Under Roof - and other progress

We visited the house today and found progress on several fronts. Click on pictures for an enlarged view.
Here the framers are putting the finishing touches on the last of the roof sheathing. The house is now officially under roof! Minus the shingles of course.

The rear wall of the great room is almost finished now and you can get a feel for the high ceiling now that the roofing is on.

Front wall of the great room is still waiting for some additional window framing.

The concrete has been poured for the driveway wall footers.

And lastly, the woodburning fireplace insert was delivered. The framers will build the frame around it and build a chimney.

Progress on Back Wall & Roofing

The rear wall is getting close to being finished and more of the roof panels are in place

The footers have also been started for the retaining wall that will go along the edge of the driveway.

Since there wasn't much else to show today, here is a picture of one of our cats staring down the raccoon that visits us every night.

New activity on several fronts

Norris is still up in Northern Virginia today, and there was a lot going on at the house site so I have a lot more pictures than usual.


This first shot shows the new front wall - and you can see the roofing visible on the master bedroom/guest room wing of the house, in the background.


Another view of the front of the house - that's all the wall there is going to be on the right. The holes will all be windows.


This is the garage entry at the north-east corner of the house. The new roofing is obvious. The house plans are being carried around for a reason you'll see later.


The framer working on the roof is cutting notches. The three on the ground to the left are measuring for the footers for the deck and screened in porch (hence the plans).

For this next picture, I stood next to the elevator shaft which is the farthest corner of the dining area. Our designer envisioned being able to enjoy the view from the dining room table. We can now see exactly how it will look - through the windows and doorway on the left, and the taller trapezoidal column of windows as your eye moves toward the center. Some seats at the table should have a better view. We'll have a stone-faced fireplace in the corner, and we're discussing mounting the television screen on top of it.
The picture below was taken from the front corner pictured above, looking back toward the dining room and elevator shaft. The kitchen will be on the right. We are looking at the "cold and dark" side of the house here. There will only be a couple of windows on this wall - two in the dining room, and one in the kitchen over the corner sink -- none up high. I guess I have to start thinking about a quilt to go in the gable area in place of our beautiful forest scenery. The rock wall and whatever we can get to grow in that area in front of it is all you're going to be able to see through those windows.


The dramatic interior shot below is taken from the master bedroom, looking up at the now mostly enclosed roof. You can just see the top of the doorway at the lower center of this picture. What looks like a double doorway on the left is a pocket door to the master bath/closet area.
I took this next picture to show Norris how the masons capped the stone-faced retaining wall.
When I got there, the operator was absent, but someone has started digging the footer for the remaining retaining wall.

Below, one of the framing crew tapes the new wall on the bedroom wing. This wall faces the street. I took this picture from the driveway as I walked back down to my car.



And last, here's a shot of Lake Louise, just south of Downtown Weaverville. It was a beautiful, partly cloudy day and lots of people were enjoying a walk around the perimeter. I was there to pick up quilts.

More framing and new rock decisions

At about 1:30 today, the last of the big parallam columns was in place.
As of this morning Tim thought the framers would be starting on the roofing system before the week's end. There are still a couple of big walls to install.

Norris is out of town on business again and Ronnie, our project manager wanted to meet with us to discuss the additional retaining wall. This shot of our masons working on the grout and final touches on the rear retaining wall illustrates for Norris the lower wall area to be installed. We will also have them put in a stairway to the left, where there's a kind of ramp right now, for access to the back "yard."
And in case you clicked and looked closer at this picture: no, your eyes are not fooling you. It's December 10th, and Larry, who heads up the stone mason crew, is not wearing a shirt. It is in the 70's today which is very pleasant for them, but probably played in Norris' departure delays from Asheville this morning, waiting for the thick fog to disperse. It was bright and warm and sunny up where this house is, but much cooler in the bowl of the town and on south to the airport.

Retaining Wall Almost Done, Framing Continues

Framing has slowed down awaiting delivery of more lumber, although some work is still on-going on the internal walls. The stone mason has made good progress on the rear retaining wall and is almost done.


All the rock is on the wall, but grouting between the rocks will take another couple of days.

