December is here

Welcome to December, we are nine months into the construction. 

Here are some pictures...

Luke, Mark Strege and I installed the windows one Saturday.  When the sun shines the house temperature rises into the 70s, the highest temperature we have noted is 76 degrees F.  Overnight the house is heated with a 1,500 Watt portable heater... equivelant to a hair dryer.

This is a picture from October of the master bedroom suite just as the footings were going to be poured.












After the two piles of dirt were removed, the ground was leveled and we are getting ready to put down highway cloth (think landscape cloth) and will be following that with 3" of 3/4" rock (same rock I used in the gravel garden in Fargo).







We got 7 to 8 inches of snow one weekend.  Carol applied for a burn permit and I burned two slash piles about 50' from the house.  I got them started early in the day and by the time the sun set they had burned down to almost nothing.







We were rushing to get as much done before the next snowfall.  We got three loads of class 5 road gravel on the 30th of November.  I spent half a day getting it leveled out. 










Our driveway had been a source of mud since we broke ground back in April - we were sooooo happy to get a layer of gravel over the mud before the winter set in.




Carol helps install the extruded polystyrene between the foundation walls in the master bedroom suite.



This is a view of the rock that will be visible through our master bedroom window.  The 3/4" landscaping rock will extend from the bedroom walls to the rock.










Carol and I installed the PEX radiant heat tubing over the course of two days.  It was only in the 30s both days so we would work for and hour or so and then have to retreat back into our apartment for a cup of coffee to warm up.

We took advantage of the 11% sale at Menards, I purchased most of the materials that we will need to complete the house, on Wednesday we got the rebate for a bit over $3,5000.

 

We hired a couple of guys to hang and tape sheetrock, they should be here middle of December. 

 

We hired a company to pour the concrete slab in the master bedroom suite.  It has been too cold to pour concrete the past few days but the forecast is for temperatures in the 40s by mid week, so the plan is to pour the slab on Wednesday.  The contractor will have to use hot water to mix the concrete, calcium adjuncts to improve cold weather performance and cover it with thick concrete blankets to keep it warm overnight.

 

 



Niwa at 1033

I started working on the garden at 1033 in 1983.  The early garden was two distinct sections on either side of the walkway from the house to the garage.  To the north of the walkway was a big rectangle of pea rock, perfectly flat, designed for setting up a judo mat.  The south side was a free form garden... it didn't look like a Japanese garden.

In 1993 I put an addition on the house, a 3 season porch that borrowed a lot of ideas from Japanese architecture, and a two story garage, technically a single story garage with an attic.  We practiced judo in the attic.

I started the garden in the pictures below in 1994.  Rather than go on about the pictures I will let them speak for themselves.

 

November is here

It has been a beautiful Fall in the Black Hills... perhaps a bit windy.  We have had a couple of days with snow but at this time of the year it doesn't hang around for long.

It is the 9th of November.  We are in week 31 of construction.

 

It is so beautiful here when it snows.  I am looking forward to getting the construction materials removed so I can do some work with the landscaping. 

Installation of insulation in the exterior walls and roof is done.

 

For two years this was our water system, twice a week I would stretch a garden hose and a 220 volt extension cord out to the well, rain or shine... a few times when the temperature was below zero.  With just 180 gallons of water we got very good at conservation.

Sam works on connecting the pump for the new water system.  The new system has storage for about 1,200 gallons of water... the tanks are rated at 625 gallons each.  I still have some controls and electrical work to do but we have almost endless water finally.

Luke and I completed the timber framing for the engawa on the west end of the garage.  It is going to remain open.  If the winter is mild, hopefully, I will get a chance to put on the roof and the railings so it will be ready for next spring and summer.






Luke installed the sheetrock on the ceilings and Carol and I are installing the sheetrock on the walls.  We completed the hallway yesterday (11/10/2012) and are planning to get one of the bedrooms done today.

And one morning Sam came up to the door of the garage, he stayed in the camper, for breakfast and said you guys have to see this....

Today, as I complete this blog, is Veterans Day.  I salute all my brothers and sisters in arms.  Thank you for your service to our country.  May the road rise up to meet your feet and may the wind always be at your back. 

 

Week 21 - End of August

Week 21 (end of August)

It has been a summer of record heat here in the mountains, with temperatures in the mid to high 90s, day after day.  Open crawl spaces, floor and roof decks act as reflectors of the sun light increasing the heat by 10 to 20 degrees.  I was drinking a gallon and a half of water a day. It wasn't until after the family reunion that I realized that working in that heat for 5 weeks had sapped my energy, I was suffering a form of heat exhaustion.  Carol confirmed that I was not much more than a walking zombie for weeks.  Now that I have recovered, I find that I am very sensitive to the sun and hot days... thankfully the summer is slowly coming to a close and cooler days are on the horizon.

I have been working alone since the family reunion, Mark, my carpenter threw out his back working on another project and then last week developed a blood clot, likely from a mountian bike spill.  He thinks he will be back the day after labor day.  I am anxious to get him back on the job and he is anxious too, but I am concerned that he has adequate time to heal... this will be his call.

