Mahyer Street– Day 4
On day four, no joke, our partner installed the f&*^ing kitchen cabinets.
Not only were the cabinets installed, but all of the windows were operational. The team had completed the exterior, Kleer trim-work around the windows, and they had installed half of the siding.
In the meantime, back in Easthampton, it was raining, so our team had to take the day off. I’m not saying this to prove the point I've been belaboring about the benefits of a hybrid construction process. It actually did rain and we actually did have to take the day off. This was all while PBS was still steaming ahead on the house itself.
No need to knock in the factory
Our craftsman style front door is in place, and if the team wasn't so concerned with the efficiency, you could even knock to come in. At this pace, however, there is no time to knock, let alone open and close a door. The team takes advantage of the factory's consistently warm weather and lack of non-human creatures to leave the front door wide open.
Cabinets, baby cabinets
One day four, our partner is installing the kitchen cabinets.
In the photo below, notice that the cabinets extend to the ceiling. We recommend using ceiling height cabinets like this in small homes because it provides extra storage space. In a small kitchen, it doesn’t result in a huge price increase.
We also recommend including a cabinet above the sink instead of a window to provide even more storage. In this kitchen, the sink is on the shorter wall in the bigger opening.
Harvey Windows
We upgrade our windows to Harvey Slimline by default. They look great, and the gain in quality over a standard Plygem window (standard window at Home Depot) is phenomenal and only results in a modest cost increase.
Triple paned windows are also a great place to allocate extra money during construction. We do not include them as standard because they do not make a significant impact on energy efficiency. However, they do make sitting by a window much more comfortable on a cold winter’s day and reduce sound transmission.
The electrical panel is ready
The picture below shows an electrical panel before an electrician connects the wires to all of the breakers. From here, it will take the electrician an additional 2 hours to finish wiring the panel.
They're installing the siding
When you have two people installing siding, it goes on quickly. As you can see below, one person cuts the pieces of siding to size, leans them against the house where they are needed, and someone else nails each piece in place.
Kleer window and door trim
In the last ten years, building material companies have made considerable advances that make vinyl siding more attractive. It’s still not Hardie Plank, but it cost about 80% less. We think that for any budget-conscious homeowners, that “premium color” Certainteed Mainstreet vinyl siding and Kleer trim is the way to go.
Kleer is one company that has made aesthetic advances in the plastic siding space. In the photo below, you can see their 3 1/2” trim around the windows and doors. This trim is Kleer’s answer to traditional “J-Channel” that is one of the main culprits in making vinyl-clad houses look ugly.
Like Hardie Plank, these two products will ensure that you never deal with flaking paint and only need to re-paint if you want to change the color of your house.
Deluxe & premium colors
Our homeowner chose an excellent color for their home. It is going to do a great job complimenting the cedar shingle gables that we will be adding on-site. One of our local partners, Lou Conover, of Shingle Designs, is doing some shingle art on the gable ends (aka “the handmade case for factory-built iPhone” from my previous post)
When using vinyl siding on a house, it very important to choose from the premium colors. The standard colors almost always look washed out, faded, and overall cheap. If our customer decides to stick with vinyl instead of upgrading to Hardie, we actually don’t let them use the standard colors as they will be disappointed with the finished product.
Meanwhile, back in Easthampton…
It’s raining.
So the site still looks like the photo from yesterday, just wetter.
