The good news is we now have the correct screws to install the siding. The bad news is that we are missing some flashing strips that are used to hide the edge of the siding panels at the edges of windows.

The installation crew noticed that the default flashing that is used at the edge of the siding (which is installed in vertical slats) does not work well for the edges of windows. A call to the manufacturer representative, pointed out that other people have noticed this same problem, and there is a new flashing strip that works better. But that new solution it is not yet available. Fortunately, the manufacturer has an alternate solution which uses two different parts. One part is installed when the siding is installed and a second part is snapped on later. This means we now need a new set of flashing strips shipped to us (from Georgia), and we need to ship back the strips that will not work for us. Later they will ship us the second part of the solution, but that will not delay installation.

They can still install siding on walls with no windows, so they will start tomorrow with the north side of the garage, but once that is done, we have to wait for this new part.

By the way, here is a picture of the flashing that does not work for a vertical installation at window boundaries. It’s that piece of black metal, on the right side of the picture, that is only partially covering the edge of the siding.

Work continues in the basement. The basement HVAC work is almost done. Here is a picture of the utility room that has the HVAC air handling units. They are currently working on the dehumidifier.

The construction crew has also built out the utility room that will hold the electrical panels and the water heater.

Right now, the construction crew is putting walls up around the stairwell. The vent at the bottom is the air return for the basement. The black tubes will go out to the condensers behind the garage.

Here is the rough schedule for the next few months.

  • Next week work on the electrical infrastructure continues. It should take around 6 weeks.
  • In early January, we will add insulation in the walls.
  • Once that is done, we will plaster the walls.
  • After the plaster is finished, we can tile the bathrooms, install all the doors and put the “slats” in place, which is an accent in the living room and dining room.
  • Meanwhile, siding will take 6 weeks once we get the new flashing.
  • The awning over the living room windows will be installed in a few weeks.
  • The deck surface will be installed in December.

Meanwhile, I want to rant a little bit. Our dear leader’s tariffs with Canada are increasing the cost of our kitchen cabinets by around 7 thousand dollars, and this is after the cabinet company said they will eat most of the current 25% tariff expense. Tariffs are scheduled to increase to 50% on January 1st so we are rushing to try to the get the cabinet order to the factory in the next 2 weeks so they can be shipped before year-end. If we fail in that, we will have to switch to a much more expensive American manufacturer (because the total cost for the Canadian cabinets with added tariffs will be more than that).

I am not an economist so I can not comment on the long term advantages of our current tariff policies (well, I can comment, but this is not the place for that). All I can say is that it is costing me many tens of thousands of additional dollars, maybe more since the cabinet manufacturer is the only one to have admitted that they are increasing their costs because of tariffs. I am sure, for example, that I paid a lot more for wood because of tariffs, it just wasn’t broken out.

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