Beauty

Mountain Laurel buds.

Land, dirt, growth, green, blooms, rocks, composted years, trees, shade, flow, wood thrush are to me a wealth of beauty!

Rock-top ferns and mosses

For me, far more than the structure being erected is the chance to live amongst these gifts, the chance to enjoy them,  to wonder at and play with and tend them, and to share them with others.

Bluets still blooming in early June!

Wild blue berries: ripening 2016 crop

Stars underfoot

The stream

Water rock revived with the rains

State flower of Pennsylvania: Mountain Laurel

Wintergreen berries: the coming 2016 crop

Blackberries: the coming 2016 harvest

Playing together in the green

Despite the craziness...we're better together

believe it or not!

Earthly Tent

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. II Corinthians 5:1

It has been fun to add my part to the house by writing Scripture on the 'timbers' (so to speak). 

If our hope and security rested in this existence, in our home, even the land, Hope would be very elusive...but praise YWH for the Hope planted in our hearts that has nothing to do with current circumstances.

Some inscriptions are already buried, but here are a few.

Foundation

Door Frame 1

Door Frame 2

Door Frame 3

Stacks

Construction sites are not, well, pretty.  But if you break it down to the stacks of materials around, it all kind of makes sense...

Stacks of ICF's. The foam, connected by plastic webs, sandwiches the concrete and insulates the walls.

Rebar = steel

Scaffolding ready for when the walls get high...

Foam scraps...never fear, there is a plan for these on 2nd floor.

In a house, water must be kept in its place. In this climate, water and breathability of a house are two major constraints that shape how we are allowed to build.

Here is our roof, all in 2 inches of stacked stainless steel sheets.

Rocks at the ready. They could be favors for guests who come to visit!

A Radiant Slab

We are ready for the next step: pouring a 4" slab of concrete as our first floor...but first a few shots of the 'guts' inside.

Red plastic water tubes were looped to cover the whole area, and to back-up each other if one goes bad. You can see all the pipes come up where our utility wall will be. This will be our primary source of heating.

Looking out the south side doorway

A grid of rebar will provide strength and handle tension in the slab.

Another Layer Up

Suddenly the windows and doors appear!

Kitchen windows, looking west, downhill toward the road

One day we mistakenly had two contracters/crew at the house simultaneously- a little tight and very hot, surrounded by all that foam. They dealt graciously with the overlap.

Then Mark and CM and Grandaddy put the radient floor in. It will lie beneath the concrete slab floor.

Several loops in, more to add

CM gave us 2 full days of help and those days just 'happened' to be installing radiant heat system...,in which he is personally experienced!

Mark finds a way to work invention into any process. Voila- his homemade custom foam cutter :) Main ingredient: a hairdryer wire!

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.