House beginning to take shape - 20 April 1009

Ellen and I caught a couple of boys unwrapping some tar tape and maybe had broken a long piece of lumber. We scared them away. We hope they don't come back and cause more trouble. We decided to check up on what work was done today - quite a lot!  The framing crew were still tidying up at 6:30 pm.

The framers arrive and get to work - 16 Apr 2009

Our builder's framing crew arrive and  waste no time in getting busy! Hopefully the weather will cooperate and there aren't any big surprises to come.

Pole/Pier blocks go up - 12 Apr 2009

The block was able to put in his blocks - 4 blocks per pier for 100 piers =  400 blocks. Next will come the floor joists and base floor. Then Regions Bank will disburse the remainder of the first draw. However, we did get the bill from the Earthworks guys - they charged us an extra $38,000 for all that fill dirt, etc.  This will come form the 10% contingency fund in the loan, but it makes everything else going forward beheld close to the budget.

Slab poured, the weather has cleared - 08 Apr 2009

Finally the weather has cleared and the slab base was able to be poured. next will come the pole/piers. Additional gravel has helped stabilize the driveway.

Ready for the slab after a ton of rain - 26 Mar 2009

Plumber began his underground plumbing and the carpenter lays out his slab forms. A very wet couple of days. drainage canals had to be dug alongside the driveway. Next door neighbor worried about the culvert and drainage from out lot.

Dirt, Dirt, and More Dirt! 12 Mar 2009

Our consulting architect, J Vaughan Sollenberger, and our general contractor, Joe D Hodge, meet togther with Ellen and I on Thursday afternoons at the lot. Finally all the muck dirt has been removed and used to fill the mistaken cut from the parish right-of-way. All the fill dirt has been brought in and compacted. We can discuss other items going forward.

Oops -can't use Parish Right-of-Way! 09 Mar 2009

We didn't what the dozer guys did was correct.  Our next door neighbors contacted the Parish Council about us not not being allowed to use the parish right-of-way. St tammany Parish wrote us a letter saying we needed to cut the driveway the way it was diagramed in our USACE Wetlands permit. We would need to replace all the red fill dirt and fill it back with original "muck" dirt. This has caused us a lot of wasted time and money. notice how deep the muck dirt goes where the crane is.