Flora, Fauna and other assorted animals..

Just so you don't think we are completely one-dimensional about this house. Here's a new neighbor that came to visit the other day. The owl didn't seem to scare him too much... Sorry it's a little fuzzy, Tom had to zoom in from the real house. He was pretty excited to see a buck in our yard. They are beautiful.

Apparently, Titan didn't want to have his picture taken...

And here's another picture of Titan. He's pooped from running with the neighbor's golden retriever most of the morning. He can't quite hang with the big dogs yet...

And our Amanda looking sweet and demure in the window of the master bedroom. She's growing up so fast!

And here is the ever busy Hailey having a moment of down time just hangin' in the grass. I love my girls!

Motivation comes in many forms

So Tom and I were enjoying a cup of coffee on the upper deck of the new house yesterday morning (Saturday) and surveying what used to be our back yard. After it got completely dug up for the geo-thermal field and the large dirt mountains from the foundation excavation, our back yard was no place for fun anymore. With the torrential rains that we've had since starting this project, the ground has been too squishy to do anything with it. Well, it's dry now and the grass/weeds are starting to grow out there in the hilly dirt field. I suggested that we work on that while the weather is nice, the ground is firm and we have the whole summer for the grass to fill back in. Sooo... I called around and found a rock rake to rent for our tractor and arranged to pick it up.

Tom called me an INSTIGATOR! I prefer MOTIVATOR. Our neighbor was kind enough to let us borrow his dozer to spread out what little was left of the dirt pile and Tom also removed the rotten tree stump in the middle of the backyard.

I can't wait for the grass to grow now! We'll pick up rocks and finish smoothing it out today and hopefully can scatter grass seed by this evening!

As promised...

Well, sort of. I guess I said I'd get it the next day and that didn't quite happen but I'm here now! It's Friday night and I really want to do plumbing, but I just don't know how!! Very frustrating. Tom is figuring it out. I hope. :-)

And without further ado, the house as it stands now!

And I couldn't resist taking a shot from my beautiful iris'. Two of my very favorite things in the same picture!
I guess I'd better get working on it instead of just taking pictures of it...

They've Spotted Me...

The people at Lowe's, that is. I've been in there now three days out of four, buying a myriad of plumbing fittings. This happens because I will get started running pipe, then quickly find I don't have something. So down to the store, get what I need X3 and then an additional assortment of fittings in the hope that I can make some progress. I've dropped about $600 in DWV stuff so far, and am counting on being able to return all of the unused pieces. Just don't lose the receipts!

I know I need to get you some pictures, perhaps this weekend. I should probably ask Gene to come out to make sure I'm not screwing anything up too badly!

On another note, I got a call this morning from the building inspector. He had been out the other day for a shearwall inspection, and had noted only one interior wall that needed to be sheated. He called to say we can move ahead without a re-inspect, as he is far too busy and it's a low priority. It seems that the other day the County took in over $1,000,000 worth of new construction permits applications. One day! But for them that means that they are getting very busy and are not re-hiring. For me (and you) it means that money is flowing and people are getting busy and maybe, just maybe this recession can itself recede to a fuzzy memory.

Have a great weekend!

Plumb and Square

I feel like I'm just getting warmed up. That is, the DWV is started barely but not really going yet. It's a puzzle. A mulitiplicity of pieces you don't know you need until you need them, and as it takes time (and patience) to go to the Big Box Home Store I decided to count on the liberal return policies and get a selection of parts. So I just spent $200 on a variety of 1-1/2" and 2" elbows, wyes, traps, cleanouts, 45's, 22-1/2's, T's and the like in hopes of having a particular item when I need it. I got a few 3" and 4" things, though that is mostly for in the crawl space. My focus right now is to get lines in the 2nd floor, tied to or pass through the 1st floor and stubbed into the crawl space before I go and tie it all together to the main drain.

It's funny, I've had about 15 people volunteer for the electrical wiring phase, but nobody for the plumbing. I guess I don't hang out with the right crowd. But I'm also aware that I'll be able to manage whatever size crew we have for the electrical party as that's what I know. This plumbing stuff however, while not "kicking my ass", is taxing my brain in the new territory that it is.

More whining to come, bear with me and eventually we'll get to the really fun stuff!

How hard can it be?

Payday is on Friday, poop goes downhill, and belts are optional. That seems pretty easy, that is until you actually have to DO it! Sandi wants me to put together a work party, with actual people over who would help us to "bang it out". The problem is, I don't know what I'm doing! I have a book, some limited experience and a line to my buddy Gene who does it for a living. He's pretty busy, so I'll try not to bug him too much. 1/4" per foot drop, gotta remember that, and venting. The venting is what's starting to demand my brain. I can flow water downhill, but keeping the vents and drains separate but together is interesting. I'm hoping I have the right pipe sizes for the application, but I think I'm using bigger than necessary in most cases so it should be fine. The biggest challenge so far has been fighting the Man Eating Drill, my trusty Hole Hawg. I already snapped off a heavy duty holw saw arbor, though I'm happy that broke not the motor shaft of my drill. Also Sandi had given me a gift of a framing nailer in anticipation of building the house, then we hired a crew to frame it so it is with great joy that I broke out the new nail gun and shot some nails, built some stuff. And it's happening; I may have mentioned in the past this "problem" I have. I started plumbing, but needed to know where to run the island pipes so I stop and start on layout of counters and other things, all of course with the design to meet again in some sort of finished product.

This is going to take awhile!

It was a good weekend, lots of BBQ, yard getting spiffed up and progress on the house. Now it's Sunday night and work mode is hovering in my brain, ready to take me hostage again.

It's so totally worth it!

Plumbing starts!

