Okay - it's finally time for another house update - which means I have some pictures of something more exciting than electrical wires or rough-in plumbing!!! Those things are good and need to happen, but not very exciting for a picture! So here Rich and his helper are laying the red hose for the in-floor heating. Let me just say that in-floor heating is the best! I always have cold feet and it's so nice to walk on a warm floor and keep those footsies toasty!
Jenna (in the pink sweater) is dropping all the plastic zip ties where we need them to be, and then Jas, Jordyn and I are attaching the hose to the rebar with those little zip ties. Our fingers were aching at the end of the day! Carlee was helping too - she was back at the house babysitting the two little ones and scrubbing potatoes for our supper.
Jordyn shows us how it's done. She also went around with snips and cut off all the tall plastic ends - we didn't want them sticking out of the cement floor. The shiny stuff under the rebar is bubble wrap! An extra insulation under the cement and it reflects the heat back into the floor, not into the ground. It sure makes it a nicer surface to work on, rather than kneeling right on gravel (which is under the bubble wrap).
And I'm tying down the hose under a temporary propane heater we have suspended from the floor joists. It was such a cold winter and the frost went down pretty deep. We had to heat the basement to make sure the ground was good and thawed before pouring the floor.
We did all this on Wednesday afternoon. And then on Friday our floor was poured. Don't have any pictures of that - they did it early in the morning. But today, Saturday, this is what we see . . .
. . . Richie and a basement floor!!! woot woot!!! This is taken from the mechanical room, looking out across the whole basement. Very soon there will be stairs below the missing floor joists (where his head is) - can't wait to have stairs attaching the levels!!!
This is our future family room and it's finally looking a decent size. It seemed so small before!!! There will be two more windows - one on each side of the bigger center window. But right now one is an outlet for that temporary propane heater hanging there. And that is a doorway in the corner too - and it will have a windowed door - the kind with blinds inside the glass! I think those are so cool!!!
We put the girls down through the window to play in the basement for the first time. Mackenzie stood there and cried at first until more of us made it through the hole. They did enjoy playing - racing from one end to the other, and Katia kept screaming - she enjoyed hearing her echoey voice. Next time we'll have to bring bikes and scooters and the little battery powered jeep - it's tradition!!!
Six of us in the family room - lots of room for more people - yay!!! Loving having a floor - it suddenly makes the house seem more real. You could lay carpet on it and have a room now!!! Almost!!!
And in the last little while Richie has done a few more things on the house - like putting these little roof parts above the garage doors. We needed something for eavestroughs. Otherwise, when it rained or snow melted, the driveway would have extra water by the doors, and that wouldn't be great, especially in the winter when that water would freeze and make it very slippery. It looks great eh?
He's also got the room above the garage all framed in - it's a sweet bonus room!!!
There's another view of the new roof pieces on the garage. And look at that driveway!!! It actually goes somewhat up and into the garage now. And the garage is not a hole anymore - it's full of gravel. It will get it's floor poured pretty soon too - Friday I think!
And there is the shop with new brickmold around the door. It's chocolate brown coloured. We're doing all the soffit and fascia and smart board in chocolate brown. The shingles are dual black. The stone will be a blend of brown and blacks and the stucco will be some colour that is yet to be determined. I also want the shakes up in the gables - love those!!! But what colour???
As for my delight? Progress of any kind is absolutely delightful - and I'm not just talking about house building!!!
