Well...Here It Is! PR #25

April 29, 2009...Well-drilling day has finally come! Here is the drilling rig being raised into position:

Almost there:

We brought the well contractor in early in the construction process because they needed a flat spot for the rig. The truck on the left is actually parked where our garage will be. Had we waited until construction had begun, our "flat spots" wouldn't be flat spots any longer.

Looks like they're adding another 25" drill shaft:

Adding another 25' section of drill shaft:

Drilling through rock...notice the red dust cloud:

Still going through rock...I'm glad we had this part done at the beginning...can you imagine the dusting I'd have to do?

Close up of the rig operator...can you say "Dirty Jobs?"

I think here they're pulling up a section of drill:

It's hard to believe this hole eventually reaches 470 feet deep:

Shoveling the mud away from the well opening:

We were momentarily excited when they began placing the first casing section. We thought they might be finished...but they were only about 75 feet down at this point:

One 20' section of casing in...here comes another one:

Applying the PVC adhesive to join the 2 sections of casing:

Back to drilling again:

The water is being pumped into the shaft...not coming up as we had hoped:

A little while after this last photo was taken, the rig overheated and work came to a stop. I think they were about at 90' at this point...no water yet. Here's one of the workers on top of the rig trying to assess the problem:

The problem was fixed a few hours later and work resumed. (Too much dust from their previous job combined with ours to clog the radiator.) By the end of the day, we had a 450' deep well, and a flow rate of .5 gal/min. Less than optimal, but our well contractor assured us it would be enough for normal household use, based on an average usage of 75 gal/person/day. Assuming the well shaft would fill to within 100' of the top, we'd have 350' of water, where each foot holds 1.5 gal, yielding 525 gal of "reserve." By his calculations, our family's usage would be approx. 450 gal/day, (although I doubt we use that much...), so we would be restricted somewhat as to outside watering, gardening, etc.

Our well contractor suggested that we allow them to drill 50 more feet, if for no other reason than to increase our reserve. We gave him our go-ahead.

Are we glad we did!!! The next morning they resumed drilling, and at 470', hit a soft spot, giving us an ample water flow rate of 8 gal/min! They also think that the water filled the well shaft to about 50' of the top, so we have about 420' of reserve at 1.5 gal/foot means 630 gallons of reserve!!! We now have no worries about watering the garden, washing cars...we just feel so blessed. That extra 20' cost us less than $200 in labor...and will definitely be worth every penny!

Tomorrow (Saturday, May 2nd) we meet with our builder to put in the perimeter stakes.

Lord willing...
Our excavator will be digging the footers next week;
We'll be closing on our loan May 7th;
And the month of May should see the completion of the foundation work and a real good start on the framing and exterior work.
Then we can jump right into summer with the school year finished and nothing to do but the inside work...hoping to have the bulk of it done by fall.

When we start to see the walls going up...I think it will finally seem real.

Thanks for stopping by...please leave us a comment...we'd like to know who's visiting!

Stay tuned,
Kris

We Have A Closing Date!!!! PR #24

After what seems like an eternity of waiting and delay upon delay in trying to get our construction loan opened...we will be closing on our loan on May 7th!!! The appraisal process really held us up...what is normally a 2-week process stretched out to 8 weeks exactly from the day that we submitted our building estimates to today, when our loan officer called and said he had the letter of commitment in his hands. It seems like the appraiser our bank prefers to use had a serious surgery, then got buried under a sea of refinancing appraisals, and I think put us on the "back-burner" for a bit. Thankfully, our loan officer put some pressure on him to get our paperwork finished, or I don't know where we'd be now...still waiting, I suppose.

I dislike having to be the "squeaky wheel," so situations like these put me in a quandry. Although the waiting was difficult and even maddening, at times, God has been faithful to give us the grace to persevere.

Our well contractor called today to check on our status, and we felt comfortable to give him the go-ahead. This afternoon he moved his rig into place and may even dig the well TOMORROW!!! We'll know early tomorrow morning what his plans are. It's raining right now - don't know if that's a deterrent, or not.

