Alan and Kathy's new Home
3315 Old Plantation Way, Maryville, TN 37804
Photos are in chronological order with date and time with newest at the top.
Note -
GoDaddy has required me to remove the time-lapse and regular videos due to
"Your website hosting account is storing files in a manner for which it is not intended or compatible."
I've left the text in place (shown with green video). If you what like to see the video, email me and I will send the file to you (or post on facebook).
December
December 3
Today I met with Aubrey at Stone Creek Surfaces to determine layout of Palomino granite for the island.
I found out we don't have enough Colonial Gold granite for the bonus bath vanity. There is enough for the 2 Master bath vanities and Guest bath.
After a search of the yard I picked a Normandy remnant (Kathy loves this stone).
Here is the Bonus bath leather-look floor tile, wood-look shower tile and bronze shelf.
Old photo of Palomino granite for the island
November 30
Photo of Kathy smiling after seeing colors on the wall.
Christmas photo on back porch.
November 29
Painting started.
Doors standing in garage ready to be painted.
Driveway side bedroom #3
Front bedroom #2
Main living area color with ceiling
November 23
Rough grading around house finished.
November 21
Topcon GTS-303 total station for sale $900.
November 20
Rough grading continues.
Front yard rough grading, more required to have minimal step from sidewalk to front porch.
Side yard grading.
Covered porch and pool area rough grade.
Area between pool and berm.
The berm after dirt remove. Additional dirt available or extra dirt from pool can be used to raise berm.
November 19
Photo showing location of pool automatic fill water line.
November 18
Time-lapse video of rough grading around pool area in preparation for pool build.
Photo of Hitch farmland planted with winter wheat.
November 17
Bath vanity cabinets and garage doors installed today.
Master Bathroom vanities.
Guest Bathroom vanity.
Guest Bathroom tub shelf built.
Pool Bathroom vanity and pool towel cabinets.
Bonus Bathroom vanity.
Garage doors installed without glass panel.
Exterior workshop door.
November 13
Kitchen cabinets finished (except doors, skins, fake doors and toekick).
Kathy Master Bath vanity.
November 12
Peninsula and Island kitchen cabinets installed.
November 11
Fridge and cooktop wall kitchen cabinets installed.
November 10
Pantry, double oven, microwave and prep sink wall kitchen cabinets installed.
Dining room wainscoting top shelf finished.
November 9
Cabinets delivered with more in Master bedroom.
Cabinets in Kitchen, Dining room and Foyer area.
Cabinets in Sunroom area.
November 8
Alan vacuuming again after trimwork.
November 6
Trimwork continues by Jeff Moss of Trimworx (his truck).
Mudroom upper cabinet built and installed by The Corner Cabinet Shop (865- 573-3200). Base cabinet to be installed after flooring installed.
Master Laundry upper cabinet installed.
November 4
Dining room wainscoting starting.
October 31
Finished crown in Sunroom.
Layout of wainscoting in Dining room.
October 27
Outdoor shower location.
Trim at mudroom exterior door.
Sunroom door/window trim and baseboard finished.
Fall colors from bonus room toward Sassafras tree.
Fall colors from bonus room south across cemetery.
October 23
Brickwork finished on Sunroom and garage around pool area, including pool equipment screen wall.
Window and Door trim finished in Sunroom.
October 19
Interior doors delivered (missing glass living room and solid core doors).
Door and Window trim delivered. Waiting on crown molding.
October 17
Blue ceiling paint in master suite (hard to see in the light).
Sassafras tree fall colors.
October 16
Start of painting - primer and ceilings.
Brick finished on front and cemetery side of the house.
October 15
Continuing to vacuum drywall dust. Sorry for the blurry photo.
October 9
Brickwork finished on garage side of house.
Front of house brick.
October 8
Brickwork finished to soffit on northwest corner of the house including Tobacco Road border around windows.
October 6
Brickwork continues on the front of the house.
Sheetrock taped, mudded and sanded in the kitchen.
October 2
Start of Stags Creek Crest (creme) main house brick above Tobacco Road base brick
September 30
Brickwork continues around to garage side of house.
September 29
I have to show the video of the landscape fabric absorbing the drops without splashing mud on the brick. It worked perfectly.
The Geothermal water storage area (future pool) full and ready for mud baths.
