Insulation and Shingles

So here we are post-Christmas, ringing in the new year with insulation, and a "finished" exterior. The siding is done, and it is looking VERY CLOSE to the autocad picture.

Studio double windows. 

We decided to insulate the garage ourselves. Ben is going to get started on that himself this week. I'm so glad my husband is good at this kind of stuff.  Doing this side by side with experienced builders is such a great introduction to the world of building. We love this process....there's nothing quite like seeing your home go from the ground upwards.

 The sheet rock is coming up next......  :)

This last one is a cool shot of the underside of the house. Ben stuck his phone down the crawl space access and clicked a shot. You can see the foundation walls that were out in broad daylight a mere few weeks ago. Very cool. There is a moisture barrier in place (the sheet of black plastic), now, helping to keep us dry from the ground-upwards.

Siding and Doors

Just some pictures of the progress this weekend.

We have doors, now!! This week we're doing the not-so-obvious work like septic, gas and electric trenches........

and some beautifully obvious work like SIDING!

The primer color is kind-of Bleah....can't wait to see our colors. We're still vacillating between a brown and a grey. Can't decide!!

Christmas finds us moving out of our rental in Yelm to stay our last few weeks with friends in Lacey. Luckily, they live about 1 mile from the building site, and I will be so relieved to be able to keep better tabs on the house this way. Also, we will be able to save while not paying rent. :) :) :) That's always good!

Sunshine Miracles

Because of a record 14 days straight of no rain, our house is basically dry inside, which is AMAZING for this time of year in the PNW. 3 weeks ago we were talking through our "living room" drenched and dripping, splashing through inch-deep puddles. Now, it's crisp and dry, though still cold! What's really amazing, is that the 14 days of sun were during a crucial time for us: roofing time! In fact, to make things more amazing, we saw our first drops of rain the same day SAME DAY the windows went on!!

So we now have a layer of weatherproofing on the house, in addition to windows and doors. The rain held off for us, and it feels good and dry inside. As soon as we see the siding go up, we're going to begin caulking....while the de-humidifiers and heaters are going full-tilt inside to dry out the walls in preparation for sheetrock.

We also have wiring and HVAC inside, as well as plumbing!