Upstairs Rooms

I swung by this morning to adjust how short the walls would be in the bonus room.  There's a reason this area is called "bonus space".  The room will have sharp angled walls/ceilings that follow the roof line but will still provide very usable space.  We'll have just three foot high walls before the roof line takes over up towards the peak.  We decided to go ahead and have that area finished now because we won't have the basement finished for another couple or dozen years.  This room, along with one of the upstairs bedrooms, will provide plenty of space for family and friends to visit and be comfortable.  Plus, I plan to use some of that bonus room as my own play office space.  It's located directly over the garage so I've considered installing a fireman's pole for quick getaways.  What do you think?

Up and Up

We're seeing big changes everyday right now.  Last week brought I-joists to part of the main level for the upper rooms.  This week brings those rooms.  We have two bedrooms, a full bathroom and a bonus room upstairs to make our house a "story and a half".  The middle of the house will have a vaulted ceiling from the front door straight back to the fireplace on the back wall.  The master-suite side, on the left, won't have anything special over it.  Maybe with a few thousand dollars extra we could have used that space more but, we can say that about a lot of the house.  "For just a bit more we can do this!"  We've said that several times to each other but have to remember that we'll be extremely blessed with what we have planned and can't afford more anyway.  We have a handful of "down the road" projects.
The walls for the upstairs' room popped up quickly and the guys went on to sealant tape to the exterior sheathing and put the ceiling joists to the master side.  The beginnings of the front porch have begun too.
         The windows are ordered and the long lumber for the vaulted ceiling/roof will arrive soon.  I'll try to keep up.

Sweet, Sweet Concrete

We finally have all the concrete work finished this week.  Keith had the garage poured, and the front porch, the side retaining wall and rear patio.  With that finished, Danny is freed up to build the garage and later, the front porch.  Also, the patio in the back will be the support for the screened back porch on the main level.  It will have a door from the kitchen and steps leading down the side toward the garage.

Today I stopped by and saw the exterior walls had been covered with sheathing.  With the walls covered it's easier to see how some of the rooms will look.  I walked up the steps (that lead nowhere) and took these pics before any of the upper level has been started.

Here's the master bedroom.

The kitchen.

The garage.

We ordered our windows this week.

I expect the floor joists to be started in the next couple of days.  

We'll see the house get taller and taller next week.

Main Level Going Up

The guys got those exterior walls up on Friday and we're really starting to see our house now.  None of the interior walls are in yet but the lines for them have been chalked on the floor so we can tell where they'll be.  I imagine they will be finishing the whole first floor tomorrow or Tuesday and start moving up.  We've made a few minor adjustments as we go along, just before Danny starts the next part so as to not have to redo anything.  You don't know what you might want to change until you can see it in real life instead of on paper.  Right now we're thinking of adding another garage on the left side of the house.  Just kidding.  We've just made some window adjustments and bathroom switches.

More And More Every Day

This is the point in house construction when we can see big changes every day.  I'm sure later on in the process I'll have less frequent, dramatic pictures but right now it's really fun.  In a month you'll get to ooh and ah over toilet placement!

The main level sub-floor was finished Thursday afternoon.  Bonnie was so happy she leaped off.

I stopped bye Friday late-morning and saw Danny, David and Stoney putting up the exterior walls.  They hoped to have them all up today.

Framing Begins

Things are happening quickly now.  The porch and garage foundation walls were poured last week and filled with gravel and the basement was poured on Monday.











That was enough for our framer Danny to begin so he was out there yesterday morning at 7:00 am.  Some lumber was delivered by 8:00 but the city hadn't yet connected the temporary electric.  Danny had a small generator to power just a saw so he went to cutting but I didn't know how long before the city utilities would show up so I borrowed a friends' generator and took it out for Danny to use.  With it he was able to run his air compressor for his nail guns.

As it turned out I'm glad I did that becuase the City didn't connect
the power until 2:00.  With the generators Danny was able to just
about complete the basement framing and get ready for putting the
I-joists on today.  Very exciting to see some real construction.

Continuing Concrete

Work resumed this week with gravel backfill against the foundation walls and the footing for the garage and front porch poured.  We'll next have the short foundation walls for the garage and porch done and then the garage and basement floors poured.  There are a lot of steps to having a concrete foundation and basement.

Our framer, Danny, will start soon after enough concrete work is done, hopefully sometime next week.  I'll be getting the temporary electrical pole put in and accessible soon also.  Today after work I'll be out cutting up more of the four oak trees that were pushed down.

Easter Weekend

We had great weather this weekend - maybe a little too warm.  We spent most of the day Saturday at the house  lot.  We unfortunately had to have four oak trees pushed down to make room for where we wanted the house.  (That happened before anything else.)  Now we have four large trees laying about and a winter on it's way in six months so I borrowed Mat's chainsaw and went to work.  I still have a ways to go but I can tell we'll have a good supply of firewood.
        Sometime during the weekend the foundation walls were coated for water proofing and a drain pipe was put down along the perimeter.

        We had a picnic lunch on Sunday with no work and the girls did some more egg hunting.

Last Week Was Busy

We had the foundation forms filled and the footing for the retaining wall set earlier last week.  The forms then came off on Thursday and the plumber Scott came by on Friday and roughed in the drains in the basement before the floor gets poured.  Our Spring is in full swing here and it's getting very green.  Our oak trees haven't budded much yet but that might change this week as it's set to be in the 60s and 70s and rain tomorrow and Wednesday.  The fields are green and the Redbuds and Bradford's are in full bloom.