Home Construction

Raven and I are buying a new house! Let me define "new" to mean not built yet. For Christmas I took Raven down to the site to see the foundation as it sits on the lot, and to measure the lot as I didn't know the dimensions. The lot is 100'x50' (for the mathematically challenged, that means 5000 square feet). The house we are putting on that lot is 2 stories, and is about 1650 square feet, with a ground footprint of about 1100 square feet. So figure with a nice big lot we are looking at some good sized yard space! I already have the mower I want picked out, and it is not a tractor. I want a reel mower, with the whirling blades and no motor. Rather antithetical for a tech guy, eh?

With the house being a new construction job, Raven and I had to pick out all the details. Yes, all of them. What kind of insulation to have in the roof, the floor, the garage. What kind of lights and switches, and placement. Where does the phone jack go, the cable jack, the power outlets. Paint. Doors. Trim. Carpet. Vinyl. Tile. Toilets. Sinks. Faucets. Appliances. Cabinets. Pulls. Counter tops. Archway. Wall corners. Molding. Fireplaces. Windows. Screens. Window grids. Planter boxes. Siding. Column. Patio. Gas fixtures. Hose bibs. Window dressing. Side door. Powder bath. Floor layout. And so much more that I cannot think of it now. The new home showroom has about 10,000 different options to choose from! With that finally over it's time to sit back and watch it all put in place.

My favorite selections have nothing to do with the house itself, but with a water retention system. I've chosen to include a rain barrel to collect rain runoff from the roof for use in watering the plants, and a rain garden in the front! Why not, it rains a lot here, so why should I worry about getting rid of the water when I can use it instead? Now, if only I could find a way to do a "green roof", because solar panels are obviously not going to be effective here.

Over the next few months we will be updating these pages with photographs of the construction. Every time we get to do a walk-through at the site we'll take pictures and post them up for you to see. You are welcome to join us on this adventure through home construction by visiting this space as we go from ground up in seeing our new home materialize!