Build - Day 23 - August 3, 2011

A bit of a rainy day today but as usual a lot was done by the crew. They put the roof trusses up on the dinette and sheeted the back porch. They also finished up the interior framing of the 2nd story and around the would-be-fireplace.

Speaking of fireplaces, we will have an electric fireplace (see the fireplace post for the details of that decision) so we will not need a big protruding fake wall so the current framing (see pictures below) is gonna be made a little smaller probably on Monday to give us some time to finalize the design.

They also delivered the Master Bath enclosure and D's tub/shower and put up the top-plates on all the walls. For the Holmes aficionados among us, yes, there is a membrane between the concrete and the wood as wood should never touch concrete to prevent moisture transfer.

We also made a few decisions today together with our GC while touring the site:

• The wall between the kitchen and dinette will be made shorter to allow more light into the kitchen. We'll reduce the number of cabinets /and/or reduce some in size to accommodate this change.
• The window in D's room will be changed from a single-hung 3x5 to an egress 3x3 to avoid an overlap with the dinette roof structure, which will also bring it in line with the other 2nd story windows on the back of house.
• We will change the linen closet in our MBR from opening into the 'toilet area' to open opposite the vanities.
• We will add a poured-in ramp from the back patio onto the in-law suite slider to create a no-barrier-entry and add a poured ramp from the side of the house onto the back patio for the same reason.
• We will reduce the 16" of stone on the right side and back of the house around the patio to accommodate a higher grade level to help with the poured ramp. 

Crew hard at work on a rainy day.

Top-plates are on. Walls are done.

Current fireplace framing. Will be reduced in size... 

D's window oops. Will be changed to from a 3x5 to an egress window.

Membrane between the concrete and wood to stop moisture transfer.

Dinette trusses.

Starting to look like something... 

For tomorrow and Friday: roof trusses.

Build - Day 18 - July 29, 2011

Today is our anniversary and the progress today seemed to celebrate that with us. Here's the rundown:

• Main level walls have been cured
• Interior framing has been completed
• Stairs are installed and usable
• I-joists for the 2nd floor hung
• 2nd floor sub floor laid
• Wall placement for 2nd floor drawn

All-in-all a very large amount of work got done today. Since the majority of the walls are all up now, we've also taken the opportunity to add some personal touches to them. 

Speaking of personal touches, we've also found a potential issue with our design regarding the stairs. We've envisioned them as being open, but maybe that got lost somewhere in the idea-to-plan translation. We've send some pictures of the 'idea' to our GC to see if we can still realize that. Carefully optimistic that we can... ;-)

After talking with the foreman it is his prediction that by next week Friday they might have the roof on!! As a testament to their work-effort, they normally have a ranch under roof in about 2.5 weeks, but since we have a 2-story it will take 'm a little longer. Still, under roof in about 4 weeks is unheard of in Europe, especially with concrete exterior walls. Oh, and the building crew is only five guys... and no, not the burger-kind... ;-)

I know I've been slacking a bit with the photo sets and later tonight those will go up as well. They are available on FB already for those with the right access. Below is a sampling of the progress over the last 36 hours.

Start framing the in-law suite

The in-law bathroom

Looking at the kitchen wall. Cooktop will go where the
sheet is standing. The in-law suite is in the back and covered.

The 'store', a.k.a. the pantry. Large, but could double as elevator
shaft in later years if necessary.

The cured cement inside the ICF blocks and the sub floor of the
2nd story.

View from our bedroom. Due to the well on left, it will be
permanently green.

This is where the 2nd story walls will be.