Major Progress

It has been awhile since I've posted anything so here goes:

The electrical work is complete, lighting is all LED, floor tiles in with 2 rooms left to be grouted, bathroom tile will start Monday, rain gutters and driveway work started yesterday, finish trim underway and Propane tank should be installed early next year..

We finished installing all but one cabinet and once I finished with the under cabinet lighting will install cabinet top crown molding.

 Kitchen/Bar area with wall oven cabinet on the right.

Kitchen proper with opening for dishwasher shown.  Under cabinet light wiring visible.  Hope to finish that today.

Counter tops should be installed within the next week except for the entry hall cabinet and laundry room - I'm doing both of these with Wilsonart Laminate.

This have been quite a project and we are mostly enjoying it!

Stucco finished sanition system nearly complete

The stucco texture was finished this morning and the crew was going to start painting but a cold front came through last night.  Windy, rainy, 42 degrees so crew going to come back tomorrow and finish.

The septic system was started yesterday with placement of the two tanks but today was serious work with plumbing done, wiring for the lift pump, and installation of bio-diffusers in the leech field.

I found out almost accidentally that the Kerr County Road and Bridge Dept will install driveway access for the cost of materials!  So went up and wrote a check for $130 and they will haul in about 8 yards of aggregate, grade and pack so that we have easy access to our lot - less work when it comes time to do the complete driveway and concrete apron.

Construction Update

It has been awhile since I posted anything so wanted to post this photo and a brief update.

Most of the exterior work is complete now waiting for final stucco on the exterior.  I completed installation of 200ft of 1.25" water line and a pressure regulator yesterday.  Conduit for power, TV and data is in and working on conduit for power to the garage today.

Drywall is in and should have final mud work today.  Going to look at a few texture samples and then texture and interior painting starts next week.  Once this is complete will have concrete floor stain work done then begin cabinet and countertop installation. 

Garage door, plumbing and lighting fixtures, and all cabinets are in our local storage unit.

We are about 2.5 months into construction and everyone says that we have been very fortunate that the work has been progressing at this fast pace.  I'm hoping we can be in and settled by year end!

18 Sept ready for roofing

Builder continues to make great progress.  Wiring is well underway and AC installers are hard at work.  Plumbers are supposed to start work today and the painter has been scheduled to come in and do the fascia and soffits.

All cabinets are on order, all plumbing fixtures are on hand, other materials arriving daily.

Cedar posts for both the front and back porches should look really nice. 

Framing nearly complete

The framers got a lot done and are taking a long weekend.  Pocket door frames were delivered yesterday and windows should be here in another week or two.  Plumbing and electrical has been started and AC contractor starts next week. 

Counter tops and some of the cabinets are on order and we should have the rest of the cabinet order finalized later today.

Work continues

When we visited our homesite yesterday the workers had completed the first roof layer on the garage, were beginning the installation of concrete board on fascia and soffits, and were nearing completion of the interior ceiling trusses for the living/dining area.

Garage roofing

We plan to use the garage as storage for materials going forward so will have wiring, ceiling and doors completed as soon as we can.

Interior ceiling trusses

Progress continues

Roofing trusses and backer board continue to go on and progress continues.  I am trying to take a photo of our new home as we progress thru the building process on a daily basis from roughly the same spot.  I want to put a slide show together showing the external work as it progresses to the point of roofing, stucco and stone.

Roofing progress

Yesterday afternoon I was amazed that the framers had already started work on the garage roof.

I was even more so this afternoon when I visited.

The crew will be working all weekend and hope to finish next week.  Then they move on to a 7000 sq ft home that is next on the schedule.

Framing has started

The first part of the framing crew showed up this morning and set to work putting down string lines.  We went over framing details and made a few minor changes based on locations of plumbing and electrical rough in.  We had move the wall behind the fridge back 6" to make room for our larger fridge/freezer and the ice maker suf was slightly out of position - moved that .5" further back. 

We also increased one wall thickness from 2x4 to 2x6 in the pantry to accommodate the main power line and breaker panel.

Everything else is fine and framing is underway.  The full crew of 16 plus will be on hand tomorrow morning!

Lumber Delivery

We had to run an errand this morning so we stopped by our lot and were really surprised to see that the first load of lumber had been delivered.  Moving along nicely.

Ready for framing

I checked on progress Friday morning and the contractor was pulling forms and cleaning up around the slabs.  He said he was in a hurry because he thought that we would start to see rain around 3.  He was right!

Forms are off and the slabs are ready for framers to start.

We had only a small amount of rain over the weekend with generally dry conditions forecast for this week into next.  Out next door neighbor is having a large beehive (upwards of half a million bees) removed from a dead oak today) and framers are scheduled to start work tomorrow.


we will also be meeting with the concrete stain company and countertop installer this week.

Foundation pour begins

I left our rental house at 6:30 this morning and when I got to our home site the concrete pumper was in place and the crew of 10 was already hard at work.

The ReadyMix trucks were ready and waiting and the pour began with boom lights on.  The pour started with concrete directed to the floor beam areas and once these were filled they moved back to begin filling the floor slab area.

I was amazed at how quickly concrete could be pumped into place and also how quickly the concrete crew could deal with it! 

At one point there were 5 concrete trucks on site, two pumping, once waiting along side and 2 on the street waiting to get in.

In no time at all the home foundation forms were full of concrete and the crew was hard at work leveling and smoothing.  That was a sight to see as well.  I drove into town to pick up some food for the crew (a mixed variety of burritos, 21 total, from Marys Tacos).  I also picked up a case of drinks and when I got back to the job site at about 1015 the guys were ready for a feeding frenzy.

