Day 130 - Lots of Progress

Lots of work has been done on the house - I promise!!!!  The long absence of a blog post does not mean progress came to a halt, but rather the "bloggist" hit a kind of wall.  Life goes on while a house is being being built - good things and bad things happen.  Sometimes it just takes a little while to process thoughts......and writing does not come easy for some.  So, with a more ordered mind - here's the news.

The Water Tank

James has been working hard on constructing the water tanks for our rainwater collection system.  He should have the job done before the end of June.  Here's the short version of constructing the metal tank: The top ring of the tank is placed on top of the concrete ring, the cap of the cistern is placed over the top ring, that assembly is jacked up, and the bottom ring is inserted to complete the structure.

Top Ring and Cap

Complete First Tank and Second Tank Ring

Tank Viewed from Future Pool Location

Exterior Stonework

The masons have been working hard every day doing their artistry of laying stone.  Almost all of the outside basic work has been completed.  Today we watched the guys tossing the stones around like they were apples.  Amazing.  The next big projects are the two stone fireplaces and the arches on the porches.

Creating the arches over the two curved windows in the front of the house took a number of steps.  It will be great fun to watch the rear porch arches created.

Note Wood Structure Across Window

Note Larger Rocks Supporting the Rocks Forming the Arch

Wider View

Completed Arch Left Window

Completed Arch Right Window

We chose a simple stone exterior, so the masons have laid a clean line of stone above and below the windows and around the garage doors.

Window Above Garage

Around Garage Door

Garage Window

Bruce's Study Window

How about some more shots of the great work by the masons????  It is really starting to look like home.

Coping - the Architectural Kind

The "ceiling" of the porches is covered with wood pieces called "coping."  The front coping has been installed for some time and the back porch coping was installed this week.  Coping covers the wires for the recessed lighting and speakers.  I'm ready for wine and a few tunes on the back porch right now!!!

Installing the Coping

Putting in the Last Piece

Completed Coping

 Wallboard

We were excited to see stacks of wallboard arrive at the house.   A number of tasks need to be completed before the wallboard goes up, but just seeing it on site means we are not too far away from having interior walls.  It will be really exciting to get this step accomplished.

Wallboard

And More Wallboard!

So, that's all the news for today folks.  Much more to report in the coming days!!!!