September 27
Start of major vacuuming of drywall dust. Dusted ceilings, then walls, then vacuumed the floors.
September 26
Brickwork continues around pool area. Landscape fabric around house.
September 25
Sheet rock installed in most places. Thanks to the drywallers for moving insulation and items from garage out into the rain.
Gaps in bonus area won't help with temperature. Plus lots of wires, lights and HVAC returns hidden behind the drywall.
September 23
Brick finally starting at the house.
Great time-lapse videos of the brickwork.
The Tobacco Road base brick starting first.
September 20
Don spent the weekend installing top of sheetrock gasket material. I sure hope it works.
Around 200 photos taken of walls and studs.
Photo of insulation in ceiling between garage and bonus bath area. Might be a little drafty.
September 17
Still working on the insulation.
Sheetrock delivered today, I better hurry up and finish fixing the insulation.
September 16
"Finished" bonus area installation.
Insulation after Alan fix.
September 15
Spent the day trying to figure out the problems we'll have in the bonus area with insulation.
Found that almost all the main level California corner studs have incorrectly installed insulated. More work for Alan.
September 14
More examples of bad insulation. Still fixing.
September 13
Another day of trying to fix insulation and plug gaps and holes around studs.
September 11
Guest bathroom tub has crack at corner. We didn't find it until tub unpacked months after delivery.
Richard Broome, a great plumber, did the work at the new build. He also fixed a few problems at our current house.
September 9
250+ photos taken of walls showing insulation and stud locations.
Insulation installation was sloppy, so Kathy and I spent days fixing the insulation and adding more sound-proofing.
September 8
Exterior insulation and interior sound-proofing insulation installed with 69 photos.
Exterior insulation in master bedroom and sunroom behind
Interior sound-proofing insulation of living room/master suite area
September 4
Hundreds of more photos taken of the plumbing.
Here is a photo from the garage of the bonus area bath plumbing with new sister-studs required after the roof trusses were drilled.
September 1
I took hundreds of photos and videos of the build today.
Groups of photos of HVAC, Security, Plumbing, Vacuum and Electrical
Due to GoDaddy, I can't post them all.
August 27
Alan vacuuming for the not the first and definitely not the last time.
Central vacuum piping started
Clouds in Walland Pass on the way to the build.
Sunrise on the way to the build.
August 27
Here are the mushrooms fully open the next day. Since they are close to the port-a-potty, I don't think I'll be eating them.
August 26
I found these mushrooms in the front yard by the street.
August 25
Front of the house
August 22
Alan spent hours taping the kitchen floor to show the cabinet and island layout.
August 22
Tom from Clearwater Drilling installing Geothermal pipes into the one of the two 365 foot deep wells.
The bags contain sand which is mixed with a gelatious material to facilitate heat transfer between the pipes and the ground.
Finished pipe install at the wells. The top of the wells are permanently buired 4 feet below ground.
Location of Geothermal pipes where they penetrate the foundation wall.
Geothermal pipes being buried.
August 21
Don Smith installing cardboard floor protector on garage/workshop floor
Finished garage/workshop floor protectors
August 19
Garage prepared for concrete
Landscape fabric stapled to garage doors to prevent workers from walking on new colored concrete flooring.
August 13
Electrical wiring passed inspection
August 10
Canteloupe from garden (small but really tasty).
August 9
Watermelon in garden
List of wiring for electrical panel in master laundry area
August 7
Bonus living room and bedroom behind
Bonus bathroom
July 31
Closeup of Copper Penny metal roofing on front porch. A little dirty from roofer footprints.
July 30
Installation of Copper Penny metal roofing on front porch.
July 21
Kathy at new front Door
Stairs to bonus area finally installed
July 15
Doors and windows installed in Sunroom
July 13
Some of the doors and windows delivered.
July 10
Zip System sheathing finished.
July 7
The drilling of the first geothermal well continued today and stopped at target of 360 feet without hitting water. The second well was started until at 160 feet Clearwater Drilling ran out of water.
Framing continued on the bonus exercise room dormer, the front right dormer and the front porch.
Time-lapse video (low resolution) of finished the first geothermal well.
Time-lapse video (low resolution) of starting the second well.
Time-lapse video (low resolution) of continuing the second well.
