Framing Stage!

WOW! The lumber is starting to go up! After they put in the structural steel floor, waterproofed the foundation and installed all the drains, the wood started flying up!

First they have to build up from the foundation and across to make the main level floor.

This crew had a worker who would sing these really loud serenedes in Spanish. He had a great voice and when I asked him why or what for, he said, "Because I'm happy!" This was a good, hard working crew that knew what they were doing!

This early in the process, everything is held up by braces. You can see in this picture the floor over the steel beams isn't done yet... they had to come in and do the floor. This company wasn't too quick or reliable, but they did get the job done... eventually!

Then the outside walls start going up. Some sheathing is put on, but some isn't. We're not really sure what the reason, but they definitely had a system going!

I remember Ryan and I's first reaction when we walked in the framed out family room... THE VIEW! It was everything we hoped and more. It set in stone why we started this whole process in the first place. In John's words, "You guys are never going to leave this place!"

Then the interior walls start getting framed in... but not very detailed.

Just the main walls for each room.

This picture is aweful of my face... but regardless, we are 6 weeks away from our new baby girl coming! The house won't be completed
(we never expected it to be) before the baby comes, but it is still so exciting! John says drywall will be done by September 1st, which is the baby's expected arrival date... so hopefully that timeline is accurate.

Garage floor is poured before all the rest of the concrete. They were suppose to pour a step going down the stairs (top right of photo) but didn't. And they also didn't pour the garage far enough to cover the back door- the door hanger told John, "It's just hanging out in space, that door- just hangin out there!" They'll have to come back to fix both things.


I was kind of bummed that I didn't get any pictures of the trusses being installed. They had all the trusses for the entire house up and braced in one day! There was a big crane (the driver was new and didn't know what he was doing) and it's kind of dangerous. Each truss is specifically built for a certain location and everything has to be placed perfectly.

Putting the sheathing on the roof took two days, when they only expected one. The workers only said to us, "This is a big roof!" Yeah, sorry guys, it is kind of a lot of roof to cover! And they did it on a Saturday when the temp was over 100 F!

Camping

We were finally able to take my little brothers camping with us this year. They are 14 and we've been asking my mom since they were about 6 and she's always been too nervous to let us take them. It was a fun time!

We went just southwest of the small town of Jefferson. It was secluded, right by a beautiful meadow and creek and was only about 1 hour and 40 minute drive. The next time Ryan and I went to the same spot we saw 4 moose in this very meadow!

We didn't have any electronics for entertainment, including a chain saw to collect firewood! So everything we burned, we had to go collect and chop.


I was 34 weeks pregnant!


Both the boys were so good- no fighting even!

They didn't know I snapped this picture, but it was so neat to see them "star gazing" and working together so closely to find the big and little dipper among the tall trees.

We ate like kings! The boys even had dish duty afterwards, but it was worth it to eat such good meals.

Ryan and the twins starting our fire. This is a turning point for Ryan, usually he uses gas to start fires. He actually liked the "challenge" of starting it the correct way!

On the second night the rain started in the afternoon and soaked the tent and sleeping bags my brothers were using. Little Ryan also was feeling sick from eating WAY too many gummy bears, so we decided to go home early. Even with that decision, it was still a great time and I'm glad my mom let us have some time with them. Next year, we'll have to do it again!

Andreas!

Foundation was completed in first two weeks of June 2010. (my blogging skills are lacking, that's why it's July when I'm posting!) Right after the piers were complete, forms started being set.

Foundation work is a hard job. You work all day with tough wood forms, metal rods, rebar, concrete. It's really hard work. Andreas was the person in charge of the crew- the "super". He was so nice, knew what he was doing and worked SO hard and fast. Thanks Andreas! Awesome work.

Windows and steps are calculated into the forms, everything is kind of like "reverse" thinking. You have to block off where you DON'T want concrete.

The wood forms go up first, then rebar inside the walls for support.

Then comes the pumper truck with the concrete. The forms sit for two days, get taken off and PRESTO- you have walls!

Ryan, Angie & John (our lifesaver- the guy who's really doing our house)

Ryan "sweeping" out the garage!

*pushing the dirt back in place (backfilling) is not done for another day or two to give the walls time to harden.

A "SHOUTOUT" to Snow's Concrete Forming, Inc. 303-750-1703

Dig Deeper!

*Be warned, this is boring if you are not into rocks and machines!*

Engineers recommended that our house be built on piers (poles), or essentially "floating" above the soil to prevent settling or shifting. So we needed to drill out 43 piers that went at least 6 feet into the bedrock layer! Then fill them with rebar posts, then fill with concrete. These piers ended up being some as deep as 21 feet deep!

These are the drilling auger trucks. This is the bigger one they had to send for, since the first one on the job wasn't making it through the hard rocks.

Here's the auger when it's drilling down into the ground. The drill bit is as big as his head! The NOISE was incredible. Metal drilling rock... lovely!

After the holes were drilled, three long pieces of rebar stuck all the way down into each on of the 43 holes.

Then fill with concrete and let form. Let's hope the piers are in the right spot... or the City will make us re-do them!

This guy was on the site for the whole day (10 hours). We thought he may be looking at notes or plans or something. If you zoom in on the picture, he's doing a CROSSWORD PUZZLE. Who is this guy anyhow? Well turns out, we found out who "he" was about 3 weeks later when the soil engineer invoice came with an "extra" supervision charge for $$$$. WE have to pay this guy $55/hour plus travel charges to make sure everything was done right. Otherwise the company won't sign off on the inspection. What a crock. So we'll send the check, we have to, but I'm also sending this picture with our payment.

It was QUITE the process! Noisy, tons of trucks, workers, inspectors, and did I mention NOISY? The weirdest thing was all this was happening on day 3 of construction, we were paying all of these people, trucks, etc. and it was a sure sign we are doing this project!

Excavation

Ground was broken the day after I got out of school for the summer... good timing!




Ryan and I met John at the site that morning. In two days, the lot went from flat and green (above) to this (below)...

*A funny side note (well, for us anyhow) *

We were responsible for figuring out where to dump the extra dirt. So we found a haunted house that needed some fill dirt right by the lot, which worked out great. We were told by the excavator that it would be about 5 truckloads of fill dirt, which is what we told the haunted house guys. Turns out it was around 30 truckloads! They were in a slight panic, but we were grateful they let us use their land. We ended up taking some back, but talk about a "bit" more dirt than expected being delivered to your place!

More Preggo PIcs

25 Weeks- End of May, school is almost out!

27 Weeks- First week in June, ground is broken at the new house!

29 weeks - 3rd Trimester, 10 weeks to go

So far, no complaints about pregnancy. Besides the typical being tired, hungry, oddly amused with my body changes and being caught off gaurd by the movement inside my tummy, things are going well. I wouldn't say I'm loving being pregnant, but it's going okay. I really can't wait to meet this girl growing inside me!

And for those wondering, no we really have not picked a name. We're not just telling you that, but we have not had time to fully think out names. Something will come to us, hopefully by September 1st!