Plumbing

After the dirt was poured, the plumbing installation began. A backhoe was used to dig the trenches to lay the pipe in:

Sewer pipe. Or as Ken calls it, the "poop chute"

Pipes running from kitchen to laundry, then bathroom

Kitchen plumbing. Pipes on right are for sink, and curved pipe on left is the gas line for stove

I'm standing at the future washer/dryer!

Pipes leading to master bath

Washer/dryer, and bathroom

Master bath plumbing. Bathtub, here I come! (I don't have one now :( 

We have an inspection tomorrow morning for the plumbing, then Ken will fill the trenches back up with the dirt this weekend. We also got the Porta-Potty on site! (It is required). We're moving along pretty quickly, and it's exciting to see something new every week (even if it is a portable toilet in our yard). This is the first thing we've subbed out, so it's also refreshing to show up and see so much progress (and just take pictures and not do any work). 

I got a pretty big kick out of this. I'm glad I don't have to pee behind the shed anymore! (Just kidding)

Finishing block & Dirt pour

We finally finished laying the block! We began two weeks ago yesterday, and it has been the most daunting task by far. I'm pretty sure we'd pay someone to do it if we could do it all over again...

This past weekend, Ken and Nat finished up all the block they could:

On Monday, the fill dirt was poured to the bottom of the chair block. A big dump truck came to deliver the dirt, and I was bummed I didn't make it in time for that. When I arrived, they were nearly finished evening it all out!

This evening, we closed up that gap:

The garage, nice and flat!

View from the southwest corner of the house. Think the garage is big enough? 

View of bedroom, from the south

All that flat and even dirt already dug up. Plumbing will be placed in those big ditches. 

Mixing our last batch of mud!

Prepping for the last two blocks...

Ken let me lay the last block. I probably laid a total of 3 out of 800, but who's counting?

Woo hoo! Plumbing is installed next, then slab is poured. At this point, we have to make sure we have all plumbing-related plans in place: hose bibs, summer kitchen, etc. Concrete should be poured within 1-2 weeks.

Block Laying II

(Since there has been so much time spent on the block, I figured I would separate the posts) 
Saturday and Sunday were pretty rough- we worked about 7-8 hours each day. It was hot (82) and sunny, and we all got too much sun. I burned in the places I missed with sunscreen, and I even got my first farmer's tan. 

On Saturday, Lylliam and Wilken dropped by to say hello:

So I gave them a tour. Lylliam even attempted  laying a block.

Ian turned out to be a great block layer. Note: There was about 6 hour gap between photo sessions. Taking pictures was the last thing I was in the mood to do! Once the shade hit this part of the lot (where we worked all day), working became 10x easier.

Seeing the block laid gives you a better idea of the placement of the house- it was pretty cool to see it take shape. Once all the block is laid (hopefully within the next few days), the dirt will be leveled out with a bulldozer, then the concrete will be poured for the slab. The concrete will be poured up to the chair block.

The part that juts out is the front porch. That block to the right that is three blocks high is a bedroom. 

These things get heavier and heavier, I swear...

Three blocks were needed in this front part of the house because of the original lot elevation. 

So many left...

Check out how much greenery is on that Winged Elm in the front of the lot. It was bare just three weeks ago!

Future bathroom/closet!

This is why pants are necessary...

We've gone through about ten bags of this stuff

Subway for lunch...again

Wheelbarrow had to be rinsed before every mix

We cut out a little early on Saturday to catch the super moon. We were so exhausted, hot, sunburned, and dirty. So dirty you don't even want to get in your car to drive home. Fortunately we listened to satellite radio all day long thanks to Ian's dad, Richard, and that made the day go by faster. It was hard to believe we had to do it all over again on Sunday...