This is the view of the wall from the driveway level. The wall extends the whole length of the house and then some. The wall is about 20 ft behind the house.

Norris looks out through the opening where the windows will eventually go in the great room.

This is what the front of the house will look like when the house is done.

More Progress on the Roof and Rock Wall

Lots of progress in getting roof trusses built today. Starting to look more like a real house now that it has a roof line.
View from the street.

View from the back of the house.

Some progress on the rock wall today too, with Cheryl in the picture for perspective.

Framing Resumes, Rock Wall Ahead of Schedule

The framers have come back this week, so things are moving along on the tallest part of the house now. Click on pictures for a larger view.
Some of the vertical Parallam columns have been set across the front, so the framers are concentrating on setting the ridge beams across the top.

Here they have just started to raise another section of the ridge beam up to the scaffolding with ropes.

As the daylight slipped away, they had to set two rafters on this end of the house to stabilize the beam before they could quit for the day.

The stone mason has more help this week, so the rock facing on the retaining well is ahead of schedule.

Stone Work Starts on Retaining Wall

Not much happened this week as the framers had to go help on another job. The rock work on the rear retaining wall did, however, get started on Friday. The cinder block "prison wall" is being faced with a veneer of local rock from the Hoopers Creek Quarry. We picked this particular blend of rock as it is very similar to the native rock on our site. The rock slabs are about 2 inches thick. The masons think it will take about 2 weeks to finish this wall.

Stick-Built Roof Trusses Start Going Up

The framers have started erecting the stick-built roof trusses that will be used with the parts of the house that will have cathedral ceilings. Click on photos for a larger view.
The vertical Parallam columns have been erected in the master bedroom wall to stiffen the wall and to support the weight of the roof trusses.

You can see the difference in the stick-built trusses on the left and the pre-fab trusses on the right.

Second Floor and Roof Framing

The framers have continued work on the upper floor walls and have also done some of the roof framing. Click on pictures for a larger view.

The front walls of the upper level have not been started yet as the heavy Parallam columns haven't been erected yet, but work continues on the interior walls and some of the roof.

Since the back part of this wing with the guest bedroom, bath, and laundry is the only part that will have flat ceilings (which will give us some attic storage), it's the only part of the house that gets pre-fab roof trusses - which have now been all erected.

The rest of the house will have cathedral ceilings and those roof trusses will be stick-built on-site. Here you can see the framers have already erected the scaffolding they will use to build those trusses. Work has slowed down for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we won't see much new progress until next week, but we are happy to see the house starting to take shape with a roof line.

Upper Floor Framing Underway

The framers have made quick progress on the upper floor as the framer was able to bring in his second crew to help for a couple of days. Click photos for a larger view.

This shows the wall for the kitchen (to the left) and the door that walks out onto the deck from the great room. The fireplace will be angled in on the far right.

The framers build the walls flat on the floor, then raise them as one piece. Here Cheryl stands in the future bathroom window.

View from up the slope. The great room and kitchen are to the left, and the bedroom wing to the right.

The framers are using the Zip System for the outer walls. Instead of plywood and a separate Tyvec wrap, this system uses a plywood with an integral laminated water barrier. The joints are sealed up with a rubber tape.

Subflooring Goes On

About the only new progress is the laying of the subflooring. Click on pictures for a larger view.
Most of the flooring is done. The gap in the middle is for the stairs and the other opening on the near side is for the elevator. (The cement trucks are for the new house going in across the street).

Its looking more and more like it might be a house someday. Here Norris checks out Cheryl's future studio.

Good news: The Parallam columns finally arrived, so framing can start on the upper floor now.

It doesn't have anything to do with the new house, but this was the view from our current temporary home this morning.

Floor Trusses Done

The roof trusses and lower level framing are all in place now, although some of the framing is just temporarily filling in for the Parallam columns which will arrive some time next week.

From this view, you can see the rough-in for the front doors and the two-foot cantilevered overhang for part of the second floor.

View from the driveway, looking in through the garage.

View from above shows all the trusses in place, with a gap in the middle for the stairs.