The framers started work at 8 o’clock Monday morning. Things should start to look interesting soon…
Foundation, Day 3 — Done
Here’s the left wing of the foundation, finished and parged. The parge material dries more slowly over the cement between the blocks, so I’m expecting the block pattern to disappear once the parge is completely dry.
Here’s the finished foundation. Now you can see the bump for the bay window and the inset for the front porch.
Framing materials were delivered this afternoon. The framers will start Monday morning. There also will be an inspection Monday morning after the framers have bolted the sill plates to the foundation.
Here are the façade and first-floor floorplan again for reference.
Foundation, Day 2
The left wing — the downhill side of the foundation — was finished today. It’s now at its full height. The opening is for the basement door, which will be a double door five and a half feet wide. That’s my travel trailer up the hill at the top right corner.
The right wing — the uphill side of the foundation — is not quite done. The front part, where the bay window bumps out, has not been laid. Also tomorrow the masons will apply the “parge,” which is a stucco-like coating on the exterior of the block wall.
For reference, here’s the first-floor floorplan again…
… and here’s the façade.
Foundation, Day 1
The masons had to finish their previous job and worked only part of the day today. The part of the foundation shown above is the left wing of the house on the downhill side and is about half of the house’s total footprint. This downhill side is where the foundation is highest, and it’s where my half basement will be. No blocks have been laid yet on the right-wing uphill side of the foundation. The uphill side will require only five courses or so of blocks. The wall above has not yet reached its full height — 7 feet 8 inches.
The part of the foundation in the photo is for the kitchen, nook, entry way, and stairs…
… which I’m calling the left wing of the house.
New York Times on Boomers' second act
A local example of a humble house in the provinces
The New York Times has a story today on the very strategy I used for early retirement — taking the proceeds of years in the city to buy or build debt-free in an area where the cost of living is low. Personally I cannot imagine going into retirement with mortgage debt. Nor was I interested in so-called “dream towns” for retirement such as Asheville, even if I could afford it.
Blocks, sand, and cement
Today (Tuesday) the blocks, sand, and cement for the foundation were delivered. The masons will start work tomorrow.
I had not planned on having a basement. It was too much for my budget. However, the lower half of the house turned out to be an easy dig for a basement. So I’ll have a half basement. That’s quite a nice bonus, because I gain storage space and even a storm shelter.
Restoring Edna St. Vincent Millay's garden
Edna St. Vincent Millay, photographed by Carl Van (via Wikipedia)
Steepletop today, Washington Post
The Washington Post has a nice story today on my favorite poet, Edna St. Vincent Millay. I think there are always those who want to restore her standing as a poet, but this story also talks about the restoration of her home in the last years of her life — Steepletop at Austerlitz, New York — and the restoration of her garden. The story also talks about how Millay’s love of, and knowledge of, nature greatly informed her poetry. Wouldn’t I love to have a cutting of something from Millay’s garden!
I have long believed that Millay wrote the best sonnets since Shakespeare.
Sonnet
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill
the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood,
nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man
is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution’s power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.
— Edna St. Vincent Millay
Tropical storm Fay
Weather Underground
Western North Carolina is in the possible path of Tropical storm Fay. Wouldn’t a nice rain late next week be nice.
The footings have been poured
2 p.m. Friday
By 3:30 p.m. today, the footings had been dug, inspected by the county, and 10 cubic yards of concrete poured. I believe that works out to around 15 tons of concrete.
On Monday the materials for the foundation walls will be delivered, and the masons should start laying blocks on Tuesday.
Groundbreaking
10 a.m. Friday
The work on my house has started. This morning they’re digging the footings. The concrete truck should arrive in the early afternoon to pour the footings. It rained yesterday, and the ground is a bit wet, but that doesn’t seem to be of much concern to the guys doing the work. I think I may leave this afternoon to spare myself the sight of the concrete truck rolling over my poor abused soil.