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.

Published by Pella

The proudest moment in some architects lives is the day they get their first project "published." We had such a moment yesterday even if it was sort of instigated by us. We got in touch several months ago with Pella to let them know we were using their product. We told them some interesting facts about our house, our neighborhood, and Greenville in general. They were interested and published a press release on their website. As I understand it, this also was sent to local media in the Greenville area and maybe the Southeast. So, theorectically, if could go to a larger audience. We'll see. In the meantime, bask in the glow of our star as it's on the rise.

http://pressroom.pella.com/news_releases/display.htm?section=2&release=176

Pomp & Concrete

When we all gathered at the site of our new home on Saturday, we had already officially broken ground on the property, but since we didn't have any time after work on Grading Day, we saved the Ceremonial aspects for the weekend. Also, we really wanted our parents to be there. So, Mom and Dad G came up from Columbia and Mom and Dad D came over from Keowee and we all met for some pomp and circumstance.

First I took more photos of the afore-mentioned Pile 'O Dirt, and then when everyone arrived, we did the official ground breaking photo shoot. Several of Lura and me with our hard hats and a shovel (below) and one of the whole group sharing a toast (also below). After photos, we said a group blessing for the site. Almost everyone was in tears by prayer's end. It is after all, a very emotional time. We've never done this before, and we thought it only natural to want to thank God! We really wish Tommy and Ann could have been there too, but they were off in Asheville for the weekend.

After photos and the prayer, we did the Pledge of Allegiance and then.... Okay, just kidding. We did however get a visit from the Viola Neighborhood Association president and vice president. No, they weren't campaigning for re-election, but they saw us out there and decided to stop by. Great folks! We talked for a while and we filled them in on the goings on. There are some really great people in the neighborhood and we can't wait to be a part of it. After saying goodbye to our future neighbors, we went down to what is sure to become our favorite neighborhood bar and grill. No, not Applebee's, but a little place called the Bohemian. Very ecclectic, and it has a cool used records and CD's store next door. They have excellent chips and really good soup, although they are a bit slow. But we weren't in a hurry so we just enjoyed our meal and spending time with our families!

It's now 4 days later and what we thought was going to happen late this week or early next week actually started today - concrete footings!!! Isn't this exciting?!? They dug out some footings today. Didn't actually pour any concrete, but since we are supposed to have some NASTY weather tomorrow (1 inch of snow/sleet/ice), this is probably a good thing. We still have pictures to show of our not-to-distant-future foundation. ENJOY!