It's after Christmas now, and our house has a lot of work done already.  The guys got the windows in before the holiday weekend, so we're able to get a nice idea of what things are going to look like. The interior walls still need to be drywalled though, so there will be a few major changes to go yet.  Looking at the front of the house below gives a nice approximation, but the garage door and porch slab are going to change things pretty drastically, as I'm sure will the siding and paint job (done by yours truly). It was a gorgeous day today so I spent some time this afternoon taking some measurements, scavenging scrap wood from the throwaway piles, stashing it in the crawl space, and just generally hanging out and enjoying some privacy in my new house.

Taken on Friday, a nice sunny day.

Limei just couldn't wait to start cleaning her new house :)  We wanted to get the snow out before it warmed up this weekend so it wouldn't melt into our crawlspace.

Here's the back of the house, with part of a lovely sunset reflected in our bay window.

Milestone

Well, that's it.  The house is framed, the plywood is up making the exterior walls and ceilings.  The windows are starting to get cut out, and tar paper is going on the roof.  I feel a sense of relief at this stage.  We know that the changes we made have become a more or less permanent part of the house, and when we walk through it now it's starting to look and feel like a home.  I've already got visions of Limei and I running around in circles as soon as we sign the papers and get the place to ourselves! 

The biggest accomplishment today though was the construction of the garage overhang.  In the pic below the left side is fully completed, the supporting beam just needs to be knocked down on the right side.  In the end it looks like none of us really knew how that thing was going to fit in there until it was actually put in.  We didn't think it would fit under the porch roof and still have enough of a pitch to be visible, but, there it is.  A handful of kneebraces for show on the front of the roof and a couple of eyebrows on the side and the woodwork is pretty much done.

Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have a Roof!

I went skiing yesterday, got back thinking I would get some nice pics of the roof going up and they were already done!
I asked them to take one of the trusses down and put it back up again, but they just gave me a funny look.

They're almost to the point where they're going to have to decide what to do with that pesky garage beam.  Jesse changed his mind again today, and is going with the original design I came up with months ago :)

Here's an interior shot of the main living area with the vaulted ceiling.  Turning the vault line to the north was one of the changes I made to the original floorplan.  Hopefully it doesn't lead the chi straight out the back door.

Things are again moving quickly.  Last week I was at the build site three times one day, and it was a good thing too.  The master shower wall needed to be moved out half an inch so we could fit a 5 ft shower pan in, I discovered this slight error while out for my morning jog.  When I got home from my jog I got a nagging feeling that the framers were going to miss some changes we had penciled in on the plans, so after drawing up a  quick  floor  plan  with  the  changed  measurements I hopped on my  mountain bike and headed back over.

The benefits of frequently visiting
your job site - a free hoodie!

By this time it was noon, and as I feared they were all gone on their lunch break. So, I appropriated a tape measure from the nearest abandoned tool belt and got to measuring. Sure enough they neglected to extend our master bath and closet a foot into the bedroom.  We had added three feet to the original plans and wanted to split the extra room between the bath and bedroom portions of the master suite.  I had hoped to catch them before they put up the wall dividing the two portions but they must have put it up right before going on lunch break.  On top of that, the west facing window in the bedroom was pushed way off to one side, they had never adjusted their measurements to make it centered based on the new wall length.  I found a bent nail lying on the ground and appropriated (I love that word :) a hammer from the afore-mentioned abandoned tool belt, and tacked my hastily drawn dimensions to the wall that needed to be moved.  Right about when I was getting ready to leave one of the framers came back so I was able to explain everything to him.  He mentioned that the foreman had mentioned something about missing some penciled in changes, so they knew what was up.  I visited the site one more time that afternoon....

 ...and it was a good thing I did.  I had wanted the doorway to our bedroom moved out a little bit.  The original plans called for it to be recessed in an "L" shaped hallway that served no purpose, so by backing it out of the little leg of the "L" we were able to appropriate (there it is again, maybe I should break out a thesaurus?) that little bit of hallway for the door to open up into, instead of it intruding on the actual bedroom.  I had to have that poor framer move that wall twice.  Sorry for being a pain, but that's where we wanted it.  Actually, maybe just an inch farther back...

