Granite Revisited

Back in August, I posted that we had picked out some granite out at Keystone Granite in San Antonio, but they weren't sure they had enough of it to do all of our counter tops, and didn't expect get any more. As it turns out, they did get some more, so we headed back out to San Antonio on October 23 to look at what they got in.






Keystone actually had two options for us to choose from, Peacock Green and Peacock Light. Can you tell which is which? We chose Peacock Green (left)




We took the scenic route back from Keystone to our house (courtesy of Google maps) and discovered some Texas wineries and passed right by Natural Bridge Caverns. We are going to have a lot to explore once we move out here.




It had only been a week since we were last here, but a lot of progress had been made. More cabinets were going up, and there were drawers galore!






The propane tank had also been installed, so we will be able put that gas grill Winnie has always wanted on the patio. My charcoal smoker will be relegated to the lower patio (more on that in a future post).

It will probably be three weeks before we are able to make it back out, but I'm sure a lot will have been done.

Lock Her Up!

No, not Winnie, the house silly.

We went out to the lake October 15, and we even managed to get our daughter Kelly up early for a 7:00am (almost) start. It was her first trip out since construction was started on the house, and she was impressed. She also got a chance to meet our not so imaginary neighbors, the Coopers, who are also building a home with the Mahoney's. We learned on the Homeowner's web site that they live a couple of streets over from us back in Houston.


The first thing we noticed was the garage doors were up. It was supposed to have a lock box with a front door key in it, but it didn't and all the doors were locked. Laurie had to call hubby Brian to bring the key out to us (a rare Brian Mahoney siting).







Once inside, we noticed the trim carpenter had been hard at work building cabinets, hanging doors and well, putting up trim.







Out back, I got a real
education on how our septic system works. As it turns out, ours is a real HOOT (those among you with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of how an aerobic septic system works can click on the link). The bottom line is that this bad boy outputs water that has 99% of the influent waste stream removed (and waters the yard!).


Back inside, we noticed our front doors had been delivered (they use temporary ones during the construction to keep from damaging the real ones). We just couldn't resist a peek, so we tore into the packaging. There will be a trivia contest question at our house to guess how many time the Texas lone star appears on out property!



We will be back in a week to check out a new shipment of granite that came in.

Drywall is up!

We made a trip to Canyon Lake on Friday, October 1st. Kinda funny, we were just driving out to check on progress, and about the time we got to Seguin, our builder called to ask a question, and when she discovered we were almost there, told us to swing by her office and we would go walk the house and spec out cabinets. When we arrived, not only was the roof and stonework completed, but the sheet-rock guys were just about finished with the floating & taping.




It's incredible how much larger the house seems with the drywall up. Even Winnie thought so, and if you have been following this blog very long, you know that's a fact. :)

The stone columns on the patio were also new since our last visit, and we really like them.












Wondering what those PVC pipes are for? Think conduits for all those home entertainment system wires you never thought you would need!








We'll be glad when the railing goes up on the patio, that's quite a drop!


Things will seem to slow down now as the cabinet maker starts work. We're told he will be measuring and cutting for the next several weeks. We'll be back out to meet with him in 2 or 3 weeks.

Wired!

We made a day trip out and back on Saturday, September 18. The weather was much improved for this trip. The wiring has all been completed and this trip was to video the location of the wires for future reference if needed. Winnie took pictures and I used my iPhone to take video. As we turned on our street, the first thing we noticed was that the roof and stone are being put on!

Work in progress, but looking good!

Not very exciting photography to look at wires in walls, but here's a couple where it all comes together. That's a lot of wire!

We decided to have lunch on the patio, so Winnie fixed us some great chicken sandwiches and we kicked back in our lawn chairs and enjoyed the view. Here's a clip from my iPhone.

We even had another couple join us for lunch.

Braving the Storm

On Tuesday, September 7, we and Tropical Storm Hermine arrived at Canyon Lake. Our trip out was one of the worst driving experiences ever. As we passed through Sealy at about 8:30 am, you would have sworn it was 3:00 am it was so dark. We also saw a transformer on the roadside that would put many fireworks displays to shame. We got behind an eighteen wheeler for cover and followed her for quite a ways. Just as we were coming out of Sealy our builder called, just checking to see if we wanted to reschedule because of the weather. No chance we were going to do that after coming this far.

The main reason we were going out was to keep from holding the electrician up. The house was ready to be wired, and we needed to tell him where we wanted all the outlets and lights. When we got there, Laurie Mahoney had to call Randy, the electrician to get him to come out. I don't think he was planning to work that day, but hey, if we could get there from Houston he could come over for a little while.






