Roof is done!

Here's an updated shot of the framed house, with the roof all tar-papered and the front tower installed.

They fixed the closet error as much as they could--but I still think that people who want their coats hung up had better visit in summer, because big winter coats might not fit. Tight, tight!!!!

Looking like a house!

We came back from a week away and found that the lines of cement blocks in the ground had sprouted 2-by-4s and grown into a house! We turned into the neighborhood and saw it--and the thought both of us had first was "Boy, it is tiny!" Compared to the house next to it, it looks like the servants' quarters.

The front "tower" (along with the rest of the roof) isn't quite up yet, so it will look a little different when the framing is all done in the front. But do take note of and enjoy the views of the wide eaves, a telltale sign of prairie style architecture.

We are very pleased. All the room sizes are what we had in mind and put in the plans. Bob's compulsive measuring has paid off (at a Christmas party we went to, he spent a good amount of time measuring our hosts' kitchen and living room!). It looks great!

One tiny problem was that the hall closet came out only a little over a foot deep, due to a 3-inch discrepancy between where the garage was laid out and where it should have been. The closet is a triangular shape, so shortening one side of it had exponential consequences for the depth. The builder says he can fix it.

Note (in the bottom photo, taken from just behind the dining room wall) the fine prairie view we'll have from the kitchen, looking toward the great room windows and door to the deck!

More of the same

These pictures are all looking pretty much the same...one view of a foundation looks about the same as another, doesn't it!

The framing was supposed to start on Monday, but snow and cold temperatures stopped that progress. The wood has been delivered, however, as we saw today. So maybe tomorrow things will start to rise above the foundation.

Meanwhile, since my last post, the foundation did actually expand to the front of the house (which is on a slab). The garage space looks nice and big, and the porch is now visible in front of my office and the dining room.

The guys laided block for the front foundation in weather below freezing--I felt bad for their very cold hands working with the wet mortar. Indeed, the mortar had a propane flame keeping it warm, which was more than the poor workers had.

Speaking of worker perks, however, they did deliver a port-a-potty to the site!

Ten days later

Wow, I can't believe it has been ten days since I last posted. Where does the time go? Well, partly it went away, as far as house building goes, because it was cold and snowy here, and cement pouring went slowly.

However, they have poured the basement floor, having put in the plumbing underneath it, and they dug and pour footers for the garage, my office, the porch, and the dining room, which are along the front of the house and on a slab, rather than over the basement.

The photo of Bob shows him helping spread the gravel under the basement floor. The top right photo shows the intricate digging pattern for the front of the house, and the top left shows the cement blocks and mortar mixer ready for building the front foundations--which they were supposed to do today!