Cook Home Construction

More progress!

2008-05-21T09:18:00.002-04:00

Gas lines have now been installed!

The telephone and cable lines coming into the mechanical room.

Both fireplaces have been set.

Tiger foam!!! A spray in insulation that provides an air tight barrier. This is the one exterior wall in Jacob's room that couldn't be done in ICF. Batting insulation will be put on top of this to make sure he stays toasty!

Heating and air

2008-05-21T08:58:00.004-04:00

The heating and air ductwork in the basement is now complete! Dwayne and Jeff had to frame around the ductwork in order for the drywall to be installed.

This is showing the ductwork in the basement bedroom below the master. You can also see the red and blue pex water lines and the radiant floor heat that was installed for the master bath floor. Warm floors on a cold winter morning- thanks, honey!!! You can also see the drywall leaning up against the window. Our drywall crew is ready and waiting to get started and we are looking forward to getting the behind the walls work done!

Electrical progress

2008-05-19T18:00:00.002-04:00

These pictures were taken back in February. Dwayne has pulled over 3 miles of electrical wire!! (And yes, the circuits have been tested and they all work!)

A change of address!

2008-05-19T17:44:00.003-04:00

We were fortunate enough to sell our home in November, despite the housing slump, so our address has officially changed!!! Here's a picture of our new mailbox!

A typical dinner out for Dwayne!

A great suprise!

2007-08-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

Dwayne has successfully hooked the main water line into the house! We were suprised at that fact alone but another great suprise was the amount of water pressure. When Dwayne turned the water on, it shot at least twenty feet across the basement!

The siding crew came back and finished up the siding this week. We are really happy with the way it has turned out and the crew was great!!!

A change of plans!

2007-08-21T12:55:00.000-04:00

I haven't told Dwayne but I've actually decided that I no longer want a new house and prefer to stay where we are! NOT A CHANCE! (Just joking honey! Have you come to yet?) We just decided to relocate our washer and dryer so he had to move the washer/dryer hook-up. Dwayne doing the plumbing has come in very handy!!!

The septic tank is in, has been inspected (one of our only two required inspections!) and we passed so this will soon be covered up! YEAH!

The front yard ditches have been smoothed out, so for the first time we can actually kind of "see" what our front yard will be like!

Grey water

2007-08-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

We found out that we had to run a separate line for our "grey water" or water that doesn't come from a bathroom. Dwayne had to do some re-routing but got the grey line out from the front of the house and down to the lateral lines.

I just like this view of the house and especially the rockers on the front porch! Can't wait to put them to regular use!

Septic

2007-08-21T12:18:00.000-04:00

I was a little concerned when I got out to the house and saw this huge hole- I was wondering if Dwayne had had enough and was preparing to end it all (somewhat like his Treo that he accidently dropped off the top of the roof!) I was relieved to learn that this was only the hole for the septic tank!

No, Jonathan, we don't have huge moles down the hill- it's only the field for the lateral lines.

The 400ft of septic line that runs to the lateral lines.

Lines coming off the distribution box to the lateral lines.

The lateral lines did look pretty cool

More ditches!

2007-08-21T12:05:00.001-04:00

Just when I thought things were getting better as far as dirt piles and ditches, I went out and found three more ditches! Right now you cannot drive up to the house unless you come in from the neighbors driveway at the bottom of the hill. I guess it always gets a little worse before it gets better! Dwayne is working on getting water and electric into the house.
This is where the main water line will come into the house.

Since Dwayne is running his own plumbing lines he decided to run an auxillary line out to the garden area.

This is the ditch where the electric lines will come into the house.

Progress Update July 24th, 2007

2007-07-24T16:32:00.000-04:00

This week Dwayne is working on connecting the water and electric to the house. Somehow he is going to connect these pipes from the main water supply

to these pipes going into the house! (I swear I don't know how he knows to do all of this stuff!)

Close up of a light switch in the hall

View of the recessed lighting and the ceiling fan box in the great room. Don't even want to know how they got those installed!

Our back/side yard

2007-07-24T16:18:00.000-04:00

I had the pleasure of meeting our neighbor, Mr. Bullock, yesterday. Turns out he does excavating for another neighbor, John Feshal, and he is the one responsible for this--

It was exciting to see the back/side yard flattened out and help us to visualize our back yard better! This picture was taken from the porch outside the master bedroom.

Electrical work!

2007-07-14T15:51:00.000-04:00

We were fortunate to have a long-time friend, Stephen Mason, help out today with electrical work. Dwayne commented several times how great it was to have a third set of hands. They were able to get quite a bit done-here are can lights going up in the vaulted keeping room.

Here a couple of switch boxes

Progress Update

2007-07-02T19:16:00.000-04:00

The outside of the house is really coming along. The siding is complete on the front and would be completely done if the guys hadn't run out. We are using pre-painted Hardi siding and ended up with quite a few pieces that had some defects from the factory. Our supplier was great about replacing them, but it's going to take about three weeks to get the new siding here. The metal roof on the kitchen is finished, but we asked the roofing crew to pull out until the siding is complete so no one will be walking on it. We are really pleased with how the outside is shaping up!

