This is the saga of our experiences building a beautiful Modern Chateau in Atherton.

It’s like your teenage years when everything is possible, and the future is unlimited.

We are now proud owners of a super-heavy boat, which is very unmaneuverable and quite blocky.

So this is why, as soon as the concrete is dry, sawdust starts to fill the sky.

Vent lines go up from a drain line to equalize the pressure in the drain.  Why? Consider beer.

Imagine a ton of the chalk dust you had to clean up during grade school detention, all souped up with pixie dust to resist mildew and fire and stick together, squished between a few layers of paper like a giant thin chalk sandwich.

The final step is grouting, which is like pouring special sticky pancake batter all over your set tiles, squeegeeing most of it off.  The result is nice tile, evenly spaced, with colored cementitious material pleasantly in between.

Why do houses even have baseboards?

You can sell an un-finialled house, but it would be nicer for everyone’s sanity if the house were fully and completely done per anyone who has a say in the matter.  To any developer’s distress, the list of people who have a veto on this is distressingly long.

This time between Close of Escrow for us to acquire the property and COE when we sell it will be 1,243 days. Or 41 months. Or 3.4 years. Or 6% of your humble correspondent’s life.