We have water now!

It's been a while since I updated the blog and we've made lots of progress so look for more updates over the next few days.  The next group of pictures is from installing the top portion of the waterline.  Leslie came down from Anchorage and helped for a while.  We also had LOTS of help from Chip, Chad, and of course Tim.

Tim and Christian digging out the trench for the waterline.  We used 1.5 inch HDPE to run from the road up to the house.

Chip's dog investigating the insulation over the waterline.

Leslie delivering gravel to Christian for backfilling the trench.

This is where the waterline crosses the driveway and runs up to the house.

Leslie backfilling the waterline and insulation on its last run to the house. It was a beautiful foggy morning that day.

Concrete

For about a week we've been waiting for a finisher to be available to pour the garge and front walkway. So in the mean time we re-tied wind blown tarps, tried to find ways to reroute storm water, and attempted to make the driveway passable for an 8-yard concrete truck.

Christian steaming after working the rock bar in the driveway for a few hours.

Norm is an awesome truck driver.  The driveway is so steep they had to split our 8 yard load into two 4 yard loads so the trucks could make it up the hill.

Spreading out the first load.  We kept the in-floor heating system pressurized during the pour.  Mitch and Woody are in the background leveling the concrete around the expansion joints.

Tim and Andy helped spread the concrete out during the pours.  In this picture Mitch and Woody are floating the concrete from the second pour.

Thanks again Norm!

Christian examining the final product.  Tim sealed the floor with two coats of concrete sealer.

Norm came through again 2 days later and we were able to pour the garage apron and front sidewalk.

And Tim came through with another good sealing job.

Thanks to everyone who helped out!
:)

Framing

So...  before any electric and plumbing can start, all of the framing has to be in place.  I'm not sure how to explain the length of time it takes to agree on floor plans, but I'll tell you that it takes a LONG time, and the more people that are involved, the harder it is.   The above plan is the master bedroom and bathroom.  I think it took 5 people about 8 hours to figure this out.  The walkway leading into the bedroom and bathroom has 2 openings that are arches like the ones in the pictures below.  I'll put some pictures of the framing up soon.

Master bathroom before...

...and after the wall was taken down.

And me on the chop saw :)

More Garage pictures

Me compacting the sidewalk.  It's covered in tarps now, we're waiting for a finisher and trying to keep the rain out. 

In-floor heating, two loops of pex and lots of zip-ties.  Norm and Tim in the background.

The garage project

These are a couple of pictures of the garage project. Our friend Tim is in town helping out with the house. We rented a bobcat for the weekend to level the grade in the garage and do some work in the driveway.

Tim on the compactor.

Christian on the concrete drill making holes for rebar.

Tim on the bobcat pulling fill out of the sidewalk area.

Insulation over a beautiful, flat, compacted floor.

Garage and sidewalk forms.

These are some pictures of the beginning...

Panoramic

 

Click on this to make it bigger.  Our good friend Chad took this panoramic of the top of the hill.  The house on the left is ours and the one on the right is for sale.  You just have to imagine the picture wrapping 360 degrees.  The part of the picture with the boat, excavator, and truck is actually just in the middle of the two houses.