My new house!!! (56k warning)
 

Okay, okay... so last week I stopped by my new house and it looked like this.
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-13-06_1132.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-13-06_1133.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-13-06_1134.jpg
All well and good but not much to look at...

I stopped by yesterday, only one week later, and this is what I found!!!
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1644.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1645.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1647.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1652.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1650.jpg
http://www.bysmitty.com/misc/home/05-19-06_1651.jpg

I am so friggin' excited now my head is going to explode!!! I canna' hardly wait for them to finish up! It's finally starting to sink in that I'm going to be a homeowner. I'm not looking forward to all necessities I am going to have to buy to furnish and maintain it but I'm getting dizzy just looking at the pix and thinking about owning my own place!

Is this process supposed to seem so surreal???

...bysmitty

Thanks for the warning Bysmitty, and thank you even more for not posting giant pictures. :)
Yep, that's the way it goes...fits and starts. It seems to take forever to get the lot prepared and the foundation set, then the carpenters zoom right through the basic construction phase.
Not to harsh your mellow or anything, but you're still at least four major phases from completion. There's plumbing, electrical, drywall, and painting yet to go. I'm not sure if these actually take an eternity each, or if it just seems that way.
If you have any deviations from the standard plan or may want some additions later on, now is the time to let your subcontractors know about them. They can put an extra plug here or put a pipe junction there that will save you a lot of work down the road.
Congratulations on the new house!

Wow, your house is made nearly entirely from wood... :crazy:

As opposed to...?

We build houses with bricks and mortar.

Ah. Over here, wood and carpenters are far less labor-intensive (and therefore less expensive) than bricks and masons. Also, bricks and mortar make it more difficult for plumbers and electricians to run their pipes and wires; With wood, they're just a drill and bit away from putting stuff wherever they want.
Bricks and mortar are often still used for the exteriors of private homes, but they're normally not structural elements.
Cinderblock is used for commercial structures because the average block is eight times the size of the average brick (8"h x 8"w x 16"l versus 4"h x 4"w x 8"l) and it goes up very quickly, but apart from foundations and vacation homes cinderblock has never caught on as a material for building houses.

Crazy americans with their mild climates and wood huts.

Ah, how curious. I still find the idea of building a house from wood a little strange, it's rather reminiscent of the 1940s prefabs.

Hehehe! By our standards, Northeast Ohio does not have a mild climate! It snows and gets seriously cold in the winter, and then it gets almost as hot and humid up there as it does down here in the summer. Their average annual temperature might be mild, but that's just the mid-point of two extremes.
Wood is a natural insulator, and when you back it up with lots of fiberglass or other insulation you get to stay reasonably comfortable no matter what the weather is like outside.

And when it isn't bitter cold or boiling hot... it's raining.:crazy: We get the occasional nice day but usually, the weather sucks in one way or another.

It is actually weird for me to think of a house not being made out of wood. Every single house around these parts is all wood. Some have brick in them but it for esthetics only and really drives up the cost.

...bysmitty

Nice house bysmitty!:)

Most houses in Sweden are built from wood. We have facad brick (expr?) but the frame work (expr?) is wood. And our climate is pretty cold in the winters.

Oh dear. This reminds me of the time a Brit tried to lecture me on what a real snowstorm was and why I, a Canadian, could not come close to her expert knowledge on such subjects.


Anyway, the house looks great Smitty! Please keep posting updated pictures.

You had problems with the factual accuracy of "mild climates" but not "wood huts"?

Actually I said "mild climates" reminded me of something.

LOL!

Sweet. Can I crash on your couch?

Actually, it has 4 bedrooms:D. Accepted bribes include computer components, beer, attractive "friends", or indian food. Oh, and I guess I ought to get a couch and/or an extra real bed first too. :P

...bysmitty

Put me down for the beer and Indian food then. All my attractive female friends you already know here at AG.com, and all my computer components are from Macs and therefore are of no interest to you. :)

Stop by anytime then man. I'll take some Paneer Pakoras to start, Malai Kofta as the main coarse, an order of the Naan of your choice, and some Amber Bach to wash it all down.:D ...Wow, that just made me damn hungry. :frown:

Oh, and there is nothing wrong with mac equipment. Apple makes some strong products. One of my next products is fixing up an old G3 I have to get osX on it. I'm a PC person through and through but computers are fun no matter what kind they are.

...bysmitty