Progress in Photos

Footings




Holes dug for the foundation




Our lot is surrounded by a church and open fields. Other than that, it doesn't actually feel too "rural."

Saturday

Two weeks officially.

We put up the remaining interior walls yesterday. It took a little longer than we expected, but we were working on a lot of the custom details. I am really pleased with the shadow box my husband built above the stairs. It will be perfect for housing a picture right as you go down the stairs. Maybe we can eventually add some nice lighting. He also did a great job putting in three off-set boxes along the stairs. I am pleased with his creativity as the supervisors had very limited ideas about the sizes and shapes of the shadow boxes. He was able to add several inches in depth and width. Most people end up with 3inch shelves--what good is that?

We also worked on cutting out the archways. We have one between the dining room and living room, another from the kitchen to the mudroom, and another in the shadow box. I think they will turn out well.

Our trusses are prepped for our roof, which should go on next Saturday. We are on schedule for our original date of Tuesday, but will wait because we will have more light and manpower on Saturday. We have a goal to fly trusses on both our house and the second house on Saturday. The floors went on the second house (I think they finished) yesterday and we have a lot of work to do to meet this deadline. Hopefully we are speeding up as we learn what we are doing. Interior walls take FOREVER, though.

More photos to come soon--once I have my camera battery again.

Shadow Boxes?

Tomorrow we are putting up a wall next to the stairs. I want to build in some in-lays, shelves, shadow-boxes? I tried to google shadow boxes to get ideas of what I'd want them to look like--the sizes, shapes, how many--but I can't figure out the correct term. Any ideas?

Foundation

Here are a few pictures of our foundation. My camera died before I could get the rest. So more to come soon.

Tomorrow is our official two week mark. After nearly 60 hours of work this week between my husband and I (others have worked,too, but not as much as we have), we have completed the basement walls, stairs, main floor, exterior walls, garage walls, and interior walls.

We have also started house #2 and have the basement walls and some of the floor joists done.

Hopefully tomorrow we can put up the half walls around the stairs, put an extra board on the top of all of our interior walls, prep our trusses, and then get the remainder of the floor joists and flooring on house #2.

Floors & Exterior Walls

Things are moving along, but a little slow (I think). Yesterday finally felt like we were making some progress. Perhaps we are all meeting the learning curve now? I spent the evening finishing up the floor boards on the edges--cutting them to size and making sure they fit properly. It seemed like it took me way longer than it should, but my sis-in-law and I finally managed to complete the task. Now I just need to go back and trim some of the long edges over the stairs.

The other teammates went really fast (compared to how we've been moving) and did a great job framing some of the exterior walls. Hopefully today they will make progress sheeting them (putting the wood on the outside)and then maybe we can get the walls raised tomorrow.

I want to go build tonight, but I don't think anyone will be there. So we will probably stay home doing chores around the house (we are house-sitting for in-laws--putting in the time for their generosity in caring for our dog long-term)--plus my husband has several tests to study for. House sitting hasn't been particularly fun. I've had 7 piles of animal poop and just as many spots of pee to clean up so far. UGGGHH. Stupid passive-aggressive cats! Anyway, I am accompanying the ward choir this week at church and I hope they don't ask for the sheet music back--the cats peed on that too!! Gross that I have to play on pee-stained music. And cat pee stinks so bad. Is that defiling the chapel, by the way?

Anyway, anyone want to come help build tomorrow? I hear it won't snow as bad as they originally predicted! ;)

Building a House Really Isn't That Hard--At Least Not Yet

We started building yesterday. I was very enthusiastic, even with the winter blizzard. Ironically it was very sunny and warm for most of the week, but terrible yesterday. We started with blanketing our neighbor's concrete, then tried to sweep the water off the line where our basement walls would be. It was hard because it was snowing faster than we could get the water to drain. Plus, it took us 20 minutes to realize that the basement drain was plugged.

My husband did a great job helping us chalkline the walls in the basement and we started laying out greenboard and 2x4's, while the rest of our group worked on the greenplate, porch cap and rim joists. I was happy he seemed to know what he was doing and most of us just followed his lead. We did have a supervisor to answer questions and direct us, but he also had to train and oversee 11 other people. I am happy that I am starting to understand this stuff. After only a few mistakes, we had our bearing wall up before we had to quit for a lunch meeting.

We all worked really hard, unfortunately, the snow drove most of our group home a little earlier than usual. But after a quick lunch break, a few of us continued on the basement. To maximize our numbers, my sister in law and I decided to work on the floor joists. Normally I would be a little uneasy about jumping into this sort of thing and the saws and stuff, but I don't really have any option to be sheepish. With about 2 minutes of instruction, we were off laying floor joists, just the two of us. I am pretty sure neither of us ever imagined ourselves putting in floor joists--nail guns, saws, muscles, and all.

After we hoisted and I drug all of the floor joists for the opposite side of the home across the whole yard, we called it a day. The others were able to complete an additional wall where the stairs will be in the basement.

I enjoyed myself and realize that building a house is pretty simple, afterall. I had a good day and look forward to building more on Tuesday. We all worked hard, but I am feeling rushed to push forward. Too bad everyone had to leave early--we probably could have gotten the floor down.

If anyone wants to try building, we'd love to have you. I know a lot of people like to do service over the holidays, right? ;) We would like to finish all 7homes by April so we can qualify for the home buyer tax credit, but that will be quite the feat. The group that is 3 houses ahead of us is worried about meeting the deadline. So I wonder where that leaves us.

I'll have to post pictures soon. Happy building.

Still waiting

An update. We are still in limbo waiting to start building our home. Today we visited another group's homes to see the process so we understand the directions. We may be starting on Saturday with a group of 10. Or, we may split off into a second group of 6-7. I think the Rural Housing people are crossing their fingers we split. I hope not. Although they insist we will be starting right away regardless, I am doubtful. They were supposed to dig our hole and pour our foundation as soon as we closed, which was earlier this week, and it hasn't happened yet. Plus, I think we still have to wait for permits and for the concrete to cure or settle or whatever. I'm just doubtful it will be before November. I am ready to start. Afterall, they've been telling us 1-2 weeks since August. Let us start before it snows and gets too cold. Plus, my husband changed his school schedule to be more accommodating for building--a lot of good that has been so far, the semester will be nearly over by the time we start!

I am optimistic about finishing quickly. But that depends on our group and how hard they work. We saw the homes that started in June. They will be done with 8 homes in 4 1/2 months. WOW! I want to get done that fast, but it is probably unlikely.

We have picked out the features of our home. I chose our stucco color, which I hope is green. It's pretty hard to tell the exact look from a small sample. I think it looks green, but my husband says it looks gray. Either way, I suppose I like the color. But who knows what it will look like full scale. I probably won't even remember anything I chose by the time we get to the end. We also went with cream trim, brown garage doors and gutters, cream windows, and a black roof. We also chose limestone for the rock on the front, which I hope is a nice creamy/yellow/gray. We'll see how it all comes together in several months.

It's amazing how I never noticed the color of stucco or gutters or roofs, but now I am consumed with noticing what colors I like. I notice every shingle and every stone.

We also chose from a small selection of light fixtures, cabinets, countertops, and carpets. I hope we made the right choices. Pretty sure we'll just be happy it is done and won't care too bad.

Cross your fingers and/or pray we can start as soon as possible.

We also drove by the lot today and saw 4 pheasant roosters fly into our yard. According to Russell and his dad, that's a good omen. At least for a family with bird dogs.