Basics

This is the first of 4 blogs about the house. Steve is catching up from a horrendous work schedule. The pictures have continued, though, and are reported here.

These pix are from May 22, 2008.

They have started the wooden part of the house. The floor is on now.



Bettie happened to catch the builders raising the first wall.



It's up - and it's good!



It almost looks like theater scenery - but it's real. The yellow board over the picture window in the living room is a laminated board.



And they're working on the back wall. This carpenter is kneeling in our master bath.



This is what it looked like when Bettie was leaving:



That's all for this day. Tomorrow is a whole new adventure.

Shazam!

This is what Bettie saw when we arrived the next day (May 23, 2008):


Four walls, and a roof! Maybe that's a normal day's effort for the builders, but for us it's incredible. They have the front porch framed, and the plywood on some of the walls.


Steve standing at the front edge of the porch. The picture window and front door open onto the porch. To the right of the porch are the hall bathroom, the spare bedroom, and the computer room (window covered over by plywood).



Steve and Bettie in their new house (and future home). Yes, I did carry Bettie across the threshold the first time.



Silliness: Steve is showering in the master bath. Good thing there's some plywood for privacy!!



The view out our picture window. The builder patiently explained to us that the dirt piles and diagonal boards are not permanent (yes, more silliness).



What is it with this silliness? Now Steve is pretending to be sitting reading in the "throne room" of the master bath.



It's our house, not public property, so this is not graffiti. This is inside a window frame of the master bedroom.



This is the other end of the house. There will be sliding glass doors in the big opening. Steve is checking out the acoustics of the new basement. Long reverb time - about five seconds.



And no wonder - there's nothing down there except for hard, flat walls.



Look out - that first step is a long one.


This is the carport end of the house. The yellow stuff is to help water drain down the outside of the foundation walls, instead of trying to go inside.

And that's it for today!

Cristo

That's right - our house got wrapped. I think we should apply for some arts funding. If that guy can get millions for wrapping buildings and sea coast, we should get some for wrapping our house.

These pix are from May 26, 2008 - Memorial Day.

The house as we saw it:



Inside, with nephews Joe and Paul. The house looks so spacious!



Interior lumber, plus a hole into the basement.



Aaaah - so that's why there was a hole in the floor - no support here! Note the Oriented Strand Board (OSB) supports.



Whew! They didn't cover up the windows!



We're going to have a very light, bright living room/dining room/kitchen



Bettie and her brother Dan check it out



Bettie and I had covered the front door with plastic, to ward off rain that might want to enter the house. So people had to use the "other" front door. This is Bettie's sister Karen and her husband Ron.



Visual effects: why the front door was unusable.



Silliness: Steve and nephews Paul and Raleigh take the house out for a ride.



Severe silliness: nephews Paul, Raleigh, Mark, and Ross jump on the bed in the master bedroom.



The back of the wrapped house. In the foreground are the rafters for the carport.



Silliness. Not sure what inspired this - if you could call it inspired.



This was imprinted on one of the pieces of plywood, and it reminded me of the posters that get splashed all over the plywood around construction sites. This one looks like it's listing all 72 bands that will be playing a concert.



The niftycool camera caught this bumblebee playing around some lumber stacked outside.



And that's it for Memorial Day, 2008.

Windows and walls

From May 29, 2008.

We have windows!

This also shows the wrap of the house better. Not sure why they use two colors of washers with the nails. Perhaps it's a Protestant/Catholic thing - it comes out to 15 green (Catholic), 14 orange (Protestant). We're happy to invite in people of all faiths.


The front of the house, including tar-paper on the roof.



The end, showing sliding glass doors.



This is our siding. It's called Pebblestone Clay, and it's a nice neutral brown. We wanted something that would blend in but not disappear.



Interior walls. This is looking down the hallway toward the carport.



This is from well inside the front door, looking into the kitchen. The stairway to the basement is the first door to the left as you enter the hallway.



And how it looks from a distance. The outside will change as they get the siding and the roof on, but most of the future work will be inside the house.