The house looking out at the hills to the south. The area in the lower half of the image is open space. There are several earthen dams along the drainage that runs through the center of this space that provide water for wildlife. Deer and Elk migrate south through the openspace from the high mountains to the lowlands along the New Mexico border in the late fall and back again in the spring.
The concrete pumper truck driver getting into the Halloween spirit.
This shot was taken seconds before the front face of this vertical form blew out.
Sarah and John working the concrete. The vertical section to the left started to blow out while I was leveling the concrete. You can see bracing holding the lower portion of this form in place.
The end of block wall celebration and a farewell to Sarah and Thomas. From the left: John, Sarah, Thomas, Griffin, and Lyle.
Raider posing next to the septic tank. The septic system is in and inspected. The Jenkins get the lower portion of the property contoured and ready for native grass and wildflower seed which we will plant in late November.
The framing crew arrived on October 20th and had the garage framed in a couple days. It's no wonder frame structures are so popular.
By the 24th the garage was being sheathed with OSB.
Two truck loads of post, vigas, and beams arrived on October 27th. This marks the beginning of the roof structure phase of construction.
The Final Phase of the Bond Beam
Once the guest bedroom area and the great room block walls reached their full height, forms were assembled and the final section of the bond beam was poured. This part of the bond beam included some vertical sections that tied the lower walls to the taller walls. Some of these vertical sections were over 4 feet high. In addition, there were three lintels that were formed using rough sawn 2x lumber to match the wood lintels used throughout the rest of the house. The inside of these wood facias were lined with Bituthane and 2" foam. Five lengths of #5 rebar were hung in the form for strength. The pour started out rather badly as two of the vertical sections blew out with the force of the concrete being pumped into them. We scrambled and put the forms back together using 2x4 bracing and bar clamps. The rest of the pour went well. The concrete was leveled, straps were positioned to hold the vigas, and anchor bolts were inserted along the inner and outer perimeter of the bond beam for roof framing. The team gathered at the end of the day for a celebration marking the end of the block work and a farewell to Thomas and Sarah. Lyle will stay on until the fireplace butresses are completed. John and Griffin will stay on to help with the roof structure and interior details
The Final Phase of the Bond Beam
Once the guest bedroom area and the great room block walls reached their full height, forms were assembled and the final section of the bond beam was poured. This part of the bond beam included some vertical sections that tied the lower walls to the taller walls. Some of these vertical sections were over 4 feet high. In addition, there were three lintels that were formed using rough sawn 2x lumber to match the wood lintels used throughout the rest of the house. The inside of these wood facias were lined with Bituthane and 2" foam. Five lengths of #5 rebar were hung in the form for strength. The pour started out rather badly as two of the vertical sections blew out with the force of the concrete being pumped into them. We scrambled and put the forms back together using 2x4 bracing and bar clamps. The rest of the pour went well. The concrete was leveled, straps were positioned to hold the vigas, and anchor bolts were inserted along the inner and outer perimeter of the bond beam for roof framing. The team gathered at the end of the day for a celebration marking the end of the block work and a farewell to Thomas and Sarah. Lyle will stay on until the fireplace butresses are completed. John and Griffin will stay on to help with the roof structure and interior details
The Septic System
Danette Jenkins and her son, Mark, arrived on October 24 to begin work on the septic system. The tank was dropped into place and pipe was routed down to the distribution box. The distribution box was connected to six 100' rows of infiltrators configured as two rows in each of three 6' wide trenches. The system was inspected and approved on the 26th. The system was buried and the ground contoured and ready to start landscape restoration. We will wait until the cold winter weather arrives to scatter seed. We will use a mix of native grass, wildflowers, and native shrubs and trees. We purchased most of the seed but some we have been collecting around the area.
Framing the Garage
Since the block walls took a month longer than planned, I decided to hire a framing crew to put up the garage and master bath tub room. That frees John, Griffin, and me to focus on getting the roof structure for the main portion of the house competed before winter. Frame structures go up amazingly fast and are a relatively cheap construction process. Unfortunately, it requires a lot of lumber which comes from clearcut forest in the pacific northwest and needs to be hauled a long distance to this area. In addition, the frame structure is not a good thermal barrier. Heat within a wood structure finds a path to the outside through the framing.We accepted this method of construction for the garage because we will only be tempering the space to keep things from freezing and because it is a relative small space.
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