tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-228697342012-02-17T03:33:39.823-05:00Don't you wish TV DIY shows were honest and showed the budget overruns and misbuilt projects? That's why we call this "Real World Renovations". Gene and Linnea are home improvement addicts. Our current project is a two story home for our family near Dayton, Ohio.Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.comBlogger1011100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-66794302311329641972008-04-05T06:20:00.003-04:002008-04-05T06:24:16.895-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures from our snow day!Thistle House in the snow.The stairs going up to the front porch.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-18370210704915689852008-02-25T21:59:00.003-05:002008-02-25T22:07:30.018-05:00

I guess I can't abandon this blog as 90+ people have read it in the last 30 days! Beats me why as I haven't written anything useful or even anything at all since, I dunno, ever. Well here's an update on Thistle House.We have been in since 1 October. That makes it something like five months. We have finished installing the master whirlpool tub and are slowly making progress. It's as tough as

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-49388725607634223272007-09-14T04:33:00.000-04:002007-09-14T04:51:26.971-04:00

In honor of coming to the close of building, here's a taste of the photo progression I am putting together...some stills from over the 18 months we have been at this.GeneThe house site with stakes laying it all out.The house site in the snow...this is a good photo to compare to the hill we built around the basement.The house framed on September 1st 2006--just twelve months ago. It seems such a

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-58217503261972005662007-09-14T02:56:00.000-04:002007-09-14T04:04:43.434-04:00

Well, that's a good question. I am on a one week deployment/temporary duty to Camp Smith, Hawaii for an exercise. Sigh...sadly I have not gone swimming once and I only went to the beach for about a half hour the other night. It's not all fun and games in the US Air Force campers.Meanwhile, back at the Thistle House we are ALMOST DONE!!!!! The lovely wife and hardworking three kids are

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-64373912361345534422007-08-31T12:07:00.000-04:002007-08-31T12:14:20.563-04:00

We had our plumbing inspection on Tuesday. While we have a couple of things to correct, the inspector gave us a pass so we could get the final building inspection done on Wednesday. When it was time for the building inspection, we had five items to correct--the worst was the back porch stair height. Linnea and #1 son lowered the step heights to an equal amount and did a fair amount of digging.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-8633745642359206962007-08-19T21:17:00.001-04:002007-08-19T22:20:38.465-04:00

Okay, I last posted a note on 7 August. Tonight is almost two weeks later--zoinks!We have been going full throttle to get ready for the final inspections. In the last two weeks we have: installed two full bathrooms, a kitchen, finished all the electrical in but one room, built a glass block wall, installed tile in two bathrooms, plumbed in the water heater, installed the porch railings, the

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1050874400747951252007-08-07T22:45:00.000-04:002007-08-07T22:53:16.431-04:00

Here is today's tool review; it really has nothing to do with building or anything that is limited to construction trades. It's the Margarator, and boy do we like it. We have spent about $1,000 on slushies at Speedway and when our youngest son wanted a slushy machine for his birthday, Linnea found this. It's built for mixing margaritas in a big way, but it makes a mean slushy too. Add ice,

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-52226767544232343312007-08-07T22:18:00.000-04:002007-08-07T22:44:41.452-04:00

A week compressed into a single entry; water heater installed, back stairs finished (need hand rail still), laundry sink is in place (ugly job), porch railing is going in, and the front stairs are started.Whew! That's a lot of work for one sentence. Here are some pictures to appease the audience. Oh-the cat (Ramses) has made the move and become Thistle House's first full time occupant. He's

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-42543996292023952622007-07-29T22:23:00.000-04:002007-07-29T22:25:52.198-04:00

I just reviewed the blog entries for July and everyone is after 10 PM. Ack! No wonder I am so tired; I work all day long for the Air Force, then work on the house and then come home and blog. Zoinks, I need some sleep.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-3185248560495587722007-07-29T22:14:00.000-04:002007-07-29T22:22:46.451-04:00

Here is today's work; since it's Sunday we try to get some rest and not work so hard. We have been just going to the house after church and letting the kids play while we get some things done. Today we got the counter under-layment and the tile backer installed. I also wired the kitchen island outlets and finished the kitchen circuits. The ovens are on, the lights all work (except for one

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-2350816927290953822007-07-28T22:09:00.000-04:002007-07-28T22:17:35.356-04:00

Here are some really quick pics to show what the kitchen looked like tonight. The ovens are on, the cabinets are in and the island has it's maple countertop. If anyone feels like dancing on the island, that's because we used maple flooring to make the butchertop. It needs the end walls finished and the edge treatment, but it works great.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-6884523759836934762007-07-24T22:36:00.000-04:002007-07-24T22:49:03.165-04:00

Linnea took a run to the Cabinet Warehouse in Richmond, Indiana today to get our cabinets. This is a store that buys the odd lots, mistakes and returns from cabinet makers at really dirt cheap prices and then sells them to house renovators and real estate investors. They never have the same product two weeks in a row and you never will know what you will find, but we got about $8,000 worth of