Video of the drive along Old Plantation Way to see what the house looks like. Except of the green and brown coloring, I think it looks good.
Front of the house.
House and garage from driveway.
North end of house gables and garage.
Dormer in bonus room exercise area.
Drilling mud from second well. Most of the water seeped into the ground on the first well.
The pit is 18' x 6' and 4' deep at the bottom, the mud is only around 6" deep.
July 6
It was a sad day yesterday in Watertown. After 320 feet of drilling, there is no well water. Clearwater Drilling will be back today to continue.
The original contract was for 400 feet, so maybe we'll still hit water, otherwise we'll have a closed loop Geothermal system and city water irrigation.
On the bright side - the wildflowers and sunflowers are looking great, cantaloupe and watermelon starting to grow and I've finally got 1 zucchini and 2 okra.
Time-lapse video (low resolution) of finishing the roof decking on the garage.
Time-lapse video of setting up the drilling rig.
Time-lapse video (low resolution and sideways) of drilling the first 60 feet and inserting the casing.
Time-lapse video (low resolution and sideways) of drilling.
Time-lapse video (low resolution and sideways) of drilling.
The Red Sunflowers are blooming.
Wildflowers. I don't know the names. If you'll email me the names, I will treat you to an evening at the pool.
First zucchini.
First two okra. I gave them to Jerry for quickly building the berm for the drilling.
Cantaloupe with lots of flowers, but no fruit yet.
July 4
I went to the build and snuck up a ladder to the bonus room.
Video of the view from bonus room exercise area looking at the .
Clearwater Drilling truck finally on site.
View from bonus room exercise area looking southeast toward Walland Pass over the cemetery.
View from bonus room exercise area looking southwest.
Sunflowers and Hitch field on east side of house from bonus bedroom area.
July 3
Work continues on finishing roof framing and decking. No photos of videos.
July 2
No work due to "rain".
July 1
No work due to "rain"
June 30
8 framers were at the build today. Unfortunately 4 were teenagers. No photos or videos.
The sales rep from Zip Systems came by to see one of the few homes using R-Sheathing in Tennessee.
June 29
10 framers were at the build today. There was a lot done - flooring in bonus, tops of house trusses finished, some of fascia boards, roof decking on sunroom, stair ceiling
Video of framer layout out house truss tops
Time-lapse video of laying bonus floor and finishing driveway side trusses.
Time-lapse video of laying 2x4's on top of house trusses prior to installing truss tops.
Time-lapse video of finishing house truss tops.
Drilling mud hole with just a little water after overnight rain.
Roof decking above sunroom
Finished driveway side trusses
Working on driveway side trusses
June 27
I went by the build to do a little cleanup. I pulled a bunch of radishes and noticed one of the Red Sunflowers had opened.
First
Flooring in dormer area of the bonus room, where there are no trusses. Opening for dormer above.
June 26
Trusses installed today.
Time-lapse video of moving end truss for the house and setting the first rear truss.
Time-lapse video of house trusses being set.
Time-lapse video of garage trusses being set.
After setting the trusses I brought beer for the framers and sodas with the boys.
June 25
Today the framers got ready for the crane and truss setting tomorrow.
Time-lapse video of preparing for the crane and truss setting - sheathing end walls, marking top of walls for trusses.
Covered back porch beam installation. We'll wrap the beams later.
Sunflowers around 4' tall.
Red sunflower almost open.
Zucchini with second flower, but no vege yet.
Meadow flowers finally blooming.
June 24
Today started out moving all the lumber in the front of the house so we could sort the trusses.
Then we spent to rest of the day sorting trusses and nailing doubles, triples and quadruples together.
Time-lapse video of restacking lumber.
Time-lapse video of sorting trusses.
Time-lapse video of sorting trusses.
Time-lapse video of sorting trusses.
Time-lapse video of sorting trusses.
Lumber pile before moving.
Lumber pile after moving.
Alan helping move the heaviest trusses.
June 23
No workers at the build today, due to rain.
I spent around 2 hours picking up trash and left over lumber, cleaning up the site and then trying to organize the lumber.
Kathy Henderson and I met with the cabinet company, Gray Hodges, and only had to make a few minor changes to the layout.
Also and more important, the trusses were delivered by Chris Bean from Anderson Truss Company.
Water standing in the middle of the house after a quick storm.