Our house is BLUE!!!!

2007-06-14T14:53:00.000-04:00

Progress of a different sort

2007-05-06T22:17:00.000-04:00

We spent the afternoon today building raised beds for gardening and planting. Dwayne's mom, Carla, brought back quite a few red raspberry bushes from Dwayne's grandmother's house. Once again, the tractor came in very handy!
The beds went together a little quicker than what we expected, so we were able to do three.
Raspberry bushes
Carla and the kids planted some peas and carrots

One year update!

2007-05-06T21:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of our home construction project. It seems like it's been going on forever, but at the same time, when we look back at pictures, it seems like it was just yesterday!
These two pictures are from May 4, 2006.

These two pictures are from May 6, 2007. Quite satisfying to see the progress!
On another progress note- after months of deliberating, we finally agreed on a front door and it has now been installed, along with the master bath window!

Plumbing and electric

2007-04-30T22:36:00.000-04:00

Dwayne has done a fabulous job with the plumbing and has started on the electric!
The manifold for the master bath. We are using PEX tubing for our supply lines- doesn't it look cool? Blue is for cold water and red is for hot water. And an advantage of doing your own plumbing is that you can add in extra lines if you want, for example, three shower heads!
Supply lines and drain lines for Rebecca's bath.
Outlet boxes for three of the entry lockers. Dwayne wants an outlet in each one so that everyone has a spot to charge their phones and game systems. :) I didn't get a picture of the contraption Dwayne used to cut out the styrofoam. It looks really weird but makes very straight lines!
A close of up how the out let box fits into the ICF wall. A picture of three of the can lights in the dining room.

Roofing

2007-04-30T22:10:00.000-04:00

The shingle portion of our roofing is mostly on. Clarence Pickett, who is a good friend and CLS customer, owns Pickett and Dunn roofing and is putting on our roof. We are waiting on the metal roofing for the porches at this point. So far these guys have done a great job and were very quick with the shingles.

Update!

2007-03-02T12:16:00.000-05:00

Progress in the master bath!!! Not really THIS much progress but this is what we hope the finished product will look like!
Framing for master bath shower.
Dwayne taking a long deserved soak in the tub-I have to say that for all of his tremendous efforts, I would be OK with him taking the first bubble bath!!
All of our exterior doors have been installed with the exception of the front door. These are the doors leading out of the master bedroom onto the wraparound porch.

Plumbing progress! Dwayne is doing a great job with the plumbing! I haven't been out there when there's decent light to get more pictures of the pipes, but this one of the washer/dryer hookup came out OK!

Update

2007-02-07T17:24:00.000-05:00

Entry from Dwayne Cook, Contractor and Lead Worker:

Since the blog hasn't been updated with pictures lately, I thought
I'd share a few words. Not much visible has taken place since the
framers left over a month ago, so not much reason to take pictures,
unless Marsha wanted to come out and take pictures of me warming up
by the fire or torpedo heater!

I spent several evenings running temporary lighting through each
level of the house. Now I've got 28 lights that come on and light up
the whole house! It took longer than I thought, but it has already
proven to be worthwhile. I've not had to deal with flashlights and
moving work lights around since.

I have put insulation all the way around the inside perimeter of the
house, wherever the roof meets the top of the walls. I used about
200' of R-19 insulation and cut it into 6"-18" pieces to close up all
the noticeable openings. Now it's not drafty, like it has been. I
have Charlie's torpedo heater, that runs on kerosene or diesel. It
hasn't made much difference yet, as I can still see my breath while
I'm working! But at least I can go warm up by the heater instead of
going outside and warming up by a fire!

I have started my plumbing project. I am running PVC for drains and
vents right now. My friend and Master Plumber, Darrell Sanderson, is
coaching me again. (He coached me when I did the plumbing under the
basement slab.) He has talked me through what I need to do a couple
of times now. It's very helpful to listen, (it's a lot to take in!),
but I'm really learning as I go. It is starting to make more sense
to me now, as I have done a lot of the work for the kids' 2 bathrooms
upstairs now.

Thanks for checking-in, for your interest, support, and prayers!

Windows!!

2006-12-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

Our windows were installed this week! This row of five windows is one of my favorite things about the house. The light coming in from these windows will light the stairwell which is open for two stories.

Outside view of the windows.

The covered porch was also added this week.

Front Porch

2006-12-16T11:26:00.000-05:00

The framing for the front porch was added Friday. The framing guys said they need to be able to put their ladders on the roof of the porch (YIKES!) to be able to close in the attic on that side of the house.

Day 224 (But who's counting?!)

2006-12-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

The roof over the covered porch was added this week so that the guys could better reach to put the OSB board on the exterior of the great room.

The side porch off of the garage bay.

