The house and a view

Here's our standard shot of the house to see the progress.

And here is a shot, at dusk after prime foliage, of the view from where our patio will be next year.

Front porch almost there as well

A nice surprise for Kim and I on Saturday was to see the Two Brothers truck up at the site and the crew working on the front porch Bluestone.

By the end of the day, all the Bluestone was down. After Two Brothers comes back on Monday to fill in between the Bluestone, the only thing remaining on the porch is the tops of the piers.

Outside Stairs now complete

Two Brothers also finished up the outside stairs by adding the Bluestone treads. Kim and I can't wait until the backfilling is done to get a better view of how this side of the house will look.

Fireplace is almost done

They removed the scaffolding from in front of the fireplace today and we were able to get a clear picture of it. Two Brothers did a wonderful job!

Sheet Rock has started

Laval Drywall LLC, has started the sheet rocking inside the house. Here's a picture of a closet or maybe a really small bedroom? Quite the mess. We were told today that Laval does the sheet rocking, but not the clean-up. Facing paying someone to clean up, Kim and I proceeded to throw out the scraps and sweep up. You can see the beginnings of sheet rock dust reflecting into the camera lens.

Here's a picture of the sheet rocking in one of the upstairs bedrooms and you can see the dust is getting worse.

And here is the upstairs bathroom. This looks like a very creative picture where I'm imaged in a snow fall ... but just dust again. Next time, we need masks!

Guest Bathroom or Well Pump

I unpacked some of the plumbing supplies that Kim had ordered. Looking at this thing, I told Kim that I didn't think we were going to have a manual well pump, she said of course not, it's for the guest bathroom. I'm picturing guests having to stand on a step ladder to turn on the water to brush their teeth!

Power soon?

We had a 'little' set back on the power front. It turned out that since we were over 400 feet from the transformer and/or we needed 400 AMP service, all bets were off on simply pulling power from the transformer in front of our house. After some back and forth we needed Lee to trench along the road to tap into the Power Station (Street Power) and also put in a second 'Hand Held' (pictured). I'm pretty sure with some zoning changes, we have enough power and lines pulled to support a small village.

While doing the work to finish the trench to bring power to the house (we needed to do this part anyway), Lee hit Ledge. When I got that text from Kim, I took the rest of my calls at work from a fetal position under my desk, and realized the word 'Ledge' triggers a response in me that, depending on timing, may cause me to wet my pants. Fortunately, Scott our neighbor was able and nice enough to bring down a machine he had to hammer away the ledge and the work could finish.

Insulation

We asked FoamCo to insulate our house. They used Icynene LD-R-50 on the exterior wall and roof, R-30 Fiberglass Batts for the basement ceiling and R-19 Fiberglass SAB on the main floor ceiling. That along with the rigid insulation panels on the outside of the house, makes the home very well insulated.

We have a lot of 'cuttings' stored in the basement. I'll post that next week as I forgot to take a picture and Kim is going to try and find some way to recycle it. Lee from Rock-On ran his excess foam thru a leaf mulcher and blew it into his attic crevices - free insulation and recycling :). If anyone needs this type of insulation, call now to reserve yours!

Siding

Just one shot of the siding that the Strid Brothers are putting on the house. Both Kim and I love the siding and the workmanship.

Capping it off ...

I didn't understand why someone could not just swing the fireplace cap onto their shoulder and walk it up to the top of the roof, but I was overruled and we brought in a crane.

With the wind blowing and the cap swaying, Two Brothers stays clear as they direct the crane operator. Smart move!

Once it's close they move in and direct it by hand.

Then they gently put it into place.

Finally, resting it on top.

Back to the future

After hearing too many times I guess, that my Mom donated my childhood metal fire engine to the Church Auction when I went to college, Kim had finally had enough and gave me this really cool one for Christmas. I don't quite fit in it anymore, but that's not the point, right?

Should I remind Kim that my Mom also gave away more baseball card collection including a Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris? Maybe I'll wait on that.

Our first fire . . .

After all the hard work logging in the afternoon, it was time to light our first fire. Hmmmm ... something doesn't seem quite right? Kim sent a picture with her phone to Two Brothers, our masons, to show them we were finally using the great fireplace they created. Interesting that they only sent a two word test back ... 'Bigger Logs'.

No matter .... we can enjoy it anyway.

Siding is coming along fast

The Strid Brothers are really powering away at the siding ... just as promised. We went with the Wavy Edge Cedar and it looks really nice. Kim has seen it up close, but I'll need to wait a couple more weeks.

An afternoon at Elise and Eric's

Well we got to the party just about on time. We're already socializing more with our St. John's Peak neighbors than then we do in Westport. That's other than Kelley, Gregg, Joanne and Rick that is. I took a few shots of the crowd and looking at their reaction, I think the Jury is out on the Guy from NJ.  Or ... maybe the Jury is in!

Kim you can see fits right in. After all, she's pretty much a Connecticut native.

I think Suzi is telling me to 'stand right there' so Nancy can fling her strudel at me!

Paul and Ed seem to be enjoying themselves.

I caught Kim and Wes, who share the General Contracting work on our house, talking shop. I tried to join the conversation, but it suddenly switched topics.

All in all, a pretty relaxed family crowd.

Stopping for libations

We knocked off early on Saturday as we were invited by Eric to a neighborhood get together at his house. The theme was Mexican food and since we were up at the site since early in the day, the only thing we could think to bring was Corona's and Limes. Here I am posing at the local liquor store (about 10 minutes away) with Richard who sold me the 12 pack and for some reason, did not card me?

We have a roof!

Now things are going to start really moving. Our roof was just about done on Saturday, and when Kim gets up to the site Monday, we suspect it will be all done!

Kim's 'Board Silly'

Kim found a great place to get a few old beams for our fireplace and main hallway. Here's a shot of her with her new BFF Rob when we picked up the fireplace mantle.

Work'in the Weekend

Marcin's crew of framers and Lee worked over the weekend to help wrap up the job. We got to know the framers alittle better, and they are not only very talented, but very nice guys. Here's a picture of us all having lunch on the picnic table behind the barn.

Here's a photo of some of the great work the framers did on our home this weekend. It looks

great and it hasn't even been painted yet.

Carter, Anna and Nicolas, who are building down the block stopped by, and Lee offered Nicolas an opportunity to operate a digger...

And Rick from Hantsch Electric was kind enough to stop by to talk to Wayne about our upcoming electric rough in. Wayne and Rick talked CAT6/surge-suppressor-ese, while Kim sat relieved after Rick told her she did not need to have all electrical fixtures within the month.

Camping With Janet

Wayne's sister Janet bravely signed up for a nite of 40 degree temperatures, no electricity, no running water, coyotes, and worse - obsessive house stories. A nite in the Giles barn - boy, we really know how to treat our guests! Actually, we had a great time, laughing, drinking wine, eating bread/cheese around the campfire, and then headed for the Bull's Bridge Inn for a casual dinner (i.e. somewhere to get warm, change into our PJ's and brush our teeth :).

Janet finally was able to escape to her sleeping bag for alittle alone time - NOT... Robbie beat her to it, and then Wayne and I set up camp a few feet away, with MORE house stories.

During the day, as Kim slaved away at the house (sweeping, valve sorting, etc.), Wayne visited with High School friends Janet and April at April's art show in Litchfield (look below at the picture of April, Janet and their husbands ...  I'm not making this up!).

And this weekend, instead of Robbie taking a 4 hour hike down the mountain ALONE into the neighboring town of Cornwall Bridge to visit Jackie and Allen, Wayne took him for a more relaxing walk to a nearby stream.