Anticipating Warm Toes

We're putting radiant heat in our house so off we went on Tuesday afternoon to install Pex tubing in the master bedroom area. The Pex tubing is what the hot water will flow through which will warm up the floor and whole house. The pex has to be attached to the rebar with zip ties, so we had to be there in between the rebar being installed and the concrete being placed. Having never done this before we had some trepidation about it, but it all went just fine (not counting my sore thighs from bending and sqatting a couple hundred times). It took the two of us about 4 1/2 hours. The rest of the house will be done later after the framing is complete.
I'm sure looking forward to the day that my slippers will only be a fashion statement!

Underground Work and the Storm

Last weekend we went back to the property (I wish we had stock in Chevron!) to do underground piping for water and gas lines. When we arrived we surveyed what our contractor had accomplished since our last visit. I never imagined that I'd be excited by retaining walls being formed up and sidewalks being laid out, or even a huge pile of gravel in the garage area!

Cliff and a friend worked on putting in gas and plumbing pipe in preparation for the slabs being placed later this week.

We also had three men digging trenches for our drainage system around the house.

I supplied the food and moral support, but spent most of my time in our trailer sewing. The view is pretty good, wouldn't you agree?

On Friday a summer storm came through. The day was warm, about 80 degrees, but in the late afternoon clouds started to build up and then came rain with lightning and thunder. It was beautiful to watch but unfortunately the lightning started several fires in the area.

That's all for now. Check back soon to see slabs, retaining walls, sidewalks and radiant heat tubing. Oh the thrill of it all!

Our Grandaughter Aubrey Rachel

Here's a picture of our newest addition, of the human type, not the construction type! She's just adorable and so tiny. Jake and Warren are so cute with her and I think a bit in awe at this little sister.

Work Day

We went up to the property for a day so Cliff and Alex (our friend from church) could rough in the underground electrical. The weather was perfect for working, overcast but no wind. The forms for the concrete have been removed and the concrete contractor did a great job. There aren't any rock pockets and all the bolts are straight.

The lines on this stem wall are options for the sidewalk level which will determine how steep the sidewalk is and how many steps we have leading up to the front door.

We Have A Foundation

As of yesterday, June 11th, we have a foundation! Woohoo! Cliff drove up to the property with his friend and concrete expert Curt to watch the pour. It was another exciting day for us. For those of you (including me) who don't know much about the process the concrete was placed in the forms which are then taken off once the concrete has cured. The slabs for the garage and master bedroom will be placed soon.

It was windy!

More pic's from week ending 6/8/08

Our Newest Addition

Aubrey Rachel Trzeciak was born yesterday morning, June 4, 2008 at 6:27 a.m. She weighed 6 lb. 7 oz. and was 19" long. I can't post pictures until I get home but if you click on the link for Jen and Ryan there are pictures on their blog. She looks like her brothers, but especially like Jake, and of course she's adorable.

Until next time...

A Few More Pictures

I thought I'd add a few more pictures, not in order of progress, this time what is happening now.

Can you believe it, the foundation is coming together?! Thanks to our neighbor on the bluff who is taking pictures and e-mailing them to us.

I won't be posting for a few days because I'm heading to southern CA. this morning. Our 4th grandchild is on her way. Ryan called us at 3:23 a.m. to tell us that they were on the way to the hospital. Contractions were 3 minutes apart. This little one is coming early, she was due on the 15th. I guess she's making up for her older brothers who were both late.

Until next time...

Trying to get up to date

It's amazing how fast things move on a construction site. I'll try to get you up to the present with some pictures. As I said we had the well drilled and trees cut down last Sept.

On May 19 when the crew rolled on to the site it was quite a mess. We had wood stacked from the trees, a couple of huge piles of wood chips, and being spring a very overgrown lot. The first thing to do was to clear the site and the guys made quick work of it.

They dug our trenches for the septic system and put the tank in place.

They dug a hole for our water storage tank and lowered it into place. Then they put gravel all around it.

Oh ya, we had an outhouse delivered to the site!

Let's Get Started

Well, here it is, my first attempt at blogging. My daughters assured me that it's easy to get started, so here I go.

The purpose of this blog is to show our construction progress. We bought property a few years back on the coast of California with the hope of building a home one day. That day arrived on May 19, 2008 and what a thrill it was for Cliff and I. We sandwiched a trip to the property between our ministries on Sunday and Tuesday. Cliff was teaching a Sunday school class on the 18th and I had my last women's Bible study class on the 20th. It was worth the quick trip to see the equipment roll on site! (I say equipment because I don't know the proper name, other than there was a backhoe there).

The property is long and narrow as you can see from the photo. It's 50' wide and about 407' long. It's in between the house to the left and the trees to the right. Last September we had those trees cut down and also had a well drilled. We prayed over that well because not all of the properties have good producing wells. The Lord answered our prayers in that we didn't have to dig as deep as some around us and it's producing very well!

That's all for now. I'll be back soon!