Rugby Players have Brawn, and Brains Too

You can see more of the house today. The piles of lumber are getting smaller. The scrap pile is small, but slowly becoming the biggest pile.

A house is more than sticks and stones. There is a lot of heart in a house. Our process began with a sales person. Then there was the designer that drew up the plan and the team that estimated the cost and the necessary materials. Finally, there are the many tradespeople that actually construct it and create a home.

The framers on the house are Ross, Russ, Mike and Chad. They are handsome young farm boys from Southern Alberta. Yes, that's right, they are classic rednecks. They just don't act like rednecks. Two of them play rugby. One of them even missed work after an injury, in spite of the fact that rugby is a gentlemen's (women's) game that doesn't lead to injuries. In spite of being fairly young, they are very skilled carpenters. They also work hard, so the framing is going fast. (If it doesn't seem fast it is because they had to leave for a week to put the roof on another house. We can't get them lumber fast enough!) My favorite part of construction is dealing with all the characters that build houses for our company. I am proud to be associated with these, and many other, great people. They are talented, hard working and want to do a good job every day.

First Floor almost there

After a week and a half of very little work on the house the framers were busy today and have almost finished the first floor. Tomorrow they will finish framing in the garage. They have hired a crane to come on Monday morning to drop the three large beams into place.

We were able to go right into the house and see how large the kitchen is going to be. We could also see how nice and bright the house will be with all the windows. It is really exciting to see the plans come into being.

Pretty in Pink

The house continues to grow. The main floor has 10 foot high walls. The first picture is from the street looking in through the garage door. The access is fairly tight and there is lumber everywhere. You can't really get a sense of proportion from the pictures. The windows are fairly large so that the walls do not look so large. On the other hand, if you compare it to the house next door, we still have to build the second floor and the roof.

One thing that we are aiming for is an energy efficient house. All of the walls will be clad in 2 inches of styrofoam for better insulation. I wonder if we should be looking for sponsorships. If one of our children saw this, she would yell out "product placement."

Rain is slowing things down a bit. The framers are excited to be working on the house. It is a bit different. They are complaining that some of the beams are a bit heavy.

Framing 101

Well after three months of foundation work, the day finally arrived for the framing to start. Today most of the exposed beams were added for the basement. Also most of the outside walls for the rest of the basement are done. The framers were still at the site when we arrived this evening to take pictures.

Paradise Restored

Today construction is full of frustation. Things take much longer than normal and our customers are frustrated. Now, we can understand their frustations a little better. The grade beam is on the house. It is the foundation for the garage and the bonus room over the garage. There is a second grade beam at the back of the house as well. It is a retaining wall to bring the dirt which will be above the level of the screened porch even with ground level. Otherwise, the dirt would be above the level of the porch and there would be drainage and other problems. The framer is arranged and should be starting next week. There are roof trusses here already. Usually, they are delayed. When framing starts, there will be new pictures regularly.