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A work in progress The list presented below is pretty much a day by day account of the progress on our site, with the most recent events at the top. As of this writing, we've been in the house for nearly a year. At this point, we're pretty much on our own...no more sub-contractors. I'm almost obsesed about working on the house, but it takes a lot of weekends to tackle a task of this magnitude.
Click on the pictures for a larger view.
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Monday September 4, 2006 |
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Saturday July 16, 2005
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 The
plan was to be working outside by now, but all I've done is work on the
greenhouse. Finally, the last finished space at Gage Hill is near
completion. Here are a couple of shots. |
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Monday March 21, 2005
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 Well...here
it is the first day of spring. I haven't posted anything about the
house for quite a while so I thought an update would be appropriate.
I've spent most of the winter working on the interior finishes of the
greenhouse. This is slow going. |
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Thursday August 12, 2004
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 Having
just finished battening down the greenhouse roof, Acid Test! We get
hammered with rain. There's still lots of sealing work to do around
windows and such, but the greenhouse roof is shedding water nicely and the
water infiltration is minimal considering. |
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Wednesday August 11, 2004
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 The
leaning tower of Gage Hill: This is the staging we used to do the
overhead work on the greenhouse. This primarily involves making up
copper clad African mahogany battens which get screwed down over the glass
to hold it in place. It's a lot of work just moving the scaffolding
around and unfortunately it's hot! We expect to finish this work
tomorrow. |
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Tuesday August 10, 2004
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Saturday June 5, 2004 |
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Saturday January 3 |
Epilog: Substantial completion. It's kind of tough knowing exactly when to throw the flag on the play, but I guess we're done. Not really finished...but done, enough. Architecturally, it's a point known as "substantial completion"...available for the owner's use. More... |
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Sunday December 14 |
 More
finishing touches. Here's the basement stair railing painted and laced
with cable. I believe my cable stretching days are over...at least for
now. |
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Saturday December 13 |
 Completely
WIRED! After working weekends and nights for several weeks, 3500
linear feet of stainless steel cable is in place...tight like a guitar
string. Tedious work, but we're really pleased with the outcome. |
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Wednesday December 10 |
 Goodies
and diamonds in the rough! Finishing touches are starting to show up
all over the house. Today, Dave Mullen, who's provided all of the
steel for our project, delivered the guardrail / handrail for the basement
stair. |
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Tuesday December 2 |
 Our
first appreciable snow at Gage Hill. This shot shows the entry bridge
(early in the morning) with the railings completed on both sides.
Inside, we're pretty comfortable at this point...lots of little stuff to
finish. |
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Sunday November 23 I give up counting days |
 Signs
of life! It's been several weeks without a web entry. I've been
really busy. Here are a few shots to bring things up to date...and
Gracie...we found the remotes. |
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Friday October 31 Day 195 |
  There's
still lots to do but we're starting to see finishing touches appear all over
the house. Today, we moved some actual furniture onto the first floor.
Here's a look at the kitchen as seen from the living room and a shot of the
ceramic tile and glass block in the master bath. |
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Thursday October 30 Day 194 |
 After
another long absence from my web responsibilities...a belated report.
Over the last couple of weeks we've been trying to wrap electrical and
plumbing, ceramic tile in the master bath and flooring. Here's a shot
of the newly installed carpet against the cork border in the dining room. |
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Sunday October 12 Day 176 |
 My
more sporadic reporting is the result of my having to work (yes...actual
work) on various projects at the house. In particular, I'm responsible
for laying the cork floors. Here's my first attempt...the office
floor. |
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Wednesday October 7 Day 172 |
  Buzz...click...click..crackel...OK,
We're back. Sorry for the long absence. We've been busy
establishing temporary quarters at Gage Hill as well as working (physically
working) toward finished flooring inside. In the meantime, the
greenhouse framing has been started and kitchen cabinetry is being set. |
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Thurs. & Friday Sept. 25 & 26 Days 160 & 161 |
Well...time's up! Over these two days, the contents of our house on Taylor Woods were boxed-up and moved to the basement of the new house. Karin and I are temporarily holed up in a local cabin. It was a nice try, but sometimes you just can't make things happen. |
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Wednesday September 24 Day 159 |
 Please
excuse my absence yesterday...we're preparing to move things out of the
house at Taylor Woods. It's a monumental task after eighteen years.
At Gage Hill, sheetrock continued inside and trim continued outside.