Closing in on closing in

2006-12-08T11:52:00.000-05:00

We are getting closer to being closed in- we ordered our windows this week! Hopefully the porch will be poured next week when the temperatures come back up (15 degrees right now!)

Up on the housetop!

2006-12-08T11:32:00.000-05:00

The framing crew from Cincinnati has been doing the framing on the roof of the main part of the house. That's 40 feet up in the air from the back of the house! These guys shimmy and slide around up there like it's nothing! I guess that's an advantage of being young!!

More pictures!

2006-12-04T09:32:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures that Dwayne took last Friday after a big storm had passed through. Notice the green shelter in the last picture. The sturdy frame he built was evidently no match for the 50 mph winds!

Long time, no blogging!

2006-12-03T16:49:00.000-05:00

To make a long story short, my computer died and I haven't been able to blog in two months! Thanks to my wonderful husband, I have a new iMac and am back in business! A lot of changes have taken place since I last posted!

The front of the house.

The back of the house.

View from one of Jonathan's bedroom windows.

Visitors!

2006-12-03T16:44:00.000-05:00

Dwayne's Aunt Peggy and Uncle Howard, who live in Chicago, stopped by as they were passing through Frankfort for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Howard, Peggy, Dwayne, Carla and Larry. Way to look helpful Peggy!!!

2006-12-03T16:26:00.000-05:00

We found out we were going to need two steel beams in the garage to support the bonus room above. We located them through Bottoms Engineering here in Frankfort, but they didn't set them. Soooo, being the DIYer that he is, Dwayne called up Donnie Marshall, who owns Design Signs, and asked to borrow his crane truck. It was actually amazing how quickly and smoothly the beams were set in place.

Dwayne and Daniel controlling the beam while Donnie controls the crane.

Guiding the larger of the two beams.

It's a bird, it's a plane, no-it's just Donnie reeling in the crane!!

Names and faces

2006-12-03T16:10:00.000-05:00

Here's a few of the names and faces from our site:

Gregg Stevenson, with Lyon's Lumber, has been a great help to us! Notice his signature cool shades!

Chris and Jeff, our bonus framing crew from Cincinnati, have made me very nervous framing the roof over the main house. You should see them scurry across all the open beams 30 feet up in the air!

Adam, Ricky and Greg working on the framing in the garage. As far as we know, they were all homeschooled and work for Big D Construction.

Daniel, the big D in Big D Construction!

Pictures of progress

2006-12-03T15:51:00.000-05:00

Since the ICF is done, the framing crew is back and they are able to make lots of visible progress. Our framer is Daniel Heckman, who owns Big D construction in Walton, KY. He came to us highly recommended and we would recommend him highly to anyone! We feel very blessed to have him and his guys on our project!

Progress on the porch and the garage

2006-12-03T15:36:00.000-05:00

Jonathan said his favorite part of the garage floor was the little pallet bridgee for him to walk across. So easy to please!!!
Looking up the side of the wrap around porch.
The porch across the front of the house.

Pouring the second floor!

2006-12-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

I was hoping to get pictures of the guys pouring the second floor, but we got there in time to see the truck pulling away!!!! I guess practice does make perfect- Dwayne and the guys were done in less than in hour! It's hard to believe that we are finished with the ICF portion of this project!!! (Although I'm sure Dwayne is breathing a sigh of relief!)

Pouring the first floor!

2006-10-04T21:32:00.000-04:00

The boom pump truck is so tall you could see it from the bottom of Lucas Lane! This picture was taken at the corner of Lucas Lane and Switzer Road. It is a cool thing to watch!
Looking up the hill towards the house.
There's a lot that is going on during the pour!
This concrete mix was much better than what we had for the basement. Here you can see it flowing into the wall. Nick just happened to call this morning to see if Dwayne needed help with anything - great timing Nick!

Preparations for the 2nd pour

2006-10-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

We continue to be blessed with great friends who are willing to come out and help us. We definitely couldn't do it without them!

Frank and Dwayne putting up the blocks to align the walls.

Jeff putting extra bracing up on the kitchen wall.

Brent and Jeff running string to line up the walls. Notice Brent's cool headlight!

September 25th

2006-09-25T14:25:00.000-04:00

All of the rain over the weekend slowed things down a touch, but Dwayne and his awesome help are making incredible progress! We lost the wall long wall to the left side of the house during the storm, but before the kids and I could get out there with dinner, they already had the wall back up and seemed that they hadn't missed a beat!

Things are really starting to take shape on the first floor. This is a view from the driveway looking at the front of the house. The little ledge sticking out to the left will be part of the wrap around porch and the short wall to the right will be the garage.

Looking straight on at the back of the house. The center windows will be the great room, the big window to the left will be the keeping room and the windows to the right will be the master bath. A covered porch will be in between.

A broader view of the back of the house. You can see a little of the kitchen window to the far left. It's exciting to see things taking shape!

Day 120!

2006-09-08T08:34:00.000-04:00

We were very happy to return from our Labor day getaway to discover the basement framing done and the first floor on! Daniel and his guys are great!!

