Feldspar, Quartz and Mica

So today we started looking at cabinets. We met with our cabinet builder, Joey Coggins, to go over the design, material and the countertops. Joey is the owner of Faith Woodworks (http://www.faithwoodworks.com/) and was really helpful and patient. That said, when you try and pick out cabinets with your wife while trying to stay within a budget it can be a long day. When I was building I never thought about corbels, or bun feet, or pullout spice drawers. I never talked about igneous rock, the texture and crystalline structure of level 1 granite, or the balance of feldspar, quartz and mica in the substrate. Things were easier when all you had to choose from was butcher block or almond Formica. Thankfully Joey got us through the design and material selections. We decided to leave the cabinet color and the tops for another day. Arguments are like fine wine, and should be drawn out to be savored.

Other things have been accomplished as well.  We have poured the basement concrete and the patio. The brick mason is there today raising one of the foundation step-downs two more blocks. He’s beginning to think this is a never ending job. I, on the other hand, hope this is the final trip for him.

The final job this week will be installing the crawl space french drain.  That done, the carpenters are lined up to start framing Monday.   Let the fun begin!!

Inside my "shop"

The storage side of the basement

From the patio in to my shop

The foundation is in!

Like all good plans this one had to be revised right off the bat. After doing a rough layout I realized the garage was going to be too close to the road. I did a quick redraw and pulled it back 4’. I’m still getting use to these zero lot lines and tiny lots though. The foundation seems to take up the whole lot. Unfortunately it stills leaves a little room for grass but I think I can still maneuver my lawn tractor enough to cut it.

The next problem was the step-down foundation. I have never done one of these and as simple as it looked I still had to have the brick mason come back twice. I had to keep rising it up a few block on the step downs. I was really worried I was going to need to raise the whole foundation but with the final rough cut done it looks like it will work OK.

We are now ready for concrete in the basement.  It's not a basement that is accessible from the main floor.  It is a shop and storage basement for me!  I just hope I don't end up having to sleep down there any.

Abby inspecting the footings

Foundation

We have started a house

October of last year Susan and I decided to try something I never thought we could do; design and build a house. It’s not that we don’t have the experience, or the time, or even the desire to build a house. What we have always lacked is the self-control to keep from killing each other as we went though the process. As we approach the golden years however, we now think we have matured enough to give it a shot, and this blog will attempt to chronicle that build.

The PLAN

The idea was hatched last year as I worked on a custom home for Carilion, a subdivision Highland Homes, the company I work for, builds in. Susan has always loved Craftsman’s style architecture and communities designed around city type living and Carilion has both. After pitching it to Susan, and showing her a design I had been working on, she was hooked. The plan was actually the easy part but the lot was the hard part. Our first attempts to get a lot we liked in Carilion failed so we began looking in other areas. The more we looked the more we kept coming back to Carilion. It had everything we wanted; the community, the location, the life style we were looking for and it put us closer to our old neighborhood biking buddies as well. After much looking and back and forth we finally found a lot that would work with our design. The plan now was to purchase the lot and start building in about three years. That plan lasted about an hour after we closed the lot.

With the lot purchased and the plan finalized there was no way we could wait three years, so June 1st I meet the surveyor to layout the house and we were off. We now have a foundation and hope to begin framing in about a week. Highland Homes is building the house for me with Ryan Miller our able project manager. My job is to continually look over his shoulder and irritate the hell out of him. Fortunately he is very laid back and is use to working with bigger pains than me… but he hasn’t worked with Susan yet.

This is the lot.  Another corner lot which we both said we would never have again, but this one has a whole lot less yard to maintain.

The grader cutting it out.

Ryan, the project manager.  We are laying out the house for footings.

Ready for footings.