The basement stairs were also installed. |
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Tuesday September 23 Day 157 |
 Sheetrock
and roll around the kitchen! The sheetrock's now hung, the curves came
last. Now, there's taping to contend with. Ouside, it rained
cats and dogs but Mike Dalaba's crew worked under the eaves putting up the
tongue and groove soffit. |
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Monday September 22 Day 156 |
 Four
days shy of our (not optional) move date and we've established that we're
basically screwed. Despite our best efforts, it's pretty obvious that
the house will not be livable by the end of the week. |
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Friday September 19 Day 153 |
 More
sheetrock, more exterior trim, more stress, less time. One week to
moving day and we're still hanging (as opposed to taping) sheetrock.
Here's the dining room. |
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Thursday September 18 Day 152 |
Once again, my apologies...no picture. Coming down to the wire (time-wise) we're in a panic trying to get the interior at Gage Hill livable. The sheetrockers are two thirds done hanging with taping yet to come. I'm screwing down flooring underlayment and trim continues outside. |
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Wednesday September 17 Day 151 |
Sorry, no picture again. Today, sheetrock continued inside and exterior trim made progress outside. I also started installing underlayment in the office in preparation for the cork flooring. |
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Tuesday September 16 Day 150 |
 Sheetrock
continues. Here's a shot of the kitchen ceiling almost enclosed.
Outside, siding and trim continue. |
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Monday September 15 Day 149 |
Sorry...no picture today. I kind of forgot. On the bright side, the sheetrockers got started today while exterior trim continued outside. On the downside, we're definitely behind schedule. We've begun discussing contingencies for living (on a really reduced scale) in the basement. |
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Friday September 12 Day 146 |
 Today,
siding and exterior trim continued and Rick McGuire returned to the site to
do some final grading. Things are looking good, but there's still lots
to do inside. The sheetrocker's late! |
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Thursday September 11 Day 145 |
 With
two weeks and a day to go: Electrical rough-in was completed and
inspected today and the house is stocked with sheetrock. The
sheetrocker didn't actually appear on-site today but I hope to see him there
tomorrow. The first siding went up outside. |
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Wednesday September 10 Day 144 |
 Work
continued inside today getting ready for sheetrock tomorrow. In the
meantime, we got the first look at some exterior trim...corner boards,
window wraps, and such. Siding won't be far behind. |
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Tuesday September 9 Day 143 |
 While
electricians worked to finish up inside and we get ready for sheetrock, Mike
Dalaba and his group moved outdoors. This is the beginnings of the
vented frieze. This trim runs around most of the perimeter of the
house and will provide attic ventilation. |
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Monday September 8 Day 142 |
 Onward
toward sheetrock. After what seems like forever, finally the curved
kitchen kneewalls were built today. For the first time, there's some
separation between the dining room, the kitchen and the living room.
It feels good. |
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Friday September 5 Day 139 |
 Now
for some artsy stuff. In preparation for drywall, Mike Dalaba's crew
and construction manager Paul Miller got the first of the curved soffits in
the kitchen framed. These curves (there are more than one) are
reflected in the cabinetry layout below. |
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Thursday September 4 Day 138 |
 The
countdown continues. Today, the interior furring was wrapped up and
the electrical rough-in continued. This shot shows the beginning of
the kitchen soffits. This will eventually be a light valance. |
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Wednesday September 3 Day 137 |
No picture, but that doesn't mean things weren't happening. Today, interior furring, painting of windows and doors and electrical rough-in all proceeded. We're headed for drywall! |
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Tuesday September 2 Day 136 |
 With
the long Labor Day weekend behind us, the cast returns! Today we did
more grading, finished the insulation, installed the front door, continued
work on the interior furring and electric rough-in. |
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Friday August 29 Day 132 |
 Starring
a cast of thousands! I visited Gage Hill at lunchtime today...2
excavators, 4 carpenters, 6 insulators, 2 electricians, and (believe it or
not) 2 or 3 painters, priming windows and doors. The photo shows the
entry bridge progressing. |
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Thursday August 28 Day 131 |
 Many
things went on today. Final grading of the driveway is making
progress. Interior furring got started and we got to see the beginning
of the entry bridge. |
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Wednesday August 27 Day 130 |
 Today,
the insulators insulated and the framers framed but the big excitement was
sitework. Rick McGuire brought his machinery back to the site to start
final grading and to build the driveway. |
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Tuesday August 26 Day 129 |
 After
a mysterious two day absence (Bad!), our insulator returned today
(Good!) and began putting up the layer of foam on the inside of our exterior
walls. Outside, decking continued. |
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Monday August 25 Day 128 |
 Today,
the primary on-site activity was installing decking. It's now possible
to walk from the garage to the front door (handy!) and beyond. |
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Friday August 22 Day 125 |
 This
one requires some imagination. This shot shows our kitchen (at least
some of it) in the rough, stacked in Walt Sutliff's workshop. In
addition to making our kitchen and other cabinetry, Walt and Diane Sutliff
are the former owners of the Gage Hill site. |
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Thursday August 21 Day 124 |
 Ok...it's
time to cook! The insulators came in and banged out a good two thirds
of the first floor (basement to come later). A one inch layer of foam
gets applied over the inside of the walls and ceilings. |
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Wednesday August 20 Day 123 |
 Almost
weather-tight! The screened porch is now ready to receive shingles.
