Day 167 - Sheetrockin' Along

Do you ever have the feeling that something isn't quite right?  A little something is bugging you?  Have you failed to act on that feeling and then regretted it?  Or have you acted too late at a cost?  Well, there are many opportunities to encounter such situations when building a house.

 

Something was bugging me about the footprint of my study........been bugging me for some time.  The other day I had my "Eureka" moment.  The closet should be smaller to allow more flexibility for arranging furniture.  Of course, it had been framed for weeks............and, unfortunately, the custom doors had already been ordered.  But the carpenters were already at the house doing some other work, so the left wall came down and was moved in about a foot.  I am no longer bugged - except for the resulting change order :-)



Study closet before change

  

Study closet after change

The really big news is the sheetrock has started and should be finished in a few days.  Having the wallboard up gives a very new perspective to the rooms and the feel of the house.  It is very exciting!!!

Resized closet with partial sheetrock

Great Room Fireplace Wall

Master Bedroom/Bruce Study Common Wall

Master Vanity going into Master Laundry

Bruce's Study

I was talking to the guys working in this room about being up on the scaffold.  One of them told me he was going to "unavailable" the day the sheetrock was being placed on the great room ceiling.  He said he would check on his buddies by phone!!!!!!

Guest Bedroom

The patio door has been hung and the masons are returning to do some finishing work on the stone exterior.  The masons will also be doing a revision to the patio fireplace mantel - the mantel was another "something is bugging me" item.  We caught this problem right away and are looking forward to seeing the new version of the mantel.

Patio Door Closeup View

Patio Door Longer View

It is supposed to be 105 degrees in our area today.  We will certainly enjoy the insulation when we go visit the house!!!

Day 166 - Remember Us?

Sorry it's been so long since a new post.......I offer no excuses but do offer an apology for not sharing pictures sooner!!!!

Water Collection System

The second tank is in place and we are now waiting for three more steps to be completed before capturing rain:  trenching to lay the pipes to the house, placing and connecting the pipes, and hanging the gutters to catch the rain off of the roof.  Here are some shots of the second tank.

James Riley and helper building the first ring

Joining ring pieces together

Completed first ring

Both tanks hidden in trees

James Riley Avenue

Beauty shot of the two tanks

Critters

As you have seen, we are building on an old ranch and there are lots of critters in the country.  Some of them appear in multitudes unlike anything I have ever seen in the suburbs or city!!  If you are scared of spiders, beware of next picture!!!

Daddy Longleg spiders on patio wall

One of the things I love about our location is listening and watching the many birds.  Apparently the birds like us because a mother bird made her nest inside the house and laid eggs.  When Jose was doing some preparation for hanging sheetrock, he found a nest in one of the kitchen walls.  We had to remove the nest and Aaron placed it outside away from the house.  It was sad to move the nest knowing the mother would come looking for her eggs.....but it had to go.

Doomed eggs in kitchen wall nest

Sheetrock Preparation

Jose from the sheetrock company came one day with spools of pink string.  He was dropping and stringing plumb lines to check out the angles before hanging the sheetrock.  He didn't expect to be a  bird nest explorer, but said he has seen nests in walls on other jobs.

Nest was in wall in front of Jose

Climbing wall to get to kitchen ceiling

Insulation

It can be hotter than blazes in the Hill Country and good insulation is imperative to be comfortable in your house.......and to have money for something other paying the Pedernales Electric Cooperative.  We were advised to use several different kinds of materials to insulate our house.

The material used for the most coverage was foam insulation.  The foam is sprayed directly on some surfaces and sprayed inside a fabric sheathing in other areas.

The Foam Truck

Piping the foam into the house

HOT, HOT job spraying foam in attic

Garage Ceiling

Second story ceiling

The crew attached sheets of fabric to some of the walls and then sprayed the foam inside.  As the fabric was cut and staged in the house, it looked ghostly.

Measuring fabric for wall

Hope our house is not haunted!!

