Front and Back Porch

Living Room Arch

We put an arch to seperate living room and the kichen. Here is how it looks.

Dry Walls installed

Before & After.

Insulation

The town inspected the insulation Friday. Here is the Fiberglass insulation installed.

Walk way to patio

A bluestone walkway from back door to the patio.

Fall Color through the Bay Window

Backyard seeding

The backyard was seeded in September right after the installation of the septic system. Now green grass has grown.

Siding

All siding is done except the front and back porch. Here is the detail.

Chimney

It took several weeks to build it from ground up. It has to be at least 2 feet above the roof line.

Patio

Size 20x25. Initial design was to have the back patio at ground level, and there would be two steps to get to the patio out of the back French door. This somehow didn't feel right - so we changed it to a raised patio. It costs 10k more. But after it is done, we are very happy that we made the change. We love the patio. Here it is.

It has been a while

I haven't posted anything for 2 months now. Framing was exciting - you see big progress everyday. It slows down quite a bit when the real work starts. And there are so much small decisions to make. Here is the house as of today. I will itemize the steady progresses.

Windows installed

House has a Roof

Back Roof is done.

It rained early morning, but 3 workers started working on roofing anyway. By 5pm, the back is almost done. Hopefully the weather can stay good next few days. We won't have to worry about the whole strucutre of the house get soaked in rain once the entire roof is put on.

Roof is Ready to be Shingled

Front and Back Before Roofing

Domers, Domers

Another Day, Another Floor

Making Progress

Second Floor - cont.

Second Floor

The sudden thunderstorm this morning, the first rain in more than a week, made the workers to take a break. By afternoon, both floors are dry.

First Floor is Almost There

Growing Up Fast

After just one day, the first floor is almost there.

Framing Began

Basement Slab Poured

The hole in the center is for the elevator shaft.

Drainage

Drainage pipes are installed under the gravel to drain water away from the foundation into a bucket in the corner. Sump-pump will pump water to the outside.

Back-filled

After the backfill, it feels like a new house now.

Waterproofing

To keep the basement dry, waterproofing is done as shown. The stadard is to have a coat of tar on the outside wall. We did something additional - on top on the tar, we applied UTC spray foam, at additional cost of $1.1/per sqf - for the peace of mind. Cost to clean a flooded basement runs tens of thousands so it is not a bad investment. The basement should be bone-dry.