Progress!

2006-09-02T22:44:00.000-04:00

Our framer is Daniel Heckman from Walton. Here he and his guys are framing up the basement walls.

A shot of the crew working the on a wall. It's neat to be able to see where rooms are actually going to be and get more of a feel for the size of the rooms.

Floor joist going in!

Undoing

2006-08-26T23:24:00.000-04:00

After spending a great deal of time putting up braces to support the walls during the pour, today was spent taking all of the bracing down! Here Dwayne is loading some of the bracing back onto the trailer. He and Frank worked for at least seven hours and still didn't get all of the braces down. This home construction stuff is a lot of work!
Frank taking down the braces in the trench between the t-walls for the porch and garage. Have we mentioned before that we love Frank?!!!!!

We have walls!

2006-08-24T22:27:00.000-04:00

The first concrete truck out of 8 (that's right-8!) loading up the pump truck in preparation for the pour. The concrete truck continuously fed the pump truck until they ran out, then the next truck was usually waiting to pull up so there was very little lag time in between. When all was done, we had poured 72 yards of concrete and had no blowouts!! It was a pretty smooth (although long!) day!

We couldn't get over how tall the pump was- we could see it before we even turned onto Lucas Lane. The pump truck was anchored into place and the operator controlled the pump from a remote control that he wore around his waist like a fanny pack. It was very cool!

Frank and Dwayne doing some last minute bracing. The pump truck operator was very complimentary of Dwayne and how prepared he was for the pour. (He was very prepared-thanks to a great deal of planning and a lot of help from friends!) Have we mentioned before how much we love the view?

Dwayne manning the pump on the porch. Once the concrete started flowing, the operator could slow down or speed up but there was no shut off valve, so the concrete kept coming until the truck ran out. The only time it got really messy was moving down to fill under the windows. Oh, and when Dwayne flipped off of the ladder. He somehow managed to flip off of the ladder, spin around and still grab the pump and keep going. Amazing!

Lyle Carlson vibrating the walls to eliminate any air pockets. He and his wife, Pam, have built a home out of this same material and were wonderful enough to be on hand for the pour. They were a great help!

More pictures from the pour

2006-08-24T22:00:00.000-04:00

The garage wall after the pour. A sill plate will be attached to this and the rest of the garage will be stick framed.
Buddy could hardly contain his excitement today!
Rebecca vibrating the porch wall.
Lee, the pump truck operator, was awesome!!! You can see his remote for the pump- he said it's like playing video games all day!
Ellis Kyper filled in for our Nudura rep for the pour. He was a great help!

Pleasantly Suprising Evening!

2006-08-14T21:57:00.000-04:00

After the heavy downpour we had around 4:00 today, Dwayne was thinking that this evening might be a wash as far as getting much done. He was very pleasantly suprised to have 5 guys show up to help out! The kids and I went out for about an hour or so and were amazed at all the work getting done!

Contrary to what I would prefer people to think, I actually do help out occasionally!

Frank came prepared to stay late! The kids are now having a fit for a headlight!!!

Jeff and Mike making braces for the windows.

Jonathan and I thought it looked like fireworks on the fourth of July, but it was actually Nick and Aaron cutting rebar.

Sights from the site

2006-08-14T09:18:00.000-04:00

Looking at the back of the walkout basement. The indentation will be a covered porch.

Another view of the walkout basement.

Aaron, Mike and Jeff working on the side porch. Mike (on the right) is actually on a very tall ladder.

Dwayne and Frank down in the trench, building up one of the t-walls. You can see where the basement wall has been cut to allow concrete to flow into the t-wall, so that the basement wall, t-wall and porch wall are all one continuous piece of concrete.

Streeeeeetch Frank! Frank is up on a ten foot ladder working on the front porch t-wall.

The guys taking a break to eat. We do try to take of those that are willing to come out and help!

Moving on to the porch

2006-08-13T23:15:00.000-04:00

For those of you who know Dwayne and I very well, you know that everything we do tends to be more complicated than we think it is going to be . This weekend, Dwayne and his awesome help worked on stacking the front porch and the t-walls that will connect the porch to the house. We cannot express enough how grateful we are to have such wonderful friends who are willing to give us so much help! Our plan calls for a wrap around porch that is eight feet wide (which equals a lot of block!)

Looking across the front of the house. The trench footers that were poured for the porch have several step downs, which makes stacking the block a little more interesting!

Looking down the side of the house. You can see the wall connecting to the house. The basement wall has to be cut in for the t-wall to attach so that when the concrete is poured, it is one continuous structure. The garage base will be added the same way.

Our first window (sort of!)

2006-08-07T22:15:00.000-04:00

We are using a neat product called Vbuck to buck out our windows and doors before the concrete is poured into the basement walls. Here, Dwayne and Jeff have pieced together the first window frame. Rebecca was great at providing some entertainment!

Jeff and Jacob carrying the window frame to the wall to install it in the right spot.

