And that's a Wrap!

Why is it that the final phase of the project seems to drag on forever? It just does.

I think it's because the end is in sight and you just want it to be done. It's easy to feel that it should be finished as of yesterday but there are still several loose ends to tie up. As Joe was telling me, you've got to keep the intensity level up at this stage and not let down.

It's been busy around here since my last update. Joe installed some hardwood flooring in the area leading into the sun-porch and had Above All Hardwood Floors come in and do the final sanding and sealing of the floor. There was no way it was going to match because of the fading in the flooring that takes place. It will take time but eventually the surfaces will look much more similar than they do now. First world problem.

Joe also installed the gate for the deck so we can now leave the pups out there to bark their little heads off and upset the neighbors. Haha...no, I actually plan to buy two shock collars if necessary; Toby won't need one. We'll see how it goes.

Marvin Windows came through as they said they would and brought us our replacement door frame with attached transom window last Thursday. I was so happy to see it arrive. Joe took some time to make certain this one didn't leak before installing it.

When we had our driveway replaced 5 years ago I redid some of the landscaping in front and replaced all of our low voltage landscape lights. I bought about a dozen extra knowing that I would at some future point be adding a sun-porch and deck off the back of the house and wouldn't it be nice to have some matching lights? But I didn't get enough. Fortunately I was able to find the same lights online packaged under a different name and ordered enough to do the job. I spent some time this past week putting them to use. They add a nice touch.

Eric was here yesterday working on gutters for the project. He's got them engineered so all of the water coming off the roof is being directed away from the foundation either off to the side of the house or in front. Nothing gets dumped out in back and allowed to flow back toward the foundation the way it used to.

There are still a few small things that need to be done but the city inspector came through this afternoon and did his final inspection. He said Joe did a "super job!" We couldn't agree more! I never would've imagined a year ago that we'd be blessed with an addition such as this.

We can't say enough good things about Joe. We'd hire him to do our addition again in an instant if we had it to do all over again. We do have several other projects around our home that will need attention in the next few months and I've already told Joe that he's our guy. I have no intention of bidding them out.

If you're in the metro area and are looking for a carpenter please consider giving Joe a shot at your project. I can guarantee you that you won't regret it.

Joe can be reached at 612-597-3606