the bar, er beam, has officially been raised

The front porch is up and it is definitely worth the price of admission!  This is not a porch for the faint of heart.  It's so big that a crane had to be brought in to raise the cedar posts and beam.  Very very cool to watch.  I'm seriously thinking of mounting an AED on the wall for guests with weak hearts or possibly grab bars for those with vertigo, it's that big! You know you've crossed into another realm of housebuilding territory when a crane has to be brought in.  Maybe not.  But either way it felt like a big deal.  The screened porch area is much much more grand than anyone anticipated.  We knew it was going to be big but we had no idea we could hold a candlelit mass there or have it double as Peregrine Falcon sanctuary.  It is definitely the centerpiece of the house, both literally and figuratively.  The level of workmanship by the framers is just unbelievable.  The pace and level of precision is just beyond expression.  It's amazing what some people can do with a pile of wood.  Some trees are destined to become loose leaf notebook paper or a "select-a-size" roll of Bounty, but these trees have aspired to be something greater.  Something like the greatest house EVER with the most amazing front porch of ALL TIME............at least that's how I feel about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

rafters, windows, and impromptu dinners

Framing is moving right along.  In fact, we are looking at the guys being finished up before Christmas.  When I say "finished up" I don't actually mean completely finished up.  There was a bit of a mix up on the windows and we are now looking at 6 weeks or so before the windows arrive.  What was scheduled to be ordered were vinyl windows in tan and what we actually wanted were bronze anodized aluminum windows.  In the end it might of all worked out for the better.  We ended up ordering Milgard thermally broken aluminum bronze anodized windows and doors.  It cost us an extra $1750 but it was worth it to get the right windows and doors.  The fact that the windows and doors are from the same manufacturer is a really good thing.  We actually thought we might have to pay more when we learned of the mistake.  We got several quotes back regarding the window/door change and one of them was over $14,000 on top of what we had budgeted! 

The house actually looks like a house!  There's walls, floors, entrances, a semblance of a roof, hallways, even a place to sit!  All the elements of a home!  The house is coming along so well that it's actually causing a bit of unforseen anxiety.  Not your run of the mill "i'm building a house" anxiety but something different.  Lately I've been looking at the house and feel a sudden panic that resembles something along the lines of "I can't afford a house of this caliber/I've overextended myself."  The catch is that I'm not feeling panic because of the number that is written on the signed contract, I'm feeling panic because in that moment I see a house I would pay a much much larger sum of money for if I had it.  I wasn't sure that this was a logical thought process until I mentioned it to Renata and she said that she was having the SAME feelings!  I'm really not trying to brag when I say these sorts of things but it's no secret that I'm incredibly pleased that we are making this happen.  It's really a testament to  all of the detailing/designing that went into this and the work that has been done thus far.

 

The other night we were doing our usual end of the day "hang out" and it was so nice we decided to pick up a quick family dinner from Bill Millers and eat on the back patio.  It was so enjoyable that a few days later I decided that things had progressed enough and we should cook at the new house.  So I picked up some fajitas, a 12 pack of Shiner Cheer, and a couple campfire grates and we had a full fleged cookout right there.  It was all very nice.

 

So this week the big 8x8 cedar posts go up for the screened porch.  They have to bring in some sort of crane because they are so heavy.  I really cannot wait to see this part!  The screened porch is a huge deal for us and this has to be one of the tallest screened porches in all of San Antonio.  If anyone knows of a screened porch over 18 and half feet let me know, I'm genuinely curious.  Size doesn't always matter but it might if you're trying to corral a breeze in the middle of a Texas summer with the temperature redlining and the humidity suffocating all that is good and decent in the world, at least, in this part of the world.

frame by frame

Out of all the steps in our forthcoming building process there was probably none that I was more excited about than the framing.  It's exciting to watch the bones of the house go up and take the form of what has been countless hours of sketching, daydreaming, revising, drawing, and decision making.  It's actually a small window of time in which you get to enjoy the bare timber of the house.  Everything else is really just finishes and details.  The frame is the true essence of the house.  The first round of lumber was delivered the Monday after Thanksgiving and the framers got started the day on the same day.  The first thing they did was measure and draw out all of the walls onto the foundation.  It was truly impressive to see just how precise these guys were.  And it's actually only gotten better since then.  The guys are on about their 8th day of framing and they are killing it!  It looks so great!  Today was the first weather delay in the framing process but the guys did get a little bit of work in before the rain started.  The rain falling on the exposed framing is a little unsettling but after a few google searches and some reassurances by those who've been through this before the concern has been scaled back to a managable level.  I suppose I'm the only one wanting to head back in the direction of severe drought.  Surely the farmers and river tubers will understand that some people are trying to build a house at this very moment.  So the framing is going as well as one could hope for.  Walking though the house as it stands now makes me want to go to the pantry, pull a bottle of 2010 McMurray Pinot Noir (from Sonoma Valley, not the Central Coast), set two glasses on the concrete island, pour the glasses half full, join Renata in the window seat, and enjoy the subtle tasting notes while M does her drawing at the table and we watch the oaks and cedars sway in the wind.  We're not quite there yet but one can always imagine.  Afterall, that's what this build really boils down to............imagination, vision, and the will to turn ink on paper into wood on concrete.  Most of the time a house is just a house but sometimes a house can be more than a house, but only if you feel so inclined..............

down the drain...........pipe

Ok, so the blog kind of fell off for a few weeks but not without reason.  The foundation pour and finish were a bit stressful and it's taken a little time to recover and regroup.  So long story short, the foundation pour was going fine right up to the point where they pulled apart the plumbing for the washer drain and poured concrete into it.  It was apparently something that had never happened to anyone on the jobsite and no one had any immediate answers or solutions.  The foundation guy blamed the plumber and the plumber blamed the foundation guy.  I personally think it was the plumbers fault for not properly connecting the drain pipe.  The drain pipe mistake was a problem but the lack of a solution and no one taking responsibility was a bigger problem.  In the end the contractor took care of the problem but I have lost a great deal of faith in the plumber.  It seems plumbers are just assholes, at least the ones that we've had to work with on this project.  They just seem to have a perfect combination of contempt, cockiness, and apathy.  It's like their personalities are just one big plumber ass crack just daring you to say something so they can walk out at some crucial point.  Enough of that.  So after some weather delays, prodding, and complaining the foundation was finished.  Besides having a not so pretty patch in the master bath area the foundation is solid and we are happy with the finished product.  We were hoping for a more problem free start but in the end it may have been a blessing in disguise.  Running into such an issue forced us to regroup with the contractor and architect and I think we all have a better understanding of each other.  Upward and onward..............