Lower Siding Completed !

While Casey has been wiring our house (we have more outlets and circuits than ever!)- Mike has been siding the lower section of the house. This is the same material as the roof- green galvenized metal that clips together and hides all the screws. Once again- no holes equals no water in the walls. The upper siding will be Hardie board that looks like cedar but is made of cement.

Casey and Mike also lifted all of the big windows and huge door into place- this was quite the task without a boom truck. With the combination of a forklift and strong backs- they were able to get those upper windows and doors mounted without any breakage.

Plumber Richie has started his work and is plumbing his way through the house. Thank goodness we have 9' ceilings in the garage to allow for the correct drop for outflow. I can't wait to get into that Japanese soaking tub (right of the shower in this picture).

Casey's friends- Mike and Linda Walsh arrived this week to enjoy Alaska for a week's reprieve from Washington State's unusual heat. Star has arrived so now we all get to play for the week with bits of work intermixed each day. My mom is to arrive with friend Ivanelle. They drove Mike's new truck from Iowa to Alaska and will be here today.

So at the end of "Week Five"- we have the house water tight and ready for the rest of the plumbing, insulation, sheetrock and then the design details such as flooring and trim.

Talented Kids

With all that is going on this week, Mike and I have decided that we are very lucky to have good talented and healthy kids.

My daughter -Justine- is finding her way through life on her own and at her own pace. She is financially independent and paying her own bills at the ripe age of 21. I know that most of my friends and co-workers kids still have their fingers in their parents checkbook so I feel very fortunate that Justine has taken me seriously about being on her own. She has a great work ethic and will be very successful at whatever job she is doing. Justine works at a bank in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Mike's son Brady is a Information Tech in the Navy. He is located in San Diego with his two kids (Dylan and Travis) and wife Jeanette. He too is talented and working hard to raise his family. His co-workers are enjoying Brady's ability to trouble shoot most any issues they have.

You all know Casey (Mike's oldest son) - Casey is located in Marysville, Wa with his wife Star. He has impacted our life this summer with his strength, great ideas and constant patience.

It is amazing how each one of these kids is doing so well. We are both very proud of their abilities and lives. Thank you -to all three of you.... for being you.

Windows Delivered

Monday- what a day! The windows were delivered in the afternoon. All of the windows look great- Mike started to put them in and the lower level is complete.

With the creative use of a upside down ladder (shown above) - Casey continued to get the wiring strung as we mounted all of the boxes yesterday. Seems there are alot of blue boxes all over the house to accommodate for power, lights and smoke alarms. Just looking at all of the wiring makes me confused- it looks like spaghetti factory. I know Casey has it under control and knows where all of those wires hook up.

Now we are attempting to find someone to complete the drywall- everyone is busy as is it the season for building.

Tomorrow I go to the electrical association to get us signed up for power- this has been quite a process of "learning their system". MEA wanted to charge us over $36,000 to dig a trench and string a cable for power over the 1000 feet from the existing transformer in the neighborhood. Of course I like to find ways around this expensive endeavor and proceeded to get bids from other contractors. Finally we secured a bid for $30,000 to do the same work- hopefully the neighbors will want to sign up for power and we will get a rebate with every new hookup.

A Busy Week!

This picture is the rear of the house prior to the metal roof. This week was spent getting the overhangs built, then sheeting the roof with OSB, laying down Grace ice and water shield. The big deal of the week was attaching the metal roof. Mike hired two guys to help Casey as it was too high for Mike to climb and too much work for one person. It went really fast when they got started and it was all over by Thursday afternoon. The metal roof was in 16"wide sheets x 29 feet long. It all clipped together so our roof has no exposed screws. Now if it rains- we won't have any water inside.

When the roofing guys left- Casey and Mike got busy building the balloon walls on the interior. The interior ceiling slopes inside just like the roof and to get the division between rooms- they had to build up to the slope. The task is tedious and slow so "picture taking" livened up the day.

Friday was spent (the entire day) shopping for electrical parts- wire, breakers and ground posts as well as for the last plumbing materials to get the infloor heat upstairs. Today- Saturday July 21st- we Tyveked the outside and cleaned up. Saturday afternoon we spent trying to find a good fishing hole. We did not find any fish but it was a nice day to spend time on the riverbank.

Panning for Gold!

So this last weekend- we all took a break from the house building activities. It has been a busy, difficult week for the guys- Casey the "I'm not scared of heights guy" and Mike "I don't like ladder' guy" were doing things very slowly. Due to the height issues- it made the week a rough one but they got alot done all the same.

Saturday- we decided to go pan for gold at Cache Creek. The state maintained road had mud holes big enough to swim in and the going was very rough but once we arrived the scenery was great. We found some gold flakes and had great fun just messing around while watching out for bears.

Trusses are UP!

Let me get you all caught up....I was in Fairbanks working this last week.

So after an afternoon of waiting (everyone took naps) for the "Truss Guy" to call back- he finally called around 4pm. We found that the trusses were correct and that the overhang would tie back into the taller trusses. Once that was all understood- the guys got back to work flying those huge 52' wide trusses to the house.

Thank goodness Arlene's brother- Ron- came out and helped the guys. Without his, Zack's (Ron's son) and Pat (Arlene's son)- the job would not have been accomplished in one day. Then you have Arlene- back at the house cooking up a storm so we had good food to enjoy after a hard day. So a big "THANKS" to everyone for their help.

So by 9 pm, the trusses were up with temporary bracking. As you can see- Casey was actively being a monkey- hanging and sliding between the trusses which were 12-16" apart. This was a very difficult thing to do for the big guy that he is.

The rest of the week has been spent getting all of the trusses lined up permanently, completeing the bird blocks, building the gable ends and then sheeting them. We also had the garage doors installed and the front door was put in- now the place can be locked up. The picture below shows Casey working on the gable framing.

Next week (7.16.07) the ladder framing (for the eave overhang) will be completed then the roof will be sheeted, grace rain and ice rolled out, and metal roofing/siding installed.

Truss Day!

Arlene's son - Pat works for Spendards Building. On Friday afternoon he brought the boom truck up to set the trusses this weekend. Before the trusses could be set, he "flew" the one piece shower kits into both of the upstairs bathrooms. This was so much easier than trying to get it up the stairs. Saturday morning was slated for setting those huge trusses.

Once again- Casey was designated "monkey" as he climbed up and down the walls and trusses. There are three different trusses that were set 12" and 16" apart. The first 6 went in without a hitch, then "Murphy" aka Murphy's Law showed up....As you can see below these trusses are not the same size. They are supposed to be exactly the same pitch and size. After many phone calls (on Saturday when no one works)- we gave up trying to get any assistance.