The frame was hoisted up over the walls and then slid down into place.

Dwayne checking out the frame after it was placed. The concrete, when poured, will go around this frame and the windows will then attach directly to the Vbuck. This is supposed to save time over having to buck the windows out with wood and then removing the wood after the pour.

No, it isn't the fly! It's just Dwayne in his safety goggles!

Block Party!!

2006-08-05T23:40:00.000-04:00

We had an awesome day today and we can't say enough about how blessed we feel to have such truly wonderful friends! We had people consistently coming and going all day helping stack block and put up bracing. I'm so sorry not to get pictures of everyone who was there. We can't believe how much progress was made today! It's very exciting to see!

Dwayne and Frank up on the bracing. Dwayne thought it was pretty awesome to be able to stand in the house and look down the driveway. We haven't been able to do that before!!!

Dwayne and Frank putting up more bracing. The braces enable us to go higher with the block, but they will also support the styrofoam during the concrete pour.

Traci and Dwayne stacking block and putting in rebar. Larry and Carla were great at handing things up the scaffolding. Saves a lot of time when you don't have to climb up and down constantly!

Frank and Vivian were in a groove with installing the braces. They did a tremendous job!

Kids were a big help today too! It's really exciting to see the basement shaping up!

Our shelters are back!

2006-08-04T22:37:00.000-04:00

As many of you know, we have been through several awning/shelter type things. Where we are up on a hill, they are easily taken out by seemingly mild winds. (The wind even picked one up out of the basement area and blew it down the hill, across some trees and into the neighbor's yard!) Since we still have the awning covers, Dwayne decided it would be best to build his own frames, and put the awning covers over them. The guys from CLS came to help and they finished the awnings and more!

Kenny helping Dwayne with the frame for the smaller awning.

The inside of the large tent- I think Dwayne could build his own barn!!

Aaron and Rusty snapping a chalk line on the porch footer before drilling holes for the rebar

Starting to take shape

2006-08-03T16:11:00.000-04:00

After the basement slab was poured, we were able to start stacking ICF blocks again. Jeff and Dwayne stacked two more levels of block, which meant cutting out windows. Now we are able to see how things are going to look, on the basement level anyway!

We have a basement floor!

2006-08-01T01:31:00.000-04:00

With the extreme heat we've had lately, the concrete crew started pouring the basement floor before 7am. Dwayne was with them until 3 that afternoon. They really had a long day and in the end, it was the most beautiful concrete slab I had ever seen! (Funny how your perspective changes as you get older!)

All of Dwayne's hard work on the radiant floor heating system being buried under concrete.

One of the concrete trucks got stuck. (Deja Vu? No wait, that was a gravel truck!) Here a second truck is trying to pull him out.

Unloading some of the weight of the truck that is stuck.

Kenny Hall using his buffer tool on the floor after the pour is complete. He and his crew have been great!

2006-07-31T01:13:00.000-04:00

After taking a much needed getaway to Fairfield Glade with the Cook family, it was back to business! Dwayne was concerned about the weight of the concrete floor shifting the hollow ICF wall, so he decided it was best to pour about a foot or so of concrete into the back wall before pouring the basement floor. The driver was great and let the kids go up on the truck to take a peek. You know how it is with us homeschoolers- everything is a field trip!!!! The view in this picture reminds us why we love our property!

Overview

2006-07-17T13:37:00.000-04:00

An overview of the basement with a good deal of radiant tubing down. Dwayne painted lines where the walls will go to divide up the radiant zones, so now we (I) have a better picture of what size the rooms will be! The u-shaped spot is the staircase and the area beyond it is the landing/foyer at the bottom of the steps.

More radiant floor progress!

2006-07-17T13:29:00.000-04:00

Jeff and Frank came out to help with the radiant floor- Dwayne was a little smarter today and waited to until 7pm to start working, although it hadn't cooled down a whole lot!

Just hanging around!

2006-07-17T13:22:00.000-04:00

Jonathan found a way to relax and take it easy by hanging in the pex tubing roll-looks like he also found Dwayne's stash of Oreo's!

2006-07-15T23:54:00.000-04:00

Proof that the kids do help some! And me in my element of supervision and direction!

Long time friend, Jeff Rogers, was a BIG help today! We made great progress, despite the heat and lack of experience!

Hunny, if you keep taking pictures, you're eventually going to get ALL 3 of us in our plumbers pose!

2006-07-15T23:26:00.000-04:00

After weeks of research and discussions, and help from my radiant floor consultant, Charlie Jones, I came up with a plan this morning and got started today at 3:00. Yes I picked the hotest part of a hot day to layout a reflective tarp and begin laying out Pex tubing!

Interesting view of Jacob helping out. Yes, he was a good helper today! Very interested in the process. He will benefit from this experience!

Cool new hat! "A la Kelly Settle!" Still didn't keep me cool. Boy was it hot today!

A good view of the basement rec room. The tubing is laying out well!

