Moving right along

  This last week has been exciting!  

  We are moving right along with our preparations for the electricity installation and heat pump install.  To have everything ready for the electrician we needed to finish attaching 2" wide wood strips to the metal wall supports.  This will enable the electrician to place all the junction boxes where they need to go. We had a walk thru with our electrician and feel confident he will do a great job.

  The electrical rough-in is this week!  Although this weekend was nice and cool 50 - 60 degrees, the heat is coming!!

  Since we have purchased the outdoor lights, they can be installed this week. We are very excited about this because we almost finished installing the shutters. Once the lights are installed we will just about have a finished exterior.




Here are photos of updated exterior with shutters on side complete!

The shutters were a bit of a pain. Each one took a bit more time than we expected. But then most everything usually does. 😊

  With the "R" panel sheet metal "hills and valleys" we had to insert 1" thick spacers strategically behind each shutter so that they were secure and flat against the panels. Occasionally, we had a bolt in a seam of the panel that required a slight cut out on the backside of the shutter. Using carriage bolts we secured the shutters nice and tight.

  We have two lower windows and the three upper windows on the front to finish another day.

  They look terrific and we installed all the ones the electrician will need to help him place the outside lights.

Wall strips installed above and below all windows and on all upright wall supports. The tongue and groove wood planks for the walls will be nailed right into those boards. We chose this route instead of installing another framed wall to keep the depth of the walls and window frames to a more desirable size.

 We are starting to be able to purchase interior items. The small bathroom dresser/vanity is being refinished and we placed our blue and white vessel sink on top and it looks fantastic. The copper exposed plumbing with the blue handles will look great too!

 The trees think it is Spring already!

Beam me up!

Oct 22 2016 Beam and wall framing

One man - SOOO many boards

After a brief hiatus we are back at it! All the walls are framed up to 10'. The wall in the center of the house separating the living space from the bedrooms is 90% complete. Wall sections above the 10' height are being completed now.

Photo of center wall. The ceiling in the living area is a cathedral ceiling. The wall up to 10' was built in sections and lifted up and bolted down and to the adjoining sections and floor. Above 10' is a work in progress.  An opening on the left will remain there until the A/C and plywood attic flooring is completed.

The last two days we have focused on our 24' foot exposed I beam in the center of the living area and preparing it for rafters. First we attached a 2' x 10' to the top and bottom of the metal beam. These 2 bys will make installing the 40 rafters easier and more stable. Then we added two metal straps for just a little extra support. The straps will not be visible once the ceiling boards are installed. Finally, we added 24" wide plywood on both sides of the beam.  Our final vision is for the beam to be finished off with a nice finishing wood. It is way up there!

While waiting for the sun to rise high enough to work inside, we installed our first set of shutters. We tested out a few ideas and finally have this set installed with supporting block between the shutters and the exterior wall ridges. We think it looks great! What do you think?

Month No 2 ends: walls

Walls, walls and more walls

Moving right along on this one man job.  The walls are going up pretty quickly and easily. We are due for a cool front and it can't come fast enough. Without insulation it can get pretty hot in there. Here are a few photos of the additional walls which completes the Master Bath, Master bedroom and almost the hallway. Sam is in the first photo.. trying to take some credit for all the hard work.

Photos from atop the scaffolding

It's no easy task climbing up there! and it is way up there. 

CHANGE:  decided to move the hot water heater to the attic to improve on the installation and run pipes to exterior back side of the house.

UPDATE: Shutters are 80% done.  They are all built, but ran out of polyurethane.

INTERESTING: the El Camino - The Texas Gravel Adventure bike race ran right by us. On a 90 degree day, those brave riders had more than gravel to contend with.

Being as hopeful as we can for nice cool Fall weather

DAYS 57- to month No. 2 Interior walls

Here we are at DAYS 57-58

The builder, Huff Welding, finished most of the outside. The underpinning for the side porch looks great! They also installed the wind vane for us. So glad we didn't have to figure out how to get up there!! They will come back when we have the front porch ready for underpinning and wood burning stove stack ready to install.

LOOKS GREAT!!










We are pre fabricating the walls in sections inside the house and have installed the two 6" wall sections for the laundry room and the small 1/2 bath. Not as heavy to lift as we thought. Laundry wall includes cut outs for dryer vent to outside wall. All walls will be bolted to the foundation.

Bathroom and laundry walls - 6"

Next,  the framing is complete for the interior walls within the master bathroom. There are two interior 8' walls separating out the shower and toilet. These walls are 8' leaving ventilation space to the remaining areas of the bathroom. The ceilings will be 10'. Door for master bath is a 80 x 30 opening. We will be fabricating a sliding barn door with reclaimed wood and barn door rollers for opening and closing off bathroom.

Now we can see shape of master bedroom(lft), master bath and 2nd bedroom(rt)

Hummingbirds are passing through town!

The cedar shutters are coming along. Using cedar fencing to reduce cost and increase ease of construction. All will be covered with a clear polyurethane which adds a nice color to them.  Here are a few photos. First photo is of back side.  Each shutter will have 3 panels and angled cross support. We are still working on the process for attaching them to the house.  Note: scorpion stings HURT!

Next up: hallway walls, finish shutters, getting really close to contacting electrician and A/C man!
9/18/16

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding and so much more

DAY 50-52 Scaffolding, plumbing and interior framing

Finished installing all support boxes inbetween the side wall beams to support the ceiling.  We received some scaffolding on loan for the duration of the build. We put together one large 14' section with two landings. The wheels are coated so hopefully we won't damage the floors that will be eventually stained. That should help us work smarter and not harder.

 In the center photo you can see we started the interior plumbing. These pipes make up the vent from the master bathroom that will go up and vent out the cupola. We are using 2" pipe for that section and metal straps to hold them in place in a slight upward angle.

Break time in the hammock on a hot day

DOORS!  Finally, no rain and time to polyurethane the doors. One coat complete. We will lightly sand and put on another coat to seal the deal!
That's Bailee photo bombing in the right photo.


















Ended the day with leveling and adding sand around
the foundation that had washed away with all the rain.

BTW, these 5 apple trees are doing great!

Can you pick them out? hint, there are cages around them.

NEXT:

For Gary: more plumbing & interior walls

For me: finish cedar window shutters, boards have been cut