A couple from the air

It was a beautiful night so I flew to Walnut Bank.  Here are a couple of shots.

Lit up

Sneaking up on Progress

Rich worked his rear end off the last few weeks installing the air ventinaltion system, including the air exchanger and the duct-work.  This is the fresh air system,which is needed because the heat and AC are ductless.  He also wired the entire house BY HIMSELF and took last week off from his real job to install all the outlets, switches, and fixtures.   The list of stuff still left to do there is relatively short.   Having lighting has brought the house to life and has us more eager than ever to move in.   Each room is now a blank slate waiting for finishes.
Laura's current project is finishing the areas we're hoping to live in, tentatively planning to move in sometime in June.   We're finishing the upstairs guest bedroom and bath to live in while we finish the rest.   The kitchen is also a work in progress, and the cabinets will be delivered in mid-May and the appliances at the end of May.

Here are some photos of some of the recent work done, and some current "before" shots of some of the rooms.

Looking past the porch to the Yahara River on a dreary day.

Master bathroom in progress.   Yes, we'll have shades.  They'll
open from the top or the bottom, depending on what the bather
wants to either look at or cover up.  

Looking into the living room/kitchen/dining areas
from the porch.

This is the future Den. The stairway to the basement
is under this structure.  The top will be a bunk for an
extra guest, and also accesses the little "attic"
above the master bath.

Rich getting his beehive started in the
front yard.

Don't know how our drywall guy could pull this off..

Rich leveling the dock after the winter ice upheaval.

Basement family room/guest apartment

Guest bedroom in progress. We're planning to
use this room when we move in while we finish
the rest of the rooms'

Rich installing the fan above the dining area.

The back yard from the living room.  That's cement board
and circular saw on the ground, which was
the current project that day.

Guest bathroom tiling in progress

The kitchen, with cement board installed for backsplash tile.
The door to the pantry is on the right.

Rich in the little attic above the master bathroom, organizing
 all the armor cable wiring for the upstairs ceiling lights and fans.
This was an amazingly complicated undertaking,
and all the lights and fans now work!

Laura installing the wall tiles in the guest
bathroom.

Laura installing the cement board underlayment
for the foyer tiles.

Rich cutting the openings for the air handling system.

Rich peeking through said opening, taken from the pantry
where the ducts travel to the basement. Very elegant.  

On Thansgiving Day last year, Laura planted 150 tulips
and daffodils on the sloping rock garden in front of the
house.   They all came up this spring. Not a bad start!

Had to show you The Cutest Baby in the World, Norah,
Laura's grandaughter.

Proud Gram and Norah, The Cutest Baby in the World.

Energy Audit

I forgot... it's been so long since updating... We had Mark Lydon (Artisan Energy) come out and do a preliminary blower test on the house.  It was great having Mark there, he's an enthusiastic proponent of making good energy decisions.  (Of course I warmed (ha) right up to him because he said what a job we were doing...)

We closed everything up and he installed a fan blowing out the front door.  That put a vacuum on the house and sucked cold air in from all of the little holes and cracks that we didn't have plugged.  After a couple of minutes, we walked around with his thermal camera and could see the cold spots.  There weren't many, but it was good to note them so that we filled them before installing the ceiling and drywall.

The results were 0.9 ACH50.  This means at 50 pascals of vacuum, we have almost one complete air change of the house per hour.  A typical house is 5-10!  Our's will most likely drop some more also when the drywall is in and cracks are filled.  Some pics below.  That's me in the left and our radiant heat in the right (looking up at the basment ceiling).

Makr and his stuff

We've got the power!

Wow, we have been lousy at keeping up with the blog... on the other hand, we've been busy too, enjoying the early spring and getting lots done.  Here's a quick list and some pictures. (wow, mine are out of date... I'll need to get some from Laura)

• Ceiling - done
• Drywall - done
• Electrical - done (tomorrow)
• Tiling - under way (looks terrific)
• Some painting and other minor stuff

We are pushing to get the guest bedroom and bathroom in order so that we can move in June.  The Holy Goof is back on the market and we're told that real estate is moving better than the last couple of years.  We're anxious to get on site and wrap things up.

The Hangin'!

We wanted to show you a couple of shots of the Yahara River taken from the house in winter. The southeastern sun is gorgeous and warms the house even on the coldest days. We've had many warm days, too, and the River has been alive with Canada geese. A bald eagle regularly flies over the river right at our eye level. Some days it's hard to get construction work done because the bird-watching is just so great.

We had our "Drywall Party" yesterday, and some wonderful friends came and spent their entire Saturday working hard hanging drywall with us. It was really great to get a good start on such a big job, but the best part was knowing how lucky we are to know so many fine, loving, and generous people. Thanks SO much to Henri, Kathy, Rich, Kreg, Evelyn, Mike, Leslie, Valli, Jack, and Laura's daughter Julia. Honorable mention to Spence and Deb who stopped by to provide moral support while sharing a shift at their book store. Thanks again, everybody, and most especially to Henri.

  

There's gonna be a hangin!

Yep, that's right.  We're gonna have a good ole fashioned hangin.  Next Saturday, some friends are coming around and we are finally going to hang drywall.

Last week was busy, getting ready for the rough-in inspection.  Mostly electrical work wrap-up stuff along with Laura always cranking on her part too.  The inspection went well, he only had a few small things that I had to fix.  This week will be insulation, another inspection, and then drywall.

The weather has been really warm, so the river keeps freezing and un-freezing, really confusing the geese and ducks.  There are over 1000 a day that come and go.  It's very amazing and very cool.