Round Two of the Silly Dance Contest

Or rather, the second big beam swings into place! With our open floor plan and no load bearing walls on the first floor, most of the weight of our house falls on two huge beams that span from the front of the house to the back. Yesterday the guys set the second of these beams, this one is the core of the second floor truss system. Check out the pictures and imagine what it was like at our house yesterday.

We couldn't put in the frame for the big living room window until after this beam came through the opening.

The beam is quite long and very heavy.

Watch out camera man, it is coming for you!

Checking to see if it is straight and in the right place.

It took the big High Hoe to lift the beam onto the house.

This is what it looked like yesterday afternoon around here!

A Smorgasbord of Recent Pictures

Late night visitors from Nebraska check out the basement!

The black stuff is called Dimpleboard (funny name huh?). It drains the water that gets in next to the wall down to the drains in the basement.

Funny story. So we had to get the bathtub for the basement early before the first floor walls were up and drop it down the hole to the basement. So here the guys are, lifting the tub from the trailer in the street and swinging it over the house (below). So just in case you wanted to know, our bathtub can fly.

A fairly recent picture of our house. You can see the first floor windows have been cut out already.

Looking from the study/ family room at the kitchen.

An impossible view once the walls are up, but you can see the front door in the center.

Getting our bikes to the back of the garage is a workout in itself. Over obstacles, steel, wood, cords, piles... it is a wonder we still ride!

Backfilling the basement! No more big hole!

Catching up!

The new Hard Drive came for my computer so we're back in business with the blog! When I look at these pictures it seems like forever ago that the house looked like this. These are from almost two weeks ago!

Jeff pinning up the windows as we mock up the living room in the basement to check the window spacing.

Pouring concrete into the basement walls, it came via a conveyor belt then down the black tube.

The whole concrete operation. Two concrete trucks and one conveyor belt truck filled the street for the morning.

We currently have about 60 cubic yards of concrete in our house and still two more pours to go!

Another view of the conveyor belt through the front door.

Checking as the concrete rises in the basement.

What an ICF form looks like with concrete poured down it.

Aiming the concrete down into the walls was a tricky job.

Jeff screws down the bottom boards of the window bucks.

The front door with conveyor belt overhead.

Jonathan with his pet project, the garage floor. Every time we pour, the leftovers go into the garage to change the dirt floor to concrete. Jonny is where his next pour will go.

Inside the New House (Sort of)

Sandy, Sarah and Jonny wave from the living room.

Sandy and Sarah in the basement where the ping pong table goes!

The basement, mocked up like the living room above it. We were trying to determine if the windows (newspapers) should be closer together.

The basement, still mocked up as a living room, from the other side.

A view of the basement. If you were on the first floor you would be right inside the front door looking at the living room and dinning room.

Standing in the dinning room for real!

Standing in the dinning room. Notice the front door on the left and stairway in the center.

Basement walls and trusses

Still trying to catch up from a very busy week and a computer hard drive that was completely full. Here are some pictures from early last week of the basement walls and the truss system going in. These pictures are well behind what it looks like outside, so expect more soon.

The basement wall in the back. This is where the laundry room will be.

The laundry room from the other side.

The trusses for the first floor came on a big truck.

The crew installs the one huge beam that supports most of the first floor (no load bearing walls...)!

Getting ready for the rest of the trusses.

Jonny helps carry the trusses to the workers.

The family stands inside the back door, welcome to our first floor!

Basement walls go up and up

Basement windows get framed out.

The basement walls of ICF block.

Baseball in the basement!

Visitors and a late night work party

Grandpa and his brother stop by to check out what is going on. "They're actually building a house," was their report!

Jeff and Jonny build window bucks to hold back the concrete from the openings.

Superkids Sarah and Jonny unload the foam.

Jeff catches the foam in the basement.

Sandy sprays foam insulation in the cracks.

The whole family hard at work.

The party is here in the basement, even late at night!