Burrrrrrrr

Burr, its cold outside! Luckily, we now have some windows in to block the cold wind from coming inside. After debating on what color to choose from for our windows we finally made the decision, and the right one too!

Being that we are building a log home, I really did not want to go with white windows. So a while back, Nick brought home a sample window that was almond color, but I just wasn't sold on the almond. I really really wanted brown windows. Unfortunately, the brown vinyl windows were way over budget. So after many debates, I told Nick to order white windows. Well, that decision didn't last long. A few days after he had ordered the windows, I asked him if we could get them changed to almond. Thankfully, they were able to make the order change! (I guess I have to admit that Nick wanted to almond color windows all along) So now I get to here "I told you so!"

This past week front windows, basement back windows, and 2 of the small windows were installed. The double windows for the bedrooms should be delivered and installed this week. (Hopefully).



Front windows in the Living Room



Basement windows



Another view of basement windows. There are going to be more windows in the back, they are just covered with house wrap in this picture.



Laundry room window being installed



Inside view of laundry room window. (my photography skills were a little sideways in this picture)

Dormers and Metal

The dormers are up and almost finished and the metal roof is in the process of being up.

Nick has a love/hate relationship with the dormers. We decided very early in the house planning process that our house needed dormers for cosmetic purposes. But as the building process for the dormers has begun, Nick probably wishes that we had not made the decision to have them. Apparently, they are a pain to build! But they look great!







Almost finished!

The metal is almost on the entire roof! The back side of the roof is done, and some of the front. The past two days put a stamper in things. It has rained!


Nick working on the metal



Bauer

Dormers, Porch, Metal, and More!

A lot of progress had been made on the house! The front porch is up with the roof.






Nick being goofy as usual



A look at the unfinished ceiling from standing on the roof. We will have V goove wood for the ceiling on the roof.



An example of the ceiling for the porch

Home Depot Trip Turned Bad

Since we started building the house, Home Depot is like our second home. Nick obviously makes numerous trips every day. Many times I will go with him or either he and Mr. Chuck will send me on quick trips to pick up something while they stay and work.

Well, last Monday was supposed to be one of those quick trips to Home Depot. Nick was working on the dormers, but had run out of OSB (kinda like thick plywood used for framing). He asked me to take the truck to Home Depot and ask someone to load up 10 pieces of OSB and bring it home. I was a bit skeptical, but then decided it shouldn't be too hard. Boy was I wrong. First, there was absolutely no men insight to help load the OSB up ( I am not saying that I am unable to load the wood, but it is pretty heavy). So, myself and 2 other women ended up loading the OSB onto the carrier. When it was time to load it on the truck, yet again no big strong men... But, I did know how Nick had loaded the OSB in the past, so I was okay with this part, until the workers decided they knew best..

From observing the OSB being loaded previously, the tailgate was always left up. So I told the workers to leave the tailgate up. Well, the 3 Home Depot workers insisted that it would not work and the tailgate must be let down and left down. So, I let them do what they thought best. After all, they do work at Home Depot, not me. But, when they told me it would be fine on the back of the truck without being tied down I became skeptical again. But I got in the truck and drove home.

This is when the trip turned really bad. I made a left turn onto Hwy 19 to head back to the house, but the OSB didn't quite make it! 4 pieces fell out onto the highway!! Luckily, they all landing perfectly in the turning lane.

I calmly called Nick and he came the rescue. Nick now jokes and says that it seems that when I don't want to do something, I manage to mess it up in the process of doing it!



The 10 pieces of OSB made it safely home

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Unfortunately, I was never able to get the internet working yesterday to upload all the pictures.

This week has been a little yucky weather wise which slowed progress a little. Nick has been working on the dormers for the house, but yesterday the roof was just too slick and wet to be working on it.

On an exciting note our metal for the roof came in yesterday. Wohoo!! Also Nick has been working hard inside when it becomes dark wiring the house. I never new how hard it would be to decide where all to put light switches, lights, and outlets!

On another note.. this year is my first year working a holiday. It is very weird being away from my family on thanksgiving. And hospital thanksgiving dinner is definitely not the best! But too see my patients brighten up and smile when I brought them a special piece of cake or pie today made it all worth it! Tom night after work I will be able to get on the road to celebrate thanksgiving at the farm. I can't wait!!


Keep looking for updates and pics!!

Good intentions..

Well, I really did have good intentions today to update our blog with new pictures and new interesting stories but the internet is not working. I am updating now from my phone, but unfortunately I cannot upload pictures. I believe it must have something to do with the work that is being done from the renovations upstairs. Hopefully, I will have internet soon!

Check back for updates!

Porch

Walls Framed and Roof Trusses!!

