Category Archives: Uncategorized

Last week we tackled the in-floor heating system, hot and cold water lines, and insulation. These were the remaining tasks before pouring the floor. We chose a hydronic system, also known as radiant, as the primary method for heating the building. Hot water will be pumped through miles of PEX tubing under the concrete floor,Continue reading “Things are heating up!”

Last week we tackled plumbing, one of the remaining steps before pouring the floor. I have to give Sam most of the credit for the plumbing. He spent a long time researching and designing the plumbing system. I did my part too though. I spent hours online picking out our two bathtubs. This was criticalContinue reading “Plumbing and Plums”

Our friend Jackson came to visit for the 4th of July weekend! Lucky for us, Jackson’s idea of a fun vacation involves working long hours outside. We were excited to have some help, especially with BJ gone for the long weekend. We were so excited that we decided to go big and had 19 truckContinue reading ““Compaction Jackson””

We spent the majority of the week filling the trenches on the inside and outside of the foundation. We were also hit with a record breaking heat wave. The temperature started in the comfortable 90’s and went up from there, staying above 100 for most of the week. Yikes! We started working on the exteriorContinue reading “Entrenched”

We have a helper! BJ, the brother of our friend Nikki, is here to help for the summer. BJ drove up with his RV last week and set up camp. We’re very excited to have another pair of hands, especially for the heavy lifting. To prevent BJ from leaving any time soon, we fenced him in.Continue reading “BJ’s Arrival!”

The excitement continues! Our concrete contractor, Matt, and his crew set up forms and a ton of rebar for the footing. There are rebar reinforcements running lengthwise around the perimeter, plus a ton of hoops (the things shaped like top hats). The lower halves of the hoops will be in the footing. The upper halvesContinue reading “Concrete!”

Over the last two years, we… Chose a building site Installed a temporary electric panel Drilled a well Added several feet of material to the downhill side of the building site Removed material on the uphill side of the building site Staked out the final location for the building Started building a retaining wall RelocatedContinue reading “Getting Up to Speed”

We changed our initial monolythic slab design to a more traditional stem wall and floor design. The footing, stem wall, and floor will be poured in 3 steps. We hired a local contractor for all of the concrete work, including setting up the forms and rebar. We did the prep work ourselves. Sam leveled outContinue reading “Prepping for concrete”