Update on parade home

We are coming down the home stretch on the finish of our parade home. The painting contractors will be applying some specialty wall glazes and finishes this next week. It will be time for several contractors to come in and finish up there last part. We built the cabinet frame on the outdoor patio/living area that will have the built in grill, refrigerator and sink in it. The tile contractor has tile the floor on the outdoor living area as this room is really going to be special for someone to enjoy.  We have had a sudden rash of heavy rain here in central Oklahoma in the middle of August which is very abnormal for those of you that are not from this part of the country. It typically is hot and dry. So the rain has been a welcome site, however it has halted our progress on the exterior sodding of the yard as well as installation of the landscape. The landscape designer that we use has a plan all drafted up and ready to implement it as soon as the weather drys and around here that should be back pretty soon.  So the next couple weeks will be hectic but fun. We believe we have secured a deal with a furniture and home furnishing store to stage the house with furnishings and we are looking forward to that. The actual start date of the parade of homes is September 13th so we have lots to do before that date but we look forward to meeting any of you that have been reading the progression schedule and want to come out to have a look.

Parade home update

The drywall contractor has completed all the taping and beading and has finished the hand textured walls and ceilings. The cabinets are all built and will be ready to install soon. The floor tile was ordered a couple of weeks ago and is scheduled to be delivered the first part of the week and the tile contractor will arrive soon.  The patio screen contractor came in on Friday and installed the remote screens. These are what in my opinion makes an outdoor patio a usable space. How many times have you tried to be out on your patio to eat or relax, and the flys, or mosquito’s try to take over. I have these screens on my patio and believe me they are one of the best investments to make on a home if you really like to spend time outdoors.  I will have photos of these as soon as we get the screens powered up. The last 2 weekends my wife and I have been looking at the types of appliances that we will install for the outdoor kitchen area that we are doing in the parade home. If you have not ever looked at  these outdoor items you are in for a sticker shock. This stuff is expensive to say the least.  We will try to keep within our set budget on this but it will be tough as I did not budget what these outdoor experts are quoting us.  Even building a house for a show home much like when we build a custom home sometimes their are areas that you just feel you will upgrade on and this may be an area that we do, however we feel like it will make an area that any future homeowner will be proud of.  The dryvit contractor will be coming into to do his work as we have a front formal dining room wall that we will install this on to add a different element and texture to give visual interest. We are beginning to get excited about showing the house as it is starting to really come together.  We hope to see you out soon.

Parade home update

Well just a quick update on the progress of the home we are building for the 2008 Central Oklahoma Parade of Homes in the beautiful Stone Mill subdivision in Yukon, Ok. The brick contractors finished up all masonry work on the exterior this week. The beautiful custom built entry door out of White Oak and distressed has been installed and I must say it does make a statement. You will see what I mean when I get some photos uploaded. Our in house carpentry crew built some wood beams to go up in a step up ceiling in the living room that matches the front door. They have a real nice rustic feel about them.  The drywall crew came in this last week and installed all the sheetrock. The tape and bead contractor is now in there and will be texturing the walls with a hand troweled texture on all walls and ceilings. I have got all shop drawings made for the cabinets and built ins and my brother and myself went over and made all field measurements so we could start the construction of the cabinets.  The kitchen cabinets we have chose to build those all the way up to the 10′ ceiling height doing a set of glass doors along the top with some nice architectural carvings placed in some highlighted areas. We will be doing flush inset cabinet doors with a beaded edge giving us a real nice look.  The tile contractor will be in at the job site in about a week to start laying the floor tile. Stay tuned for more updated information.

Parade home update

Well this past week we finished all the electrical wiring, heat air duct work, all structured wiring is in place. We received all of our next round of inspections and I must say a lot of builders dread this stage of construction because of what the inspectors can do to you as far as holding up progress, but I must say our city inspectors here are some of the finest guys I have worked with and they are always willing to work with you on timing.  The rock layers got in this week and laid the dry stack stone on the front entry and it sure has a nice look to it.  We are heading in the direction of an Old World look and the style of stone fits right into this.  The brick masons started laying the brick also this week and will wrap it up by mid week.  The insulators came in and insulated the walls using the BIB system. This really does make for an efficient home.  My wife, also our in house decorator has selected all the tile as well as the countertops and I am anxious to see all these materials come together.  I have begun to really concentrate on the interior cabinet and trim designs as I have completed several drawings to start this process.  As we have stated earlier and also in our “about us” area of our website we have our own in house trim and cabinet crew and we are a well polished team as many of our happy clients will testify to that.  Woodwork is our speciality and we certainly get a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction out of taking raw wood and turning it into something beautiful for our customers.  The drywall crew is set to arrive this week and to me and I am sure many of you this is when a house takes on a definite shape and look inside. It is at this time you can really tell your room sizes and the space that you will have.  Progress is going well so come on out and see us.

