It keeps dawning on me over and over again, a little at a time, that we are really building this house that I imagined in my head. For so long, it was just this imaginary "thing" and now to see it become an actual physical object is quite amazing.
Through this time, I've also discovered that I'd probably continue to tweak things here and there for as long as possible until changing is no longer an option. So if we waited another year before we started this house, who knows what it would end up looking like.
Since I'm so late in posting (again!!) this post is going to cover quite a bit of things. This shows Chris working on the form. I wanted a built-up/elevated front porch so that is why they are having to dig out there in front. I should have gotten more pictures at this stage, because they were wearing me out just watching them drive the stakes in the ground. Talk about a great workout!
And apparently, I didn't get a picture of just the form finished, but you can see it below with the plumbing and footings already dug. The poles sticking up on the right side are for the open carport. They are up now so that they can be down in the poured concrete.
Getting the form built and the required plumbing and electrical work installed actually went incredibly smooth and quick. Though I did have to pick out my tub within a couple hours one morning because they needed to know the drain location that day. But hey, it worked out because it probably saved me several hours of research. I just had to make a quick decision and know it was what it was so there was no need to worry about it after it was made.
So as I was saying, we were going along great and then came time to dig the footings/foundation. The contractor we had lined up ended up running into some issues on another job that kept dragging out... and out... and out. I think in the end, we waited close to 3 weeks. We then decided we just had to go ahead and get this done because even more rain was moving in and I was tired of just looking at the form. We ended up going with Marvin Wink and I was very pleased with his work.
Here you can see the footings dug throughout the house with the rebar and plastic.
Here is an upclose of the front porch footing. Since I wanted my 2 foot elevated porch, it ended up being a super deep hole. But some things are just worth it.
And so finally on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 we poured concrete. I later realized that the date was 11-12-13 and supposedly that makes it a lucky day. I'll take it. We started at 6:30am. When I first got out there, the sun wasn't even up. We used James Coughran to finish the concrete mainly because he came highly recommended. I was not disappointed. He did an excellent job!!! He could have easily pushed me back for other jobs for people that he did work for on a year around basis, but once he told me that he was coming, he came.
We were somewhat worried that it was going to be too cold to pour or that it wasn't going to setup properly because the temperatures were suppose to get below freezing in the early morning hours. Thankfully, we had no issues with that. They added calcium to the screen porch and front porch since they were the last to be poured just as a precaution. Though a couple of them were out there til after 8pm to make sure it finally set completely.
Here is a picture of the first concrete truck. One of my biggest concerns since I found out it was a potential problem way back when we were first doing the dirtwork was that one (or more) of the concrete trucks would get stuck. Not only did they have to go up a steep driveway, but they also had to cross pastureland. Added to the problem was the fact that there were muddy areas around the house from where we had an extremely heavy thunderstorm the week before. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded and none of them got stuck. Though a couple of them apparently did temporarily break-down after going up the driveway.
The picture quality isn't the greatest because I snapped these on my phone, but they are better than nothing.
Here is our view from the back of the house. Though it doesn't really capture the full beauty, it is the closest I've been able to get so far. I am so excited about being able to look out and see this on a daily basis. Especially during the fall time when the leaves are all changing colors.
This is the only picture I have so far of them working on the framing of the house. The "them" being Tracy & Chris Terral. I have not regretted once our decision in hiring them. Though they are technically just our framers since we are contracting it out ourselves, they have guided us through the entire process and make sure that we get all of the boxes checked.
This view is from standing on the carport and looking down the side of the house.
I'll try to take some more pictures soon and post them, because this is the stage when it really looks like a house going up.
No comments:
Post a Comment