High Country Journey: The Build: Walls and a Roof!

Wednesday, May 22        Walls!!!  

      The walls are going up!!  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week a small crew built walls and then braced them up in place. The South wall even got sheathed.  Bracing was important as wind plus 20mph blew most of Wednesday!  Rain dampened things Monday and Tuesday.   We had to point out a few errors in window size, missing doorways, etc., but the crew work is amazing.  Rick and Skip also got the shop floor ready to pour.  
      My big excitement on Tuesday came when I turned from Wingville Road onto Brown Road and realized, 'I can see construction happening!'  Finally you can see a house rising out of the fields in the distance!  

Thrilling to finally spy our house from a mile away! 

South wall, sheathed!  

Looking out my studio sewing window to Wallowas. 

View from studio north, door to front patio

All the south wing inner walls ready to be put into place. 

Glen working on the north wall of the Great Room

Oops!  they forgot to cut the doorway in the
 little wall exiting the garage!

North side of house, pass through to great Room

Kitchen wall on north side of Great Room

Look at all those walls!! 

Thursday, May 23  Garage Floor Concrete Poured!

          The cement trucks rolled in this morning and the concrete was poured in the garage.  Rick went out after backpacks, but said it was such a great crew there wasn't much for him to do.  When I arrived at 10:30 with cinnamon rolls for the gang, they were busy smoothing and putting finishing touched on their work, while the second truck was just cleaning up and getting ready to leave. It looks great!  
        We spent a good half hour plus walking around the bedroom wings and deciding on window styles for each window opening.  Had to make some adjustments because we realized we left the bigger window in each bedroom as the egress, but didn't want a big line vertically marring our view.  Talked about lowering the windows over the beds, but ultimately lowered the big windows to make them even bigger, but with egress space at the bottom.  Looking out in general, we will see OVER the top of the horizontal line - and still have ventilation possibilities.   I was able to adjust the horizontal line in my studio so I can see under it when sitting and over it when standing!  
        The trusses are scheduled to arrive next week, but the back porch must be poured first, so the crew was going to work on that in the next couple of days.  There are pillar supports for the back porch that hold up the truss west of our bedroom.  After the trusses are in place, THEN the crew will build and install the east and west walls of the great room.  So much happening!  

Glen manages the long handled float to smooth the surface. 

Boss Dave at left cleans up the edges, 
while Clay was hosing things down. 

House looks like two separate buildings right now with a
 big porch in the middle!

Peek through garage wall to workers. 

View out guest room window toward mountains. 

Garage floor 'curing'!

View back toward house from area in front of shop. 

Gotta dig up the thistles
before they bloom!

Sunday, May 26     Clean-Up Time! 
        Rick and I went out Sunday afternoon to do a little general cleanup of the site.  Since the crew had been framing, there were wood scraps everywhere! Erik from across the road came over in his four-wheeler to chat for awhile.  He had questions after he and Nadine had checked out the house the day before!  They aren't going to get started on their new house until next year, sadly.  
        
While Rick worked on the wood, I swept the house, picked up nails from interior and exterior, and then went to the back half to dig up some very large thistles I had seen back there.  I was delighted and excited to find the creekbed was no longer dry, but a babbling brook pouring out of the pond drain, but also from along the back of Luschen's land.  Music of the waters!!  

               Also got a text from Jess and Zach while working, inviting us out for a few drinks and games.  We did so since we were out there anyway!  Good times!  

View of house from back of acreage

Creek has water!  (Also a dam from throwing thistles
into it, which I removed!)

The pond behind us is full!   I love this feature even though it isn't 'ours' because it attracts wildlife!

Rick found this wildlife just below our
 bedroom window on Sunday! 

 Wednesday, May 29  Pouring Back Porch and Texturing
         Rick stopped by the property enroute home from a wood scouting expedition up the Anthony highway (also bringing home a few morels!) and found the site a beehive of activity!  The back porch had been poured that morning and the group was in the process of putting the texturing on, using large imprint mats.  Due to frequent rain showers, a huge black plastic tarp was draped over the whole area!  

Corner of our master bedroom as Clay prepares to toss out the coloring activator which settles into the concrete in a random manner.  

Glen applies the texturing mats to the concrete in a random, 
overlapping method.

Clay spreads the 'activator' dust from bedroom window. 

Tough to envision from this, as it will be washed down on Thursday.  

Tarp over the whole back porch section!  

          While the back porch was being textured, Skip and Nolan (?) worked on the garage walls, necessary if we are to place the garage trusses as well!  

