Why I Love My Family

There are many reasons I love my family, but first and foremost in my mind right now is the fact that all of us were out at the house on Sunday working like dogs in the sun and heat.

Laura did a bit better planning this weekend than she did last weekend. She had an "escape plan" if she didn't have any work to do once we got out there. She threw her bike into the back of Mom's truck and stated that she was NOT running home this weekend. Probably a good idea on her part. We kept her busy enough that she did not need to use that escape plan.

First off, we had to go around and take all the screws out of the stakes and spreaders on the forms. I grabbed the good drill motor and gave Laura the one that was slightly less desireable...she didn't know that though until she used mine later in the day. Hee hee. :) Mom went around breaking off all the stakes so we could pull the forms away from the concrete and disassemble them.

Dad and I went around shooting elevations and snapping some chalk lines. These are not very taxing jobs...except for the fact that my legs weren't real happy going up and down after the week before. :) Dad said these are pretty good looking footings...he has seen some professionally done footings that aren't as good as ours. The elevations are all within 1/16 of an inch and the lines are right on. So Vic, it looks like our unskilled labor was good enough! I think Dad's perfect planning helped to make that the case.


Laura and Mom on the other hand, had a pretty crappy job. Since we would like to reuse these boards if possible, all of the concrete needed to be cleaned off of them. Laura took to scraping the wide sides, while Mom worked on the edges. Once Dad and I were done with the elevations and lines we came down to help them finish.

We finished the basement and called it a day, leaving the garage boards for this evening. We went home and enjoyed some well deserved margaritas and dinner.

Tonight we should finish cleaning the boards off and then some planning for the basement walls. Hopefully the lumber for the basement will be delivered tomorrow and we can start building walls!

My Favorite Tennessee Hillbilly

Well construction officially started this week. We had a hole dug on Monday and today I have footings. Things are moving along pretty quickly. Dad and I owe a huge thanks to Vic for that! We never would have been ready for the cement truck today with out him!

Vic came up from his home in Nashville, TN this week to work on his house and garden in Saginaw. He also spent every evening at the lot with Dad and I. He helped us assemble a generator. He helped us sort through a large stack of 2 x 8's to find only the best and straightest. I would say we found more warped boards than straight ones! By the time we started laying the footings we got a pretty good system going. Dad would lay out the forms ahead of us, and Vic and I would measure and pound stakes. I enjoy working with Vic. He and I work very well together. We normally come up with a system and chug along. Vic keeps things lighthearted with his jokes. We obviously don't do things as well as Dad does...but we get the job done. Dad also enjoys working with Vic and will take a day on the job site with Vic any day.

Friday Dad and Vic slaved away finishing the forms while I sat at a desk at work all day. By the time I got to the lot after work they had finished all the forms for both the basement and garage and had the basement levelled. We finished the garage and inserted all the re-steel (reinforcement steel rods).

Today started early. We headed out to do a final level check and final preparations for the pour. We were doing our final level check when I saw a rodent running across my basement! I thought it was a mouse...Vic said, "Oh no, that's a vole!" A vole is similar to a small mole...and they are bad for your garden and plants. They burrow down and eat the roots of your plants. Being the master gardener, Vic said we must do some "vole stomping". Well...let me tell you...the vole made us look like fools. We had three adults chasing, for all intents and purposes, a large mouse around the hole that is my basement...trying to corner it and dispose of it. Those things are FAST! We gave up and continued what we were doing. We can only assume that it went the way of Jimmy Hoffa, in his cement shoes. Or maybe it met it's demise by my cement shovel later in the day. You choose what you want to think. And Jenn...you can assume that it got out and ran away.

Anyway...the cement truck came and we did a lot of shovelling of wet cement. Cement masonry is very hard work...something I'm glad I don't have to do everyday. Vic and I directed the truck driver around the basement and garage, shovelling when needed while Dad did the work to make it look nice and pretty and smooth behind us. As Vic says, we were the untrained labor, Dad is the skilled labor. Dad was not keeping up with the truck so Vic and I had to start being skilled labor, screeding the cement for the garage. As you can see, I have provided pictures to show that I indeed do work out there. :)

After the cement truck was gone we went over everything again to make sure it was level and smooth. That was hard work too. Harder than the first time through. We made it through and were packed up by 1:00...with plenty of time to get to Laura's softball game. :)

I'm pretty worn out after my day of cement work. I think anyone who does this job for a living should be checked for mental instability! I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight. I don't know how my body will feel in the morning...hopefully I'll be able to roll out of bed. Hopefully Vic will be feeling ok tomorrow too...he's riding his bike in a 100 mile bike ride up north! Yes, he's a crazy man...but we know that and accept that and love him anyway. :) I hope we didn't wear him out too much and we hope he'll come back for more!

So far so good! Hopefully we'll have pictures of the basement walls soon!

