Our House: July 2007

I just checked out the last time I updated the blog, July 2nd. That seems like an awful long time ago. I just hadn't gotten around to taking any new photos of the progress. The framing process was so exciting, with every day of work ending in some new piece of structure on the house. The building phase we're in now doesn't have that feel to it. Of course Jess and Ben (Jess' helper), are working hard every day, but when you get to detail work, it just doesn't move as fast. They have been working on the exterior trim of the house, which I have come to realize is quite detailed. Things like fascia, eave soffits, and knee brackets all have to be dealt with. They seem like the things that you don't necessarily notice on a house, but I bet you'd notice them if they weren't finished. I'm beginning to realize the many layers of a house. Not that I thought that as soon as the framers left I'd be able to grab my pillow and blanket and move in, but this is a first time experience for me, and after the speed of framing, it's taking some adjustment to prepare myself for the long haul that will be our house.

As of today, the electricians have done everything inside the house except for the kitchen wiring/lighting, and the lighting on the back deck underneath the upstairs balcony. The balcony itself is roughed in and I must say, is super cool. The electricians will also have to come back to wire the well-pump, and the pump out by the septic mound. Jess has been working on the plumbing stuff in the basement when the rain has forced him inside. That included the mounting of the heating manifold and the start of the domestic hot-water supply lines and the first floor radiant tubing. Thanks to the afternoon rains we've had around here lately, the shingling of the roof hasn't been going too fast. The roofers have been working after hours, and the weather has only been okay for a few days. Whenever that gets finished isn't such a big deal as it doesn't interfere with any other part of the process right now. We have decided on using cement fiber board siding for the lower portion of the house. The eaves will be cement shakes. It seems like a great product, you can get it pre-painted, and it has a 25 year warranty. I think we'll go ahead and order that this week. We have decided on a sage green-ish color called mountain sage and a bit of an off-white/cream color for the exterior trim. It seems to look good on the mock-up on the internet. That's a big deal to have that figured out, and now we can start painting the exterior stuff it we feel like it. Hopefully it won't be three weeks before my next update. For now we're just enjoying summer, and dreaming of spending the winter living at Coyote Run.

knee brackets and fascia, who knew?

An old drill press that was my grandfather's, it still works!

the view from the balcony

the upstairs balcony

temporary kitchen

the basement

heating manifold, the white box is our tankless water heater

more of the heating manifold

northwest view...

west view...

southwest view...

south view...

southeast view...

big dog view.

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to sit down and update the blog. We had a great Roof On party two weekends ago, and it was great to show everyone the house. I gave so many tours of the house, I felt like I should have a name tag on. Thanks to all who helped the party be a success and to everyone who came.

Since then a lot has happened at the job site. The framers are pretty much done now. The last thing the framing company will do is to shingle the roof, and that is dependent on Jess finishing up the trim around the roof line. Jess rented a man-lift the other day and did a lot of work on the exterior trim around the roof line. I have some photos of that below. The electricians were there all last week and pretty much wired the whole house. They are just waiting on Jess to build the balcony on the second floor, and then they'll come back to finish up. We have definitely gotten into the part of the project where we have to make decisions everyday. We have started the process of picking out kitchen cabinets, which means we have to really think about how we want the kitchen to function. Big decisions, and a little stressful, but we're happy to have that stress. Here are some photos of the latest from Coyote Run.