Week 4: Schedule Starting to Slip

After spending a weekend in Bellevue, we returned this week to see visible progress.  The lower level and main floor are all framed in, plumbed and the slab prepared with insulation, structural and in-floor heating.  Some of the backfill is done, and foundation forming is underway for the upper story, where it projects behind the main retaining wall at the back of the main level. 

Meetings we had the week before last yielded decisions on the façade rock and the exterior painting scheme.  Here it is – hard to see, perhaps, but basically black semi-transparent stain on the body, Sierra bronze window mullions and a bronze roof, blue-black window/door trim, clear stained peeler poles/beams/soffits, and this lovely Montana stone for around the base and the retaining walls.

We didn't like any of these.  Too red!

Unfortunately, we were unable to decide on the finish for the concrete floors.   There are several choices for color and textural finish.  We are going with an acid-washed finish; they apply muriatic acid to the floors which opens them up and delivers whatever pigment you choose.  There is a brochure with a dozen colors.  But we visited a floor nearby and found it didn’t look at all like the photos.  So Nacho agreed to make some samples for us; this delayed the pour by a week, but we felt it was worth it to get it right.  Here are the samples Nacho made for us. 

1/3 the pigment, not really this red

Yesterday we picked the one in the right corner:  1/3 the normal amount of pigment and an acid wash to give the floors a little texture.  It looks pretty yellow in this photo (depending on your monitor), but we felt it would nicely complement the materials we’ve chosen thus far.  Plus, with the neighbor’s dogs walking over the samples, we were able to get a sense for how each color would handle dust and muddy footprints – this color is just about the same as the mud!

Building a home with structural concrete floors is new to us.  Unlike conventional framing, all of the locations for water and electrical supply, as well as drains and heating controls, have to be identified up front.  We learned this the hard way.  We haven’t yet settled on the kitchen layout, and learned the hard way what happens when you don’t ask those nagging little questions that linger in the back of your mind.  Luckily, we finally asked Leo how he knew where the kitchen sink drain was going if we hadn’t finalized the layout of the island yet.  Our plumber Dean saved the day and isn’t even going to charge us to move the drain pipe over a foot, even though he had to come out and dig it up to move it.

The floors are also structural; framing will be done right on top of these floors.  Here you can see the various water and power supply lines, and the drains are all in there, too.  This view is looking towards our master bedroom.

Here are various views of the floors going down last Friday, June 29.  The pour lasted about 2 1/2 hours, and required three concrete trucks worth of material.  It was like a dance, these guys are so good.  No wasted motion.

 

 

It's hand-troweled after a couple of hours.

Nacho is taking down the floor for our shower here.

The kitchen/dining area; there's the sink in the right spot!

 

Pour complete, concrete curing.  Looking across the great room to the view.

This coming week is the 4^th of July, and not much will happen, other than Nacho applying the color to the floors this Friday.  Can’t wait to see what they look like!  Framing is scheduled to start June 9, putting us about 2 weeks behind.

Next Post:  Framing Begins!

Week 3.5: Foundations

Things get serious when the concrete starts going into the ground.  Taking out trees and moving dirt around are great big splashy things.  But pouring concrete into wooden forms with steel rebar in them means you're serious!

Here are the before, during and afters of some portions of the house, starting with the rear wall.

Looking behind the wall.

 

And these views of the storage room below the great room, and how they had to design the structure to support the upper floor as it flies beyond the area below.

The far wall is a major shear wall; took two pours to make it.

 

Next post:  Floors!

Week 3: Early Site Work

With a builder selected, construction got off to a quick start in May, driven in part by our desire to get water and power hooked up to the trailer.  It’s getting old, filling the water tank by hand and lugging batteries back to Bellevue to re-charge.  Then our well crapped out (we think it was the old electronics) and we need to make really nice with the Peases to keep using their water.  We can’t drink the irrigation water!  I gave Dave a bottle of wine last weekend – saying they’re the only people I know who can turn water into wine.  Literally.

So what do you do with the well?  Fix the old electronics, or go ahead and advance the work we’ll need to get the well ready to handle the demands of a house – new pump, new electronics, a well house.  We opted for the latter.  And so there we are, filling the water tank one quart pitcher at a time.

Given that our site is so far from the road – an 850-foot stretch - we have to invest a lot to get utilities and water uphill to the house. It’s requiring three transformers, double the connection charge from the PUD, and a huge delay. 

But we’ll have 400amp service at the house, and 200amp service plus a frost-free spigot at the base of the hill, serving the trailer in the short run and a future barn in the long run.

Here’s the road from the first cut (above) to the latest profile (right). When we arrived on the 15^th of June, they had laid 8-12 inches of crushed rock on the road bed. Also, they've cut a drainage ditch on the right hand side to take runoff down the hill.  Quite a difference; it looks like a real road now.

 

Week 4 saw the team trenching to drop water lines, plus 4-5 pipes for power, phone, cable, fiber and one more conduit ‘for what we don’t know yet’ about future technology. Here’s a picture of the trench, right before they closed it up on Friday, June 8.  We’re awaiting the wires to be pulled and a final inspection by the PUD before those can be filled in.  We will wait anywhere up to 6 more weeks for the inspection – a 30-minute visit after which the ground will be filled in and the switch turned on.  And so there we are, entertaining visitors, filling the water tank one quart pitcher at a time.