* I have been corrected...after Dad read this he informed me that it is concrete work...not cement work...as cement is something you use to make concrete

Intro to Blogging

Alright...I have had several people tell me that they couldn't post a comment on my blog. I have looked into this and cannot find a problem with it. I have posted comments from multiple computers as myself, anonymous, and non-logged in people. So, I'm going to put up some directions for anyone who wants to comment and cannot.

1. Click on the link at the bottom of the post that say "x comments" OR if you have the post open in it's own window click on the "Post a Comment"

2. Enter your comment in the box on the right

3. Choose the "Other" radio button option

4. Enter your name as you want it displayed on the comment in the "Name" box

5. Press the Preview button if you want to look at your comment before you post it

6. Choose either publish this comment if you are happy with it or edit comment if you want to make changes

7. Instead of pressing the Preview button you can also just press the Publish Your Comment button.

8. DON'T worry that it doesn't show up right away. I have enabled a feature to allow me to moderate comments. This keeps me from getting all kinds of comments from people I don't know. So your comment will be sent to me, and then I will have to approve it to post it. So it will not show up right away.

I'm new to this blogging thing too, so if you are still having problems leaving comments after this please let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

Looking forward to seeing LOTS of comments now! :)

I Have a Hole!!!!

Yes, that is my basement. Yes, I know the hole isn't that deep. Yes, I know I need to bring in A LOT of fill.

Not a whole lot to report, but I wanted to get the picture up of the basement hole. Dad and I went out to check the elevations last night. The excavator did mess up one of the batter boards. Remember that iterative process I told you about in the last post? The one with all the measuring...yep...we have to do that all over again! Although Dad tells me it will be much easier since we only have to change things from one corner. We'll be setting up the footings this week and pouring on Saturday morning.

I finally met my neighbors right next door last night...the hot air balloon neighbors. They have offered to take me for a ride. Hopefully I'll have time for it! They did tell me that they think one of the guys in the balloon took pictures of my hole from the air last night, so they are going to see if they can get a copy of it!

That's it for now...I'll probably put more up this weekend.

Sledge Hammers, Tape Measures, and Geometry

Sledge Hammers, tape measures, and geometry...you may wonder how those all fit together...but they do. We used all of these tools, and more, on Saturday and Sunday out at the lot.

Saturday:
Saturday morning we met the excavator out at the lot at 7 am. He quickly started clearing the top soil from the lot. Dad and I did some measurements and placed some stakes on the perimeter so that he knew how far back to scrape. We didn't have much to do on Saturday...so we spent a couple hours out there and headed home.

I got to meet one of my neighbors on our way out though. He lives across the street, and he used to work with Dad. He warned me that I am moving into a retirement village. Looks as though most people around the area are retired. His wife came down to introduce herself on Sunday afternoon. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of my neighbors. The people directly next to me have a couple hot air balloons. Dad watched them take off out of their back yard on Sunday evening.

Sunday:
Sunday was a bit harder work than Saturday was. The entire family headed out to the lot around noon. (Laura made it a couple hours before she felt useless and decided to RUN the 6 miles home. Crazy...I know.) Batter boards needed to be put up, they needed to be squared up, and stakes needed to be put up to show the excavator where to put my basement. This sounds much easier than it really was. Many measurements were taken from my lot lines to stake out the corners of my house. Stakes were then driven into the cement. Ok...it's not really cement, but you could have fooled me! The clay is solid at my property and it took every ounce of strength I had with a sledge hammer to pound the stakes into it. I tried to let Dad do that job...because Mom and I could really only hammer them in part way and Dad would have to finish it. By far one of the funnier moments in the day was when Dad put his foot along a stake to steady it while Mom pounded on it with a sledgehammer. After giving him a look that screamed, "Are you crazy????" she swung the hammer, missed the stake and very narrowly missed Dad's foot! She might have grazed it with the hammer, I'm not sure...I was laughing to hard to clarify the details. Once all the batter boards were up, and the strings were run across them we had to do some re-measuring. Here comes the geometry part. All 4 sides of our rectangle were the right size, but when we checked it for square we had a parallelogram. The process then goes as follows 1) Move nails and string 2) Remeasure for square 3) Repeat as necessary (also can be read as repeat 15 times). Once we were square we RE-MEASURED the side dimensions. Oops! Those were off. So we went back to square one. After many iterations everything was exactly square and the dimensions were as they should be. I guess it doesn't work well for a house to be built out of square. :)

Once this was done Mom and I bailed to go meet Grandpa and Madonna for dinner at home. Dad said he'd be another 45 minutes staking off the offsets and whatever else needed to be done for the man with a shovel/backhoe. 2 hours later Dad was still not home...and we started to worry. He's not quite the spring chicken that he was when he built his last house! So Laura, Grandpa and I jumped in the truck to go make sure all was well. He was just finishing up and packing up when we got there. There were many other brightly painted stakes in the ground and things were looking good. Grandpa gave his stamp of approval, so we helped finish packing up at sent Dad home at 8:00...a good 8 hour day of work. As for this morning I have not yet heard how difficult it was for him to roll out of bed. Below is a picture of what it looked like when Mom and I left.