As always,
Stay tuned,
Kris

The Appraisal is FINALLY Done!!! PR #23

April 21, 2009...Our loan officer finally called today to let us know he had received our completed appraisal. Although he thought the appraised value was "conservative," it was still right on target and in line with our estimated costs to build. As soon as the settlement company has the paperwork prepared, (he thought sometime today), we should be able to set a closing date, and really start things rolling.

The next thing to be done is to have the well drilled and capped. Then our excavator will return to dig the trenches for the footers. We'll have the foundation and the ground floor walls poured, then framing can begin. Once the house is water-tight, we'll get to work installing the radiant heating system, the electrical, and the plumbing systems. We'll install the fiberglass insulation, then the framers will return to install and finish the drywall. Somewhere in there we also have to arrange for the sewer system installation and the outdoor wood furnace delivery and set-up. Oh...and in amongst it all I think we need some inspections...LOTS of those, I believe. And then we'll paint the walls, stain the doors, paint the trim, lay the flooring, install the trim...and MOVE IN!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Yes...we're crazy.

We know this.

Yes...it's a lot of work.

We know that, too.

We honestly enjoy it and are looking forward to watching the process unfold and doing all we can to make this dream a reality. And, then, RESTING.

For a long...long...time.

Stay tuned,
Kris

And So It Begins...PR#22

Sunday, April 5, 2009...Work begins on the driveway. A very rainy Friday and threatening Saturday postponed work until today...but what a gorgeous day it was! Hard to believe we're to get snow again this week.

At the excavators' suggestion, we are relocating the final approach of the drive. Our original plan would've made our home, well...unapproachable. (Except by sky cables!) Way too steep. Our new route will, by necessity, cut through the triangular stand of trees I had beautiful plans for...alas, now gone. I guess I should know by now not to make any plans.

Maneuvering machinery through some tight spaces.

It takes us hours to fell, cut, and move trees that this nifty machine can push over like dry grass.

We sat and watched the excavators for a few hours...I think the kids were as excited as we were to finally see some progress being made.

Camped out inside the perimeter of the future garage.

Working on the (more approachable) approach to the homesite.

Whew, it's warm today...time for a cold drink!

Our last glimpses up the hill as we leave for the day...the work will continue for a few hours, though.

We decided to leave one tree standing...does it look strange there all by itself? Perhaps I'll plant some other things there around the turn to our home.

Farther down the drive, looking up. It's been widened and smoothed out...awaiting shale.

From the same position as above, only looking down. Already the grade has been improved...still steep, but better.

Looking up from the bottom...in a few days, after 50 loads of shale...we'll be driving up there instead of walking!

Things are starting to get interesting...FINALLY!

Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #21

Saturday, March 21, 2009...One of our projects this day was to pick-up the slate we purchased for the kitchen/dining room, hallway, and bathroom on the second floor, and the ceramic tile for the third floor bath. Here is the approx 2500 lbs. of slate and mortar mix that Hubby, J-Bird and I off-loaded from the truck to our storage trailer. Each box contains 10, 12x12 slate tiles, and weighs approx. 50 lbs. If we end up crippled in our old age, it'll be no wonder. At least we'll have stories to tell.


Here's a peak into the storage trailer. On the right you can see the large brown boxes that contain our toilets, and the long skinny boxes behind them contain the laminate flooring we purchased last fall. The back half of the trailer is packed floor to ceiling, the front half isn't as tight. I do not look forward to moving all our stuff, AGAIN...but, Lord willing, it will be the last time. And we'll be moving it into OUR NEW HOME.


Once we unloaded the flooring, it was time to get the fire started and get to work (HA!). The area you see below was, when we started clearing last year, a tangled mess of brambles and overgrowth. We have spent A LOT of time cutting and moving wood, and much work still remains to be done, but we are making progress, and once we are actually LIVING on the property, tackling projects like these will be easier.


Another gratuitous fire photo for our friends Rob & Gina, who we understand have an unnatural affection for burning wood. We're looking forward to the day when we can relax around a campfire, joined by family, friends, and good food.


And speaking of food...we thought that roasting hot dogs might be a fun idea and something we hadn't done, yet...and the kids really enjoyed it. Only trouble was the fire was almost too hot, we had a hard time not roasting ourselves while cooking the dogs...needed longer sticks, I guess.



