Finishing Details, Stairway Railing and Cabinets
We are now into the exciting part, where will be able to watch your house become a home.
In this stage of your build all your finishing details will be completed. This includes all the doors, trim work, built-ins, rail and cabinetry. The start of this process is when the finished materials are sent out from our supplier. These are Grade-A materials which include your doors, casings, baseboards, materials for any built-ins. The finishing contractor will start by installing all the subfloor materials for tile or linoleum areas. In tiled areas, we will install a 3/8” plywood, and in linoleum areas, we install a 3/8” smooth K3 particle board product. The finishing contractor will then continue on by machining your doors, which means cutting out the hinges and door handle area, hanging your doors and completing the casings for the doors and windows. They will also complete any mantle or built-in details at this time. One of the last things the finishing contractor will do is complete the base boards in all of the carpeted areas. We call this pre-basing, and the reason we complete this process is to have the baseboard sprayed by the painter which leaves a great finish on the baseboards. The only areas that will not get ‘pre-based’ are the tiled or hardwood areas. The finishing process takes approximately three to four days and then we are on to the railing and cabinets.
The interior stairway railing can take one day on the basic railing and up 10 days on the more complex railings. All railing pieces are manufactured in our contractor’s plant but, put together on-site by their installers. The curved rail will have an additional process of templating done prior to installation. The installers will template the railing to match the exact dimensions of the house. This allows them to accurately produce a product in their plant that is often a unique piece of art. Once the railing is complete we are off to the cabinets.
The cabinets are delivered while the rail installer is completing the railing. The next day the cabinet installers arrive and will begin to install the cabinets as per the house plan that has been signed off by the homeowner. The installers will usually start in the upstairs bathrooms with vanities. They start by measuring where the plumbing is located in the wall or floor and they will cut out the back of the cabinets to fit over the plumbing. The installers will use shims for the minor adjustments and double-check that all of the cabinets are level and plum when installed. Once the cabinets are secured to the wall they will add filler strips between the end gables and the walls. These are added to allow room for the doors to open properly and to be able to fit the cabinets into the space. The last thing the installers will complete is the counter-top. When a laminate is selected, the installers will build the counter-top out of a K3 particle board and will glue down the laminate to the counter top. The installer will not cut out any sinks at this time as we will wait until the plumber is on site with the actual sink to make sure it is correct. If granite or quartz is selected, then the installer will confirm that all of the proper supports are installed and the cabinet install is complete.
When the cabinet installation is complete, the Cedarglen Site Supervisor and a representative from the cabinet company will complete the cabinet inspection. We make sure the layout is correct and that the stain color matches the color samples. We also check for any damage and that all the mechanical functions of the cabinets (ie. doors, drawers, etc) work properly. Cedarglen will fill out an inspection form online and one with the cabinet company. The items found at the inspection will be repaired before pre-occ and home orientation. By completing this inspection, as soon as the cabinets are installed, we find any issues quickly and have ample time to address these concerns before possession.