Foundation and waterfall

The foundation appears to be complete and the guys were working on the garage foundation today.
Most of our property is on a cliff above the river. There is one piece of the property that continues all the way down to the river. There are waterfalls on this section of land. A piece of our property (approximately 1 acre) down near the river was taken over by the township to put in a trail where there used to be a railroad track (this portion of land was taken by the township before we purchased the land). The section where the waterfalls are is very steep and we haven't yet found a way to get down to the river from our property.

DD and I decided to try to locate the trailhead and investigate our property from river level. I thought I saw a sign the other day which marked the beginning of the trail so we went to check it out.

The trail started out as a paved trail and led down to a road where the trail curved around by the river and became a dirt trail.Here is a shot of the river...

We saw a couple of waterfalls along the trail, but we think that this is the one on our property. A fence has been erected and there are 2 benches for people to sit on. We'll have to walk the trail again sometime when I have my GPSr with me so we'll know for sure that this is our waterfall.

Things are moving now!

DH and I headed out to the property yesterday to check on progress. The basement walls are almost done and they were starting work on the footers and foundation for the garage.


These odd-shaped blocks were used in our 45 degree angle corners...

Drainage pipes and retaining wall are going in...

Before heading out to the house, we went to look at flooring again. Here is the Brazilian teak (cumaru) flooring we will have in the first floor family room, great room, and office.

The builder told us he expects to have the foundation finished by the end of next week and framing will start the following week.

We have foundation walls!

DD and I stopped by the property today to see what's been going on. They have started on the basement walls. It was exciting to see the house going up! The front right corner of the house will be the first floor guest room (basement will not be a finished basement, so by first floor I mean entrance level) behind it is the guest bath, and at the back right corner will be DH's office.

When we first got out there, no one was working. There were a couple of guys in their trucks and the rest were standing around a 55 gallon drum where they had a fire going, trying to get warm. It was fairly brisk out there today - about 36 degrees and a stiff breeze which chilled us to the bone. I don't know how these guys work in this weather! After we took a couple of photos, they decided to go back to work...

The far back left corner of the house on the 1st floor will be the family room (which is actually more of a dining room - we will have a large table in there and no formal dining room). There will be doors leading out to a patio area.
The odd corner to the left in this photo is the mudroom which will lead into the garage.

We are heading out on Friday, when DH has a day off, to look at plumbing fixtures.

Foundation started!

DD and I drove out today to see if any progress had been made on the foundation despite all the rain, and were pleasantly surprised to see that the footers had been poured and the cement block was being delivered. This is the outline of the guest bedroom corner of the house (the indented area to the top right is the front door and the indented area down from the bedroom corner is the guest bath):

This is the angle in the kitchen which will be all windows:

And we have lots and lots of MUD! I now keep a pair of boots in the trunk of my car and when I'm ready to leave I step into grocery bags and take my boots off inside the bag - plop the bags in the trunk and no need to find a place to wash the boots off! I'm not sure how some of these machines can still move with all the mud that is caught up in their tires/tracks.

Rain, rain, go away...

Well, the rain continues. I don't know what, if anything, has been done at the site because of all the rain we've had. DD comes home from college tomorrow so we'll probably drive out so she can see what's been done. The photos are nice, but it's still hard to tell what things really look like.

I think I've finalized the kitchen appliances. Most of them will be Jenn-air, with the exception of the cooktop and refrigerator. The handles on the refrigerator look very similar in style to the Jenn-air handles, so it shouldn't matter that they are different brands. The cooktop has no handles or knobs so it will go with anything.

Here is the refrigerator that I want (mine will never look this organized though):

It is an LG French door refrigerator. I love that it will be easy to get large trays of food in it for when we entertain.

The electric cooktop is a Bosch with a 12" triple element with extra high power to boil water and cook at high temps easier:

This is the Jenn-air wall oven. There will be two single ovens, one under the cooktop and a secondary one. The main one will have convection bake and other features; the secondary one will be a "normal" oven.

The dishwasher is also a Jenn-air, but I'd like to go look at the one I have in mind in person before I finalize the choice.

Digging ourselves in deeper!

I headed out to the house site today after doing some Christmas shopping. The road to our driveway was blocked by heavy machinery, which I took to be a good sign that work was in progress. It had been pouring earlier, so I wasn't sure if anyone would be out there working.