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-71161736871437211332007-07-19T22:53:00.000-04:002007-07-19T22:57:10.902-04:00

Here's a quick photo to show what the floor looks like in the kitchen. We have only one coat of linseed oil on it and some shellac for under the cabinets. The kitchen appliances are all upstairs now and waiting for cabinets to contain them.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-5627353958012831712007-07-16T23:36:00.000-04:002007-07-16T23:43:20.680-04:00

Linnea started the flooring Sunday night in the kitchen. We are installing it under the cabinets, so we are installing it across the area the cabinets will be in. We should take a trip to Indiana and the Cabinet Warehouse just across the border next week. Here are some pictures to show off the outdoor lights and the start of the flooring.Linnea is working diagonally from the South-West

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-27094323283453910262007-07-11T22:52:00.000-04:002007-07-11T22:54:14.158-04:00

Here's the skylight finished with framing and drywall. We will try to get a good picture of it once it's finished with tape and mud and paint.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-54789818492522222362007-07-07T22:38:00.000-04:002007-07-07T22:51:18.701-04:00

Here's a series of photos to show what we have been doing this long weekend. We rented a boom lift from Art's Rentals to let us skip the wobbly nightmare of scaffolding over the settling fill dirt. It's been a toss up, whether to finish the siding before or after the fill was done. Neither one has been really a decent base for the scaffolding. It's costing us a small fortune for the boom

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-34889618558303651762007-07-03T22:41:00.000-04:002007-07-03T22:45:05.264-04:00

Here's where we are today. It's the American Fourth of July, our Independence Day, tomorrow so we are going to celebrate with a classic American cookout on the barbecue and then see a movie. Hope to get in to see the Transformers movie with Linnea and the kids--Linnea loved Transformers when she was a wee little girl.This picture shows the dormers on the North finished--now we are finishing the

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-89679443482493495002007-07-01T22:42:00.000-04:002007-07-01T22:54:36.437-04:00

After a week of week, including lots of backfill and siding, it seems like nothing happened in some ways. It's a constant balance between discouragement and perseverance--trying to remember that I am not in charge of the weather, the bank or even myself. God is the man, I am just following him in this seemingly never ending work of building a house.Anyway, we worked on completing the siding

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-88361552051373677992007-06-24T22:03:00.000-04:002007-06-24T22:28:54.570-04:00

This weekend is the rental of the skid loader or "Bobcat". It's a really useful tool for moving rocks and dirt around and placing them right where you want them. It's also a dangerous tool, as after a hour you feel you have mastered everything there is to know and then you run over the tomatoes. At least, that's what I did. They survived in their raised planter, and after we scurried over to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-21296296924628100922007-06-17T21:48:00.000-04:002007-06-17T21:59:03.968-04:00

I haven't been able to tall about this project so far this weekend, but Linnea finished the tile front of the range hood. It's a monster 1,200 cfm exterior fan that has a 10" opening outside attached (somehow) to the 8" duct at the range hood. We puzzled about how to build the sheet metal duct, and ended up using leftover cement board to build a box over the hood that went up to the 10" opening

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-15581754766299111212007-06-16T21:08:00.000-04:002007-06-16T21:31:28.606-04:00

We have been working like mad to get the drywall done and get the house ready for paint. In a nutshell, we have finished the walls, ceilings, cement board for tile floors and showers and Linnea and our daughter have started painting the kitchen. Here are some pictures to show where we are.This morning as we started work. From there, after laying out the tile for the range hood, we went to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-22361239136166448632007-06-07T22:17:00.000-04:002007-06-07T22:31:14.523-04:00

Here's a picture to tide you over until Sunday...it's another three day weekend as I am taking Friday off from work to spend on drywall. We have almost all of the ground floor finished, and will start tomorrow with the stairs going up to the first floor. I have to explain that we have not decided what to call the ground floor/first floor/downstairs and what to call the first floor/upstairs/

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-39657979706708239202007-06-05T13:13:00.000-04:002007-06-05T13:39:18.222-04:00

The Bosch Drywall Screw driver bit tool reviewWhile shopping at Lowes I found a screw driver tip from Bosch. It's their Drywall Dimpler/Driver and it's great. It attaches to your regular screw driver and turns it into a drywall driver and dimpler. Using a drill with a clutch set fairly low, it avoids overdriving screws and allows someone unskilled to set them accurately at the right depth. It's

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-21246388512110439582007-06-05T13:04:00.000-04:002007-06-05T13:13:10.517-04:00

Well, the drywall went up a big way this weekend with the first annual Simonalle Drywall Party. We tried to see if drywall floated on soda up to the ceiling. It took more than just refreshments to get it there though--pizza turned out to be the ticket. We got almost all of the downstairs ceiling board up, and lots of the walls too. The weather was hot and humid, and cutting gypsum drywall board

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-3778581779695272202007-05-30T22:47:00.000-04:002007-05-30T22:59:01.364-04:00

