It Looks Like a House

It really does look like a house!! Worked on choosing colors today. We have two colors picked out, but I think I better go to the paint store and purchase a quart of each and try them on a bigger space. Jack was helping too --- he has "Coastal Sand" on this butt right now. It looks so good with the plumber's goop that has been there for a month. Oh well, I guess he is involved with the project too. It's the last day of the month and the guys will be putting on the tongue and groove pine on the underside of the patio cover. Surely isn't my idea of fun. The roof out there is 25 ft in the air. Yuk!! I seem to be getting more and more nervous by heights lately. I'm thankful there are people that don't seem to mind it.

New additions to the Inside

The framing crew is getting things wrapped up. Once the trusses went on things really started taking shape inside. There are things that look even better than I thought they would. Have had some concerns about the size of the fireplace, but looks right to me. Still pretty amazed by the view upstairs. I keep dreaming of what our first big gathering will look like when the kids come home to visit. We may have to "draw straws" for the upstairs guest room. The tub doesn't look as big as I thought it would, but that's o.k. less tile, less to clean!

June 25- Trusses !!

Well the trusses did arrive today around 2:00 pm. I can't imagine having a job like that. Those guys were scurrying around like monkeys, but on about 6" board - and way too high in the air. By this evening the garage had all the trusses placed and so did most of the area over our bedroom. Tomorrow they will sheet that portion as well as start with the upstairs trusses. That may move a bit slower, kinda holding our breath to make sure they fit. Also Imer worked on the front porch....something just doesn't look right to me. I thought it would be a bit more beefy, but maybe it will look differant tomorrow.

Beam Progress

Moving the beam into place was no easy task for the framing crew. The beam seems huge and awkward. The crew pushed, pulled, jiggled and conjoled it into place. They also worked on the area outside the beam - the cover for the patio. There really isn't much "cover" since the roof is over 20 feet in the air, but it looks pretty cool and I guess it will supply some shade.

The Steel beam

The beam was manufactured per the engineer specs and Kim delivered it Tuesday, June 19. Randy was home and the brothers worked together to get it off the trailer and around back so the guys can put it in place. The framing crew was off site Tues-Thursday since we didn't have the trusses. So when they came in Friday (6/22) they went to work setting the beam in place and working on the back covered patio area. The beam has some issues. We will need to bring in a metal fabricator to make some adjustments and to weld some brackets on the inside. Even looking back, it's hard to know if we would have had less problems with the beam if we had waited to actually measure the area, rather than going by the plan dimensions. It took more than 10 days to get it manufactured and so we probably would have been further behind. Hard to say.....

Some is covered

Upstairs, Upstairs

This is so great - no more climbing the ladder to look at the progress upstairs. (Not like it was that long - had floors upstairs Thursday and by Tuesday nite we had the stairs.) Had to make a couple of changes in the loft to get enough stairs in. (A little designer oops) but should be pretty neat. Several people have said that it will even be better this way.
Looking into loft from great room and then down from the loft into the great room - dinning room

Looking from the media room into Randy's loft - now what in the world is he going to do with all that space????
The view from up here is unbelievable - maybe we should have re-thought the master bedroom or the office. No matter I can still go upstairs and ponder.

The Big Wall Goes Up

Haven't kept up with all the progress on the house on the blog but here goes. June 7 the pushed the big great room wall into place. Big job for 6 guys and 4 wall jacks. There will be a large metal 6x6 beam from top to bottom, but that is still being made. They went ahead and braced the wall so they countine with the progress. By Friday evening June 8, we could walk on the 2nd floor. Even called my Mom from the loft, had her walk out here driveway to the barnyard and looking to her right, she could see me waving from the loft. Should have taken pictures then, because when we woke up Sat. morning, raining a bunch!!! At least one of the pictures, show what the wall looks like from the sand pit. Dad said making jokes about the new "church".

Welcome Grace

A little off topic here but this is a site created to celebrate "new creations" and God's blessings - so here are a couple pictures of Grace Jane Colvin, born June 6, 2007, 2:40 pm. 8 lbs 2 oz, 19 1/2 " long. Mom and Dad (Ashley and Travis) doing great too!

Big Day of Framing

Can't really believe the difference from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm. We had 6 guys working all day and just look at the walls that are up. In fact, the only exterior walls that aren't up are the 2 story great room wall and the front garage wall. I'm pretty blown away. Problem is the only thing that I'm really getting done is to look out the window, oh and to celebrate the birth of my first grandneice, Grace,who was born this afternoon around 3:00. Great, Great Day!!

More June 4, 2007

Evidence of the HVac system and some of the plumbing. Plus, a few of the flowers in the yard of the Red House.

Here Come the Walls!

Plumbers came in Wednesday and Thursday, May 30 & 31 to do their part in the post and beam. And today all the HVAC was complete, plus the framers came back and put up 3 walls on the garage. Wasn't really expecting them until Wednesday, but it was terrific. Lorie and Maxine came by and we were all outside when they were ready to set the first wall. They needed some help, so I grabbed my camera and Randy helped them boost it up. Lesson learned - keep the battery on the camera charged!! As you can see no pictures of Randy. Oh well, no pics but he can say he "helped frame the house" Great Day!! ----