Rain

Rain rain rain.... Gee I am so glad the next shipment of wood arrived today. 

It does not look like anything else was done in the rain....

Plywood and Pipes

The forecast did not disappoint and there were some light showers today. The crew was busy and put down the plywood for the subfloor... That's why it looks so dark in there.

...also notice that scrap woodpile out front and the rock to the right....

Well I moved the wood out of the way so that I could use it for firewood sometime in the future. 

Hopefully that is a good spot.

All moved... Now I guess I should find a tarp to cover it..

Here you can see the water that leaked from the sky now rests on the subfloor.

Besides the plywood, the crew began putting the drainage pipes in place.

Yes I was a bit tempted to climb up to see the view from the main floor. I decided with the water, it would not have been a good day for it... in case I fell off.

The fear of multi tasking!

Today I attended the site while the crew was working....

Not too early though. Here you can see the support pillars are up already by the time I arrived.

And they were placing these boards around the concrete frame.... I suspect there is a more exact house building term for that... Oh well.

I decided to garden rather than try and ask them about the build.

The joke was that I did not want to try and carry on a conversation while they were working, would not want them to have to multi task... So I left them alone to build my house right! Ha! 

Their discussion was ongoing of how long each cut of lumber was.... 

I eventunately tuned them out and weeded around the rhododendrons!

And every once in awhile I turned around to mark the progress.

Looking good.....

Once the crew moves upstairs, the plumber can start his job downstairs.

And then there is the drainage pipe for the outside soon as well...

The forecast calls for light rain in the next couple of days.... 

But I am quite aware it could be worse! But then again this why I chose to live here. I can always find winter when I need to. In a few days I hope to attend a workshop on growing subtropical plants. I hope to learn about my fig tree.

Looks like a house.

I went for a walk up the local mountain on Sunday. My house is down in there.... 

I thought I might be able to supervise the crew today... 

But alas my plans were changed. So here is the end of the day check in... Looks like a house now!

Remember a few things... 

This is the ground floor basement you are looking at,  it will buried a little bit around the sides and front, and there will be stairs to a front covered deck.

Nice big double doors to get all the toys (dive gear, kayak, bike), inside without smashing up the doorway.... 

I am putting in some windows, not just for light, but incase I want to build rooms where egress is an issue. This one will have a view of the driveway...

While this one will look on to gardens and the Italian plums.

And here you can see where the pillars will be attached to support the ceiling/ upper floor.

One more floor up.

A view from the oregano patch through the plum tree....

There will be a deck above, so we will have to see how nice the sunsets will be from down here.

Meanwhile back at the cottage by the sea....sigh!

The big trucks

Let's review - in pictures!

My neighbour sent me a couple of pictures of things I missed out seeing....

Below you can see the Canada Arm getting ready to pump the concrete to the back wall.

And fear not .. The power lines are in the foreground on this side of the street.

My contractor watches on as the sand gets ready to be poured out...

And then today, (on a weekend) Rona was by with a load of wood.

...nicely placed in the basement.

Which is where I found it many hours later.

I seem to have missed all the big truck events!

Another day of rest for the crew and then it will back at it, as the build shifts into high gear on Monday!

You look marvellous.

I drove by the site around midday. Nothing looked different from the day before, so I decided not to get out of the car....

I came back several hours later and saw the same view from the road. But I decided to get out of the car to check on the rest of the yard.

Look the basement has been filled in to the footings with sand. 

Apparently this happened in the morning sometime. The neighbour took a picture, but I did not see it yet. I have been told there are several good shots adding to a neighbourly collection of the house build and I may have to add more pictures to this blog whenever I see them.

I kinda think they will have to do some digging to deal with the plumbing....

Anyhow it's not just the house build, the rest of the yard is looking marvellous...

My Lenten rose. ...kinda mauve in colour.

And then it was back to the cottage by the sea for dinner.

At least no feathers!

Today you can see the tar was applied to the outside of the concrete walls sealing things up before things get buried. 

Again the front part will be finished later....

And of course perimeter drain pipe and gravel needs to be put in place before things get buried..

So tarred, but not feathered.....

And yesterday while things cured for the extra day (before the wood on the footings were removed), I planted some pretty and hardy flowers. 

All cleaned up.

The site is all cleaned up and I have a basement!

There is some wood dropped off.. But a big load will be here in a day or two...

And we will use some of this wood as well...

The floor will be poured after the roof is on...

The next step is to pull off all the wood on the top of the footing edges.

So I am not watching the sun set from the deck just yet..... This shot from the bench under my yellow plum tree. Look you can see the ocean!