Little Bit of This ~ A Little Bit of That

There's not alot that looks different while they are framing.  The electrician gets in there and wires, the plumbers do more work, but nothing really interesting to see.  But in keeping with the spirit of this blog, I aim to please and will now bring you some of those boring photos!

The air conditioning ductwork started going in

This is my vent hood duct work in the kitchen

A side note here...although most people would look at these and think, "what the, who cares about that!", well, I actually think it's kind of interesting to know what all is behind my walls. 
I've also made sure that I can get to these little puppies in case I need to clean anything out.  I'm a clean freak like that.  We are also very anal about keeping bugs, critters, etc. out as well as being very energy efficient. 

That's why we are doing this to all of the ceilings and walls...(photo courtesy of BtB)

C & I are big fans of foam-in insulation.  We've had it in a previous residence and it is well worth the cost.  It's also fire-proof and bugs and rodents can't live in it.

I think they did a very nice job building our corbels, don't you?

This one is over my kitchen window.  That's a protective covering BtB put on all the windows.

This one is over C's study.

The Roof

Yesterday C and I met BtB at the house to go over some potential changes.  It's almost scary to see how fast the house is coming together at this stage.

The windows were installed and 3/4 of the roof is shingled.

Thankfully it will be roofed in before the possible rains hit tonight through the weekend.

What were we thinking ?!?!?!?!?

We obviously weren't thinking about who would be climbing up there to change the light bulbs.

More Framing

It's looking more and more like a house each time I see it.  Here are some more earth moving and exciting photos of the framing.

Front Porch

This green wrapping and taping is an extra prevention from potential rot, mold and mildew in the walls.

Garage

From the back of the lot

That's all for today!  Now wasn't that exciting?

The Hard Stuff

The hard stuff for me is making decisions about the aesthetic things.  This is C's area of expertise.  Brick and stone are especially hard because it is difficult for me to imagine what the brick or stone are going to look like on the house. 

I mean, they give you such a small sample to imagine what it will really look like on a massive surface.  I can't do that; C. can.  I'm so glad I have him to do that.  I can pick out what I like, but he has the eye to picture what it will look like in the big picture.

Here is the stone we selected along with the brick the we think we will use.  We're going to look at two other places Monday.  The other thing we have to select are the shingles; another little sample to BIG area situation.

BtB is going to give me house addresses that he's used the brick and shingles on so I can feel a little more comfortable that I won't end up having a pink house with a green roof.   If anyone out there notices a lady driving back and forth in front of your home tomorrow, please stay calm.  It is not a stalker; just me.

Framing Her Up

They have been working on the framing for a couple of days now.  I finally got out to take photos and here they are!

Before I get to the framing photos, here is a shot of one of the post - tensioned cables that exit the slab after the forms have been removed.

Since it's hard to tell what anything is and I don't know that much about the framing, I'll just put these photos out here. 

The entry hall from the front porch.

Looking onto the back patio from the entry hall.

 The ceiling in the kitchen

 Our bedroom, taken from the back patio

 Looking into the Great Room, from the kitchen.

 The garage

 The courtyard off the back patio and the woods behind.  Would those be our back woods?

 North wall in the Great Room, showing the three doors and little windows above.

 Great Room from another angle.

 View of the house standing in front of the woods.  The garage is on the left, the kitchen is the taller roof next to the garage, the great room is in the center but hasn't been framed to the ceiling yet; all bedrooms on the right.

 Primary window & 3 little windows on the North wall of the kitchen

The front porch

More later!  Don' want to overwhelm you with such exciting content on one day, HA!

How Firm a Foundation

Got up really early this morning.  They were going to get started around 05:30 and I wanted to watch so I took half a day vacation from work.  When I got there a cement truck was leaving and this is what I saw.

Everyone standing around.  It looked as if  most of the foundation poured and they were waiting for the rest of the trucks to arrive and finish up. 

I walked around and checked everything out, nodding my head in approval as I went along.   Had to make sure everything looked satisfactory you know; like I would be able to tell. 

I practiced what little Spanish I knew and asked around for el jefe.  This is Roberto.

This is the first time I have watched the foundation being poured and C. had told me about this new cable system that they were using in lieu of all of the rebar.  Roberto was very kind and answered any questions I had.  Especially about all of this business...

See these cables?  They're contained in a purple heavy duty plastic sheath to keep the cables from corroding.  I guess the sheaths come in other lovely colors, but I like the purple, don't you?

Instead of the traditional rebar reinforcement that is normally used when pouring a slab, we are having a Post-Tensioned concrete slab poured.  A post-tensioned slab puts the slab in tension after the concrete has cured.  It minimizes cracking and makes a stronger foundation.

After testing the soil in our area the geotechnical guys come up with specifications for our slab.  The plastic sheathed cables are laid out in the same grid that rebar normally is.  They are held secure and kept at a certain depth by positioning tools called "chairs".  The cables are run through the forms like this.

The concrete is poured and after it has hardened to 75% of its strength,

the cables are pulled, or post-tensioned, with a hydraulic jack to a force of 25,000 psi; then the ends of the cables are anchored and the concrete is left to harden completely.  I'm disappointed I wasn't able to get back out to the site to watch that part, but a girl's gotta work, you know!

After my education from Roberto the rest of the trucks came rolling in.  They brought in 13 trucks in all. 

All of those guys just standing around earlier came alive and started working like a hive of bees.

 The guy in the white hoodie seemed to be the communicator with the truck drivers on which way to move the big chute that the concrete came pouring out of.

 The last of the 13 trucks backing into position

Whew!  I got really tired watching these guys work.  They did not stop for the rest of the time I was there.  They have a really hard job and I was very impressed.

And I thank them for our foundation!

We're Rolling Now

The real stakes were placed, forms set, and the 1st stage of plumbing laid today.  Since we live about 20 miles from the building site, I realize that I won't be able to get out there and capture every little day to day change.  I'll try to keep up as best I can.  I understand that the foundation is going to be poured tomorrow.  Half day vacation will let me be at the site for that.

Water Well

Not a very exciting day.  We had to decide where the water well was going to be drilled.  Although I grew up in a house that was on well water I never had to know anything about it.  Guess I'll be learning now!


Here's the well bore and lying on the ground is the extremely expensive pump that has been dropped off for installation today. Hmmmm..

It was decided to drill the well at the northwest corner of the house, between the sidewalk and the house.  Bob the Builder (BtB) and I will have to sit down and discuss how to disguise the well.  I know for a fact I will not have one of these...

This is a mock rock.  I've seen these from time to time in people's front yards hiding water wells and some actually have them in their gardens.  I'm sorry, I don't mean to be offensive to those who like these, but they look too fake for my liking.  Even from a hundred feet away they look like they could blow away in a good stiff wind.


I'll probably suggest for BtB to have ours encased with the same stone or brick that will be used on the house, and with a flat topped "lid" that I can at least use to place a planter on.