Steam Punk walls! (Rusted steel)

A montage of the house, from start to (almost) finished.

Looking up the hill, November 2010
















Sunroom tile, soaking up the sun (to go on the wall also, up 3 feet to where the winter solstice sun hits)


The tower floor, maple at the stairwell, then bamboo

Engineered bamboo floor in the utility room - to be used also in the laundry, small bedroom, & tower









Tile in the master bathroom shower


















Tile cut & dry-laid in the small bath, awaiting thinset
mortar

Late afternoon sun makes for some weird stucco colors









Sidewalk poured




"CableRail" porch rail (stainless cables to come next), and Trex Brasilia "Burnished Amber" decking



Shipped almost 2000 sq.ft. of maple flooring from Seneca Hardwood in upstate NY. Now to sand and finish it....

Got colors

Stucco done! Looking like a house....

Stucco going on - this is the "brown coat", in a "one-coat" stucco system - the finish coat with color is an acrylic mix.

And the Star Wars character is yours truly brandishing an airless paint sprayer as we begin priming the wall & ceilings - alot of surface to cover

Drywall hung and almost finished - to a "level 4" finish. Left to right, top to bottom: Looking into the kitchen; Looking down the hall to kitchen and into garage; Dining room, back porch door, and hole in ceiling where the spiral staircase will go up to office; Japanese soaking tub;
Living room-window seat-sunroom; Down hall from kitchen to studio.

Rockin' !!

104 degrees today. (102 yesterday, 101 the day before, at least 2 more day over 100 forecast).

Extremely pleasant working conditions. Decided to put some vents in the solar overhangs on the south side - after insulation, they became sealed from the house, and the soffit was HOT to the touch - putting in four 8"x16" vents to allow some ventilation, so the roofing (& solar panels) don't melt.

Another day or 2 of drywall hanging, and the finisher started today.

Closed cell foam installed - 3" under the roof surface (this is a conditioned attic space), 1" in the walls.

Then wet-blown cellulose in the walls - giving a total of about R-22. On the roof, R-30 fiberglass batts attached under the foam, giving a total of R-49 (the foam gives a perfect air seal, the normal weak point of fiberglass).

I've got pretty much nothing good to say about the unnamed insulation company, however. Left a total mess, which we're still cleaning up, shot foam into one of our skylights, requiring a replacement, and damaged the biggest, most expensive window in the house by dropping something on it and splitting out the Doug Fir jamb. Grrrrrrr.

Drywall in a week....

All cleaned up and ready for insulation (2 weeks ago)

Views from the roof - South across several canyons to Pinon Mesa (elev. 9000) in upper right. North to downtown GJ and the Bookcliffs.

Electrical Spaghetti, more organized

Passed Framing - Roughin Electrical - Roughin Plumbing inspection on Thursday - the inspector spending less than 10 minutes at the house! So much for my worries. This after discovering 2 days before that our plumber had used heater rated PEX on the cold water lines, that said "Not for Potable Water". Had it all replaced in time...

Currently finishing wood window interiors (stain conditioner, stain, then 2 coats of poly). Getting a bit warm in there - 101 today, 102 tomorrow - add in a black rubber roof and....... Hopefully insulation in a couple of weeks will cut down on some of the heat..


And Gutter Punk (thanks to Hal Tait 0f Western Slope Gutter - and former Sundrop team soccer player.)

Lots o' wires. Spaghetti at the load center, and a ladder of electrons through the attic. Electrical, low voltage, phone, cable wiring all done, due for rough Plumbing-Electical-Framing inspection real soon.

We have porchness. And Tyvek Stucco Wrap.

This is the "Ufer", the electrical ground connected to rebar, that should have been in the foundation, but neither the engineer nor concrete guys mentioned it, so..... had to dig & pour a 12"x12" x 22 foot chunk of concrete. Curiously enough, "ufer" is not an acronym - it is named after a guy named Ufer who invented this method of grounding for the army in WW2.

Below are some shots of plumbing roughed in by Mel of Double Diamond Plumbing.

The geothermal ("geo-exchange") heating and cooling system all ducted, wired, piped, and ready to go (after electical-plumbing-insulation-drywall-etc...). The black pipes are for the fluid pumped through the 4 - 250ft. wells to return to the unit at 55 degrees. From which heat is extracted by the compressor in winter, and to which heat is transferred during summer.
Currently accumulating tubs, range hood, lighting, and planning electical & plumbing locations. And it's still stinking cold - we've had maybe 3 days in the past 2 months that have approached average.....