Upstairs Floors Complete, Living Room (very near) Completion

SO, we had a major milestone. The upstairs floors are FINISHED. Completely. As in, there is no more work to be done on the floors. We are ecstatic. We were so close to being done last weekend and didn't quite finish up. So Carl came by during the week while we were working to lay the last boards. We are forever indebted.

We also have painted and put the living room together. The only thing missing are the base boards. These are minor details to us. We have a room to lounge in!! And since the kitchen is now fully functional (garbage disposal fixed, gas stove working, electrical up to spec (thx again Carl))...that means we are to a point where we can live in the upstairs of the house by day. But we're still sleeping in the cottage for now. Kind of a bummer, but huge strides nonetheless. Now all we have left are all the other rooms, the exterior, the decks, the yard, the downstairs flooring, and the other retaining wall and we'll be feeling good about life.

In other news, Carl helped us with some HVAC projects that needed to be done, we replaced an earthquake-safety wood post with a steel one (due to fire hazards), Carl helped us put the fireplace in, and Kevin removed all the staples in the subfloor downstairs. Next weekend I will be in Phoenix to see family, but Kev, Carl, and possibly Brian (Kevin's brother) will be here holding down the fort. And hopefully sticking to the schedule :).

Taking Down the Side Retaining Wall

Howdy. Somehow we've gotten behind in our posts. So much is happening but nothing is happening all at the same time. Here's a post on one of the retaining walls that we have to deal with. As you can see from the picture below, it was falling in (almost entirely) to the side of our house. We've had a lot of issues with gas and water lines and one of the big road blocks to getting the lines in and up to spec was removing this side retaining wall. Carl had a head start on us...as soon as we let him know the city gave us the go ahead, he was tearing down the fencing and pushing cinder blocks.

 

The Cottage....Our Temporary Home

So we are behind schedule. I'm sure you're all shocked. We've spent the last week moving out of Sausalito to Fairfax. We are lucky in that we happen to have a one-room cottage at the back of the property. We will be living here probably for about a month. It's actually been really fun so far. Feels like we're camping...mostly because we still don't have hot water/gas.

Termite Damage Fixed!, Subfloors (Mostly) Replaced

So we've met our guardian angel. His name is Carl and he happens to be our neighbor. Carl is a retired carpenter and has been a very enthusiastic helper as of late. He has helped us with our rather extensive termite damage, termite prevention, tile removal, and subfloor completion. Man, do we owe this guy.

 The back of this room is where the termite damage was.