One of my favorite features on this house will be the rough sawn fir timbers used to frame the front porch, knee braces, and garage overhang.  You can see the garage overhang timber in the picture below.  Right now where this timber is supposed to go is our biggest question mark.  We had added it after the plans were drawn up, so other than the idea that we wanted an overhang over the garage and an example picture (seen in a much earlier post) taken from another house we didn't have much to go on.  The problem is that the roof over the porch actually overlaps the edge of the garage.  So either the overhang has to run into the roof next to it, in which case it's a foot or so higher than currently pictured, or it needs to tuck under the roof next to it.  We're still not sure exactly how that is gong to work out, Jesse said to wait until the trusses are up and we'll have a better idea of what is going on up there.  

And finally, as if I hadn't wasted enough of your time already, here is a quick video walk-through of the house:

Aaaannnnd Up Go The Walls!

When Limei got home from work today she said we had a doorway.  By the time we got their we had a doorway and both front and back walls too!  Things are happening really fast now, and after spending 15 minutes at the build site I can see why.  These guys move fast!  Still, they didn't manage to get the side walls up by the end of the day.  We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings :)

The biggest surprise here was how big the windows are - the north wall is almost all window, with stunning views from each of them.

Limei is inspecting her bay window - the view is exactly what we were hoping for.

Finishing Foundation Stuff

A lot has happened in the past 9 days since my last post, so to catch up I'm just going to write in some captions:

Hey, where did all of the workers go?  Things finally warmed up enough for them to pour the garage slab.  Don't let all of the snow fool you, the week they poured it was above freezing during the afternoons.  I got over there after all of the work was done already that day.

Last Friday they started work on the crawlspace.  It's not quite a basement, but we should be able to get some storage space out of it.  It's about 4 or 5 feet deep.  Sitting on top are the floor joists, ready to go.

Hey!  Get back to work!  Jesse, in the front, is our contractor.  His phone rings all. the. time.

Here's a nice shot of the joists.  I couldn't believe it, but they are made out of a wood composite.  They must use some really strong glue to hold those wood chips together!  Jesse said that they are really nice because they are all perfectly straight, and they have good protection against deterioration.

Snow. Everywhere.

In my last post I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep the blog up with the builders, but Mother Nature gave me a hand.  Our building site is buried in about 6 inches of snow and it has been cold.  Really cold.  Almost as cold as where we moved from in North Dakota.  Apparently we got the foundation in just in time.  The backfill still needs to be packed, and the garage slab needs to be poured.  They've got an insulated tarp over the garage area now, and a ground heater (yes, they actually heat the ground when it gets too cold) just in case.  The weather is supposed to be warmed up a bit this week so I am hoping to see some action tomorrow.

A Solid Foundation

We went from a big hole in the ground to a foundation pretty quick.  They started setting up the concrete forms on Monday, it's Wednesday night and they are already taken down.  Now we wait for the cement to harden, and then they will pack the dirt back in around it.

I wonder what the HOA would say if we saved that sign for the house number on the front of our house?

Hey! Where'd My Yard Go?

Whose thaaat lady?

Things are definitely moving along quickly, but don't worry, I'll keep you guys up to speed, even if I have to post here every day!  We went for a run by the property on Sunday and ran into Jesse as he was riding his BMW motorcycle by (maybe we ARE paying him too much?).  He put our fears aside in that yes, the foundation is dug out bigger than the actual house, so we will have at least a few feet more of yard on each side.  Apparently we won't get a good perspective on size until the house is framed, which I can understand.  Perception is so weird, especially when you've got giant mountains in the background - they make everything look small.  I also found out that the black tarps were to keep the ground warm so that when they poured the concrete footers they would set up properly.  Looks like there poured some today, I'll see if I can catch some of the guys in action tomorrow - man, they are going to be so sick of seeing me by the time they are done :)

In other news, Big Sky is getting hammered with snow all week. They've already got a base of 20-30", so anything on top of that is great news for after Thanksgiving skiing!

So Many Questions

Patrick, the biggest fan of this blog, had a lot of questions after my last post.  They tie into the second phase of the foundation, so I'm going to answer them in this post.  Patrick asked:


So where's your cellar going to be?


There isn't going to be one.  I guess the water table is too high in this area to have a basement or anything like it.




What's going on top of the black tarps?


