Moving along.....................

The dogs are a little freaked out. Yesterday we started the move to an apartment, as the house won't be finished in time to move directly from our current home. We're not far from finishing, though, so hopefully apartment life won't last long.

Making the grade........................

The driveway was started today by grading & spreading stone. Now there truly is an Earthwood Drive. The road sign was originally for our street, but the county made the developers change it to Earthwood Court.

Got marshmellows?.....................

This morning was sub-freezing, so the workers built the first fire in the pit.

One of the workers was the job janitor- I mean refuse & recycling engineer.

Not playing with a full deck.......................

From the master bedroom & breakfast room, you access a modest sized deck. It's angled to face a good view of the creek.

Stairs, & an eventual ramp will lead to the backyard.

On the deck will be our barbeque grill.

Below the deck will be the grill's gas tank & rain barrels which will hold water from the living roof.

Foam for the home......................

The attic & exterior walls are sprayed with open-cell foam. Windows are masked with plastic for protection.

The foam expands irregularly, but is scraped by hand to provide a smoother surface for drywall installation.

Ultimately, the house will be like a sealed thermos bottle. To prevent mold, the heating & cooling system will mechanically bring in needed fresh air. Of course so will opening the windows.

MEP.......................

In construction MEP stands for mechanical, electrical, & plumbing systems. While the exterior was being built, these systems were installed & finally inspected as "rough-ins".

After passing inspection, the exterior walls can be insulated, & eventually drywall can be hung on all interior walls.

Shake it up, baby....................

This is a cement fiber product that resembles shakes, but will never need painting.

Glass block provides light for anyone working in the crawlspace area. This will be a conditioned space.

Final roof in place....................

Though there's not many spots where you can see it, we now have an aluminum roof over the master bath. Technically, we are now "dried in".

Got water???????????????????

Tanks a lot.......................

The septic holding tank is lowered & backfilled. Then a tank which will pump the waste to the drain field is likewise installed.

What a bunch of scrap.................

The final shingle roofed area is being installed.

Adjacent the street, waste materials are separated so the steel & aluminum can be recycled. Unfortunately, as of now we don't have any good local options for the wood.