A side of siding, please

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!).

It's been a wierd 30 days...

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 barn and taking his kids to soccer games). I have some really grainy pictures of the house in the near dark showing the siding, but I will take some more this weekend (maybe, it is almost Christmas after all) to show what it looks like with siding and trim. We have most of the south sided and painted, except for up at the soffit. Linnea also spent a back breaking morning doing parge coat over the basement insulation. Bob the mason brought by three yards of mortar (Type M for all you masons out there) and we tinted it to a clay reddish-brown. While we worked on siding, Linnea slapped the mortar on like a frenzied sculptor working in reverse. It's looking a lot like a house now, if you ignore the other unfinished bits.

Christmas?
Yes, Virginia, there is a Christmas. But we won't be in the house for it this year. That was our goal when we started (see earliest blog entries) six months ago with building. When we sat down with the kids to let them know Christmas 2006 was happening in the appartment rather than the house, one of them asked "How long have we been building?". I answered, "Six months", which led to the next question "How far along are we?". I had just worked that out with the bank, and we are barely over 60% done. So, this childlike sage said to me, "Then we have about four months left, if we are getting about 10% done a month, right?" Out of the mouth of babes...

The end of the lumber (outside anyway)

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. That means it's going to be weekends and days off from work. But you can see the porch and balcony, plus a detail of the porch rafters to show off what Linnea has built.

Last warm, sunny day for a while

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 hard you will see the detailing that Linnea put on the rafter tails. Every contractor that has seen that has approved. We feel like the porch is our signature and graduation project for the house, since we hired a crew to frame the house. Lately, Linnea and I have been finally breaking the silence over our Christmas target move-in date. It's only something like 45 days until then and we have so much to do that it's not in our power to make it happen. Of course, that's the ideal situation for God to make a miracle work out. That's not saying that we deserve a direct intervention in the physics of creation just to make it to our Bethel Hem (that's an inside joke, as we live in Bethel township and Joseph and Mary were headed to...well, you know how it went). If we are living in a barn for Christmas, that's okay with me.

More pictures...and the missing scaffolding

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 the tool rental place. No less than three people came by to borrow a tool.

Late, but as promised pictures

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 experienced roofer, came back on Tuesday to finish it up. We have the porch roof on 3/4s of the way and need to install the rafters for the south face of the porch roof. We are going to put in the master bedroom balcony ledgers first, then put up the rafters and roof it. The second picture is the sliding door with transom for the living room. It opens onto air right now, but there is a deck coming there too. You can also see the windows on the left that are in the other half of the living room.

Waiting no longer

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 four-day fun fest of roofing. I will be getting the scaffolding for the roofing and trying to work on the porch rafters. On Friday Bob and his merry men will be over to start the roofing--if the rain holds off. Saturday Kenny the plumber will be over to start the drain and vent lines--he thinks a single day will be all he needs to run that (wow). We spent a bunch 'o money at Lowes (go big blue!) this week on plumbing fixtures and plumbing lines. Yesterday Linnea went all googley-eyed over an outdoor faucet that has hot and cold to a single hose bib. She has imagined a shower hookup for summer use on a single hose line. Great idea, but they didn't have it on the shelf.

Power poles are setup and dug into the solid limestone shelf that hides below the dirt. They should be finished today with setting the overhead lines to tie us into the main feed and then BAM, we got the power. Let's take the generator back to the tool rental place ASAP.

More pictures to load, but they are on a flash card at home and I am at work.

Peace,

Okay, where are we now?

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 finish the posts and decking, then start the porch roof framing next.

We have also found a plumber! Kenny is a friend of a friend from church and says this is going to be easy--I hope so. We got our plumbing plans approved and pulled (that's contractor speak for "I went and paid extortion money to the county") a permit. Now we are ready to start. Saturday we are blocking in the toilets and marking where the waste lines will go. This is totally new for me (waste and vent) and I was really nervous when I thought of doing it all on my own. It comes back to the third grade--where I learned most of life's important lessons; if you have somone to hold your hand things are better. And a nap helps too. Cookies are even better.

Near the end of framing

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.

End of week two's framing

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 before. So, we asked around and went to the first contractor we talked to about building one of Sarah Susanka's Not So Big House houses. Duane is mostly a remodeler, but he has built a few houses from start to finish. He and his boys are framing Thistle House for us, and may work on other parts as needed.

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

Day two of framing

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.

Progression of photos from each day's work..

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.

And here's where we stand today

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.

Here's half the basement

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.

Basement is underway

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 basement. Then we can start framing. The garage is going to be a bear as it's about 3/4" of soil on top of the bedrock. Not quite sure how we are going to make the footer and slab work on this--have to talk to our excavation guy.

Memo to self: remember to call before you dig

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. The bobcat hit a three pair, direct bury telephone cable at six inches depth. It's a dead line that used to provide service to our next door neighbor. So, for everyone watching at home; remember to call before you dig.

"A driveway? Happy thought, indeed"

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 name is Gene and we just had the telephone cable cut for your place. What's your name?"

Get a golden shovel honey!

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 the US market I hope it doesn't change too much. We will see.

But, we can start construction next week. The backhoe should be on site on Tuesday and putting in a road (good thing, as it's 4WD to get past the swamp/mud bath). He will also start the footers for the foundation for the house and the garage. Our shed is almost done, all we need is a door and to install the bay window. Plus finish enclosing the gable end and shingle it. Can't be more that three days of hard work.

My favorite funny sites

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 Laugh

www.larknews.com - a great news site that spoofs Christians and our pomposity
www.userfriendly.org - a spoof of Tech Support and the people who support the 'Users'
www.patentlysilly.com - another spoof site that lists all the wacko patents given out in the USA

Still waiting on the bank to finish the loan. The appraiser is appraising the house for the loan-to-value ratio (house >= loan), then we should be approved and start construction. We spent Memorial Day weekend at the property building our storage shed. It's the art studio in the Stinking River (see Blog somewhere down below). Three walls are up and we hope to get one or more today. And our replacement mower arrived from Country Home Products (the DR Mower people). The first threw a piston rod or something and blew a hole in the crankcase after 10 minutes of run time. DR sent a replacement engine, but it was for last year's model. To make amends they sent us a new mower and it's here, waiting at the lumber yard for us to clear the trailer (full of shed lumber) and pick up. More to come on that...