Building Home

A quick list of updates:

The house is weather proof now.

All of the windows and doors are in.

Sheetrock and insulation are on the ceiling.

The first couple of layer that go under the stucco are up (2 layers of building paper and a mesh screen).

The pump house is framed.

The rough plumbing, electrical and cat-5e wiring are mostly done.

Exterior siding is in progress.

This was my time cramped attempt at summarizing the last 1.5 months. Details you might not see are rough plumbing and electricity, loads of new framing indoors, the HRV system, more taping and air sealing over each new layer, flashing, and stacks of brand new windows sitting inside, ready to be installed this week!

The most recent side projects that Kirk and I have been working on for homework involve finishing wood and hunting down materials.

We've collected some miscellaneous odds and ends: very cool salvaged wood that turned out to have lead paint on it (dang it!); new redwood from an auction (for things like the pump house); funky but possibly neat wood windows for outbuildings; old and awesomely tall french doors for outbuildings or sliding pantry doors.

Most recently, I made several trips to a local sawmill to pick out some rough sawn planks of douglas fir for our bedroom ceiling. The wood is very rough- the splinter that went under my thumb nail today was unreal!- and very charming (the wood, not the splinter. The splinter was not charming at all). We tested some different finishing methods (light sanding, brushing by hand, and sealing). It turns out that clear matte sealant is pretty much invisible on smooth sanded wood but looks faintly greasy and plasticy on deeply textured wood. The planks looked beautiful when sanded with an Osborn brush but it was definitely a more finished and smooth look than the rough and rustic edge were going for. We couldn't find a halfway point on the sanding though. Trying to clean up just a little bit of spotting yielded a totally smooth patch that stood out amongst the deep grain. It was all or nothing and so we went for nothing- no sanding and no sealant. We did our best to clean off the dirt and loosest debris with a stiff bristled grooming brush that turned out to be the best tool for the job. We cut them to size and slid them up onto the beams.

We have also been taking stock of our logs. We plan to have five peeled logs holding up various patio overhangs. Oaks are plentiful on our property. They are not as plentiful as pines, which grow like weeds, but the oaks have more interesting curves and there were enough that needed to be removed for power lines, leach lines, etc that we chose to use them for the tree posts. The challenge was finding enough of them that were least 6" thick over an 8-13 ft span. Our trees are still quite young so it was easier said than done. Once we tracked down a handful, I got to try my hand at de-barking. Some sections peeled away like butter, putting me in a hypnotic trance. The majority, however, were more of a hand burning fight against a very tight fitting skin.

Partially peel oak log

The blog is so behind!

Last time we talked- there was a concrete slab. Now- there is a house!

I don't even know where to start. How about the first two walls? The end walls were tall and heavy and so they required a crane to lift them into place. The rest went up in smaller sections that could be pushed up by hand. The plywood was put on after they were up to keep the weight manageable.

There is a wall there- it's hard to see it because it will be mostly windows.

The weather reports this morning threatened to cancel our concrete pour. This wouldn't have been such a big deal except that 1) all of our guys have the week off to let the concrete set before framing, 2) the whole schedule would stop in it's tracks without the slab in place and 3) the concrete team is busy and hard to schedule and so the delay could impact our schedule badly.

The thunderstorms were mostly predicted to hit around noon- right about the time the floors should be finished- so everyone decided we should just go for it. Thankfully, the weather held out until the evening. We even got some blue skies at just the right time.

The team of six guys was impressive and fast. They never stopped moving while that concrete was flowing. A couple of guys were ankle deep in thick goop while others moved around the edges, working from one end to the other, moving forms and troweling surfaces.

We chose to add integral color to the mix (light gray, which is a bit darker and grayer than the natural gray / beige color). But in order to achieve the depth and variation that we were after, our concrete contractor suggested tossing on some color concrete hardener. This is a cheaper way to add color than acid staining. The looks are similar but not identical. Acid staining has the advantage of being applied later (so floors don't need to be protected as much during construction) but it also has the disadvantage of costing about ten times as much. We like a distressed and vintage look anyway, so we aren't worried about the finished floor getting a little banged up during framing. And, as much we like the shadowy non uniformity that multiple colors adds, acid staining was just not in our budget. So this alternative was the perfect solution.

It will keep changing as it cures. The main concrete color will get lighter as it dries but the added colors will stay the same and so the contrast should get a little a little more dramatic over the next few days. I love how it turned out and I can't wait to see how it progresses!

Last week, the underside of the slab took shape. The earth around the stem wall was pushed in cover more of the wall and then compacted. Some very large piles of gravel were scooped inside of the walls and compacted.

A huge amount of effort went into laying pipes and conduits for water, waste and wires. Once that slab gets poured, nothing is moving, so they had to get those pipes located right on the first try! This is one way a house with a crawl space is easier- you can lay the pipes once you have something to connect them to instead of the other way around.

Once Dave was confident about the pipes and the inspection was done, the next layer of insulation went down- 2 inches of foam covering the gravel and butting up against the foam that wraps around the inside of the stem wall. Together they create a thermally isolated valley for our concrete floors to be poured into.

Next came plastic and rebar to get us ready for the next concrete pour.

Of course, Murphy's Law toyed with us this last few days. After a state of emergency level drought all year and a dry hot summer, we finally got some much needed rain.... just when we needed it to be dry.

We sponged out buckets full of water from our new swimming pool. The water kept accumulating in big puddles, an inch or two deep- you would think a mop would be easier but the rebar grid made it a pretty tedious task, best performed by hand with sponges (for me) and water guns (for Astrid).

After spending the afternoon sponging it dry, Dave covered it with humongous tarps just in time for the night's rain.

The concrete is dry and yesterday was all about taking off the wood. It was a pretty labor intensive process- many nails and screws to remove, pulling planks off with a crow bar, and lots and lots of pressure washing to clean up each board so they can be used for framing the house and deck.

Starting the next stack of boards to dry out in the sun