Next Tuesday they will be pouring the basement and garage floor. I hope to catch the garage floor work on the construction camera, if I am lucky. Meanwhile, on Friday they covered the Styrofoam layer with a layer of plastic. Here is what the garage looks like, pre-pour.
Meanwhile, here is this weeks construction camera video. Mostly you see them dig a trench for the gas line and then fill the trench in. At the very start you see them cut a hole or two in the foundation, and in the middle of the video they work on supports for the deck (against the house).
During our weekly Wednesday meeting, I took some progress pictures and I will go through some of the work done so far this week.
The gas line is being installed. We will have 3 propane tanks on the far side of the garage. Then the gas line will run to the generator and then on to the house, where it will be run inside to the gas range (in the kitchen). The first picture is the connection to the propane tanks and the second shows the run underground.
The final window is now finally in place on the South wall of the game room. We are still waiting for the french doors (which come on September 2nd) and the real exterior doors for the house and garage. All the other windows have been sealed up (second picture).
They are laying down the insulation that goes under the concrete floors in the basement and the garage. First shot is the basement. Second is the garage in progress. Concrete will then be poured over these layers, in a week or two.
Most of the plumbing lines are now in place inside the house. The plumber mentioned that he will miss eating lunch on the porch since he is just about finished up for now. First picture is the plumbing runs in the basement. Second picture shows plumbing to the master bathroom tub (which you saw in a recent post). Third picture is the plumbing to the master bathroom sinks.
The last post showed them drilling the opening the foundation for the make-up air vent. Here is the outcome (the vent is not attached yet). We are thinking of using the block for a seat somewhere.
Meanwhile, the HVAC team has been running the ducts, starting on the second floor. Here is work being done on the duct over the family room.
Finally I leave you with this picture of the construction worker’s charging station. I assume this does not quite meet electrical code.
Today we decided that there will be two steps at the front stoop. One step from the walkway onto a large Blue Mist granite slab, and one step up from that slab into the house. There will be an extra step going from the walkway onto the deck because we want a slight slope to funnel water away from the house, down either side (which means under the deck in this case). We also decided not to put an extra awning over the game room South wall windows since it seems pretty shaded without the awning.
Our media consultant was in the hospital with a burst appendix, but he should be back in time to consult with the electrician who starts work any day now. A whole bunch of additional work is scheduled for the next month, mostly inside. Stay tuned for more updates.
I just got this update from the builder. Today they have been cutting holes in the foundation for the various vents. For example, here is a brief movie showing the cutting of the opening for the make-up air vent.
And here is what the opening looks like when he was done cutting.
We will have a lot of pipes going from the utility room to the garage. That’s because we are putting the main power panel as well as the power meter and water meter on the far side of the garage. We are also wiring the garage for Ethernet and for a temperature alarm. Here is the bank of holes that were cut into the back of the foundation, in the utility room. Many of these will get a pipe running underground to the garage or to the street (for example, for the fiber internet).
Just one main post this week. On the outside they built stairs down into the basement. These will eventually be covered by the deck, and they still need to fill in some gravel. You can see the finished picture in the previous post, but I now have a construction camera video of the work being done. This is cropped to focus on the stairs.
Meanwhile, inside the house the plumber has been working, mostly on the second floor. Here are two pictures, the first is the kitchenette area in the second floor family room, where the pipes are for the sink. The second picture is the dual sink area in the second floor bathroom.
The work on the ventilation system starts this coming week. One of the first steps is to drill out holes in the foundation for the various vents. I saw that the builder has left the vent covers on the table with labels.
Kitchen Exhaust is for the range hood. Make-up air is also for the range hood, it is where we suck in air when the range hood fan is running to avoid negative pressure in the house.
ERV Exhaust if for the air exchanger. There are actually two units, one in the basement and one above the second floor. I believe that the Gables/Side Walls vent cover is used for the bathroom fans.
Our site visit this week was on Friday. We had to wait for the bath tub to be delivered. One goal of the meeting was to approve the placement of the faucet for the tub. Here is a picture of the tub in place (temporarily). The drain pipe butts up against a beam in the basement so the tub can not be relocated at all from this spot. The boards to the right of the tub is the location of the side of the sink area.
I have one more building related picture for you this week. Daphne’s design calls for wooden slats as an accent over the living room seating area, over the dining room chairs and in the front hall. We were going to go with a pre-assembled commercial solution, but the board placement was not precise enough to assembly them end-to-end. So instead, it will be done custom by our carpenter. Here is a test corner where we can approve the design and pick the preferred joint (diagonal). The black acoustic panel will be covered with black fabric to remove the texture.
Next week, I believe they will put in the last window (in the game room) and frame the deck. In September they will start the siding and pour the basement and garage floor.
Finally, I will leave you with this picture of an Egret sitting near a pile of mud at the edge of the river (at the end of our ditch). There are tracks in the mud, but we are not sure what animal made them (not the Egret).
Our builder just sent me this picture of the finished basement entrance. Compare this to the picture from my previous post. I am pretty sure that the dark color is because the stones are wet — not that they are colored black.
Keep in mind that this entrance will all be under the deck, which extends to the corner of the house. Also the basement door frame and basement floor are not finished.
This Saturday we returned to the house to work for a few hours continuing the removal of invasives. We also gave three more house tours and ate lunch with friends on the porch.
This past week, they worked on the garage and breezeway. This included putting the shingles on those two roofs, as well as installing the garage window and building a foundation for the generator. Here is a picture of the back of the garage; the generator foundation is on the right.
