November 26, 2009
Ike Recover #18 - Progress in all its forms
Been a while since I updated this, sorry. I've been posting pics on Facebook, which is easier to do, but here's some pics:
September 26, 2009
Ike Recovery #17 - Roof, Interior
Here's more photos - The roof panels arrived and are on!
Interior wall joists are in-
Plenty of Attic space; someone said these are called "Texas basements" I never heard of that before.
The street view with cupola completed.
August 23, 2009
Ike Recovery #16 - Walls
Last Tuesday the majority of the wall panels arrived, and by now most of the first floor has been erected. Photos show it best:
The dining room view
The western view
The crew installing a panel
The northern side
Interior walls
Finally - The pier Re-decked. I know, it's not a wall, but it's progress.
August 06, 2009
Ike Recovery #14 - A setback
The Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) that were to make up the walls of the new house were due to be delivered on Tuesday. The driver brough them from Kerrville, about 5 hours away and spilled the load at 9th St and 517, less than a mile away from the site.
The general contractor was not pleased. The subcontractor's foreman was not pleased. The Manufacturer's rep on site was not pleased. I was not pleased. The only consolation is that it will not cost us anything to replace the panels. It will be a hit of no less than a week to replace the panels, even though the factory was going to put it on top priority.
The spill site:
This should be a picture of the contractors unloading the panels. As it is It's a picutre of of them loading the panels after inspeciting tham and deciding the send the entire lot back.
So. Not a very good week. Hopefully they will rebuild the panels quickly and we will be building next Tuesday.
August 01, 2009
Ike Recovery #13 - Stairs
This is the platform for the back stairs.
This is the front platform that will hold the A/C units and the backup power generator. The front stairs come off it, too.
An upper view of the forward platform.
The front view of the stair landings. ASteps are temporary untl finishing work is done.
July 25, 2009
Ike Recovery #12 - Above ground progress
Decking is now going up on the house. It's best described in pictures:
July 12, 2009
Ike Recovery #11 - A Slab sided cove
History considers The Romans to be brutal, violent people. But they invented something wonderful: Concrete.
The slab for the house is in, we've watered it a few times since it was put in place:
July 06, 2009
Ike Recovery #10: Concrete and Concrete Accessories
The slab is nearly ready to be poured:
(click on image to enlarge)
I spent some time putting in a new mailbox, since the USPS has not been doing that great a job of forwarding our mail. Kathy found a new mailbox months ago, it was in storage along with a post she found also. It was at a Home Depot that was shutting down and being moved to a new location, so they wanted to liquidate as much inventory as possible. She got a 75% discount.
Digging a post hole through Kaliche in July is not much fun. But it got done:
After that, it was simple to mix up a bag of concrete and set the post into place and plumb it up:
After allowing the concrete to set, the box went on: Voila! A new mailbox!
Kathy's been trying to reach her parents by phone. Seems they have it turned off. She'd appreciate a call; she has a question about the RV clean out.
June 21, 2009
Ike Recovery #9
Plumbing! Yes citizens, It's plumbing! It's the latest rage! It's the newest thing to hit Rome! It pipes water from one place to another!
This is the sewer pipe, running from the house...
...into the ground...
...passes two cleanouts...
...to the street...
...to the sewer line.
Fresh water comes from the meter...
...and goes under the driveway
to.... ?
Hopefully I'll get some images of that before it is covered by the ground. Check back later!
June 16, 2009
Ike Recovery#8
To paraphrase a mythical Scottish Starship Engineer: "Admiral!, there be pilings here!"
June 12, 2009
Ike Recovery #7
The open pit at the house seems to be an old cesspit or septic tank:
The contractor had put down red paint showing the corners of the house:
June 05, 2009
Ike Recovery #6
Dirt work was completed at the house. The next step is pilings and the concrete slab.
After walking around the site - now officially "The Site", no longer "The Lot" previously called "The Wreck" and previously called "The House" I discovered this:
The top of some sort of box, made of concrete that was buried in the ground caved in, and filled wth water. I'm not clear what this box did - perhaps a grease trap? a cistern? I may investigate it more this weekend to see if I can figure out what it was.
May 30, 2009
Ike Recovery #5
Finally the building permit is done, and posted:
Fill dirt is coming in:
It looks like we will have to go with wooden pilings. It's too uncertain if we could drive the concrete pilings the required 10 feet down before they achieve refusal. Cutting concrete pre formed pilings would be very expensive, whereas wooden pilings would be much more easily done. Concrete is stronger, but wood should be sufficient.
The 10 foot requirement come from the county. For some reason we are not allowed to use spread footer bases in our flood zone (V-18). Such is life when the condition of dealing with government entities. None are pleasant to work with, no matter how local they may be.
May 29, 2009
May 22, 2009
Bunco - the game that's sweeping the nation!
At least in Mr Lileks' wife's circle of friends.
Found a picture of this game at Big Lots a few weeks ago. Never heard of it before, just thought it was a crime from watching "Dragnet"
There's a wikipedia entry for it.
I guess it is a real game. But I still doubt it's "sweeping the nation" At least not this nation. Otherwise it wouldn't be for sale in Big Lots.
