Weekend #7

Friday, July 24th, 2009...House-sitting for friends again this weekend gave us lots of time to work at our house. First, here's a teaser from the front door:
That's it...that's all you get to see until you come to visit!


Another shot of the "bones" of the great room:

And some raccoon tracks I found on the south side of the house, in a dried-up puddle:

We continued work on backfilling inside the foundation walls. This window-less opening made getting stones into this area pretty easy.

J-Bird pitched right in to rake and level the stones. It's wonderful to have a strong, young man on staff...I'm getting too old for this kind of work!

The younger crew kept themselves occupied for awhile by playing hangman on the wood pile:

It was about 7:30 pm by this time...the sun was setting...shadows growing longer...

Word games sure make me thirsty!

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Friday's sunset was beautiful...

"Crossing the Bar"

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea,

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark;

For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Space
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar.

- Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Saturday, July 25, 2009...Jesse arrived early this morning to work on the grading around the house and septic tanks.

Shaving some material from the bank to use as fill:

Adding fill material to the south side of the house:

Now we have some semblance of a backyard, and a flat area for the kids to play:

Jesse also backfilled around the septic and peat tanks:

The boys were fascinated by this machine...compact, powerful, maneuverable...even air conditioned! They decided we needed one of our own!

And the tanks as they are still now...waiting for us to install the connecting PVC pipe, connect to the house output, dig a small hole and install the UV light (stage 3 of our septic system), and run about 200 feet of PVC down to the stream for the effluent discharge. We'll get to that, but right now getting the house done is our priority!

Meanwhile, Hubby, J-Bird, and my Dad continued working to get the under-slab plumbing completed. Here Hubby is digging the trench for the 4" PVC that will carry all the household waste and gray water out to the septic tank. This was not an easy job. He had to position himself perpendicular to the trench, instead of parallel with it. This prolonged the process, but his persistence paid-off, and pipe installation proceeded promptly.

Here you can see his dilemma...he was only able to take small buckets of material out at a time:

And Dad had to do some hand-digging, as well:

Finally they got the pipe positioned with the correct amount of "fall"...(1" per 4', I believe), and we were able to fill in with stones to hold it in place:

And, here's the rest of the pipe install...not an exciting or glamorous shot...unless you know how much sweat and hard labor went into arriving at this very moment. I don't think I'll ever take indoor plumbing for granted again!

And...what did Sissy do while the rest of us were toiling?

Heavy rains filled the tire tracks with deliciously muddy water:

She tried unsuccessfully to coerce her brother to join her:

I'm thankful for the "well-loved" hand-me-down clothes we've been given...so I don't have to worry about how they'll ever come clean! What joy to be a child at this age...living in this moment...she loved every minute of it, and didn't mind being a bit cold and more than a bit wet! She was having a wonderful time...and I wasn't about to stop her.

Could YOU say no to a face like that?

Stay tuned,
Kris

Framing Week #7

Monday, July 20, 2009...The framing crew worked one day this week, finishing up the porch railing...installing a few more windows...and raising a door opening on the ground level. They won't return until next week when work on the siding will begin.

You can see to the back of the house the windows are not yet installed. The large opening on the first floor is for a double window unit. Ray suggested we not install this window yet because the opening will make the back of the house much more accessible when the concrete floor is poured. The rectangular hole on the second floor is for the kitchen door...we purchased this door last summer, but after flipping the cabinet locations, it didn't open in the right direction. We moved it to the front of the house, next to the garage door. The third floor also needs a window, which I assume they will install (along with the house wrap) when they return next week to begin siding.

The section of porch where railing is missing will eventually have steps from the drive up to the front door. There will be a matching set on the opposite side of the house from the kitchen door down to the yard/garden area. The steps cannot be installed until the excavators return and finish the backfilling. The blue foam on the lower wall is approximately where the finished grade will be. The garage doors would've been installed by now IF I had ordered the correct size! Another oops! Providentially, Scott from Crain Lumber, the local store where we ordered all our doors and windows, had a buyer for them and called me with his name. What could've been a very costly mistake only set us back a few hundred dollars. So, new garage doors are on order, and siding is scheduled for delivery on July 28th.

Meanwhile, Hubby and J-Bird have been hard at work moving stone into the garage again. The ramp is back in place...it comes in handy but is SO unwieldy.

As the guys were moving stone, all the "stuff" we've been storing downstairs had to be moved. All the stuff in this photo...

used to be over here!

