And the beat goes on . . .

"All that noise, noise, noise, NOISE!"

- The Grinch

Air compressor, flooring nailer, air gun! That's the sounds of building a house, and personally I think we could all use a break from the constant pounding.

Progress continues on the timber frame. The flooring is almost done and it really looks beautiful. After much contemplation and many calls to our GC we were able to transition the floor from the living room into the bedroom without breaking up the run of the floor. We not only saved a lot of cash doing it our self, but beat the deadline for the kitchen installation. And although the noise was a little overwhelming at times, I think we can close the book on that chapter of this process!

The wood stove was delivered this week from a spa and stove shop in Lebanon. We commissioned the store to make a hearth pad as well, but the cut around the floor timber was backward and we had to re-order the piece. We can't use the stove anyway since the pipe isn't hooked up, so hopefully next week we will be enjoying a warm fire.

So now it's back to making decisions - Appliances! I'd love to put high end appliances into this beautiful kitchen, but I have this issue hanging over me - a BUDGET! I'm looking at the Frigidaire Gallery collection right now. The prices are good and I think they have all the features we will need for this kitchen. By the way, I'm always up for a little input from my friends, so let me know if you have any suggestions.

The kitchen cabinets are a shaker-style maple with a cognac finish. That was a BIG decision and took a great deal of time to put together. Our cabinet designer is Greg Chinn from the St. Robert's Lowes. Not only has he had to solve some pretty tough issues, but has been out to our house 3 times to measure and get ideas. We are now ready to pick out some granite for the counter tops, and will probably head to Springfield this week to pick out something from a granite yard. I have no idea what we're looking for, but like everything with this house so far, we'll know it when we see it!

So what's next? Finish the window trim and start installing interior doors. Lots of trim painting still left, but little by little we're knocking that out, too. To maintain our sanity we've booked a trip to St. Maarten for mid-March with our friends Mike and Delisa.

A well-deserved break!

A New Year

Happy New Year!!

With so many changes in 2010, we are both looking forward to enjoying all the hard work that has gone into our new home. The paint is on the walls (almost), the trim is on the windows (almost), and the flooring is just about half done. All those hours watching HGTV is definitely paying off!

So many of our interior design decisions have been influenced by the timbers. With so much white oak in the house we decided to trim the windows with primed and painted pine. The trim is 4" wide and although there is a lot of work involved in creating your own trim, it's a real cash saver and looks great! Some of the angles of those higher windows were challenging, but they turned out really nice. The secret: caulk! Caulk can make ANYTHING look professional.

After shopping for months for the perfect flooring, we finally decided on natural white oak pre-finished tongue and groove from Lowe's. And thanks to our general contractor Ron, we have the tools needed to lay the flooring. Can't imagine doing this job without the proper tools! By the end of a 10 hour flooring session you're feeling pretty close to death!! The results however, are totally worth it.

What's next? It's on to the kitchen! Not that the one I'm using right now isn't good enough, but it will be nice to not have to rinse dishes in the bathroom sink. Currently we have a fridge downstairs, and a coffee pot, microwave, and a Coleman camp stove set up in the future kitchen. I've become a creative cook and quite an expert with a crock pot.

With the loft floor finished, we've taken up residency upstairs. It's probably the most beautiful room in the house and will be a great spot for guests. At night you can hear the timbers "check" as they settle into their permanent position. Although checking leaves small cracks in the posts and beams, it's part of the mystique of a timber frame.

Now that we've reached the new year, springtime is just around the corner. It won't be long until we're floating down the river and finally enjoying all the hard work we've spent during these winter months. Until then we'll continue to paint, caulk, and hammer away!

What happened to November???

As I look back on my last post, I realize that I haven't updated this blog since October. I guess when you're busy building a house you don't have time to write about it!

Fall has become a distance memory and we're now facing a long, cold winter. Lots of deadlines had to be met so we could winterize the cabin. Although it's a very comfortable place to stay during the warmer months, the cabin has no central heating system and can't be used during the winter. It felt strange leaving the cabin behind. It's been a great place to stay while we worked on the house, and we're both grateful to Don and Gaye Kuester for allowing us to use it.

So with a lot to accomplish in November, I'm happy to say that we now have:

1. Heat in the house! Very important when you consider that it's 5 degrees outside today.



2. Lights and power! Not all the lights work, but it's enough to get by on. Most of the outlets are live, so that allows us to plug in extra lights as we need them.



3. Hot water! The well was dug this summer, but we've been going outside to get water into the house. I'm happy to report that we now have one sink, one shower, and two toilets!
   

