It looks like a house!

I have been meaning to post for about the past 10 days, but things have been SO busy for us at work, home and with the kids. We are like ships passing in the night (or day, for that matter). We high-five each other as one is coming home and the other is leaving, usually to go and take care of something for the house -- where the list of "to-dos" is never-ending. But, I am not complaining. For every time I go out to the house, my heart beats faster and it feels as though the sun is shining right on our house nestled in the trees and tall grass. It's hard not to smile just thinking about it!

Enough of my emotional unpacking - onto what you really came for - THE HOUSE!

Since 9/26/15 (my last post), the house and garage are framed, the roofing has begun and the windows and (most of) the doors are in!! We also had to make a last minute run to Eau Claire to meet my Dad, who had an old clawfoot tub that we are going to refinish and use in the master bathroom. The plumber needed exact measurements and the only way to do that was to get it in the house. You'll enjoy the picture below. Ha!

Classy

Basement framing

Main floor framing - you can see the outline of areas not yet framed

Main level almost done

Trusses going up

A view from the southeast side 

Stairs are in (which means upstairs is framed as well)

Looking from the front door towards the west side of the house where the great room will be

Oooh! Exciting! Roofing has begun and windows are in. What do you think of the black framing on the windows.  I LOVE IT!!

There are about 500 more pictures of the past 10 days, but these summarize things pretty well! Over the next week, the rough plumbing and HVAC will go in, and possibly the retaining wall in the back. Oh, and the well. Just a few things going on, as usual. :)

Thanks again for reading!

Framing: Video Walk-through

The framers have been working on the house all week. I haven't been out to the property for five days. The last time I saw it, they were just starting the basement. I thought it would be fun to videotape my reaction to the progress and my first walk through what is there.

The video is about five minutes long. Enjoy!

Backfill, geothermal and framing

There is a lot happening out at the house site. In my last post, the cement walls for the basement were poured. Since then, the cement forms have been removed, backfill has been put in, the tubing for the geothermal was laid, radon rock was spread in the basement, the cement walls have been waterproofed and drain tile was installed. 

We were told that the framing would start on Thursday and take about three weeks. To our surprise, Steve got a phone call this morning saying the framers were ready to start today. Turns out there was an error on another job they were doing and they were going to be delayed on that for a week or so. Bad for those folks; good for us. By my calculations, the framing should be done around October 12.

I have a lot of photos to share today. I'll post a note under each so you can understand what's going on. Thanks for reading!

Waterproofing

Foundation for front porch

South field prior to geothermal install

Coils of geothermal tubing

Close up of geothermal tubing

You can see the black geothermal tubing poking up out of the ground in the center of the basement. The tubing is buried 8' underground and goes out to a field to the south of the house.

Lumber delivery!

First day of framing. You can see the backfill up to the outside wall.

Framing guys setting up. Another beautiful day!

Setting up framing in the area below the kitchen

Thanks again for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to leave them here.