I chose this title for 2 reasons, one I'll explain in a bit, the other you'll have to guess what it refers too. I'll start to taking you back to the end of the last blog. Once I got the water line installed I finished the back filling of the trench. Of course that was right when the ground was frozen 4" deep. What happened when it thawed? Well, let just say I'm not kidding about the "Building my Swamp" title. A couple of times I buried the backhoe wheels right up to the axle and had to use the boom to pull myself out. I even had to pull my neighbor's car out of it one night. Fortunately, most of that ground has now settled and packed back into place. The good news for visitors is that I installed the decking on the front deck and built some stairs; so no more "moat" and "plank" needed to get into the house.
You might also have noticed the large, unattractive propane tank at the end of the deck. I plan on getting a larger tank and tucking back behind the house but with the dirt being a little soft I didn't think I would be able to get it back there. So this is a temporary 125 gallon tank so I can get some heat going. The last thing you might have noticed I referred to with the title. Yep, gutters. They came out on one of the worst days, windy and raining. It took them about 2 hours to do the whole house and about an hour after they left the wind died down and it stopped raining, go figure.
Now that I have water and propane I was able to fill up all the radiant heating system and get it fired up. It took a while to purge all the air out of the system but now once I did it started heating the house up. The main floor warmed up in about 5 hours while the basement being 5" of concrete took overnight. Now its a comfortable working temperature inside of 63 degrees. Best of all the system is working just like I wanted it to. When I was using the fireplace to keep the house warm the heat would all go up to the top floor. This would make it nice up there but it stayed cool down below. Now the heat stays really consistent from the floor all the way up to the peak.
The big changes are in the kitchen. I finished installing the all the cabinets. The sink cabinet I 
had to build in order to use the farm house sink. I got a wall cabinet, put a toe kick base on it and then built a support structure for the sink, then added a face frame around the sink. Came out pretty well. For the counter tops I used granite tile. I really want to do concrete tops but just don't have the time to do them right now. I did set it up so I can easily replace them in the future. The range top went in easily as well as the hood. When the fan is turned on full it sounds like a commercial kitchen, lots of air.
had to build in order to use the farm house sink. I got a wall cabinet, put a toe kick base on it and then built a support structure for the sink, then added a face frame around the sink. Came out pretty well. For the counter tops I used granite tile. I really want to do concrete tops but just don't have the time to do them right now. I did set it up so I can easily replace them in the future. The range top went in easily as well as the hood. When the fan is turned on full it sounds like a commercial kitchen, lots of air.After doing the granite tops I got the ball rolling on the island top. I really like the butcher block tops Dad put in his house a decided to do the same. At first I though I was going to strike out due to the cost but after doing a little creative thinking and searching I found some used hard rock maple block on craigs list. I used the floor sander (yes, I have a floor sander) to sand down the worn surface and then started cutting to size. Unfortunately it was nailed together 
with cut spiral hardened nails. Good think I had lots of Spare saw blades. I trimmed it out with some maple that Dad had left over from his tops. Should be great for using a rolling pin on. I decide to put a bar height end on it so I would have somewhere to locate the electrical outlets. Currently it is just plywood but I have some teak that has been in the parents house for years that I'm going to finish it off with. I think it will naturally be the place to have a beer around. If you haven't figured out where I got the butcher block by now you're just gonna have to come over to find out.
with cut spiral hardened nails. Good think I had lots of Spare saw blades. I trimmed it out with some maple that Dad had left over from his tops. Should be great for using a rolling pin on. I decide to put a bar height end on it so I would have somewhere to locate the electrical outlets. Currently it is just plywood but I have some teak that has been in the parents house for years that I'm going to finish it off with. I think it will naturally be the place to have a beer around. If you haven't figured out where I got the butcher block by now you're just gonna have to come over to find out.Last week I got the Fire Marshal to sign off on my sprinkler system. This entailed removing 2 sprinkler heads up in the great room ceiling and putting valves on them. Then we had to open the valves for 30 seconds and see how much water flowed through them. The minimum is 9 gallons per head. When done we ended up with a little over 10 gallons. Good thing I put in that 2" water line.
I've also built a couple of access doors for the attic. I picked up a $20 door and then rebuilt it to fit the openings. They came out pretty good. I also installed the door between the garage and basement area. Other things finished are the powder room floor, granite tile and the shower pan inspection for the master bathroom; he walked in, saw it was holding water, and signed off on it.I hope to have my electrical inspection next week and my final shortly there after. I'll let you all know when that happens.
