Week 5: July 28 - 31

First Oops! We have had our first significant delay in the building process to date. The insulated sheeting necessary to complete the roof will not be available until next week. The trusses for the roof were delivered but because the sheeting is necessary to hold the trusses in place the framers are waiting to place the trusses.























Second Oops! The support beams that will hold up the bonus room were installed too low. We have planned in tall 10' garage doors to accomodate the large vehicles needed to transport, soon to be, 8 people at a time. The beams were placed only 8' off of the garage floor. I called Ray, our builder, when I noticed this problem concerned, and honestly a bit upset. A solution has been found. Ray figured out a way to reposition the beams that provides the desired garage floor to ceiling clearance. By changing the position of the support beams the height of the bonus room floor changed, as well as, the positioning of the bonus room trusses and how they relate to the rest of the house. Even with the change it looks like everything is going to blend nicely.

























Viki has chosen the color of our house! The front of the house, at least the first story, will be red brick. The rest of the home will be yellow siding with white trim and fascia/soffit. I went to the siding store and bought a piece of the siding to see how it would look on the home.

Week 4: July 20 - 24

Much of the framing work in the house was completed this week.


Highlighted here are the newly constructed garage walls.
























When we drove up to the house today we noticed the new stairs immediately. The kids jumped out of the car and ran in to explore the new addition with as much excitement as they run to open presents on Christmas morning.
























This is a view of the family room upstairs with Landen and Maelynn "striking a pose".


























Here is a general view of the upstairs with Sadie and Maelynn.



























Shown here is the kitchen area where some braces have been installed to eventually support the kitchen cabinetry.


























This is Sadie, take note of the missing front tooth, standing at her future bedroom window with the school the children attend in the background.

Week 3: July 13 - 17

Framing Begins

It is amazing how one's perception changes when the walls of the home are put up. It was very difficult to visualize the home with just the cement foundation in place. Everything looked small, too small in fact, to the point that I thought we had made a mistake somewhere in the plans. With the walls going up the home is coming to life and the size of the rooms feels right again.

Week 2: July 6-10

This week things slowed down a bit as the contractor wanted to give the cement foundation time to cure before bringing the carpenters in to frame the home. The plumber did come in though and run sewer and water lines into the home and the cement crew came in and poured the basement floor.

I had the plumber place water lines for future sprinkler systems at both the front and back yard. I am hoping this makes for easier landscaping in the future.

As you can see, the basement is not large. Just large enough for the utilities (furnace and water heaters) and food and regular storage needs. We chose to build mostly above ground for two reasons; first, to save some money as cement costs are high compared to lumber and second, to realize greater energy conservation. Supposedly, a well insulated home above ground can be heated and cooled more economically. I am trusting our builder on this one as I have never lived in a home that did not have a basement.

I can't believe we are doing this!

Yes, we are building a home! After two years of vacillating between building or buying we - really I mean "I" as this was never a hard decision for Viki - finally decided to move forward with building. There are many reasons not to build. With the economy in the tank and home prices down building would appear to be a less desirable option. Believe me, I have lost sleep worrying about all the different reasons not to build. But for some reason this path toward building has remained open while all other paths have either closed or just not felt right. I am posting about this building journey as a way of recording history, as it represents one of the more brave things that I have done since proposing to Viki and having children, and a major milestone for Viki and I as a couple. So, here we go!

We bought our lot in the Summer of 2007. Our primary motivation for choosing this property was it's close proximity to our children's school.

After a year and a half of working over a house plan that we thought would satisfy our needs for the next 20-30 years we realized that we would never be able to afford the construction of such a house. With the help of our builder, Ray Ellis, we came up with a new house plan more focused on meeting the needs of raising a young family. Finally, after months and months of pouring over the plan, getting bids, and the necessary financing a contract was signed to begin construction. As a way of realizing some cost savings we committed to take on some of the building responsibilities, including the electrical and flooring. Of course, I don't know how to do either of these tasks so am hoping all turns out well.

June 26, 2009 We committed ourselves to a construction loan.

Building Begins:

Week of June 29 - July 3, 2009


1. Placement of a temporary power supply.

2. Survey and excavation.


















































3. Cement footing and foundation are poured.

A very exciting week with a lot of visible progress. Cement workers, I have decided, are a breed of their own. They work extremely hard- fast and with purpose, appear to have little need for communication with the outside world, and have leather for skin.