Once they're on, Mike Dalaba's crew can pop in the remaining windows and our
new house will stay dry inside. |
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Tuesday August 19 Day 122 |
 For
a change, we're experiencing a run of good weather. Today, the
screened porch framing continued and we saw the first decking nailed down on
the deck. Also, plumbing rough-in was completed. |
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Monday August 18 Day 121 |
 Today,
screened porch framing continued. Additionally, our propane tank was
delivered (soon to be buried). |
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Friday August 15 Day 118 |
 The
screened porch roof, framed from rough sawn white cedar, began going up
today. This will allow us to make the main house water tight
(finally!) and sets the stage for the pergolas. |
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Thursday August 14 Day 117 |
 Construction
on the "big" screened porch continued today. Mike and his crew put
down a treated plywood deck (it gets covered later) and erected the remaining
beams in addition to framing the deck from the screened porch to the
greenhouse. |
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Wednesday August 13 Day 116 |
 Here's
a long awaited event! The beginnings of the "big" screened porch, off
the living room. We've been held up waiting for cedar but we're good
to go. This will allow us to finish the roof. |
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Tuesday August 12 Day 115 |
Well...today was kind of a non-picture sort of day. Primarily, plumbing and heating rough-in continued. |
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Monday August 11 Day 114 |
 Apparently,
I did something awful in a former life or something because the weather
continues to plague the project at Gage Hill. Today, we had periodic
showers separated by incredible mugginess. Mike Dalaba's crew
continued framing the deck. |
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Friday August 8 Day 111 |
 Lots
of good stuff got done today! The decks continue, the basement areaway
was topped-out, Rick McGuire did some grading around the house and cedar
rafters for the screened porch were delivered. I also laid out all
of the partitions for the kitchen. |
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Thursday August 7 Day 110 |
 Here's
something new! Today, Mike Dalaba framed the first portion of the
"wrap around" deck. When's it's done, this house is going to have a
lot of deck. |
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Wednesday August 6 Day 109 |
 Today
was a day of many flavors. Mike Dalaba and his crew wrapped up many
misc. interior framing issues. We also started roughing in the heating
and plumbing. |
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Tuesday August 5 Day 108 |
 I
guess the roofing shots are getting a little old, but we're almost closed
in. The right end is waiting for some cedar we need to frame the
screened porch roof. More windows and two of the sliding glass doors
were also installed today. Hot and muggy! |
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Monday August 4 Day 107 |
 We're
still dodging the weather but today we kind of got a break. Despite
the very warm and humid day, thundershowers held off until late afternoon,
allowing Mike Dalaba's crew to nearly complete the roofing. |
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Friday August 1 Day 104 |
 Some
days, you gotta work with what you can. Mother nature turned on us
once again and today it rained in buckets. Fortunately, our windows
were also delivered. |
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Thursday July 31 Day 103 |
 Roof...Roof...Roof!
And it's hot again to boot. Today roofing continued across the office
wing to the entry. We also saw the first plumbing
materials delivered to the site. Rough-in, both plumbing and heating,
will start tomorrow. |
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Wednesday July 30 Day 102 |
 Today,
more roofing! Mike and his guys put down ice and water shield and
shingles on the
garage, then got the roof over the office wing ready to go tomorrow.
