The siding crew and the guy who is installing the porch and stair railings didn’t quite finish on Thursday, November 12. Leah and I went up to look Friday. This is what the house looks like with the siding almost complete.

It’s hard to tell, but the siding does not cover the area around the small window that opens onto the front porch. That was one of the windows that the building inspector didn’t like. The single window on the left of this side of the house and one that’s around back were the other two he didn’t like. Those are now OK. The siding crew took the basement windows out and swapped them for the upstairs bedroom windows. The former bedroom windows, now in the basement, don’t have the same egress size requirement as a bedroom window, so they’re OK. The small window on the porch is actually OK; we just need the manufacturer’s installation instructions to show that they were installed properly.

This is what the balusters will look like when they are finished.

The decorations are called baskets. There will be one or two sets on each segment of railing, depending on the length. I wanted a material other than pressure-treated wood for the hand rails, but we weren’t able to locate anything near Rome. I may skin them with another material later so we can avoid having to restain them.

We splurged a little on the front door. It’s a fiberglass unit with two sidelites.

Unfortunately there are already a few nicks on the exterior finish. I’m generally pleased with the work the siders have so far, but there are a few things I would deduct points for, like those nicks (assuming they were not present when the door was unloaded) and the muddy footprints here and there on the siding.

The siders and railing installer are supposed to finish most of their work this week. Some, like the ceiling over the porch, will have to wait for other trades to finish their work. At this point we can call in a heating and air conditioning contractor and, after they finish, an electrician. Then I plan to install insulation. Then comes drywall. After the appropriate inspections, of course.

I’m sure it will be February at the earliest before we can move in.