Chris Bean after dropping trusses.
Kathy and I in front of our pile of trusses.
June 22
Finished the garage door wall with (3) 40' LVL headers, then finished the Zip System R-sheathing.
I had to left early due to the heat.
Time-lapse video of garage door wall finish.
Time-lapse video of Zip System sheathing on north side walls.
Finished garage door wall.
June 19
Continued putting the Zip System R-sheathing up. We did the sunroom and garage walls around the pool area.
Time-lapse video of R-sheathing the sunroom and garage walls around the pool area.
Alan supervising installation.
June 18
Started putting the Zip System R-sheathing up. This is a OSB board with weather protection coating, so house wrap not required.
All it takes is a very sticky tape along the edges. On the back side of the board is 1/2" of rigid insulation.
The insulation helps to prevent heat/cold transfer (thermal bridging) between the studs to the sheathing board.
The front west side and south side of house finished Zip System R-sheathing.
June 17
We finished all the main floor interior walls, put bracing on all the walls, then we started on the garage walls.
Alan also built all by himself, a holder for the hose bib by the water meter.
This is so Alan can continue washing his hands per Covid-19 restrictions. It only took 2 attempts and 30 minutes.
Time-lapse video of Alan actually building a raised hose bib holder, so he can wash his hands.
Time-lapse video of the finishing all main floor interior walls.
Time-lapse video of the bracing the main floor interior walls
Time-lapse video of the start of the garage walls (from the back corner of the property.
June 16
We finished the Master Bedroom interior walls and started on the Mudroom, Equipment Room, Guest bedroom and Closet and Guest Bathroom.
I accidentally recorded the GoPro in video instead of time lapse, so I got 3 hours boring video. I'll try to pay attention tomorrow to the GoPro settings.
Video at end of day starting at mudroom going through equipment room, toward front of house, then living and dining room and back to sunroom.
June 15
We finished the exterior walls and finished 2 of the Master Bedroom interior walls.
A major storm brewed in the Smoky mountains with prodigious thunder, so we stopped around 2pm.
Time-lapse video of the finishing exterior walls.
Time-lapse video of starting the Master Bedroom walls. Watch the storm brewing near the end of the video.
Master Bedroom 2 interior walls with the storm in the mountains.
June 13
Kathy and I toured the exterior walls on a beautiful day.
Video of existing exterior walls.
June 12
I created central "shady" command using our old patio umbrella.
Ezekiel and crew continued erecting exterior walls.
Geothermal mud pit created in anticipation of well drilling next week.
Time-lapse video of Alan setting up Central "Shady" Command.
Time-lapse video of digging of mud pit for Geothermal well drilling.
Time-lapse video of Kathy visit to build.
Time-lapse video of more wall installation.
Exterior walls at end of day. Now it's beer thirty.
Alan's new Central "Shady" Command. Thankfully there I will still get lots of exercise jumping up to help and answer questions then sitting down again.
June 11
Big day today. We (by which I mean the royal we) finished the subfloor and rim boards, laid out all the walls and then started on the first 2 walls.
I put chairs in the location of the bed in the master, then I moved the windows so Kathy and I would both have a great view while in bed.
Harvested the first radishes and they are perfectly hot!
Time-lapse video of wall marking and first 2 walls.
Time-lapse video of subfloor and rim board installation.
Finished subfloor by lunchtime.
Kathy took a photo of me around 5pm with the first 2 walls up, then I "walked" her thru the rooms in the house.
Here is the view Kathy will have while in bed.
June 10
I'm back from Wisconsin after a 14 hour drive on Tuesday June 9. I'm worn out, but can't stay away from the build.
Also, testing out my new GoPro Hero 8.
Time-lapse video of finish blocking of floor I-Joist plus Alan planting more sunflowers and other miscellaneous flowers.
Time-lapse video of subfloor panels carried to area and Alan showing Kathy the building status.
All the floor I-Joist in and now they are starting the installation of the joist blocking and rim boards.
First zucchini flower! Unfortunately the leaves being eaten up by bugs (or tiny aliens), but hopefully I'll get a zucchini or two.
Sunflowers are now 12"-18" tall. "Drop Dead Red" sunflowers on left side and "Mammoth" sunflowers behind.
June 9
Framers start on main floor joist while I take a short trip to Wisconsin to meet up with Kathy and family.