We had a few visitors stop out yesterday to check out the progress. I don't think they really thought it was ever going to start and they were surprised when they saw the piles of dirt on the lot as they drove by. So they had to check for themselves to be sure it was me out there!

I'll be driving by after work today to check out the hole in the ground. I'll be sure to take more pictures and keep posting them. While they are not too exciting right now...hopefully I'll have some good stuff to show you soon!

We Have Liftoff

Hooray! We've hired an excavator! (I use the term "we" like I had a say in this decision...while in reality we all know that these are the types of decisions a dad makes!) This is good...no wait...this is fantastic! He is finishing up a job this week and should start pushing aside the topsoil on my property on Saturday. How exciting is that? For most people it would be somewhat exciting...but for someone who has been waiting for this moment for 4 years...it's the super exciting!

I also had the privilege of giving the township some more money today to get my building permit and the initial part of my water hook-up permit. Have I ranted yet on how I think permits and the fees they require are a big farce? Honestly, everyone wants their money for every little thing you do to your property, even if they don't DO anything...they want money for them to give me permission to do something to property that I ALREADY OWN! Did you know permit fees are not always flat rates either? Building permits are based on the size of your house. Electrical permits are based on how many outlets, switches, etc that are being installed in your house! It's all a scam I tell you!

OK...enough ranting...on to more exciting things...like floor plans. I've posted an image of my floor plan here. It's approximately 1800 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. Hopefully you can see everything on the image.So for those of you who have been saying, "Ok...she still says she's going to build this house...but I just don't think it's going to happen"...it's going to happen...and it's starting this weekend. So I should be putting updates up more often now that I will have more exciting things to share...I didn't think you wanted to hear the small details about pulling permits and cabinet and flooring quotes. To all you WTI folk who have a pool going on when I'm breaking ground...I guess that would be Saturday...hope the pot was a good one!

Wish me luck!

Measuring the Road

This weekend we "measured the road". Now before you get all excited, let me tell you, it's not as exciting as one would think. What? You didn't think it sounded that exciting to begin with? Ok...you were right.

It started at the crack of dawn when Dad donned his orange shirt and I a fluorescent yellow shirt that said "Safety First" on the back. I found out why I had the privilege of the bright yellow shirt when we got there...I was the one that got to play in the middle of Wheeler Road. Mom, I know you always told me to stay out of the road...but Dad made me do it.

Measuring the road is pretty much a method of getting a starting point for my property line. It is measured as an offset from the center of the road. To get that starting point I had to stand in the middle of the intersection with a tape measure while Dad stood in the ditch pounding in stakes. Standing in the middle of the road was not a problem in the early morning hours, but later in the afternoon when we re-checked ourselves traffic was a bit heavier and some quicker measurements had to be made. :)

Once we had a starting point for the lot we started measuring the rest of it to put stakes along it. We had our 4-corners staked out, but something didn't quite look right. After trespassing along my neighbor's back yard we found a survey marker on the opposite side of their property. Upon measurement from that mark we found that the stake that has been marking my property line for 4 years now was about 5 1/2 feet into my neighbor's yard. With that remedied we RE-MEASURED everything and felt much better with the layout of the lot lines.

We then re-staked the house and septic field using these lot lines for a more accurate depiction of where everything is on the lot.

I also got to do some finish work on my lawn. I powered up the weed whacker and went to town around the stakes that Mr. Farmer couldn't get to with his tractor. Man am I glad that my dad doesn't half-ass anything when it comes to buying tools, lawn equipment, etc...I was hacking down what could be considered small trees with that weed whacker! You would make Tim Allen proud Dad.

While we were out working we had two people stop by asking if we had an excavator yet and if we were interested in having them quote it. I think I'm going to put a sign out by the road "New Construction...Want to Bid? Appointments Saturdays 9 a.m. Bring coffee and doughnuts!"

After our work on-site was finished we made a trip into Menards. Dad bought me a front door while we were there! Once again, don't get too excited...it was only $2 and it came from their 'bargain' section of scratched, dented, and miscut doors. It will actually be used as a construction door when we need to put one on the house.

I'm was pretty tired after the long day...and I'm a little worried about how my body is going to feel when we start doing REAL work on the house. But I know it will be worth every bit of it!

Long Awaited Pictures

I don't have much to report on today, but Jenn has been bugging me for pictures. So I've included a picture of my lot and a picture of the outside of the house.