I completed sheathing the north and west walls.  All the joints in the plywood were caulked creating an air tight barrier.  Then the walls were covered with house wrap, not as a air and water barrier but as a "drainage plane", a device to help shed water in case any should get inside.  Then I lapped the Ice and Storm Shield layer from the roof down over the housewrap. 

Neighbor Brad came over with his back hoe and dug holes for footings along the west wall of the house for a wood deck.  I set 12" Sonotubes in the holes and mixed up 42 bags of Sacrete (concrete mix) by hand, it took the better part of a day and was a nice workout... these nice, regularly spaced workouts have helped me lose a little over 20 pounds since New Years.  Carol helped me build the deck.  The deck is more of a walk way that traverses the west side of the house and serves to get us to the mud room door. 

I started assemblying the exterior roof.  The exterior roof has Craftsman style exposed rafters and also contains another 4 inches of roof insulation.  I really need Mark's help to proceed with this project, it will take the two of us to line up all the rafters.

I completed the installation of the 200 Amp power panel outside the kitchen, completed the installation of the 2" PVC conduit from the disconnect in the garage to the new panel and installed the mechanical room 125 Amp subpanel and got it connected to the main panel.  Completed the installation of two rows of lights in the crawl space.  I am subcontracting the installation of the wire between the disconnect in the garage and the house; pulling 140 feet of wire is a lot of work and requires younger bodies!

John Graves, with Quality Plumbing, dropped by on Thursday, he will be here next week to install the sewer and water. We walked thru the house and talked about where the plumbing was to be installed and how we going to solve problems.  I have a couple of walls to frame up, one in each bathroom, before he gets here and I will get those done today.

We have had a lot of big dragon flies over the past month.

Start of week 16

I am finally getting back to the blog after months of inactivity.  I have several saved entries that didn't get published, so I will start with these. 

Start of week 16 (last week of July)

Since I last wrote we completed the installation of the 12" I-joist roof rafters, got the roof sheathed and waterproofed.  I subcontracted with Malon Insulation to fill the cavaties with 12" of blown in fiberglass - it was over 100F the day they completed the work - the guy in the truck, dumping bags of insulation into the blower was wringing out his shirt.

Howe Excavating installed the sewer line from the house to the septic tank, installed conduit from the house to the garage (for power, cold water, solar heated water, telephone and cable), installed weepers (a Canadian term used by Mike Holmes on his show to indicate footing drains) to daylight and installed a water line from the well to the house.  The water line required some explosives to break up the rock.

Just as Howe completed their work we were getting ready for a family reunion.  Monday night I used the tractor and box blade to smooth out the area around the house, which earlier in the day had been an open excavation.

Kristen and Gabe arrived on Monday night with our granddaughter from Fargo, Gabe had accepted a job in Boise and were on their way, U-Haul in tow to their new home.

We took off a week for a family reunion, the last week of July. 

Framing week 14

Week 14 is the week after the 4th of July.


Bodensteiner Beamworks are back and installing the rafters and ceiling boards.



Mark and I have been framing and sheathing walls.


Aerial view showing the installation of the ceiling boards and the I-joists that make up the roof structure.

Interior of the great room looking toward the kitchen (west) showing the timberframe and the spruce ceiling.







Here is a veiw of the great room looking to the east.  There will be a fireplace to the left of the window, where the ladder is setting.






It has been brutely hot on the job site for many weeks.  The wood deck has acted as a reflector and has added, perhaps, 10 to 15 degrees to the typically mid 90 degree temperatures.  So getting the ceiling up has been a real treat in regards to getting us out of the direct sun for at least part of the day.

One added treat this week has been the emergence of lots of wild flowers within feet of the construction site.  The picture at right is just one of half a dozen or so.

This coming week we are looking forward to getting the sheathing on the roof and getting this portion of the house weathered in.

Framing week 13

It is the start of week 13. 

I got to cut out some mortises for a door frame.  The opening was not well defined when the timber frame was cut in the shop so I got to try my hand at field cutting the joints.






Mark Strege sets up plywood sheathing in the west end of the great room.  The plywood sheathing is necessary for shear structural strength.  The plywood will be eventually be covered with plaster.







Aerial view from cell phone rock, the only place on the property where we get good cell phone reception.


This was the last day of work this week, it was the 4th of July.  We took off Thursday and Friday.



On Friday Carol and I traveled to Dickinson where I put on a judo seminar for the Roughrider Judo Club.  We had a great time, the hosts, Jeff Ficek and Nick Lambert, were wonderful hosts, the hospitality was terrific.  And to top it off I ate another "Jeff burger", the most incredible burger anyone has every tasted!  Much fun.

Framing week 12

The framing started on the 27th of June.

Tom Bodensteiner and his sons, of Bodensteiner Beam Works showed up on Thursday morning, the 28th and started setting up the timber frame.  The work proceeds quite quickly, all the pieces are numbered and it is like putting together tinker toys.

It is still Thursday,  the beams go up one after another.

Neighbor Verl Scheibe stopped by to inspect the timberframe.  We had a lot of neighbors stop by to view the progress.









Saturday morning finds me with a cup of coffee, absorbing the view and grooving with the new timber frame.




Carol took some nice pictures, don't you think?