As you can see from the pics, a plywood deck on the roof isn't completely waterproof. Laurie kept pulling up the Weather radar on her iPhone as we watched the eye of Hermine pass almost directly over us.









Even though it had only been a little over a week since our last trip, there had been good progress. The fireplace had been installed, and red and blue "pipes" running everywhere were signs the plumber had paid us a visit.












We walked the entire house (including garage and patio) pointing out where we wanted electricity, internet, cable TV and speaker connections. Ryan Mahoney, Laurie's son and employee would be installing the structured wiring. He mentioned, as we were spec'ing out the TV connection over the workbench in the garage, that in his home that was the second most watched TV location. We even have a TV drop on the patio, along with speaker wires for some flush mount speakers in the ceiling. I think we pushed our structured wiring allowance to the limit.


The weather on the ride back was not as bad as coming out was, but we still caught a lot of rain and some pretty eerie looking skies.

We're Dried In

This is a follow-up to my previous post (Shopping Time!) from our trip on August 27, 2010. On our way back from shopping in San Antonio, we stopped by our house to check on progress. Laurie had been keeping quiet about it all day just to torture us. :>)



When we pulled up the crews were hard at it and we were pleased to see that they were putting the finishing touches on having it dried in! Les (the framer) came out to meet us. He's been working for the Mahoney's for years and is good at what he does.












The first thing I noticed once we walked inside was that the picture windows had been installed.
















I was impressed!
















Another look from the outside on the back deck.


















In fact, just about all the doors and windows were hung. When we left only one window was remaining.













Our builder, Laurie Mahoney, explaining the options we have for railing around the deck. You don't want to fall off this deck (8 feet to the ground!).












Winnie was admiring these very cool patio doors that actually have the blinds enclosed inside the glass. No dusting the slats!















We came back on Saturday morning to take a few more pics. There was a crew putting the Tyvek on the roof decking. We walked across the street to get the big picture.












On our way out, we got up close and personal with one of our neighbors!

Shopping Time!

Our last trip out (August 27, 2010) was a two-day event. We had an all day shopping trip with our builder (Laurie Mahoney), so we had a 7:00 am start from home. We did get a trip by the house on the way back from San Antonio, but I'll cover that in my next blog post.

We met Laurie at 10:00 in New Braunfels at Hoffman Floors. They have a large warehouse full of all things flooring. It seemed like a duanting task, but we were about to select tile, laminate flooring, carpet, back-splash tile, a medallion for over the cooktop, accent tiles for the bathrooms, cabinet stain, and paint color for the interior walls. And believe it or not, we had them all picked out by noon! Laurie made it easy with a step-by-step approach that led us through matching each item as we went along. Winnie captured the results in these pictures.


Next stop, Keystone Granite in San Antonio. This place looked more like a quarry than a showroom. It was kind of out in the boonies, and when we got there we were traipsing through a warehouse over all kinds of tripping hazards (my ConocoPhillips safety alarm was going off in my head big time). We got to the yard out back, and they did have some beautiful granite selections.

The one we picked was Peacock Lite. It comes from Brazil and they only had a few pieces left and they can no longer get it. They are going to check our house plans and see if they have enough to do all our counter-tops (kitchen & bathrooms). If not, we will either use it in just the kitchen or just the bathrooms and do the other with Uba Tuba.

Lunchtime, and Laurie treated us to Fish City Grill in San Antonio. Neither Winnie or I had eaten at one of these before, and it was great. We had outstanding oyster nachos followed by blackened tilapia with a remoulade salsa. It was so good, we have found one near us in Houston and are going there tonight (9/3/2010)






After lunch it was time to go appliance shopping. We headed for Factory Builder Stores just down Charles W. Anderson Loop (1604) from Fish City Grill. We met Joe, a very knowledgeable salesman, and highly recommended by Laurie. We we there to look at ovens, cook-tops, microwaves, washer and dryers and dishwashers. We were definitely on Winnie's turf, since she has been brochure and site shopping her favorite selections. We were able to short-list several makes and models so that Joe could provide us follow-up quotes afterward.

Last shopping stop for the day was Henne Hardware back in New Braunfels. Winnie had already picked out faucets and shower-heads before, but I wanted to get the specs on the steam sauna unit we are putting in the master bath. Armed with that info, Laurie dropped us off at our car around 4:00 pm and a very productive shopping trip came to a close.