Week 4

Week 4 Update! (Still 4 days over due - sorry)

At the start of the week we started with a walk thru with Trevor. With just the foundation, honestly it feels so small. I wanted Trevor to remeasure a bedroom because 15' just looked like 7'. Trevor said it just the optics at this stage.

Over the course of this week the plumbers will be laying lines through the basement floor, stubbing for in floor electrical outlets, then grading the floor. After they grade the floor, foam will be laid, radiant tubing, and final preps for the concrete.

In the basement, most of the floor will have radiant heat since it will be only polished concrete. All bedrooms will have carpet and no radiant. The radiant heat is not for temperature control, just comfort under foot.

 Our homework items are to finish windows and doors as well as fireplace selections.

Week 3

Okay - so this should actually be recap of week 4, but I'm catching up!
Week 3 -
At the start of the week our homework items are to finish the window and door selections because framing is to start in 2 weeks (week 5)! It's expected in 4-6 weeks after framing starts we'll have the roof.

On August 20th we hosted the Searfoss Clan (Deb's family) for a grill out and afternoon on the ATV's. It was beautiful weather. Sorry no family pictures here!

On Monday, Trevor and I meet at Suburban Lumber to continue discussing the window bids. We have bids from Pella, Marvin, and Weathershield. Prior to receiving bids, I'm a pretty staunch Pella fan and Trevor is a big fan of Weathershields. It looks like Marvin may be a meeting in a middle for Trevor and I, but also a very budget friendly option. Pella (with all integrated blinds and roller screens) was $35K more than the Marvin bid. Marvin has either retractable blinds or screens, just not both in the same window.

 
Above left is the siding (blue) with exterior window color choices. At right is hinge and hardware choices. We have literally talked about each window every time we meet. Lots of details to pick from and specify. John and I still need to finalize what to do with patio doors. While also at Suburban, Tom with Electrical Concepts stopped by to discuss Lutron blinds.

Week 2 Update

Wow 2 weeks - time has flown this past week. Here is a recap of what we've been up to and where we left off.

We ended week 1 with the footings poured.

Week 2 started with rain. Lots of rain. Thursday night brought down about 5". I didn't make it out on Friday, but John spent most of the day removing water from the shop....again. The rain brought down dirt onto some of the footings, while other areas had standing water. 

As depressing as that sounds, it was incredible how quickly they dug out, cleared the water and set the forms for some of the walls. So Friday remained a productive day. 

On Saturday we escaped for the weekend and road the train in Boone with the Forristall family. Great break away and the kids had a great time!

Back on Monday all the forms got set and ready for concrete. Justin Schraeder came with a backhoe and dug out around the shop building. They will be spraying tar around the foundation of the building and adding more tiling.

On Tuesday we met out at the farm with Trevor to survey the progress.

On Wednesday they poured concrete for the walls. Within three hours it was all poured.

At the close of week 2 the forms were removed and the job site is picked up. Iowa Walls did a fantastic job and worked through some muddy days. We really appreciate the progress.

We have concrete!!!

The first footings are poured! It is so exciting to see the progress.

In other news, we celebrated Kathryn's birthday on Sunday. Very thankful for the friends and family that came to help us celebrate her 3rd Birthday!

Weekend Recap

Thursday night a rain storm quickly moved through the area. While relatively brief, it did drop quite a bit of rain. I thought Friday would be our first 'rain day' and the only news to report would be mowing.

But Friday around 1:30 Iowa Wall's showed up and started forming up the walls! Despite the mud, they made pretty good progress. On Saturday the kids and I went for a wagon ride to survey the progress.

Yesterday, August 3rd, was officially the FIRST day of ground breaking! Schrader Excavating started in early on a very hot and balmy day. The blue sky and clouds made for great pictures. Later in the evening, the whole family stopped out to survey the progress. Today should be the last day of excavating as they dig the frost footings. Tomorrow (Friday) will start pouring walls!

GPS Pinned

Yesterday Schrader Excavating came and GPS pinned all the flags Iowa Walls had set for the foundation. Today should be ground breaking!!