Here are photos Don Smith took during the build.
June 5
Floor I-joist delivered today. Framers are supposed to start on Monday.
May 31
No trip to the build today. We're going to Pat & Greg's new pool.
However, I did go through my phone and added a bunch of photos and videos that were taken prior to the build or were left off the website.
April 8, 2020 - Sassafras tree flowering
Jan. 8, 2020 - Sassafras tree
December 15, 2019 - cleared lot.
December 4, 2019 - tree and brush removal day.
November 11, 2019 - snow day.
March 27, 2019 - walking the property after purchasing the lot.
May 30
I brought Kathy to the build to view the lumber piles. The soil had dried out so I checked on the "erosion control plants".
The zucchini is really starting to grow. It won't be long before I have butter fried zucchini.
May 29
Daily trip to the build and found the dumpster was finally dropped off.
I spoke to the framers at the Campbell home and they won't be starting on my home until late next week. Yuck!
We did get the port-a-potty serviced after being tipped over by some rotten kids.
I checked on the "erosion control vegetation" and the sunflowers and radishes are doing great!
Short video of the sunflowers with the beautiful mountains in the background.
Dumpster is ready.
The radishes are doing great, but I need to thin out as soon as the soil dries out.
The 1 Okra plant doing okay.
Blackberries on the cemetery fence. I hope they ripen before Kathy sprays them with week killer.
Port-a-potty serviced after rotten kids tipped it over.
May 28
I showed up to wait for the framing package to be delivered, but it was already there.
We are waiting for the framers to finish on Ms. Campbell's trusses and roof sheathing. Hopefully the framing will start Saturday May 30.
I spent a couple of hours watching the crane lift the trusses at Ms. Campbell's home.
The framing lumber has been delivered.
Lumber fasteners and supplies.
Truss installation at the Campbell home that is being built by Don Smith, CSS Construction (our builder).
May 26
After a quiet holiday weekend, I went to the lot today. Jerry Moss was finalizing the grading for the frames.
Then I spent a fair amount of time connecting the 2 exterior foundation drainage pipes into 1 drainage line.
Time-lapse video finalized grading.
Time-lapse video of Alan starting the drainage connection project.
Time-lapse video of Alan finishing the drainage connection project.
Finished drainage connection project. The rake, stakes and tape measure are to help me find the end, so I can connect to final drain pipes.
May 23
We took an early evening out to the build so I could show Kathy the status.
Jerry Moss must have come by this morning because the front porch was filled and the garage was completely finished.
Now we are ready for the framing to start!
Kathy showing her pleasure at the lot.
May 22
Arrived at lot at 8am and Jerry Moss was already working on backfill. He finished around 12:30 in a pouring rain. We still need to fill front porch area with gravel.
I measured the area for the Geothermal wells and the placement looks good. Jerry graded the access area at front right side of house.
I met with Jeff Stratton at VBS above finally getting the interior drainage done. It probably won't start until after the main flooring is in. Too bad for the diggers!
Time-lapse video of Backfill and Alan working on encapsulation from 8am to 10am.
Time-lapse video of continuing Backfill with minor rain.
Time-lapse video of finish grading in big rain.
Finished backfill around exterior, garage and back porch.
Finished backfill in front except front porch (ran out of gravel).
Finished grading so geothermal drilling truck can access side yard.
May 21
No work today due to muddy ground. I worked on pulling gravel back from the foundation for the encapsulation.
I also spoke with neighbor Carol Campbell who is also using Don Smith at CSS to build her house.
Time-lapse video of Alan working.
May 20
Kathy and I met with Tom of Clearwater Drilling and Nathan of A & C Trades to discuss location of 2 geothermal wells.
Tom thinks there is a great chance of hitting enough flow rate of water for the geothermal and the irrigation!
We will drill the first well near the back of the property and if we hit water, the other well will be near the crawl space entrance.
There needs to be around a 100 feet of separation between the supply and return wells.
If we don't hit water, the 2 closed loop wells will be in the back of the property. Far enough that I might not trip constantly over the wellheads.
Tom, Nathan and I. Thank you Kathy for sneaking a photo of us.
May 19
No work today due to almost 1" of rain overnight. Good news, no water standing in the crawl space!
More gravel delivered today for garage floor and foundation backfill.