The water line that broke was on the insulation guys pump, not ours. No tragedy for us except the lost time. They did get the walls done in the boys room, the kids bath and part of our room. Here is a picture to show you the NuWool insulation in the dormer walls.Apparently it's the same cellulose that gets blown into the ceiling for your attic, but NuWool adds a glue and borate solution to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-26474303546373931312007-05-29T21:19:00.000-04:002007-05-29T21:30:38.748-04:00

It's in the high 80s today, and the poor guys from Robinson Insulation had to install the NuWool in the heat. They started this morning with the blow-in loose cellulose in the attic and boy did it make a mess!Take a look.Then they did the leaning walls/roof that the lower slope of the gambrel roof makes. Linnea and the older son installed the upper portion of the drywall after they filled the

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-59414015036163546532007-05-27T22:03:00.000-04:002007-05-27T22:22:08.347-04:00

Since we went to church today and I wore my dress uniform (Go Air Force--leaving the bombing to us), we went back to the apartment before heading out for the rest of the day. Linnea and I went to Lowes to pick up our water heater and then dropped it off at the house, before going off to a great friends daughter's graduation party. When I grew up out if California that was saved for college, but

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-89563198912597175692007-05-26T07:28:00.000-04:002007-05-26T07:36:37.908-04:00

Here are a couple of quick photos from yesterday's work. The kids started on taping and mudding the sheets; Linnea has said a million times that doing drywall mud is like frosting a cake. Since she can teach just about anything, she taught our kids how to do it, and they did a pretty good job. Our daughter did the best, and most, while oldest son was continually abused by me as brute force

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-58440903960045377032007-05-24T20:14:00.000-04:002007-05-24T20:29:17.276-04:00

Since I took leave from work along with the long Memorial Day weekend, we really hope to get ready for the insulation crew to come in on Tuesday. We finished almost all of the ceiling upstairs today--we need to put up the water resistant board in the showers. After that, we started on the ground floor ceiling in the kitchen, as the wall between the kitchen and laundry/bath will be insulated

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-17960229701214821152007-05-23T22:16:00.000-04:002007-05-23T22:39:44.582-04:00

Well, we passed the rough inspection! Troy was happy with just about everything, but we will have to add a receptacle above the second sink in the master bath. That and a few little nit-noids and we were done. Yeah!On Tuesday the 25,000 pounds of drywall showed up--okay, but it seems like that much. Tony the building supply guy did a more detailed take-off to get a better idea of how much we

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-52667470612417011442007-05-20T22:39:00.000-04:002007-05-20T22:44:03.341-04:00

Tomorrow we are going to call Troy the Inspector (Inspector Troy?--sounds like a mystery) and schedule our Rough Inspection. It has only taken, umm, way too many months to get this far. Once upon a time we planned, on paper even, to be in Thistle House for Christmas. Anyway, we are over budget and past due for this inspection. I finished the last electrical circuits today with the three-way

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-4082894942275921092007-05-18T22:53:00.000-04:002007-05-18T22:53:45.523-04:00

Here are the missing photos from the last post about the shower.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-67497032053886166452007-05-18T22:32:00.000-04:002007-05-23T22:37:36.305-04:00

Here's a quick photo series on how Linnea put in the shower pans. We have to get the PVC liner inspected before she can put in the next layer of cement. Speaking of inspections, we are one day from the rest of the Rough Inspection. Travis the electrician came over and helped me finish off the panel, so when I run the well power, septic pump and water heater we will be ready. Tomorrow we will

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-73623431570880422262007-05-15T13:33:00.000-04:002007-05-15T13:46:42.397-04:00

Barry the plumbing inspector for Miami county was pleased with our setup and gave us the coveted 'Green Tag'. The waste/vent PVC only needed to hold 5 pounds of pressure for fifteen minutes, but we have had it hold overnight almost completely (it leaks around the pressure gauge). The PEX has been holding tight since Saturday. I just realized last night that we can connect the well pressure

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-34045022775553462242007-05-12T22:24:00.000-04:002007-05-12T22:25:11.281-04:00

Here is a quick series of pics from this weekend's PEX work. It is holding tight with 30 pounds of pressurized air, the only problems were with the fittings to regular plumbing. I also had the brass cap assembled backwards for closing the hot side. Once we fixed that and tightened the shower diverters, it was good. This is the start of the hot (red) side. There are 10 hot lines in Thistle

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-65102241207536214302007-05-02T21:52:00.000-04:002007-05-02T22:21:47.624-04:00

This is the manifold for our PEX plumbing. It's a distribution panel for plumbing, the same as an electric panel distributes electricity across your house. Since there is one side for hot and the other for cold, and each shutoff valve feeds a single line going to a single device (like a toilet or sink), the delivery time of hot or cold water should be instantaneous. It's also like wrestling

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-67128082271420756342007-04-29T15:55:00.000-04:002007-04-29T16:00:28.035-04:00

