We are at a sort of turning point on our house construction. Framing is essentially complete except for some last details on the front porch and stairs. The housewrap has been applied. The roofing and siding are arranged for. The windows and exterior doors have been ordered and should arrive within a week or so. The roof will go on as soon as the shingles are delivered. The siding has to wait for the windows. But once that happens, the exterior will be essentially complete, and work shifts to the interior.

Siding was delivered on Tuesday, October 20. The truck driver parked in front of our current driveway because the delivery order showed our current address.

I told him where it needed to go, but there was no way he could get that truck up our new driveway. I was pretty impressed that he got it all the way up Fouche Gap Road. Other tractor-trailer drivers have not been so skilled. He arrived at around 10 am, just as the dogs and I got back from our walk. I told him we needed to leave at around 11 so we could drive down to the framing contractor’s office about an hour and a half away to pick out shingles and balusters (or spindles or pickets, depending on who’s talking). He said there would be no problem, but there was. He used his big three-wheeled forklift to take the siding material down the street to the new house. When he finished, his truck’s battery was dead. Without a battery, he couldn’t start his truck. Without a running engine he couldn’t build up air pressure. Without air pressure, he couldn’t release his brakes and roll back to bump start and clear our driveway.

Fortunately, he was able to pick up the back of his trailer with his forklift and move it over enough for us to get out.

We picked out spindles and ordered them. When they arrive, the framer will send a crew back to the site to install the porch and stair railings. Leah wasn’t pleased with a simple, round spindle so we ended up getting some fancier spindles with what are called baskets on them. That was a good call on her part. I think the finished porch and stairs will look a lot better that way.

I got an estimate for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system on Sunday. The plumber came out and marked installation points for the rough-in on Wednesday. Plumbing can start immediately; HVAC has to wait for a roof, as does electrical.

Things we need to do quickly: pick out paint for the siding, and get our bathtub and shower enclosures so that the plumber can locate the drains.

So, the rough order of work, once the roof is on, is install windows and exterior doors, install siding, paint siding, complete rough-in of plumbing, electrical and HVAC, install bath and shower enclosures, insulate the walls, install drywall, install garage doors (so that we can secure the house), insulate the attic, paint the interior, install flooring, install interior doors, install bathroom vanities and toilets, install kitchen cabinets, install countertops, complete finished plumbing, complete finished electrical (interior and exterior light fixtures, switch plates and the like), install trim (base plates and window trim). At some point, we will probably put in a wood-burning stove; that should come somewhere after the flooring is installed.

But that’s not all we have to do. We have to pick out an exterior paint color. We were going to use vinyl siding but the framing contractor said cement board is cheaper and we prefer that anyway. We have to choose wood and tile flooring, interior paint colors, and door colors (We have stained trim and doors in our current house, which I prefer, but it’s far more work than painted trim, plus painted doors and trim are cheaper.) We have to choose bathroom vanities, vanity tops, kitchen cabinets and countertops. We have to select faucets for the bathrooms and kitchen, light fixtures and ceiling fans. I’m sure I have forgotten something.

Contractors will do some of this work. We will do some.

And, oh yes, we need to visit the bank again.

Our framing crew started work last Wednesday, Sept 30. The framing contractor showed up late in the morning with his crew and we discussed what was going to be done. Then he left his six-man crew with a supervisor and a translator and the crew got started. Here is most of the first half-day’s work

They have framed the front of the basement and are starting the interior partitions in the basement. Here is the work they finished the next day.

They have completed everything in the basement except the stairs from the main level, and they have put on the main level deck. That was Thursday. Here’s what they did on Friday.

They didn’t start work in the morning because Friday morning is payday. But they came after lunch and worked till it was too dark to work any more. They finished almost all the exterior walls, save only the rough openings for the living room and bedroom windows and the front door. That was my fault. I had to bring them the dimensions of the rough openings for all of those, which I did not have at the time. Most of the interior walls are framed as well. The exterior of the garage was almost completed except for the sheathing and the front wall, which required a long beam that had not been delivered at that time. They ran out of material Monday afternoon. Here’s what the house looked like then.

