Groveland Car Barn Passes Final Inspection

At last, our Groveland Car Barn is close to finished. It passed the final county inspection this week.  It still needs the carpeting for Phil's Storage Room (tomorrow) and asphalt for the driveways when the weather is warmer.

Yesterday we put together 5 storage shelves for Elaine's storage room. 

It is simply beautiful, and done so well by Craig Lawrence of Cobblestone Homes.

See the previous post for other views. 

Next we will be adding on to the house deck to install our hot tub and provide a walkway from the new driveway to the back of the house. 

Lower garage and entryway

Front and Upper Garage to the right

Lower garage

Bathroom

Car Barn Just About Finished

The prior 2 days were beautiful, warm, sunny  days in Groveland, which  made for great picture taking for updates on the Car Barn.  We hope for final inspection next week.  

Below is the front door (at the back) and the new deck. It was decided to create this deck with a ramp leading to the driveway, rather than the original plans for a stairway up to the entry door. 

See the beautiful blue sky. 

Below is Elaine's Storage room to keep all those things that we just can't seem to throw away, sell or give away. The linoleum floor has been laid. 

Could not get Lola to open her eyes for a picture. 

Here is the view of the lower garage- 16 feet tall, making room for a "lift". 

 View from Phil's storage room

 

Below is  Phil's Storage Room

 The Bathroom- more was finished today- the toilet, the mirror, faucets

 The upstairs garage.

 Below are the new garage doors- not exactly matching in color, so they will be replaced. 

 As the weather has turned cold, and the asphalt contractor has some family illness, we are not sure when the driveways will be laid.

Interior Painting and Door Addition Begins

Progress occurred while we were off on Holiday, with the texturer finishing up and the painter coming for the interior painting. Tom and Craig also accomplished part of the decking. The garage doors should be coming soon, and the locks installed so the interior finishings can be added.
Philip has been instructed to start packing up his Walnut Creek Garage, starting with labeling Morgan parts, so I will know what they are, if need be.
I guess retirement starts us thinking "if need be".

Lower garage painted and a door

Elaine's Storage Room Painted (and baseboards)

Bathroom

Deck partially done

Storage room door molding

PHIL's CAR BARN is JUST ABOUT DONE

Our MOUNTAIN House was built in 1990 and is two story "down the hill" in the back. It is a bit smaller than Philip's Car Barn.   The yard is a bit overgrown, and will be trimmed back come spring time.


The House

Phil's Morgan Car Barn is close to being finished. Thanks to sister Lee, I have recent photos.


Upper garage awaiting doors, exterior light and rock work.

The wallboard has been taped and the plastering has begun.

Fun taping the 16 foot ceiling



Drying the taping in Elaine's storage room



Drying down the stairway

Lower garage from window in upper garage

Some of the exterior light fixtures have been mounted, and the remaining arrived the day after the electrician hooked up the electricity from the house. They will be mounted on the electicians final full day visit.  He was three days late because he smashed his middle finger, after he had traveled up the hill.

Lights

Craig and Tom are building the larger deck outside the back door.  It will have a railing around it. The original plan was a narrow deck off the door and steps down. The deck has been enlarged quite a bit and the entrance from the driveway, modified to be able to handle an electric wheelchair "just in case".  There was a lot of discussion as to putting the slats on the outside or the inside of the decking, with the final solution "on the outside".

eck platform

There will also be a railing over the little wall at the top of the picture alongside the upper driveway. We had hoped to do a rustic fence with 2 horizontal bars only, but no, that wasn't adequate. So it is required to be "mighty" by the inspector so no little heads will get caught in it, a $400 difference in price.

Upper wall

All the fixtures have been purchased- toilets, lighting, bathroom mirror, door handles and locks and flooring for the bathroom and storage rooms. Once the plastering is completed, and interior painting done, all the doors will be installed. Only then can the fixtures be installed. We hope this will all be completed in the next three weeks, then final inspection and occupancy.

CAR BARN- T-1 COMPLETED

The T-1 and Hardi-board have been completed on Philip's car barn. The insulation to keep him and the Morgans, especially, is installed. However we had a new inspector for the insulation, and he failed the inspection because once the wall board is installed, he thinks he can't finalize the little things that he indicates need fixing; the way the bathroom receptacle is grounded- if done his way, it will invalidate the warranty on the receptacle; a cut off switch outside for the electricity- the electricity comes from the house, so if the fireman turns off the cut off switch at the garage, it will still be a live wire; the porch isn't built so he can't see how it is connected to the building.

Hence, no wallboard is being installed Monday, as the contractor needs to get the change for the deck engineered, which will take some time.  We requested a walkway deck from the side deck (to be on the left) to the driveway so we don't have to go up and down stairs to Phil's work room. Alas we are getting older and any opportunity to not fall is critical to us. 

Tomorrow we go to Lowe's to select doors, hardware, carpet, etc.

LOWER CAR BARN

UPPER CAR BARN

PHIL AND HIS UPPER CAR BARN

UPPER LONG BAY

UPPER SHORT BAY

LOWER BAYS FOR A "LIFT"

Inspections Passed

After waiting for 2 weeks while the Tuolumne County Inspectors were on furlough, a different inspector came today to check that the nails were 6 inches apart on the edges and 12 inches in-between on the T1 siding. This inspection had to be completed before insulation could be added to the exterior walls. Craig and Tom had finished all the carpentry work that could be done, including decreasing the height of the stairs from an 8" rise to 7 3/4". This was accomplished by thinner steps and putting them at a slight angle with a shim. Having the stairs sloping down is within code, while 8 inches isn't. Go figure. It used to be up to a 9 inch rise.
The electrician came and completed his work and the plumber also did his work. Naturally, there were additional "work orders" for all the items that weren't included in the original contract. This items are adding up rapidly.
This afternoon the inspector completed his work and we PASSED. Only one action item for the plumber. So tomorrow the insulation installation begins.
Sister and I are heading out tomorrow  to see the American movie version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, We saw the Swedish subtitled one on Christmas eve.
No pictures for now.