Travis the electrician and I spent most of yesterday installing the feeder cable from our power panel through the Trench of Despair (and clay), into the two-inch PVC conduit that for some reason decreases it's apparent interior size the further you push or pull the electrical feeder wires.The trench is the one dug last weekend, and when Linnea asked me if we should install the feeder cable into

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-58462258461284860532007-04-26T13:53:00.000-04:002007-04-26T14:09:08.969-04:00

While it isn't as impressive as it will be, this (IMHO) will be the crowning achievement of our work on Thistle House. All of the wiring, plumbing, siding and roofing will be background work--mostly unseen. But this skylight at the top of the stairs will be something special. We found it at the Dayton Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The ReStore is a lumberyard/donation

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-33906632069155515902007-04-25T22:51:00.000-04:002007-04-25T22:53:00.512-04:00

Saturday I had to use bodily force and the threat of late fees to remove my lovely bride from the clutches of the Ditch Witch trencher/scoop loader. We used it to dig the trench for the underground electric feeder to the house--all 50 feet of it. Then, since we had about two and a half hours left on the four hour rental we hooked up the scoop/loader to the front and moved some dirt. When I

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-72592407951410762422007-04-25T22:40:00.000-04:002007-04-30T15:43:21.911-04:00

Today at work, I (possessor of a really BAD memory) told the guys in the shop next to mine that the drive from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base to Thistle House was six miles. This was the cause of much disbelief on the part of the peanut gallery, but I persevered in my belief despite their attacks--we even used the dubious powers of Google maps to crosscheck it, but they recommended a different

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-77338296445299770932007-04-24T09:26:00.000-04:002007-04-24T09:36:56.538-04:00

Today's tip is for everyone who hasn't read Fine Homebuilding. FH is our absolute favorite magazine and I have a confession. Our newest issue came in the mail last night and I distracted Linnea with the cheap Lowes woodshop flyer while I started in on FH. I felt really guilty, especially as the subscription is in her name, but I just couldn't stop myself. I did confess to her and as pennance I

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-4243815399755641472007-04-19T22:04:00.000-04:002007-04-19T22:05:39.357-04:00

You know how things ALWAYS take longer than you think they will, and so you add in another 50% of your expected time to allow for overruns and delays? Then why is it that even with the extra time it still takes forever and about 50% on top of the 50% already added?This is today's 'end of day' picture. Maybe I should start a new topic on the blog for "EOD" pictures? Of course, all of my

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-42183513482584758782007-04-18T21:40:00.000-04:002007-04-18T21:49:45.941-04:00

This is what it looked like this afternoon. The scaffolding is down on the East side and all of the trim, soffit, siding and painting is done there. We hope that we are done here, as it's the hardest to get to, except for the top of the silo. Next up is the North-East side of the gable wall, above our bedroom balcony. While Linnea works on that tomorrow, and I assist as needed, I will focus on

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-27353142091772436432007-04-18T07:40:00.000-04:002007-04-18T07:51:09.094-04:00

Okay, so if anyone from OSHA is reading this, please know that (1) I am the homeowner-builder and (2) there are NO paid participants in the following set of pictures. Legal disclosure aside, this is what I was doing yesterday afternoon. We were putting up the trim, soffit and siding on the most challenging part of the East face of the silo, and the East gable wall.It's a bit difficult to see,

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-63120373615706905472007-04-14T22:16:00.000-04:002007-04-14T22:33:45.212-04:00

Okay, since everyone else is doing it I am going to too. And if my English professors read that sentence I am toast.Now, Gene's Tool Reviews:Todays tool: the Bosch RotoZip Z20-4200,It's a nifty tool that is more than just a drywall router. The kit comes with all kinds of attachments that make me wonder if it's good at grinding (has a grinding/cutting wheel attachment), 'jig-saw like' work with

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com207tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-78676870153251767362007-04-14T22:13:00.000-04:002007-04-14T22:15:18.947-04:00

This is what the plumbing looks like. The top photo is the second try for the link-seal that the building inspector wanted and our septic guy didn't get right. It's now a 4" pipe in a 6" hole with a rubber-butyl compression fitting. Apparently Michelin makes more than tires, they also make plumbing!The second photo is the beginning of the waste lines in the basement. The PVC line coming in

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-19745150455581323562007-04-11T12:57:00.000-04:002007-04-11T13:57:57.027-04:00

Here is the view from the basement window. This bedroom will be unfinished when we move in, but the 13 year old son wants to have his own room. We told him if he finishes it he can have it. That works out well as the 10 year old son wants the upstairs bedroom. Linnea is building the rockwall in levels to contain the backfill once Tim the backhoe guy gets his crew out for final grading. We hope to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-25923031529771520552007-04-11T12:46:00.000-04:002007-04-11T14:00:47.674-04:00

This is what the house looked like yesterday afternoon. I got the vent covers installed (small, but important detail) on the West side (shown here). I have some more pictures of the plumbing that I will post too. The siding is above the balcony on the East of the house. We are going to need more scaffolding before we tackle the high part of the house on either side.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-8362475570944266162007-04-08T14:49:00.000-04:002007-04-08T14:56:22.696-04:00