Those are just to keep the snow out of the pit.  Keeps it neat, tidy, and dry.  They'll be taken out when they are actually working on the project.  Or... they are the vapor barrier to keep moisture from rising up out of the ground into the crawl space.  More will be revealed, those pics were taken at the end of the day and the only guy there was a worker I didn't know, so I didn't ask too many questions.




What's up next? 


This stuff:

They put this in today, must have been early in the morning because they were done when I got there mid-afternoon.  It's kind of ironic, but they dig a big hole, then partially fill it back in with this gravel/sand mixture.  Apparently it provides a more solid foundation - keeps the house from settling too much or something like that.


Monday should be an interesting day - I heard they are going to get started on the concrete footers.  The frames haven't even been started yet, but as you can already tell, once these guys get rolling they move fast!

Ground Breaking

The first scoop.

I was chatting with my realtor yesterday and she said that she had just gotten off of the phone with Jesse, our builder, and he was starting the foundation today.  Talk about short notice!  Limei and I got up early and were there for the ground breaking.

That pile of dirt appeared out of nowhere!

We chatted with Jesse a little bit, and it's a good thing we did - he's ordering the windows tomorrow morning (we had decided to get some picture windows to take full advantage of the stellar view to the north). We also decided to add a couple of knee braces to "hold" the roof up.

Apparently he's going to do the framing this fall too, so we'll have something that looks like a house pretty soon.  We should be way ahead of schedule, leaving me plenty of time to get my sweat equity in.  We could have the house done sooner, but I think we're going to stick to the original game plan and shoot for next spring.  This way we'll have a nice down payment and money in the bank to cover emergencies.

7 hours later, our foundation is dug.  The green thing in the bottom right corner is either an
electric box or a contractor's table, I'm not sure which :)

Thank you anonymous benefactor

I went for a jog through what will be our neighborhood the other day, and as usual stopped by to check out our plot.  It's overgrown with weeds, littered with leftover building materials, and has more than one empty beer bottle laying around.  It's not all junk though - there is a plastic bin I'll pick up and washout for recycling, and someone left us a small pile of basketball sized river rock!  I had mentioned to Jesse that if they find any rocks while digging the foundation that they can save them for use in our landscaping, so I assumed that he had gotten them from some other site and dropped them off for us.  Turns out that no one has any idea where they came from, and it is somewhat common practice for people to dump unwanted rocks on empty lots.  An activity of questionable legality I'm sure, but in this case we won't be pursuing legal action.  We should now have plenty of rocks for a nice little pathway up to the front door, and enough to ring a small flower garden to boot!  

As far as the actual building process goes, we had a meeting last week, and we're all systems go.  We're going to be making some nice upgrades in construction that will mean more labor on my part, but the end result will be a house that would have cost quite a bit more.  The foundation will be started sometime in the coming weeks, and if you look at the mountains in the distance you'll see that the snow is starting to pile up on my favorite winter playground, so lots to be getting excited for.  Happy Birthday Patrick!!!

So Many Colors In the Rainbow

 With construction of the foundation not starting until November and framing not starting until February, we've got a little bit of time on our hands to think about colors.  We've spent a lot of time looking at houses in the area, and are starting to get a sense of how colors interact.  Most houses in the area have 3 colors, so there is a lot of room for creativity.  In fact, the covenants in the subdivision specify that your house may not be painted the same color as the immediately adjacent houses, so diversity is encouraged.  

We originally ran into some design issues with the height of the roof.  As a result of the original design, I've been on the lookout for color patterns that would minimize the height of the house.  I had thought that I liked houses with a darker color on the bottom half, and a lighter color on the top.  It gives a house the impression of having a solid foundation.  Upon further investigation however, I found that a lighter color on the top drew my eyes up, and I focused on the height of the building.  Houses with a lighter color for the lower band made the first floor the focus of attention, which is what we want.  So, without further ado, here are some combinations we are looking at:

We want either a blue or a green for the main color.  The darker portion of the board and batting is meant to minimize that portion of the house, and draw the attention to the extreme front.

We like green because it is a very natural color.  Here is an example with a darker shade for the entire top band of the house, meant to minimize that portion and draw the attention towards the lower band.

Here is a color combination that I really like, but I am afraid too much attention is drawn to the top portion of the house.

