October 1 - Work on the septic system has begun. The system is rather complex. It consists of a septic tank, a clarifying tank, a pump tank and a grinder tank for the guest house as well as a raised bed drain field.
October 1 - Here are two of the 1,000 gallon tanks. The raised bed is needed because the soil has a lot of clay in it and will not perk well.
October 1 - The tile setter is grouting the brick. The bricks and mortar match the fireplace and brick floors.
October 1 - The septic tank has been buried. The three tanks will take a hole about 35' long.
October 1 - Bricks have been laid on the east wall. They are not laid to the right of the second door because the cabinets are not installed yet. These bricks have not been grouted yet.
October 4 - The pipe connecting the grinder pump (yet to be installed) behind the carriage house to the septic has been buried.
October 4 - The septic, clarifier and pump tanks have been buried. If you look closely, you will see two wires near the tractor bucket. One is to power the pump and the other is to power the alarm system (which warns if the pump fails).
October 4 - The line from the pump station has been run to the 'cat box' (raised septic drain field. There will be a number of lines (about 180 linear feet) run inside the concrete box and then covered with gravel.
October 4 - The master bedroom now has crown molding. Baseboard is going down in rooms that don't have cabinets.
October 4 - The tub deck has been built. It will be plumbed in the next day or two and then templated for a granite top.
October 4 - Four newel posts for the stairwell have been built. The two smaller ones are stored inside the larger ones for the moment.
October 4 - A dry well was built under what will be an outdoor shower. Drainage goes to a nearby swale.
October 4 - The dry well has a gravel bed with a perforated pipe in the bottom. Water from the shower will go down through the rock to the pipe and out to the swale.
October 4 - The stairs are complete. Nosing around the stair well is complete. Upstairs flooring is complete. The four squares mark locations where the newel posts will be installed. The finished floor is visible. It has cardboard on it for protection.
October 4 - Upstairs has prefinished engineered wood installed. Baseboard will be installed soon.
October 4 - There was a very small space between the powder room casing (on the left) and the closet casing (right). We redit this with wider casing to kill the gap.
October 4 - The overlook has nosing on it. it will have two half newel posts, a handrail and cables on it.
October 4 - The drain field is nearly complete. Clean outs need to be put on five more lines. This will be done first thing tomorrow. Inspection is scheduled for Friday or Monday. Once inspection passes, the raised drain field will be completed.
October 4 - Door casing has been put on the door to the mud room.
October 4 - Baseboard is being installed upstairs.
October 4 - A temporary LP tank has been installed. Later, a permanent 500 gallon tank will be buried.
October 8 - The guest house septic pump tank has been buried and plumbed. It will feed to the septic tank behind the main house.
October 8 - During the DHEC (health department) test, you could see water coming from the drain field lines.
October 8 - The septic and clarifier tanks are filled as the septic system is getting finished and tested.
October 8 - The DHEC inspector (in the pink shirt) is checking the system. The plumbers (in maroon shirts) are on site in case there is a problem (there was not).
October 8 - The garage auto bay interior is getting painted. The door at the back goes into the service yard. The door on the right near the back wall goes to the workshop.
October 10 - The DHEC inspection passed. Now we have to cover the pipes with about 15 cubic yards (about 30 tons or 60,000 pounds of gravel). Next comes landscape cloth then top soil.
October 15 - Water and power lines are being run to the guest house from main house service yard.
October 15 - The bath tub is mounted in the tub deck. It has mortar under it to make sure it is a solid installation. The tub will have a marble slab over it.
October 15 - The treads are installed. The cables serve the function of balusters, but don't block the view.
October 15 - The upstairs newel posts are installed. The corner posts are 6x6. The intermediate posts are 4x4. There will be a half post on the right at the far end. The overlook also has two half posts.
October 17 - The flooring sub made several samples of flooring stain.
October 17 - The overlook has two half posts, a hand rail and cabling. This is at the end of the hall upstairs and overlooks the great room.
October 17 - The main house service yard has been constructed. It still needs a gate and post caps. The service yard encloses the generator, condensing units and electrical panels.
October 17 - The small yard to the left is an outdoor shower. It will have stepping stones for a floor. There is a French drain under it that carries water to a drainage ditch.
October 17 - The gray box is power for the septic pump that pumps effluent to the raised drain field.
October 17 - The garage service yard has also been constructed. It needs post caps and a gate.
October 17 - The stairs are nearing completion. The top rail is up. The cables are strung. It lacks a handrail. The stair treads will be stained to match the floor.
October 22 - The great room and kitchen east wall has thin brick on it. The brick is darker on the right because it has not been grouted yet. There is no brick where the base cabinet will be installed.
October 22 - The tile setter is grouting the bricks on the west wall of the kitchen.
October 22 - The master bath vanity is fastened in place. It will have two lavatories.
October 22 - The reclaimed wood floor is being sanded. The stair treads are made of the same material.
October 23 - The porch ceilings are getting V-Groove pine on them. The dark spots are where lights and speakers will be installed.
October 23 - The floor has wood filler on it to patch some of the larger cracks and splits. Reclaimed wood is just that: reclaimed from beams in old factories and barns. It has a lot of 'character' (a nice way of saying nail holes, cracks, knots and such).
October 24 - The 'cat box' (raised drain field) has landscape fabric covering it. Next comes top soil. The fabric keeps the top soil from filtering down to the drain pipes.
October 24 - The last of the trim is being installed on the house over the porches.
October 24 - The outdoor shower now has a gate. The fences are made of cement board, but the gates are made of pressure treated wood because the cement board is too heavy. The extra gravel goes in the outdoor shower area.
October 24 - The main house service yard also has a gate now. The fence and gate will be painted soon. The posts still need caps.
October 24 - Lastly, the garage service yard has its gate installed.
October 24 - The floors have been filled and sanded. Next they will be stained then coated with urethane.
October 24 - Fill dirt is not bermed around the 'cat box'. This helps disguise the drain field.
October 24 - Top soil is being placed on top of the landscape fabric. It will be smoothed with a slight crown to shed water.
October 25 - The porch trim is being finished. Soon the painters will be painting it. This porch gets screen.
October 25 - The small porch gables now have flashing and siding.
October 25 - The well water tank has been moved to its permanent location in the garage.
October 25 - Workers are spreading the top soil on the 'cat box'. Since it is a drain field, we don't want to use heavy equipment on it to spread the dirt.
October 25 - The porch off the master bedroom now has a ceiling.
October 25 - Since the tank is in the garage, the well head is small and can be covered with a 'rock' if desired. The conduit on the ground is temporary.
October 26 - The 'cat box' is covered with top soil. It is complete now except for grass. The pipes may be cut shorter if desired.
October 26 - The floors are stained and coated with urethane. Cardboard and Masonite is being put down to protect the floor. The floor will get a final touch up and coating just before the house is finished.
October 26 - Cabinets are being installed. As soon as the base cabinets are installed, we will have them templated for tops.
October 26 - The steps are masked and stained. The wood column will be stained.
October 26 - The wood mantle is being constructed over the fireplace brick. There is a wrap around wood panel above the mantle.
October 30 - The bar cabinets are in place. There will be a sink and a refrigerator in them.
October 30 - The wood panel above the inside fireplace has been built. It will be painted trim color.
October 30 - The granite supplier is measuring for the counter tops.
October 30 - The breezeway is being finished. The ceiling has V-Groove pine like the porches.