We spent a cold Saturday at the house yesterday, along with Kenny and Craig the plumbers. They got something like fifty percent of the waste and vent lines in. I only had to go to Lowes once--and that was mostly for me as I needed more electrical parts. While they worked on the pipes, I worked on the wiring. We are nearly ready for the rough inspections. We are going to ask Duane our

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-55545184410496321882007-04-05T16:28:00.000-04:002007-04-08T14:48:59.443-04:00

I spent last evening talking with Kenny the plumber about our rough plumbing. He and his friend Craig will be by this evening and Saturday to rough in the drain and vent pipes. Today is not at all like the beginning of the week, at least as far as the weather goes. It was 75 degrees on Tuesday, and yesterday it was 35. Brr!It should warm up next Monday, but it's going to be a cold Easter.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-91440598002546161912007-04-03T21:22:00.000-04:002007-04-03T21:24:29.705-04:00

This is what it looks like after the tower of scaffolding was taken down. The trim is on, painted and caulked. Hopefully, we won't be doing any more high work on the face of the silo. Of course, we still have to side the sides, but one of them is half done and is easy to get to. The other is another thing altogether.We finished up today talking with Kenny the plumber. He is starting the

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-80489237157570207462007-04-02T21:48:00.000-04:002007-04-02T21:48:58.927-04:00

One of the answers to the common question, "why are you building your own house?" has to be these photographs. How else could I put up the trim behind the silo and then lay on the roof, watch Candian geese fly buy and soak up the April sun as it nears the horizon?The second photo is another in the long line of my self portraits that aren't necessarily obvious. That's my "keep the sun off of my

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-81256179793312186312007-04-02T17:06:00.000-04:002007-04-02T17:06:44.360-04:00

Here are a few pictures of the work today. I am hanging out of the attic gable vent that will be installed a little after this picture is taken. I am SO glad that Tim the evil physical fitness leader (our Air Force version of a sadist) has been working us on our abdominals. I had to lean out of the hole, upside down and nail in the facsia siding and paint the nails over. I about threw up I was

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-43289573273707061952007-03-31T19:00:00.000-04:002007-03-31T19:06:41.295-04:00

Here is the sequence of scaffolding from today. We started with a tower three bucks high--we ended with five bucks. I don't know why they are called 'bucks', it's just what my friend Bob the mason calls them. So that's what we do. These lovely red scaffold bucks are from Duane, our framer and overseeing contractor.Anyway, if you look hard you can see that the soffit is going on the right (

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-21708155774692255832007-03-31T07:55:00.000-04:002007-03-31T08:07:38.636-04:00

Looking for thunderstorms today and maybe tomorrow--whether we like the weather or not. The next five days are dedicated to getting a lot done on the house--I am taking leave (that's vacation for everyone outside the military) Mon - Wed next week. I plan on taking one to two days off each week to finish up the house until we are done. There's about 12 weeks of time left until our

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-74173163159918794052007-03-29T22:40:00.000-04:002007-03-29T22:43:37.355-04:00

This is the 'other' barn in our life. This one is in Missouri at our parent's home. This will be their barn-garage (or Barage as we call it). This barn plan is from my father-in-law Ken, an electrical engineer with too much time on his hands now that he is retired.He has built the house pictured on top, mostly carving it by hand from a solid block of mahogany :-) Actually, his house is made

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-44206859779856778942007-03-29T22:15:00.000-04:002007-03-29T22:17:29.824-04:00

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea of where we are. The siding on the porch is nearly done, we only need to paint the trim at the top to finish it off. Around the corner is the siding running to the silo--the silo is the three story bump out that is the architectural element from the barn. The silo is sided with shingles. Actually, now is a good time to talk about our siding.The

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-85368973271331406142007-03-26T11:20:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:25:32.266-04:00

Another lesson learned: clearly communicate and hold contractors to their assigned space in a house. Some trades, like plumbing and HVAC (heating, vacuum and air conditioning) eat up space in a wall and the ceilings. We knew this ahead of their work, but we are constantly running into problems with where our HVAC crew put their ductwork. We told their installation planner where we had planned

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-7495837022018637302007-03-25T08:29:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:40:19.435-04:00

This is what the house looks like today. Siding on the West is painted as high as we can reach to install it, and we really made progress on the siding on the North porch. It reaches all the way to the front door.We talked to our framer, Duane, about having him and his sons finish the high siding and trim. We might take the money from the garage budget to hire them to finish that out. If I work

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-47376900400283505932007-03-25T08:25:00.000-04:002007-03-25T08:32:12.772-04:00

If only the Jacuzzi tub and this shower were hooked up, we would hardly need to leave. We worked until 7PM last night, and it would be great to wash up at the house. Maybe next month or the month after. This is the shower in the downstairs laundry/bath.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-66482537818437264392007-03-24T20:54:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:10:25.569-04:00

Here is the secret ingredient that kept us going yesterday--pizza and Dr Pepper.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-61733716600388514372007-03-24T08:36:00.000-04:002007-03-24T08:37:29.392-04:00

