D-Day

Delivery Day finally came as our exterior wall panels and roof trusses were delivered on Saturday. It was a wild day to say the least! We got a pretty bad snowstorm on Friday and the snow was supposed to stop around midnight, but it actually kept snowing all day on Saturday. So early Saturday morning my father-in-law and I went out to plow, sand, and snowblow. Fortunately, the delivery drivers braved the weather and made it up our driveway successfully.

The work went really well, thanks to the crane, crane operator, and the help of a couple friends (Joel and Micah). We were able to get all the walls and trusses up and the roof is half covered with plywood. As you can see from the pictures, we got a lot accomplished in one day. Sorry I didn't get any pictures of when the trucks came loaded or when the walls were going up. I was sort of busy at the time. Anyway, it's really exciting to see the full shape of the house and to be able to stand in each room now.

The proud owners of a big wooden box

It was a busy weekend and we are tired out. My father-in-law and I worked hard all weekend and he continued all Monday to get the downstairs framed and decked. This is all so we can be ready for this Saturday, when the wall panels and roof trusses are delivered and we'll install them with the help of a crane. Here are some pics from the weekend.

We are framing

Lots going on at the lot. We're official now that we have a porta-potty! The propane line has been run and the tank was buried. And the electrical conduit was laid and is awaiting temp power to be run. The culvert was finally put in as well. Oh yeah, and the excavator finished the retaining wall at the top of the driveway.
It's gotten too cold to pour the slab, so we decided to put up the walls and deck to provide shelter to help keep it warm when we try to pour in a week or so.
The most exciting news is that we started framing the walkout yesterday and got about half done with the walls. Check out some pics...

We have a foundation!

We got lots done this weekend. The foundation forms came off on Friday morning, so everything is now backfilled and we got the in-slab plumbing in. Looks like the slab will be poured this Thursday or Friday and we'll start framing next weekend. Here's some pics of the work.

It's getting pretty cooooooold!

The foundation walls are scheduled to be poured tomorrow, but here are some pics I took today. This pic is of the foundation footings covered with hay to keep them insulated.
This pic is taken from the far side of the driveway looking at where the house will be. The flat area around the house is where the septic tank and leachbed are. The uphill area to the far right of the foundation is where the ledge is, which will lead up to the high (back) side of the house.
This shows the driveway from the top looking down to the road.
Here's a shot of the foundation footings looking down from the far side of the house (on top of the ledge). This where the back/upper door and yard will be.

More site work pics

Well, we ended up having to blast because we ran into a few spots of ledge. But fortunately, it hasn't slowed down the site work much. As you can see from the pictures, it's really coming along. The large, built-up, flat area immediately to the left of the driveway is where the septic is going and the house will sit beyond that.

PDF of House Plans

I realized that something got messed up with the house plan pictures in a previous post, so that you aren't able enlarge them enough to make them viewable. So I'm posting a link to a pdf file of our plans. Have fun!

Download Engert House Plans.pdf

Day Two of Excavation

This seeming disaster is the most beautiful thing I have seen in a long time!! It's so nice to see all of our hard work finally coming to fruition. The house will sit to the left of the excavator in the last picture. We have a partial driveway and a lot of trees have come down. Met with the concrete guy this morning and we'll have a foundation poured next week. Hard to believe! I can't wait to see it and walk on it, I'll probably cry! So far no hiccups although we will not be able to have our water hooked up until May 1st but that should work out just fine. We're psyched!!

Finally the day has come

Well, on Wednesday we got to meet with the Eastman Environmental Control Committee and their engineer to talk over the plans and walk the lot. And believe it or not, they gave us final approval.

So...the exciting news of today was that the site work started. It's so exciting to finally have things happening after so much planning and waiting. Now we're just hoping not to run into ledge and to get the foundation in before it gets too cold. But God has been so wonderfully faithful so far, so we have no reason to doubt his provision and timing.

More Waiting = More Money

Well, we own the land and have everything ready to go but we didn't get Eastman approval our first time around. Apparently their engineer had some issues with our site plan so we have to make changes. That of course means more money. We had to hire a wetlands specialist to tell us that our lot is not a wetlands because there was a discrepancy between engineers. The other changes are in process and we'll have to pay the engineer more money. Also, in order for Eastman to look at our application again we'll have to pay them more money. Amazing!! Thankfully God has been so faithful in providing for us!!

Now it looks like we won't be able to start until after Nov. 5th as long as there are no more problems. We're becoming experts in waiting although sometimes it's with a bad attitude! :) So glad that we believe in a God who holds all things in His hands, even our house!

House Plans

I thought I'd put up some pics from our plan drawings. They're not a great representation of what it will be like exactly, but it will give you some idea anyway.

It's Official

We now own a big piece of earth with a bunch of trees and rocks on it. Now we just need to get Eastman approval so we can get the clearing and excavation started. Unfortunately this mean some more waiting, but at least we have one big step accomplished.

Taken from the road, this is where the driveway will start

Our house will sit in the middle of this picture...sort of.

There are two taped off rectangles. The near one will be the septic and the far one will be the house.

This is the view of the road from where the house will sit.

Closing Time

Well, after a lot planning and more planning, and waiting.................and more waiting, the closing has finally been set. Two days from now on Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2008 at 9:30am we will buy the land at 43 Whitetail Ridge in Grantham, NH and close on our construction loan. Yeah....finally! We're excited. I suppose the real work has yet to begin though:)

We're going to try to post pictures as we go along. Looking forward to seeing the progress!!