Drainage pipe from foundation.
More gravel for garage floor and foundation backfill.
No standing water in crawl space. Drainage system works!
View of our lot from Centennial Church Road showing the cemetery.
May 18
Beautiful morning at the lot. I went to oversee the start of the crawl space encapsulation (dig for drainage along inner foundation). Found out they are delayed 1 day.
So, spent a little time working on the "garden" erosion control. Watched the Hitch's mowing the winter wheat.
Time-lapse video of Alan moving gravel out of the way in anticipation of digging interior drainage.
Time-lapse video of Alan working on the "garden" erosion-control.
Time-lapse video of mowing Winter Wheat on Hitch property.
Property ready for Crawl Space Encapsulation
Sunflowers up to 4" tall
May 16
Went to the property to break the broken block in the front porch, back porch and garage area. Then I moved gravel onto the upper exterior drain line.
I started at 8:30am at 66 degrees and ended around 10am at 79 degrees. I'm not sure how I'll be able to deal with the heat and humidity this summer.
Time-lapse video of break block in front porch.
Time-lapse video of breaking block and moving gravel onto drain pipe.
Front porch block before and after.
Back porch block before and after.
May 15
Kathy and I went to lunch today at El Chico on Cedar Lane to get our long overdue table-side guacamole fix with a couple of margaritas! Yum!
On the way home, we went to check out the property. The foundation waterproofing was finished.
The company had added a foundation drain pipe (not required), so now we have 2 separate pipes around the exterior of our foundation.
Foundation waterproofing and second drainage pipe.
2 exterior foundation drainage pipes.
May 13
Overcast day with spits of rain and major chance of rain. I showed up thinking the block masons would be starting and would take around 20 hours to finish. They had shown up on Tuesday at 3:30pm and worked until 8:30 and had a majority of exterior block wall finished.
Time-lapse video of block masons in the morning.
Time-lapse video of block masons in the afternoon.
Photo of workers around 10am.
Photo of finished block at 4pm including 6'x6' pool equipment screen wall (on left).
Alan verifying garage opening measurements. Concrete pump truck in background is Don Smith's spec home also being built.
Alan helping unload block for pool equipment screen wall.
May 11
Absolutely beautiful day at home. The block masons are trying to catch-up on rain-delayed projects and won't start until Wednesday.
Yay for a day off, hopefully my back will stop hurting soon.
May 10
Absolutely beautiful day at the lot celebrating mother's day with Kathy, Franci and Dianne. Sorry, no photos.
May 9
Absolutely beautiful day after downpour in Knoxville with minimal rain at lot. I removed the gravel from the piers in anticipation of the surveyor marking the pier centers.
Kathy came by for our 1st lunch at our new house then the surveyor showed up and we finished the pier pinning.
Time-lapse of Alan attempting to find pier centers.
Time-lapse of Alan finding pier centers, lunch with Kathy and final pinning of piers with surveyor.
Alan shoveling gravel from pier.
Alan helping surveyor pin piers.
May 8
Alan didn't make it to lot until call from builder. May 8. Busy morning. They found a small sinkhole (8'dia x 5'deep) in home area, but that was fixed. Finished install of gravel in home area. Stripped grass in garage and added gravel. Cleaned footings for surveyor to pin. Block and supplies delivered before the rain started at 1pm.
No photos due to rain at property as soon as I showed up.
May 7
Foundation drainage installed, crawl space gravel installed, Geothermal well site location prepared.
Video of foundation drain digging.
View of clouds in Walland Pass from the Davis Ford Road across from Sweet Grass subdivision.
Sunflowers starting to grow.
Finished foundation drainage
Geothermal well site location prepared.
May 6
Foundation debris removed. No photos (Alan recovering from 2 days at site).
May 5
Concrete poured in foundation!
Video of concrete pour
Time-lapse video concrete pump truck and pouring concrete (huge file)
Alan & Kathy logo
Finished concrete foundation
May 4
Finished rebar installation and poisoned soil to prevent nasty little termites.
Time-lapse video of rebar installation and poisoning.
Time-lapse video of Alan cleaning foundation trench of loose debris. I couldn't finish the pier foundations (ran out of energy).
Rebar installation
Section of foundation requiring 3 row of rebar for soft soil.
