Work continued at a frenetic pace in week 33 of our remodel. By the end of the week, the house had a paved driveway and garage; finished floors throughout much of the ground level; light fixtures, albeit without a connection to power; and, somewhat to our surprise, actual locking doors.

The doors caught us off guard because, although we sent over the locks we intend to use a few weeks ago, Enzo didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to install them, despite his previously expressed interest in making the site secure. The gaping hole where our kitchen window is supposed to be may have played a role in the slow pace of progress on this front. Additionally, we knew from a mid-week visit that the front door wasn’t actually installed: the crew had removed it
so that the painters could paint it. It’s hard to lock a door that isn’t there.

With all that in mind, we were shocked to find that the house was locked up tight when we swung by for our customary visit on Saturday. The roofers were there, continuing their work from much earlier in the project, but they didn’t have access to the interior, nor could they tell us how to get in. The garage door was secured with an obviously temporary deadbolt, and the front of the house was closed up with an even more obviously temporary door. We were a bit pressed for time, so we couldn’t do much more than peek in through the windows before leaving, but there was no obvious way in. Luckily, Enzo responded that evening when we texted him asking for instructions, and we were able to make a successful return visit the next day.

The driveway and patio turned out more or less exactly as we’d expected and hoped. Whether or not we’ll have room for me to park and charge my car inside the garage—a question we still haven’t resolved fully—just being able fit both cars side-by-side in the driveway is a tremendous upgrade over the old configuration, which all too often required one of us to move our vehicle (often in our pajamas) so that the other could leave for work or school.

The patio is definitely going to be a bit tight. We’ll have to do what we can to optimize for the available space and see how things work out. If it’s simply not workable, we can always fix it by expanding the surface, but we’d like to avoid an outcome that could end up costing us thousands of dollars.

I met with the electrician, Jamie, on Tuesday to walk through our plans and nail down a few decisions, such as the number and placement of outlets on the kitchen island. We decided to hold off on installing the interior surface-mounted fixtures for the time being so that they wouldn’t end up covered with dust as other workers installed the floors, but by the end of the week, the recessed lighting was in place throughout the house, as were many of the wall plates for switches and outlets. Some of them ended up a bit askew, but Enzo assures us that he’ll take a look at them.

The installation of the laminate flooring also progressed surprisingly quickly. I stopped by in the middle of the week to drop off some hardware and fixtures we had purchased, and they were just getting started in the living room. By the time we visited on Sunday, the living room, front hallway. and laundry room were complete, and only a small portion was still unfinished in the great room. The office wasn’t done yet, but Enzo tells us that things will be far enough along that we can actually start bringing over appliances this week.

As the floor was being installed, work also began on adding false treads, or end caps, to the stairs. The idea is to provide the appearance of full hardwood construction under the carpeted runner without the associated expense.

In the meantime, true to form, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of reading about how to to care for laminate floors. There are a surprising numbers of dos and don’ts, and, as always, people on the Internet have very strong opinions about the One True Way to keep them looking clean and new. I’m sure it will work out fine, but a part of me remains worried that I’m going to dump a full pot of hot spaghetti on them in the first week, turning them into a stained, warped mess.

The week’s developments weren’t without wrinkles. As I mentioned, a number of the electrical wall plates aren’t level, either with the floor or with other nearby plates. That seems relatively easy to fix; a bigger mystery is the appearance of a mysterious bulge in one area where our master bathroom wall meets the ceiling. We have no idea whether this is a purely cosmetic concern or indicative of a more significant structural problem, but we’re counting on Enzo to let us know.

Perhaps most disappointing was the disappearance of a wall-mounted bookcase from Joe’s room that we’d saved from his old bedroom downstairs before demolition started. We kept it in storage over the winter, and took it back to the house a couple weeks ago when Enzo gave us the OK to start bringing things back. Our best guess is that someone mistook it for trash and either tossed it in the dumpster or took it home, but even assuming that there was no ill intent, it’s still a bit disappointing.

Gallery: Week 33: Floors