I know it has been a while since I have added new pictures to the blog, but there is so much going on! Since back filling the basement, the decking for the main floor is done, the walls have been framed and now the roof trusses are in the process of going up! Today was the first day of the roof trusses going up. Thankfully we had much needed help! Unfortunately, I got to the house after all the help was gone. Well, other than the dogs! But I did take pictures of the last 2 trusses for the day being put up.

Slowly but Surely

One more thing that I have learned with the house building process is that there are many days that you (or I should say Nick and Mr. Chuck) work sun up till sun down and at the end of the day it still looks as if there are no changes made to the house. This weekend was an example of this. On Saturday, I was the "go-getter" all day. We did work and work, but it just kept looking as if nothing was getting done. Right before dark, they decided to board up the bottom of the basement windows. Even though the process probably took a whole 15 minutes, it finally looked as if we made progress!



On Sunday, they were able to finish up the small things that had to be done before putting the decking up, and also put plywood on the basement walls.

and Even More Dirt

After a total of 14 (I think) truck loads of dirt, we have finally back filled the basement!!






Thankfully, Mr. Mike Ellington came out to help move all of the dirt and backfill with his tractor which has a front end loader. Nick says that he wants a front end loader for "ole blue", but I am a little weary that if he did get one, we would have no trees or dirt left on our land!

Dirt, Dirt, and more Dirt

On Friday, we had 7 truck loads of dirt dumped at the house. As you can see from the previous pictures, we need a lot of dirt to back fill the basement and to level out the ground with the main level of the house. Hopefully, we will not need more truck loads, but it is looking like we will be needing it!! I do not have any pictures of any of the dirt for two reasons. 1. I had to work this weekend so I didn't make it home in time before dark and 2. It rained yesterday. Yes, the rain was very much needed, but not when we just had 7 dump truck loads of dirt dumped! Now alllll that dirt is GEORGIA RED MUDDY CLAY.

In other updates. The floor trusses are complete and the basement cement walls are waterproofed! As the rain was needed yesterday, but it does put a hamper on house building when the weekends are when most of the work gets done and we need every spare minute possible so this process won't take even longer!

Floor Trusses

Today the process of putting up the floor trusses began!! I went out to the house this evening to make sure the work was progressing correctly and supervising to make sure that nothing was done wrong!




Nick thinking, thinking, thinking!


Hard at work!






Honey Bear (Tommy Dean) peaking through to make sure they aren't messing anything up!


Bauer and Sadie found a little time to play in between all of the hard work!

Concrete Slab and Framed Walls

Here are a few pictures of the guys pouring the basement slab.








As soon as the concrete was dry enough to work on, Nick and Mr. Chuck began building the walls for the basement.

Basement Bathroom

Okay, so these pictures just look like a bunch of pipes in the ground with dirt everywhere, but there is so so much more to these pictures. First, let me tell you what it is. This is the plumbing for our basement bathroom and for the sink which will be in the wet bar.

When we were coming up with our house plans, we had decided to add a basement. But the plan was (and still is) to let the basement be unfinished until we had saved up for a few years and then finish it. We had a few ideas of how we wanted to set up the basement but we did not really plan on where and what was going to be put in the basement.. until last week.

I have learned a lot with building our house and to add to the list is that plumbing for the basement must be done before the concrete slab is poured. Easy right?? Not quite. Not when I had thought that I would have a few years to decide on the basement. So, last week Nick and I sat at the kitchen table trying to decide where everything needed to go. Nick drew some house plans late into the night and I decided on the one I liked at 5:30 the next morning before work. That was easy! No problem, right? Wrong.. That night I got a phone call as I was coming home from work. Nick had informed me that to have a full bath and a 1/2 bath in the basement meant that we would have to have a bigger septic tank which would cost even more money. Therefore, the solution was to only have a full bathroom accessible for everyone to use in the basement. That meant for more late nights of discussions and drawing plans.


These pictures also represent that I cannot change my mind anymore on where I want the bathroom to go. On Wednesday, Nick called and said he was about to start digging the ditches for the plumbing and wanted to make sure that I liked where everything was going to be placed. I answered "Yes, go ahead", but 10 minutes later I called back to tell him to stop because I wanted to change everything. So I hopped in the car and went over there to tell me my plan. As usual, several things would not work for everything to work correctly. Therefore, another day was marked off of not getting the plumbing done!

So after another night of rambling our brains of where the bathroom would go and some advice from both of our dads and Jeremy, Nick's cousin who is a plumber, we finally decided where the bathroom would go!

The basement that we would not have to worry about for a while has sure caused a lot of controversy so far! Oh, and the basement windows will have to be a whole different post!