Spring time

Well I think spring has finally sprung here in the central part of Oklahoma that is.  The grass is beginning to green up the trees and landscaping are coming out of hibernation and things are starting to look real good. I really like when all the Bradford pear trees bloom out as this is one of my favorites.  I am seeing people out in their yards and bed areas working them over.  This is a great time of year.  Well a little bit of update on the show home we are constructing in the beautiful Stone Mill subdivision in Yukon Oklahoma, on Thursday of last week the framing crew showed up and started laying out where the walls will go.  This sounds probably trivial but it is at this stage right here where you house gets squared up so that they are level and in correct relation with each other.  If a framer lays out the walls out of square it makes the sheetrock stage hard to do, it will make tile floors grout lines not be parallel with the walls in other words nothing good will take place.  I find as a contractor this is a great time to spend at the job site because some times walls have to be shifted a little bit to make a plumbing line work properly or maybe make cabinets and trim fit into corners like they should.  After walls are chalked out on the slab the framers go to work putting down the 2 x 4 sill plate and we like to use  liquid nail under all the sill plates for a good bond to the slab.  By the end of the day of Friday about 2/3’s of the walls were framed up with window and door openings in them.  This next week I will be meeting with my cast stone contractor and we will be discussing cast stone mantles, hood surrounds and some details possibly for the exterior fascade.  The framers will continue on with the walls and on up from there.  Brick will be ordered this week and the windows are on order. We will continue to press on from here.

Engineered Wood Floors

In today’s choices of flooring there is a broad range.  Engineered wood flooring ranks up on the top of my list for a nice elegant easy to maintain floor. They offer a great warm feeling to just about any room in the house.  I will say I would not recommend this type of flooring or any wood floor in any potential wet area such as kitchen or bathrooms.  In just about every new home we build today it will have a least one area of wood flooring.  Engineered wood flooring is one of the great floors to hit the market place.  It consists of several layers with only the top layer being actual hardwood.  The layers below are designed to give maximum wear and tear to the floor.   They are molded together under a high pressure in a factory controlled setting.   Engineered wood floors are more dimensionally stable and therefore are less likely to expand and contract with seasonal humidity changes.  The multitude of choices and colors are almost limitless.  The hand scraped worn look is our most requested wood floor from our clients that we build for.  Most of these engineered floors have a baked on factory finish that I don’t believe can be duplicated out on the job site.  It can be installed directly over a concrete slab whether it is nailed, glued or laid as a floating floor.  Some of these floors are sold as an unfinished floor but I believe one of the strong benefits of the engineered wood floors are their superior finish so I would strongly suggest this type.  As with any type of flooring there are different price points so don’t just shop for lowest price, as I have tried some of the lesser priced floors and they have a smaller wear layer surface and generally they are a thinner overall floor and just do not perform as well. 

Ceramic tile flooring

When you are looking to make a flooring decision there are not many choices that will outlast the durability, the timeless appeal and the strength of a Ceramic tile product.  Tile is one of the oldest flooring materials that has been used. Tile is a great choice for any wet areas, such as bathroom, laundry room, kitchen but in the area that I build in in central Oklahoma it is being used in living areas, hallways and outdoor living areas. Tile comes in sizes ranging from 2″ x 2″ for small decorative inserts to larger than 24″ x 24″ of course the latter size needing to be used in a large area. Many of the custom homes that we build the customer will have us lay the kitchen floor area or maybe down a long gallery hall on a diagonal pattern or possibly a brick joint pattern.   There are many tiles that can be laid in a multi piece pattern that looks very nice.  You can find tiles in just about any color and with different textures but most of the time we find it best to stay with neutral colors and decorate around with more vibrant colors if you wish.  I recomend to select your floor tile 1st and then select your carpet, counter-tops, wall color to blend and harmonize with your floor.  Word of caution when selecting your floor tile always ask about the degree of slipperiness as some are worse than others.  Tiles are sold at tile specialty stores as well as home improvement retail centers so when you are ready for flooring include tile in your selection of floors and enjoy the many designs and patterns that you can do with it.