Our new House in Broad Run Farm Page 2
These pictures and pages show the construction of the outside of the house. There will be additional pages that show a walk through when we move in. These pictures started in July. We have had a string of over 30, 95+ deg. days with humidity in the 60%-70% and everything has slowed down. It has been a hot, miserable summer so far. Now it's November, so I won't be surprised if the house is not finished before January. It might be better that way since I'll know if I still have a job by then. (Update - I was laid off November 19, 2002. Anyone got a job?)
Materials Arrive and Beams go In
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A couple of left overs: A last view of the slab and the too-fast drying of the concrete. It resulted in cracks and soft set. They're bringing in the materials packages. You can see packages of floor joists, the plywood for the deck (OSB). and the sheet metal to be used for the termite shield. Well, the floors have to rest on something. So here they place the beams. Not a lot to show. They make a temporary column for each section. Then they break away the styrofoam in the beam pockets and place the beams in them. They then spend a lot of time leveling them using these steel plates (shims) in the beam pockets. One of the pockets took about ten shims. |
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The first floor decking is going on. Finally we see something other than concrete. This series just shows some aspacts of the deck, including the joists in the basement.
I included one more shot of the powdery concrete. Just in case they try to do a crappy, cheap, patch job. In the garage if they do a skim layer and I roll a tool chest over it, the surface will crumble. I'll make sure I test it with a dropped 5 lb sledge hammer or 50 Lbs of lead. |
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First and Second Floors and Roof
From here on, I plan to present selected pictures since I think everyone has the general idea. I'm not going to go into as much detail on the construction, but just show the stages of completion and maybe a selected inside shot ot two. Also, I began to use the date feature to document the construction so I know the date. I have a lot more photos in case we get in a conflict over some detail.
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Once the deck was finished, they finished the studding on the inside of the house. A center wall is load bearing and splits the 42 foot distance from front to back. The walls were completed and most of the green polystyrene sheathing put in place. It is moisture proof and has an R-value of 5.0. Add the R-13 for a new type of wet apply close pack cellulose insulation and we have a pretty good wall. I'll explain more about the cellulose insulation when it is applied and I get some pictures. X-bracing gives rigidity. The OSB on the first floor flooded in the rain and all turned black. It is also a little rough, but they say it is sound and will be smoothed out after the trades are finished. |
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October-November Shots
December Pictures
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Now it's December. The weather is cold, and it's been rainy. They have a lot of outside work to do, but it's muddy and the cold and wind makes it difficult to plan such things as setting the sewer pumpout pit and putting on the siding.
These pictures show the installation of the pit and the interior with the insulation going in and the drywall going up. By now the utilities are in and the electricity is hooked up. You can now see how the interior is going to be shaped Ever wondered what was under your shower floor? Well here's your chance. Pix of insulation (chopped cellulose), and the first snow. We had over 6" on the ground. Merry Christmas to all. |
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January, 2003 - Happy New Year
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Well, it's a new year and we're still having the house built. Things are moving a little faster and the drywall is in and primed, the tile is going in the bathrooms and kitchens and the problems in the concrete are supposed to be taken care of in a week or two. The concrete contractor is coming out to look at the floors on Jan. 13 (Hmmm.).
Kitchen is coming together and the cabinets are going up. The final sanding is being done for the painters next week (1/13/2003) and the sidnig is almost done. Probably will be by the end of the day. They decided to break up the concrete in the basement and garage. |
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Well, this should be it! We're supposed to close on February 21, 2003. Mom is scared to death and has a perfect right to be. I haven't found anything I can do and I'm being rejected for jobs that a high school person could do. Age discrimination. Chris - maybe you're right. Update: We had a 22 inch snow during Feb 15-17, so we decided to delay closing on the house till Feb 28. This is better since we can't get in with a moving van anyway and would have to wait a week to start shipping stuff over there. More pictures of the interior to come - as soon as I can get back in. |
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December Weather: January Weather: Jan 5, we got another snow, which was supposed to be a "dusting". On January 9 the temperature was in the 60's and Jan 10 it was 46 deg. outside. Jan 17 we got a dusting of snow, followed by Jan 21 when we got another dusting of snow. Jan 22, night the mercury dipped to 13 degrees. Jan. 23, we had single digit temperatures. Then it stayed COLD! There was some lake skating, even thouth I didn't try it. El Niño. February Weather: |
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