Second floor exterior walls are complete and housewrapped. The house looks very tall on the approach from the driveway, and there is a third floor going on the back half yet:
The great room has vaulted ceilings with exposed beams. The large space between the front windows looks a bit odd, I think, but that space was meant for the fireplace. I believe we've changed our plans yet again and will be purchasing a high-efficiency woodstove for this area. Seeing the interior dimensions for what they are, we've decided that the masonry stove will take up too much space, not only in the great room, but the footings and support column required in the basement eat up a lot of room, as well. We looked at a few Vermont Castings stoves this morning at a local retailer. With the tax rebates being offered this year, and eliminating the cost of the masonry required by the masonry stove, we should come out ahead.
Side view, great room on the left, kitchen on the right:
Back corner of the kitchen looking towards the front door:
Height of the great room is apparent here:
Sissy and I waving from the master bedroom window:
J-Bird and I at the front door, waiting for house guests. Steps leading up to the wrap-around deck will provide access to our front door (which is really cool, by the way...y'all just have to come over to see it for yourselves!)
This is the little corner on the right from the front door. Roof angle is apparent here:
Looking from the master bedroom towards the sliding door in the great room. I made a mistake here...didn't give Amish Ray the right dimensions for the slider, so they will need to redo it next week.
This is the wall separating the main floor bath from the master. There will be a door here:
View from the kitchen towards the great room:
Looking from the great room towards the master...the inset on the left is the front door:
The worksite is very clean...aside from a few drink bottles that were left behind. The men have stacked all the wood scraps in a pile, they have been sweeping the sawdust as they are working, and there is not a lot of other debris laying around. I had planned on taking the children over to do some clean-up, but it really hasn't been necessary.
This is a section of the parallam beam that runs through the garage providing support for the second floor. Using this type of beam eliminates the need for support posts in the garage, maximizing the usable space:
This engineered beam is extremely heavy...our crew of 2 men had to have help to lift it into place:
Cross-section of the beam...you can clearly see the smaller sections of wood that are glued and pressurized to make a very heavy, very strong piece of lumber:
We're off to do some sealing of the first floor concrete walls. Making our final decisions about siding and roofing colors. We have narrowed siding down to 2 colors...brick red or fern green. The guys in the family seem to like the green, and I do, too...I think it will help the house to "blend in" with the landscape, where the red would definitely be more "showy." We'll probably go with the green. To find out, you'll have to...
Stay tuned,
Kris
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