And finally, here is a blank canvas.  I know some of you have design skills, so grab a screenshot and the paint bucket tool from your favorite photo editor and fill this in with your favorite colors!  If you find a combination you really like, we'd love to see it.

One Year

Today was our first wedding anniversary.  Hopefully there will be many more to come.  Limei feels like the day is flying by, it could have something to do with how late she slept in :)

Back On Track

I just got back from a meeting with our builder, and I am happy to say that things are back on track.  We got the roofline changed from an 8:12 to a 6:12 (the first number is the change in height, the second number is the horizontal distance it takes for that amount of elevation change) so the roof will be 25% lower.  We also got rid of the 5 ft garage overhang, and will have something like the picture at right put in over it instead.  I think this will add a nice detail to the front of the house. Without crossing over into log cabin territory, I think the more rough sawn, naturally stained fir we can use the better!

First Mistake

Last week I ran into what I'm sure will be the first of many roadblocks.  The original plans called for a vaulted ceiling in the living room running east to west.  There is nothing interesting in that direction, where as the north facing end of the living room will face the Bridger Mountains.  With a modification to the roofline we were able to change the direction of the ceiling vault, but the modification I envisioned and sketched out was a little different from what I saw in the final plans:

So now I have the option of going back to the original plans ($600!!!) or sticking with this and trying to make it work.  My main concern is that this new roofline is so boxy and barnlike, it seems kinda plain.  We've found similar houses to this one where some details were added to the front that helped break up the main South Elevation portion, but I'm not sure how much it's going to cost to get something like that added.  Then again, I don't plan on spending a lot of time sitting on the sidewalk staring at the front of my house, so it might be more molehill than mountain.  For the record, here are the original plans:

I hated the modifications at first, but the more time I spend looking at them the less I hate them, and they will result in me getting the vaulted ceiling that I want.  So, what do you think?  Leave me some feedback in the comments.

Coming soon I'll get a better image of the plans with some color added, and I'll post up the actual floorplan.

I want something cheap man, cheap!

We wanted our new house to be efficient, and I always get cold feet (literally), so we opted for a radiant heat system in the floor.  This was a major upgrade and there are plenty of short sales and foreclosures here that I couldn't help but use in price comparisons.  To convince ourselves that this upgrade and building our own house was actually going to be wise financially, I've been looking for ways to cut costs.

I thought to myself: "Hey, I can paint.  I've painted plenty of houses in my day.  Why not paint my own?"

So one of my first questions when meeting the builder for the first time was can I save some money on the construction costs by doing some of the labor myself.  The answer was a yes, and my contract now has a "sweat equity" column that includes painting, trim install, flooring install, and the final site cleanup.  I'll be using my paid vacation time to work on this stuff, so it's a sweet deal.

To augment my savings, I've turned to one of the greatest benefits of moving to Bozeman:  I now live in a town big enough to have it's own Craigslist.  So far I've picked up 50 sq ft of tile for the entry way, several trunk loads of beautiful river rock for landscaping, and 20 gallons of dry wall primer which I just moved in from the outdoor shed because I don't want it to freeze.  Did I mention it starts getting cold at night here in September?  I had a line on some brand new bedroom ceiling light fixtures, but the seller must have gotten arrested or something because I can't get a hold of him anymore.  So anyways, if you're in the area reading this and DON'T have a warrant out for your arrest, let me know if you've got 1500 sq ft of wood laminate flooring you want to get rid of ;-)

Selecting the Land

Houses from this era came in both
colors, gray and beige.

So at the request of one of my co-workers (thanks Patrick) I've decided to start a blog about my experience building a house.  I grew up in houses that were either in the countryside or on the edge of town, so looking at most houses in Bozeman made me feel a little claustrophobic.  I didn't want to look out my future living room window and have a view that in any way resembled the less than awe-inspiring current view of my neighbors condo:

There are astounding views in all directions here in Bozeman, but you need one of two things to see them:  

1.  A house taller than your neighbors

2.  A house that faces either a public park or school

We were fortunate to stumble across this lot while out for a run in one of our favorite subdivisions, Valley West.  It backs up to a school, and with the living room and kitchen windows facing this direction we will be rewarded with stunning views of the ever dynamic Bridger Mountains.

Limei looks cold because she is, this was taken back in early spring of this year.