40 days and 40 nights...

In keeping with the biblical references, I just had to comment about this unbelievable series of storms we have had here in Chicago in August. The recorded average for rainfall in the month of August in Wheeling, IL is 4.84". As I am sitting here in the pouring rain being stuck at work, we have already had 15.19" of rain this month (at least another inch today and more rain on the way tomorrow). I have had a tough time tracking down the record monthly rainfall for anywhere in Norther Illinois for the month of August, but this has got to be a record. I have never seen anything like this.

We have lost power twice within the last 2 weeks in huge overnight storms and today a funnel cloud was seen over the city of Chicago. This has been a real test of our modified drainage strategy and re-sloped landscaping. We have had a little bit of water weaping through a crack in the foundation, but for the amount of rain we have had in several of these storms, we have done pretty well. Most of the people I know that have finished basements and backup systems have even been having issues.

Ok, now on to more exciting progress on the construction. Last post showed the installation progress of the floors. As of this Monday, the cabinets have been going in. Slowly but surely, they have been going in. The fridge is being delivered tomorrow and the rest of the appliances are already on-site. The granite installer will be over to measure the space on Tuesday and within the next 2 weeks, we should have a "finished" kitchen.

Floors going in slowly but surely

With the kitchen cabinets delivered Friday, Aug 17th, and schedule to be installed beginning Monday, we're rushing to finish the floors in the South half of the house (family room, kitchen, dining room). I took a few days off work, despite some hectic work schedules and projects ongoing, to make sure enough is completed for the kitchen work to continue.

Here are a few pictures of the in-progress installation and finally, a couple pictures of what we have complete right now.

Here I am working the power nailer. Unfortunately, Brazilian Cherry is almost 2x as hard as Red or White Oak. This is great for durability, but it makes installation a pain in the butt. The wood is too hard for the power nailer to fully drive the nail into the tongue of the planks. This means I have to go by hand and set every single nail. Ugh. You can see the hardness ratings of hardwoods at the following link:

The Janka Hardness Scale



Measure twice, cut once!


And here is what it looks like in a larger room: