养筒管

重开幕！

的朋友和家人，客房现已开放！ 届访问是我的爸爸妈妈，在周一抵达。 余的你们中，欢迎访问计划1月5日之后的任何时间：）

到您的到来，妈妈和爸爸！

论

近完成了！

楼下的客人卧室建设完成。 100％。 有这一切仍然是泥和磁带，然后画。 姆没有整个事情自己。 45.7，建造和竖墙;安装了电子-灯，开关，运行电缆电视，电脑，切割和安装的所有工作表岩石的墙壁和天花板和周围的门窗，挂在门，新增绝缘夫妇的角落，丢失了它（对地下室墙体大多是在原来的房屋建筑绝缘，我们就知道是完成了地下室后）。 终的结果是一个宽敞的，但温暖和舒适，光线充足的自然光来自窗户和开放的后院的门，很多法国客人卧室。 之，我认为这将是非常可爱comortable。

姆和我各有一张特大号床时，我们的约会和单独的住处，在我们的生活。 们结婚后，我们也从不费心去获得额外的一个摆脱，只是把它储存。 在就去了客人卧室随着一套卧室家具第二，我们从来没有摆脱困扰一方-松树梳妆台和匹配床头，一个搁脚板滑翔机，我习惯了罗宾的房间里有，我们的额外电视，地毯，和艺术，我们仍然需要挂起并不合适的楼上:-)

泥和磁带的家伙来星期一。 下周末应该就可以开始绘画。 将是完成，在妈妈的时间准备和爸爸的到来12月22日。

爸不要担心。 们已经有了其他的东西吨，让您忙即使勉强完成了这幅画，然后再来到这里。 有没有reupholstered餐厅椅子？ 听说它几乎像绘画;-)和植物需要我们的房子经过3年的忽视一些温柔呵护-修剪，新的土壤，大壶的乐趣。 然，我期待着看到你可以编造出在我们这个厨房-只要它不是热狗，冷冻肉丸，鸡块，或mac＆奶酪:-)

，对所有我们的其他朋友和亲戚那里-房间打开了你1月5日以后。 要害羞-让我们知道，当你科曼'！

论

的王国

看电视的骨架这个晚上睡觉前。 们正在盯着婴儿频道-她仍然喜欢它。 上8点后它与软催眠曲的音乐伴随着背景快乐cutsy动物图像填补。

们坐在睡眼惺忪的，二鹿来包围在屏幕上。 架点和感叹：“妈妈，那些鹿看！他们就像我的你！”

分钟后，猫头鹰出现在屏幕上，走上了树枝平息。 架的回答是：“妈妈，这是一只猫头鹰。我就是其中之一。fowest他在我的生活”。

是真的。 和猫头鹰比比皆是我们同（和喂养每日目击财产）第一，偶尔遇到（接近远）第二。

姆和我只是矮人她白雪公主。

季是在空气中

醒来了今天早上向窗外望去，看见两只鸭-一男一女-流浪我国湿地的边缘。 是女性领导方式和男性鸭，明确规定负责把风，紧张，他的脖子，看每一项危险的迹象，方法。

性鸭终于又有那么到湿地草丛中，并没有出来。 性鸭是站岗外的地方，她走了进去，立正站好，还是和警报。

敢打赌，春季结束前，我们听到婴儿雏鸭在我们的湿地小啁啾:-)

子我喜欢住在这里！

论

... 们做其他的东西太多...

然我们的世界并不绝对围绕女婴，我们设法出去，做的东西:-)添爆发了他的链锯昨日（我得到的一个圣诞节他去年！）和摆脱的葡萄枫木这是拥挤的基地，雪松树。 有一个好时机;-)

婴和我从远处观看。 大多数情况下我们没有确定。 有一次进入我的喉咙，我的心的飞跃。 ;-)

论

迎回家

是一对夫妇的照片，分享了这一点。 们仍然有很多工作要做。 们唯一的艺术品挂了，是我们从我们的蜜月之旅意大利绘画在壁炉-地幔正如我们原来的计划:-)。 竟，他们说“家是你挂你的罗马的意大利风景...” 吧，也许他们不说。 对我们来说象征:-)

论

啊... 个工程... 可以住在这里...

们带着我们的人对我们的访问，以今天的新房子，现在所有的建设工作和基层是所有英寸，他似乎有个好的时候，恰好在家里自己:-)

过去两年的房子一直是蜂窝天的活动：
-所有的橱柜门和抽屉拉安装在每间客房
-壁炉装饰是否完整，功能齐全的壁炉
-所有的照明设备安装等，是他们的交换机，所以我们实际上可以将它们打开！ 括女婴的灯光，餐厅吊灯（从我的一个老房子）和楼梯的方式吊灯。
-几乎所有的鞋已完成基地
-镜子都挂在浴室都修剪
-浴室配件（毛巾杆，厕纸持有人等）都安装
-壁橱杆和架安装在入境壁橱和女婴的房间
-所有的室内门挂和硬件安装

有了一大堆事情要做-他们进行简单的油漆，我们确定了一些位置，并完成基础鞋，清洁人员在下周来一样，最终检验的人。

样，我们似乎正在朝着12日，第13和第14位。 12日将包括正从地下室的所有东西到相应的房间，第13和14，我们已经预留了长途卡车从我们目前的房子了我们的东西休息，新的地方...

点儿很难相信这是真的发生！

更多照片在这里 。

论

品地板

最近几周已花了整理的地板-砂光，涂料等，我们有明确，水性完成（不是那种离开光滑接着看巴西樱桃层），他们出来美丽-深色调的红色，金，并在阳光下的一些irridescent的意味褐色。 人惊叹！ 梯看看照片中的一个小暗以上了，因为我其实是从外部通过法国的门打开图片。 他们是美丽的东西，尤其是与杉木班尼斯特和绿色的墙！

然有很多的照明完成。 真正希望能够做的首先是在打开女婴室的灯光，我看到他们样子！ 们已经安装了一段时间，但尚未开关。 们的浴室灯具终于在上周末，但仍然需要安装有很多开关，嵌灯装饰，灯泡，我们的饭厅和楼梯吊灯留给安装。 照明，但必须等待，直到地板上完成。 此，我们希望看到在不久的！

们与我们的建设者和建筑师punchlist演练是周二，虽然蒂姆和我做了一个初步的今天，以帮助节省时间。

我们今天在那里添也落后了第一次新草。 是迫切需要，但我们有一些后勤工作进行第一次。 们指示，hydroseed公司不覆盖首割草或两个。 遗憾，我们没有一个骑割草机巴格尔，使这意味着蒂姆不得不把我们的普通汽油割草机内的财产及用枪它（经常倒袋，明显）。 这里，他的时间了，我们是有一个相当大的影响。 们会回来的明天:-)

对新家庭的前面。 假定我们仍然在为8月12日，我们听到的，除非另有-它似乎的确如此什么可做的。

期待着能够，就可以开始设立托儿所;-)

论

末更新

碌的周末，本周末！ 我们来看看... 哪里开始... 有趣的东西，当然！

众议院进展

期六上午，我们开始了驶向早上财产检查进展的一天。

-恒温器安装等，是空气外汇管制
-所有的管道设备现已完成，净水器挂接运作。 们可以和我们的自来水饮用和我们的冰箱现在的水！ 们的冰箱甚至使冰块:-)
-垃圾处理安装-我们得到了特别的化粪池系统适当
-炉及烤箱安装和工作（我们甚至打开煤气炉子上-这样一个漂亮的视线;-)
电装饰完成大部分。 需要有一些交换机和线路挂接安装一些装置，但应该很快完成。
-草越来越喜欢... ... ！ 有一些干点，但它看起来非常好！
-打磨和精加工的硬木地板周一展开
- punchlist演练暂定于8月2日（暂定，是因为我们都有点儿等着看什么女婴决定要做！）

更多照片在这里 。

“一切都要去”
们的一个朋友是走出在夏季结束东海岸回到学校后，毕业生在玩新房子周围，我们对她的领导来帮助她移动出售她，让她如此整洁的院子，家务劳动得到一些古怪的照顾，因为她得到准备离开，吃美味的食物:-)。 -我只是监督;-)。 janel工作提出添固定照明灯具，由于电费扮演等:-)

最后的晚餐
帮助她的移动销售涓/房子准备，蒂姆和我去了有可能是我们最后一次真正的“日期之前女婴”一出生:-)我最喜欢的意大利餐厅之一- italianissimo了。 们当时没有在一段时间！ 真是美妙的走出屋子，并在一家好餐馆佳肴。 们都已经被移动约1000英里一小时的工作，分娩课最近，为女婴跃跃欲试，收拾房子，要不要让孩子对我们采取先发制人的行动，对我们新的房屋建筑的最后细节继续保持领先，我试图让我可以行使时，我们都试图让体面的睡眠。

饭后，我们再回去的财产，检查，晚上光线出来。 论是从晚上的图片分享，但它非常酷！ 室内照明看上去棒极了，我们可以观看我们的后甲板上设置的太阳，从我们的厨房甲板月亮上升。 同的光线透过窗户流在给内部和油漆的颜色不同的外观以及-一个不错的温暖光芒。

采取先发制人的行动＃1
日（星期日）用于正在从我们目前的房子所有非必要的家具和物品，以我们的新房子的地下室里。 们所有的朋友谁出来帮忙非常感谢！ 们目前的房子是相当多的空虚，因此我们可以开始了让女婴的东西任务，因此她成立了一个睡觉的地方，变更，发挥等等，有点儿与我们的东西都在目前的房子糊状。

是一个灿烂的一天-可能是位运动热，但关键是，它没有下雨;-)。 最终起身约85度，在新的地方。 是云在天空中。 们没有在任何新的住宅空调和我们有一个玻璃门窗吨，让在白天阳光的时刻，所以我想看看它有多热进入。 们很高兴地找到舒适的68当我们到达的内部温度，只有71时，下午我们离开。 子被凉爽的整个时间我们都在那儿，地下室甚至凉爽。 人印象深刻的:-)

用说，我们俩都有点疲惫:-)，我们将花费最多的调直未来几周和组织如何在当前的房子左边。 至少很大一部分-此举“第一部分” -完成了（至少在一小会儿;-)). 2部分将正从地下室到硬木地板作为完成，然后第3部分，当然将是主要的事件主要楼层的东西。 于这两种时间虽然是在我们的建设者和女婴的摆布。 们将看看会发生什么;-)

论

更绿...

种子已经开始发芽！

这还不是全部-我们发现在新房子的其他变化时，直到今天，我们在那里。

部分的管道已完成-厨房水龙头，洗碗机，掌握浴缸，淋浴客人和主人的虚荣心装置，客人和主人厕所，狗淋浴。 然需要挂钩的水过滤器，你可以看到这些照片，但正在运行的水和厕所的冲水！

气修剪工作已经开始。 箱是插入和冷却的东西。 多电源插座已安装完毕。 个表面安装灯具已安装太-洗衣房，女婴的房间，客人和主人浴室，掌握壁橱。

浴门已经安装在浴室的客人，主人和他们看起来太棒了！

雾探测器的大部分都已经安装了。

外，在已经在绘画和touchups涵盖所有的东西现在发现-例如，硬木地板，板岩地板，楼梯bannisters，壁炉和地幔！ 以基本上它看起来完成后，如果有点尘土飞扬，并与电力装饰和照明灯具要安装还是一些。

tim和富人那里今日运行电缆挂钩，所以我们可以在厨房的小桌子上的电话。 此，我们现在也有一个工作电话工作目前挂接到一个真正的电话插座！ 有互联网连接，但尚未蒂姆-仍然是故障排除1。

更多照片在这里 。 必须原谅轻微的模糊性-我想我需要清理我的镜头，而我也在到处拍照，而不是很快，因为我的电池是死;-)

论

议院更新

于到了今天的财产。 姆曾指出，本周早些时候，所以我知道会发生什么，但它仍然很酷的人看到它。

-草籽工作已完成！ tim和克里斯是那里现在还成立一个临时浇灌系统，以帮助确保hydroseed获得足够的水。 想大自然将在未来几天照顾，但我们仍然希望得到的东西的地方，以确保草。 们花费了喷草一笔小财，如果不采取，以及... 也许很烦人！

-室内画已完成！ 家在那里做一些轻微的touchups。 有的塑料，纸张已经推出了现在的保护下-在地方仍然只有文件是保护层，但应该很快。 漆外观华丽！ 颜色是太神奇了！ 别和当看作是一个整体计划。 很高兴，一切都变成这样了！

-门硬件安装及摆动门一些已经到位了。

意到一群的照片今天的每个房间和外也出现了一些。

论

生活色彩

多很多的变化，新房子这个星期：

-所有的表土中，并已光滑，倾斜和喷草推广。 姆帮一耙本周早些时候很多。

-最后的碎石已经被应用到车道和停车坪，以及理顺。 们也提出了在石头路面的正面和侧面项目-这些看起来太棒了！ 姆做了太多的清污大量碎石:-)

-他们在完成绘画饭厅和主人房甲板的支持，也倾斜了一些小砾石从法国门路径下的水泥楼梯和降落甲板。

-所有的装饰画和天花板画完成！ 花板上的颜色是完美的-他们没有明显的白色，他们真的添加即使是在阴天的阳光暗示的房间。 的很漂亮。 内饰看起来令人惊讶，但你不能告诉我们从任何照片，因为它掩盖了一切，而他们又粉刷墙壁。

-而且，正如你可以看到从上面的照片，他们已经开始粉刷墙壁！ 丽的颜色。 我们今天在那里的画家还在那里努力工作。 房，客厅，家庭室看看工作要做，洗衣房的即将完成。 们却没有得到洗衣房的照片，因为我不想打扰仍然在那里工作的画家。 我“米太兴奋了！这一切都让人感到惊讶。

多照片在这里 。

不能等待，直到下个周末，当我希望看到女婴的房间里画;-)

论

末众议院更新-室内绘画

内装饰画开始了！ 心里一直引物，当我们在那里周六的画家都在适用上的装饰涂料第一层的过程。

论

绘画开始了！

有进一步上周末公布这些。 去的房子简单上星期六检查进展。 了那里就像画家都退出。 们花了一天跃跃欲试的室内绘画本星期开始的房子！ 一个已经不被画是完全覆盖塑料和纸张表面准备和等待。 tim的是本周内的装饰画一样的声音应该是几乎结束了最后一天的明天。 意味着下周.... 色开始！ 许:-)我希望如此！ 不能等待，看看我们挑选的颜色的墙壁上看看。

们还完成了地幔的壁炉！ 非常适合丝袜:-)

论

个星期，“这个新的家”:-)

家能够利用可爱的天气在上周的优势，并获得外部壁板上至少有一个外套和装饰，它看起来可怕！ 真的很喜欢的颜色，我们最后选择。 （是啊是啊... ...白色和白色的，但它们是细微的差别-在墙板是一个暖白光高，而且是明亮的白色装饰，以配合门窗-这真是一个“弹出”）。 看起来真的太好了。 迫不及待地想看到它在阳光下（今天有点阴天）。

周的其他进展：
-厨房瓷砖backsplash安装！ 等设定，然后他们就会灌浆它。 们选择的瓷砖是华丽-真正联系在一起杉和黑色silestone橱柜台面。
-主浴室灌浆是完全做除了淋浴地板
-主浴室杉木镶板即将完成
-楼梯栏杆看起来他们得到prepped得到下周安装。
-他们已经开始对化粪池搬迁工作

！ 们也看到了我们的果园鹿进行，而我们在参观！ 着它通过在法国厨房门吃草。 了口气。 不能等到这就是我们经常现场每天早上;-)

今天外观和内部照片在这里 。

论

oddsmakers赞成“女婴”在“新楼”

10天。

天我们了解到，新的预测“最后的检验”为我们的房子日期为8月12日。 10天之后，女婴到期。

在-在这个盛大的计划，即实际上是相当不错的-鉴于打嗝数量和延误现象，最近由于情况超出我们控制的（延迟地板由于水分含量的房子，在绘画因天气延误所有;延误装运定制瓦，等等，等等）。 过这是有些让人失望，因为我们都希望在我们的新房子之前，女婴使她在外面的世界首次出现。 们目前的房子是真的很狭窄，不完全和最舒适的居住地方的盛夏。

是-现在我们知道，我们至少可以让计划。 是无论如何总是一种可能性-将以前的预计日期是7月29日，5天前，由于女婴。 果女婴到得很早，然后我们会在相同的困境。 只是更加肯定现在:-)

然这并不完全属于不可能的事，他们可以更快完成了几天，女婴决定将延迟两周。 是我们不会在这个规划;-)

此，只是抬起头，我们亲密的朋友和家人在那里-我们可能有点在7月和8月疲惫不堪，并有可能用于帮助各类呼吁现在和当时的（如搬运家具早为女婴的空间，隐藏已在您的搬家中日，以便在女婴和我不是面对实际的向上移动，在混乱;可能帮助解开;-)我们当然会回报你也有充分的营养和饮料）（可能起飞由于国家进行，我们将在，但我们也有承诺的第一个大厨房，在我们的新;-)熟盛宴你回）

然，我们还有“很长的路要走”（赫赫-我是唯一一个谁可以使用这句话，btw，所以没有得到任何想法。规则仍然适用于其他人。只是其中之一正在怀孕的女;-)福利），但时间的飞行将很快获得通过大量的工作，我们必须做的就是这个地方准备好一个新的一点微小的人居住... 开始有点累了想来;-)

论

周楼更新

得了良好进展，本周的壁炉

梯bannisters和安装。 栏杆本身已经形成，而且看来他们可能准备安装的这个星期，也许。

宾馆浴室灌浆是所有做-成品看起来可怕。

们已经完成安装的明确完成的主浴室杉木镶板。 认为，瓦将在本周得到灌浆，然后它也将有一个美好的成品外观。 不能等待。 是，它已经比较好看！

:-)

论

个星期，它是所有关于瓦

周明显的变化，主要是关乎瓦。 们完成设置在宾馆浴室瓷砖淋浴，客人浴虚荣（虽然我认为他们可能还有一点点小左在那里做），主浴室淋浴，环绕和壁炉炉膛。 们仍然有一些砖左侧设置在主浴室洗手盆浴室浴缸和主甲板和厨房backsplash还没有开始呢。 旦瓦是，他们会做的灌浆。 一切看起来会很大，一切都做-特别是在墙壁则画，你会看到整个色调走到一起（hopefully. ..我想我们知道我们在做什么;-)）

他显着的差异本周洗衣内阁门已安装完毕。

-我们的楼梯扶手已经抵达，他们在塑造他们，让他们准备安装过程你！

面是数从今天的照片 。

论

板和工作台面

几乎看“行动中，能够”，不这样，现在的硬木地板和台面都安装了？ 有许多工作要做在地板上-砂光，整理，涂层等，但所有的地板正在安装包括楼梯！

是一个灿烂的一天已在众议院今天，我可以看到每间房会报以热烈的阳光灿烂的日子，通过窗户流灯填补。 使在阴天的房子光线明亮！

达之前的房子，我们用了一上午参观照明陈列室看到我们的人最后的照明灯具的选择。 热爱我们已经挑选了。 后，我们领导到家里来衡量和确保一切都会适应。 认为这将！ 以我们几乎尽了我们的选择面照明。

the heating guys were at the house as well when we arrived and by the time we left we had real heat flowing through our heating ducts! we also saw evidence that the hot water heater is functional too.

we're getting very very close! 看起来可怕。 i still have a hard time believing that in less than 3 months, we'll be calling this home. 人惊讶的。

here are more photos from today .

论

more info on marmoleum

had a couple of inquiries about marmoleum after some recent posts, so thought i'd post some additional information sources.

we learned about marmoleum from our architect, rob harrison , who specializes in what he calls "lyrical sustainable design" - the building high-quality green architecture, applying the base principles of energy and resource conservation, the use of healthier materials and finishes, reduction of long-term costs, and "making poetic places". it's all certainly been true of the house he designed for us :-)

rob's web site is http://www.harrisonarchitects.com and it has links to other resources and information about "building green", as well as suggestions for materials, finishes, fixtures, and energy efficiency and conservation. during the design phase, he had directed us to the environmental home center (ehc) in seattle to learn more about marmoleum and other materials.

们爱上的质地和颜色的marmoleum立即-他们是如此明亮，有趣，色彩鲜艳，他们只是激发创意:-)。 也是负担得起的，我们也很喜欢环保特性，以及其耐用性和灵活性，所以我们只能与它为我们的柜台前，以及在与东隧亲人的，谈论我们对洗衣房的地板看到它的使用例子。

境首页中心网站是http://www.environmentalhomecenter.com，他们有一个约marmoleum大量信息 。 还可以看到各种颜色，它在那里也来。

他们携带的marmoleum， 福尔波地板制造商，也有一个网站 ，其中包含关于marmoleum，其维护和照顾，环保方面的信息，并在这里您可以购买他们的产品。

“花落蓝”

-这不是一个乐队的名字:-)。 是我们的marmoleum选择洗衣房的地板和柜台顶部颜色。 如你所看到的，已经安装了:-)

他发生的事情：硬木地板安装开始了！ 地板已经安装在卧室，浴室，衣柜，走廊和入口方式和家庭中的房间也。 餐厅里安装正在进行中。

silestone台面和水槽的客人已安装了浴缸，如同为在主甲板silestone浴缸。 们还发现，一些口袋门挂了，所以他对大厅的壁柜门衣柜。

里有几个进展照片在本周作出。

神失常

.. 不是在谈论我。 约添。 然蒂姆可能不同意这种说法在两方面（这对我们既是一个星期紧张的情侣！）

们去和检查后，婴儿类的内屋今日（应承认，也许他离开我们感到精神失常;-)).一点点 是很多，因为添访问本周早些时候的变化，但有少数。 们已经prepped为奠定了marmoleum地板台面洗衣房。 们还得到几乎所有的装饰整个房子完成。 注意到，为筹备门安装一些铰链，和女婴的房间甚至壁柜门已经挂！

面是从今天更多照片

first light...

our first electrical light in the house :-) yes - we turned it off again before leaving ;-)

tim, surveying this week's progress, and admiring the view from the back entrance stairway :-)

and then we discovered that not only do we have a working interior light but we also have running water!

at this point, the cabinets are all installed in the kitchen, master bathroom, and guest bathroom. doors and handles still need to be applied to the cabinets but the basics are in and our fridge has been set in its place as well.

slate tile is all done and grouted, as is the dog wash tile.

doorways have been trimmed, and lots of progress made on the crown molding throughout the house.

the dehumidifiers and heaters are still running. not sure what the moisture level is at or when they anticipate being able to start the hardwood floors. we should learn more next week at our next site meeting.

more photos here , of this week's progress!

saturday house update

tim and i stopped by the house after our first baby class (!!!) to see the progress since earlier this week. we knew they'd be starting to install the cabinets that had been delivered, and continue working on the interior trim and tile installation so wanted to see where things were at.

cabinet installation in the laundry room has started, and they also have about two thirds of the wall tile in the dog wash installed. they've started setting the cabinets in the guest and master bathrooms, have finished the wonderboard installation in the master shower, continued to make progress on the crown molding, and have installed almost all of the interior window sills.

hardwood flooring installation is on hold while we continue to dry out the house. apparently a moisture reading taken last week revealed the floor moisture content is at around 18% and it needs to be max 12% for the hardwood floor guys to be able to guarantee the install. so they've brought back in the big heater, dehumidifier, and fans, and are pumping hot air throughout the house to continue to dry it out. hopefully it won't take too long. guess this is one of the challenges when building in the pacific northwest. it could be worse, i suppose. we had a relatively dry winter this year.

clean slate

... all my entries these days are either about our house or our baby / pregnancy. you'd think we have nothing else going on in our lives. ... 待... we don't ;-) hehe. however those two things alone is plenty :-)

anyway, since we were in the neighbourhood running errands, we thought we'd stop by the house and check in on progress since tuesday. the guys were at lunch, but that was cool because it meant we could wander and take pictures without being in anyone's way. the main changes since tuesday? well, as you can see, they've finished laying the slate tile in the front entry. they've also finished laying the slate tile in the guest bath, and have started the master bathroom. it's looking absolutely gorgeous! they've also started installing the crown molding in the living room and family room.

apparently the hardwood floor guys will be getting started today, and the cabinets installation will begin tomorrow. by saturday when we make our usual weekend check-in, it should look like a whole different house on the inside! check out the rest of the photos from today .

议院更新

today was our weekly site meeting. it was also invoice day - those are the days i dread the most because it reminds me that we actually need to pay for all this house construction stuff ;-) heh. i still have a slight heart attack every month on invoice day, and every month i have a bit of a panic attack and the lyrics of one of my favourite talking heads songs plays non-stop over and over again in the back of my head all day - "my god, what have we done". you'll see that has pretty much been our theme song for the duration of this project if you read back through all of our house building blog entries. it's just automatic now. i wake up with it in my head. very ally mcbealish :-). but - we'll survive. tim told me so this morning while he consoled me after my latest bout of panic. "everything's going to be ok". and it will i'm sure. 然。 it scares me. more than having the baby, actually!

anyway, on to the updates. according to our builder, our cabinets are getting installed this week - we actually saw them sitting there waiting to be installed at our site meeting today. 们期待着伟大。 as tim said, "they better"! yeah - we're at that point in the project now ;-). hardwood flooring has also been delivered and will start getting installed end of this week/early next i think. the tile guys were there today too installing the wonderboard, and i believe they'll be laying the slate down shortly in the bathrooms and entry ways. painting will be done close to last to minimize the chances of marring the paint job while the rest of the finish work continues in the house. exterior painting should start soon though!

yesterday, before heading off to the mariner's season opener we had a successful trip to ann sacks tile in downtown seattle. what a fun place! if you ever have a need for tile, start there - even if it is just for inspiration and/or some friendly advice (while their stuff is absolutely incredibly totally gorgeous, a lot of it is also pricey! but their staff is extremely helpful, and as i mentioned it is a great place to get inspired!)

there we made our final tile selections for the master bathroom shower floor, and for the kitchen backsplash. the shower floor tile we picked fit neatly within our budget. we went a bit over for the kitchen backsplash though (and that was after going with our 3rd choice, since the first two, although absolutely to die for, were completely outside our price range. sigh!) but because the area is so small we figured out we could get away with spending a little extra.

i tried to take some photos of the combinations we picked out for a few of the spaces in the house and had varying degrees of success (that being a fairly subjective statement). a professional photographer i am not, and there really isn't any place in our house with adequate lighting for taking pictures of this kind of stuff, so this is what i ended up with.

主浴室

the photo doesn't really show the richness and warmth of the browns in the tiles that we selected - it makes everything look more yellow and rust. but we're pretty excited about how this is going to look together.

large left square - crossville/colour blox 6"x6" ceramic tile in "treehouse" a114 - for shower walls, vanity backsplash, and tub backsplash

small off-center square - sonoma/tantrum 1"x1" ceramic tile in "pewter" - for 2" high feature strip around shower wall, vanity backsplash, and tub backsplash

circles - ann sacks paris pennies ceramic tile in "barley" - for shower floor (will give more traction than the larger tiles).

center square - silestone quartz surface in "capri limestone" with gloss finish for vanity top and bathtub deck.

upper and lower right squares - otm 12"x12" slate tile in "yellow rustic" 634g (same as what we are using elsewhere in the house wherever we have slate floors).

lower left rectangle - clear finish fir for vanity cabinetry.

厨房

we really loved the contrast between the pretty green of the tile with the copper flecks throughout, and the reds in the brazilian cherry floors and the clear finish fir cabinets and the paint colour we selected for the walls. again you can't tell in the photo but the green is really rich, and the colour along with the flecks of copper vary from tile to tile - no two tiles are the same. i think it's going to look awesome.

upper left square - ann sacks nottingham 4"x4" ceramic tile in "verdigris copper" for kitchen backsplash

center rectangle - clear finish fir for vanity cabinetry

lower left square - silestone quartz surface in "ebony pearl" with gloss finish, for kitchen countertops. all of our appliances are in black as well.

bottom center square - c2 paint colour in "tiger lily" c2-2309 a - for kitchen wall colour

right rectangle - brazilian cherry for kitchen floor (actually, this will be the flooring used throughout the house except for the entry ways and bathrooms and laundry room)

洗衣房

left rectangle - c2 paint colour in "shine" c2-3163 p for wall paint colour

right square with cutout - marmoleum in "whispering blue" for counter top and floor. the cabinetry will be white melamine and the tile in the dog shower will be white as well. can you think of a happier combination of colours for a room in which you'll be doing a lot of laundry? the idea was to make it cheerful (to distract from the stinky diapers we'll be washing in here ;-)). marmoleum comes in such fun colours it was tough settling on just one. i'm thinking when we finish the basement (some day in the very distant future ;-)) we're going to have to find an excuse to go with some fun marmoleum colours down there too ;-)

餐厅

the dining room is my favourite. we chose the paint colour for the walls after selecting the fabric we'll be using to cover the dining room chairs. i think it's going to be pretty gorgeous.

left rectangle - our dining room chair fabric

upper right rectangle - c2 paint colour in "amontillado" c2-3086 m for the wall colour.

lower right rectangle - honey finish maple - the colour of our dining room table, chairs and china cabinet

i think this will all look so beautiful with the brazilian cherry floors.

entry and stairway
the entry and stairway wall colours will be c2 "outback" green - as suggested by rob, our architect - it goes nicely with the colour we chose for the living room, and it also looks really nice with all of the outdoor scenery that you see immediately as you walk in, through our back french glass doors and windows.

nursery and guest bath

the nursery and guest bath will be done in c2 "pod" green. the guest bath shower tile and backsplash will be a pretty cream coloured ceramic tile - crossville/color blox "sandbox", with a 2" high features strip in 1"x2" glass tile in "lily green". the same capri limestone as in the master bath will be used for the vanity top in the guest bath, the cabinets will be the same clear finish fir, and the floor will be the same slate tile.

all in all, we're pretty darned excited to see the end product of all of this! we had some great guidance from rob our architect on colour and tile selection but i'm proud to say that we also seemed to have our own good instincts and ideas and everything going into the house is very "us" - rob just made sure we had "the right tools" as he puts it :-)

as you can see, tim and i were out at the house today. this was the first time i had actually been there since they finished the decks, the bridge, the mud & tape, and the interior priming.

my goal today was to finalize our colour selection for the entry / stairway and for the living room - those were the only two colours left for us to choose. tim's goal was to finish running conduit, with the help of his new drill [insert tim the tool man taylor 'har-har' laugh here] and our friend rich (thanks rich!).

both goals were accomplished successfully. conduit is run, and i am proud to tell you we will be going with "outback" c2-3289 p in the entry and stairway, and "radiate" c2-2386 p in the living room. like you have any more idea now of what the finished product is going to look like than before i shared those colours with you :-) you'll see them taped up in the photos i took but they will still be useless to you, since they were taken with a digital camera and you are looking at them on a pc screen. but hey - that's the best we can do for now ;-)

你好！ so good of you to stop by! please, come on in...

through our front door!

不是很漂亮？！ as you can see, our front door has arrived and has been installed. our interior doors are all here too but i think they'll wait to install those till a bit later.

other house updates:

- our kitchen appliances have been delivered to the site! it'll probably be a little while till they get installed. we don't have our cabinets in yet. so they are still in boxes.

- we've selected all of our exterior and interior paint colours except for 2 spaces (living room, and entry/stairway) - should have the missing ones selected by thursday

- we've picked out all of our tiles except for the master shower floor, and the kitchen backsplash. we'll be making those selections on monday.

- we've purchased and received all of our cabinet hardware - kitchen, bathroom, laundry room

- we've bought our master bathroom accessories (towel bars, toilet paper holder, etc)

- the decks and bridges are built!

- the mud and taping is completely done and a coat of primer applied throughout the interior! it's looking pretty sweet :-)

tim was out at the site earlier this week when they finished the decks and bridge, and today when they had finished the priming and took these photos.

"another fine job done by captin [sic] super dan and his little helper buckwheat"

apparently they got the drywall done on sunday as planned :-)

putting up walls

progress this week: exterior siding is almost complete and looking gorgeous; main deck is coming along very nicely; drywall is almost entirely installed inside (the drywall guy was out there working when i went out on saturday and said he was aiming to be complete by sunday). cabinet order has been submitted (we ended up backing out the tv cabinet in the family room; we'll be temporarily living with a "hole" in the wall in which we'll place our existing ikea furniture until such a time as we determine we have the budget and time to get a cabinet made for it. such is life on a budget!) and things are looking pretty damn fine.

at this point we're only about 2 weeks behind schedule, which is awesome in my opinion. 差。 kudos to our awesome builders - phoenix construction. who have not only stayed on schedule but kept the rest of us on schedule too, and put up with my constant stream of "but what did the estimate say" and "we can't afford to do that" and "we need to be able to afford to live here when its done" comments and have done a very admirable job coming up with great compromises and cost savings solutions without impacting the quality or integrity or design of the house overall. and kudos to our architect for the design and all his hard work during the construction phase - it's gorgeous. 不是？ it's our perfect dream house. there is not and has never been a single aspect of the house at any point in the project that we do not like. and he's also been great about helping us find ways to stay within our budget, working with the builder to find options that still allow us to apply many of the green principles that we were interested in originally, and has been a fountain of creative knowledge and input in our selections of the finish details. there was a lot of stuff we had to cut due to costs and overall project budget but in general we're looking good. i still have sticker shock, but i'll have to get over it somehow.

we have many more photos of the interior (with the completed drywall installation) and exterior along with descriptions of what you are looking at.

you can also check out the fun had by tim, davwill, rich, and michael (tim's brother) running conduit and pulling low voltage wire last weekend before the drywall went up. it was a mad rush and tad stressful that weekend to get the low voltage done on time so the drywallers could stay on schedule :-)

speaking of details - some fun little tools

glidden has the glidden color @ home paint visualizer which lets you select a room and a room style to decorate from a variety of options, and then you can drag and drop any glidden paint color onto any surface (wall, furniture, shelving, etc) so you can see the colour combos together. it even fills in the shading, etc.

silestone has a little silestone compare and contrast tool that lets you select a wood finish and then a counter top colour, to see how your selected counter top will look with your cabinetry. 次

bobvila.com has a number of design tools . the one i had fun with most was the 3d kitchen designer . you can design your kitchen from scratch, or choose from one of the existing kitchen templates (there are a variety to choose from) to get started, and then you can change appliance colours and styles, cabinet colours and styles, paint colours, floor finishes, etc to see how it all goes together.

of course, due to the way colour varies from monitor to monitor, and also looks different on computer screens and printers from how they appear in real life, you aren't really getting the real picture of the colours and textures involved in any of these tools - you still need to go and get the paint colour cards, tile/countertop samples, cabinet wood samples, flooring samples, etc and do your own in person compare and contrast. but they're still fun to play with for generating initial ideas and getting the creative juices flowing (if you're not the type of person who can count on having them constantly flowing whenever and where ever you need them at all times :-))

devil's in the details

this week and all weekend tim and i spent our non-working hours researching, pricing, and selecting:

- exterior trim and paint colours
- interior trim and paint colours (room by room)
- marmoleum colours for the laundry room counter and floors
- cabinet pulls and knobs for kitchen, laundry room, master bath, and guest bath
- interior door handle styles
- exterior door lock and entry/handle sets
- slate for the entry and bathroom floors

and we also paid off our appliances in full so they are free and clear for delivery.

riddles of the week:

- who knew that there were so many knob and handle pull styles out there to choose from (and just as many price ranges)?

- and who knew that you could pay (if you so desired - we didn't ;-)) up to $600-$800 for a single exterior door entry set?

- and who knew that there are no fewer than 62 tints of "off white" in the rodda colour scheme and is there really anyone who can seriously tell the difference between "soap suds" and "swan wing"?

you're starting to get the picture.

after carpeting our floor with about 600 paint swatches, carefully researching colour combinations (complementary, accent, and related colours), standing in every room with my 62 samples of "off white" comparing them to the white window trim to find which one is most similar for use as an interior trim colour (i had to see the comparison in every light condition in the house of course), holding 2-inch paint samples up against 2-inch marmoleum samples to figure out which floor/counter colour would go best with the happy yellow paint colour i had selected for the laundry room ( a room, i might add, that tim and i will be spending considerable amounts of time in washing diapers and baby clothes and baby bedding and burp cloths and... oh yeah, our own laundry, hence my desire to select the perfect colour combination that will make it calming yet cheerful), squinting while i placed paint samples against fabric colours and attempted to envision entire rooms swathed in my little 2-inch sample and how it would look with the furniture, and then trying to imagine staring down the hall through the various rooms and seeing the colours line up visually and determine whether or not they'd look ok together, we finally have our colour selection.

the cabinet pulls were a no less complicated affair. we actually found some styles we liked relatively easy. the problem was the price. at $8.50 a drawer pull, in a kitchen that has 44 of them total, the dollars add up pretty quick. so after seeing the styles in store that we liked, considerable research was performed on the internet to try and find knock-offs or sales that would get the price down to about $5.00 a pull. we haven't quite got it down that far yet. still looking ;-)

the exterior door entry sets were a similar endeavour. we already had handle sets for the french doors (they came with) so we had a good starting point in terms of the style we were seeking. but again the price range varies drastically - one set that we looked at in store that we loved was about $700 including tax. we didn't love it that much, and were able to locate a similar style, different (but reputable) brand, for considerably less.

and this was "part 2" of the details selection process. part 1 was finished before christmas where we had selected bathroom and kitchen countertop materials and colours, all of our kitchen appliances, all of our kitchen and bathroom plumbing fixtures, and all of our bathroom accessories (towel bars, paper towel holders, etc).

and we're still not done. we still need to

- select a hardware flooring. we had our hearts set on madrone originally, but there were concerns raised about the moisture content and the likelihood that it would end up warping in the future as well as the fact that it's increased by about 60 cents a square foot since the initial estimate. so we need to rethink our selection.

- select tile for the kitchen and bathroom backsplashes and the dog wash

- select shower doors for the bathrooms

in one sense it's actually a lot of fun. this is why you choose to build a custom home. you get exactly what you want. in another, it's a lot of work, a lot of choices, a lot of responsibility, sometimes a lot of stress, and a lot of time spent researching and browsing and comparing, which is tough to find when we're both working so much during the week. it's made more challenging by the fact that all of the show rooms are closed on sundays and only open limited hours on saturdays.

at any rate, it feels good to have another batch of the details sorted out and passed on to our builders and architect.

my biggest fear at this point with respect to the detail selection is the interior paint colour. while we love the colours we've chosen, we really aren't gonna know how it all works together until it's done. i really wanted to have some fun with colour in the house - we're tired of living in a house with small rooms, white walls, and not a lot of colour options due to the size of the spaces. at the same time, we don't want it to end up looking like something dr. suess or rainbow brite decorated. we'll see how it all comes together.

my biggest fear with respect to the whole project is... drum roll... the budget. it's just been a scary ride, watching our savings dwindle down to nothing, and seeing the mounting debt accumulating in the form of the construction loan. even though we did a lot of financial planning and prep work and calculating before beginning the project and establishing the budget, it's a lot of money. and, despite everyone's best efforts - ours, our builder's, and our architect's - there are some things that just ended up costing more. either because cost of materials increased since the original estimate; or because it took longer to figure things out or get the work done; or because there were things that were completely unknown and unaccounted for when we started. like having to move the septic system. and having to make some modifications to our well. 配备了领土。 still - i'm a stickler for budget and a total control freak when it comes to our finances. so it's been quite a test of endurance for me to get through this whole thing without completely blowing a gasket or going off the deep end. some might suggest i've already gone ;-) it's all relative i suppose!

well - it's late, and tim'll be home soon (he was working an auction downtown today. i got to have an early dinner with him, but we've hardly had a chance to see each other all week between our two work schedules). i had hoped to write an entry about the house progress itself - complete with new pictures taken today! but that'll have to wait until tomorrow now :-)

feelin' the heat

no no no... not pregnancy related :-) we were out at the new house yesterday! all the windows and doors except for a couple are now in. the ones missing have plastic sheeting over the openings to seal in the house. and a big air blower is blowing nice hot air throughout the upstairs and downstairs in an effort to start drying it out :-)

it was wonderfully warm inside :-). we rearranged one of the work tables in the dining room and set up a couple of collapsable lawn chairs, hung up our coats, snacked on some munchies we bought on the way, and stared out the newly installed windows at the beautiful view. very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon!

论

doors and stairs and plumbing, oh my!

went out today to see how the house was coming along. as you can see, it's looking great! we're pretty darn excited.

all 3 sets of french doors on the main floor (kitchen, dining room, master bedroom) are installed. they've also installed all the rails for the pocket doors that will be inside the house. i believe all doors and windows have been delivered at this point so we should continue to see the house fill out as they get them installed. these are in the dining room and will open up onto a deck:

a lot of the plumbing is also in at this point - laundry room, bathrooms, mechanical room. pretty darn cool!

and we have a partial set of stairs to the basement.

i believe the roofing arrives next week as well, which will be a lot of fun to watch!

check out the rest of the photos from today .

roof trusses

it's been a crazy couple of weeks - hence the absence of many interesting updates to the web site. but exciting stuff has been happening. much exciting stuff... oooh婴儿！

anyway, the stuff i'll share with you here and now are the roof trusses!

more photos of the progress available at crappymusic.com !

meet "the house gang"

here's the crew working on our house:

left to right: john, josh (smith), josh piano, george piano, nathan, jesse piano, james, billy, jeremy, and ramon (kneeling in front)

论

appliance and fixture fun!

we're starting to get into the real fun now - tim and i went down to monarch appliances (highly recommend them - excellent service and excellent prices) and put a down payment on our new kitchen appliances (i do so love appliance shopping! new toys! new toys!).

we've also selected our counter tops for the kitchen and bath, and also all of the plumbing fixtures.

oh - and we picked out our fireplace!

i'll not bore you or consume your bandwidth by posting pictures of it all here. but i must show you our bathtub (photo from http://www.us.kohler.com ).

it has bubblemassage(tm) instead of the standard jets. oooh baby :-)

interior walls are going up!

this week they worked on framing for the interior walls. check out our bedroom door! ;-)

here are a few more photos of the interior thus far ...

welcome to our family room

everyone - it is with great pleasure that i welcome you to our family room!

lots of progress made since my last "dream house" entry , as you can see. more walls went up today. tim and they guys he worked with were hard at work in the tv / family room, while the others were working on the office/bedroom.

i decided to take the afternoon off and watch tim and the crew at work on the framing.

it was a gorgeous day for it! blue sky with not a cloud in it.

and really warm. you'd never have guessed that when they arrived there this morning the floor was covered in a thin sheet of ice.

check out more photos of "tim in action" in the tv room and the evolution of the rest of the house!

论

walls are going up!

tim was out there today, working on the wall framing with the construction crew. i was at work and couldn't escape unfortunately (or fortunately? it was pretty darn wet and rainy and blustery today :-)). but i did bake chocolate chip cookies last night for tim to take with him this morning to share with the guys :-)

anyway, here's where they were at when he left:

and you'll find more photos from today at crappymusic !

lights are on but no one is home (yet!)

they've rigged up some temporary lighting in the basement so they can work down there. i know it's only temporary but it's kinda cool to see lights on in our house! ;-)。 the styrofoam layer on the basement floor is all down now, and i believe they are ready for the concrete pour.

the square cement structure on the left is the foundation for what will be the deck next to the kitchen. you know - where we'll sit in the morning eating our breakfast, reading the newspaper, and watching the deer eat apples from our trees :-). the footings in the forefront will be the foundation for the extension of the deck past the laundry room. the laundryroom will have one of those cool split doors (the kind where you can keep the bottom half closed but open the top half) that will open onto the deck.

our tv room will be in the sunken area where the wood covered in plastic is sitting.

the temporary wooden railings mark where the staircase to the basement level will be. and in the far upper right is where our bedroom will be located.

i even laid down on the spot where our bed will eventually be and watched the clouds drift by and a hawk circle overhead (and apparently, tim captured the moment on camera :-))

here are some more pictures of the progress made this week .

论

baby's got floor!

i walked on our floor today. at the new house! yeah baby - it's not "our property" anymore - it's our house! the plywood is all down and attached on the main level. josh says that they should start framing walls next week! and george will be submitting the window order now too.

when i got there at lunch today they were raking out the gravel in the basement to prep for the basement floor pour. and it was pretty cool walking around inside. yes - our house has an inside! because since the main level now has a floor, that means the basement now has a ceiling!

nelson has had his equipment fixed (get your minds out of the gutter people. apparently he's had a run of bad luck recently with his dirt moving machines breaking down) so he'll be back out tomorrow continuing to fill in the trench around the concrete basement walls up to the top of the waterproof barrier. he's got some filled in already and tamped down - so in addition to having a floor, the house looks less like a sinister fortress with a moat and more like a house with a basement.

being the dork that i am i forgot to bring my camera. so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow or friday. i gotta get me a damn camera phone. i can blog from my phone as you've seen - i really need one that can take pictures too for those moments when i forget to bring my camera.

论

floorin' it

went out to the property for the first time this week since tuesday. it looks like a lot of the floor joists are in, they've dumped a bunch of gravel in the basement and around the foundation, and they've finished the waterproofing around the poured concrete. i think tim said they'll be ready to start some of the filling in next week, and they'll probably pour the basement floors in the next week or two.

tim had the guys put those plywood sheets down on friday so we could walk around on it. the lower one on the right is in what will be the "family room" and the upper one is where the dining room will be.

things look like they're progressing on schedule.

the river is gone too. whew ;-)

more photos of the progress made last week.

论

大河恋

apparently a little water has been accumulating at the site with all the heavy rain we've been having. we now have a little stream running through the middle of our basement. they've got a sump pump running pretty constantly (just behind where i was standing to take this picture) to pump the water out of the building site.

是什么？ ？ 张吗？ about a little itty bitty water pouring out of the ground and into our house? 。 要愚蠢的。 it'll be fine. :-)

论

camp cupcake?

.. it's our basement! ok - it kinda looks like a maximum security prison at the moment but that'll change soon.

tim's got a tonne more pictures of the latest stages of construction. 到非常激动！

the science of building our dream home

today was the day they poured the walls. 常令人兴奋的。 once they strip the forms (next week) it'll really start looking like an actual house!

some dream house trivia from today:
- about 60 yards of concrete went into the walls
- that's about 7 trucks worth
- "a lot" of rebar went into the walls too. the "a lot" is a finely honed estimate from mike, the concrete and rebar guy.

having watched " deconstruction: science of building a house " on wednesday on the discovery channel (hd, of course!) tim and i were prepared and well educated for today's house construction events.

here's what we learned about concrete and rebar in particular (this and much more information is also available on this very informative web site about concrete , as well as the rebar page , both of which i came across on the internet while searching for "concrete tensile strength rebar")

concrete has a very high compressive strength - about 3 tons per square inch. 是好事。

however, concrete also has a relatively low tensile strength and low strength-to-weight ratio. 是不好的。 it can lead to cracking and eventual failure of the concrete form.

何？ i'm so glad you asked :-) as load is applied to the top of a concrete form, there are actually two forces at work within the concrete: a compressive force, and a tensile force. imagine a beam of concrete and a load being applied to the top of the beam. the rebar page has a nice diagram that shows how these forces act within the beam.

this low tensile strength of concrete is generally overcome in construction with the use of rebar. steel reinforcing bars have relatively high tensile strength. embedding rebar in the poured concrete reinforces the concrete and allows it to withstand a much greater load without failing.

concrete needs moisture to hydrate and cure (harden). the reaction of water with the cement in concrete is very important to its properties and reactions many continue for many years.

as concrete cures, it gets hot. the heat comes form the breaking and making of chemical bonds during hydration.

concrete hardens as time passes. it takes a great deal of time for all the bonds to form which determine concrete's strength. it may feel hard a couple of days after it has been curing, but it is still undergoing chemical reactions and may continue to do so for several years.

oh - and for those of you who read our " stingers and concrete " entry documenting the footing pour and were wondering what in the world "fly ash" is - here you go ( as defined by rempel bros concrete ltd ):

"fly ash is a by-product from coal fired electric power generating plants. the inorganic or mineral constituents of the coal, such as clay, quartz and shale, fuze and chemically recombine during burning to produce various crystalline and glassy phases of fly ash. the fly ash is entrained in the flue gas and cools into spherical, usually hollow shaped particles. these particles are collected in electrostatic precipitators or bag houses and the gradation or fineness of the fly ash can be controlled by how and where the particles are collected. fly ash reacts with the free lime generated by cement hydration to form cement-like compounds, which increases the strength and reduces the permeability of concrete".

well - enough of this educational stuff. here are some goofy little video clips of today's action.

and of course, more photos !

"green" gables and gay rodeos

an update from george, our builder: according to the recycle report from rabanco, they were able to recycle 83.01% of that old double-wide that we demolished and disposed of! not too bad for, as george put it, "a funky old place". funky is an understatement. i think i've mentioned that tim and i felt like total slum lords when we had a tenant living in that thing. very glad though, that so much of it was recyclable!

more updates on the dream-home front from george: the guys are now tying steel and will begin setting "buck-outs" and the opposite wall forms this week.

what are "buck-outs" you ask? those of you heavy into bull-riding (and i know there are oh so many of you who read this site) will recognize it as a rodeo word. if you go to that other search site , and search on "buck-outs" the number two result returned is " let's rodeo! the incredible world of gay rodeo " which is an interesting read in and of itself that i highly recommend.

exerpt: "watching a serious bull-riding gay cowboy hop onto the back of 2,000 pounds of pissed-off pot-roast will surely put to rest anyone's ideas that gay rodeo isn't serious rodeo or that gay men can't be real men."

the internet (or is that internets?) continues to be a gold-mine rich with nuggets of interesting and diverse information. 喜欢它！ go cowboys!

but i digress. a "buck-out" (or "buckout" which is how most sites spell it) in construction terms is a reinforced opening in the form, used to maintain shape (eg for a window, door, sewer line, etc) during the pour.

anyway - if all goes well, george figures they'll be pouring the walls by next friday!

tim and i were out at the property ourselves this weekend. all the outer wall forms are up and we wandered around "inside" and took some photos .

once in a lifetime

it's our dream house. our home. it may seem like we've just committed ourselves to two lifetimes worth of debt, but it's ok. 正地。 是。 们是。 we just got the final papers for our construction loan. 能告诉？

to paraphrase david byrne:

" my god!...what have we done? "

off to go breath into a paper bag now... :-)

论

it's all about form

week 5: september 27 - october 1
- strip footing forms (done!)
- wall layout
- basement wall forming (in progress!)

so - things are progressing on track :-) now that the footings have been poured and that has set, and the forms have been stripped, the guys are getting started on building the forms in preparation for pouring the concrete for the basement walls. when we were out at the property yesterday, they had about 1/3 of the wall forms up around the perimeter.

the wall forms really help to give some additional perspective. it's getting exciting... :-)

more pictures in our house building photo album .

论

stingers and concrete

heather's tool tip of the day #2: a stinger is a tool used to vibrate the concrete after it is poured to help remove any air that might be trapped in the mix. according to architectureweek.com ,trapped air will form bubbles that create small holes and pits in the surface of the concrete as it sets up. plunging the stinger into wet concrete vibrates the concrete and releases the trapped air. also sometimes referred to as a "stick vibrator", a stinger looks like a large metal rod attached to a hose that is in turn attached to a motor. when it is turned on it vibrates and hums. "stingers" come in a variety of sizes and configurations. some are round and some are square. the dude that was "stinging" our concrete was using a round one.

now - if you're using a stinger in the pour of a concrete countertop (ie, a much shallower container), architectureweek.com suggests that you "run it along the surface of the wet concrete, taking care not to let it dip into the concrete..." according to them, "this technique is very effective. it's also very messy".

if, after reading all of that, you need to take a break now to go have a cold shower i completely understand. do what you gotta do. (in about a week i'm gonna see people arriving at our site via some really interesting search strings thanks to this post).

以... now that you're back, as i'm sure you've deduced by now, our footings did in fact get poured today! here are a few pictures to give you a sense of what was going on.

oh - before we get to the photos, let me share a couple of additional factoids i picked up from george:

1) there's about a ton of rebar in our footings right now, and i believe george said that they poured about 20 yards of concrete into our footing forms all told.

2) they are using a special concrete mix containing fly ash (i think between 15 and 25%) as specified by rob, our architect . this mix is also apparently referred to fondly in the industry as "eco-mud" :-) according to the northwest ecobuilding guild web site, fly ash increases the strength and workability of the concrete, and substitutes energy intensive cement with a waste product. yet another green element to our cool house :-)

in that last photo you can see the dude in the background "stinging" the concrete as it is being poured.

and here's a little video (yeah - i know it's sideways but my version of breezebrowser doesn't rotate avi files... and i forgot that when i shot the video. still, it's kinda fun. :-))

there are even more pictures from today in our house building photo album .

论

the rebar man cometh

apparently, the rebar inspector was scheduled to come this morning. i assume he did, and that we passed.

i tried to find something interesting on the internet about rebar inspectors to share with you all. but there just wasn't anything interesting on the internet about rebar or inspectors. not to knock the trade! it is a necessary step in the building of a home that is intended to last many many many years.

so let's see... how about some factoids about rebar:

• "rebar" is actually an acronym for "reinforcing bar". it's actually a steel reinforcing bar.
• http://www.stainless-rebar.org is an excellent source of information about... yes, you guessed it... stainless steel rebar.
• it hurts to stub your toe on rebar. but if you absolutely have to have some rebar sticking up within toe-stubbing reach, there are many ways to prevent such injury, including but not limited to, creating a small slit in a tennis ball and sticking it on top of the offending rebar

i also did find this checklist for the "footings stage of inspection (pre-pour)" and what i believe is what the rebar inspector was there to do:

• seismic categories d1&d2: < 3 in. clearance of rebar to soil or
• < #4 (1/2 in.) vertical bar or > 4ft. on center {403.1.3}
• < #4 (1/2 in.) bar in top and bottom of footing/wall {403.1.3.1,2; see t 404.1.b; 1806.7.1}
• < 8.75 in. from soil sidewall to rebar at side in l2 in. walls {t404.1.1(3)}
• < 6.75 in. from soil sidewall to rebar at side in 10 in. walls {t404.1.1(4)}
• < 5 in. from soil sidewall to rebar at side in 8 in. walls {t404.1.1(2)}
• monolithic footing: < one #5 (5/8in.) or two #4 (1/2 in.) bars in middle third of footing {403.1.3.2ex.}
• < 12 in. overlap at splice lap or engineered
• < 20 in. if 1/2 in. rebar {rec'd; rec'd; 1912.16.1}
• bricks/etc. used instead of adobies@ to raise rebar above soil {403.1.3; na; 1907.7.1}
• footings not on undisturbed soil {403.1; fig. 403.1a}, [na, na]
• wood foundation footings: basement with < 8 in. or crawlspace with < 6 in. stone, etc. footing

