One of the features of this house we are very excited about is a wrap-around porch on 3 sides of the house. In this rainy climate in the Pacific NW, having a roof over an outdoor space allows us to use it for much of the year (and without the roof we'd get very wet). The framers have been working on the porch this month. The first photo is looking at the front entrance of the house; the wheelbarrow is sitting directly in front of the front door; you can see the posts on the right ready to hold up the roof over the porch.In the second photo, I'm standing at the SE corner of the house looking across to the open deck on the south side, where the wrap-around porch transitions to the open uncovered deck, which allows the sun access to the south side of the house for passive solar warming.
We have a "solar eave" on the south side of the house, which sticks out about 3' above the first floor windows, far enough to block the sun's rays in the summer from shining into the house, but in the winter when the sun angle is low, it allows the low-angle sun to reach the house and warm the rooms.
The next photo is Dean the framer working on starting the roof over the porch over the front door. Note the boom box sitting on the window sill on the right. I think they use as much electricity for the radio as they do for the power tools!
The 4th photo is Luke and Ryan on the second floor, above the front door. The spot they are standing will be the upstairs loft by the kids' rooms. This was taken on one of the only sunny days this month (note shirts off and sunglasses). Most of May has been below 60 degrees. We were blessed with a mild winter, but have had to suffer a very wet spring, and the builders are bearing the brunt of the weather.
