ALL WET

Here we go again with all the rain!

However we did get the windows and doors sized right, and the window and door bucks are in the shop out of the rain. If the rain stops, hopefully we can pour the cement mid next week, then we can start on the next level.



And since Mother Nature has decided that it should rain this week, we have wrapped up the house as best we can to weather the storms. There is an inch to six inches of mud all over the place, thanks to two inches of rain.

I think we will put sand around the outside of the house, and till it into the soil when we are ready to plant grass, since the inside of the house isn't nearly as soggy as the outside, and the only difference is there is sand on the inside.

The color of fall is begining to appear along our driveway.

The driveway ends at what is starting to appear as a house.

There is a bit of an optical illusion at the corner so kindly

ignore that, but the large space is for the picture window

which is flanked by two doublehungs in the dinning room.

Then there is the space for the 8' tall french entry doors,

then the other 8' french entry door is flanked by two

doublehung windows, and then the far window is the library.

The kitchen counter runs along the wall on the left, across

the way where the pallet is sitting will be a double frige

which faces the kitchen counter, and a walk in fireplace

facing towards the right front which is the dining room.

Things are coming along very nicely.

Here is a blueprint, we are building it very close

to this, minus the garage, we will add it later.

Along the top are a bedroom on the left and the

library on the right, a very long screened in porch

along the right side over looking the river valley.

The master suite has a large walk in closet with

laundry facilities, then the master bath with

elongated tub and wall mounted toilet.

The kitchen and dining room along the lower end of

the house and everything in between is the

great/livingroom.

A walk way on the lower left joins the kitchen to

the garage with a court yard between.

End of the week update.

Walls are going up, D'Artagnon is standing in his ...room to be...


Gravel truck getting stuck in the drive while dumping the
rock base. The driver was told to go home, beings this
was the second time he got stuck to his axels, and needed
drug out by the skidsteer.


But hey ... we FINALLY got our DRIVEWAY IN !!!

Now off to the Homestead Festival in Princeton.

Days: Three, Four, Five

Day Three:

One layer of three walls were set in their places, glued
together and to the footing, holes for the re-bar were drilled
as they went. I was running to the store twice this day for
the adhesives to glue the blocks, bought two stores Menards
and Lowes out of the stuff. Also I picked up two of the three
pallets of Roofing shingles.

Day Four:

The rest of the first row of blocks were layed, drilled, and
all the re-bar epoxyed into place. I went shopping again, for
more adhesives, picked up the last pallet of shingles, and
picked up 300' of three inch field tile and a sock to put it in,
to place around the footing.

Day Five:

The second row of blocks were layed by noon,
the "D-man" had a job, that was to shake the cans of
adhesive, and attatch the tube to them and hand them
to the guys.

The cement truck came and poured 6.25 cubic feet of cement
with super-plastisizer added to help the cement fill all the
voids in the horizontal channels.

There were no blowouts, it was a trick to get the cement
into the rebared holes while walking in a 6"wide trench.
But when all was said and done, it all worked out just fine.

A coating of wall sealant was applied to the blocks exterior,
and the 3" tile was layed all around the perimeter.

Now we wait until Tuesday to see anything else done,
we will however clean up the work site.



Have a Happy Labor-Day Weekend.

Day one and day two - Footings, and Electricity

We are progressing far faster than I ever imagined.

We got the footings dug on Monday 8-31-09 as well as
the lower courses of TechBlock delivered to the site

D'Artagnon is inspecting the trenches.

Can't seem to keep the kid out of the trenches,
not that I was trying.



Day 2! We started pouring the footings.

Ah the footings getting poured, and the power company
in the background getting our electrical service buried.

The second cement truck arriving, You can barely see the
transformer and the temp-pole going in as well.