My kids don't help a lot, but they sure provide lots of entertainment!

2006-07-15T14:22:00.000-04:00

You would think that with all of the rain we had this week, we would have had a chance to catch up on this blog! I'll try to give a quick rundown of what has happened in the last week and a half.

As most of you know by now, Dwayne installed all of the rough plumbing in the basement. Here is a picture of the pipes after they have covered back over with gravel.

After a lot of red tape, we decided to forego the plumbing inspection- a benefit (?) of being farmstead exempt. Dwayne pressure tested all of the pipes and the system checked out perfectly. Charlie is stubbing up the main drain from the house in preparation for the pressure test.

Dwayne and Charlie rolling out the Insultarp. This tarp will provide insulation under the basement slab and well as help reflect the heat upward from the radiant floor tubing.

Wire mesh goes down over the tarp. This helped to hold the tarp down and keep it from blowing away during the storms we have had this week. We will also attach the radiant floor tubing to the wire mesh before the basement slab is poured.

Basement drain pipes

2006-07-03T17:54:00.000-04:00

An overview of the basement drain pipes. Because we are doing this ourselves, we putting as much into the slab as we possibly can. Frank and Vivian came back out on Sunday night to help with the pipe sloping and gluing.

Our plumbing crew (otherwise read AWESOME friends!)

2006-07-03T17:26:00.000-04:00

At the time of the last posting, we were ready for the plumber to install our rough-in plumbing. Since the plumber we were planning on using has yet to call us back, we decided to proceed with something else. After meeting with another possible plumber, we have decided that we (ie Dwayne) will install our own plumbing. The other plumber has agreed to tutor Dwayne along the project, so he started right away. This involved digging trenches anywhere we needed pipes to go. (Yes, the gravel that we had just leveled out!) So Saturday, some of our most awesome friends showed up to help dig trenches. Here, Frank, Vivian and Kelly are finishing up the trenches. Dennis Raleigh snuck out before I could get a picture of him.

Ready for plumbing

2006-06-28T22:30:00.000-04:00

The basement is now ready for the rough-in plumbing. We are hopeful we can get this done and work on laying the radiant floor tubing this weekend.

How did he do that?!!!!

2006-06-28T22:22:00.000-04:00

I nearly had a stroke tonight when I pulled up to the site to find Dwayne, sitting on his tractor, wedged perfectly in the covered porch area! I couldn't imagine how he got the thing in there in the first place and surely didn't know how he was going to get out! I said before that he continues to amaze me in this construction project, and tonight was no exception. As it turns out, this was one of many trips in and out of this spot tonight. He was using the tractor to dump rock into some low areas in the basement. (BTW, there is not a single mark on any of the ICF forms!)

Jonathan's house

2006-06-28T22:06:00.000-04:00

We picked up this little tykes house through freecycle, a very neat organization worth checking out. His house went up much quicker than ours!

Our first big cut!

2006-06-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

Dwayne and Brad, our ICF rep, making the first cut out for the basement door. The plan calls for french doors but for now we had to have some way to access the inside of the house.

A family affair!!!!

2006-06-26T23:49:00.000-04:00

Tonight we spent a lot of time spreading around the rock in the basement (see previous post!) Everyone got in on the action and the kids were a big help! Even Jonathan was screaming he wanted to help and grabbed a shovel!

Experiences in home building!

2006-06-26T23:00:00.000-04:00

We are continuing to learn soooo much about home building! For example, last Monday night (one week ago) Dwayne painted this sign and put it in the exact location that we wanted the rock to be dumped (which happened to be the center of the basement.) Tuesday night we went to the site prepared to spread out the rock in the basement. To our surprise, the driver had dumped the rock right at the top of the driveway. Mind you, this was twenty TONS of rock we are talking about! Needless to say, Dwayne was highly upset and called for more rock, explaining to the dispatcher what had happend and where exactly he wanted the rock placed, explaining that the driver would need to drive past the first load of misplaced rock and around the ramp to the basement where he would plainly see the ROCK sign. Much to our suprise, Wed. evening we went to the site to spread rock and there was the second twenty tons of rock about 30 feet past the first pile of rock and nowhere near the basement! Unbelievable! Now we had forty tons of rock in places we didn't want it and no rock where we did! SOOO, after an earful from Dwayne and specific instructions for the driver not to dump the rock without Dwayne or I present, we hesitantly ordered another twenty tons. I briefed the kids on the situation and waited for the call to run out to meet the driver. Sooner than expected it came and out the door we went, not even giving Jonathan time to put his pants on! I told the kids to move quickly to the car as these drivers could not be trusted to wait on us to dump the rock. We wouldn't be gone that long I said, we just need to show the driver exactly where we need the rock to go. Little did I know!!! We sped to the property with visions in my head of a third rock pile being placed on near the portable garage and a husband who now had permanent veins bulging out of his head. So you can imagine I breathed a big sign of relief when I saw the truck waiting on me. The driver was very nice and explained that he would be bringing the next two loads of rock as well so I would be able to show hime where to dump and go back home (we needed three, so we had two more coming to replace the two that had been wrongly placed). I smiled and thanked him and told him we would watch him dump the first load so Jonathan could watch the truck work and jumped back in the car. He quickly drove down the ramp where he proceeded to quickly get stuck in the mud!!!! "Would you like me to dump it here?", he asked. I thought he must be joking and ignorantly laughed along. "No way, Dwayne will go ballistic!", I said, still not realizing he was serious!! Once I realized he wasn't joking I quickly called Dwayne, then the dispatch. She assured me that the driver was not joking and that our only two options were to dump the rock where the driver was stuck or call a tow truck to come and pull him out at the additional cost of $200.00!!!! So two hours later, the kids (Jonathan still had no pants on!) and I watched in disbelief as the driver dumped ANOTHER 20 tons of rock where we didn't want it! Now we had a total of 66 TONS of rock right no where near Dwayne's beautifully painted rock sign!!!! Thank goodness Bill Jones was able to bring a Bobcat out and move all the rock! We could laugh about it by Sunday, but Friday afternoon it wasn't too funny!!!!

