Spring has sprung

S P R I N G! 

It's one of our favorite times of year when the weather finally turns, the sun is out, and spring yard projects are in full swing!  This year we found ourselves scratching our heads going, what in the world do we do first?  There is so much to do in our yard, yet we are not quiet at the stage of landscaping!  Normally in Spring I've already had my window boxes and planters full of Spring flowers, however with this years unpredictable weather and all this dirt/mud I've not felt up to the task.  So this spring we decided just to do some mulching.  It really has helped things looked cleaned up and just what our yard needed.   Here's B on top of the mulch pile pushing down the mulch to the trailer.  

                                            

We also decided to take on the task of taking down one of our trees last week.  In our plans we knew the time would come to take it down, we were just waiting for the right day this spring to tackle this big project.  We really didn't want to take down another tree, and I didn't want to take this one down in particular... however we had to but plan to put more trees back into our yard once we are at the landscaping stage.  

New view from Master! Before there was a tall tree smack in the middle of this beautiful view

Beautiful sunset

Drywall Hung

Drywall is now almost all hung, and we are almost ready for taping and mudding. Every stage of the project has felt more and more like things are actually coming together to make a house.  With drywall up and the rooms actually being divided up as their own spaces makes it look and feel more like a house.  Yippee! 

Kid room

Kid Bathroom

Master bedroom looking down hallway

Master Bathroom

Stay tuned...Taping and Mudding soon to come! 

Drywall

Starting Drywall

Now we are almost up to speed... 
It's Saturday April 7th, and we picked up some drywall on Thursday.  Brandon has been working on the ceilings first and I would say we have about 2/3 of the ceilings hung.  Here's a few pictures to show where we are as of today...

Brandon using his new (used) drywall lift.  This baby has been very handy while installing the drywall on the ceiling as it holds it in place while he screws in the pieces.  No holding the drywall in place and feeling the muscle burn any longer. haha!      

                            

The view as you come up the stairs

View down the hallway into the Master Bedroom

stay tuned...

Hydronic Heat

Hydronic Heat

This is Brandon's "special project" as he calls it.  A lot of time and research has gone into the planning, mapping out, and finally build of this project.  As you can see the hydronic heat (radiant floor heat)  has 3 pumps which will control the three zones we have created for our house.  Second floor, Basement, and the other side of the house which isn't built yet.  With three zones and having hydronic heat we are able to control the heat independently in each zone.  Getting even more specific we are able to control the loops (red tubing that was shown in previous posts)  in each of these zones to be warmer or cooler than other loops. Loops being each room of the house basically.   The goal is to have an efficient running house and with this type of heat, and insulation we should be running efficiently in the end.

                                   

On the left is the whole hydronic system, including where the system is controlled.  On the right is where the second floor heat will be controlled. 

Just showing again how the red tubing is spread and strategically looped and spaced to provide the most efficient amount of heat.  (This is prior to having concrete floor poured, but just wanted to show it again)

Insulation - Step Two

Insulation - Fuzzy Bear

Since we had only 1.5 inches on the walls and 3.5 inches on the ceiling of spray foam, we still needed to add more insulation to be up to code.  So the thought behind doing both spray foam and rock wool was to seal the house up with the spray foam from moisture and bugs especially since we live on the river, and to then finish the insulation with the rock wool (which looks more like your typical fiberglass insulation).  Here are a few pictures of what we call Fuzzy bear!  

Basement is now a fuzzy bear!  

Master Bedroom!

View from sliding glass door in Master bedroom.  To the right is the Master bathroom, and to the left is the closet, and hallway down the middle. 

more to come... stay tuned!