All framed in

The last we talked about the house building progress on the blog, we had most of the walls of the main house up.

I actually had to go back to the post and check because I forgot what I had shared. (And because I share everything on Instagram as it happens. So if you are terribly bored and wish to know about house updates the moment they happen, check me out – newlywoodwards – on Instagram.)

The crazy progress continues.

As of today, (almost) all of the exterior walls are up. The only exception (I think) is the small bump out on the first floor (you can see the hole into the house on the left side of the house).

It just never gets old – seeing our house being built.

Although, we also never want to do this again. Just putting that out there for the universe.

First, the guys started working on the roof of the main house. Ryan was still off work at this point (it was around the 4th of July). I think I mentioned before that we wanted all the room possible on the second floor – including the shorter side walls (about 4.5 feet) and the top of the peak (almost 15 feet).

So, Ryan and the crew built it by stick framing, instead of using roof trusses. It started with a massive beam at the peak.

Then, the boards were added to frame the roof. Here’s how it looks from the inside (with a few interior walls, too). The wall in front separates the two small bedrooms.

And the back will be our bedroom. GAH!!!! The view.

We were walking out the space and we realized that our bedroom – while small for modern master bedroom standards – will be over half the size of our entire apartment right now. I’m just going to bask in all that space.

Next up, sheeting the roof with plywood.

Sheeting the roof was something that Ryan desperately wanted to hire out. It’s a 12-12 pitch roof (re: steep) and is really high with the walk-out basement in the back.

But apparently no one wants to do this roof. I’ve called nearly a dozen contractors and of those, only one gave me a quote. And it was insanity to have them sheet it. I would have had to sell Ryan on street corners. And I needed him to build the house so that just wasn’t feasible.

So, Ryan, my dad, and my brother sheeted the dang thing themselves. They were actually able to do almost all of it from inside the second floor. But it was still high and steep so everyone was pleased when it was over.

The very last piece of sheeting went up at 9 p.m. one night. We still had the equipment rented so Ryan was able to get it done.

Here’s a peek at the upstairs now.

While working on the roof, progress was being made in the garage. Starting with concrete. FIN.AL.LY.

Let’s just say that the garage floor was a mess and a half. When people say that not everything is going to go right a build, they must be referring to our garage floor.

Because of the record rains this year (and some misdirection on the part of our contractors), the rock/sand that was filled in the garage settled. Not just a little bit. It was to the tune of 4 feet in every corner. This would have been a pretty easy fix if the in-floor heat hadn’t already been placed.

So, the geothermal folks had to remove the in-floor heat and then the concrete folks had to bring more sand/rock and re-grade. And then the geothermal folks had to re-install the in floor heat and then the concrete folks had to come back and pour concrete.

And then in the end, there was a bit of a snafoo about the elevation of the garage so some of the plumbing and walls had to be fixed to account for it.

Did you get all that?

Yeah. Me either.

*More wine, please.*

The worst part is that there was a blame game going on. It was constant drama and I was losing my mind.

But it’s over now. And we have concrete. And it really does look nice. That’s all that matters, right?

Soon after the concrete, the guys got to work building the garage walls.

The garage looks ginormous. But it’s just an oversized two-car garage with high ceilings. Having an attached garage is going to be life-changing. I just feel it in my bones.

We went with traditional trusses for the garage. Because of the way the roofs join from the main house to the garage, the crew spent a good deal of time measuring and cutting out part of the main house roof.

Then, the trusses went up pretty fast.

And once they were all up, it was time to sheet the garage with plywood, too.

There was also a little more framing to join the two rooflines together. It came out looking perfect, I think.

I’ve been doing lots of happy dances lately.

It’s sort of surreal to see this house exist in real life.

It seems to be happening so fast, but also dragging along because we’re anxious to be done and move in already.

Pretty much every day, Ryan and I walk through the house and gape and gaze at this home he’s creating for us. We marvel at the view. We dream about what it will be like to live here. It almost seems unbelievable.

Just lots of pink puffy hearts going on around here.