day 141: garage + insulation

finally progress!


it was a relief to see the mud dried up and the garage with some backfill out front. Dad and Mom and I met the excavator the talk about how to grade the remaining part of the driveway and backfill around the house.



Bob the excavator filled the garage with gravel... a lot of gravel. once we get a pair of floor drains installed it will be ready for a concrete slab. the last exterior door is on site but needs to be dragged up from the basement and installed.



it's starting to feel like a house. you can actually walk right in without climbing a wall and balancing on a plank of wood to get into the foyer.



this will soon have a concrete porch and steps. you can see the outline cut into the siding along the side walls. and the wiring is in place for exterior lights, door bell, and power outlet.



the interior has started to look a little more solid now that the place is insulated.



the exterior walls and main floor ceilings are insulated for heat loss, and the bedrooms and bathrooms are insulated for acoustics. the return air for the furnace runs through an open stud bay that become a plenum of air - like a built-in duct - once the drywall is installed.



this basement bedroom is temporarily pink with insulation.


i guess this one strip of insulation was flipped over because there are air ducts in that joist bay.



this single strip of insulation is a curious sight. i'll have to give them a call.



the well is installed just north of the house. water and power for the well runs along the west side of the house and enters just before the plywood wall you see here. the well driller installed this water storage tank and water filters and softeners. next in this line will be the water heater.



Uncle Paul installed vents on the house. here you see the fresh air intake for the fireplace and the vent for the basement bath exhaust fan. Another bathroom exhaust fan vent is on the north elevation, and there is a dryer vent on the west side.

day 86: context

day 85: electrical

the electrical rough-in is almost done. lucky for us they are still working. dad bought a few antique sconces he couldn't live without so i had to find a place for them and ask the electricians to install gem boxes and a switch. here are some pics showing the progress.

the electrical panel in the basement.

electric meter on the west side of the garage + sealed conduit over to house. the power company will come and install permanent power after we trench over to the utility pole and have it all inspected. i will try and get the telephone/DSL line installed at the same time.

recessed light housings in the the kitchen; boxes for outlets and switches.

lights in the hearth area

living room

master bedroom lights + fan, outlets, switches

day 84: clean up

the house was absolutely filthy. the floors looked almost like they were just made of dirt. that's what happens when the site is mostly just mud. also the electricians and plumbers drilled holes everywhere leaving a wake of sawdust. and the crew cut a lot of the cement board trim inside the house. so it was bad.


sawdust and electrical scraps are even between all the studs.


so i bought a broom and started sweeping.


this shows just one room's dirt and debris. the dirt filled in the cracks of the OSB subflooring, which was not easy to sweep. and sweeping out the stud walls was tedious. i woke up saturday with a crick my neck from too much sweeping on one side. i still can't look to the right.


but it made a huge difference, right?


here's the living room all cleaned up.


the basement was probably filthier than the main floor, but the smooth concrete was easier to sweep. before.


after. i'm sure the house won't remain this clean for very long, but at least i was able to get rid of all that dirt.

day 83: progress

there has been some progress in the past two weeks. some.


the Hostetler crew installed some of the snow guards.


it comes as long stainless steel bars that had to be cut to fit between every standing seam clip.

they installed the east side of the house and the north end of the west side of the house.


and the north side of the Link.


here's the overall view of the snow guards, S-rail type. the fire took care of the scrap wood and cardboard boxes and misc garbage.


the crew also started drilling 4" holes for the eave vents. i ordered these nice vent caps that just slide right into the holes. they look nice when you look up at them, but mostly they go unnoticed. the east side of the house is complete. hopefully they'll come back soon and finish. they found it easiest to drill them from the interior, and soon we will be insulating and installing drywall.


the well driller started once the excavator helped him get his rig over to the north side of the house. he hit water 65 feet down but needs to go a little further. then he'll test it and see if he should stop or drill deeper.


i met the well driller and talked about how the ground might be graded near the well cap, how to run the water line to the house, and a where to place a reservoir tank inside the mechanical room.

day 63: driveway

the driveway was in really bad shape. construction has meant an increase in traffic on Homer Lane, and sometimes that includes large, heavy trucks and tractor-trailers. the ruts got so deep that people were afraid they would never get out again. the plumber actually called last week and asked us to do something about it.

the excavator came a few days ago and bulldozed the top layer of dirt to get rid of the ruts. he also opened up a few of the ditches along the drive. over by the other house and garage they added a drain pipe and ditch. then he brought in new gravel. except that gravel doesn't really describe it. it's really large, sharp, chunky rocks. this should be a good road base that will last. we are waiting until we do the grading around the house before we have him bring it all the way to the new garage.

an example of the mud. you should have seen the place with deep ruts!

new drain pipe

new gravel

the lower road

here you can see how large the stones are

day 62: siding

i didn't visit the site last week, so today was the first time seeing the house with siding on it. i took some pictures while walking around starting at the southwest corner.

the hvac crew completed all their rought work, including supply and return duct work, thermostat lines, fresh air intake and exhaust pipes, and all the lines to the compressor.

plumbing drains + vent lines are completed. water lines are about to begin.

electrical outlets are far along on the main floor, wiring and all, but nothing in the basement yet. only a few lights and switch boxes are in on the main floor.

it's time to light a fire under the trades. let's go people!

southwest

northwest

north

northeast

northeast

east

southeast

south

mom + dad pose with their house. someone put on two different boots.

locating exterior lights.

the house viewed from up at the orchard.