Progress!

2006-06-17T23:14:00.000-04:00

HPIM1593
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Our ICF rep came bright and early this morning to help us start stacking blocks. We stack the first two courses, then the plumber installs the rough plumbing, we install the radiant floor heat and the basement slab is poured before we continue going up with the rest of the walls. These first two courses are the toughest, although they still went up fairly quickly. They really are very similar to legos- the tops and bottoms snap right together!

A view from the back right corner

2006-06-17T22:55:00.001-04:00

HPIM1590
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Dwayne, Bill and Brent playing grown up legos!

2006-06-17T22:55:00.000-04:00

HPIM1591
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The blocks are suprisingly light!

2006-06-17T22:54:00.000-04:00

HPIM1595
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The kids can easily lift and move them, but today they had friends out to play so they were too busy having fun!

Dwayne tying up a corner

2006-06-17T22:50:00.000-04:00

We have footers!!!!

2006-06-16T17:42:00.000-04:00

Completed footers
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

After several weeks and a lot of work, we finally have completed footers! The concrete truck was an hour and a half late, but even so, the crew poured the house in an hour. Our ICF rep is coming tomorrow (on Saturday!) to help us stack our first two courses of ICF block. Now we can really see the house starting to take shape!

Dwayne and Aaron inserting rebar

2006-06-16T17:36:00.000-04:00

Dwayne and Aaron inserting rebar
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

I continue to be amazed at how Dwayne is just taking to building this house! When the crew had finished the first side, he grabbed Aaron and the string and started setting rebar. I asked him if he knew what he was doing and he obviously did- they were so quick they had to wait for the crew on the last side (and the crew was quick!) You can see from the finished picture, that the rebar is very straight!

The crew starting the pour!

2006-06-16T17:32:00.000-04:00

Starting the pour
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Footers are ready for concrete!

2006-06-15T23:08:00.000-04:00

Footers are ready for concrete!
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Well, a week after the trench footers were poured, the rest of the footers are finally ready for concrete! While the forms were easy enough for us to put together, there were a lot of details that took a lot of time- cutting the forms to fit in some places, leveling, hooking up the crossover pipes (which required more cutting of the pipe), tying up the rebar (which required MORE cutting of the rebar) and finally spreading out the gravel. If we were to do this again (which we don't plan to do!), I would definitely choose a house with fewer corners, instead of the dozens we have now!

Form-a-drain close up

2006-06-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

Form-a-drain close up
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Here is a close up of the footer forms we are using. Unlike traditional footer forms, these stay in place once the concrete is poured. They are slotted and hollow, so that any water that may come up to the house will enter the form through the slots and travel around and out through a drainage pipe. The black line you see is a pipe connecting the two forms to eliminate any hydrostatic pressure. It's a very neat product!

Putting the tractor to good use

2006-06-15T22:56:00.000-04:00

Putting the tractor to good use
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Dwayne's new toy has come in very handy so far in this project. The latest use was putting the gravel up next to the footer forms and spreading out that big pile of gravel you see behind him. Plus, I think he has a lot of fun playing around on it!

The "secret path"

2006-06-09T22:58:00.000-04:00

The "secret path"
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The kids were so excited to find this "secret path". It will actually be an eventual ditch used to drain any water away from the house, but they had a blast running in it since it was over their heads and not too visible unless you are right upon it.

Garage and porch footers after the concrete

2006-06-09T22:51:00.000-04:00

HPIM1561
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

2006-06-09T22:50:00.000-04:00

HPIM1560
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

I think I've actually played on one of these before- you paid money, they gave you a foam mat, and you slid down it! Remember those water slides?!

Lots o' concrete!

