Update December 20

It's almost impossible for me to believe that it's been three months since I've posted an update. It seems like mayby three weeks. Thanks to the many who have been asking about our progress. We've simply been too busy to post. Some highlights are:

We readied, showed, and sold our current home (actually we settle tomorrow). This is a lot of work, as anyone who has done it knows. For the last couple months, we've been run out of here regularly at a moment's notice so that agents can show the place to prospective buyers. We asked the Lord for the blessing of two interested parties and a generous rent back option, and this is precisely what happened. Two solid buyers with good agents (who both knew there was someone else bidding) presented contract offers the same day. The offers were similar in many respects and we chose the one with the more generous rent-back option. We will be able to stay here until February 20th.

This is all great news, since it's not easy to sell a house these days, especially with all the upheaval in the banking industry, and we didn't like the prospect of renting it for several years until the market improves. So while we got what the market will bear, this good news is tempered by the fact that this house was worth $100K more a year ago, and we had planned much higher numbers in our overall equation of selling and building. This means we'll have a much larger mortgage than planned, but we see God's provision in lower interest rates, so are heartened.

We had hoped to be in our new house by year's end, and are disappointed that we didn't make it. There are too many reasons to enumerate why things have been delayed, but all typical of building a house...mistakes to be corrected, miscues and confusion, contractor delays, banking issues, our own decision making, etc. But progress does continue...

The new house has a septic field and tank, much HVAC ducting, much plumbing and much electrical wiring. Efforts on all these fronts continue. We'd love to get the "close in" inspection in early January. We still need to install the rainwater collection cistern, and sediment control drywell outside, plus additional trenching to provide a place other than the well itself to return water to the ground from our planned open loop geothermal system.

The radiant heat tubes were finally laid in the basement and the slab poured. This allowed for stairs to be installed into the basement, which greatly improves the ability to move around and work. Stairs, likewise were installed into the bonus area above the garage. The geothermal furnace and air handlers were ordered and should be arriving soon.

Outside, the installation of 3" of foam and synthetic stucco (eifs) over the earth blocks has begun. One can even finally see the finish color - Dorset Gold. Once completed, this exterior work should make the house warmer on sunny days, when the heat can come through our many south facing windows. Up till now, it's been pretty cold in there on many days, and very muddy and messy outside. It's emotionally challenging for us to go over there at times...so much effort and money spent and such a mess with so many unsolved problems and mistakes to be corrected!

Three consistently bright spots have been Tom, our church friend and electrician, and Andy, our church friend and HVAC installer, and Anilton, our framer. They've all been very patient with me and helpful.

Inside, the earth block walls are being parged smooth with concrete and will be covered with a new product from American Clay called Enharre - a fine textured plaster.

For our praying friends reading this, please continue to ask God for favor. Cash flow management is hard now, and much physical and emotional strength is needed to finish the house, pack and move. I've been forced to do a lot of my NASA work at night since I've been so busy with the house during the day. There are still many, many things to be decided upon and bought, contractors to be compared and hired, etc. I really can't imagine us being ready to occupy before March, and so there's the very real prospect that we'll have to move twice and none of this is firmly planned out.

So here are some fairly recent pictures...

Update September 18 - Three Front Progress

It's been a while since I've updated things, but we keep pushing along. Our friends from Ohio, Robert and Kristen Ream came east with their cute baby boy Bobby and Robert's brother Phil so that Robert and Phil could shingle the house. It was a hot, dirty job, but they did it cheerfully and professionally. Our framer, Anilton, commented that they knew what they were doing. A few days after they got the shingles on, we got about 4" of rain in 24 hours.
The rain delayed Renaldo Fernandes from being able to back a cement truck to the garage to pour the slab, but this was done today. Hopefully next week we can make good progress in prepping the basement slab and installing radiant heat piping down there so that Renaldo can pour that slab as well.
The three great room/kitchen skylights arrived this week too and Anilton's guys were quick to install them. Our architect recommended an electronic exterior awning option that still needs to be installed. With this option, we will be able to control the summer heat into the room from above.

Pray with us that progress will be steady over the next couple months. We are really trying to be in by the end of the year.

