House Construction

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Introduction

1. We bought a house, its a pre-fabricated unit from Eagle's Nest/Deltec Homes

http://www.eaglesnesthomes.com/eagle2.htm

http://www.deltechomes.com

Here's how it looked in April 2001

Front view      Back view

Lots of trees, sloping ground, some drainage work needed to keep the runoff from cutting in to the foundation. But all in all, pretty good shape....

...it just needed a little work....

Well, we needed to make some level ground around back, let's terrace. One trip to the landscape dealer and we found that rock was about $250/ton. I estimated that it would take about 20 tons...so this looked a bit steep. We ordered man-size rip-rap instead at $20/ton for 20 tons..thats a lotta rock!

The stones are hand-placed so they interlock, #67 crushed stone was dumped between the soil and back of the wall to act as a filter. Some of the rip-rap was a bit more than man-sized.

April 2003

Here are some photos taken recently....

Downstairs

Downstairs, both bedrooms and front room was removed, as well as the bathroom. It their places, a master bed and bath, a guest bedroom, a front bedroom, and guest bath and entry foyer

Old bedrooms and bath in between

New bathroom framing (note bathtubs in respective bathrooms)

Back to back bathrooms meant one utility (2x6) wall for both, a nice convenience. Both sinks, both toilet supplies, one bath supply in same wall

New master bathroom tile work, shower stall not yet in.

Some interior home improvements on the stairway and foyer as well as front bedroom

which is a temporary office

Stairway  and..foyer into....hallway.......front bedroom (temporary office)

Kitchen

The kitchen needed a little work too..It was too small and had a huge cupboard blocking one's vision.(Fig K-1)

.

 Fig. K-1            Fig. K-2

The start of reconstruction, note the old wall line along the ceiling (Fig K-2) where it comes to a point in the back of the old kitchen

The upstairs had to get cleared and readied

Fig K-3            Fig K-4        Fig K-5

Figure K-3 is the old, full height living room/master bedroom  wall;

Figure K-4 upstairs showing new "open" look, notice drainage vent PVC pipe in middle of hous

Figure K-5 ; more "open" look, storage got to be a problem

Not a wall left standing upstairs except for the bathroom

Fig K-6            Fig. K-7

Figure K-6 Kitchen framing on right, study entrance on left (two sets of french doors)

Figure K-7 Kitchen framing nearly complete with celestory windows

Countertops constructed with tile (Figures K-8,9), using backer board and thin-set mortar for the tops,

mastic for the front and back facings. Note popsicle sticks and tape to hold things in place

Fig K-8            Fig K-9

Finished counter tops

Fig. K-10        Fig. K-11        Fig.K-12        Fig. K-13

Love that color and pattern.

We also put in the pantry (pocket door not in yet)

Wood flooring went down next, a little walnut upstairs

with a little urethane finish (satin). I tried to fill cracks with a mixture of lacquer and walnut sanding dust...that was a disaster. Note too that urethane will crack (open) along some of the longitudinal seams. Anyway, here is the finished floor