The new house is FINALLY started......

[jkski]

The walkout sliders are now in place and what a difference it makes in the basement. With all of the light coming in now it really looks so much larger.
The framers also got the doors leading from the garage to the first floor and garage to basement in place so we can now close those and actually keep some heat in the house. The steps leading from the garage to the basement and from the first floor to the basement are now permanently in and looking good. The siding guys are on the side of the great room wall and if weather permits they should get to the front greatroom wall on Monday.

Spent some time on the excavator one evening and got a good mounded-up backfill against the backside of my foundation so I should not have any additional water issues. The little man, Josh, sat on my lap the entire time I was backfilling and loved every minute of it, he even pushed the track levers a few times to move us along!

So, Tuesday drywall gets delivered and the guys start hanging it on Wednesday so this weekend I will be marking the blocking and taking pics of everything behind the walls for future reference!

[Double D]

Awesome!! Looks great!

[2RLAKE]

looking good ... almost makes me want to build again!

[snork]

look'n great but before you get too far along don't you want to add a couple of triangle windows at the top of the gable?

[jkski]

Originally Posted by snork

look'n great but before you get too far along don't you want to add a couple of triangle windows at the top of the gable?

We seriously looked at this however it landed on the cutting room floor when we opted to go with scissor trusses as opposed to stick framing the greatroom. While the additional windows might look good from the outside the part you are not seeing is how small they would truly have to be in order to fit with the inside ceiling. I will try to remember to take a pic later today to illustrate. To say the least, it would end up being a mere sliver of glass and would really look odd from the inside.

When we originally designed the house, the greatroom wall was to be stick framed but due to cost measures we opted to go the route of the scissor trusses which slightly changed the greatroom wall of windows. The compromise to gain something else I guess.

[jkski]

Found this pic but not sure it accurately depicts the true size of the space on the inside of the wall as opposed to where the ceiling will be. It is somewhat of an optical illusion from the outside as the ceiling does not follow the exact same contour/angle to some extent.

[jkski]

No new pics to share today but the framers did get the front porch area on and a few other items buttoned-up so the the drywallers can start. So, drywall gets delivered today and they start hanging it tomorrow and say they will be done hanging by the end of Friday.
With the help of Mgboyd, I got the attic area decked both over the garage as well as the master bedroom and boy does it add a lot of storage space. (I will get pics this week).

So, next big project for us, besides clean-up from the drywall dust, will be painting and flooring.

[SWGA Boater]

Congrats on the new house. Really enjoyed reading the build thus far.

[jkski]

I do not recall who it was that asked for the close-up pics of the siding but I apologize for the delay, I finally remembered to take the pics yesterday.
In any event, here are 2 closer shots of the siding detail, one showing the profile with the insulation backing.

[jkski]

Finally some new pics for you guys to look at.
As of this morning, the drywall guys are there and hanging it with the anticipation of it being done by the Saturday at the latest.

So, the pics below show the front porch area which will eventually connect to a wrap-around deck, obviously I need to add some fill to the area and build a retaining wall of some sort to support a walkway to the front door without having a lot of steps.
Aside from that I took a couple pics of the storage area's we added above the garage and masterbedroom. At the floor, these spaces are roughly 7 feet wide and the average person can stand-up without banging their head. I do plan to add shelves to each side as well going between the trusses for additional storage with the goal being not to have to store anything in the basement.

The siders are still going at it but I have included a pic of the completed side of the greatroom wall showing the wrap on the windows. This same wrap will go around each window on the front-side of the house as well as around the walkout sliders and basement windows.
Enjoy.
After this week, things will really look different inside.