Some pictures...

The back of the house, facing West.
The front of the house, blinded by sunlight!
The front door.
This is the daylight basement entrance. Above that is the Breakfast room. A beautiful window looks out to the west. It is going to be the center piece of the back of the house with a large eclipse(half circle) window with 6x5 window beneath. It's going to be a breathtaking view of the country side and sunsets!

Who's building this house?

A gentleman came by this afternoon looking for a local builder. He asked, "Who's building this house?"

Now... at the time, Rich was on a ladder and I was on the scaffolding measuring for the floor joists...

Rich replied... I'm building this house. Rich and I were just chuckling over this all afternoon.

The builder that he was looking for is building a house several blocks away from us.

Anyway, so we've got the measuring all done for the floor joists which will support the 2nd floor. Rich is cutting the joists... NOW!

We hope to be all done putting the joists this week.

Sorry I don't have more pictures... forgot to take my camera with me today. I promise more pictures soon!

All the 1st floor walls are up!!

Just back from helping Rich put up the remaining wall in the breakfast room. Watch for pictures. Tomorrow I'll take some.

The breakfast room has a massive window with a domed top overlooking the west. It's going to be just beautiful!

A couple more cap plates then we're on to floor joists!

Almost done with 1st floor walls...

Rich is almost done framing the first floor... Today we pushed up the closet wall in my office. Every day at lunch we push up a couple more walls. Cap plates are also going up as he goes along.

Soon the floor joists will go up for the 2nd floor.

Oh.. I have wonderful news!!! My parents have decided to join us in Wyoming and will be putting up a house on our land just south of us!!!

Power Poles go up!

We're building on the outskirts of the town... but still within town limits for city water/sewer. But in order to get electricity... 3 poles and a transformer have to be installed.

So far 2 poles have been installed...

The gas company has been notified and soon the gas line will be dug.

Rained out...

Well, we were planning on raising the south wall on Saturday... but we got rained out. Then we thought that we'd get it raised up on Monday... and it rained and the wind blew....

Today was a beautiful sunny day... but the wall still isn't raised... BUT... the interior 1st floor walls are taking shape.

Soon the South wall will be raised... then lots of interior walls... then the sheathing will hold it all firmly in place.

1st Floor wall raising

It took quite a while to get the floor joists and subfloor done for the 1st floor.

I'm surprised how fast the framing goes! Last evening with a crew of 10... we pushed up the long West and East walls. That was so exciting! It now looks like a house!!!

Today, Rich and I chalked out the floor plan. And now he's onto building the North and South walls. Hope to have them done by Saturday evening so that we can tie the walls together for better strength against any strong Wyoming winds.

Here's some pictures.









The above picture shows the back of the house with the day light basement which faces the West. The part the juts out will be our breakfast room on the 1st floor.

The Framing in the Basement is done!

Big news! We're be placing the floor joists this coming week. On to the 1st floor!!!!

Basement walls

The daylight part of the basement is all framed in! And most of the basement interior walls are done... I think just a few small walls left!

The floor joists for the 1st floor will be delivered today. That's the next step.

Framing has begun!

Yes... this is a momentus event! Our first framed in wall in the basement!

Now... what did I do with my camera? Hmmm... OK... pictures forthcoming!

Sewer and water connected...

Moving forward...
We now have the sewer and city water connected to the house.

Got some lumber that'll be delivered tomorrow. Let the framing begin!

Basement floor all done!

Well, below you'll find lots of pictures from the cement pour of the basement floor.

We rented the pump truck again and some power tools for cement work. But... it was still a lot of work!!! But, by mid-afternoon, it was all done. Thanks for many helping hands and lots of sweat!

The floor came out really nice.

Next step is framing. Today, we're heading to Billings, MT for some fun and to order the beams and specially manufactured wood for the floors and roof at a place called BCI.

It's all done. Just the curing left!!! And then there was a basement floor!
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Grandpa and his sons... John in the middle and Richard on the right.
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This was a lot... a lot... of work. Thanks John!
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Grandma and Nephew Joe.
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In comes the power trowel. When John first started this thing up... it whipped him around. Pretty powerful! What a nice finish to the cement.
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More smoothing out.
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This was such a cool picture... just had to take it. This gentleman ran the pump truck with the controllers you see to the left of him. It's amazing how precisely he is able to control the cement flow through the pump truck!
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Thanks Cal!
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More edge smoothing!
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Be careful Lyman!
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Smoothing out the edges.
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More helpers arrive!
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Thanks for your help guys!
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Boy did this machine save us a lot of work!
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a close up look.
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more work in the middle. Grandpa is working the power screed.
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Smoothing out the cement after the pour... part 1
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Now the middle.
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The pouring of the basement floor begins! In the background is the pump truck.
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All the braces are down...

All the braces are down. That took a while to do. Matthew was a good helper for Dad... stacking all the 2x4s and all.

Tomorrow is another BIG day...
We pour the basement floor tomorrow... first thing in the morning.
The pump truck will be here at 7amish... followed by the cement truck... and hopefully lots of helpers...

Rich and I were snapping chalk lines around the basement walls to indicate how high to pour.

All done! Whew! No blow-outs!
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Finishing up. This is a close up view of the top of the forms. Look at the beautiful, snow covered mountains in the background!
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3rd and final time around!
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Rich's Dad is doing the finishing work and putting in the anchor bolts.
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Waiting the the next load of cement to be filled into the hopper of the pump truck.
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Rich is filling the forms. First time around 1/3...
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This is the pump truck.
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Foundation all DONE!

Boy was having that pump truck great! It was worth every penny!

The whole pour was done within a few hours. Then a couple more hours to do the finish work which included setting anchor bolts.

I took lots of pictures. I'll try to get them posted today.

But for now... I'm starving! Nothing like a slinging some mud to build up an appetite!

The next big step...

Tomorrow for my 40th birthday... we are pouring the cement for our foundation. YEAH!
We've rented a concrete pump to make the job a little easier.

Stay tuned for more pictures! Oh.. and if you wouldn't mind keeping us in your prayers... that would be good too! (smiles!)

My dear husband, Richard. House builder... cement worker... framer... ???
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Corner of the south wall.
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All braced up and ready for the cement pour TOMORROW!
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Walls back up!

On Saturday we got the long East wall forms (for the basement) back up. What a project! Because the forms interlock like leggos... part of the South and North wall forms also had to be dismantled.

Today we put the West short wall form back together... and got most of the bracing done. We were racing against the impending storm with hail and tornado warnings heavy on our minds!

Luckily the storm passed over us with brisk winds and some rain. We were pretty much soaked by the time we finished the last of the bracing.

The cement pump is scheduled for my birthday... June 13nth!

On Wednesday (Rich's birthday!) we had a storm that included rain, hail, and a great gust of wind.

We were working on bracing our basement forms (for the cement pour)... but hadn't finished. Down came the rain.. and nickel sized hail... and then a great gust of wind knocked down our forms on the long East wall and short West wall.

We worked all day yesterday breaking down these walls and piling the styrofoam blocks in piles of good, usuable, and broken... Today we will rebuild those walls. Unfortunately... rebuilding means that part of the good walls must be dismantled because these foam blocks fit together like leggos in a pyramid fashion.

Please pray for light... soft... gentle wind while we get this up and braced!

This ladder looking thingy goes on top of the forms to stabalize them.
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Wind damage from the hail storm on 6/1/05. A great gust of wind blew down our basement cement forms on the short West wal and long East wall...
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The view facing West with the mountains in the background... on the right side is a huge dirt pile from digging out the basement.
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