day 259: trim + dirt

mom and dad returned to the new house this week with a new/working digital camera other than their iphones. here are some pictures they sent with updates.



before: chicken coop is near collapse and not a pretty sight


after:cleaned up yard?


before: back of house needs a lot of fill


after: dirt from chicken coop area starts to fill in around house and garage.


inside, some windows are trimmed out. and look, outlets. don't listen to electricians when they tell you that outlets need to be 18" above the floor or that horizontal orientation is too hard.


some doors installed and trimmed out. these are the walk-in closets in the master bedroom.


master bedroom door to hall and master bath


stair to basement and hall baseboards; beadboard in the entry foyer

day 215: landscape

mom demonstrates how to use her edging tool in the dining room.


dad puts a second coat of paint in the living room.


back-filling continues.


excavator smoothes out the gravel with one swipe just to spite my shoveling efforts.


brooder coop, your days are numbered..


dad wants to turn this trickle of water from grandpa’s spring into a water feature. he figures he will name it Homer’s Folly.


i want to use these giant cut stones for the water feature. but there’s no time this week.


the ground is rising, but there’s still a lot more to do.

day 214: backfill

back-filling near the front door.


no more 10 foot drop from the front door!


dad and i assemble the kitchen island cabinets


tile begins at the master bath double sink area

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.