I can picture our two car garage now with man door off to left.  
You can see all the rain puddles!  

East garage wall built on an elevated plane.  Not sure why.  

Thursday, May 30     Color Consultation with Sharon!
        Thursday afternoon we drove out with Sharon Defrees to let her actually SEE the house (ok, in progress) and to finalize ideas about our color choices for the exterior.  I had hoped for interior as well, but that will have to come another day.  

In the meantime, the trusses have arrived!  (And were nearly on top of my second choice for time lapse photo ops!)  Scheduled for the crane on Monday the 2nd! 

Back deck framing timbers up and porch in.  

Sharon and Rick discuss color options. 

Garage windows will provide great view of the Wallowas in the distance.

Saturday, June 1   Clean-Up!!  
       We spent around 2 1/2 hours out at the house property this morning doing routine cleanup - sweeping, nail duty, wood scrap removal, etc.  I also took the baby walnut tree out to the back edge and planted it about 15' from the creek.  I give it a 10% chance of survival, but it's an effort!  Rick took out the lawn mower and cleared the tall grass growing around the trailer - about 10' swath on all sides.  

Rick mows around the trailer to keep fire danger down. 

Found a few puff ball mushrooms growing amidst the wildflowers.
 

Tough to even see, but there is a tiny walnut tree planted here.  (I temporarily marked the spot with a dried up thistle, later took out a couple of stakes!)

Trusses have outriggers already installed and are sheathed for gable ends.  Waiting for Monday!

Back porch area timbers ready for trusses.  

MONDAY, June 3     Raising and Installing Roof Trusses!
      This was an EXCITING DAY!  All of the full garage trusses, plus all the full span 60' trusses were installed using a giant crane.  They started lifting them in place at 7:30 and finished just before noon!  The crew then used the fork lift to put up the partial trusses over my studio and the inner part of the garage.  Rick had a job helping to hook up the crane cables and then releasing them, while I took pictures and dug up more thistles!  

Early morning shot from east side of garage looking through the roofless house to the Elkhorns. 

The first truss, a gable end to the garage, is lifted to begin its journey to the house. 

Glen uses his bucket lift to maneuver and set the first truss.  

The west end of the main house begins its trip toward back of house. 

Fortunately not alot of wind because these inner trusses were pretty 'flimsy' while dangling in the sky! 

The vault of ceiling begins to emerge! 

Shot from back side of house.  

There were about 25 trusses that had to be set in place over the main Great Room of the house.  

Rick hooks up cables. 

I rather like the artsy linear effect here! 

Looking somelthing aking to a giant hay barn - The house effect will come better when the east and west Great Room walls are added! 

As we drive away for the day, a look back at our 'open concept' with the Elkhorns in the background.

TUESDAY, June 4    SHEATHING the ROOF!  

     What a week!  Rick worked a full day today, reporting that the roof was half sheathed by the time he arrived at 7:30am!!  The crew finished installing the last of the partial trusses, and then finished sheathing the ENTIRE ROOF!  It was totally closed in by days' end, which means they can finish the descending sized trusses that form the valleys of the garage to main house.  

     Rick was given a non-roof job of putting 'blocking' boards along the sheathing gaps up to 4' from each corner of the building.  Lots of measuring, cutting, and then figuring out how to get a nail in there!  

NE garage corner -- back part of garage roof not quite finished to form a valley. 

NW corner - guest room is on the right.  

Peeking out our master bedroom window.  

SW corner - that's one big surface of roof!!  

I call this my oversize hay barn house....taking the open concept to new extremes!

WEDNESDAY, June 5  DECISIONS and BIRTHDAYS!  

       Rick spent nearly his whole birthday working on his house!  Finished up the blocking, and then we spent nearly 2 plus hours with David figuring out the back window and door placement.  We opened it up considerably by adding bigger windows and more of them - especially on the west side.  It was a crystal clear morning, so the Elkhorns were in a perfect mood to say, 'Feature me!'  So we did!  

        We picked out our roof colors this morning as well, and I stopped at Millers enroute home and got some bids on door styles.  So much to chose and decide!  Glen and Dave made it easier to visualize by nailing temporary boards up to quasi frame in the windows so we could see how the view of Elkhorn Peak worked out.  It helped.  We are both thrilled with the additional amount of light the windows will offer AND the spectacular view!   I can't wait to take sunrise and sunset pictures!! 

When I went back to water the walnut tree, I noticed the upper portion of the creek is now drying up.  Still water coming out of the drain from the pond.  PS. Survival chances for the walnut tree are now down to 5%.  It doesn't look good! 

