House - August 24th

OK - Latest pictures of the house. They were taken early in the morning, so the shadow of the mountains makes everything seem dark. Sorry, but photography is so complicated.

Anyway, this is the kitchen. As you can see the roof is starting to take shape. The framing here is called "stick framing" because each piece is put in place separately. On Wednesday pre-assembled trusses will be put in place and they will go much quicker.

The kitchen ceiling is so tall! It is sixteen feet and to give you a feel for how tall that is, the ladder in the picture is resting on a board that is twelve feet off the ground. We will not only have horizontal space, but we will have vertical space in the kitchen and dining areas.


This is the back of the house. The door is out the landry room and will go to the balcony. The orange cones are where the posts for the balcony will rise from the ground. The board everywhere is a special type of plywood that is very resistant to "shear" or sidewise stress. It makes our house stand up if there were to be an earthquake.


This is an exciting picture of my work. We had to cut several holes in the basement floor, this being one, so that we can pour new "spot footings". Because the new roof is so heavy we have to have extra support to carry the weight. The holes we have dug for spot footings will be filled with extra concrete and tied through reinforced steel to the existing footings. More concrete equals more support for the posts that support the floor and ceiling above.

We also had to cut holes to allow the plumbers to run new drains for the changing toilet and drain configuration in the bathroom and utility room.


Here is a front shot giving the outline of the roof and giving some dimension to the garage. You can't really tell from this photo but the cement in the garage is sand colored. The porch is supposed to be the same color but it seems to me that it is turning into the more traditional white cement as it dries. Farhad thought it might be sand colored as well, but my eye for color isn't fine enough to distinguish. Anyway, all this lumber will be in other places come Wednesday because this space will be filled with a crane that will be lifting trusses into place.

Have a good Sunday. Love, Dad