2006-06-09T22:28:00.000-04:00

HPIM1562
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The crew was really fast. As they had told us the night before, the first truck showed up at eight and they started right away. By 9:10, they had finished the garage, the porch and about one-fourth of the daylight basement. (This including a concrete bath by Buddy, our dog, who jumped right into the garage trench! I would have loved to get a picture of that, however, I was afraid we were going to have a concrete statue if I didn't get him rinsed off right away!) At this point they had been through two concrete trucks and had to call for a third! I believe they could have finished in an hour and a half (maybe one forty-five) if they hadn't had to wait on the third truck. These guys were fast and smooth! If only all aspects of the construction project could move this quickly!

Home construction- Day 35!

2006-06-09T22:21:00.000-04:00

HPIM1557
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The guy pouring our footers told us he would be able to get to us late Friday evening or first thing Saturday morning, so you can imagine our surprise when I called to him Thursday night to confirm, and he told me he planned on starting the pour at 8 am Friday morning! Dwayne was tied up with a planning and zoning meeting Thursday night, so the only option was to head to the site EARLY Friday morning to finish up a few details before the concrete truck came. Dwayne is used to being up and out at the crack of dawn, but me, being a homeschool mom, not so much! I did manage to get there in time to hand Dwayne a few things and snap a picture or two!

Daylight basement trench

2006-06-08T22:34:00.000-04:00

HPIM1555
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The square trench is where the covered porch will eventually be and the straight trench marks the walls of the basement. I think all the rock piled on the square is going to be in the way of patio furniture!!!

Garage trenches

2006-06-08T22:31:00.000-04:00

HPIM1551
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

These are the footer trenches for the garage. They have one step down that you can't see on this photo. You can, however, see the remains of our construction canopy in the background! Where we are on a hilltop, it seems like the slightest breeze is all it takes to destroy the canopies. This is the third one in a month!

Front porch footer

2006-06-08T22:28:00.000-04:00

HPIM1556
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

This was a tricky one- there are four step downs for the front porch. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the front porch is a wraparound, so you can see two steps here and then the porch turns to the right and the other two steps are there. Hard to believe it will all be level eventually!

Getting set

2006-06-08T22:22:00.000-04:00

HPIM1547
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Kenny Masters cutting rebar and Bill Jones getting his laser level ready to go! We are fortunate to have knowledgeable friends who are willing to help us out!

In the trenches

2006-06-08T22:18:00.000-04:00

HPIM1548
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

We finally have a driveway!!!

2006-06-08T09:46:00.000-04:00

HPIM1546
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

We have finished the driveway for now, so we have our own (driveable!) entrance to our site! I'm sure that our neighbor's, the Hart's, are as happy as we are!!! They have been great about us using their driveway but I'm sure they will be glad not to have us coming and going constantly- we have awesome neighbors!

Footer Forms

2006-05-29T10:42:00.000-04:00

Footer Forms
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

I never thought I'd be the one forming these footers. Marsha researched it online and found that these forms were ideal for the owner-builder. Obviously, clicking the mouse and forming the footers are 2 different things!

Footer Forms 2

2006-05-29T10:37:00.000-04:00

Footer Forms 2
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

This pile of rebar needs to be moved today. Anyone want to come help?

Trench Footer

2006-05-29T10:36:00.000-04:00

Trench Footer
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

At the walkout basement, we've learned the footer must be 24" below grade. The concrete will be poured directly into the trench. (Notice Dwayne's new tractor!)

Footer Weekend

2006-05-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

Footer Weekend
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Memorial Day weekend at the Cook Construction Site.

Jonathan's Construction Site

2006-05-29T10:28:00.000-04:00

Jonathan's Construction Site
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Jonathan has his own construction site going on the pile of topsoil.

Top of Driveway

2006-05-29T10:26:00.000-04:00

Top of Driveway
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

The driveway has been laser-levelled and is now ready for gravel.

Cook Kids Easter 2006

2006-05-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

Cook Kids Easter 2006
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Cook Kids on the Capitol Lawn on Easter Sunday.

ICF BIG STACK

2006-05-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

ICF 2
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Here's the second load of ICF block. This stack filled an 18 wheeler trailer, front to back, top to bottom! Took 4 guys nearly 2 hours to unload! You can't tell from this angle, but this stack is 3 rows wide!

Future Driveway

2006-05-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

Future Driveway
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

John Fehsal Jr. working on our future driveway. He owns an excavation business and is one of our Lucas Lane neighbors.

Rock Pile

2006-05-25T09:59:00.000-04:00

Rock Pile
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Yes Marsha (with Traci), it's a big hole! Isn't that what you've been wanting out here?

Cool J

2006-05-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

Cool J
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

ICF

2006-05-25T09:56:00.001-04:00

ICF
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Rebecca & Jonathan

2006-05-25T09:56:00.000-04:00

Rebecca & Jonathan on Driveway
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

Rebecca showing Jonathan some dance moves (evidently) at the top of the driveway.

In The Hole!

2006-05-24T17:34:00.000-04:00

HPIM1515
Originally uploaded by dmcook216.

We're standing at the spot where the big tree at the top of the hill was. See the roots?