The Thomas House

Just a quick update.  The framing has commenced.  The entire basement has been framed, floor joist put on, and the subfloor is on.  Additionally, part of the first floor walls have been framed including the back wall in the Great Room, which is two stories of windows.  It is looking pretty good, and it was the first time I have really gotten excited because I can actually see and walk through some of the rooms on the first floor.  Hopefully todays snow will not keep them from working.  Progress…Finally!

Here’s a few pictures of part of the basement framing and the subfloor.  Maybe we can get an updated picture up later.

The rain did not stop the plumbers today.  Despite the snow, sleet, rain from the weekend they were able to get more work done today and pass inspections.  Aaron had told us the plumbing would be done a couple of weeks ago but he decided to bring in a new plumber.  Apparantly the other guy did not perform up to his standards and Aaron has a new guy to do our house.  I appreciate that.  Here are some pictures from what they have done.  Now that this is done they can pour the basement floor.  And yes, that does mean more concrete…weather permitting!  Oh please cooperate!

This is a picture of the safe room.  Since a small porch is above it we decided to use this empty space a shelter in case of storms or any other reason.

So, it has been a while.  The house is moving along.  For the record we have had the coldest winter since I think 1917 and we have had the wettest winter.  All of these things have affected our project.  But, the basement walls did get poured and waterproofing has been done.  Just this week the huge mound of dirt has been moved to fill in around the house and to fill in the garage.  Note to self and to anyone out there:  If you want your house to sit up off the ground it does affect your garage height!  We realized this after the fact but after seeing the garage get filled in and the driveway take shape we are good with it.  The floor trusses should be arriving any day now.  Anderson Lumber has them built but we are waiting for delivery.  I am not sure when the plumber will be there do set the drains in the basement and then pour the basement floor. 

Today I am going back to meet with Wholesale Supply in Maryville to discuss more plumbing options.  I have to see if we can get our budget down and to get some answers on questions.  I had no idea plumbing can be such an issue! 

Thanks for reading and I promise we will do better at this.  I will do my best to go out and get pictures made today or tomorrow…although more snow is in the forcast for tomorrow.

Well the rain has stopped and we were able to get some work done on the house.  The footers were finally poured and this week they have started putting the forms up for the basement walls.  Since we have opted for poured concrete walls instead of block walls they set forms to hold them in place until the concrete is stable.  We are about 6 weeks behind because of the weather.  It is nice to know we are making some progress now.  Below are a few pictures of what is going on. 

Come back in July!  Yes, the rain has caused many delays in our house building.  The good news is that the basement is dug out.  The bad news is, well, rain.  Take a deep breath and be patient.  Here are a few pics…

This is the back of the basement.  We will have a walkout for lawn mowers, ect.

Ellie thinks Dad has lots of firewood to cut up.  He has a long winter ahead of him.

View from Side

Well John has taken most of the trees down that need to come out.  He has 3 or 4 more that will come out tomorrow so they can dig on Friday.  The rain from last night really made things muddy.  Aaron said they could not work with the mud because it will take longer to dig and cost us more money.  Tomorrow will help dry things up for Friday.  I am really impressed with the way the yard will be.  Enough trees were left in the front yard that they will make great bones for the flowerbeds.  As I am out there, I can see some of the shapes of the beds forming and beautiful azaleas under the trees.  We are not sure if we are going to sod or seed.  We will probably seed and go back in the fall to sod the yard.  That is next year though.   Craig has asked the men to stack up the tree trunks that have been cut down so he can have it as firewood.  He will have lots to cut up this winter.  Maybe Andy will come and help him!  Lets just say we will have plenty of firewood for years to come!

We have been looking at brick options.  One brick color we liked is no longer available.  Luckily we have another color called Old Columbia from Boral Bricks that we like with a grey mortar.  We need to find a house with that combination.  Most of the houses have a Buff mortar with that brick.  It looks too yellow to me.  So that is where we are in brick color.  I think we the roof we will stick to the normal Charcoal.  Yes, we are traditional.

The contractor signs are up and so is the fencing!  One step closer to excavation on Monday!  And yes the porta potty is there as well.  I told Aaron that I was glad they brought him one for women!   Last night we met with the surveyor, builder, and excavator to determine the final layout of the house and driveway.  It only gets more and more exciting.  I am sure the stress has not hit completely.  Tonight we went out to determine what trees we needed to take down.  No, Craig will not take these down with his “Axeman” skills.  We will save them and use them for firewood.  Eliana has had fun playing in the leaves and insists on picking up each one.

I have added new links in the blogroll.  These are links to some of the products we will be using throughout the house.  As we make final decisions, I will delete some of them and add new ones.  As always, feel free to comment any time.  Once the excavating starts we will take those photos and post them.

The house on top of this blog is not our house.  It is simply a WordPress template.  If I had a better picture of our house I might customize the blog more, but I do not have one at this point.  Just an FYI.

Well, tomorrow is the day.  Deposit is to be paid and we start to get the permits.  We are very excited and thrilled.  Craig got the insurance figured out and all is well there.  We walked through the neighborhood this evening and it was peaceful even with the kids playing football.  Tonight would have been a perfect evening to fix smores and hot chocolate over the imaginary fire pit!