Memorial Day Update

It was a great holiday weekend for us.  The kids had their first Summer League swim meet v. Wells Branch on Saturday.  It poured rain for 7 hours but the kids were undeterred and swam through it.  Addie and Gav cranked out some PB times while Alex oversaw snacks and entertainment under a tent.

At The Hideout the foundation crew removed the wood forms and pulled the internal cables tight.  Other than that not much to report.  After 2 days of the mud-making rains we made the drive to check it out.  The kids were forbidden to climb the giant dirt pile, but found throwing rocks off the back of the foundation was just as fun.  Alex found a roly-poly that was just too cute to leave behind (we brought it home).

We started to fret over the driveway, walkways and other flat work in front of the house.  Where to put additional parking spots (since we plan to use the garage as a functional area) was discussed as well as where we could install a sport court.  It will be easier to visualize the scenarios when the house is framed, and we left inspired to go research landscaping ideas.  Next up should be framing - hopefully to start next week.

Time-Lapse #2

Here is the video from last week.  It has the final foundation prep and the concrete pour.  I'll be moving the camera this week to get a better angle.

Foundation and Soccer Wrap-up

It was a crazy weekend!  Soccer tournaments on Saturday and Sunday for A and G.  Mama was coaching A's team and they played great.  G's team played the best 3 games of the season.  Weather in the mid 90's and we are all exhausted and proud.

We did manage to sneak out to the Hideout for a look at the concrete, and it looks great.  The kids were begging to run on the foundation but I was too nervous to let them after just 24 hours of curing.  No matter, they spend most of their time out here conquering a giant pile of dirt left here for future site work.  The stairs that form the breezeway turned out really nice - better than we had imagined.  Here is a shot standing at the house looking back up towards the garage:

Here they are from behind the garage facing the home.  

 Here is the sunken living area:

 We were slightly disappointed with the rear porch.  The porch elevation is suppose to meet the house just 1.5" below the main elevation, but the porch was about 4" lower.  Not the end of the world but it is a small aesthetic feature that was important to us.

 Here are a couple of the garage.

I should have another time lapse video up in a day or two.  Thanks for checking in.

Final Foundation Prep

We got the word yesterday that the foundation was ready for concrete, and the trucks were scheduled to be on site at 7am Friday (today).  So we scooped the kids up and ran out there for a quick look before everything was covered.  It's impressive how much was done since we were there a few days ago.

Everything was nice and tidy.  It was much easier to visualize the rooms and their size.  This photo is from the front left corner of the house where the breezeway will be.  The white pipe on the left side of the shot is the drain pipe for the outdoor shower.

Here is the sunken living area shot from the front-right of the house.  The stairs will drop from left-to-right on the front wall of this room.

You would never know it from this picture but there is a lot of drama behind these giant steps.  This is part of the walkway between the garage (left) and the house (right).  Throughout the design process the garage and home were depicted at the same elevation and this walkway was flat.  But when the foundation crew set the framing there was a 26" drop from the garage to the house.  We had a few "discussions" with the builder and in the end we compromised hoping we put some project-karma in the bank we can withdraw when needed.  But rather than make the walkway flat with 5 steps right before the house we decided to space them out into larger 5' wide platforms.

This is a shot of the rear porch.  It is 60' long and 10' wide.  Looking forward to hanging out back here!

Here is the garage... nothing special here.

We're planning to get out to the house again this weekend to get some shots of the curing concrete.  should have another time-lapse video for the last 7 days, too.

Time-Lapse #1

I mounted a small time-lapse camera near the home site.  The view isn't perfect due to the narrow field of view of the camera and the lack of suitable mounting locations.  Once the foundation is poured I will try to find a better spot to get the entire footprint captured - hopefully some of the garage, too.  Enjoy.

I Swear, They Are Doing Something...

Happy Mother's Day weekend.  We made it out to the Hideout yesterday to check on the progress of the foundation crew.  Trenches have been cut around the edge of the foundation and plumbing was placed.  Friday night we had a heavy thunderstorm and we could tell it eroded a lot of the trench work that will need to be cleaned up.  The crew will be out this week to finish up all levels and the trucks are scheduled to pour concrete on Friday.

It is difficult to imagine the footprint of each room and area, although having the plumbing in place provides some reference points.  We are really looking forward to having the cement on the ground to get a better feeling for the space.

The girls checking things out in their cowboy boots.

Making the leap down to the sunken living room.

The front porch...

The foundation site view from the front of the garage.

The kids whipped up some Mother's Day Flower balls.  Place you order for next year!

G standing on the back porch.