May 2
Foundation dug and rebar installation started.
Video Digging the foundation dig 38Mb
Video Time-lapse of foundation dig 234Mb
Video Time-lapse of foundation dig 151Mb
May 1
After 2 weeks of intermittent rain, the foundations are finally being dug.
April 27
Kathy took a couple of photos of me working on the dirt pile "garden" erosion control
April 22
Gravel for driveway delivered and spread.
April 16
Rick Tedesco "Super Skilled Handyman" built me a 4'x6' shed to store my lawn chairs, masks, wipes, tools, etc.
It's stored on the cemetery property, since sheds are allowed in the neighborhood.
I planted more "erosion control" plants - wildflowers, sunflowers and 1 okra plant.
Wildflowers
Sunflowers
April 15
Waiting for rain to stop and for the surveyor to set foundation location flags, so we can dig foundation.
In the meantime - electric meter set, water connection added, rebar delivered, Port-a-John (no more trips to tick infested woods).
To help out my buddy Jerry Moss (best excavator), I planted some vegetables on top of the dirt pile on far right.
4 Cantaloupe
4 Watermelon
3 Zucchini
April 11
Tour of the excavation.
Alan in front of the dirt pile.
"Dozer" Kathy finishing the excavation at the property.
Kathy ready to drive the dump truck home.
Day 5 - April 10
Finish the excavation and site grading. Kathy stayed home while Alan spent the day at the property and even was put to work staking for the driveway gravel.
Time-lapse video of the big dig in the morning. Note - this is a 300MB file.
Time-lapse video of the big dig after lunch. Note - this is a 177MB file.
View of the finished building footprint excavation.
View of the finished building footprint excavation with huge pile of soil.
Day 4 - April 9
Excavation begins. 3' buffer dug before I got to the property and start of clearing interior.
Time-lapse video of the big dig. Note - this is a 192MB file.
Kathy and Alan enjoying the show (and our money disappearing.
April 8
Went out to see if anything was going on at the build.
The Sassafras tree is blooming. This is the tree's first year ever in full sun since being in the shadow of the Hackberry monster tree.
Day 2 - April 7
Surveyor came out to flag the footprint of the house.
Kathy with flags.
Day 1 - April 6
Went to the bank to sign papers, then to the property and we were thrilled that the water meter was being installed. We're finally starting to build!
1st build action - water meter installation
Kathy happy that the build is finally starting
Kathy and I in the bank signing construction loan papers.
Going into the bank to sign construction loan papers
Jan. 8, 2020
Close-up view of Sassafras tree.
View of Sassafras tree.
Dec. 15, 2019
The lot is cleared of trees and brush.
View from front of lot.
View along cemetery fence of cleared brush.
Dec. 4, 2019
Tree and brush removal day.
Video of 4' diameter Hackberry finally being cut down.
Video of loading debris for removal.
Video of loading debris for removal.
Huge Hackberry down on the ground.
Photo of huge Hackberry tree prior to felling.
Loading trees and brush for removal.
View of neighborhood across Hitch farm.
Brush cleared along back property line. Notice the sassafras tree on far right.
You can also finally see neighborhood across Hitch farm.
Brush mostly removed along back lot line.
Most of the brush removed along cemetery fence.
Jet flying over property. I couldn't hear it as compared to jets flying over our current home.
Start of brush removal along cemetery fence.
View across cemetery toward Walland Pass.
View across cemetery toward Foothills.
View across cemetery toward Foothills.
Nov. 11, 2019
Snow day at the property.
View of lot and cemetery.
View of subdivision and mountains from north entrance of Sweet Grass Plantation subdivision.
March 27, 2019
Walking the property after purchase of lot on March 19, 2019.
View of the property looking south-east from across the street.
View of the property looking south-east from across the street.
View from north-west corner looking to south-west corner.
View looking south across property.
View from south-west corner looking along south property line and cemetery fence.
Notice the Sassafras tree is barely visible under massive Hackberry tree.
View from south-west corner across property to north-east corner.
View of Kathy from back of property looking down Old Plantation Way.
View from south-east corner looking along back lot line.
View from north-east corner looking west.
View from north-east corner looking south at Kathy and mountains.
View at corner of cemetery fence looking south.
View of Kathy, fire hydrant, electric transformer and light pole at south-west corner.
