Details...

Prior to the interior ceiling and wall covering, there is a myriad of things to do before the rough-in inspection.

Electrical, coax, phone line (just in case), security system, and doorbell wiring. Maybe I'll just mount a bell at the front door. There should be no problem hearing it throughout the house.

Plumbing. I hate plumbing, but I hate paying a plumber even more, so I get to do it.

HVAC. Jonathan Hutchison and Allen have been working on the duct and inside air handler. That's a job best left to the professionals.

The air handler is in the guest bedroom closet. I'll add some insulated foam panels after it's finished to help dampen the noise. The return air comes from the loft above, down on the right side of the unit, and finally into the bottom of the handler. This Trane unit is a plastic or resin material that will not produce condensation.

Other than cutting the end of the deck boards, adding bolts to the diagonal braces, installing the ceiling fans, putting up the railing, and sealing the wood, the back porch is finished. Chair installed.

The back driveway has been filled to the rough grade. All the storm drain pipes are buried. I will cap the circular, brick junction box with concrete and an access grate. That's about a third of the excavated material from the basement. Top soil will be placed on top to the finished grade and I'll plant some rye grass to stabilize it.

The retaining wall at either side of the house and the balcony will have to wait. I need to get the remainder of the log siding inside and acclimated before putting it on some accent walls.

I've been steadily cleaning all the various debris from around the site. It's so tempting to throw it all away, but I know much of it will be needed for various things.

I added some 4 inch downspout collection pipes before backfilling the rear yard and driveway to the rough grade elevation. The pics are for reference, so I can try to avoid running into them when digging around in the future...

The back porch is getting close to finished. Once the rear siding is installed, the final trim piece can be added around the seiling. Add some sealant, and then the black aluminum railing can be installed.

Some new porch details have been installed.

The siding is coming along nicely.

I waited until after a heavy rain to start burning the brush piles to avoid killing nearby trees and to help prevent the fire from spreading. It took some effort, but once it got started, it burned through pretty well.

A nice sunset on the ride home:

The wood siding and trim is being installed. Progress is being made.

It is really starting to look nice. I've been slowly working on the rough plumbing and it is about 90% complete. I'm posting some pictures more for future reference than for any entertainment value. It's always handy to have pics before everything gets covered up.

I am going to mount a tankless Ecosmart ECO 27 water heater on the basement wall next to the door. I still need to bring all the water supply lines together in a manifold above the water heater, add some cut-off valves, then get ready to transition to copper piping that will go down through the ceiling to the water heater. As the water heater requires (3) #6 AWG, 60 amp circuits, I've positioned the water heater directly below the electrical entrance panel, which will be upstairs and easily accessible.

Water heater: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002635ODW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i02

First, some pics of the siding:

Some inside and porch pics:

Now the plumbing pics... yay!!! I'll wait until I've done a pressure test before adding pipe insulation and permanent supports. Code requires an 18 drop from the washing machine drain to the p-trap. The framing made for some artistic drain lines...

Kitchen sink drain line, vent stack, and water supply:

This was fun. Snaking the vent stack through the framing without compromising structural integrity. I know... plumbers shouldn't be concerned with such trivialities...

Bathroom vanity and throne:

Temporary lighting in the basement:

Tee, tee, tee...

Kitchen sink drain and water supply with cleanout headed outside...

This is why I'm a bad blogger: you're supposed to update the thing.

There's been a lot of work since the last update, and a lot of rain. The trusses and roof have been installed. Most of the doors are in and sealed. Stan and his crew are installing the exterior trim. Usually trim is installed after the siding, but with the round pine siding we've selected, the trim needs to be installed first, which requires a lot of flashing and forthought.

Laverne returned and filled in the moat that surrounded the basement walls. I wanted the concrete to cure for as long as possible before backfilling to help strengthen the walls where backfill will be present. It was a hazard to the contrators, so they are very happy to have it filled in. It looks great as well. The backfill is mostly coarse sand with another line of draintile, surrounded by rock, about halfway up the wall.

Please excuse my thumb. It is always phobombing my pics...

Ha! I caught two out of three looking at the camera.

Here's the rough grade at the front. I will add about 4 more inches of top soil if needed, but I don't think it will be necessary after the sand and clay mix after a few rain showers. It'll just need some fetilizer and tilling.

The grading at the back will be finished when we see how much of the budget is left. Options are a steep landscaped bank, retaining walls, or steps built into the grade.

The well drillers have also completed their work. They were so busy with commercial irrigation that I was very concerned about getting them to do the house. Kieth Graham and Pittman Pump & Well Drilling were very professional and went out of their way to help preserve as many trees as possible. They had the well drilled quickly and with minimal disturbance to the surrounding area. It's so nice to have water on-site now. Nice, refreshing, cold water.

The tongue and groove pine log siding is being installed. I'm very excited. It looks great.