。 的。 论什么。 anyway - here's a picture of some of our rebar that was being inspected this morning. because that is infinitely more interesting than the above commentary (that's sarcasm; i'm not fooling myself :-))

论

home sweet farm

while i'm posting old pictures, here is one that means a lot to me. this is the farm we lived in, in pembroke. i think we moved there when i was 2 or 3 - drove out from edmonton. i actually think i remember parts of that drive.

i only lived in the house for 3 years of my life - 3 very early years at that. but it formed a very strong impression of what "a house" is in my mind, and also what "a home" is.

it was interesting when we first set out on the adventure to design and build our dream house. our architect, rob harrison , has a pretty detailed questionnaire on his web site that he likes his clients to fill out so that he can really get to know his clients' likes, dislikes, what is important to them in a house and a home, what their day-to-day lives in that home will be like, etc. and as we went through the process of answering the questionnaire, very vivid memories of this farm resurfaced and wove their way into our responses. not just the structure or physical features of the house - which to this day still characterize what a real house looks like for me. but also the memories - of birthday candles being blown out at our dining room table; my dad trying to teach me how to whistle in the family room; galloping across the room on my "horse" that was really the antique trunk in the corner; my parents waking me up on the couch to go to bed and my sleepy protests that i was just "resting my eyes"; mom making peanut butter cookies in the kitchen and letting me put "the dents" in them with the fork; "old heck" sitting at our kitchen table telling mom and dad his stories; squeaky giving birth to kittens in the bottom drawer of my dresser; picking fiddle-heads with my dad and searching for old glass bottles in the swamp behind the house; stockings hanging by the fire at christmas, phone calls from santa on christmas eve, and reindeer hoof prints leaving a trail in the snow that mysteriously and abruptly ends... 好的回忆。

when we moved to germany we lived in an apartment. which i thought was cool too, in its own way. and in the pmqs we lived in, they would hold a window painting competition during the christmas holidays. one year, for our entry, dad reconstructed this photo (but in colour) on our living room window. we didn't win the competition. but i thought it was the greatest artwork i had ever seen.

someday tim and i will drive past the farm. maybe even knock on the door, and ask if we can look around :-) i'm sure it'll seem much smaller than i remember. so maybe it's best if we just drive by. i'd like it to be winter, though, when we do.

论

construction continues and the rainy season is definitely here

well, last week they finished excavating!

as of today, they now have the forms laid out for the concrete footings. they should be pouring the concrete next friday i think.

you can see from the photos that we've had a little rain :-). it's pretty mucky, and our stream is running pretty fast too.

you could really hear it, even from the far end of the property. and just because i can, and because i'm a geek, i've brought those sounds to you :-)

here are a few more construction pictures from last week and this week .

论

fish tape and dirt moving

heather's tool tip of the day #1: fish tape is used to "fish" wires through ceilings, walls, and conduit. i sense i will be hearing about, seeing, and perhaps even using tools that i've never heard of before, so thought i'd start mentioning them here as they come up. so now you know.

tim used it to hook up the telephone in the job shack.

anyway - they started excavating today! there are now huge mounds of dirt surrounding a large gaping hole that will, some day, be filled with our house! and a new machine showed up today to help push the dirt around. they also erected a silt fence to help protect the wetlands.

i hung out at lunch today for a little while and watched them dig the hole and move the dirt. it was kinda like watching kids in a sandbox - only this was a much bigger sandbox, with much bigger machines, and much taller piles of dirt :-)

i think they're supposed to start pouring the foundation middle of next week. that'll be cool.

here are a few pictures of the piles of dirt and the gaping hole .

论

bucket, honey?

this morning we met george and josh (phoenix construction), and rob ( harrison architects ) and his family out at our site. the purpose of today was to orient the house and mark the lines and corners in preparation for excavation and foundation laying. which we were able to do, now that the double wide is completely gone! . so is the rotting wood pile down by the well house, and the cedar that was dying that would have been right next to our bedroom. all gone, except for a small heap of twisted steel, and another small heap of concrete cinder blocks - both of which will be recycled.

the survey that was done originally had the septic tanks as well as the trees in the slightly wrong locations, which caused a problem for how the house was positioned on the plans. in addition, the topology in reality wasn't quite what it was on the survey so some adjustments had to be made in the positioning and orientation of the house. nothing major though. we got it all figured out. :-)

tim also hauled out our little step ladder, and positioned it at the different window locations so i could climb up and see what our view would be from the kitchen window, the dining room french doors, the bathroom window, etc. (the main floor will actually be several feet up from the current ground level, at the back of the house, due to the slope of the property). very fun!

this one was taken by tim. check out the rest of tim's pictures from today at crappymusic !

actual excavation starts on tuesday! we're pretty excited. i won't be there to see the start (sigh... vacation ended thursday), but tim will. i'm sure he'll post pictures on crappymusic afterwards!

all in all a fun morning. all pictures that i took today have been added to our " building our dream house " photos. (i've also added dates to all the pictures in there already, so you can see which ones are from what days).

demolition has started!

we got to the property in the early this afternoon to find half the house demolished! woohooo！

the machine made me think of a big mechanical dinosaur with crushing jaws of steel tearing into the house like it was freshly caught dinner. the wood and metal would make this bone-crunching sound as the jaws clenched shut around it. every once in a while some bits would get stuck on its "chin" and lower teeth that it couldn't shake loose, and the machine dude would have to get out and pick them out :-)

in the picture above you can almost see it grinning, the saliva dripping from its metal teeth in anticipation, as it stares at the pile of scrap and thinks "mmmm mmmm... tasty. here i come for another bite!"

or maybe i just need to have some lunch :-)

anyway, here's a little video. at the end you can hear tim saying "that'd be that george forman grill", referring to the round thing dangling from the mouth of the machine.

the tenant who had lived there and paid us rent (i still shudder to think we let him pay us to live there!) didn't have enough space and/or money to put all of his stuff in storage when he moved out, so he left quite a bit behind. we salvaged what was usable and in working condition - which amounted to a television and barbecue -and gave it away. the rest of it - george forman grill included - got dumped in the bin (see the note on recycling below).

george (piano, our builder; not forman, the grill maker) thinks that the whole thing'll be down by eod tomorrow. tim's going out there tomorrow to meet him and rob, our architect, to go over the house positioning.

yup - it's really begun!

here are some more pictures of "demolition - day 1" including the traditional and obligatory " throwing rocks at the windows " shots :-).

tim's also got more pictures and commentary on crappymusic including some cool "before" and "after" pictures!

a note on recycling

we were able to get away with dumping everything into a single bin (as opposed to separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable materials) and not having to do the sorting on-site, because waste managment seattle accepts "mixed cdl" (cdl stands for construction, demolition and landclearing materials generated at job-sites; "mixed or comingled cdl" means cdl waste containing both recyclable and non-recyclable materials that have not been separated). all of the material at the job-site is put into a single bin, and then taken to a waste management seattle sorting facility where materials are separated for recycling.

you can get more information on cdl recycling programs in king county at the following web sites:

king county construction recycling and waste management

seattle/king county construction recycling guide and directory (pdf file)

let the demolition begin!

tim and i went to the property today to check on the fruit trees. we're supposed to start demolition of the double-wide tomorrow, so also we just wanted to take one last look around the place while it was still peaceful. it was a nice surprise to turn into the driveway and find a caterpiller and dumpster front and center in our driveway ready to go. let the demolition begin :-)

here are a few more random pictures .

we're so excited!