Construction manager Paul Miller and his sons Michael and Troy went back to
work on the basement areaway. |
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Tuesday July 29 Day 101 |
 Moving
toward a watertight enclosure. Today, Mike Dalaba's crew continued
roofing as well as some interior framing items we need to complete in
preparation for roughing in the heating and plumbing. |
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Monday July 28 Day 100 |
 With
a week of good looking weather forecast, today we saw the first of our roof
shingles. |
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Friday July 25 Day 97 |
 Sun!
The sun actually smiled down on Gage Hill today for the first time in what
seems like forever. The master bedroom roof was sheathed along with
some miscellaneous framing. Copper drip edge for the roof was laid out
and coated with a patina agent. |
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Thursday July 24 Day 96 |
 OK...a
little better. Today's weather was on again / off again but we made a
little more progress. This shot shows the first bits of the entry
bridge (If you're gonna have a moat, you gotta have a bridge!). |
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Wednesday July 23 Day 95 |
 Rain,
rain, rain! My guess is that the day we nail down the last shingle the
sun's going to come out. Today, we got some more sheathing down on the
roof, but I'm concerned about the time we're losing due to the weather. |
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Tuesday July 22 Day 94 |
 Mother
Nature again treated us poorly, bringing a deluge in the morning. We
did make some progress later in the day, sheathing the garage roof. |
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Monday July 21 Day 93 |
 Despite
a nasty storm in the afternoon (we're talkin' buckets here) today saw the
first sheathing go on the roof. |
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Friday July 18 Day 90 |
 Today
our crew spent a certain amount of time running back and forth to the tool
trailer to stay dry, but progress was made nonetheless. This shot
shows posts and the perimeter beam going up to the screened porch. |
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Thursday July 17 Day 89 |
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Wednesday July 16 Day 88 |
Today was a rainout...heavy in the morning. Things were supposed to improve, but there were enough showers during the afternoon to keep everyone running back and forth to the trailer. Not much progress. |
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Tuesday July 15 Day 87 |
 Today's
big event was the setting of first of thirty wood posts that will eventually
surround the house at Gage Hill. These posts support the perimeter
deck and also the roof above. Ultimately, the lower portion of each
post will be clad with stone. |
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Monday July 14 Day 86 |
 OK...the
weekend's over, back at it! Today, Mike Dalaba and his crew finished
framing the front wall of the garage and set the garage roof trusses.
CM Paul Miller and his son Michael continued work on the basement areaway. |
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Friday July 11 Day 83 |
 Today
was a rainout...the first rain day in a while. I visited the sight and
took this photo to make up for yesterday. |
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Thursday July 10 Day 82 |
Apologies to all...after walking around with the camera in my pocket, I forgot to get a picture today. There was plenty to see. The rest of the trusses on the main house are now in place. |
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Wednesday July 9 Day 81 |
 No
odds and ends today! Mike Dalaba and his crew Matt, Bob and Chad set
the first roof truss this morning and had about half of the house trusses
set by the end of the day. This also involved the final setting of two
twenty foot steel beams over the kitchen. |
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Tuesday July 8 Day 80 |
 Today
was an "odds and ends" sort of event. The septic system was buried,
interior wall framing was completed and most significantly the roof trusses
were broken into groups and moved into stacks on the top of the wall framing
in preparation for setting. |
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Monday July 7 Day 79 |
 With
the holiday weekend behind us, we're back at it. So how about some
infrastructure? This shot shows our septic system. It's just
about the only photo-op I expect to get. |
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Thursday July 3 Day 75 |
 The
moat takes the next step toward it's final shape. Looking the opposite
direction from yesterday's photo, this shot shows the grading better
developed. |
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Wednesday July 2 Day 74 |
 It
requires real imagination to see where this is going! This shot shows
the first cut made for the moat. Working from the low point to the
high, this pass establishes the proper grade for drainage. Now that
it's setup, a bulldozer will be used to contour the surrounding grade to get
proper pitch away from the house. |
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Tuesday July 1 Day 73 |
 Today
was kind of an "odds and ends" day... framing in the basement was wrapped
up and the garage slab was prepared for concrete in the morning. Also,
misc. sitework continues. The shot included here is for reference.