Planning our options for the west wall, all the support boards have been removed.  By days' end, the crew had these walls framed.  See picture below! 

There will be a 6' horizontal board across the top of the Great Room, which makes the windows balance out better with the patio doors.  

Roughly the outline of three windows and glass French Doors on the back wall.  The wood stove will sit in the corner off to the left.  

  

Picture of the house and mountains as I drove off today.  Sure will look more 'complete' when the Front Porch timbers go in and there is a roof over that section! 

Thursday, June 6-Friday, June 7      

Front Porch Cement, Change in Weather!!  
          What a difference a day makes!  Yesterday, 80 degrees and crystal-clear blue skies!  Today, RAIN and you can barely see the outline of the mountains!  But....our crew works on!  In spite of the rain, the front porch was poured (with only one cement company in town now, you don't want to miss your scheduled time due to rain!).  Tarp held up by the bulldozer to protect it.  Rick and I drove out so I could out my little creche in place, but it was still too wet to set down.  All the crew except Clay was up on the roof installing the roof liner, but Clay

These are all less than an inch tall. 

patiently listened to my request.  I told him that the creche was from a little Advent tree my parents had given me so it was special!  When we drove back out on Friday evening (headed to a FirePit Inaugural Burn at Allens!) we stopped to pick up wood and I got a picture of my tiny figures set in the stone.  A special touch!  Thank you, Clay! 

           I didn't get a picture, but Friday night as we turned on to Brown Road, we could see that the WHOLE roof was now black - the house doesn't look like new construction as much from a distance now!  

The opening for the bay window is in...Yes, a BIG kitchen window to see those mountains that are hiding in the clouds! 

I took this same picture on Wednesday and the view was awesome!  Where did our mountains go?

Front porch all poured, but not yet textured.  Still too wet to place my creche. 

Bulldozer lends a long arm to hold the protective tarp!  

Up on the garage roof beginning to lay down the liner cloth for the roof. 

Friday night picture, front of house.  No tarp, but still no timbers!  Stormy clouds! 

Sunday, June 9     CleanUp!!
       We head out for our weekly cleanup!  Rick takes the outside and collects scrap lumber for a burn pile, while I nail magnet and then sweep nearly all the interior and garage.  A LOT of sawdust and nail gun pellets!  Combined with the occasional sunflower seed hulls dropped by the workers, some corners looked like mice had been at work.  The yellow nail gun pellets look like chewed dried corn!  Dave says they call it popcorn on the job!  

Mice???  No, just construction debris. 

The view our guests will see when they enter the front door!  (OK...the actual windows will detract a little, but still....!)

Inside of our busy Great Room

Monday, June 10    Decisions and Realizations
      A quick afternoon drive out at the request of Dave to settle on the size and placement of the window above the front doors...something I had noticed missing on Sunday!  Got that figured out, plus some possible changes to the belly band trim work which meant I had to go home and redraw/color the front elevations.  But I took a picture of the back side of the house so I could do a back elevation!  
      The big 'downer' for the day was the realization as Rick read through the CCRs for the Subdivision that we sited the barn too close to the property line.  It is fine according to the county, but too close according to covenants.  And the concrete is scheduled for Thursday morning!  ARGH!!!   
      The good news is that the front porch timbers were being set in place while we were there, plus all the siding wrap going up.  The new roofer was up on top of the garage.  It was a place of immense activity!!  

Back of house that I used to draft my west elevation. 

Had to take this picture of Nolan at work on the timbers.  He forgot his hat today, so fashioned one from available materials!  

Although my perspective is off a little with the vertical lines, a rough look at how we plan to paint and side the west side. 

Front or East Side Plan

Tuesday, June 11   Front Timbers and the Oopsie!
      We drove out today solely for the purpose of personally meeting with Phil and Cheryl, out neighbors to the west, to discuss the property line issue.  Thankfully, they had no problem with the siting of the barn and agreed we should just ago ahead and ask for the waiver.  Since the encroachment affected them most directly, we wanted their consent first and foremost.   They did invite us inside, as well, to see Cheryl's recent quilts.  She is a marvelous quilter and does beautiful work.  
      While at site, I wandered to the front to see the roof timbers of the porch beginning to emerge!  
      Once home, Rick and I drafted an email to our neighborhood requesting a waiver or variance from the CCRs for the barn.  By bedtime, we had heard back already from at least 5 in support.  I think we will go ahead with the concrete truck.  Several neighbors complimented us on being so aboveboard and apologetic!  

Our house as viewed from Luschens driveway.