Sunday, March 21, 2009...Heading over to the land in the afternoon. Looking back towards State College from Ardery Hollow...the "dip" in the far mountain range (towards the right) is the cut out for I-99 at Skytop. This is a particularly pretty view on the way to our land. Gorgeous in the fall!


Back at the land...we decide to pull some logs out of this area and drag them up out of the way. Then we were going to move the cut wood. But...this is the only one we moved. Because...


we decided instead of moving the wood we had cut, we'd load it on the truck and deliver it to Hubby's dad, who installed an outdoor furnace last year, and was running short of wood.


Here's I-Bird on his make-shift teeter-totter. He is always looking for things to ride, climb on, or swing from. Just another great thing about living in the woods! There's always an adventure waiting to happen.


Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #20

Pictures from our weekend work days. Two beautiful warm late winter days gave us time to do some clean-up work on the lower part of our property. Now that the snow has gone (for good, hopefully!), the mess that was left after this property was timbered is glaringly evident. Logs and brush litter the ground, intertwined with wild rose briars, making for tedious and mildly dangerous work.

This shot is taken from the driveway looking right. We have the burn pile going and are constantly feeding it with brush, briars, and the punky logs that aren't good for fuel. A lot of the logs are so soft that they fall apart when moved. Too bad so much of it has gone to waste.

Here's some of the wood we've cut to use later...right now we're cutting and clearing...next time we'll begin moving what we've cut to a large wood pile we've started above the future homesite.

To the left in this shot you can see the future driveway. Yesterday we met with our excavator to discuss the placement of the house and various aspects of driveway construction. He is ready to get started the last week in March...so in just a few weeks this dirt path will finally begin to resemble an actual driveway. He is planning to bring in A LOT of shale to build-up the lower part of the drive to ease the transition towards the uphill climb towards our home. He has put a lot of thought into our project and has access to some materials that are saving us a lot of money. Again, we see God's providence in waiting through the winter...we just learned of him a few months ago...had we started last fall, we probably would've used someone else.

This is looking to the right of the driveway...you can see the red branches of the wild rose briars. They are quite pretty in bloom, and even in winter add color to the drab landscape, but have grown so thick in places that they make enjoying this lower part of our land very difficult. We will be leaving some intact, but are removing most of them as we move through this area.

Same view moving back a bit. You can see both culverts here...in the summer the flow through the smaller pipe on the left actually dries up...the larger one on the right flows all year. We're trying to decide exactly what we'll do down here...a pond is high on everyone's list, and we think that removing the little island between the two streams might be the answer. After we get this lower area cleared, we'll have a better idea of what we have to work with. Most of the ground is quite damp, perhaps planting some ground cover will help.

Looking to the left of the driveway. The water has been flowing really well as the mountain snow melts. I imagine this will be the highest water flow of the year, but I'm not sure.

Same view as above, stepping back. There is a really pretty spot beyond these trees...and a place where you can hear the water flowing UNDER the ground...very cool. The kids would love to have a picnic place back there, but it's hard to access. Another future project, perhaps.

Looks like the hard work is starting up again! The long months of waiting and planning are soon to be a distant memory as (Lord willing!) our dreams become reality. We look forward to sharing our adventure in the coming weeks and months. I'll try to post as things progress, and keep everyone up to date. Thanks for visiting...please leave us a comment if you haven't already.

Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #19

WE ARE ON OUR WAY!!!

We met with our loan officer this morning...submitted our estimates, signed the loan origination paperwork...everything appears to be in order and to his satisfaction...so now it's just a matter of time! He forsees smooth sailing from this point...the appraisal will take the longest, but once that's completed...

LOOKS LIKE WE'LL BE BREAKING GROUND THIS MONTH!!!

Praise the Lord!

We are so thankful. Blog activity should be increasing substantially. As always...

