What happens when the kids go away...

Lots! Jonny and Sarah took off for a week of camping in South Dakota, and when they returned things looked pretty different! The night before they left, the whole family worked 6-11pm outside laying foam insulation in the basement floor. Then the kids packed and headed off on their adventure and work continued on the house.

Everything they took for the week had to fit in one of these bags, and then the bags were shoved into vehicles!

The South Dakota Adventurers. 

All the foam lying in the basement and taped together.

The guys pour the basement floor.

Jeff looks like an adventurer, but actually he is just working on concrete!

The basement floor poured.

First ICF blocks!

Were you a kid who loved Legos and Duplex? If so, you should try building stuff with ICF. It will reignite that childhood passion of building with blocks! On Monday morning the first few rounds of ICF block went up in a couple of hours and then the guys started work to smooth out the floor for the basement.

Sarah removing stakes from the form-a-drain forms.

Jeff driving the high hoe, YIKES!

Jeff doing much safer work with a broom!

Jonny taking out stakes from the form-a-drain.

The crew build the basement walls, one 8 ft piece at a time!

The guys contemplate their next move.

The first two rows of ICF block all in place!

Jeff Drives the High Hoe

It was a scary day around here, with Jeff learning to drive the high hoe to help correct a caving wall in the basement hole. Sandy was very nervous, cringing each time the bucket moved or spun around. But, all is well! No tipped machines, no gaping holes in the yard (other than the intended one), no dirt flung to the far corners of the yard. And they got the cave in fixed too! More photos from the day to come later.

Of Cats and Crews

The big hoe drops a bobcat into the basement hole.

It was quite a sight!

Do you like our sign? Jonny and Sarah both helped make a sign to warn unsuspecting drivers of the mess HERE!

Jonny, notice the patio he's been laying in the background.

Jeff is one of the crew when the concrete for the footers arrives.

As of 5pm on Friday, the footers are done! Basement walls and floor, here we come!

The Hole Gets Bigger

The crew start putting in form-a-drain and gravel as the hole gets bigger.

Jeff smoothing the gravel and putting in form-a-drain.

The plastic sheeting goes up on the front half of the hole.

Jeff heads down into the hole.

Watching as the front yard slowly disappears.

The finished hole with the footers all laid out.

There's a Hole in the Ground

...And the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around.

The Big Yellow Hoe keeps on digging!

The guys try to get the sump pump level.

Construction fence so we don't fall in!

The hole as of Wednesday morning around 10am. It's getting deeper.

Jeff looks like a jungle explorer. It is certainly hot enough (93 degrees!).

The front "yard" on Wednesday.

The First Scoops!

Here we go! On Monday, June 6, 2011, the Y House adventure becomes real as we begin making a hole!

The golden shovel shot, or just Sarah and Dad posing for a groundbreaking shot.

The first mechanical shovel full!

The beginnings of a big hole!

The other view of the hole.

The Big Yellow Backhoe has arrived

And it is BIG!

Around 4:30pm today, a overloaded semi-trailer showed up with the machine. Originally the plan involved driving the semi up the driveway, having the cab pull of into the corner of the yard, unloading the machine, and then backing the trailer out again. Instead they unloaded the backhoe in the street and then drove it into the yard. It is pretty impressive to see in motion!

The backhoe as it arrived in front of our house.

Just admire the sheer size and precision of this machine!

Unloading off the trailer...

Turning around in the street (blocked traffic for a while).

The backhoe pulling itself up the driveway.

Free to roam in the yard!

The silent giant, awaiting the digging day.

Oh yeah, and we now have a port-a-potty again. Stop by and use it any time.

Erosion Control

Today was the day! In order to get our building permit, the erosion control fences and rocks had to be in place. The continual rain and thunderstorms didn't stop Jeff and Jonny from digging up our fence (that was sad, we all liked the fence) and putting in the erosion control trench. Also, Al came by and dug up some of the yard to expand the driveway and then dropped baseball sized rock on the driveway.

Things are picking up around here! Maybe the cookies helped get things going...

Catching up

We've been busy! The plans are going in today, finally!

There was the set back with the trusses, the contractors, the weather...

The upstairs bathroom has been giving us lots of trouble, as have window sash colors. Here is a picture I made trying to study the effect of different colors of trim. 

Late nights have been spent trying to figure out the bathroom layout, divided rooms like in Lithuania or one big room.

Also we recently discovered a big difference between mom and dad's imagining of the house. Mom pictured an inside style that is more formal while dad pictured a more eclectic, informal style. That has yet to be resolved!

Hope to be digging soon -and can't wait for school to be out!

Moving Water and Sewer Lines

The last two days we have been moving the water and sewer lines. So the yard looks like construction has begun! Enjoy the video we made of what is happening.

And after two days of making the trek to the library or pool, we can crap again.

Kitchen Planning

All weekend M and I were thinking about the kitchen design. The crux of the question was where to put the refrigerator. There are only so many places a refrigerator can go, yet we didn't think we liked any of them. So off to 3-D.

D went to the FH chapel and laid out with boxes and tables a life-size model of the kitchen to walk around. I turned to my design software and started rendering the kitchen in 3-D. My models were much nicer to look at but walking through the kitchen was also helpful.

Here are some views of the 3-D kitchens I made. My favorite is on the top, M + D's favorite is on the bottom.

Silt Fence

The silt fence is up, let the digging commence... someday.

Our silt fence has been up for a couple of weeks, the outline of our house is still there, but we are still waiting for digging.

Here are some pictures of the silt fence.