Bucket truck sure helps the workers put the timber beams in place! 

Porch roof beginning to appear, plus a sneak peek at the mountains through the windows!  

Thursday, June 13   The Barn Floor Gets Poured!  
      At the last minute today we got called out in the morning to meet with the plumber and Corey, HVAC, plus a previously planned meeting at 2pm with the electrician!  A busy day on site!  The plumber ended up being Bobby Henshaw, who graduated with Luke.  
      We passed a cement truck as we drove out, so pretty sure the concrete pad for the shop/barn had been poured.  And indeed, the crew was busy smoothing it out and tending to it for much of the day.  True to form, storm clouds gathered earlier than expected and they had to cover it from the afternoon thunderstorms!  
      In the meantime, a BEEHIVE of activity.  Plumber, Corey and his worker, plus a full crew working on the cement, the timbers, framing the bathroom shower (after we made decisions!), changes here and there to accomodate pipes, etc.  They had to knock three studs out of the bath/guest wall and bring the corner shower unit in through the guest bedroom window!  Those will get put back in.  But the rough plumbing is mostly in!    We spent 2+ hours with Brandon the electrician and didn't finish!  Will be back in the morning.  He literally walks through the house with us and draws on the studs where outlets will be, switches, lights, etc.  What kind of lights do you want outside?  Outside plugs?  (We had to do outside faucets this morning!)  

Dave marks the ceiling truss for the
solar tube! 

     Exciting to see the temporary posts put up out front to lay out timber possibilities.  We liked what they did (and ended up ordering a few more timbers in order to make it happen!  Argh again!)  Also added the solar tube to the laundry room to put some natural light in there.  Changes. Changes.  

We arrive around 9 to find a freshly poured shop slab!  

The 'rough in' for the front timber design.  When we drove back in the afternoon, from a distance we decided we liked the bigger v on the right! 

Skip works to reframe the floor joists below the shower, as it will be 'below level' with a tile floor.  

Friday-Saturday, June 14-15       Electrical and Porch Sealant

Brandon at work! 

Lupine is finally blooming. 

Back out to the property at 8am Friday morning to finish our consultation with Brandon, which took another two hours!  Man o man, if we turn on all the lights in this place, we will glow clear to the space station!  And there will be so much wire in the walls, they may fall down from the holes!  (Brandon estimated over a mile of electric wiring! Ouch!)

I checked my walnut tree.  I now give it a 0% chance of survival....it looks pretty dead.  Another bigger one is growing in the garden, maybe I'll try again.  The creek is still flowing, albeit a little slower and just from the overflow pipe.  Mustard grass is nearly waist high in some areas, and the grass is dead in others.  I need to do thistle control again!!  

View of backside of house from the creek.  The two sticks in right corner were
marking my walnut tree.  

One section of kitchen wall, including the plumbing for fridge ice machine. 

Saturday morning Rick and I went out to put the first coat of cement sealant on the front and back porches.  It has to be applied twice 24 hours apart and when the cement isn't too hot.  So we tackled the front porch early even though it was in the sun, and then moved to the shady backside!  I used a brush and did the edges and faces, while Rick rolled the main surface.  It looks beautiful.  Neighbor Tom stopped by and chatted with us for nearly 45 minutes while we worked.  (Rick then went out by himself Sunday morning and applied the second coat!)

Sealing the front porch textured/colored cement.  Came out with a natural rock look. 

I was brushing the front surfaces of the concrete.  

The back porch area.  There won't be much of a step here once the ground level is pushed back into place. 

Finishing up the back porch in silhouette with the Elkhorn view. 

My creche figures are all sealed in!!  

Monday, June 17   The Siding Begins!Rick and Rusty headed out to the house around 8 this morning to begin the siding on the south side!  Skip and Tyler had worked earlier to install the corner trim and get the plumb lines on the wall, etc.  While the four of them did siding, Brandon the electrician continued to work his magic with wires - Rick said by day's end there are wires everywhere in the walls!

Front of garage side of house.

Side of garage - east side

South side of house - windows not installed yet, so that's as high as the siding can go! 

Kitchen wall on porch

West wall - kitchen and guest room windows. 

North side

Tuesday, June 18     A Flurry of Activity! 

