Posted on by Emily

Day 311

Our moat is working well and keeping delivery trucks at bay. (sigh.)

They were trying to deliver our exterior doors in this picture, but unfortunately our plywood bridge here was not going to cut it.

It is strictly a pedestrian bridge. A very small pedestrian bridge, for very small pedestrians.

I safely crossed the bridge several times; however, I will be very relieved once the electrical has been inspected and approved, and the ditch can be filled in. I am hoping this will happen tomorrow.

Somehow, these bricks showed up for the chimneys…

Inside, there has been progress on the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems (MEP). At our site meeting, I walked through with the builder and the electrician to verify placements.

The electrical foreman’s name is “Country”. Now, when our builder told us the electrician “Country” was coming, I had in my mind that this man would look something like Blake Shelton. “Country” is neither tall nor cowboy-like. No, in fact, he is a stout, hispanic man who is about my height, which, for the record, is 5′ 4 1/2″.

Because I had very detailed electrical layouts for him, which I assume made his job easier, we are now best friends.

Now taking suggestions on what my construction nickname should be.

“Country” and his crew have been busy wiring the upstairs.

(This is my husband Josh in the picture. Not “Country”.)

The HVAC guys have most of the ducting in place.

And we have some plumbing! These are drain lines for the mater bath sinks.

Kath has hot and cold supply lines in the guest bath! She’ll be tickled.

These nooks in the mancave and studio came in handy for all of the HVAC.

Just a few more pieces of plumbing to put in. (yikes!)

I give them an A+ for organization.

And they finally remembered to frame in the basement access!

I took a class in Phenomenology in graduate school and for some reason this photo reminds me of a spa we studied in Japan. It was all about a sensory experience with light, touch, and sound.

OK, time to end the interior tour.

Out front, our baby volunteer trees are starting to grow. Just another 50 years or so until they’re as tall as the others.

Hopefully the house will be done by then.

Posted on by Emily

Day 304

We are in the not so sexy stage called “rough in”. It is during this stage that they put in the guts of the house, which are critical for it to function, but not the most photogenic.

The electricians were placing all of the housings for lighting and putting in switch and outlet boxes. My electrical plan was so detailed that the electrician only had 3 questions for me. Not bad for several hundred components, if I do say so myself.

It is always my goal to leave absolutely NO room for interpretation when it comes to electrical plans. I’ve seen far too many switches *centered* on large walls across from the entrance to a room.

Not in my house.

Electrical panels boxes, easily accessible in the garage.

Slightly more exciting than the electrical, they’ve built the tub deck for the master tub.

I’m hoping they will enlarge the opening for the tub or the cat will be the only household member able to use it.

They’ve started on the roof as well…which will be super handy once they have it complete.

Handy because we arrived yesterday to check on things just in time for a torrential downpour. Conveniently, they had just dug the ditch for the electrical lines, which runs right across the middle of the property, between the house and the driveway and all the way around to the back of the garage.

We put Barry’s truck in 4 wheel drive and hoped for the best.

On the bright side, I got some good wide angle shots of the house as we slid through the mud all the way around the house.

The electrical ditch basically had the effect of a moat. So, now we know what that’s like in case we ever want one.

For now I think we’ll stick with fences to secure the perimeter.

Speaking of, my dad and Josh have almost finished the fence. It’s looking mighty fine!