Trim Work & Staining Continues, HVAC Started

It was another hot, steamy, and busy week in Romney as work continued on the house. The paint crew concentrated on staining both inside and outside. A large portion of the ceiling received two coats of finish. The look is exactly what we wanted, the white pine has a satin finish but the color of the wood is unchanged although the finish will bring a lot of UV protection. We also started the stain on the exterior. We're using an oil based stain from Sikkens, color is Dark Oak. We wanted to go dark and the stain really brings out the character of the logs by highlighting the knots and other wood features. The north end of the house received one coat so far, finished up on Thursday just before the rains rolled in.

The carpenters were able to get a lot of the finish work completed, I'm impressed by their use of time. On days when a shower would roll through, they would quickly transition from working outside to inside without missing a beat. The doors and windows have been framed with 1x4 white pine and when they're done, they really have a nice look. The logs around the windows are chiseled out to allow the trim to recess in to the house which makes a really good line and also minimizes the amount of caulking that needs to be used. You can also see the trim on the end gables of the house, the multiple layers add a nice look. While you're not able to see it in the pictures, we also saw a good example of the "custom" in Custom Contracting (our builder) when the return trim boards were hand scribed and then cut to match the profile of the logs where they butt to the house. Took some extra time but no big chunk of wood needed to cover the gap. Pictures show the trim work after it was completed and ready to stain. As always, you can click on the picture to get a larger version to see some detail.

This week also saw the start of the heating and air conditioning duct work. It's interesting how much thought and planning needed to go in to this work given the main walls of the house are log and you can't run ducts in the wood. Most of the work so far was on the cold air returns, we'll have a two zone (upstairs & downstairs) system with a geothermal heat pump when all is completed. A desuperheater will also be included which will use the hot water from the air conditioning process in the summer to heat our hot water, should be virtually free!

We especially like how these air returns are being handled with runs in each of the rooms to allow the air not to get "stale" when doors are shut. They're also installing returns at both a high and low level in the room to allow the air to return most efficiently depending on whether its the heating or cooling season. We'll end up with a few more vents showing but we wanted the most efficient system possible. A couple of pictures of the work are included and there will be more as this work continues next week.

There was also a lot of work during the week to run electrical wiring and plumbing lines. The electrician/plumber Dave (have never seen them both in the room at the same time, lol) has been really great to work with. He's given us a lot of advice and suggestions on where to place switches, pipes, etc. to maximize the space and make the most sense. He's also working to make sure the right circuits will be on the whole house generator that will be installed later to maximize it's use as well.

Another busy week. Next week should see the continuation of the staining and finish work and the plan is to start getting ready for the decks and porches to be added. Preparation for the concrete footings will be completed and these will need to be poured before the construction can get moving. Most likely, the basement slab will be poured at the same time, it's ready to go and hopefully will turn out as nice as the garage slab looks, take a look at the picture. In the near future, the work will also start for the detached garage and shop, maybe even this week.