     Rick and Rusty went out early to tackle siding again, knowing the crew would have installed some windows already.  But Rick said it was a slow start, because all the subs were at work - HVAC, Plumbing and Electric - and he was answering questions constantly!  I got out around 9:30 and immediately went to Brandon the electrician to answer microwave questions.  We have to move a stud and Corey HVAC actually makes the penetration.  But Brandon needed to know where to put the plug, so they needed to know WHICH micro-hood I was getting ....how big?  
     I did a little weed patrol, and took pictures!  Also tried to nail down the exterior colors, now able to see the actual window color upclose.  A little darker and 'tannier' than I thought, but they will be fine.  Left at lunch time, and Rick and Rusty really got to some siding by then!  

Brandon installed a electric wire spinner outside the guest room.  Pretty fun toy!

House looks like a bunch of yellow snakes have infested the walls. 

My view out the studio - window all installed!  

Rick and Rusty siding the north wall of guest room. 

While on weed patrol out front, I found MULTIPLE lupine plants blooming!

Also found a patch of what look like a type of morning glory out in back pasture. 

New tool for cutting the cement board siding!  Giant chopper! 

Scenic views for chopping station. 

Sitting on the front steps with the view through to back. 

Guest room wall almost done! 

Master bedroom window installed...had to make the screen section larger to provide egress :(   Other window too high up! 

Looks like the guest shower got moved into place! 

Wednesday, June 19     The Roof is all done! 
        Rick and Rusty worked again today on siding.  I got a call to come out on Wednesday around 2 to check on details with the microwave placement above the range.  All figured out, but I was late to my hair appointment!  No worries!  

Rick and Rusty finished up the siding on the south wall of the house. 

The roofer puts the finishing touches on the peak of the porch. 

Thursday, June 20   One Windy Day!!         Where did the sunshine go??  The temperatures this morning were COLD and by afternoon, even though the sun was shining, the wind was blowing hard!  Rick, Rusty, and the electrician Brandon (and assistant Cole) were hard at work all day.  By afternoon Brandon was trying to get all the wires into the breaker box in the garage.  The rest of the Big Creek Crew had gone to other jobs.  

Friday, June 21    A Quiet Day! 
     Rick and Rusty were on the job today for over 8 hours!  I didn't arrive until just after noon with the intention of sweeping up all the wood piles from the drilling through the walls that has taken place over the past week plus. That sweeping took me nearly three hours!!  But....by the time I arrived Cole had left, Brandon was leaving for his baseball tournament, and the house was still and silent.  Just the wind and the birds and the occasional sound of the compressor.  I am going to love being able to see the sky here - it is so vast over the valley to the east.  

The Great Room and guest/laundry wing - all swept clean! 

Rick putting up siding

Sweeping away near the wood stove area

Brandon successfully got all those wires into the breaker box!

I found a set of house plans while cleaning ,.... a little worse for the wear! 

North guest room corner all sided! 

Monday, June 24     We've Sided What We Can! 
       Rick and I went out this morning and worked for 4 hours finishing up all the siding that we could put up.  We didn't have any tools to rip boards, cut backer boards, etc.  Just the guillotine for cutting the cement boards and the grinder to make window opening cuts in a board.  But...we finished about three partially done walls, and literally got all sided that could be sided by us.  Still waiting for window installation on front and back porch areas, so nothing could be done there.  It was quiet....we listened to the chickens next door, the birds, and a few airplanes.  

The timbers look awesome in the early morning sunshine.  We finished both the side walls to a board above the windows. 

Rick uses the grinder to cut out a window opening.  The guillotine is open and ready!  

I will never tire of the view out the Great Room windows!  

Rick has a shadowy helper as he nails up the board. 

I spent much of the morning operating the chop cutter for the cement board (aka guillotine!)  Great fun! 

Tuesday-Thursday, June 25-27
A visit each day (or more) to meet with Dave over a few details (like placement of hearth and woodstove, so they could cut the hole in the roof!)  Then another trip out to meet with Chris, the cabinet guy from Millers, to verify the order and take additional measurements.  We went BACK out Wednesday to do a final clean-up of all the sawdust from the electrical drilling (more had been done on Monday to address the missing items we discovered over the weekend, like a fan in the guest room and lights over the dining room table!)  Rick taped off all the electrical outlets in prep for the insulators and sheetrockers, who will come while we are gone.  Not sure if any of Dave's crew will be at work next week, although the upper siding still needs to be finished, and we are hoping the barn will get framed and the trusses up before Tom and Diane arrive on the 15th! 
In the meantime.....we are off to Bandon!  

Took this picture so I can play around with garage door colors!

Big empty and CLEAN Great Room!

Master side hallway looking into studio

Rest of master bath has been finished in terms of shower floor and framework for pocket door on right. 

Last photo of 'open front' - by the time we get home the rest of the windows will have been installed, and perhaps the front and studio doors as well.