Stay tuned!
Kris

Progress Report #18

As you can see, we've updated our heading photo. We took this photo on Saturday, January 24, while we were meeting with our third excavator. Our first bid was higher than we were hoping, so we got a second bid. Unbelievably, the second estimate was almost TWICE the amount of the first. I know heavy equipment is expensive to transport and operate, but, really, $30,000 just for excavation? Thankfully, our friend, Joe, thought of a local man who had some equipment and who might be interested in doing the work for us. Hubby contacted him, and we met with him last Saturday. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that he is very interested in doing the work for us, and he promised to beat our previous estimates. He actually has a source of free shale that we'll use for the first layer of our driveway, and that fact alone should save us thousands of dollars. Quite a blessing...and yet another benefit of our patience in waiting these additional months. We are anxiously awaiting his bid.

Also, our builder's father passed away last week, so he has family matters to attend to. He is getting us new prices on building materials, since we cut the additional square footage we originally added to the plans. We hope to have his bid within another week.

Still looking at windows...again, there are so many choices...and the ones I would purchase "if $$$ were no object" just are not fitting into the budget. As long as the windows tilt-in to clean, I'll be happy. Otherwise, I don't know how I'd clean those windows on the third floor?

Our supplies for the radiant heating are also coming in high. (See a pattern here?) We will probably use our present estimate for the bank's purposes, but see if we can source the materials ourselves, probably on the internet.

So...just a few more numbers to confirm, then "Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the bank we go!" Hoping interest rates stay low for a bit longer, we can qualify for a bit more $$ that way, and keep our payments within our target range.

Back to the new heading photo, you can see a lot of the wood that is down from the previous owner's timbering...we hope to clean up this lower part of the land as one of our first projects. I don't like the way it looks in the winter, and in the summer when everything is grown up, it's hard to walk through there because you can't see what you're walking on. I plan on keeping it as natural as possible, but clearing it out enough to walk through and enjoy. There is a wonderful area at the bottom of the land that is flat, with several small streams running through (the area where we put the culverts last fall). I want to clean it out (it's loaded with jewelweed in the summer), and possibly make a small pond for fish. That won't happen until 2010 at the earliest, I imagine. Oh, the possibilities!!! I'm giddy just thinking about it all!

The photo below is taken from our neighbors' property looking across to ours. We had to park at their home Saturday, because our driveway had not been plowed (because we don't live there, yet), and they were very gracious to allow us to park there. Luckily, they were also spreading ashes on Wills Hollow so their daughter could leave, or else we would've been stuck there until the spring thaw. There is a lot of ice there, several inches thick, probably, so that will be a consideration next winter. As long as we have material to spread on the road I think we'll be fine.

You can see a trailer in the right foreground. This trailer was the object of a lot of our activity and hard work from October to December. Yes, it is crooked. No, my husband has assured me, it will not fall over. I pray he's right.
On a personal note, hubby had his hernia repair on January 13th. He had a rough couple of days post-op, but went back to work this past Monday, and is getting around "almost" good as new. Our good friend, Bob, is giving him a ride to work, as he is not supposed to drive for 6 weeks! Thanks, Bob!

Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #17

Thought it was time to pop in here and post an update. Although it seems like this project has come to a screeching halt, we have been hard at work "behind the scenes," as you could say. The project that took the bulk of our time since I last posted was the moving of a lot of our belongings into a less expensive storage facility. At least we THOUGHT it was going to be less expensive. The plan was to consolidate our three previously rented storage "rooms" (I never know what to call them?) into one larger facility, which would cut our rental fees in half. Because we decided to wait until spring to build, saving that much money looked appealing...appealing enough to actually move all our stuff - AGAIN!

Despite gut-wrenching dread, we began. Weekends were spent loading and unloading the truck...stacking boxes...restacking boxes that had fallen over...rearranging things to utilize every possible inch of storage...only to come to the realization that IT WOULD NOT ALL FIT!!! ACK!!!

It's times like these that in order to maintain sanity, one must just LAUGH. Because we were able to empty one of our original rental spaces, our monthly fees remain the same. But, we incurred fees to "initiate" the new storage (privacy prohibits me from explaining any better), and we did all that work for NOTHING!

It reminds me of a favorite quote:
"There is nothing that I may decently hope for that I cannot reach by patience as well as anxiety." -Wendell Berry
Perhaps, patience would've proven to truly be a virtue in this matter, instead of worrying and fretting about lost money. We have now lost both time AND money.

