Rough-ins

We did a lot of the rough-in work this summer (electric, plumbing, HVAC, septic...). This first picture is the septic drain field. James had great hopes that since we were moving up onto a mountain that we wouldn't have any lawn; but as it turns out we need to grow something shallow over the septic drain field, so we actually need to have some lawn... not to worry, dandilions will be very welcome.
Next is a photo showing the water input and output and electric coursing through the ceiling - everything in different colors. Next is Patrick and Katie on the porch on the west side of the house, and James mounting electrical hardware in the ceiling. (Note the grey hairs)

More building

Finally the terrain dried out enough for the septic installer to get to work! The south side of the house has been off-limits until now, so that the dirt didn't get compacted. Finally in late July the septic crew came in and cleared out the trees and undergrowth, and dug the trenches for the drainfield. All of a sudden the south side of the house is visible and warm, what a difference!
For several days after the trees were cleared out, we saw LOTS of deer tracks in the clearing, as the local deer must have come through to check out the new scenery..


Katie and Patrick and Keeper the dog are scampering over the drainfield - note the detached garage on the right side of the photo. Keeper loves the woods, there are so many things to sniff.
The next photo is Katie looking at a small fire in the Masonry heater (we need to do multiple small burns to help dry out the water from the grout in the fireplace).
The photo after that is Patrick at "work". He spent much of his summer vacation up at the property working with dad, doing site clean up and deck construction.

James built the deck on the south side of the house, out of a composite (not Timbertech, the most well-known brand, but a similar one). Here is a picture of James and Patrick setting the deck railings, with a second picture of Katie and Keeper standing next to the awesome deck railings. Patrick did a wood shop course last spring so is eminently qualified to help on these projects, eh?

This is a silly picture of the Peets and our friend Dave after a day working on the house. At this time, note that there is lots of shade on the deck; watch to see what happens next month!

Windows and siding

We have been putting in windows (most went in in June, but 3 had to be reordered, as the plans and the framing and the order didn't all agree; we're still waiting on a tempered glass window by the front door that has been wrong twice. Tempered glass is stronger so bad guys can't break the window, reach in and open the door). We hired the framers (Dean and his helper Ryan) to put the windows in: they work fast and do good work, and James especially wanted someone else to do the upstairs windows since he doesn't like heights. The windows in the first picture are the home office and master bedroom; they face south, and are at least 15 feet up in the air, as this is the downhill end of the house that sits above 12 feet of foundation. This is the only part of the house that does not have a porch or deck; it's a LONG way down from those windows, we had to rent extra-long ladders to do that stretch.

Picture #2 is Patrick being put to work. The siding is Certain-Teed (off brand of Hardy Plank, made of cement, and comes preprimed on the outside). For the south-facing wall of the house, which gets the worst weather exposure and is the only side of the house without a porch to protect it, we primed the back of the siding as well as the side that faces out. Patrick managed to not get the primer paint on his clothes! (Can't say that about Boy Scout camp, when he came home with green paint on his scout pants..)

Patrick has spent most of his summer vacation working on the house with James - doing lots of site cleanup, and helping build the deck (that'll be another post). The two of them have loaded up several trailers full of debris to go to the dump. Patrick gets a break from construction during Boy Scout National Jamboree in late July (he left on July 21st, on a plane full of 120 scouts)

Picture #3 shows siding on the upstairs gable, done by the framers (remember James doesn't like heights...) and picture #4 shows them working on the front of the garage. By now all the upstairs siding is on, and the downstairs siding should get finished this week.

Roofing

The roof went on in just 1 week! Last week they delivered crates and crates of metal for the roofing. This is a standing seam metal roof (careful to leave flat valleys in the corners of the gables so that sliding snow doesn't take out the standing metal!), metal being a great nonflammable choice for a house in the woods. (James was lobbying for red but I though it would look like Pizza Hut. We went with dark green)
They started working on the dormers, then the porch roof (which is a mild 3/12 pitch), then the garage (which has no dormers at all), then finished the main house. The pitch on the roof is 12/12, to look like an old style farm house. We have a bid for gutters which will go in soon.
The last 2 photos show what it looks like now as you come up the driveway, and looking downhill from behind the garage.

Finished Framing!

It finally looks like a house! We're looking at the front door and front porch, with the roof sheathed and ready to put the roof on. It'll be nice to seal up the house; it has been so wet this spring that the main floor of the house has mold growing on it (on the OSB) from being exposed to so much wet and rain.



The garage was dubbed "Flying Nun's Hat" by Dean the framer. It has 2 bays, and the carport on either side will cover trailers etc; it's supposed to look like a simple barn.





I threw in some people pictures. First is one of James (on the right) with Dean Plummer the framer (center), and Dan Rayburn who is our building consultant from UBuildIt, doing one of his site visits. Dan is important to us to keep us from making stupid mistakes!

There's a picture of Patrick, rolling some primer on the back of the siding before it goes on. We are siding the house with cement siding (like Hardy Plank, but this is a different brand). The house will be less of a fire hazard if it's covered in nonflamable siding (both hazard from forest fires burning us down, or a house fire igniting the forest around us).

The last picture is Katie and I (Becky), standing on a small island surrounded by the everpresent puddles. Patrick climbed up the hill behind the garage to take that one.

Masonry Heater

One of the features of the house we are very excited about is the masonry heater. This is a fireplace with a large amount of stone surrounding it, which releases heat back to the home for hours after the fire is burnt. We designed the center of the house to have this fireplace central between the kitchen and dining room and living room and foyer, really as a central feature of the house. Here are some photos of the construction of the fireplace.







Here is Stan and his crew building the innards of the masonry heater. The inner layers are standard firebricks, the outer layer will be veneer rock that we got on an awesome sale!!

The principle of masonry heathers (also called Russian heater, best known company who makes them is probably Tulikivi; ours was custom made and designed) is that they burn a very hot fire, and the smoke and heat is directed through lengthy channels in the brick so that essentially all the heat is absorbed into the mass of the stone, to radiate back into the room for hours (one arm-load of wood, burned in a 30-minute quick burn, can provide enough heat to radiate for 12-24 hours). It is a very clean burn, with almost no ash left (because of the high heat). And since we are sitting in the middle of 20 acres of sustainable forest, our fuel source is literally right out our front door. It provides a very comfortable heat, similar to radiant heating in the floor, except this is in the center of the house.