Shingles and a porch!

This picture shows what the house looks like with shingles. We now have a sliding glass door in! I'm glad not to have to worry about someone falling out of that hole anymore! The front porch is on and looks great. I have three exterior doors to paint or stain this weekend. They will be put in this week, along with the windows. The windows won't be in until Wednesday.

Gone Fishing!

David and the boys decided that we had been working enough lately and went fishing. They had a very successful trip at an undisclosed farm pond. David's bass was 5 lbs 1 oz! He now lives in our pond for someone else to enjoy catching at another time. They each caught a nice bass and brought home a five gallon bucket of very nice crappie.

Ava and Leah

Ava and her cousin Leah were out for a drive this past Wednesday. Ava is 19 months and Leah is 14 months. They are so cute together!

Current Progress

I don't have any pictures today, but there has been progress inside the house this week. The electrical is nearly all roughed in. It should be finished today. The plumbing is in. The plumber said that he is done until it is time to set the sink, faucets, etc. The stairway to the basement is being cut and will probably be finished today. The electric cooperative is working on the ground source heat pump and duct work this week. I'm thinking that they will probably still be with us the first part of next week. The remainder of the shingles will go on today. Oh... I have a front porch! The decisions have been flying around like crazy this week and things are really getting done. Hopefully, we will be ready for insulation in the next week. The ball just keeps on rolling!

Weekend Photos

Here's an updated photo of the house! The shingles were supposed to go on today, but it is raining this morning. Ava was hot and tired. She was sacked out in the stroller after a walk.

Weathered In!!!

God has been good to us. We have had incredible weather this week for building our home. As of tonight, the house is considered weathered in. The sheeting is on the roof, with felt on it. The exterior walls are all house wrapped. Monday morning, the roofers will be there to shingle the house. Our framing crew will be back on Tuesday to put the front porch on and redo the roof on the existing part of the earth contact. They will also put the stairs in sometime next week. They plan to be there all next week with a smaller crew to finish up things, including putting in windows and a few doors. We can breathe easy this weekend and thank God for allowing us to get this done.

More Concrete!

The concrete truck driver/owner is really great and encouraged all the kids to ride up and down on the seat and blow the air horn. They had fun letting that horn rip!

The concrete that was poured today was for the front porch and for a pad out in front of the garage. Everyone left their mark in the concrete to commemorate the event!
Rachel needed help to get her hand pressed in far enough.

Ava had watched the others put their prints in and did great. She spread her fingers out wide and was ready to be big like everyone else.

What's this on my hand?

The girls had fun driving the tractor! They must have turned the key on for Daddy, because the battery was dead by late afternoon! Oops! Sorry Daddy!

Raise the Roof!

The crane and operator arrived this morning to place the trusses on the house. He did a great job!

John smiles big as he watches the project happen. So interesting to watch.

David helped by hooking up the line and guiding the truss from the ground as it was lifted to the house.

This is what our house looks like tonight from the gravel road. What a difference four days can make! The crew will finish placing the sheeting on the other side of the house in the morning. The roofers will be there in the afternoon to place the felt on and finish weathering it in. They will shingle it on Monday.

This is the new garage on the south end of the house. I love how spacious this garage is. We will have guys pouring concrete in front of this garage and on the front porch in the morning. The kids are excited to place their hand prints in it.

The weather has been fantastic! David has been off of work all week, helping where he can on the house and making decisions as things come up. In his spare time, he has planted our garden! Superman! Ryan was right there in it. We always say, "Where there's dirt, there's Ryan!"

Baseball is in full swing

Very serious in left field. Isn't he the cutest?!

The Exterior Walls are up!

Things are starting to take shape. The exterior walls for the top floor are framed. It is exciting to see this idea of ours start to come together. They are planning to frame the interior walls tomorrow and then set the trusses on Thursday morning. We are impressed with how hard this crew is working to get our home weathered in for us. The weather forecast still looks good.

This is the side of the house that faces the gravel road. My front door is framed in there, but it isn't cut out.

This is the end of the house with the new garage on it.

Brotherly Love! These two guys really know how to have some fun.

Pictures from Monday

The kids can't believe how cool it is to be on top of the house!

Rachel thinks that she is on top of the world!

This is what the basement looks like with the subfloor down. We will be able to maintain 8 foot ceilings, which will be nice.

The subfloor is down!

As of 6 pm this evening, the subfloor is down. The guys worked hard all day placing the I-beams on and laying the subfloor. David has been working right along side the crew and is learning about what it means to be the contractor. He said that this morning there were 15 guys on site from four different services and things were a zoo. He is saving us so much money by being the general contractor. The plumbers are planning to work all day tomorrow, doing what they do. The framing crew, including David, will be framing up the exterior walls! Things should really start to take shape in the next few days. I took some fun pictures of the kids on the new subfloor, but left my camera in the shop, so I'll have to post those tomorrow.



Rachel stepped on a nail Sunday evening. It went through the heel of her tennis shoe and into her heel. She was dancing!!! She called it a "super hatzmat dance"! She is such a creative soul! Anyway, it was looking pretty bad this morning, with a band of redness moving up the arch of her foot, so we made a visit to the doctor's office. Nothing that a tetanus shot and a round of antibiotics won't cure. The funny thing is that it isn't bothering her a bit. If it were a small scratch, she wouldn't be able to walk, but she is fine with this injury. She told me that it was a "miracle!" Just part of being on the construction crew!

The Roof Comes Off!

Here's what our home looks like now!

What a difference a few hours can make!

The remaining roof is the area that we aren't planning to build over. This roof will stay but get new shingles.

Standing in the kitchen, looking into the great room and at the clouds!

Standing on the back edge of the house looking to the front. Of course, when this project is done, the front will be the back and the back will be the front... just to confuse you!

This picture is from the top of the roof, what's left of it, looking down into the house.

Despite the destruction that is going on around them, my shrubs continue to bloom and survive! The shrubs in the front of the house didn't have a good day! Oh well!

This is a family project! Everyone was working to pull nails from the piles and piles of lumber that came off of the roof. Ryan became momentarily side-tracked and started to nail a few back in. David, John, Ryan and I worked all afternoon today pulling nails from OSB boards and other lumber that we hope to salvage. Rachel was very good at picking up nails and stayed right with us the entire afternoon. The kids were real troopers today! Ava took a nap nearby and later was entertained by a waterbottle and snacks.

Friday May 15, 2009

On Friday, the drywall was cut from the ceiling and some insulation pulled out to be reused later. The boys room is full of insulation now. The electrical wires that ran to the ceiling fixtures were traced down and set to the side. You can see what the attic looked like now!

Ava's level of participation in the packing and building project ... she plays in the kitty water! She was soaked, but had a great time! She is 19 months old now.

The kids enjoy climbing the trusses that are now in the front yard. Hopefully by the end of next week, they will be on the house!

The future front porch!

The concrete for the new garage is done! Visualize our new garage here! So exciting!

David started removing the cedar siding tonight to prepare for the roof to come off on Monday! the kids are getting excited about this project as well.

Our house project begins!

Well, we decided it would be fun to blog for the first time ever. The house project has given us a reason to blog and show everyone what is going on with the house as it happens. It should be a fun and exciting summer. We are glad to share it with you.