It’s hard to see what they did, but they did quite a bit on the interior.

I couldn’t get the next material load delivered until later in the day on Tuesday, so the crew worked on another job that day. They came back on Wednesday and flew some more.

What’s obvious is that they have started on the front porch. What you may not be able to tell is that they have essentially all the ceiling joists up for the main level.

Here’s the back of the house.

Both of these pictures were taken just after sunset, so they are pretty drab looking. The long, reddish brown beam over the front of the garage is laminated veneer lumber (LVL), which is sections of wood laminated (glued together) into a single beam. LVL’s are relatively thin, which means that two were required, but they are easier to handle than a single, wide beam. You can also see the garage ceiling joists here.

The lumber in front of the garage is most of what’s needed to frame the roof — we’re going with stick-built instead of roof trusses — and the front porch. Another load of lumber is supposed to be delivered on Thursday (today).

I am impressed by the work this crew has done. They are all Hispanic, Mexican I presume. One can speak English like a native, but the translator has a little more trouble. He and I have been able to communicate well enough that can understand what he’s talking about when he describes the little problems and detours that any construction project involves. From what I can tell, their work is good as well as fast.

I suspect that if the framer I originally contacted had actually shown up to work, the framing would be nowhere close to this far along. I’m glad these guys are doing the work.

They say that no news is good news, but when it comes to building a house, that isn’t always the case.

We have been waiting for the framer to start work for about a month. First he had some small jobs and would be available sometime in late summer. Then he said around the first part of September. When I called on September 10, he said since he hadn’t heard from me, he took another job. My impression from our previous conversation was not that he would wait for my call, but that he would show up and start working. Since then I have been looking for another framer without any luck. The original framer might be ready to start before I can find someone else, but I would really prefer not to use him.

So now we have a well, a septic system, basement and garage slabs and poured concrete foundation walls. The next step – the only possible step – is to start framing. But we can’t.

I had hoped that the framing would be completed by the end of the summer. Silly me. Now I think we’re going to be lucky if we can get someone to start by the end of September. That means we are going to be at least two months behind schedule.

If I thought I could do it, I would start the damned thing myself.

Monday morning the septic system installers showed up and began work. I met them at the site and we decided where to put the tank and the lines. I have been impressed with this installer. Before he even met with me the first time he had already called the health department to talk about what kind of system should be installed. After I hired them, they continued to talk with the inspectors, finally convincing them that a fairly conventional system could be used, even if installed at a shallow depth because we had plenty of topsoil to to cover the lines.

I was afraid they would need a jackhammer to get the septic tank in, but the backhoe did the job.

This equipment is actually called a track hoe. They’re compact and powerful little machines.

The tank itself came from a company up in Summerville. The driver arrived just at the right time. Here they are dropping the tank into the ground.

I came back periodically to check on progress. Here they are installing the leach field drain lines.

The lines are roughy half circles in cross section and made of plastic.

This depth would not be sufficient without additional fill, which they are adding in this picture.

The job was inspected and completed by late afternoon. The entire crew left with all their equipment and a check before we ate supper.

The installer warned me to keep any vehicles off the leach field because the drain lines are so near the surface. The health department inspector called me later in the afternoon to tell me the same thing. I made a “KEEP OFF” sign Tuesday and put it at the edge of the installation, and then I put yellow caution tape around the entire leach field.

The top of the well driller’s rig is visible just above the foundation walls in the last photo. The driller hadn’t worked on the site for the last two weeks, but he came back on Monday. The well is now at about 170 feet. They have hit water but only with a very low flow. I expect the well to end up at least twice as deep as it is now.

There is no real hurry on the well, which is a good thing since patience is necessary when the driller is using an old cable rig.

We hired a framer last week. He should start work in early August. If things go well, it should take only three to four weeks to dry in the house. So, by sometime in September we will probably be able to see the house in something other than our imaginations.