Chimney and trim

Pop goes the chimney. As you walk into the house from the front door you will be welcomed with a warm, glowing fire in the woodstove.
Kevin has been steadily binning and priming the trim. Kevin loves trim.
He also loves phat returns and copper. Nice aren't they?
Back view. Trim being applied. It is a very precise, measured process.
Nice and simple.

Ell and porch

The back wall of the ell is shown. It has turned out to be a bit bigger than we thought. This will be a nice transition from the barn into the house. Oops this is a repeat and I haven't figured out how to delete pictures.
Side view with beginnings of porch frame.
The basic ell. There are windows on either side of the door. Felt material was laid on the ground with stone for the porch frame. This helps with ventilation and weed control.
Porch is up. Side view. The front and most of the side will be full-length screens.
What do you think? Nice breakfast on the porch soaking up the sun, magazine reading, margaritas, and maybe porch sleeping! Oh ya!!!!!

Dormers

Kevin's beloved dormers. They are similar to the dormers at John Brooks Farmhouse up the road. Speaking of Jon....Jon-Paul (my not so little brother) started his first day of highschool on Tuesday 9/4/07....Unbelievable
Our barn gets mutilated. Shingles had to come off because codes mandates that a layer of drywall be in place between the ell and barn :( And a window from the barn had to be removed as it was too close to the ell. But we get to keep the door.
Another tough day for Clarke at the job site. Actually he loves the new house. He is constantly rubbing all the new wood. He has caught his fair share of mice, but has been avoiding the chipmunks. We just caught the 6th chipmunk in our have-a-heart trap.

Framing of the ell. It will house a 3/4 bath and a washer/dryer. It will be slate stone of some sort and basically be the mudroom.
Starting of farmers porch.

2nd floor framing

South facing gable houses 3 windows. The big one is for the 2nd bedroom. The middle window is for our walk in closet and the 3rd window view will keep Kevin entertained as he sits on the toilet in the master bath.
North facing gable. Window to the left is for the 1st bedroom. Middle window is the 2nd bathroom and the small window is part of our bedroom.
Back of house includes bump out windows. Top floor window will be our view of Spruce Mountain from the master bedroom. From the other window I will be soaking in my vintage claw-foot tub admiring the backyard!
Full view from barn side. Ell not yet framed.
Here come the dormers! Isn't she cute!

Walls of first floor

The first and second pictures are taken from the back of the house. You can see the bump out that is part of the kitchen and where a table will sit. The room next to the kitchen (in the back) will be the study. It will have a nice set of windows and door to the backyard.
This picture is the sunken family room. The big opening will house 2 in-swing French doors totaling 6'wide and 8'tall! There is great sun from this side. It will eventually open onto a beautiful stone patio. We will use stones from around the property and from the blasting. The two front windows will look out onto the 8' screened farmers porch.
Here we have the front door entrance, although the ell entrance will be used more often. Basically this is the kitchen. The corner windows represent the location of the sink. The long wall will house a double wall oven, refridgerator, range top and some counter space. There will also be a wood island (hopefully we can use the tiger maple that was cut down from the property). As you walk in from the front door there will be a wood stove with a stoned face (yes more stone from the property) going up. The stairs will be behind the wood stove and come down into the kitchen. A butlers pantry will be tucked under the stairs as well. This will all make more sense as we move along.
And now we have the basic box plus some Typar. Keep in mind the wrap around farmers porch!

Outdoor living

Some of you may recognize these outdoor chairs around our old campfire. Now the crew has lunch here and we wind up and wind down our days sitting outside with Clarke of course.

First floor framing

Here you can see the framework for the first floor. You can see the square opening in the center of the top picture, this is where the chimney will be. The bottom picture shows the sunken family room. The crew used blocking which is a higher quality way to support the floor, preventing creaking and warping.

Then they put Advantech or OSB (Orientated Strand Board) down. This is a form of plywood that uses minimal chemicals compared to regular plywood. We are trying to be somewhat "green" with our new home. Although, our friends Meghan and Dave have far surpassed us. Check out their blog and building project at http://19ridgeroad.blogspot.com/ It is awesome.

Our goal (really my goal) is to have no mold, and that is why I really wanted all wood framing like they would have done 100 years ago, but no one else agreed. In my reading heartwood is the best to use to prevent mold. But our builder guarantees our house is going to be so well built that we will not have to worry about mold. We shall see!

Frogger

Well, we apologize for the 2 month delay. Summer got the best of us and Kevin has been in no mood to keep the blog updated. So I shall take over the duty.

This is a dessicated frog I found along the edge of the foundation. Clarke meowed, "Where's the beef?"

Framing begins..........

Here, Danny, Steve and Al layout the support beams that our house will sit on. Look how well these guys work together......one happy framing crew.

Slab's in......

Here's the slab in all it's glory...or is it Nelle and Kevin's new street hockey rink?...

Finishing the slab...

We are getting closer to having all of the prep work complete so we can begin the framing next week..... You are looking at the foundation with the interior drain and radon mitigation piping covered over with stones with a layer of poly laid ontop....bring on the concrete!

Drainage, Radon Mitiagtion & Backfilling

We have installed exterior and interior drainage lines in and around the foundation. The interior drain will also serve as a radon vent, mitigating and venting radon gas up and out of our future home. You can see the interior drain exiting out through our footing. The hole above the footing will house the sewer line.

Also, we have installed 1' insulation around the exterior to assist with heat loss. The foundation in these phoos has now been backfilled. With the stone surrounding the interior drains and tamped level with our footings, we are now ready to have the floor poured.

Foundation Walls up and Prepaired.....

Harrison, Mike and Mickey Hoyt arrived with the forms late in the day, and quickly set the far wall. The next day, an hour before they finished setting the forms they called for the concrete. These guys do not miss a beat. Our walls are only 4' tall. We will only have a crawl space under the house due to the high water table and the fact that...well...we have a barn to keep our "stuff" in already.

Jackson craftsmen Al McLane surveys Steve Briggs sealing work, and gets ready to install the sill.

Footings and Finally...........Concrete

Two holes.....one shower

With the blasting complete, we stoned the bottom of the cellar hole and are now ready for the footings to be poured.

People always ask "So what are you doing for a bathroom and a shower?" Well, here's the answer...our new custom outhouse complete with an oak seat and magazine rack! And the shower...Very roomey and well vented.