by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 15, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
With the temperature hovering in the teens on the building site, it seems on odd time to talk about barbecuing. Most people are hunkered down in front of the fire with a steaming mug of cocoa. But in our house, Christmas is the perfect time to break out the barbecue...
by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 10, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
You may remember that we were originally planning to include a wood-burning fireplace our custom home. We love the ambience a real fire creates and the fun-factor is high. Over time, however, the logistics (and mess) overcame our sensibilities and we gave in to the...
by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 9, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
In spite of the weather—we had a high of 14 degrees today—the great crew was out working. They reformed and poured the remaining garage footings, this time at the correct height. When we got there, they were covering the cement with vast expanses of plastic and...
by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 8, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
My face froze off just taking pictures. How do these guys do it all day? Does their blood thicken? The big storm came in over the weekend. The kids loved it. I didn't. Here's the math: SNOW ? good for construction Still, they were out there getting the job done. I'd...
by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 4, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
Today we saw the first real sign of construction. Sure, we'd had some excavation. But that's digging down. This was the first, serious, tangible sign of building up. Seeing the forms in place and prepped and the cement poured in was a wonder to behold! Construction!...
by Alison Moore Smith | Dec 2, 2009 | Design Your Own House, for Home
City building inspector came out. Bad news. Preliminary information wrong. Too much clay in soil. Must dig trenches all around foundation. Must bring out gravel sprayer truck. Must fill trenches with immense amounts of gravel before pouring footings. Ugh. That will...