House slab

I left for awhile to talk with the HVAC contractor and when I got back at 1200 the pumper was gone, concrete was done and the guys were doing some cleanup ahead of rain showers that were moving into the area.  

Garage slab

Before I knew what had happened the guys pulled out and then a very nice gentle rain started falling.  Nice timing to keep the slab moist and cool it down some as the concrete cures.

It's 5:00 now and a light rain is still falling and the outside temp has dropped to 82 degrees.

Power is in and ready to go

The power company finished working on our electric service today while I was home watching the eclipse.  Now have 200 amp service and I installed 2 20amp breakers for temporary power during construction.

Hello Mr Moon

I took a break from building our home today (I've really been working hard...) so that I could watch the Solar Eclipse.  I had a shipping box left over from a recent Superbrightleds order so I made a viewer and set it up in the back of the truck.

 Definitely hi tech!  Watched as the eclipse just started

 till it was a maximum here, at 1:09PM CDT

I also managed to get a short video as clouds partially obscured the image.  Will try to move to YouTube and post the link here at some point.

More Power To You

Bandera Electric COOP started wiring in power this morning as projected.  New transformer is mounted, poles are in and wiring has begun.  Will go out later today (after the Eclipse) and see if the meter loop and breaker panel are in.

So much steel!

The foundation crew is nearly finished laying in steel rebar for the support beams and slab.  All 1/2" rebar wire tied at every crossing or joint.  An Amazing thing to see!

Concrete pour is now scheduled for Wednesday morning, early!

Foundation

Foundation Construction

After excavating our lot so that the pad was level the concrete contractor came in and lined up the home and garage foundations.  Forms were placed and then a small backhoe came in and form trenches were dug along the outer portions of the foundation (Exterior beam/footing), along areas where load bearing walls would be placed and also along evenly spaced areas forming what looked liked a grid of support beams Interior beams).

Exterior Beam

Interior Beam

After the trenching was done the construction crew literally bagged limestone and caliche material to provide an inner support wall for the foundation perimeter and support beam areas. 

The bagging was done by laying out a sheet of black plastic, filling an area along the edge with about 6" of fill then pulling the plastic back, laying in more fill and then looping the plastic out and repeating.  The edges look like plastic sand bags have been stacked up.

In areas where a stoop is planned actual sand bags are used.

Next comes the rough in plumbing which will be placed in and around the fill and then the concrete crew will come back in and do the steel reinforcing work.

Forms

With the site prep work completed the concrete contractor and his crew showed up first thing Wednesday morning.  They went right to work and before I knew it our new home was starting to take shape.

They worked till late Saturday bagging the foundation and moving in crushed limestone to level out the area under where the slab will be.  More pictures next week as they continue working on the foundation and rough plumbing work starts.

Site Prep

Our concrete contractor came out and staked out location for the house and garage and we have about a 6ft slope to deal with.  Called in the excavator that we used last year for lot clearing and he started clearing the lot on 1 Aug.

The dozer started cutting off the top soil while the Bobcat began moving rock away from our test cut around the home site.

 With all of the equipment cutting, moving and hauling I was surprised that there were no collisions.

After a full day of excavation we finished up rolling and back filling a few low spots.  Should be finished by this afternoon and the concrete contractor should start forming up the foundation tomorrow.

We are hoping to move in to our new home by the end of Jan so we are off to a good start.  Hoping we can keep up the momentum!

We are settled!

We are in our long term rental now and have taken final delivery of our PODS shipments, stored safely away in a large climate controlled storage unit.  We've set up the rental with much of our belongings and are working on home construction.

We closed on our construction loan a week ago, have water on our property and the local electric coop is staged to get us power in the next week or so.  We've done some basic excavation on the property and hope to get started in earnest later this week.

The water meter is set and I've installed a 1.25" line down onto the property.  Need to have a back hoe come in and chunk through some rock and will extend the line on down.

Have had good luck establishing new Doctors and Dentists and have a really great local grocery store with every type of shopping imaginable an hour away in San Antonio.

Getting Started

We settled into our long-term rental and have just about finished transferring our stuff from PODS to local climate controlled storage. I met with our builder and his concrete contractor yesterday and we established the basic site placement for our new home and garage.  Really felt good seeing the foundation layout on our property.  Closing on the Construction loan is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon so we both feel like we are moving ahead.

Then I made a trip to San Antonio to run some errands and took the back way home through Bandera.  A very nice drive after making two long distance trips on I-10 recently.

The Kegerator is setup with 1/4 bbl of Lagunitas IPA, we've done some small repairs in our rental, and have moved most of our stuff swapping out kitchen tools and appliances.  

Move is underway

We are nearing our move date of  22 June and we are all very excited to say the least.  I've closed my business, paid final bills and taxes and we are nearly finished packing for the move.

We will be using PODS for this move after comparing several different options.  Our first container, a 8x8x16 unit was deliver a week ago and we began the job of taking things apart, packing and moving into the POD.

Inside as we begin to fill

We finally got everything in the container that we though we dared load.  The first contained was dropped off on 8 June and they left behind an 8x8x7' container.

16 ft POD moved onto the street for loading

Now we are working on loading the 7' container with the few items that we have left.  Move of these items will be used in our rental home in Kerrville as we build our new home.

Podzilla moving the 7 ft container onto our drive