Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Let The Framing Begin!

It's been about two weeks since I last posted and things moved along at a crawl for awhile.  We had some rain and our framing crew got behind on their other jobs.  In the meantime, Wonderful Hubby, also known as "J", (he's been reading my posts and has decided he'd rather I refer to him as "J"!) did the back filling between the concrete basement walls and the soil with rock. Here is a shot to show you what that looked like.
We had the concrete walls sprayed with waterproofing (the black paint).  J added a layer of plastic road sheeting between the soil and the rock.  Then he added tons and tons of rock.

The purpose of the rock barrier is to help keep the concrete foundation from moving and failing. Our part of Missouri has a lot of clay soil, or what is called 'expansive clay soil.'  During dry weather, the soil tends to contract and get very hard.  It pulls away from walls and foundations, leaving gaps sometimes an inch wide.  Water can seep into these gaps and sit near the bottom of foundations, creating leaks.  During very wet periods, the expansive clay will swell and put pressure on foundations and walls, causing them to bow in and ultimately fail.  In the last ten years, our area has seen many homes in need of foundation/basement repair due to this affect of hydraulic pressure.  Our current home was constructed and maintained properly and we've been lucky to not have this problem.  J was very determined to do what he could to be sure our new home was also worry-free.

After the rock was added, he topped it off with soil.  Topsoil will be added when construction is finished so we can grow shrubs and bushes.
It's been a muddy mess some days but oh, what a difference a few days makes!
Early last week I drove up and found the framers had arrived!  

By the next day we had the beginnings of a subfloor!
Here are the floor joists.  Some have been nailed into place.  Others are still laying down, ready to be added.  The concrete area on the lower left is our 'safe room' under the front porch. We live in Missouri and tornadoes are part of our weather.  Safe rooms have become fairly standard in  new construction.  It looks almost like a prison cell and I hope we don't spend much time in it!  :)


This is a shot of the back porch.  This little curved patio has turned into more of a project than I originally thought and I'll share more about it another time.  I think we'll like it when everything is all finished, though!

Here is the basement with the joists on top.  The area on the left will be J's lodge area.  The whole area in the far back will be storage.  Those two hoses sticking up out of the gravel in back are the pipes for the heat pump.  You can see the hole for the staircase in the upper right.

This shows the other side of the basement where Precious Daughter's and Favorite Son's rooms will be as well as a full bath.

By the end of the day on Saturday (and yes, the crew worked most of the day Saturday!) we had walls!
The kids were up for Mother's Day and had fun seeing the progress.

The garage walls went up yesterday.  We have an angled, front entrance garage.
And today, they started framing the interior walls!! 

Here's a quick tour.  Please use your imagination!
Great Room
Kitchen/Dining Room

The Craft Studio

Laundry Room

Master Bedroom

Master Closet

Half Bath

Mud Room and garage beyond

After planning and waiting so long, things are finally beginning to come together!  We can actually start to visualize what our new home will look like.  I'm not sure what will go up next, maybe the roof trusses, but I'll post another update next week.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Zenda

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14 comments:

Creations By Cindy said...

How exciting! Who ever thought we would get excited about WALLS! I love it. It is going to be so nice! Keep us posted on the progress and keep the pictures coming! Hugs and blessings, Cindy

Magpie's Mumblings said...

I'm excited just watching from a distance, so I can only imagine how thrilled you must be! When I was in grade 11 (too many years ago to count) my parents sold their farm and built a new house in the village. I was in school and didn't get to see much of the construction process, so seeing yours grow makes me realize what went into the build.

Rosie M. said...

What a thrill it must be to watch your new home turn into a reality. I can't imagine what the process must be like. I look forward to watching the progress and then seeing the final result! I know there are many decisions to be made, but just enjoy the adventure! Rosie @ The Magic Hutch

carol@The Red Painted Cottage said...

This is so exciting to watch your house being built! The closest we came was putting a huge addition onto the back of our previous house; and then we tried to turn our cottage into a house, but the health department has issues regarding the septic, so that fell through. We were disappointed at the time, but now we see it as a blessing in disguise. So I'll just sit back and enjoy the building of your new house!

Cherie said...

I can't wait to see it finished and the furnishing started. I think your closet looks as though it will be as big as my small bedroom, hmmmmm, maybe I could get rid of the bed and make a huge closet.... I have enough clothes to fill it and I won't even mention the hubby's shoes.... Imelda Marcos doesn't even come close.

Molly said...

How very exciting, I really look forward to seeing more as it progresses

Mollyxxx

Stacey said...

How exciting!! This process is so much fun. We built our last house and I just loved the way it turned out. When it's all said and done you know that you picked everything and it's just the way you want it. Your setting is beautiful too.

Happy Thoughts of Home. ;)

Decor To Adore said...

Oh things are really coming along now! Thank you so much for linking up to Thoughts of Home on Thursday. You make our gathering a happier place.

Jemma@athomewithjemma said...

So happy for you, as you know we just finished our home in December and we are all moved in.
Your land is gorgeous:)
Thank you so much for sharing your journey with us at TOHOT!
Jemma

FABBY'S LIVING said...

How exciting, this is so much fun and it makes me giddy to think of those days when we were building our big farm house, back in the 80's. Now we have downsized since to a Pt. House apartment, big, but not huge for two empty nesters.
Congrats and blessings for everything to go well in the process.
Hugs,
FABBY

The Charm of Home said...

That is looking exciting! Thanks for joining Home Sweet Home!

Laura said...

You are on your way to a dream home.
There is nothing better than progress.
Thank you for sharing at TOHOT!

Art and Sand said...

So exciting! I wish basements were the norm here. I would have so much more storage space.

Thanks for sharing with SYC.

Mildred Mclaughlin said...

How wonderful to watch your new home come together like that! It will be even more exciting once your walls start coming up and the rooms start taking shape. It was so much fun when our family built our home from the ground up like this. Enjoy the decorating stage, it was my favorite!

Mildred Mclaughlin @ My Better Basement