Also this week, Hubby and my Dad are making steady progress on the plumbing. It is crucial that we get all the basement drains placed correctly, so that we can move on to laying out the PEX tubing for the in-floor radiant heat. Here is the first floor bathroom so far. The tallest pipe on the right is the wet vent...the short pipe to the left is for the toilet...and the pipe in the foreground is the drain pipe that will extend under the garage floor out the front of the house and down the hill to the septic tank.

Close up of bathroom plumbing. Great care is taken to insure there is 1" fall per every 4' of length. When the proper angle is attained, stone is filled in around the PVC for stabilization.

Looking upward where the first floor and second floor plumbing meet. We thought this would be an easy job...all three bathrooms are "stacked" one on top of another. However, each floor has presented us with challenges. The first floor walls are 10" thick poured concrete. The placement of the second floor joists gave us little room to run the pipes, so the crew boxed out a place for us to work.

Then the transition from the second floor to the third floor is tricky because the exterior walls are offset. Again, a section of joist was removed to accommodate the pipes.

And...because you can never have enough...more shots from the deck.

The underneath of the porch roof will be finished off with 6" wide v-groove pine boards.

Looking towards the kitchen window. One day soon, terrific smells will waft out through that window, beckoning family and friends to come and dine. Until then...

Stay tuned,
Kris

Framing Week #6

July 13 - July 17, 2009...Finally able to upload photos from this week's work. I love the look of the naked framing right now. The great room seems like it could've been part of Noah's ark. We have plans to create faux beams that will wrap around these not-so-finished-looking roof supports. We will hang a ceiling fan from the center beam, and 4 recessed lights in the ceiling on each side.

These walls at the back of the great room reach from floor to roof. I'm already imagining a quilt or two gracing these expansive spaces.

There is some unusable space here where the rooflines intersect. (Not sure what we'd store there or how we'd access it, anyway).

Looking up from the second floor to the third floor hallway skylight. Ray framed this out to carry more light down into the space. He continually goes above and beyond what we expect. He is not afraid to suggest things that will add to his work load, if he feels the finished result will please us.

J-Bird standing in his bedroom.

In each of the upstairs bedrooms, there are 2 crawlspaces between the kneewalls and the roof. The spaces aren't huge, but we'll find some things to store in there, I'm sure. The boys are already insisting on a hidden play area...

The skylight in J-Bird's bedroom. I'm really glad we didn't omit these due to budgetary concerns. They really bring in a lot of light to the upstairs bedrooms. And, so far...no leaks!

The roof is done! We're really happy with the color, and look forward to seeing the siding go on next week.

Friday, July 17, 2009...Sewer tanks were scheduled for delivery. The excavators arrived bright and early to cut-in a road for the trucks to access the tank locations, and to dig the holes for the tanks.

Here's Jesse manning the trackhoe:

The hole in the front will accommodate the septic tank...the one behind will hold our fancy-dancy peat bio-filter tank.

Don from ECOFLO, the peat bio-filter distributer, was on site most of the day to supervise the preparation for and complete the installation of the tank.

This green monstrosity is the peat bio-filter. It will process our liquid effluent after leaving the septic tank.

Jesse bringing in stone for the peat tank, while Don and Alan the excavator look on.

Several tons of stone are loaded into the tank.

Don climbs in to level the stone.

And..."Ta-Da!" The product of a hard-day's work. Our only choice for sewer on this parcel of land was to install a "small flows system." (That's not entirely true...we could've opted for a sand mound IF we brought in sand, waited for 4 YEARS, and had it tested. IF it passed, we'd be good to go). We were limited because of the steep terrrain, and because there is a stream at the bottom of our property, what gets discharged must be as pure as possible. It is a three-phase system. The gray tank in the foreground is the concrete septic tank. Plastic septic tanks are also available, and much easier to maneuver, but cost more than twice as much as concrete. Solids stay in this tank...liquids move on to the peat bio-filter...the large green tank. This tank is filled with...you guessed it...peat moss...which will filter and clean our liquid waste. The last leg in the journey is a UV light...(not installed yet) which further purifies and disinfects our effluent, which will then flow through about 200 feet of PVC pipe and discharge into our stream...as clear, pure, drinkable water. The ultimate in recycling, don't you think?

We also talked (begged...pleaded...) the excavators into using their trackhoe to position our outdoor furnace. What we struggled with for hours before with the builder's Skytrac, took a matter of minutes with this machine. So glad that is in place and ready to be hooked-up when the time comes.

Looks a little wonky here, but I know it's level! (Must be the camera angle).

Here's the loading door. We positioned it on the uphill side so we could use gravity to our advantage. Plus...c'mon...how about that view?

Stay tuned,
Kris