Drywall

It's amazing how different the house looks, once the drywall is up. It also amazing what a difference in price you get from different folks. We ended up (luckily) being able to hire a local friend who is also a very good drywaller . Bill will cost us a good 35% less than the high bid we got.

Master Bedroom looking at our closets and doorway into Master Bathroom.

Living room cantilever (where our entertainment center will go). We put in a temporary wood stove to help keep the place warm during drywall and painting, but as Jeff found out recently the stove puts off plenty of black soot that accumates on the walls. The painters, who are there now, don't seem to think it's a big deal at the moment. That's what you get for reducing the size of the stove pipe!

Bonus Room (3rd level), looking north at our 1/2 moon window. Yes, heating the house has been quite a pain. Jeff has to go over there everyday morning and afternoon to turn on the construction propane heaters and fire up the woodstove. Never a day off for him! We can't turn on the forched airfurnance till all the drywall dust is cleaned up and the painters are done. Hopefully, we'll ge the furnace on next week.

Master Bedroom corner, looking northwest. It's amazing how many decisions you have to make. Luckily we are putting of choosing paint colors at the moment as we are just have primer and first coat of ceiling white put everwhere. After we do the wood trim, we'll caulk and then do final paint (in various colors).



Kitchen, looking north at where sink will go. I've also been recently picking out light fixtures (all made in China of course), it's amazing how much money you can spend or save. I've been able to find most fixtures on sale or clearance so far.

Bill.


For those of you who keep asking, here's a recent picture of me. Due date in two weeks!

Baby Shower

We had a baby shower last Sunday. The girls got together to eat yummy food, talk about babies, and open presents. Thanks to Terri and Kiva who hosted the shower and to everyone else, it made it a really special time for me! I heard the guys had a good time too (at their man-shower), playing foosball, drinking beer and watching football. I'm sure they didn't even say the word "baby".

Rea with hand-made quilted blanket from Aunt Gerda

I couldn't resist taking a photo of all these tiny booties and shoes!

Barb and Hayden, Sue in background.


Tracy and Baby Drew ( 4 months)

Halli, Allison, & Rea

Kiva, and Terri's daughter Tatum

Halli, Rea, and Jessica. "Oh, it that what a sitz bath is"

Beatrice, Heather, and Susan

Terri, our wonderful hostess

Lauran & Lauren

The Food!, quiche, smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomatoes, bagels, cheese cake, coffee cake, scalloped potatoes, pumpkin pie, cinnamon rolls, artichoke dip, and of course champagne punch!

Thank you Judy for taking all the photos! But that means I didn't get a photo of you at the shower.

Insulation

Finally, after weeks of backout, plumbing, and electrical we finally are insulated. We did R49 fiberglass batts in the cathedral ceilings and R-21 blown in fiberglass in the exterior walls. We paid quite a bit extra for the blown in fiberglass in the walls, but this should really cut down in cold-air infiltration and heat loss.

Blown in insulation in living room looking towards cantilever. Wood stove on right. Batts in celing not completed yet.

We also did a bit of blown in celluose (it's gray) in the Master Bedroom. This was for better soundproofing and has a slightly lower R-value.

Bonus Room with 4 mil plastic sheeting installed over blown in fiberglass.


Jeff's bead board in covered porch. Can you see the trap door?

Rea in front of entry way. The stone is for behind the fireplace.

Halloween 2008

We had a great time this year at the annual Halloween Party hosted by the Fossaceca's and Cornetts. Many thanks you guys! Here are a few photos...The winner of the contest, Ms. Sarah Palin (Halli) "Miss Informed" or rather it's "Mis-Informed" Look closely at her sash and the second "s" is falling off.

Josephine, scary spider witch girl.

Scary Team America hocky players (Laura & Greg) and Duane being the garden he didn't plant this year.

Dave and Dakota, the mime and sleeping hercules.

The Cave People, Levi & Lindsay. (Levi's did the plumbing at our house).

Mr. Willy Wonka (Jeff) along with Halli and Josephine.

Finally, it wouldn't be complete without Mr. Willy Wonka and Ms. Violet Beauregarde (the girl who chewed the amazing chewing gum at the chocolate factory and got to flavor a 3 course meal...ooh it's blueberry pie and Violet, why your turning Violet! She eventually turns into a blueberry herself). Would have been a better costume if I had painted my skin blue, but didn't want to absorb any toxic chemicals or make the baby blue.

Siding

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted. Since that time, we've passed our rough-in for framing, plumbing, and electrical and we are getting really close to getting in our insulation. We've decided to upgrade our insulation and do blown in fiberglass in the walls (R21), and R-49 batts in the ceiling (they can't blow it in up there for some reason). Originally, we were going to do cellulose, but we are worried about it drying out properly in the cold (still no heat yet). But we've got to foam all around the windows and do caulking first, not to mention all the block-out stuff.

Here are some photos of the siding. It's green hardiplank lapsiding (a fiber-cement product), with stained temple trim pieces (that's a wood/glue composite material). The shingles are even hardi-plank. Jeff plans to do rock he and the guys hand collected on the walk out basement level next summer.

Also, note the new tool shed (10' x 12') Jeff built, the carport under the deck and the deck (we still need to do the railing).

Drain, Waste, and Vent

4" radon pipe, dryer vent, and drain and vent for washer -

hey what's missing on that washing machine box? -see end of blog to find out.

Drains for kitche, powder room sink and toilet located in ceiling of basement bedroom.

Roof and skylights are in. Check out those ugly white vent stacks. Soon they will be painted black.

Side view of house, deck still not on yet.

Front of house

The ANSWER: the p-trap! Every fixture needs a p-trap or sewer gasses would escape into the hosue. For sinks you do the p-trap after drywall and toilets have the p-trap built in. We missed the p-trap on the washing machine originally, but now it's in.

Other problems: Levi, our plumber spent an extra 10 hours replacing cracking 2" sch 40 PVC pipes when he tested under only 7lbs of pressure (you test to make sure no leaks). I think we got the bottom of the pile at the supply yard. I got money back on the pipe, but not the labor it took to replace them! What a headache, but things could be worse, right?

It's Been a Beautiful Autumn

Lump Gulch Road near the Chalet.

View of S. Arapahoe Peak.

The little log cabin on our property where we are building the house.

Wow, Look the windows are in.

View from the house under construction.