Raising the Roof!

Floors and walls are nice, don't get me wrong, but what really gets you feeling like you have a roof over your head is to, well.... have a roof over your head. We finally started raising the roof or at least we stood by interested as others raised our roof into place. Lots more has happened since the last post. We now have all our second floor walls and all our roof trusses and even some roof deck. For the laymen (and women) out there, that's all that plywood they stack on top of the roof trusses before they cover it up with shingles. At least that's what MOST people do. We, on the other hand are roofing snobs and prefer a more lasting and sustainable roofing product like METAL! That is coming soon, as is plumbing, and doors, and windows, and electricity. Oh, it boggles the mind to think of such things. Lets just concentrate on what we have now though and not get too far ahead of ourselves. Enjoy the home stretch of the framing marathon.

Thank goodness for cranes.
A look up into the future bonus room.


Trusses as art.
Look, it's a house!











A look down the main hallway.












The whole back of our house is held up by this one stud.
O, Brave Lura!
(The real stud is actually taking the picture)

Stairway to Heaven

Yep, obviously we have some stairs now, so the second floor is now accessible to us. Framing is wildly underway and there has been a lot of progress since the last floor truss pictures. We can see the shapes and sizes of all the rooms and we are starting to understand the ramifications of what it is we do as architects. We draw lines and they become walls and we now we have to live with them. Although we are making a few changes as we go. Ryan Gleaves, our super, still thinks we are okay to work with (as architects go!). Speaking of Ryan, if you look down below, you'll see Ryan, Lura and Clyde Rector (our builder) standing in Lura's future office. Also pictured are Lura's brother Tom and his wife Ann. They didn't make it to the ground-breaking ceremonies, so we had a late birthday (Ann's and Lura's mom) celebration on the second floor of our house on Saturday. We had wine and snacks and looked out over the city and our neighborhood and enjoyed the lovely spring weather. Tomorrow we are expecting roof trusses! Now that will be excited!

Movin' On Up

...to the east side!! Actually we are kind of moving from the east side to the northwest side. Anyway. I know I should be posting more often. Especially since framing has started now and things are moving more quickly than they have been. Maybe that's why I have been slack, because things are moving too fast for me now. Well, that and the fact that I have been working like a fiend lately. Well, now I am ready to share some visions of lumber with you. Visions of trusses, and headers, and joists, and beams and columns. In case you don't understand these terms, I will show you these pictures, which are supposedly worth a thousand words. To us, they are worth about a million.














Never noticed how artistic floor trusses could be...

The Other Side

For every exciting moment which is happening on Stone Avenue, there are three or four more unimpressive, frustrating, and boring moments happening at the current Godfrey residence on Pelham Rd. Before framing starts tomorrow (!) on W. Stone, I thought I would give you a glimpse into our current living situation. The walls are starting to close in as we are hoarding building materials, among other things, in our little apartment. Have a look. Boy, a new house can't come quick enough.

Bamboo flooring (32 cases!), carpet tiles, and other assorted appliances, plumbing fixtures, lighting and ceiling fans - these are all part of the decor. At least the boxes are colorful (bright side, anyone?) Also below are pictures of our extra "bedrooms". How would you like to sleep here??

First Floor....Ladies Lingerie

Actually there is no ladies lingerie, at least not yet, but I got your attention! Well, the pourings (yep there were more than one) are over and the verdict is in, we really do have a slab now. It is really beautiful, for a hunk of concrete. Day one was all about the main floor slab and the side and back patios. Day two, they came back and filled in the garage slab. We were originally supposed to begin framing earlier in the week, but due to a couple of hangups, it won't be until Monday. I have been remiss in posting for the last few days, so I am going to overwhelm you with photos. Here's a quick rundown of what will forever be known as SLAB WEEK!

1) a quick view of some of the patio formwork
2) all the plastic's down
3) Workers! They install the perimiter slab insulation
4) More Workers! and a big concrete truck!
5) Smoothed out and drying
6) A little personal touch at the front entry
7) a look at the whole slab - basically dry
8) Lura standing at our future front door
9) Me posing on the slab not too long after the pour

Stay tuned for 2x4's and trusses. Monday! Monday! Monday!

Prelude to a Slab

You know what it's like the day before Christmas, or the day before your birthday (when birthdays meant going to Putt Putt, Showbiz Pizza, or Bowling and getting lots of cool things) or the day before vacation when you are waiting for 5:00? Well, that's what we feel like right now. Actually right now, Lura is not feeling like that. She's a little under the weather. But in the grand scheme of the house, that's how we feel. We are a day away from getting a slab!

When big high rise construction projects go up, sometimes the contractor will throw a party when the top floor is poured, but since we only have one floor to be poured, we will get excited. Probably won't actually be a party tomorrow, but have a beer or glass of wine wherever you are and toast to the final step in our future foundation! Cheers!

Here's a few pictures of the gravel and waterproofing. Not quite as interesting.

Signs of Change

The most exciting thing to happen since my last post was the fact that we have a nice BIG job sign now which explains all about our project to the passers-by. Not only do we advertise in big bold letters the Earthcraft designation which the house will have, but also big are the logos for Century Builders and for LDG Design (Lura's Company). We hope this will encourage people with design problems to call Lura to help them out.

Also new since last I posted are pipes! We have underground plumbing now to go with our concrete. This should get finallized today and be ready to have a slab poured on top by end of the week. If we are lucky, framing will follow next week. Here's to progress!

PS - We now have temporary power (woo hoo) and our future power will be able to be underground (WOO HOO!!!). Given the massive ice storms in Greenville's recent past, this is a good thing!

Going Vertical

Despite what some people may say, there is life after footings. The next logical step is to come out of the ground. To give a purpose to all that rebar sticking up by joining it to it's soulmate, the concrete stem wall and concrete retaining walls. As you can see, we have now given a form, an outline for what is to come. The foundation walls are in place so the next step will be fill in that concrete cookie cutter with gravel, putting in some underslab pipes for shower and toilet drain lines and then pouring a floor. The first floor will soon be a reality. I know, if you are like me, you can harly wait for those next pictures of gravel!

Side note: We have consulted with several of the who's who in upstate metal roofing and have realized that we will be able to afford to put it on our house. Why metal? some of you may be asking. This has been a dream of ours from the beginning for two reasons. 1) break the monotony of shingles, and 2) to create a "cool" roof which helps to reflect instead of absorb heat and helps to do our small part to reduce global warming. More on this to come...

Footing Follow-Up

I prefer now, at the present, to post a "post-previous post" (pegged presently as "the present post") to the post I had posted previously in the past. This post will proceed to paint the picture of the present proceedings at the parcel known as 313 W. Stone.

Concrete can be a concern if the conditions are cold. Coincidentally, concrete actually creates calde (Italian for "hot") conditions while curing. The conditions have been cold (caused by cold current coming from Canada) in the confines of the Carolinas, but the concrete keeping coming along.

Footings have been formed and the framework has been formulated for the foundation.

Rebar has been rightly relocated and rolls on regularly right toward the retaining ralls (er walls).

Pictures prohibit a perfect presentation, but possibly you will be pleased with the post.