Wood Stove Wall

Finally, the stone wall is going up in the Great Room.

First, I had to use my new truck to go get the slate slabs for the hearth.  Two strong men could not lift one of the four slabs so they decided to cut what they needed right on the truck.  They were also afraid of the slabs breaking if they slid them off the truck.  I figured the load was around 1000 to 1500 lbs.  A lot of weight for a 1/2 ton truck but it only moaned a little.

The inside work begins. The opening is for the electronics for the TV which will be hung on the wall of stone.  That is the outlet wires and the cable wire hanging from the wall.

Also in this picture you can see the support for the mantle (my design...I hope it holds.)

This shows the area under the hearth that will be for storage of wood.

Side view of the base.

First placement of the section of the hearth.

Third slab of slate that will be behind the wood stove.

Almost all the way to the 18 ft ceiling.  Now the wires, outlet and mantle support are covered with rock.  The opening for the electronics has also been supported with a long section of angle iron.  You may be able to see that some of the slate was also used for shelves above the mantle supports. 

Both guys working to get this section completed so they can go home...long day but very good progress.  The box that is covered with plastic and texture is for the pipe for the wood stove.

Almost completed with the wall behind the wood stove--second day.

You can see the five bolts sticking out of the wall--3 for the mantle and 2 for supporting the 52 inch TV that will be below the mantle.  The shelves are also more visible.  They were placed so that a picture could be hung above the mantle. 

Is this a beautiful stone accent wall?  And it will be useful as well with the TV, electronics area, seating, wood stove, wood storage.

These pictures are for my brother, Edwin.  This is the top and the IKEA cabinet I put together. (still needs the handles put on.)

The cabinet is in the garage under one of the windows and between the washer (right) and dryer (left)  I can't decide if I should put the kick plate on over the legs since the floor may have water on it sometimes.  The quality of the cabinet was not so good with the box but the fronts are very nice and made of solid material and soft-closing. 

Just a picture to show I have put in some of the rainwater collection which is 3 inch PVC around the perimeter of the house at ground level.  This is at the opening into the double garage.  I put this section in under the connectors for the driveway when we had some rain and the ground was fairly easy to excavate.  The apron will just be poured over the top of these tie rods.  

You probably notice that not all the concrete was used in the rock wall and I still have 7 sheets of 4x12 drywall I cannot move sitting in my garage.  The Drywall Co says I can keep the drywall and I paid for the concrete.  Both of the items are sitting on pallets so I guess I will have them moved or discarded when I have a Bobcat with prongs back at the site.  I am having a range delivered this week as well as a dishwasher and granite sink...maybe the shippers will be cooperative and move these materials for me.....where I don't know right now.

Back at the Ranch

When I returned from my trips, I started some badly needed cleanup around the house.  The rubble from the masons and the other contractors was causing a hazzard for the other contractors and me.  I had burned a lot of the wood but the Hardie won't burn and a lot of the wood had concrete stuck to it.

We  began by pushing the brush and cedars back away from the front of the house.  Up to now the front had been hidden somewhat so that the house could not be seen from the road out of a concern for people seeing a home under construction and shopping for supplies.

This is the same area after the clearing and pushing the rubble into one pile.

I also had the stone that was left over from the outside mason work piled in front for the work on the wood stove wall.

Looking directly towards the highway from the front porch.

The wood pile is some good wood I was trying to save.

East side of the house...used to be several piles of rubble and stone and wood on this side.  Now it is ready for the gutters to be put on. rainwater collection system laid down and landscaping to begin.  The wires hanging from the wall is for the mini-split HeatPump Air Conditioner which will have the compressor on a pad at this location.

View across the South Side or back yard.  There were holes, wood piles and rocks all around this area...now it is clean!

Pipe sticking up is for the sewer and gray water connections which shouldn't be too far away in the construction schedule.

Visit to North Carolina

On to North Carolina for a few days.

This is Christian who will turn 5 in just a few days.  

Zak, who we played a joke on but he was so cute thinking it was his Grandmother who was the rude person.  

Jordan, who is 12 even though you would think he was 16 by his size.  All the boys are healthy and handsome and fun.

Zak doing what he loves best, reading.  The house has been repaired from the damage the tree did when it crashed across the chimney and into their living room.

Visit to Relatives, FL and NC

For friends and family, I am including some pictures of my trips to Florida (Ronda) and North Carolina (James).  Skip on if you have no interest in anything other than the Rocky Hollow Home Construction.

Ronda did a lot of home improvement around her home including new fence, new siding, new windows.....and

a new pool...yet to be inspected and filled.

The screened porch was there already but has been spruced up....very nice back yard.  The little house is Angelina's.  She even purchased a new shed for storage.

This Angelina...5 years old and her bunny who loves to sit on her back. 

Gia taking her bath.

Angelina in her dress for the Fourth of July purchased by her Great Grandmother and brought from Texas.

Gia!...what a joy she is.

She is in constant motion!

This is her smile which can be shown on request by saying, "Gia, show me your teeth!"

Frankie was attempting to replace the blown engine in his car.  

This is at 2 am after Frankie and his friend had worked on the car all night.  I had to leave for the airport just as they tried to start it and it sparked and scared them from trying to start it again.  I later learned they weren't able to start it and asked for some advice from other friends.

Catchup Time

Sorry to be taking so long with my updates but sometimes there wasn't much happening such as when the drywall was going up and other times, I could not get into the house due to the texturing going on.  I even took some time off to visit the kids, grandchildren and great grand children. Still here's some of what has been happening.

Top of the Great Room doing tape and float.  May, 2012

Rig used for the texturizing.  The crew didn't show the day they were supposed to be there and I was later told it cost them a big job as a punishment by the owner of Hillco.  What a mess the house was...even more than the spray foam.

This first coat was put on all the walls to seal them after the tape and float but before the texture (Monterre Drag) was sprayed on then dragged down with a squogee.

This was the guy doing the sealer and texture spray.  He wore a suit just as the foam spray guy did and only his eyes were visible...obviously.  He also wore a respirator to keep the material out of his lungs.  That is why I just left during most of this work.

At the same time, the access for the utilities for the new road being cut through my property had begun.  The big red machine is called a cedar shredder and costs about $300/hr with operator but boy does it do the job. Notice no clear area in front of the machine before they started. (PEC)

They first did some tree cutting of the larger trees then laid them in the path of the machine.

The machine did one pass to clear cedars and other smaller bushes and trees.

It just shreds the material and grinds it up and places it back on the ground to decay.  It goes right over the rocks.

I would hate to be standing in front of this monster.

Cactus was like an appetizer to it.

Isn't that beautiful and clean!  It took them about 4 hours to clear a 20ft x 1200ft path level enough to drive on.

This is looking from the main road across my fence down to the end of the new easement.

Just a tribute to Mr Hill of HILLCO Drywall.  He just got out of the hospital from having Pneumonia.  Get well soon.

I also had the new garage door installed so now I can lock up the house and the garage.  I have already been storing some stuff such as the two toilets in the boxes in the picture.  

Door installed even though we had a little discussion about the increase in the price from the bid I received.  Bottom line: I didn't pay the extra charges they tried to add.  I still don't have electricity to the house yet so I had to run an extention from the temp power pole...still works great and it is so quiet without the chain drive.