Layout Pics

Here are a few pictures that show the layout.

Standing in the family room looking at the stairs. On the other side of the stair wall is the dining room.

Standing in the family room looking toward the living room. You can also see the coat closet and the boys' linen closet, which opens into their hallway.

This shows, from L to R, the pantry (angled walls), doorway to laundry/mudroom, doorway to dining room.

Standing in the family room looking toward the kitchen. Behind that is the master bedroom. We took a chunk off the back wall to make a large closet. The closet space (next to the bathroom) was annexed into the laundry room for a half-bath.

Framing

Every single day I am absolutely amazed at how quick the build is going. When I left home this morning the house looked like this:

　

When I got back around 1:30 it looked like this:

　

When my sons got home at 4 it looked like this:

　

Amazing! Those are my boys running to check out their rooms. And the pile of scraps they could have for the fire pit. Not sure which they were more excited about.

Since I'm trying to be very honest about this whole thing, I admit that I had a big ol' panic attack today. And it was all due to this:

As you can see from the picture, part of the house has OSB sheathing, and part has Dow. The OSB was recommended because we're having stone along the front, and it provides a sturdy base. The Dow sheathing offers better insulation and water resistance. So we decided to spilt the difference.

When I saw the Dow sheathing we chose I honestly thought we made a huge mistake in choosing Dow over OSB. After I had taken several pictures I went home and, as I tried not to hyperventilate, hit the computer to research it. Now, this is something that we really should have done when going through our choices during the planning process. We did a little bit of research, but should have done more. What I found reassured me, and after holding a piece in my hands and trying to break it I felt a lot better. Now, if someone shoots our house or tries to hack through the wall with a machete we'll have problems. However, in either of those scenarios we'd have bigger problems than a hole in our house.


This is our back yard. I wish this was grass, but it's a wheat field. Actually, I'm glad it's not grass or I'd have to mow it.



I ran out of room on this page, so I'll add another post for additional pictures.



Rejoist! (Get it?)

The framing crew rolled into town bright and early today. I didn't get to the site until after 11, and pulled up to see this:

Most of the joists were down, and they were starting to work on the flooring. I couldn't believe how much had been done in only 3 hours! The supervisor came up to introduce himself and we chatted for a few minutes. He was very nice, and answered the few questions I had. I'll be the first person to admit I know nothing about construction, but it looked like everything was very solid. Seams were glued and nailed down the entire length and the sill was heavily bolted on. I also noticed a layer of waterproofing between the basement wall and the sill.

After I took these few pics I had to run to town for a few hours. By the time we got home we saw:

 

The garage was almost completely framed. The flooring was down and the hole for the basement steps was cut out.

By the time the crew left for the day the garage was completely framed. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

A Tale From The Trenches

During the lot inspection one of the things Kasey and my husband discussed was the amount of stone in the trench around the house. WH's standard is 1 foot of stone, but Kasey suggested additional 3 feet. Additional stone would help prevent impact on the basement walls from the soil freezing and thawing (expanding and contracting). We agreed to do this as the house across the road has several cracks and water leaks in their basement.

 When I got to the site mid-morning, the excavators had already starting backfilling. I, of course, grabbed my camera and started taking pictures. When I got to the back of the house I noticed that the stone didn't look that deep. I immediately called B to confirm what I thought I remembered. The backhoe operator must have noticed that I looked panicked, because he stopped to come talk to me. I asked him about the stone depth, and he said his orders were for the standard depth. I told him that was incorrect, so he called Kasey.

1 foot of stone at the bottom of the trench.

4 feet of stone in the trench.



Backfilling complete and grading started.

In a nutshell, the problem was that since we were paying for the stone out of pocket, it wasn't on any official WH form, although a note was made in our information packet. This was a goof on their behalf as well as ours. My advice is to write everything down, and have any changes like this added to the PPI list!

The excavator ended up digging out the sections he had already filled and added the correct amount of stone. I had to leave for a little bit, so the excavator took pictures that he texted to me. That made me feel a lot better about having to leave. By the time I got back in the afternoon the trench had been filled in and he started the grading. By late afternoon the lot had been graded and the lumber for framing was delivered.

