House Update

Things have been rolling along, so to speak, with the construction of the house.  This has been a very productive week.  What was suppose to be a downsized house has turned out to be only slightly smaller in livable space.  The storage area has to be fully wired as it has heating and air ducts in that space.  According to building codes it would have to all the electrical outlets because of the heating and cooling.  Maybe a massive man cave in the near future.

 The view from the front after they graded to change the slope so any water runs away from the house.

 Another view from the front with the upper part of the driveway graded.  The wife standing in front of the porch.

The siding is now going on the west side of the house.  I was wondering how the color would look like out of the box.  It is show hard to judge the color from a small sample.

This is south side of the house.  You can see the south porch to the right of the picture starting to take shape.

This is what happens when a drill holesaw meets a moist piece of lumber used in the construction.  When the drill jerks from your hand the little finger takes a beating.

More to come in the next week.

I just got FLASHED!

Several weeks ago on a Sunday I was working when a person came up to the pharmacy window asking to get their medicine filled at our store instead of another sister store they had been using.  The person had a bald head and the medication they were taking indicated they had cancer.  

After filling the medication I called the person to the register for checkout.  I did not pay attention to the sex of the person during the filling of the prescription and the name did not indicate a male or female.  After finishing the checkout procedure the person told me they had had a double mastectomy.  At this point I realized that the person was female.

She stepped back from the register and pulled up her tee shirt and showed me her chest with two massive scars.  I was somewhat shocked and did not know what to say.  

I told my technician what has just happened and she says, " I guess you got a half flash".  To be honest, I could have done without the flash.  

All in a day of working a retail pharmacy.

Almost Dried In

The house roof framing was finally completed this week.  Felt paper was added to the sheeting to help keep any rain out until the shingling is complete.

 This is the front door area facing north.

 South facing side with porch area and attic space

This gives a better view of the porch area on the south side.  Framing for the porches should be started this next week.  Rough in for electrical should be started along with plumbing.  Looking better each week.

Trusses Up

The crew got the trusses on the house Friday.  Just in time for more rain to hit the area.

 This is actually the back of the house but is what you see from the road.  This side faces the view to the south.

Of course this is the garage side and front of the house.  The room above the garage side is our attic or upstairs storage.

Another view looking to the northeast.  The upper part of the trusses have to be added to give the house it's peak.

Now if the rain will stay away and allow the crew to add the sheeting to the trusses.

More to come as they make progress.

House now has WALLS!

After several days of rain the house now has walls.  

This is the view during the rain over the weekend.  

 More walls were added Monday

Garage area framed

Looking from the Great Room out to the front door.

Now the garage is framed the roof trusses should be installed.  More to come next week.

Drain Field in and APPROVED!!

The septic drain field excavation was started and finished in less than two days.  There have been major advances in septic drain fields over the past number of years.  I was used to the old trench with a bottom layer of gravel, a plastic drain tile pipe, and then another layer of gravel.

In our drain field the excavator used an infiltration system.  The trench is still dug but they insert what looks like a fifty-five gallon drum cut in half long ways.

 The infiltration sections are about three to four feet long and hook together in the trench.  Both the entry end and the termination end have a capped off section.  The pipe coming out of the distribution box is connected to the entry end and then the fluid then infiltrates through the length and distributes out into the soil.

 No gravel need in the trench  means it saves time to install and the overall cost is cheaper.

Prior to being totally covered.

Framing is taking place

Now that the foundation walls are in, it is time for the framers to work their magic.  The floor trusses arrived Tuesday and the remaining lumber arrived Wednesday.

The framers marked everything off Wednesday and then added the sill plate.

Thursday they worked on getting the support beam in under the main floor.  Then they added the floor trusses.

View of Master bedroom/bath area.

View of main floor area.