 

And especially for the little boys in the audience (you know who you are), here's a video of Jeff in the little excavator backfilling the trenches.  And one of his men using what has to be the worst tool in the shed - the soil compactor.

Week 1: It's Gonder Custom Construction

Leo Gonder (L) and Wally

After taking all that time to explain the process for selecting a builder, I thought it would be good to share with you our choice: Gonder Custom Construction!  A husband/wife builder team out of Leavenworth, WA, Leo and Teresa really won us over with their energy, honesty and attention to detail.

We interviewed five builders, and narrowed it down to two to provide a detailed bid.  Leo and Teresa Gonder provided an amazing book full of all of the materials they used to create our bid.  They bid the house exactly as the architect spec’d it – and then showed us how to cut the budget by over one hundred thousand.  The other builder made a series of judgments about what he would change from the plans and architect specs; but how he got to his number was not clear.

We felt going forward we could trust Leo and Teresa to be straight with us, and to provide a clear paper trail for everything.  That appetite for detail will serve us well.  And so far, working with them, we are very happy.  This is a really good project for them and for their business, and they're bringing a personal interest to the project. We’re making decisions well, he’s thinking ahead, providing options for reducing cost while achieving good results.  And as of mid-June, we are deep in the decision-making cycle.  Things are happily moving forward!

Next Post:  Week 3: Early Site Work

Memorial Day Hike

Barrie came up to visit us for Memorial Day weekend.  You know how you sit there looking at a hill and say, "One day, I'm going to climb that hill."  Well, that Sunday morning, we did.  Here are some photos of the hike.  It's really a storybook environment over there.  Enjoy.

This is the hill - it's called Summer Hill for the little girl next door.

Looking back at our home site - what a road!

Looking west up the canyon towards the Willems' house

Looking down at the Szmania's farmhouse from 'Brender Beach'

Barrie looking down on Dryden from the top of the hill

Could they have made this valley any prettier?

Barrie pointing the way to Wentachee

Arrowleaf Balsamroot in full bloom all over the hills

Not sure what this is - we'll call it Fireworks Flower

The Real Authentic Thing: Case in Point #1

Now and then I get sucked into buying the wrong thing; usually it’s a sale item I talked myself into.  Invariably, I end up disappointed for the rest of the time I own it, and wind up disposing of it thinking, “what a waste that was.” And since last summer we disposed of most of the stuff we accumulated over 27 years of marriage, I find myself acquiring things – lots of things.

 

So when it comes to the property in Cashmere, I’ve got a new policy.  From now on, I will only buy the Real Authentic Thing. You know, the version of a thing that exemplifies the best of that thing.  The old- school, the timeless, the one everything else is a substitution for.  

Case in point number one is our new picnic table.  When we rolled the trailer over there, that gave us a place to sleep, but also a nice table for meetings, meals and hanging out.  Of course as the weather got better and better, we found ourselves outside more, missing a table.  So I started looking for a picnic table.  Not a plastic one made in China.  Not faux Tuscan or faux French or faux anything.  

Bear and Barb Milner delivering our new table.

Craigslist delivered the solution:  beautiful tables made from scratch by Bear Milner in Tonasket, WA.  I ordered the table in early May, and he delivered it on June 16.  We’re thrilled to have it.  It’s comfortable to sit at, long enough to seat 6 - 8 people, and very well-made.  He rounded over all the corners, so no splinters.  He used porcelainized screws so no rusting.  And chrome carriage bolts.  All at a rural eastern Washington price. With a little care, our grandchildren will inherit it.  

Leo Gonder (L), Wally and Matt Miller from Washington Window and Door going over our window package details.

We’ve eaten our meals there since the weather’s been lovely.  Even took a meeting on house business.  All made even more satisfying knowing a local craftsman got some business, and we got the real authentic thing.

We thought we’d leave it down in the orchard – the workers could eat their lunch at it, we might have an orchard party down there – it would just be happy living down at the bottom of the hill.  But after living with it this weekend, we think it may earn a place on our evening terrace up by the house.

Farm School in Pictures - Subject: Close-ups

While I'm still working on the next posts about Farm School, I thought I would post up these close ups I took at and around Quillisascut Farm and School of the Domestic Arts in Rice, WA.  More to come.

 

Arrowleaf Balsamroot - in bloom now all over Eastern Washington.  Rick Misterley (of Quillisascut) 
says when the Balsamroot blooms, Old Man Winter is on the run.

This is Filbert.  He's very handsome and quite the casanova.

The coat of Libby, the Komondor.  Her job is to watch over the goats, but mostly now she just sleeps.  And barks at things because she's blind and deaf.  A dear dog and a wonderful presence.

And here's Jet, Border Collie Numero Uno.  She also has semi-retired from her job, now that wonderkid Sedona (Border Collie Numero Dos) is on the job.  I have no pictures of Sedona - she's always on the move.

 

Seed Saving.  Ready to plant out. Such a variety of heirloom beans.