Week 11.1

The back doors are in and we decided its time to show them off. The system can open up as a single door for simple in and out access or they can be folded completely open to create the indoor/outdoor experience. Very exciting!

Week 11

Week 11 and the heating system has been installed. The ducting is in the ceiling and vents have been placed in every room. From the bathroom you can see the ducting above and the room vent on the right side of the photo.

The central return is placed in the ceiling of the main hallway. You can also see one of the ceiling light fixtures and a blue box where the wifi antenna will be located.

The finished plumbing for the bathroom is in. Nailed to the wall is the drawing we made of the counter top and the related dimensions.

The plumbing for the kitchen island is complete as well. This week they pressure tested both the incoming and outgoing water plumbing and no leaks were found. Next week someone from the city is coming in to test the plumbing. Once it passes inspection, its time for drywall.

In preparation for drywall Cesar and his team are starting to create the wooden forms needed to construct the coving in the kitchen/dining room area. The curved blocks below will be used to create a smooth shape.

The excess rubble from the construction has been stacked up next to the back door. Once the city signs off on the plumbing, the sewer pipe will be buried and the forms for the back patio can be put in. I am thinking they will buy pre-mixed concrete since there is a lot of space to cover.

The rubble from construction has been removed which means for the first time this summer we can see part of our back patio. Our construction team set up a shady lunch area with some of our patio chairs.

Michelle and I attended the Quincinera of one of my former students. The mass was held in a church in Linda Vista and the reception was at the Hyatt. The event was very fancy and Larissa looked great in her dress. Michelle and I really enjoyed the event.

We are officially going back to work next week. Last night I woke up around 3:00 AM and was able to see the Orion constellation in the eastern sky. These two facts prove that summer is ending and we are transitioning to the fall. We enjoyed our time off and now we are getting ready to return to work. 

NOTE to anyone thinking about doing a remodel, make sure you have A LOT of time off in order to take care of tasks such as:

• Meeting with architects and designers
• Picking out floor and ceiling tile
• Purchasing major appliances
• Reviewing work and discussing changes/modifications
• Shopping for various items like faucet handles and shower heads
• Designing and reviewing cabinets
• blah blah blah

Basically the house remodel has been a full time job and we are not even swinging the hammer. What a crazy experience!

Week 10

We finished the selection of materials for the bathroom cabinets, walls, and floors. We are sticking with our original Baja theme and have chosen the multi-colored stones for the shower floor. See the photo below for the stones next to our cabinet surfaces, counter top, and floor tile. The multi-colored stones remind us of a beach called Punta Rosario (better known as "The Wall"), one of our favorite surf spots. The walls will be covered in white limestone which reminds us of the sand around The Wall. We will include an abalone colored tile in the niche in the shower as a reminder of the abalone shells we find at The Wall. Below is a photo of one being used to hold my surf wax at our camp site.

The third photo is taken from a trip to Ensenada where we stayed at a place with outdoor showers. Our shower has doors opening to a landing which we call our Ensenada Garden. You can see the doors below. We had them push the entire door frame out a couple of inches in order to allow the doors to swing all the way open (and disappear) after the wall has been finished and stuccoed.

Cesar and his crew are still working on the plumbing. Below you can see them installing the faucet valves and drain pipes in the bathroom. They also installed some of the plumbing for the sink in the kitchen island.

We thought we were going to get away with not installing a second window in the office but we forgot the original window doesn't open. This means we couldn't call our house a two bedroom since to code, a bedroom must have a window that opens. We want to honor the original look of the front of the house (and we had purchased a second window anyway) so the crew is working on installing the window. This means they had to tear out the wall on the inside and remove the stucco from the outside of the house in preparation for the install.

The new electrical box has been installed next to the old one. The old box and conduit was mounted outside of the house. The new box is recessed into the wall and the conduit is internal. This will help create a cleaner look for the side of the house...which is part of our Ensenada Garden.

Gerardo is still pulling wires for the house. I created a six page document for him describing the location of the AV cabling! Its amazing how much wiring is involved in this project.

Michelle and I fried some eggs this morning in our cast iron frying pan. The cast iron cookware has become a valuable asset during our extended camping trip. We are BBQing almost every day and coming up with new recipes on a regular basis. This has been a wonderful experience!

Week 9

Michelle and I went to a store that sold slabs of rock for counter tops. We picked out a couple of our favorites and paid for them. Two men used a fork lift to move the slabs around the warehouse and spin them around so we could examine the surface. Each slab has a unique number. We purchased slab 12 and 13.

We are finalizing the design for the electrical work. We are creating a smart house with internet drops and Wi-Fi and a centralized av system. I was sketching out drawings with locations for special wiring on top of copies of our new layout

We are still working on the dirt jumps in the backyard. There are five rollers now and Benton is enjoying riding around the track.

Week 8

Week 8 and we are going strong. The electrician has started to put some of the wiring in. You can see where the ceiling lights will go. There are cables and wires hanging everywhere.

The water heater has been put in. We are going for a tankless water heater. It's going to look nice in the end because the box, which is in the wall, will have all of its plumbing hidden. This is possible because we are doing a complete remodel and not a retrofit. There is no need to be limited by existing plumbing.

Michelle and I spent the weekend pretending to relax on the new patio. Right now it is just a pile of rubble, but we spray painted where the steps will go and decided to make a couple minor adjustments to help with the flow.

We drove out to RCP block and brick today and purchased 610 used bricks. We will use the brick for our new walk way around the side of the house to the Ensenada garden. The bricks were a special find because they are used. They are match the other brick in the backyard that was made in the 1940's. Over the years brick colors and shapes have changed.

We recently purchased all of the appliances for the kitchen and the bathroom. This is a costly part of the project but exciting.

Michelle and I went shopping for bathroom tile on Sunday. We picked out some tile for the walls and the shower floor. We found some rocks that remind us of a surf spot in Mexico.

As usual, Jack is hanging out in the bushes and keeping an eye on things. Ryan, the person we are staying with, has decided to let me build his son a BMX track in the backyard so I am working on jumps every day and having fun in the sun.

GO SUMMER!

Week 7

Cesar finished framing the back door a few days ago. They ripped everything out and built new walls and I am impressed with the work. They also blew out the wall into the bedroom and I thought they would frame it this weekend but they couldn't because of the weather. It has been hot and humid down here. Yesterday it rained all day. Today the clouds look threatening. It's Benton's birthday this weekend. Ryan and Camila bought him a new bicycle. It's green, just like the one I had in high school. My birthday present was a berm in the backyard. I hope Benton enjoys it when he comes home from his birthday party. Despite all the chaos in the backyard, Michelle flowers continue to bloom.

Week 6.1

UPDATE: Michelle and I came home from work today and we discovered they blew out the other wall. See below! Looking good.

We forgot to mention we repaired the longboard this weekend. Ready to surf! 

Happy anniversary Michelle...its our 13th :)

Week 6

We are onto week six and things are going well. They knocked out the wall for the kitchen door and the thought of chilling in the kitchen and looking out over the garden. We spent the afternoon picking avocados. Later on Michelle made some guacamole for the neighbors. Jack joined us on the patio for a nice nap.  He was sleeping with his tongue out. We are loving the camping experience.