This is where the Stinking River ends, at least for us. Just to the left of the picture is the culvert under the road, and you can see the current in the water as it flows down here. We hope to cut a new ditch in alongside the road and under our drive way to divert the stinking river.We shall see.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-68843923039623380722007-03-24T08:32:00.000-04:002007-03-24T08:38:05.749-04:00

For everyone who didn't see the Stinking River, here it is. You can see that the river flows from the Stinking Pond on my neighbors property. It actually comes from the road and the corn field south of us. All the soil is about 6 inches deep with limestone underneath, so drainage is slow.If it rains enough, like yesterday, to saturate the soil and we get a heavy downpour the pond fills up, and

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-57822339791515053422007-03-21T12:24:00.000-04:002007-03-21T12:28:58.946-04:00

Spaghetti everywhere! The PEX manifold and where the circuit breaker panel will goThe basement mechanical room has the PEX manifold, pressure tank, water heater, circuit breaker panel AND the heatpump heat exchanger/blower for the HVAC. It's getting a bit crowded in there.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-42867759090994981802007-03-21T11:46:00.000-04:002007-03-21T12:22:38.617-04:00

Here's a quick summary of what's been going on since January.In late January we were frozen out as the temp dropped into the single digits, and the propane heater we borrowed had to go home. So, until the thaw at the end of February, we basically did nothing. We did have family time and get some sleep, plus rebuild the family computer.Now that the thaw has happened, we are playing catchup (hence

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-54370494996011456382007-01-05T15:05:00.000-05:002007-01-05T15:44:47.937-05:00

I am a geek. There, I admit it. I love gadgets, Star Trek the original series and You Tube. Okay, not really anything too socially debilitating there. But I installed Google Analytics on this blog to see who and how many are reading it and we hit 65 people last Friday. Beats me who the folks in Norway and Taiwan are, and I am not quite sure about the Canadians, but man there are a lot of

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-37811706153104171512006-12-29T18:06:00.000-05:002007-03-26T11:14:35.482-04:00

Here's two pictures to give an idea of where we are with the house siding. Sickness reigns in the house, so it's going slowly. Today was a beautiful day--sunny and warm (mid 50's!).

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-9631121535618352572006-12-21T10:33:00.000-05:002006-12-21T10:49:07.799-05:00

Everyone told me that 60% of the time spent building a house is standing around and doing nothing. I am not sure if that's true of all houses, commercial and owner-built, but it's true for us so far.Update: We have started the siding on the house, installed the soffits, ran about 50% of the PEX water lines and Kenny the plumber is running the waste and drain in the house (in between building his

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-89731729691183131002006-11-12T21:56:00.000-05:002006-11-14T12:48:17.458-05:00

The porch and balcony are framed and sheathed. Shingles will go on soon and the decking to the balcony, then the railing. The posts for the porch roof have to be put in too, so I guess we aren't done with the lumber after all, but for now we are. I have got to get the siding on and the soffits closed in, but it's tough to do with the sun setting about an hour and half after I get out of work.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-15191654719377532006-11-10T21:19:00.000-05:002006-11-10T21:38:15.206-05:00

It was over 70 degrees (that's 22 or 23 for everyone still in England) here today and sunny. What a great day to have off for a holiday. We built the master bedroom deck and did some work on the porch roof. Looks like rain tomorrow, so if it's too wet to work outside we will run plumbing. Here are two pictures to let you see the porch from the garage site and from the porch itself. If you look

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-44816253300575635932006-11-07T19:43:00.000-05:002007-03-26T11:14:35.494-04:00

I noticed that the scaffolding isn't in that picture as mentioned--so here it is. There's also a bonus of the porch before the roof was framed and sheathed. I don't have any pictures of that yet--maybe tomorrow? The maniac on the top of the scaffolding is Bob the builder--my good friend and the go to guy if you want to borrow something. I was at his house this summer and it was like being at

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-74534991759639452192006-11-07T19:19:00.000-05:002006-11-07T19:40:45.728-05:00

Here are a few recent pictures from last week's work. The towers of scaffolding are what we used to set the shingles on the steepest part of the house. Bob Peters and his crew, masons by day and roofers on the weekend, helped us by busting their butts for three straight days to get it done. It's been a HUGE blessing with the intermittant Autumn rain to not worry about it. Chris, their

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-41445692117861558362006-10-25T11:56:00.000-04:002006-10-25T12:13:17.805-04:00

Well, there was frost out this morning and I had to scrape the windshield, so I think Fall is over. Looks like rain for the next couple of days, then sun and highs in the '50s early next week.It's going to be crowded at the house the next few days; HVAC ductwork should be going in tomorrow, the well driller Rod will be by to talk about hooking the well into the house and we will be there for a

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-2047181473136314482006-10-17T16:18:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:13:34.296-04:00

