Blessings

Lest anyone be fooled by snapshots of happy progress, this is not a blissful easy process. It's more like a mountain climb where partnered climbers struggle to see the scenery and vistas, for scrambling to grip the rope while hauling self, each other, and stuff up the rock face. But we sure did sign up for this and we do have an under-girding harness of peace, so on we climb...

Sometimes telling others about it can help us stop and take in the view...

...so, let me count the blessings!

• April drought allowed footers to be poured on time. 

• Weeks of rain demonstrated the drainage we will need with the house and landscaping in place.

• I was able to work with the water's flow to start our very own stream!

• A new neighbor, 'chomping at the bit' for work, was available at the very moment when Mark needed a strong and enthusiastic help- though they don't spoke the same language! 

• Friends moving back to VA drove up and bolstered the crew just when needed.

• Food support- frozen, fresh, or canned have helped me to pack portable meals or serve up at home.

• On disturbed soil, wild flowers have blossomed

• Sighting a beautiful tree frog encouraged that the forest there is in good health.

• We have a tree swing!

Up Close

 Here are a few detail shots of the making of this house...
These will make more sense if you read the two previous posts!

Taking braces off the ICF's- muddy muddy work!

You have to think every detail through before it gets, well, ...concrete!

Holes in the walls for drains to leave the house

A sandwich: foam-concrete-foam, with rebar running through just to make it chewy.

Tamping down and leveling the 80,000 lbs of gravel

ICF Detail

If that's what it takes! M built in future access to the plumbing below the slab.

Fresh air facilities

There he is, building our house.

Foundations II

Now for a look from the opposite corner: NE

Ready to pour...

Pouring the footers (foundation)

Driver G was a great to work with!

Fast forward: ICF layer up, gravel in, and one foam layer in...now for the drain plumbing! Also, Grandaddy painstakingly combed out every gravel chip from the ICF interlocking bumps, so that we're ready for the next layer up.

It's starting to look like something now!

Progress: Foundation

The house is underway! Here are some progress reports in pictures.

"Foundation Series" 

Except this first photo from the West, all shots are from the SW corner of the house.

Excavation to and leveling of undisturbed soil. It took everything the ol' skid-loader had to scrape that rock hard soil!

Footer forms laid 24' x 24'. Footers are the thick concrete which bears the weight of house = the foundation. They can be poured below the surface or formed on top, but must rest on undisturbed soil. With such risk of enormous rocks on this land, we opted for minimal excavation! Rebar runs through the length of the footers.

The day of the foundation pour! Everything was kept within a quarter inch of exact! Great work by GL.

Quickly then, the first 3 feet of ICF' walls (insulated concrete forms) went up like legos. Rebar, running vertically and holes for drain pipes (the green) had to be put in before the empty foam blocks were filled up with concrete. Everything was exact to a 'T' with less than 1/4" variance on one wall!  Great work by JY.

Next, 40 ton of gravel were dumped inside house and raked by hand, then tamped down by machine. This filled up several feet of the surface on which the first floor will rest. G was an amazing and timely add to the crew.

On top of the tamped and leveled gravel went the first layer of recycled foam (see chunks in background), fit in like puzzle pieces.  The foam provides the rest of the height upon which the concrete slab floor will rest. Waterproofing (black) will keep the concrete from wicking water up through the house. PD has been working with us for 2 weeks, BD spent a Saturday masterminding enigmas with M.

Job 38: 4-11

Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?

Little M, Part of the Team

Little M is a valued and sweet member of this home-building team.

Her unbridled excitement as we head west toward the land is infectious. She bursts out in song "I love the mountains!" and says "I can't wait to get to the land." 

Once there, she naturally spends hours of contented play in the elements, never complaining about dust, wind, cold, no bathrooms, portable meals, etc...

Fishing at Water Rock

Pretending inside the footer framing

Bravely watching the huge cement truck in the blazing midday sun

 "This is the best cement truck in the world!"

I imagine that things seem big from her perspective. 2x12's for footer frame

A child-sized wheelbarrow from Aunti G.

 But more of her time is spent doing normal things like...

Seeing Papa off to his day job

'Painting' the deck doors at home...

...and her play house, blue apparently.

and taking care of no less than 4 babies at a time.
That's our little M.

I Caught the Baby

12 April 2016 was the day of delivery.

I had no idea the labor would be so long...but I guess they say first babies take a long time to come...
It was Mark's labor, Fall through Spring and countless hours. And I caught the baby.

Little M and I 'caught' the baby (a.k.a. picked up the drawings) from the County Offices...

...And displayed them in the tree-mounted-weather-proof box for field use...making our building site official.

It was all of a short morning phone call announcing that our permit was (finally...gasp...at last...) ready to pick up- as if it were that simple! Mr. Plan Reviewer's signature assures that our house plans meet building code and we are free to proceed. 

Big M gets the credit for designing a lovely little creative house from scratch, maximizing building code, drawing with architecture software,  navigating processes, officials, and engineering, and building up the stamina to work around all the corners of a full-time job and family. I worked my brain's tail off to provide practically accurate opinions about a house I can't see but will live in, and empowered his hands to be free to design, while wrestling not a little with my role as labor support. Anyway, together we've stepped across the "Building Permit" line in the sand!

Garden Shed

Well there it is. The first building on our property! (picture is from January)

This garden shed was designed for and made of about 50% re-purposed materials and tucked into a sapling grove near the lower path to the woods...

"...Tucked??!! My eyeball!"--
 Okay, okay. That is the indignant cry of the men who precariously maneuvered the roof into place; who moved and re-moved the heavy beast through muck and slopes and frigid temps; who hauled, hoisted, and stacked the foundation rocks and steps. It was several days and teams worth of work-- Tucked indeed! 

But I say, it's darling. I am pleased as punch...and grateful!

...Uh...Anyone want to help with roofing and siding? :)

The garden shed represents my experience of 'quickening' in our building process.
In pregnancy, women call 'quickening' the first true experience of the baby's movement. It's a moment when the mystery changes into concrete reality...and excitement about what is to come.