August 28 - Windows

The windows arrived towards the end of last week. Courtesy of the K.C. Company and Pella, we were able to purchase some very well featured and high efficiency triple-pane windows for basically the price of double-paned. In most cases they are openable awnings above casements. On the back of the house you can see the bump-out that is in Lydia's room. This should be really nice and give her room a bigger feel. The final picture here shows the very nice sliding doors in the back.

Tomorrow Anilton will finish putting the roofing paper on the area above the garage. The shingles should be delivered as well. Robert Ream, a friend from Ohio is coming out this weekend and will install them during the first part of next week.

We really need to make progress on the radiant floors and HVAC system(s). I pray this happens soon.

Aug. 23nd Update - Now That's a House!

It's great to see the house take shape! Anilton and his crew are really moving us along. It's also really great to have the house backfilled. Reginaldo had the footers prepared for the columns in the garage and these also went up this week. Next week hopefully we can get the basement slab poured.

Meanwhile, the roof trussses look great from the inside of the house too, as can be seen in the second to last picture. The Great Room should be a very beautiful, comfortable, and serviceable space. The last shot shows the view out the back from the Great Room. Very soon this should be enclosed by French sliding doors, with openable awning windows above. The front door of the house will also have an openable awning window above it. Having all these windows open when we leave the house on errands, should permit wonderful ventilation through the main area of the house, as the prevailing winds come Northwest to Southeast, and should blow nicely through the house.

August 6th - A Second Story

I worked from home today and was cleaning the deck with Mike until after sunset, so as soon as I could get free, I raced over to the property to see what had happened. Anilton and his guys got the floor of the second story in place (no more sky views from the garage like you see in my previous post) as well as the exterior walls. What a joy to see progress!

In my mind, it's a second story of a different nature - a double entendre of sorts. This story says a lot can happen in a day, and it's a story I'm praying to hear repeated often in the days and weeks to come. The other story has been heard way too much for my liking - delays caused by poor communication or execution on the job. We still slog along with the waterproofing fiasco. The vendor rep from Tremco told me today he's never seen anything like this in the 30 years that he's been in business - a county inspector that wanted detailed documentation on how standard insulation board was installed. For my part, I like the inspector doing his job, but we need a resolution soon. It's holding up the work.

I enjoyed seeing the crescent moon (an overexposed blob in this picture) through the window of the second story. It reminded me of the overarching story of my Christian life - God's faithfulness. Here's a little poem I wrote about THAT story and the moon:

Can it be that daily You return upon me smiling?
I would hardly look for You until the darkness falling
Caused an anxious glance to find Your face - so reassuring;
Ever watching over me, Thy grace, my soul securing.

I know You're watching and that You'll be faithful to help us. Make Your name great on the property You gave us. Amen.

Udate August 5 - Go Anilton!

What a difference a day or two make! Yesterday the steel girder that spans the garage was put in place as well as a wooden "cap" across the full perimeter of the house. This evening when I went by I found that our framer Anilton Rezen and his crew had framed out almost the entire first floor. I called Maureen and raced home to pick her up so that we could go back out together while there was still some daylight to get our first real "sense" of the rooms. We both did this with a certain degree of fear and trembling. It's one thing to look at plans, and quite another to "feel" the space. In the end, both of us were relieved. Though we might have wanted some parts of the house to be bigger, both budget and reason dictate they not be much different from what they are. The nine foot ceilings throughout make for a nice feeling. The studio and greatroom have even higher ceilings and should be very inspirational spaces. The study was bigger than I imagined it might be; the powder room bigger than what Maureen expected. The foyer seems ample and the bedrooms comfortable, with much larger closets than we have now.

The saga of the waterproofing inspection continues. The inspector rightly wants assurance that the mechanisms and methods used to attach the insulative panels onto the sprayed cinder block walls don't somehow compromise the seal. We're trying to get the insulation contractor and material supplier to provide sufficient documentation to satify the inspector.

July 28 - Update #2 - A Strong House

Here are three pictures of the concrete columns and bond beam now that the plywood forms are gone. It looks great overall - smooth and strong. There are a few spots where the concrete got damaged a bit by the forms coming loose during pouring. Willy and the CEB crew will attend to them over the next couple of days. Today they were working on the final rows of CEBs that go on top of the bond beam in the front wall of the studio (shown in the third picture) to bring up the height of that wall to match the of the rest of the room. The studio will have a higher ceiling than in any other part of the house except the cathedral celing in the Great Room.