Fabric wall

Foamed wall with fabric sheating

The common wall between Bruce's study and the master bedroom needed heavy insulation to provide a really good sound barrier because his TV will go on the study wall and the bed on the bedroom wall.  Not a good arrangement if he is watching football late at night!!!!  A material made of recycled blue jeans should do the trick to keep everybody happy.

Maybe your old blue jeans are in our wall!!!!

 And the last material used was the regular batting type of insulation.

Regular batting type insulation

I remember insulation being pink and scratchy... it's been fun to learn about different kinds of insulation materials!!!

Day 145 - Cookie Monsters

From time to time in telling the story of building the house,  I've mentioned bringing cookies to the workers.  I thought it would be fun to show you some "cookie monsters" in action.  We had just finished a thorough inspection of the progress to date with an independent inspector and our builders, and it was a good time for a treat!!

Bruce, Ron (inspector), Keith, and Aaron enjoying a treat

In case the guys left cookie crumbs in the house, we have installed an in-house pest protection system.  There are black tubes running through the house connected to a central manifold.  The port for the pest chemicals is located outside the house for easy servicing.

Pest Shield Manifold

Pest shield tubing

While we were doing our walk through the house, the masons were continuing their artistry outside.  The patio fireplace is really taking shape.

Laying different types of brick inside fireplace

Starting to really look like a fireplace!!!

Outside view of fireplace including chimney

AND........the bracing forms for the arches have been removed revealing the beautiful job the masons did forming these features of the back porch.

Notice the big piece of equipment in the background partially hidden by the trees.  It is the backhoe the pool builder will use when starting the pool project.  Here is a better shot of this impressive machine,

Kinda looks like a great big cricket

So, it was another hard week of work by the folks building our house and we are thrilled with the progress.

Day 143 - Pooling Our Resources

I almost couldn't find a place to park upon arriving at the house site today.  It looked like a parking lot at the hardware store.  But I'm not complaining since there was so much work going on - pool guys, rainwater expert, plumbers, masons, mill work rep, and the senior project manager.

So glad we put in this parking lot

"Overflow" parking

The first appointment of the day was with the pool crew from Pristine Pools to site the swimming pool in the back of the house.  They were very precise in locating the pool according to the data and drawings from their pool designer.

Pool Crew with orange outline of pool

Marking Pool Deck

Tim - Pool construction supervisor

Survey equipment to site pool

Bruce meet with this crew early in the morning - too early for me.  But after about hour or so, Bruce called me and asked if I could get there pretty quickly.  When I arrived and saw the pool site, my immediate reaction was a definite NO.  The pool designer met our request to save as many trees as possible, but unfortunately his placement put the pool uncomfortably close to the back porch.  We have over 26 acres and many trees, so the pool designer is drawing up a new plan to relocate the pool area further back on the property..........a few trees will need to be sacrificed, but not any big oaks.

Other water related work was going on with James making progress on the foundation ring for the second rainwater cistern.

James hard at work

Cool hand mixer for making concrete

And inside, Lee from Bracken Plumbing was moving the trap drain in the powder room.  When we did the cabinet walk through, our cabinetmaker noted the drain would be visible because of the open design of the vanity. So, Lee moved it higher where it will be concealed.

Lee replumbing powder room vanity

The masons started putting the brick inside the patio fireplace, worked on the back porch arches, and did finishing work on the entry columns.

Concrete brick for first layer

Firebrick layer

The arches next to the fireplace will be constructed after the fireplace is complete.  The area around the other arches has been cleaned up. And the columns on the pool house now have rock.

Supports still in place

Cleaned up work area

Still a little messy on scaffold!

Outdoor kitchen area

Grill goes under this arch

Rocked Pool House Columns

On the front side of the house, the masons finished placing rock on the columns and relocated the electrical connections for the outside lighting.

Working on top of entry column

Cap on top of column

Relocating lighting connection

We had lots of discussions with our mill work representative and project manager about crown molding and doors over the course of the morning.  It was a very productive day.

Talking it over - Aaron, Nancy, and Terry

Tomorrow is another big day with an early start meeting our independent inspector.  I'll try to be in on that event from the beginning...........