Framing and Well Drilling day

Today the framing crew started work on the interior stud walls in the basement - They framed out the spare bedroom, workout room, office, bathroom, mech room, wine cellar, and then a workshop area in the storage half of the basement.  They also installed a triple-wide LVL to carry the load from the central wall to the West wall which will have custom-fit 4" steel posts to support the load.  The only wall left in the basement is the load-bearing wall that will support the clerestory section.

The framing att the start of the day 

Here's the faming at about noon

The majority of the framing complete in the basement.

This is the three 39-foot  LVLs on the fork being moved into the door on the West end, main floor for later installation.

Sliding the LVLs into position.

The first LVL is in position and ready to secure.  Temp posts installed pending arrival of the custom-measured steel support posts.

Can you hear me now?  AT&T reception at the sight is a bit spotty - Kevin found this to be the best  way to get a "reliable" signal (thought still dropping calls).  I noticed there was a crane lifting an antenna onto the cell tower 1/2 mile from the house sight.  Maybe that will help!

 The well drilling rig showed up at 8:30 this morning and after a short delay for mechanical failure they started about 10:00.  They hit rock at about 10 feet, and then installed 68' of sleeve.  After that they hit hard slate/shale.  They had not hit water yet at about 5:00 when they departed - they had drilled to a depth of about 300' at that point in time.  Averages (which mean little) around this area are apparently 240' to 340' so we're hoping to hit water within the next 10-50 feet.  You'll see in the picture that the water (used to keep the drilling dust down) is purple in color which is how the rig operator made the assessment it was shale they were drilling.

Here's the well drilling rig - it's amazing how high they jack the front to level the rig!

More of the drilling rig

This is the water flowing from the drilling operation - the purple color is due to the  slate/shale rock. The water is added to keep the dust down.

A different perspective of the well rig on it's jack stands - this is at about 5:30 after the crew left (for the day?) with the water buffalo.

The start of the framing

Today the Rodriguez Builders crew started working on the framing for the basement walls which will also support the flooring for the main floor.  We had a slight delay due to finding mold on a rack of studs - Kevin made a quick run to Lowes to get enough to keep the crew working pending the replacement from the supply house.  They got the entire East end of house lapped with the 2x4 stud wall and were working on the load-bearing walls and interior walls when I left at about 2:45.  Once again the thunderstorms were broiling around the site - no rain by the time I left but it was threatening and it did rain with some pretty heavy thunder when I stopped at Lowes on the way home - which is about 10 miles from the site.

Here's what it looked like at the start of the day - Burlap is still on the slab to allow it to dry. 

This is the stud wall on the North and East walls.  

This and the next photo provide proof that this house is due south facing.  Note the shadows on those lugs for the deck - they're  nearly vertical and only because it's 1:19 are they slightly off.  I also like this picture because it shows the family room door and window wall that will be our view to the woods and intermittent stream to the south of the house.

More proof of Southerly orientation of the majority of the glass.  

I took this picture because I liked the perspective it provides from the South East corner of the clearing.   The dirt pile I'm standing on while taking this picture will be used for backfill of the foundation once the flooring system is installed.  

This is another picture of the South wall of the house - note the LVLs and TJIs stacked ready for the flooring to be installed in the next couple of days.