It's raining here in Ohio, and that means mud. It also means that the roof is leaking, onto both the piles of pine flooring and the appliances in the basement. Funny, I never saw THAT on "This Old House". We are looking for about a week of dry weather coming up, and the roofing team is scheduled for late next week.The porch deck is framed now, and about 2/3s has decking on it. We are going to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-58786372037632436712006-09-11T17:17:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:13:34.306-04:00

Having fallen into the "way too busy" zone and apparently it will be a while before we escape, I am behind in my posts for the time lapse photography. Here are a few 'catch' up pics. Here is a picture from the 1st of Sept.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1155954237314691262006-08-18T22:04:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:13:34.307-04:00

It may not look like a lot happened this week, but it did. There was also a day off for the framers for most of Thursday too. Here's what it looked like on Thursday. I haven't introduced the framers yet! Duane Flora and his sons Craig and Brian are our framing crew, and Duane is our consultant. The bank wanted us to have an overseeing contractor with experience as we have not built a house

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1155919599746911722006-08-18T12:42:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:13:34.308-04:00

This is the end of last week; the second floor subfloor is done, the stairs are up and all the interior walls are framed.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1155152481518257472006-08-09T15:20:00.000-04:002007-03-27T16:13:13.279-04:00

Here is what it looked like last night. We laid out the kitchen on the subfloor and decided what to do with the cabinets. It is really starting to look like a house, rather than a bomb shelter yet to be buried.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1155151232877835262006-08-09T15:08:00.000-04:002007-03-26T11:12:22.740-04:00

I am going to take a picture from the same perspective each day to show what's happening--it might look like one of those cool National Geographic specials with the time lapse photography. Or, it might look like a drunk monkey with a camera. Beauty, and your opinion, is in the eye of the beholder.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1154356658398677592006-07-31T10:17:00.000-04:002007-03-27T16:14:05.621-04:00

It's about 100 degrees outside (heat index), nearing the dreaded pair of 90's (degrees and humidity). Linnea is installing the basement insulation to get ready for the backfill. And here's what it all looks like.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1154117243584046342006-07-28T16:02:00.000-04:002007-03-27T16:14:05.622-04:00

This is a catch-up posting, as we are busyier than an ant in a rainstorm. We have finished the basement, framed in the basement walls and the subfloor is down for the first floor. The basement is about half done with the waterproofing and now we are waiting for the rain to finish so we can get back to work.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1152836534460168892006-07-13T19:32:00.000-04:002006-07-13T20:22:14.496-04:00

Well, the last two weeks have been fast, but slow. The weather held up the excavation for a few days and now has kept our mason away for this week. But we are coming into the dry season in Ohio (people tell me, although it's raining again). We have a slab and first course of block for the basement walls. Bob the mason (he can build it!) will be at work on Monday with his crew to finish the

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1151422279952409852006-06-27T11:02:00.000-04:002007-03-24T08:43:05.784-04:00

Have you ever seen those signs that say something like "Remember to call us before you dig"? Working in military communications for the last 18 years, I have seen countless examples of why you do this. We refer to heavy machinery as 'cable finders' for their common use as a buried cable cutter. So, as we begin to build the first thing I have forgotten to do was to call before the digging started.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1151420489886719852006-06-27T10:53:00.000-04:002006-06-27T11:01:29.903-04:00

To paraphrase and abuse Jane Austin, a gravel drive way is a happy thought indeed. Just this morning, as I drove out after a nightime thunderstorm, the road was rough but dry. This week we have broken ground and only one telephone cable. Turns out it was an old service run to our next door neighbor--no longer used. Whew! That would be an terrible way to get to know the neighbors, "Hi, my

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1150416836475145882006-06-15T20:03:00.000-04:002006-06-15T20:13:56.486-04:00

Well, we closed the construction loan today and I want everyone to do their part to keep interest rates down so the adjustable part of the rate doesn't. During the construction we will have an adjustable rate loan; it starts with a lower rate than the prime but it can climb as high as 12.95%--if the LIBOR (London Interbank loan rate) goes that high. Since it's been low and isn't only tied to

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1149093142188914872006-05-31T12:05:00.000-04:002006-05-31T12:32:22.236-04:00

Okay, I admit to spending way to much time cruising the internet looking for funny things that make me laugh. Some of my favorite sites are too good to keep to myself. Here, for your enjoyment, are Gene's Favorite Places to Laughwww.larknews.com - a great news site that spoofs Christians and our pompositywww.userfriendly.org - a spoof of Tech Support and the people who support the '

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1146881922623146732006-05-05T22:09:00.000-04:002006-05-05T22:18:42.633-04:00

Does anyone besides me remember the theme song to the PBS kids show The Electric Company? "We're gonna turn you on, we're gonna give you the power!" Well, we found out that our electric company is gonna be the rural co-op; we weren't sure that was going to be the best news but our friend Kenny (an electrician) said it was. After we walked the property with the engineer from Pioneer we we're '

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1146709029345589312006-05-03T22:00:00.000-04:002006-05-03T22:17:09.353-04:00

