrilled with the choice. It mops up easily with a little Bona and I like the continuity throughout the entire first floor.
I’ve found that putting on the foam tubes on the pipes inside the walls really cuts down on the noise, even if you can’t cover every inch where it is attached to studs.
Cb, wood floors in the kitchen area are very much “in” as they have been for a while! I would not go crazy trying to find a wood to match the existing floors. A tile island by the entry will look fine with the transition nre was talking about. I’d rather leave my street shoes on tile than wood!
I’ve always had hardwood in my kitchens and I love it. Tile floors in the kitchen seem a bit dated to me (given that you have a choice).
Don’t know how much the expensive beadboard and other trim is, but I think it really makes a HUGE difference in a house like yours. And really doing a beautiful job on the interior paint on all the trim really helps to add weight and charm to beach cottages. But it is your money I’m spending, not mine! I’m still advocating for the deck with a view! The deck would be the priority for me, but the charming trim would be nice too!
Just loaded some photos into the Flickr group of the house getting painted. Also, our shear wall installations are done and ready for the ‘special inspector’ to come check that they are nailed every 3 1/2" (geez). After paying the special inspector then I can call for the City Inspector to come stare at them.
Paint looks white… aren’t you going with a color on the house?
Sorry - didn’t mean to make this sound like a criticism! Just I thought that you were going with a greenish color…
See post #1323 - no limey! The white looks very nice.
Post #78 was the post when you first found this house. It’s interesting to read from there, to see all your struggles with trying to buy the house.
The stucco body of the house is going to be crisp white (and hopefully some nice landscaping will break it up a bit). The contrast color is going to be on the siding surrounding the front windows. We have to tear off the old siding because it is termite damaged. We are going to install new cement siding and that will be painted with a color, just don’t know what yet!
PROGRESS UPDATE:
Well, the roofing guy came down with the flu and has never returned to put new roof on the back room. It’s still sitting there like a lonely child. He promised he will come this weekend (hopefully not Sunday!).
We passed our black ABS drain pipe inspection and our copper water pipe inspection. BUT, the dang fancy yellow PEX gas lines are leaking somewhere and we cannot figure it out. To pass inspection you have to turn off the gas line, disconnect it from the meter and put on a pressure gauge. Then you pump the lines with pressurized air. It has to hold 10 lbs pressure for 20 minutes. We thought we were OK, but all of a sudden the gas lines are not holding pressure. My poor lead has been under the house for days soaping up every joint and he cannot find any leaks. We just do not know what is going on. The only culprit could be the yellow gas flex lines installed by the fancy pants plumber who kept claiming ‘no leaks’ as he ran out the door.
Called him up to please come back and fix his work, we are not passing inspection. Of course, he’s in the hospital and not available to come fix his work. Luckily his son answered my call and told me that noone else in their family is ‘certified’ for the Pex plumbing. So now I need to hire an independent plumber $$$ to try to come find leaks in this other guy’s work.
Meanwhile, we finished installing 6 separate shear walls and the Special Inspector was supposed to come on Monday to inspect the shear walls so I could call for a City inspection and move forward with insulation and drywall. He didn’t show up so I called him about 3pm on Monday. His son died in a car crash this last weekend and he thought he had everything covered by others. I just didn’t know what to say, it is so sad. He was an absolute gem and showed up this morning at 8am to inspect and sign off. I felt so bad about the situation.
So, I’ve got a theme going here where the outside subs are holding us up. We will just forge ahead by ourselves without them I guess (well, except for the roofing guy because he’s really not holding us up)
Insulation inspection on Wednesday and we will start drywalling right away. It should take about a week to get all the drywall sanded and finished. Then the house will actually start looking much better!
OMG, one disaster after another. How sad!
Yes, the car accident happened this past weekend right here in our neighborhood and everyone’s talking about it. The young man was driving way too fast, couldn’t make a turn and drove right off the cliff to the rocks below in the ocean. Talk of the town… I had no idea it was his son until he told me.