Tomorrow, Rick McGuire's going to grade our moat. |
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Monday June 30 Day 72 |
 Today
was not quite as exciting as some recent days. An overnight
thunderstorm left the first floor deck wet, so Mike Dalaba and his people
moved to stud the perimeter of the basement. Sitework continues. |
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Friday June 27 Day 69 |
 On
what's supposed to be the last day of nasty hot weather, some neat things
happened. Sonatube forms were set for all 30 of the piers that will
support our deck. Concrete will be placed soon. Lots of
earthwork is occurring and the site's finally starting to show it's shape a
little. |
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Thursday June 26 Day 68 |
 The
heat wave continued today (tomorrow's supposed to be a little better) while
we pursued framing the last of the exterior walls. Rick McGuire's
on-site working on the grading and backfill. Tomorrow we'll start
excavating the 30 pier foundations that support the decks and eaves. |
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Wednesday June 25 Day 67 |
 Framing
continues, as does the heat! Temperatures pushed into the
nineties...real nasty working conditions. Also today, trenches
were prepared for bringing in the water line, electrical, telephone and cable
services. |
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Tuesday June 24 Day 66 |
 Framing's
really fun because there's lots to see at the end of the day. This shot
is looking at the intersection of the office and dining wings with the entry
door about in the middle of the picture. It was a brutally hot
day...thanks to all for pushing ahead. |
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Monday June 23 Day 65 |
 Not
a big day visually, but actually lots of work got done. Laid out on
our first floor deck are all of the top and bottom plates, jacks, jack studs
and headers for the entire exterior wall package. Tomorrow should be
most exciting, indeed! |
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Friday June 20 Day 62 |
 It's
always exciting to stand on a deck for the first time. Today our
framing crew installed most of the subfloor, which allowed me to experience
the views from our dining room, master bedroom and office. |
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Thursday June 19 Day 61 |
 A
good day's work. Today, Mike Dalaba's crew set almost the entire first
floor joist system. There's still a little blocking and misc. items to
install but tomorrow should see most of the subflooring go down. |
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Wednesday June 18 Day 60 |
 Eureka!
Our first real carpentry. Actual framing began today at Gage Hill as
Mike Dalaba and his crew began the first floor deck. Also today, the
formwork was stripped from the garage foundation in preparation for backfill
tomorrow. |
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Tuesday June 17 Day 59 |
 Moving
along. This shot shows the garage foundation after the concrete was
placed. Also today, lumber was delivered for the first floor deck,
which we'll get started on tomorrow if the weather cooperates. |
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Monday June 16 Day 58 |
A picture perfect day, but no picture. Today was beautiful, sunny and in the high seventies. Mike Dalaba's crew spent the day erecting formwork for the garage foundation which will be poured tomorrow morning. |
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Saturday June 14 Day 56 |
 No
work was done today, but after two rainouts we stopped by and took a couple
of pictures just for fun. Here's the basement slab, a bit damp (rain)
but otherwise quite nice. |
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Friday June 13 Day 55 |
Appropriately, Friday the thirteenth turned out to be a rain day. At least that way, we shouldn't run into any bad luck. |
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Thursday June 12 Day 54 |
Sorry, no picture today, but things moved along. The basement slab's now in place and the garage footings were also poured. Work also continued on our well, which shows improvement but is still turning up flow rates that I wish were a little higher. |
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Wednesday June 11 Day 53 |
 What
a difference a day makes! I was actually out of town all day on
Wednesday...this shot was taken early Thursday morning. We're largely
backfilled, the steel's all set, the basement slab and garage footings are
all set for a Thursday morning pour. |
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Tuesday June 10 Day 52 |
 Workin'
away! We discovered substantial water in the foundation this morning
which prompted us to reinstall the exterior foundation drain. Also
today, the sub-base for the basement slab was compacted and the garage frost
walls were excavated. |
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Monday June 9 Day 51 |
 Not
much to look at, but important none the less, today was spent installing
drains around the foundation and under the basement floor slab.
Tomorrow, we'll place the basement steel in preparation for the slab. |
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Friday June 6 Day 48 |
 Here's
the foundation all stripped. Today, we're going to erect some
additional silt fencing around the site, put waterproofing on the foundation
and prepare some steel beams to be set on Monday. |
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Thursday June 5 Day 47 |
Another non-picture day. More stripping and preparing the foundation walls for waterproofing. |
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Wednesday June 4 Day 46 |
A non-picture day. On site activities included stripping the forms from the foundation and the electrical / telephone / cable trench was backfilled. |
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Tuesday June 3 Day 45 |
 Probably
our most productive day to date, if not the messiest! The basement
walls are poured, plus we laid the primary electric service, telephone and
cable and started our well to boot. The well was down 240' at the end
of the day. |