The grading across the back of the house.

 I officially met Kasey for the first time this afternoon. (I did run into him at the sales office once and told him I read about him on a blog. Felt like a stalker.) He introduced himself, apologized for the mix-up this morning, and thanked me for catching it. I told him to tell the subs that I would be on site every day and they should consider themselves warned. (I was only partially kidding.) He said if I ever see anything I have questions about to call him, and I assured him that I most certainly will!

Lumber is on site and ready for framing!

Waterproofing the Basement

I had to work today, so all the fun stuff was done by the time I got home. From what I can see, the seams were all coated with a tar-like substance, and the walls are covered with something that looks like insulation. As you can tell, I'm all about the technical details! I'm off tomorrow, so I'll find out exactly what was done.

This will be the front porch.

Obviously the drainage tile is working.

On this one you can see the tar.

We Have Walls!

Today the crew took off all the forms to expose our beautiful (brick-look) poured walls. The brick impressions seem deeper than others I've seen, which is a good thing. My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I was out there with a level to make sure everything looked okay. Perfect! The spaces for the garage doors were chiseled out, as were the windows.

Since they're done here, I'd like to say that the concrete crew was great. The staff was friendly, answered all of my questions without making me feel like an idiot, and worked hard when they were here. Their work is much appreciated!

Standing in the driveway looking at the garage. You can see where the doors will be.

This is looking at the front porch.

Pouring the Walls

Very exciting day! The concrete trucks came, and kept on coming. Once again, it was really interesting to see the process. At several points there were two trucks pouring, with a few guys working at each point. Then another would come along to level and smooth the top of the poured surface. After the concrete had set up a bit they set the bolts for the sill plate. It was supposed to rain that night, so I was glad to hear they used a quick-setting concrete. It was a REALLY good thing when the sky opened up right around 5. The guys were just finishing up when it hit. Whew!

The guys were kept busy once the trucks came!

Let There Be Walls! (Well, Forms for Walls!)

Today a crew came in to start setting up the forms for the basement’s poured walls. Some of the pics were taken before I left for town, and some were taken when I got home.

However, since I didn’t realize my phone was set to ‘sepia’ it looks like some of the pics were taken in 2012, and others in 1912.

While it would be cool (It’s not just a house- it’s a time machine!) it’s not the case. Anyway, it took a couple of days to set the forms. The whole process was very interesting- like giant Legos that had to be linked together. Fortunately the weather was nice for these few days- hot and sunny. As the guys were lugging around the forms I’m sure they would have preferred a few clouds.

Inside the molds. They were just starting to add the rebar when I took this.

Footers

The footers were poured today! Unfortunately the skies also poured!

Digging, Staking and Raining

This morning the excavators came back to finish digging, then it was on to framing for the footers. Unfortunately I had to work today, so I have no idea exactly what was done. I assume there was all kinds of measuring and dumping of stone. When I did get home, the crew was making sure things were plumb. There were all kinds of stakes and framing, and guidelines all over the place.

This is what it looked like after a little shower. Considering it's March, I'm just glad it's not snow!

Dig Day!

Our original dig day was April 2. However, Kasey (our site manager) contacted B to see if we could move it up to March 15. That meant we had to get moving with our permits. We had been slowly taking care of them, but moving up the dig date really made us move! No issues, but I will say that we got the building permit and septic permit the day before. Twas a tense few days but, after writing several checks, we got it done!



Digging out the driveway.

Dig day! Honestly, after everything it took to get to this point the actual digging was rather anticlimactic. I left for work, and came home to a giant hole in the ground. Well, it was a little more complicated than that. Kasey came out to finalize the house location, and the driveway had to be installed. There was a little holdup there because that sub didn't bring the tile we needed to be installed under the driveway. B had to go buy one, so there was a little holdup. As a result, the sub had to come back the next day to finish digging.

And we have a driveway!

The hole that will one day be our basement.