Month #2 How to build a house

There are lots of decisions to be made when building a house. Here are some of our selections:

Tile for our entry, great room, kitchen, and hallways. I think we are leaning toward the top tile in a 12 x 24 in size.

We finally came to an agreement on our granite for kitchen countertops:

We are going with a dark grey shingle (2nd from left side on top row):

We are working with a custom cabinet business to design some built-in shelves around the fireplace as well as the other cabinets in our home. I think we have decided on what range/oven we will buy - Gas range with double ovens. We still need to pick out a dishwasher and are researching that one still. If it weren't already 11 o'clock at night I might even put some links with pictures of those things on our blog.

Along the way we do expect some glitches. Our first one was a Doozy! The subs who poured the concrete forms for our garage did not make the corners square. Brandon noticed that it didn't look quite right and mentioned this to our contractor who didn't quite understand what he was trying to explain. Our garage floor was poured and then they realized the mistake. We had to have the  sides of the garage jackhammered out and the foundation re-poured. Fortunately, we are not paying for that mistake!

Right now, the roof is almost finished and everything inside has been framed. We have some actual rooms in our house!

It is even grandma approved!

Month #1 How to build a house.

First, move a lot of dirt.

And more dirt.

Get some good piles of dirt!

Make sure you advertise who is building your house.

Second, water all that dirt so you don't annoy your neighbors with all the dust. Buy some ditch boots, while you are at it.

Because some of your neighbors will be snakes!

Third, pour your foundation. In our case, a slab.

Fourth, build some sturdy walls. Our builder, Mike Rohlfing, specializes in Insulated Concrete Foam (ICF). The outside walls have 2.5 inches of styrofoam on either side of 6 inches of concrete. This makes a home very airtight and energy efficient.

Don't forget to have a little fun while you are at it.

Fifth, make sure you don't forget you need a garage. Garages were meant for storing stuff AND your vehicles so make it big!

Make sure you get enough sleep because this is hard work,

Sixth, frame your interior walls. It will help you figure out how much space you'll have in your rooms. Maybe even pretend to take a shower?

This building stuff is easy!! (Especially when your spouse is doing most of the work :)

We could use some suggestions about what kind of retaining wall to put in on the side of our home. Our lot is on a hill and there is about 13 feet of elevation difference from one side to the other. Unfortunately, the builder of the lot above us, didn't do much excavation. We ended up having to dig out quite a bit of land to make our yard flat. I think this is going to be one of those "unexpected costs" of building.

Part 1: Breaking Ground

After WEEKS of waiting on the city to approve our house plans, we finally started excavation today.

WIND!!!!

I think we could safely call the Tri-Cities the windy cities. It blows out here!

Here is a wind equation:

Slightly slanted parking area + no parking brake + WIND!! =

(By the way, wasn't me. And it's a good thing there was a tree to stop the truck from going into the lake!)

Tree eater

On my way to work I pass a cherry orchard. This past week I noticed that all the trees have been ripped out and there is this giant machine that eats them up and spits them out! It was pretty impressive to see. Brandon and I went for a bike ride and I got some close up photos.

Seattle!!

Last weekend Brandon and I went to Seattle. He had a continuing education conference and I went along for some fun. We looked at different tile stores, visited with friends and I got the chance to go visit my grandma and aunt. Brandon was happy that we made it to Chipotle-twice!

They say having a baby changes everything . . .

But just try an iphone/iPad- that will change your life!

Brandon and I just got "smartphones" a little while ago.

I also was fortunate to get an iPad with my work and they are amazing!

We can now navigate around "Fintucky", find out answers to questions almost instantly,share photos and much more that we probably haven't figured out yet.