So with the necessities taken care of, we can focus on the jobs that make the house a more inviting place to stay.


Most of the painting is complete, and I couldn't be happier to have that job out of the way. We decided to use Behr paint from Home Depot with colors from the mid to deep tone collection. I'm happy with the colors we chose, however whenever you paint with red tones you can expect MULTIPLE coats. With some of the high spots being 20 feet up there, we've spent many hours on scaffolding painting and re-painting areas in the kitchen and master bedroom. Although the colors are rich and beautiful, it has been quite an ordeal to achieve the coverage we want.

The tile work is completed in the master bath, 1/2 bath, and both entries. The double shower was quite a job and we're both so pleased with the way it turned out. By the way, if you're looking for beautiful but inexpensive tile, head to the tile outlet store at 23rd and 291 in Independence. Great stuff and DIRT cheap!!

Half of the house is sided, but with the weather turning colder it's been difficult to get the workers out to finish the job. I'm not thinking we'll see them this week either, so who knows when that will get done!

With the two of us working on the house things are going slow, but the work is quality!!! This week we're putting in the loft flooring and attaching the trim. Mark has become a pretty good carpenter, and with me as his supervisor, you know it's going to get done right! I have to admit that even though it's been a slow, laborious process, it's been great working on this dream together. As for Christmas this year, I think we'll give each other a house . . .

A Room with a View

With fall in full swing, the Ozarks have taken on a beauty of their own. It's so nice to work in such a pristine environment, and to be able to step outside and enjoy this perfect view when we need a break.

So what exactly has been going on these past few weeks? Time for an update!

The electricians (Bill and Darlene) started the tedious process of wiring the house. This is not an easy task since the wires have to be run through the conduit in the SIP's, so there is no room for adjustments. Both of them have been great to work with and don't seem to mind at all when we make a slight change to the plans.

The heating and air crew of Ransom Heating and Cooling in Steelville, Mo. were the next folks up to bat. They managed to weave the duct work around huge beams and timbers, all the while giving us the best air flow possible. I'm sure it wasn't an easy job, but we were very pleased with the outcome when all the ducts and vents were in place.

Plumbing was another story! Our original plumber decided the job was much bigger than the bid price he had qouted us previously. We're still not quite sure why he seemed so suprised by the magnitude of the job (he had the plans!!), but we wound up excusing him from his duties mid-job and going with Lynch's Plumbing out of St. James. We're currently waiting for our septic system to be hooked up, but everything else is ready to go.

Now for the job we've been dreading the most: Drywall! If you've ever experienced the process of drywalling you know what a mess it makes! When you throw in the timbers, stairs, and rails that you are guarding with your life, the stress level goes through the roof. Our main objective was to keep the timbers free of drywall mud and get the walls ready for primer. Kudos to Mark who has worked some very long days cleaning, priming, and preparing the walls for color.

Although we've made great strides in moving this project along there is still so much to be done. The light fixtures and ceiling fans have been delivered and are ready for installation. Paint colors have been selected, and kitchen plans are being discussed.

So much to do and all the time in the world to do it . . .

I think I'll just kick back and enjoy the view!

Decisions, decisions, DECISIONS!!

We came home on Wednesday this week mainly because we are both on OVERLOAD from all the decisions we've had to make. I never thought there would be so many details that had such an impact on the final outcome. Everything from window styles to outlet colors have been discussed and planned out so carefully that I fear that when the house is complete Mark is going to find me whimpering in a corner because I put a pot light in the wrong place.

The windows went in early Monday morning and it was a bit nerve-racking watching these high-dollar panes of glass being lifted and balanced by three men on a lift. I wanted to scream "PLEASE BE CAREFUL!" even though I knew they were the pros and I needed to just let them do their jobs. (Can you say CONTROL FREAK?!?) But as you can see the windows and doors are all in and they look amazing!

The roof was another great addition to the house. Finally we can put our squeegees away and sweep sawdust instead of pushing water. Mark has spent hours watching the radar and "willing" the rain away, so now he can stress about other things. The roof we chose is metal, and we're both pleased with the way it looks. I did however, change the siding to a lighter beige color when I realized how dark the roof appeared. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that the trim, siding, stone, and roof will look like a well-orchestrated plan and not something just thrown together by a couple of amateurs!

So with the windows and roof in place, the house is starting to come together and look like something that will soon be a home. And as I obsess over tile, paint colors, and cabinets, I step back and look at what we've already accomplished and smile. And if you look real closely, it smiles back!

A Painful Process

When we started this process I really didn't believe my friends who said, "If your marriage can survive building a house, it can survive anything!" We agreed on design, layout, color and all the finer details of the home. What were they talking about??