Because we spent time in the fall re-moving our belongings, we didn't spend the time we should've spent cutting the last of the trees that we need to before construction begins. That will be a job for early spring.

As we've had time to re-evaluate things, we've returned to our original plan of heating our home with primarily radiant floor hydronic heat, using an outdoor wood furnace, instead of solar. I recently heard that 1 acre of mature forest will produce 1 cord of firewood per year with no net loss of wood. With our 11 acres, and considering the wood that is already down from previous timberings, I don't think we'll ever run short. Solar is cost-prohibitive and not as reliable as wood.

And we are finalizing our plans with the builder and getting fresh estimates for labor and supplies. We have also made another change...scaling down the house to the original blueprint size. Originally we had wanted to add 4 feet to each end of the north- and south-facing sides to increase the total square footage by about 400. Our excavating estimate came in a lot higher than we first thought, so we needed to cut somewhere. If we don't see a large decrease in cost from the first estimate with the extra 400 sq ft, perhaps we'll keep it. I hate to loose that much space...but, it's all about the money, folks!

It's funny how our perspective has changed throughout this whole process. We began with a list of things we really wanted. Then, prioritized those things. Cut some of them out completely. I still have my list of 3 non-negotiables: walk-in kitchen pantry; fireplace; wide windowsills. Hubby wants a jacuzzi tub. No granite countertops, no central air, no pot-filler over the stove. (For $900, I can carry water 6 feet in a pitcher, thank you!) And we DID splurge on the most awesome front door...saw it at Home Depot, then found it on Ebay for half the price. The kids thought it was cool, Hubby and I thought it was cool...I have never, ever been to a home that had a door like that. It is unconventional. I have seen similar ones in "The Princess Bride" or "Lord of the Rings" to give you a clue. You'll just have to see it for yourselves...someday.

Living without 90% of our belongings for almost 6 months, with probably 6 more months to go hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. It is an odd feeling, having all our stuff in boxes... like a part of you is missing, in a way. I can imagine unpacking it all will seem a bit overwhelming. God has given us a peace about waiting and we know it is only for a season. But, we do long for a home of our own. The boys want to run around and explore. J-Bird and his best friend want to build a fort. I-Bird and T-Bird are fascinated by the creatures that live there. I can't wait to plant flowers. And start a garden. And have chickens. And enjoy the peace and quiet. And sit on the deck and watch sunsets. And go for walks. And build a firepit. And host cookouts. And grow old there with my man. So many dreams...

As a Christian, I should understand longing. Longing for Heaven, longing for completion, longing for a pure relationship with God that will not be marred by sin. I'm ashamed to admit that I've had a hard time grasping it. We long for so little in this country. We have a gross abundance of everything...longing for ANYthing is uncommon. Our present situation has helped me begin to understand what this longing should feel like. We are comfortable here, at my mom's house, my childhood home. Our needs, and most of our wants are amply supplied. But, it is not OUR home. Our stay here is a temporary one. One day we will move on...to a new life, a new future, a new home. I have vivid pictures in my mind of what that life will be like. I LONG for that life. As a Christian, this EARTH is not my home. My stay here is a temporary one. One day I will move on...to a new life, a new future, a new ETERNAL home. I have vivid pictures in my mind of what that life will be like...even so, it will be infinitely more. I LONG for THAT life. Do you?

Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #16

Change of Plans...So, here we are facing the middle of October. We aren't really where we had hoped to be by now, although I don't know how we would've gotten any farther. We have worked VERY HARD during the past 10 weeks, and as I think back and revisit my earlier blog entries, I am truly pleased with our progress. However, we have become concerned that with colder weather coming soon, starting the building process right now might put us in a bad situation later if we are unable to get the heating systems in place. We really do not have "extra" money in the budget to pay others to do the work if we run short on time, so we have decided to delay construction until early spring. In addition to our concerns about cold weather, Hubby needs to have some minor surgery, which he can have done this winter, and be completely healed when we begin building.