Well, the hard planning is done. The scratching of our heads and beating them against the drawing board is over--we have mailed our permit, plans and hopes off to the bank. If all is in order we should hear from them in about three weeks with their offer on the loan. If not, I have no idea what we will do. It's in God's hands all along, it just is more obvious now with our scurrying around

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1146011933511210712006-04-25T20:28:00.000-04:002006-05-05T22:27:57.040-04:00

Okay, a quick explanation of what has gone on the last month or so...When last we left Gene and Linnea they were on their way to a zoning meeting, Little did they know the horrors that awaited them--wait, that's the other blog. When they arrived at the township building, they were met by an angry mob--nope, that's the other blog again. They were actually met by one of their neighbors who opposed

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1146010876508456732006-04-25T20:15:00.000-04:002006-04-25T20:27:46.326-04:00

Buying a used bay window at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore? $50Loading it on top of your Land Rover because it's too big to fit inside? Three strong guys and a ladder.Gas to get it home in the Land Rover? $5Having everyone on the freeway look at you because you have a boat sized window on a classic truck? Priceless...For those building a house as cheap as you can there is Mastercard, for

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1142428950673241262006-03-15T08:01:00.000-05:002007-03-24T08:39:02.580-04:00

To steal a line from a recent Robert Redford movie I really should have either seen the movie or read the book, but I haven't. What I did see was a river that was undocumented on our property this past weekend. Ohio received a boatload of rain this weekend after a steady work-week of the same. So the ground was well saturated before the heavy rain on Saturday and Sunday morning. After I dropped

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1141841523744500042006-03-08T12:37:00.000-05:002006-03-08T13:12:04.446-05:00

As we are going along and getting all of the bids collected, I am constantly learning more about the entire industry of construction. Tuesday evening we spent an hour at the house site with Tim the Dozer. He works as a jack of all sorts of trades, as long as it involves concrete and earth moving. He is working a bid for the driveway, pads for the house and garage, septic system and foundation

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1141259706935191272006-03-01T19:20:00.000-05:002007-03-24T08:42:24.392-04:00

Today's progress was to get a resonable quote for a heating/air conditioning system. This is our second quote and it's almost $5,000 cheaper than the other. So, is that a better bid or a worse system? It's a tough job to figure out what is a resonable quote for work done on a house if you don't know what a fair price is. There is a lot more to hiring someone to do a complex job than just

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1141130113699166402006-02-28T07:24:00.000-05:002006-02-28T07:35:13.706-05:00

One of the frustrations of contracting your own house is that you don't have anyone to blame for inactivity except yourself. There are periods where nothing is happening at the house, and while there are multiple tasks to get done you can't get to them. Working a regular job and trying to lead a 'normal' life, despite juggling the 5,000 piece house building puzzle, leaves a few hours available

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140835238252979022006-02-24T21:34:00.000-05:002006-02-24T21:40:38.253-05:00

Water from the well, well well. Only one hole in the ground though. If interested, it came out to less than 1 PPM of iron and about 23 grains of water hardness. That's almost half of what we had in Texas on city water. The well has a static level of about 20 feet and is 110' deep.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140834465950741092006-02-24T21:27:00.000-05:002006-02-24T21:28:00.376-05:00

Well, well well-three holes in the ground. That was one of my Dad's favorite sayings, and I wish he was alive so I could tell him that we own a hole in the ground. We got a call this afternoon as I was leaving work from Rod the well driller. He said that he was done and was packing up the rig--did we want to come up and see the well working? Did we ever! I went home and grabbed Linnea and

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140740790138456852006-02-23T19:25:00.000-05:002006-02-23T19:26:30.146-05:00

Here's a photo of the rig that's drilling our well.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140737006921240592006-02-23T18:03:00.000-05:002006-02-23T22:03:10.456-05:00

Just got off the phone with the thickest accent I have found in Ohio. That's Rod, our well driller. He's got the well at 80' right now and he thinks it's putting out about 8 to 10 gallons a minute. He is going to punch on down to 110' or so to see if he can get the flow a little higher. He also suggested that we put in a PVC liner to keep out the shale as there is so much loose rock. So that's

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140716718195826712006-02-23T12:41:00.000-05:002006-02-23T12:46:21.500-05:00

Yep, the plans FINALLY printed at the reprographics shop correctly. It wasn't their fault but ours. What a learning curve. You know, building a house is one long series of learning curves, and angles, and lengths and widths and even some straight lines.So we have our plans, and I will post the Adobe Acrobat file to the blog for you to enjoy. Now that we have the plans, and the well is being

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22869734.post-1140662540805869902006-02-22T21:37:00.000-05:002006-02-23T12:46:39.666-05:00

We have started the build. While the only thing we can see so far is mud, it's a start. Since we started in October preparing to build, we have been slowly going stir-crazy (like stir-fry, only slower and more painful). Yes, the well is being drilled. At the end of the week we hope and pray for a $2000 hole in the ground. Only, this hole should be about 120' deep and have water on the other end.

Gene Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11374281503521748747noreply@blogger.com0