First Day Cottage Walpole

Our guy Seldon managed to find a good weather window and finished up the floors.  I took this yesterday when it was nice but today they will be covered with snow again. This was me standing at the back of the someday studio looking out to the walk-out.  It will be great someday! This is the other half of the basement where we will have a game room/work-out space I think.  The cement columns need to be set under the porch.  The floor is nice and smooth.  I told Seldon I wanted it to feel as smooth as Home Depot (my favorite place to shop). This center section is surprisingly large.  Someday there will be a bathroom here and lots of storage potential. I am keeping my fingers crossed that actual construction will begin next week.  I found a pallet of nails and tarps that had been dropped off so I take that as a good sign.

We were doing pretty good for a week or so on progress.  Some of the floors got poured and they look nice and smooth.  But then this happened... the inevitable first big winter storm of the season.  Now we are buried so I am not sure what will happen with the rest of the concrete.  Unless we miraculously get an extended warm spell and a lot of melting!

We have a well!  It was drilled in one day by Cushing and Sons.  The depth is 200 feet with a 40 foot casing done with a fluid rotary drill.  20 gallons per minute which is very good!  So thankful for water on our lovely site.  In other news, some actual building material was delivered and Mike (our contractor) will be starting the decking soon.  This is great news because we will be able to then get up and see our actual view from the first floor. A couple of weeks ago a big wind came and damaged the radiant heat tubes that had been laid.  Erik came right out and repaired it but the sooner the concrete gets poured the better!

This week the trench has been dug and conduit laid in preparation for electricity.  We need to get on Liberty Utilities' schedule (no small feat). This is the "slurry pit" for the well which is supposed to be dug this week also.  Big happenings!

There was a lot of earth moving out at our building site this week.  The foundation is mostly backfilled.  The driveway was filled and the giant hole was filled in.  Here you see the rocks that were screened from all that fill out of the hole laid for the slab under the garage. The courtyard is pretty much filled in.  This will eventually be washed gravel and flat stones for the walkway. Our piles of screened fill...not sure where these are going. Now let's hope for some temperate weather so they can finish pouring concrete.  It has been unseasonably cold the last week.  I know it's a lot to hope for in November!

We were out at the site this morning and we were excited to see lots happening.  Erik the plumber is laying the tubing for the radiant heat in the basement (with the help of his son on school vacation day).  It looks like it will be nice and warm down there! It was exciting to finally be able to walk inside the house now that it is partially backfilled.  I can't wait to get the decking on so we can see what our view will be from the first floor. Snow predicted tonight so let's hope it is not too bad and they can get the concrete poured soon.

Well it's been a while but some progress is being made on the house site.  We were waiting for a screener to arrive for Porter and Son's to begin screening fill which will be used inside the foundation and also to back fill.  There is now an enormous hole in the ground and the back hoe and screener are working overtime.  Chris Porter said "we are getting good stuff out of there" so I take that as a good sign.  I think the plumber will be in soon to lay the tubing for the radiant heat under the basement slab. The Hole Here you can see where the drain has been installed along the foundation.