The delay is actually giving us a chance to re-think a few things. Our original plan was to heat our home with a radiant-floor hydronic system, relying on an outdoor wood furnace for the heat source. We chose this system because we have a lifetime of free wood on our property, and it seemed silly not to utilize it. One of the drawbacks of this furnace, however, is that it has to be fed daily, so traveling for any length of time during the colder months presents a problem. This system also requires a heat-exchanger, where the water from the furnace transfers its heat to the water that circulates throughout the house. Not a huge drawback, but it adds an extra expense and there is a slight loss in efficiency.

Months ago I came across plans for a similar hydronic system using solar panels mounted to a garden shed to heat the water. We weren't thinking solar at the time, so I didn't pursue this option. However, I was recently researching another heating idea and came upon these plans again, and this time, it "clicked." It is a much simpler, do-it-yourself system, and although the cost to build probably won't be much less than the outdoor wood furnace, we would gain the freedom from having to load the furnace daily, and get a garden shed, too. (Something we were planning to build eventually.) Before we decide, we have some on-site evaluation to do, that will, Lord willing, prove this system a viable option.

The other aspect we are reconsidering is the placement of the fireplace. But, first, a bit of background information. When we first began thinking about building a new home, I started researching "alternative" building options. One process that really fascinates me is "slip-form" construction. It is possible, with this process, minimal skill and LOTS of time, to build gorgeous stone homes that are very energy-efficient and inexpensive. If we were 10-15 years younger, I think we might have considered it.

One of the resources I purchased in the beginning of my research phase to learn more about slipform construction was a book called "Living Homes," by Thomas J. Elpel. You can see it here: www.hopspress.com. The book is a fantastic resource for home-building in general, but its real value is the comprehensive knowledge the author possesses, and shares with his readers. This is where I first learned of a masonry stove, or Russian fireplace as they are also called.

Masonry stoves are designed with a lot of mass to absorb the heat from the fire. Then, instead of a straight flue, the exhaust flows through a snake-like flue that extracts more heat as the exhaust is vented to the outside. The masonry warms up slowly, then radiates the heat outwards for hours or days afterwards. Masonry stoves burn much hotter, resulting in very little creosote buildup, and less smoke, and these stoves can approach 90% efficiency.

Our house plans included a gas fireplace on the external great room wall, so we just decided to build the masonry stove there. But, it seems that moving the stove to a central location will maximize the radiant benefits, so we are looking at that possibility. I really don't think this is a do-it-yourself project, so our Amish builder has agreed to build it for us, but I think I'll try to find a local stone mason for an additional bid or two. Here is a beautiful example of a masonry stove.

So, our heating plan will consist of a masonry stove/Russian fireplace centrally located in the great room, with solar-heated hydronic radiant-floor throughout the house for the colder, "outer" areas of the house, with an option for electric back-up during cloudy periods when needed.

Even though we've postponed construction, I will continue to post updates, hopefully with pictures! I know...I know...you're missin' the wood photos, aren't you?

Stay tuned,
Kris

Progress Report #15

September 27, 2008...Our good friend, Jeff, showed up bright and early for a long day of back-breaking labor. We worked from morning until suppertime, cutting, stacking and burning...God granted us another safe and beautiful workday, with only a few mishaps. One thing we've learned is that there is never a "sure thing" when felling trees. Especially when you're working on an incline. Considering we (and by "we" I mean my hubby, of course) have very little experience doing this type of thing, we're so thankful that God has protected us and blessed our efforts.

Back to mishaps. Once in awhile, a tree just doesn't do what you think (or hope) it will do. Sometimes you think for sure it will fall in a certain direction, then it twists, or hops, or is weighted in a way that is hidden to the naked eye (and then there is the incline...) and it ends up somewhere else. Sometimes, the "somewhere else" is caught in another tree. While this can be annoying, it is these moments that I find exciting...when one must STOP...and rely on one's WIT, not BRAUN, to find a solution. (Although braun is usually employed at some point of the process!)

Below, in photo essay, is a chain of events that took about 45 minutes to free one such tree.
(Remember you can click on any photo for a full-screen view.)






















You can see, after all this, the tree is still hung-up. At this point, the men just started cutting sections off the tree, until they couldn't reach up any higher. Hubby then decided to cut down the tree in which the first tree was stuck, and the problem was solved.

Thankfully, the second tree fell as desired.

Stay tuned,
Kris