Sunday stroll

What a beautiful December Sunday afternoon!  We decided to take a stroll on the property and snapped these photos. Hopefully roof trusses will go in this week.

Can't wait to see a deck back here

Jake is always somewhere keeping watch!

Framing continues.......

The framers continue to make progress and are tackling the main floor.

Here's the first wall upstairs to go up:  The Front of the house!

 

All exterior walls are up except the garage.

 

The boys are framing the garage and are now moving on to the rafters.

 

This week they finish the rafters and start the roof trusses.......starting to look like a house!



The place is really taking shape

The framing has continued over the last couple weeks.

Finishing the basement

And on to the main level

There's that view again!

 

And look at the view from the kitchen window! Awesome!

 

Guess where Mike and Sean will be sitting early Thanksgiving day?  Overlooking the deer food plot!  Jake approves. :)

Framing Begins

I came home from a business trip, picked up Jake from the kennel, and headed up to the hill.  It was so cool to see the basement framed and looking like a real house......and yes, I walked through all the rooms. Can't wait for Mike to get home from a hunting trip so I can show him the progress!

Oh, look who's out my window....

Phase 1 Complete!

There's been a lot of concrete poured over the last couple weeks. And this week they laid the plumbing in the basement floor and poured the basement slab.

 Progress, Progress, Progress!

First they set the basement plumbing.

 



Followed by gravel, rebar, and wire mesh.

 



Then, voila........basement floors!

So what does this all mean?  Phase 1 (the foundation) is complete!! 

Next week we start FRAMING!!  YES!!

Golden, Gray, and Gorgeous!

Our ridgeline is awash in Fall's GOLDEN splendor!

 

And the concrete in our spanking new basement walls is GRAY!

 

And this lady is GORGEOUS! It's fun to see how excited she's getting about her new home!

Forms, Fall, and Flocks......oh my!

We took an evening drive to the ridge and 

were so pleased to see that the forms are going in!

The fall color really changes the feel of the ridge

And a flock of passersby approve of ALL the changes!

Footers Anyone?

Well the good folks at Legacy Builders are movin' out! The digging and pouring of the footers was done last week and early this week. County building inspectors were out too.  Looks like things are kickin' into high gear.   Wish I had seen the concrete truck trying to get up our hill!

First the footers are dug.

Elevated rebar is laid in the hole.

Then the cement is poured. Voila! A base for the walls to stand on!

 NEXT WEEK.....Basement walls!!

Mud vs. Gravel??

I vote GRAVEL!!  The first load went down today.

Ain't it sad what little things make us happy?  :)

 



Guess we're officially "building".

After clearing the land, digging the foundation, digging and installing the power line, installing the septic tank, and installing the temporary power pole it looks like the County is willing to recognize we have a full fledged building site under way! Building permit has been issued! YAY!

Does that mean we should expect higher property taxes soon?  Hmmmmmmm.......I wonder.  :)

Hold on to your hats......

We have a septic tank

And a power box......woohoo

And when these puddles dry up....footers here we come......please Lord!

Power Line goes in!!

Finally, after days of digging and using the heavy chipper to break granite, the power line is going into the trench.  Should be wrapped up, connected to our neighbor's box, and a temporary power pole installed by week's end.  Nothing that some extra $$$$ won't cure!

Power cable going into the trench.

Covering up the cable and regrading the road.

2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

We got lucky when we dug the basement out.....no real rock.  That luck ran out yesterday when they started digging the trench for the electrical service. Rock, ROCK, ROCK!!

Here's what they found.......

So out come the chippers!

 

 

And here are some of the big chunks they were able to get out!

 

Oh well, ya gotta have power.....RIGHT??  :)

And digging begins.....

We made a lot of progress this week with views opened up and, drumroll please.......we have  a basement!

We also got lucky and only had this humble amount of rock to deal with.....no blasting required. No doubt there will be other places to spend that money!

Say hello to our little friend.......

The trees are down and the grading begins!

8/13/14

The bulldozers came out in force today to pull out the stumps, level the garage area, and start the grading before digging the foundation.

The Dozers were doing their stuff!

  

But Connor wasn't sure the dozer wasn't coming for him!

The dozers pushing the stumps down the hill and out of the way.

This'll be the view from our back porch!



The Adventure Begins....

We are so excited to be building our dream home in the peace and serenity of our beloved Virginia and invite you to join in the adventure. We thought this blog would be a great way to keep family and friends abreast of the activity on the Ridge.   Within the last few weeks our builder has cleared the homesite and staked out the house boundary. We were like kids on Christmas morning watching those silly wooden stakes go in the ground!

Timberrrrrr

 

 

And they all fall down!

 

Mike plans on taking pictures from this same location over the course of the build

 

Out comes the surveying gear

Not that we're checkin' them or anything......

Stake number 1

 

Jake doesn't get what all the fuss is about

 

 Ahhh......this is why we're doing this:)

 

I'm doing back flips on the inside!!