They are also starting to put in the passageway, under the deck, into the basement. Its looks like the work is about half done. They have the drainage in place, but have not filled in the walkway yet.
Inside the house, the plumber has been busy with the drains (no water pipes yet). Here is a corner of the basement where you can see drains coming in from the left and right, which still need to be hooked up to the septic system (which will be on the other side of the wall at that gap.
I found the plumber’s plans on a piece of wood lying around the house. He did not plan out the pipes until he was actually in the house.
The water level of the river is way down. There has not been any good rain recently.
Finally here is this weeks construction video. This is the back side of t he breezeway and the garage.
My mom is in town for a few days so we took a visit to the house. Its noisy during the week — there were at least three crews working on various things and big fans running. But we got to see the house and the view.
Here is my mom with Daphne on the porch.
One crew was working on caulking the outside seams. Here is one of the workers.
The plumber is working on all the drain pipes (and the radon pipe). As I mentioned before, he has taken over the master bedroom to keep all his pieces. It was light enough to get a picture today.
This week they will put the shingles on the garage and the breezeway. They will also dig out the foundation for the generator and the heat exchangers. I hope to catch it all on the construction camera.
Its Saturday and we went back to the house to pull invasives for a few hours. We also gave some tours of the house to a few of our friends, and then ate lunch on the porch.
There has been a bunch of progress on the house this week. First up is the breezeway, which was just added. I think the posts are temporary (I hope, since the middle ones are misplaced). But, the builder wants the breezeway in place so the roofers can return to do both the garage and the breezeway.
The south side is connected to the house, but the north side stops a few inches from the garage, since we are required to have at least a one inch gap. If you look closely you can see the gap – it is under the overhang.
Inside the house, they have finished insulating the game room roof and under than they have added the framing for the false ceiling. I have a construction video of this work which is at the end of this post. Meanwhile, here is a picture of the game room ceiling now that the framing is done. You can also see that they have added boards to the walls to provide a solid surface to attach the floating shelves.
Finally, the plumber has started his work. Here is one picture of waste pipes from the kitchen. It seems like right now he is dealing with the waste pipes, and we see pipes on both sides of the kitchen and in the laundry room. The plumber has taken over the master bedroom and has dozens of boxes filled with all the different joints he may need as he routes the pipes. (No picture of this, it was too dark in there.)
Finally, here is this weeks construction video. The first half of the video is the insulation work and the second half is framing of the false ceiling. Watch until the end because on the last day you have a better angle on the work.
For next week, I have moved the camera to show the backside of the garage where they will be doing the foundation for the generator and heat exchangers.
We had our weekly Wednesday meeting with the architect and the builder. And today we also had a representative from Sunsetter, the awning people. We talked a lot about what we wanted in an awning over the deck in front of the dining room, and how the walls need to be prepared for mounting.
On the outside, there is a painter working on painting the eves and soffits. There is also a crew calking all the seams. Here is an action shot of one of the workers. Notice that the eves are now black (except for above the front of the front door, which has not been painted yet).
Meanwhile, inside they have finished installing insulation in two places – the area above the family room and the area above the game room. Next the HVAC team will install the duct work on the second floor. Meanwhile, the carpenters are putting in the false ceiling in the game room. You can see the insulation in the picture below.
Hopefully this weekend I will have a video of this work because that’s where the construction camera is facing.
Next week they will work behind the garage preparing the foundations for the backup generator and the heat exchangers. I will move the construction camera to catch that action. Soon they will work on putting in the deck base and framing the breezeway. The goal is to get the breezeway done so the roofing guys can come back and do both the breezeway and the garage. We are still a few weeks away from installing the house siding.
Today we decided that the entire first floor flooring will be LVT and not hardwood in the bedroom wing the way we originally planned. The LVT gives better traction so it will make slips less likely when we age. The LVT is thinner than the hardwood so the builder needs to put down another layer of plywood.
I am starting off with the highlight reel from the last week. This is a construction video covering five days during which they framed the garage. Also, if you watch closely, around the 2:00 minute mark, a red and white vehicle appears between the house and the garage. This vehicle is putting in the pilings that will hold up the deck and stairs down to the back yard. (By the way, the timestamp on the video is off by almost 3 hours. I have fixed it for next week.)
Here is a side view of the garage after the framing was finished.
And here is a view of the interior of the garage.
And to round out the highlights from this weeks video, here is a picture of the pilings that will hold up the deck and stairs down to the backyard. The deck sits between the house and the garage and then wraps around to the front of the house.
Now that we have a garage you can get a better feel for the front of the house. The breezeway between the house and the garage is still missing (and I assume will not be added until much later).
Meanwhile, inside the house they have been spraying insulation under the roof. They have not finished, but here is a shot showing the roof of the second floor family room (in the background). This was taken from the game room, where they have not done insulation yet.
Since it was the weekend, Daphne and I had another session of invasive plant pulling. But Daphne has also started working on the design of the backyard paths and planting.
Here is a picture of Daphne’s plans in progress. It is hard to see since the important part, which is the design of the paths through the backyard, because it is done in faint pencil. (The river is off the top.)
But this morning, Daphne started to outline the planned paths using previously downed trees, which is allowed in the “do not disturb” zone next to the wetlands. Here is a picture showing paths of the path. This corresponds to the section closest to the river. See if you can match it up with the drawing above.
Finally, here is your weekly picture of the river front. The water is a little higher than weeks past because of recent heavy rains. And you can see the logs lining the path at the bottom of this picture.
