Day 5 - Week 1 ends in wet walls!

The foundation forms were built-up on Friday in time for the foundation to be poured!  We almost have a basement!   We were able to see just how much fill-dirt will be needed too - yowzza!   

The walls from the from right corner.

A close-up of the poured walls in the forms.

The walls from the back corner. The window bucks are in there somewhere!

A close-up of the forms.  We'll have a faux brick look to our basement interior and exterior walls.  

So, we'll just be waiting for the walls to set.  Next week our basement should officially be a basement!

Day 4 - It's raining, they're pouring!

It was so rainy this morning, we thought for sure nothing would happen with the house.  Again, we were pleasantly surprised to see that the footings had been poured.  Rebar, which will be used to help hold the foundation walls, was set into the footings.  Our egress window bucks and sewage pit were hanging out around the outskirt of the house hole.

Footing under our front porch.

Footings from the back corner.

Egress window bucks and sewage pit next to K and  Little G for scale.

Can't wait to see how we finish out our first week!

Day 3 - Footer and Foundation Forms! Fantastic!

Yesterday was a beautiful day!  But...nothing happened with our house.  A trip out to the lot today yielded a much more exciting outcome.   A wooden canal snaked around the inside perimeter of our house hole and rebar lay within ready to turn into the foundation of our home.  So crazy to look at these boards and feel so much reverence and affection knowing that they will be witness to our family growing up, to birthdays and graduations,  to our retirement, to our future grandchildren, to the creation of so many memories!   Sappiness aside, here are the pictures!

View from atop a dirt pile.

Another view from above. This one includes the garage.

Close up of the footer forms.

A view from the back corner.

The foundation forms!

Our dream really is taking form right before our eyes!  

Day 1 - Excavation!

We awoke Monday and found it had been raining pouring and worry invaded our joy as we didn't know if the excavation could happen in the rain!  Greg headed to work and Karen began her last week at home before school begins. Around 9:30, Karen made a trip up to the lot in hopes of seeing equipment in motion.  It was a splendid view and Day 1 of construction had officially begun!

The rain subsided and we headed out later in the day to take a few more progress pictures only to find that a certain 9-year-old had gotten a hold of the camera and while filming a bathroom rendition of a self-composed opera entitled "yah- rrrreeeba", she seriously smudged up the lens and we had no usable mid-progress pictures.  After dinner, and the baby's last nap, we headed up again with the kiddos and explored.  The excavation crew had left for the evening and we had full access to explore without worry of heavy machinery.

A view from the far right corner of our property.

Walking up to the driveway.

Turning on to the driveway.

The darker raised portion will be part of the garage floor.

Looking in toward the right.

Looking in at the left.

Looking in from the back.

Kids on a dirt pile.

A view from the backyard.

G on the excavator.

A soggy, worrisome morning turned into a beautifully productive day!  We aren't sure if the excavators are totally finished, but we are eagerly awaiting the footers which will be poured next.  Having footers means we'll get an actual address! Because the lot will have to be raised in some areas, the walls of the hole weren't all the same height.   The amount of planning, engineering,  and measuring that goes into simply digging a hole is pretty amazing.   Tuesday should be another beautiful day!  Here's to hoping it is just as productive!

The Plans

We mentioned that the plans had changed slightly since we last blogged.  Here is the updated floor plan.  

Since our actual plans are on paper that is nearly the size of our computer desk, Greg created a pretty good rough outline of the plans. Bed1 is obviously the master bedroom.  Bed2 will be the boys' room and Bed3 will be for the girls. We are going to finish two bedrooms in the basement rather quickly after we move in so that Grant can move down to his own room and we can have a guest room for visitors.  The two sets of stairs both go down to the basement. Not shown in the drawing is the large covered deck in the back.  

 Karen played around with the front rendition and added some color.  

We are planning on having  medium/dark sage green siding with a charcoal/black roof and white trim.  We are going to opt out of having stone work on the front pillar and just go with a cylindrical pillar that is fluted in the middle.  We are also going to go with exterior window trim rather than shutters.  

It is all going to start with a large hole in the ground.  Pics will follow!

A long time comin'

Here we are just under two years from our last blogging and what a couple of years it has been!  We are FINALLY ready to build our house!  The first steps toward actual construction took place this morning.  Greg was able to accompany and assist our builder by staking out the foundation. We plan to be as hands on in this process as possible!

See the tiny pink flags?

Also, a sweet little excavator appeared next to the lot.

Digging is supposed to commence on Monday with the foundation complete by the end of the week.  We have changed the plans slightly from what was posted a couple of years ago, though we are still planning on having a 3bed 2.5bath ranch and eventually finishing the basement.  2012 is going to be a fantastic year, though it started out on a pretty great note :-)

  If you're following the process, we'll be updating regularly.  Wish us luck!

A "Lot" of Work

It's been a while but we've had a couple of new developments since our last posting. First, we inherited a sweet lawn tractor from (Great) Grandpa Henderson. We never knew how much fun mowing a lawn could be! We also never knew how long mowing a lawn could take. With the acquisition of the mower, we've been able to keep the lawn nice and neat. We also spent a load of energy pulling 3-7 foot weeds out of the sandy ditch that will one day be our culvert. It is kind of cool to drive through this undeveloped neighborhood and see the lots of weeds and then our maintained area. Also makes it easy for people to see which one is ours!

Our second feat was the building of the fire pit!

We have a lot of branches that we can use as firewood and we thought, as the weather turns cooler, it would be fun to have a place we can go and roast dogs or marshmallows. Plus, who doesn't like to burn stuff.? It took very little time to do and we're excited to have our first fire!

We put it near the back right corner of the lot in a very flat open area that won't be disturbed once building begins. It is near the creek which flows along our back property line so we'll have to make sure we're covered in deet before spending the evening out there, but it seemed like the best place to put it. Karen had a blast but Greg did most of the work...

Visitors welcome!