Here is a progress shot of the house. It's a few days old so it's actually changed AGAIN but it's too dark for me to get a picture tonight. Something to look forward to tomorrow. :-)

The first plumbing pipe is in place! I also set the flanges for the toilets in the house today. tee-hee! Who know plumbing would be so much fun?!? Also laying out the kitchen cabinets to block for gypcrete and also to know where to drill for plumbing. Got a shot of those sexy legs in the background too. Back off, Ladies. He's mine. ;-) The shape in the middle is going to be the island.
And these bold little creatures thought they could move into my house before we do! I don't THINK so!

Newest Addition

Well, I was getting bored with all the free time I've had on my hands between work, kids, Tom, building a house, stamping, cats, chickens.... so we decided to get a puppy! Meet Titan.

We found him at NOAH of Stanwood. It's a no-kill shelter. They estimate he's about 2-3 months old and is an Australian Shephard mix. Isn't he just as cute as he can be??? He will also sit on command already and is not a wanderer! He loves to hang with his people. The girls just love him.

Decks are framed

I'm sorry, I've been remiss in my postings here. I'm spending most of my energy at work, though now with the weather improved the weeds are growing madly and the mowing/whacking is underway in earnest.

The deck structures are in, which pretty much completes the exterior framing work. Nick made a modification to the rear deck, to accommodate a roof line that extended into the deck walkway space. Man, is that deck high! Raising the house (remember the plumbing issue?) has impacted us yet again, this time in the stair that will be needed to the upper deck. Plan "A" was to have a straight stair, but that would put it sticking out past the garage by 7 or 8 feet. We're thinking it'll have to have a landing and then a 90 degree turn. We're talking 21 steps to get 13 feet up from grade! Nick is not including the stairs, but I can handle that. Stay tuned.

This weekend we'll be cleaning up around the house, picking scraps and stacking salvage materials. I'll also start laying out the plumbing drains and vents, and likely start drilling holes and making my material list for that and the gas piping and the venting. It'll be good to get started on systems, to keep making progress.

OK, I'm done, I'm going to bed. Hope to see y'all sometime!

I have not "given up" posting.

So there.

More Dormers

It appears that Tom has given up posting to the blog. Hmmm... after chastising me for not posting before there was anything interesting to write, he quits when there's SO much cool stuff going on. Oh well, on to the pictures!

This is the front of the house with all the dormers in place. It will change again next week when they get the covered front porch up. The porch will span the entire front of the main house. Stay tuned for more updates!

Another view...

And now a tour of the inside... Here is a view of the stairs from the top. You can see the slight arc to the bottom treads a little better. It's truly stunning in person. (Thank you, Nick!)

Here is a view from the upstairs hall down into the living room. There will be a railing on most of the hallway so you will still be able to see down into the living room after it's finished.This is the kids' loft area. If you stand in the same position as the picture above only turn slightly right, this is the view. The door to the right leads into the bonus space over the garage, AKA the Craft Loft. The big opening on the left will be french doors that lead out to a 10x10 covered deck. (Yes, for those of you with kids, the door will be triple alarmed and set to go off instantly if anyone tries to come in - or go out - those doors) Ah yes, preparing for teenagers... And now on to our main attraction... Drumroll please... The Craftroom! Here's a view from the inside door. There will be an outside door also. It's to the left (out of sight) in this picture This is from the corner looking back towards the house. The door to the right leads outside to the deck and stairs.And Nate has been the unsung hero of this build. He's been here every day, rain or shine, and with the help of Joe (and Nick & Matt for extra muscle on the tall walls) has made our dream a reality. Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to us.

Oh what a difference a dormer makes...

So I learned a new thing yesterday. It's called 'barge board'. Heard of it? Yeah, me neither until yesterday that is. Barge board is the white boards that go on the edge of the gable ends. You can paint them any color you like, but they start out as primed white. And apparently there are a lot of options in the world of barge board. Who knew?!? I'll tell you who. Nick knew! So Nick patiently walked us through and showed us the finer points of picking out barge board. We ended up going with a 3-layered barge with a keystone at the peak. Nick, the original master at MasterWorks Construction, along with Joe, a master in his own right, put it up along the house end on the garage side and oh my goodness, it took it from non-descript to a real focal point. I can hardly believe that this will actually be our house that we get to live in someday. I'm blown away at all the beautiful details and can't wait to have you all over for a barbecue! (Bring your drills, 'cause you'll be pulling wire for your supper! lol)

This is what just the 12" bottom layer of barge board looks like:

This is the house with the dormer on the front. Really changed the appearance of the front, eh? Wait 'til they get the other 3 smaller dormers up and the rest of that fabulous barge board!

Prom dates, ugh!

I have to say, the stairs that were drawn on the plans really didn't thrill me. They would have been utilitarian but didn't have that wow factor. Nick did a lot of math and changed the design of the bottom 5 treads to give a perfect flowing arc down to the floor. I absolutely LOVE the stairs! Now the first thing you will see when you walk in the front door is this:

The first thing that came to my mind was our girls coming down those stairs to meet their prom dates. Pretty scary thoughts, huh? Sure hope we can get the house done before that time comes...

Got Wood?

That's the bumper sticker on the guys work van. Gotta love it when you can answer YES! :-)

Here are the trusses peaking through the trees upon first arrival:

After they discuss things for a while...

They finally get the oversize load into position to unload:

And they start putting our trusses into place!

So the guys at MasterWorks Construction worked some more magic and then by Friday... TaDa!

They will be doing dormers and sheeting this week. I had asked about the floor in my craftroom because it's a 'room-in-a-truss' and they said that will be one of the last things they do this week. I thought Tom had told them to say that (he really does have a mean streak sometimes! :-)) but no, they have to sheet the roof first before doing the floor. I trust them, but I don't have to like it. :-)