Off the river and on the job

Due to the economy our river season ended a few trips early in the third week in August. Since then we've been recuperating from the summer and getting to work on the house.

For the past month, nothing had happened on the house, until last week when our well went in - 108 feet deep. The trench is dug to the well, and our pump and water line should be installed next week.

Well and water line trench

We've been mostly planning and laying out the plumbing and electric, which we plan to do ourselves. Not very rewarding since most of the work is in your head, but needs to be done. Monday and Tuesday we head to Boise for a major supply run, so things will get more hands on next week.

The excavator came back to do some grading around the house and began the boulder retaining wall on the south side of the house. We will eventually extend a porch off this end of the house, and we place some very large boulders as footers for the support posts. While placing 5000 pound boulders is far from an exact science, it seems to be turning out quite well.

Placing the first boulder - probably 3 tons or more.



The boulder wall is partiall complete.

Dried in and done until fall...

The crew finished up this week with getting the house dried in. They installed the exterior doors and finished framing some inside walls. The most exciting feature is the stairway, which was constructed with rough sawn lumber. The treads and runners have a natural edge and the whole thing turned out beautifully.

The view as you enter the main basement entry.



Looking down the stairs.



Looking towards the stairway and the bedroom from the southwest corner of the main floor.

Almost dried in

Once again it was nail biting to drive up to the property and to see the progress. This time is was a roof and windows! They figure they have about a week of work left before the house is dried in and their work is done. Then we'll be at a standstill until the river season ends...but it will be nice to take a break. Our day offs have been exciting but not all that relaxing!

Northeast side of the house and entry door. Click on larger photo to see log eave detail on gable end. Nice work Bob!



Southeast end of house. Eventually the roof will extend 8 feet beyond house to form a covered porch.



Inside view showing southeast corner and living room area. Door will open onto a deck or patio. With the lift they used to place the windows, they kindly moved our 550 pound soapstone stove.



West side of house and finished roof. Rightmost windows will be where the dining room table will sit, middle window will be above the kitchen sink, left window will be above bathtub.

Taking shape

It's amazing how much can get done in a week. We returned from our second river trip to something that actually looks like a house. We also arrived just in time to install the roof trusses - not the most relaxing way to spend our one day off but we were happy to be involved with an exciting and labor intensive part of the contruction.

First few trusses up, and the "master" bedroom visible in the back corner.



Sean and Todd finishing the last few trusses.



Completed trusses from the west.



East and north side with main entrance visible on north wall.



South and east side. A covered porch and a patio or deck will eventually come off this side.