Mud

Drywall taped and with a layer of mud.

Yesterday was a very trying and tiring day at The Farm. We met Builder Mike after lunch and had more decisions to make than we had anticipated.

One decision was what to do with the stairway. Originally we were going to carpet the loft and the stairway leading to it. Mike built the stairs to suit this plan. Now, of course, we are putting cork flooring in the loft and plan on painting the stairs and putting a runner up the middle. Mike, who is very particular about his work, explained to us that he had not put a grade of wood on the stairway good enough for the change of plans. Long story short, Mike will be pulling up the stairway to the loft and replacing the wood (both the treads and the risers) with a better grade of lumber, rounding the front edges, and making the stairs wider to fill in some gaps that were on each side of the stairs. We should have a much better product to paint.

We appreciate that most of the contractors we have hired have taken ownership of the cottage and are extremely proud of their work, often bringing others with them to show off their handiwork. Mike falls into the category of those who take extreme pride in their work. When he walks away from the cottage for the last time at the end of the project, we are sure he will want to be completely satisfied with every aspect of the cottage that he had any part in creating.

Whenever we have driven to the cottage on the weekends to check on the work, we ALWAYS find everything neat and tidy. We appreciate that.

Some of the things Mike has done that have gotten our attention are very minor, but they prove our point about his pride in his craftsmanship. His neatness is just one of them. His ability to discuss options for problematic situations without making us feel like we are stupid is another. We are pleased with our working relationship with Mike and our ability to talk about what is best for us and for the cottage. He listens to us. He knows our goals. He tries to make them happen but will tactfully point out if he feels there is a better way. We are all able to compromise without compromising the project. We all want the same thing: the best use of space and materials at the best price.

When the openings under the front porch had to be addressed, Mike MADE the hinges in his shop that would be sturdy enough to hold the heavy doors he made using the Nichiha siding. And yesterday, when we were discussing the opening between the front porch and the main part of the cottage, Mike never told us that he felt a storm door wouldn't look right. He waited until Kathy worked her way back to wanting a dutch door, and then he offered to make it for us in his shop, complete with ledge on the top of the bottom half. It was only after all the decisions had been made about the door that he said that he didn't feel the storm door was appropriate for the statement we were wanting to make about the cottage. Respect. Trust. They are very important when working with your builder.

Which brings us to something that Kathy feels needs to be addressed. Remember that Kathy was (in another life) the editor of a newspaper where she reported facts and attempted to keep all emotion out of her reporting. We want to be able to talk about the cottage in this blog and report the facts. With that in mind, Kathy wants to state that as happy as she was with the sprayed fiberglass insulation and batting on the main floor of the cottage and in the sleeping loft, she was equally disappointed with the quality of the work in the basement. To her eye, the quality of the work and the materials in the basement was not nearly as good as the above grade work.*

We have not seen Denny and Barbara for several weekends now and hope they have not been ill. A stop at their homestead or a phone call might be in order.

Yesterday we purchased a sink for the upstairs bathroom, a shelf for the upstairs bathroom that will go over the toilet, all towel racks, toilet paper holders, all faucets, a light for under the glass cabinets over the bar, and the kitchen sink. Today we purchased our ceramic tile and grout, two toilets and a couple of smoke detectors.

Mike will be picking up the bamboo and cork flooring from Lumber Liquidators, saving us the trip and trouble (they don't deliver) and we will be having the toilets, tile and grout delivered by Menards.

*This paragraph was edited because Kathy could not keep her emotions out of her reporting and went into great detail about all that she was unhappy with re. the insulation of the basement. Bonnie convinced her that to say that the quality of the insulation work in the basement was inferior to that of the work above grade was sufficient. Sometimes less is more. Thanks, Bonnie. Even editors need an editor. ; )