This is my lot...I know it's a pretty boring picture...but so far that's all I've got. I've driven by it many many times in the last few years...watching the houses on either side of it go up...thinking that my house is going to be SO MUCH cooler than those houses! And while I was thinking that, the owners of those houses were probably thinking, "Wow...those are some pretty tall weeds on that corner lot! I wonder if anyone has plans to do anything with that space." Or maybe not...but that's what I would wonder.

This is the front view of the house. Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to get a picture of the floor plan up also. But don't hold your breath Jenn. :)

I See Crazy People

In a galaxy, far, far away....

Boy: Tara, shut your eyes

Tara: No, I'm not falling for that again. The last time, you stuck a worm in my mouth.

Boy: No. I'm serious. I'm getting one of those visions again.

Tara: Fine. I'll do it. But if I end up with a worm in my mouth, that's it. I know where you live and I will track you down. Also, I took your teddy bear, so any funny business and maybe if you're lucky, I'll give you an arm to sleep with tonight.

Boy: This vision came to me earlier. I see you, in the future.

Tara: Yes....

Boy: There's a house. Actually, there's a piece of land.

Tara: Seriously, can we speed this up? These pajama's are itching my ass like crazy.

Boy: OK. Anyway, um, don't hit me for telling you this.

Tara: Why would I hit you?

Boy: Because you always do?

Boy: Anyway, I'm just the messenger. You're going to be living with your parents far longer than you'd like.

Tara: Ha. I knew that apple juice was old and fermented. You're drunk. I'm outa here at 18.

Boy: It gets worse. Your dad is actually going to be the one helping you build your house.

Tara: Dad? Dad who's been working on that birdhouse for three years and can't finish it because he can't find the right stain?

Boy: Yes.

Tara: Oh God.

Boy: There's more. I also see a girl, a friend of yours, I believe.

Tara: Yes?

Boy: I don't know, it's hazy, and it doesn't really make sense to me, but you should not allow her to hammer a nail while you are holding it, and also, this is the really, really weird part....

Tara: Yes?

Boy: Something about you shouldn't send her pictures of you that she can post to your log? Or flog? Or maybe it's blog?

Tara: Blog? Have another drink of that juice, cracker. I'm keeping the teddy bear.

Progress Report 7/3/07

A quick update on where I am in the process. I sized down the original floorplan by 400 sq. ft. to make the house more affordable both to build and to heat! Along with that came new kitchen layouts and new quotes...hence the later than desired start date.

We went out a couple weeks ago and roughly staked out the house, septic field, and driveway. I put nice flags up for the county to come check all the locations for my driveway and septic permits. Once the stakes were in and we stood back to look at our handy work it was obvious that my "lawn" needed some work. The knee/waist high weeds were hiding most of my stakes. So I owe a huge thanks to Mr. Farmer who came over and mowed my lawn!

Tomorrow Dad and I have to "measure the road"...I'm not quite sure what that means, but it has something to do with being able to square up the house on the lot. What I do know is that we have to be out fairly early in the morning before there is a lot of traffic to deal with. Along with measuring the road I hope to get some "before" pictures.

Isn't White a Good Enough Paint Color?

Paint colors Jenn? I don't think we're quite there yet. How are you with a shovel, wheelbarrow, and hammer?

In the next couple weeks I'm going to have a big hole in the ground that I'm supposed to fill with a house. While I knew this was going to be a huge time commitment and quite an undertaking, the reality of the size of this project is starting to finally sink in.

I wanted to to start this project 3 or 4 years ago. And we did...however it didn't move along as quickly as I would have hoped. For one reason or another we didn't actually dig a hole any of those years. I am an impatient person...when I get an idea in my head I want it done now. That is exactly the opposite of the way my father works. He is meticulous in everything he does and works very thoroughly through each project. While this may be frustrating for a person like me, it is a very good thing when undertaking a project of this magnitude. If I would have had it done my way I'm sure I would have a hole, maybe half of a house, and zero dollars. As the time draws near for the actual start of construction I am thankful for all the hard work he has put into the preparation. I know that as we jump into this with both feet, I will be thankful for all the rest of the work he will do to make sure this house goes up smoothly. I also know that the perfectionist in him will make the quality of this house higher than most people could ever realize.

While Jenn awaits the day I call her to tell her the story of me going up one side and down the other of a contractor who underestimates my knowledge...I don't know if that call will ever happen. I will leave those arguments up to Dad. I am an engineer, not a builder, and I really know nothing about building a house. Dad knows how to build a house and I'm looking forward to learning from him so that if I ever decide to build another one maybe I can give Jenn that story she is looking for.

So please feel free to drop in and check my progress once in awhile. I will try to be fairly regular with my updates and pictures. Also feel free to drop comments and/or uplifting and humorous words of encouragement if I sound a bit frazzled.