The excavation was much deeper than the last time we were out there. Ray said to pray for no rain the next day and a half or so, so that they can pour the concrete. (This is Ray, our builder, taking measurements for the foundation.) Drainage hose has been delivered and is waiting to be installed...

We've chosen our front door. It is a mahogany door - it will require more maintenance than a fiberglass or steel door, but we like the look a whole lot better. I think this is the right photo...

We plan to head out shopping again on Saturday - not sure what we're looking for this time, but the list of things we need to choose is certainly long, so we shouldn't have any trouble finding something to look for!

More progress...

DH and I met the builder out at the property today to discuss some elevation issues. The driveway was covered in rocks 2/3 of the length and they had started digging out for the foundation since I was last out there 2 days ago. What a lot of MUD! I bought boots the other day after being out there and getting my shoes all mud, but today was worse. The ground was partially frozen the other day and now it's wet and gunky. I had brought a couple of grocery bags to put my boots in after I took them off, but DH had to try to get most of the mud off his boots before getting in his car.

Ray (the builder) wants to pour the foundation this week, as the temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-40s to low-50s. We discussed the elevation issues with him and they are easily resolved. He was just trying to follow the elevations listed on the blueprints by our architect and would have needed a lot of fill in order to make it work that way. He's going to adjust the position of the house by lowering it, and by rotating it slightly and that will give him enough fill to solve the problem.

Here are some more photos...

DH walking toward the cleared area where the house will be...

Hard to see from this angle, but there is about a 4' drop at the end of these tire tracks...

This angle shows the "pit" a bit better...

Here is a photo taken from the right end of the dug-out area. You can see the drop-off better from here...

Looking back toward the driveway from inside the foundation area. The pile of dirt is topsoil which will be used after the house is built to level out the landscape. The wooden stakes are marking the garage area...

This pile of brush is still smoldering...

We had a meeting with the Pella window saleman this morning to get some of our questions answered. We are going with the Pella windows and are waiting for a quote on a wooden front door which we should have by Monday. We will probably go with a putty color on the outside of the aluminum-clad windows.

Hallelujah! We've started!

DS and I drove out to the property today to see if anything had been done. We were very pleasantly surprised to see equipment there, the road in, trees down, and brush being burned. I didn't see anyone around, but because it was so muddy and I was unprepared for it, I didn't wander around much. Either the guys were on the far side of the property or taking a lunch break. I stayed long enough to take some photos and then left. (It is about a 30 minute drive from our current house to the property where we're building, so I don't know how often I'll get out there to take photos. I'd love to go every day, but that probably isn't feasible.)

Here are some of the photos I took:

This was taken from the private road that our property is located on, looking down toward where the house will be located.

Dirt was piled up alongside the driveway on each side.

Equipment at the turn in the driveway - the driveway will curve to the left before arriving at the location of the house.


Down around the curve, it looks like some of the brush is being burned off...


Big equipment!

Tree trunks from the trees that had to be cut down...
Looks like one of the trees with the funny trunks is safe!

Trees, trees, and more trees!

DH met the builder at the property on Saturday morning and they walked around marking which trees need to be taken down. Most of the trees that have to be removed are scrubby trees, so it will actually look better with them gone. We can see the river again now that the leaves are off the trees. The builder previously had been unable to see the river - I think he's now fallen in love with our property!

We are hoping for the driveway to go in today or tomorrow. I think the builder is still waiting on the bank for the go-ahead. The bank sends someone out to take photos of the property to make sure that the builder hasn't done any work yet - something to do with making sure no one can put a lien on it. Once the photos are taken, the builder can start the project. The photographer actually went out to take photos and couldn't locate our property, so instead of calling someone for directions, he just left -- so we wait some more...

We have a light snow falling here today and lots of wind. It wouldn't be very nice weather for anyone to be out working on our house anyway. :-)

I think I've found my kitchen sink. There are a couple of sinks by Blanco, made of Silgranit, that I like the size of. Here is the one on the top of my list:

Overall Dimensions Length 37"" Width 20" Bowl Depths 9-1/2"; each bowl is about 18" square.

We will need to change the currently planned cabinet to a wider one to accomodate this sink, but there is a smaller cabinet to the left of the sink that we can get rid of in order to make this one larger, so it shouldn't be a problem. I also need to decide on the color of Silgranit that I want to use.

We have an appointment to meet with the Pella window rep on Saturday to finalize the windows and doors and the colors.