Looking Like a House

The crane arrived this morning. Isn't it huge? We had no idea that it would be this large......it could lift something up 137 feet.

The crane picked up each of the trusses like they were "toothpicks."

It took three hours to place all of the trusses. Without the crane it would have taken days.

Cooper comes out to the build site every day. We go for walks to keep him entertained. He doesn't like the sound of the generators or the pneumatic hammers.

Pat and Brent each took an end and Matt got the middle to secure the trusses to the walls.

Matt stabilized them at the peak.

All the trusses are placed and work will continue to add blocking to make sure everything is level and true.

On your left is the master bedroom. The great room/kitchen is in the middle. On the end is the mud room, office and garage.

Getting Ready for the Trusses

The trusses were delivered today. They will go on top of the walls. A crane arrives tomorrow to raise them onto the top of the house.

These nasty looking things are holding the trusses together.

Matt, the builder, spent a lot of time on top of the house, walking on 2x6s (5 1/2 inches wide).

He created the layout of the trusses.......a lot of measuring.

Brian brought over his bobcat so that we could smooth out the dirt in front of the house. Matt, the builder, likes things neat and tidy......just like me!

More Walls

The walls just keep coming up. It is so much fun to check it out at the end of each day. (These photos are from my iPhone...not the best.)

The guys hope to be finished with all the wall framing by Thursday afternoon. The trusses for the roof arrive on Friday.

A custom cabinet maker is coming on Thursday to review our plans. We are collecting estimates for the kitchen cabinets. We expect an estimate for our granite countertops tomorrow.

New Addition to the Family

This is Cooper. Coop for short. Cooper Dooper if you are playing around. He is the new addition to our family. We have always wanted a dog but didn't want to leave it every day to go to work. And now we don't have to!

We adopted him from the Payson Humane Society on Saturday. He is four months old and is a Lab/Terrier mix. He had been at the shelter with his 6 brothers and sisters since he was three weeks old.

We took him to the vet yesterday and he is "fit as a fiddle." He is very well behaved and has not made any messes in the house. (We have to get up once in the early morning to let him out.) He loves his crate. He gets along with the cats although they like him to stay at least 4 feet away from them. Buster does like his food, however.

He is getting used to his leash and loves going to the building site and exploring. He has discovered elk poop.....likes to eat it.

Stairs

Matt, the builder, is working on the stairs......lots of measuring and sawing.

He rechecks his measurements many times.....

This is the stair well before the stair installation.

Pat measures and measures again.........

Lots of teamwork here........stairs are tricky.

Done.....stairs with a landing. Now we don't have to walk outside to get to the downstairs!

Walls, Walls and More Walls

The walls are going up in the great room. Matt, the builder, is measuring twice......actually they measure and remeasure all day long. Carpenters have to deal with fractions constantly.

Here's a view from the top of the rocks. To the right is the garage area. To the left of the fireplace is the master bedroom.

This is a close up of the master bedroom. We love that big window.

This is what we see out of the window.

The guys are getting ready to raise the wall between the garage and the mud room.

All together now....

Steady.....

Hang on....almost there.

It's up!

One more from the rocks.....

Floor Update

We purchased this front door this afternoon. It was returned from a house that had a south facing front with full sun exposure. (They needed fiberglass.) It is made of alder and is quite nice looking. Our front door is north facing and it will look very nice painted red or black or ? Let's reuse and recycle!!!

The upstairs subfloors are done. We can see the view and it is great! We didn't realize we would be able to see a small pond nearby but we can!!! Ducks and geese land there on a regular basis.

Lots of wood arrived today for framing the upstairs walls.

It was a quiet afternoon at the build site as all three carpenters took the afternoon off to ride bikes in the Phoenix area. They have been working hard and deserved a break.

Great Room Floor

The guys moved to the main level and installed the floor joists today. Matt and Pat put glue on the joists and then put down the OSB subfloor.

We can finally see what the view will be from our kitchen and living area. And the fireplace doesn't look like it is floating in space anymore.

We spent a lot of time today discussing how the living room floor and the hearth were going to fit together. Matt had to order some additional joists and short beams to support the hearth.

The sun was going down so the guys had to call it a day.

The Walls Go Up

As you can see there is still snow on the rocks. It was 26 degrees last night and the nightime temperatures keep the snow from melting. The high today was 58 degrees.......beautiful and sunny........a perfect day to hammer in those nails!

The downstairs is now divided into rooms. Everyone warned me that at times in the building process the house/rooms would look small. One downstairs bedroom was really looking small to us so we remeasured the furniture and it will fit just fine......whew!

Tools of the trade.....

Matt and Brent are discussing how the upstairs floor will be laid out.....plus the piers don't look even........hmmm.

Burning the scraps.....

Lunch break.

Matt rechecks the pier height with the laser. Some minor adjustments will have to be made.

Prefabricated floor joists for the great room.......ready for installation on Friday.