I think I'm starting to get it . . .


Being locked in a small cabin with three dogs, no TV, no computer, and a radio station that reads the obituaries every day at 9AM can wear on a relationship. I need space!!!

Once the timber framers had left town, it was time for the walls, ceiling, and roof to go on. The walls and roof were designed by Thermocore of Missouri, a company based in Jefferson City. Known as Structural Insulated Panels, these SIP's are very energy efficient and arrive at the site already cut and fitted to the frame. They have the electrical conduit built into the panels as well as spaces for windows and doors. Basically it's like putting together a puzzle and hoping each piece fits.

According to the guys who built these panels, if the foundation fits, the frame will fit. If the frame fits, the panels will fit. Everything fit perfectly! Painless? Well, almost. . .

As the final wall SIP was being set into place, Pat, a designer/drafter for Thermacore made the mistake of placing his foot into an outlet box at floor level to push the panel in place. Unaware that the box was actually located below the sub floor, Pat pushed the panel down and trapped his foot between the wall and floor. OUCH! The crane lifted the wall off of his foot and Mark and I rushed Pat to the ER in Lebanon. Three toes were seriously injured and would require surgery to repair the damage. NOT A GOOD DAY! Fortunately Pat was able to return to Jefferson City for the surgery and at last report was doing well, although his second toe is now about a half inch shorter than it was. Pat is a bright, young guy and we wish him the best!

When we returned from our hospital visit, we discovered that the process of placing the tongue and groove panels on the ceiling had begun, and it looked amazing! Unfortunately the roof couldn't be completed due to another rain event that seemed more like a hurricane than a thunderstorm. Once again we were fighting machinery and mud, but by the end of the week the walls, roof, and ceiling were in place. Windows and a metal roof will go on early next week and our home should finally be dry for good.

And we're still married . . .

Timber!!!

It's difficult to describe the emotions you feel when your dreams become a reality. 10 years of researching, planning and saving comes down to two days of timber raising. Even though there were a few hurdles we had to overcome, the end result is beyond anything we could have imagined.

The whole process started Tuesday, September 7th with the timber framing crew from Hutchinson, Kansas arriving around noon. The first roadblock (literally) was figuring out how to get a 60-ton crane and two 48 ft. flatbeds around a very tight turn at a very dangerous place on the road, and down a steep, winding gravel driveway. The answer: Call the highway patrol to stop traffic. A BIG thanks to those guys!

Once the crane was in place and the trucks were down the drive, a lift or telehandler was used to unload the timbers and stairs from the trucks. All of the pieces were laid out on slats and the process of putting the frame together began.

The timbers are moved up onto the sub-floor and the framers began building the first bent. Once a bent was constructed they were stacked in the order that they were to be lifted by the crane. Each bent weighed many tons and had been pre-fitted at the shop in Hutchinson.

The construction of the frame began in full early Wednesday morning, September 8. (Happy Birthday, Mom!) The second challenge of the process became apparent as the framers began brainstorming the best way to place the two-story stairs and rails in a really tight spot without damaging the beautiful woodwork. Everyone held their breath as the crane lifted the stairs high in the air and placed it PERFECTLY in the stairwell. INCREDIBLE - and everyone exhaled all at once!

After the stairs were nestled in their spot, the first bent was lifted up and over the stairs and attached to the rails. Since it was the first bent to be raised, trees were used to hold it in place. It was a bit like setting a piece of paper on it's edge and expecting it to stand - a little precarious, but leave it to the pros to make it happen!

Attaching the second bent gave the structure a little more support. The framers climbed the sides of these timbers like circus performers and seemed to work without the fear of a misstep.

Throughout the day, the crane floated parts of our home through the air and we all watched as the framers took the timbers off the crane a piece at a time and placed it in the right position.

As the house came together, rooms became more defined, and it was exciting to actually see
the kitchen and living room emerge out of nothing!

We are probably most excited about the white oak stairs and walnut rails. They are stunning, and I'm already thinking about what greenery I'm going to wrap them in at Christmas. I don't know if it will be ready for Christmas, but it sure is fun thinking about it.

Although the rains arrived early on Thursday morning, the framers continued to work and put the timbers together. At no time did they consider stopping, and probably did their most dangerous work climbing those rain-slick timbers in a steady rain.

With the frame constructed, the timber framers gathered their supplies and left their beautiful artwork behind. Mark and I cannot begin to express our gratitude to John Van Bruggen and his team that made our home a reality. Although there are still walls to go up and finishes to be completed, thanks to the crew at Clydesdale Frames, our home has a soul.