Garage/Office space Goes Up In No Time Flat

Roof trusses have been installed, sheathing and felt are being laid today. After a week of freezing rain and snow the weather finally broke. We were able to double up on work crew and get a bunch of the garage/office completed in the last 4 days. The walls are up.

Check out these photos:We went from this to this in just 4 days!

In the next 30 days you will see the garage/office become the priority in order to get us moved in as a work crew by March. The electronics/network portion of the operation comes in Feb. So the office will take priority over the model home for a little while.

Work on the model home portion of the project is kind of slow right now anyway. The chimney will go up when the mason gets the rock shipment. That is being complicated by weather and other commitments.

Snow Day Pictures

Today with a break in the local weather the City came out and were finally able to install the water meter and tap that we paid for last week. ! Despite the 4" of snow a week ago and the freezing rain and ice and cold temps this week, my new 'office' is taking shape! we doubled up on the work crew to make up for the lost days resulting in the office walls almost all the way up and in place!

New snow day pictures as a result of 4 days of trapsing through the frozen tundra. Charlotte doesn't get snow very often - this may be the only time this model will see snow for a while.

Fireplace Insert Arrives

Fireplace insert was installed over the weekend. I took pictures, so check the photo gallery. It was so odd to watch them install the insert because it's huge. It didn't look like it was going to fit in to the space that was cut out. But 3 strong men put it in there and it fit perfect. Now they can start installing the wonderful natural stones we have selected.

Oh, and the fireplace grate is here. This thing is a hand finished solid steel and cast iron log grate. Wow it is so beautiful. The pictures I have of it right now are good, but it is still covered in cellophane.

As of today the plumbing is roughed in and electrical in roughed in. The inspector has to come and look at the roughed in work before this stuff can be covered up.

We applied for the water meter and water tap on Friday (today is Monday.) That will be installed soon. The pipes will run under the property, and now we have paid to tap in to that line. So that will happen soon. Since this will be a model home we only have to have running water in the kitchen, then of course in the facilities in the office.

At this point I can picture living in the house, the bedrooms and kitchen have a place and a shape. The home has a face. Before it was more kind of "sticks". I can see the size of the bedrooms and the closet. I can see the beautiful open timbers.

Plumbing, electrical, showers, floors, and SNOW!

The floor framing system was installed on schedule this week. Now that we have a floor they will be stacking logs for the interior walls tomorrow. I don't know how many log courses will be stacked by the end of the week, but I will get some pictures. (A course is a row of logs - each log makes a course when they are all in place.)

The plumbers and electricians have been here on and off. The showers are inside now.
The most exciting thing that happened this week was the snow. The house saw it's first snow this week. Snow is rare here in the south, so I made sure I got lots of pictures. Be sure to check the photo album by clicking the link on the upper right hand corner of the page.

Floor System

The floor framing system arrived for the 24 X 24 office (our office will be in the space that would be a garage if this were a family home.) It had to be shipped separately since normally garages are built on a slab, and therefore would not have a floor system. Right now the masons have completed the foundation and are beginning the floor framing system.

The completed floor for the office (garage) portion of the model will be covered in pad and an industrial berber.

Pics will be coming at the beginning of next week.

Fireplace Install Begins

They cut out the space for the fireplace . Fireplaces in log homes are usually built by outside builders - we are using Stone Haven out of Denver, NC
The fireplace we have chosen will be built from this Dutch quality stone that Stone Haven makes. The style is Ledgestone in a natural blend colorstacked with dark mortar. This is a light colored stone and we chose it because of its outstanding beauty and appeal.

My understanding of the fireplace (since it is not built yet) is that we are getting a 42" Vanguard Winston woodburning fireplace with Herringbone brick. This means that some part of the structure (I think where the firebox goes in) is brick, then the rest is stone. I know that it will be installed using a dry stack application with dark mortar. This will cause the natural stone to visually "pop."

It is already framed and the insert will be installed this weekend. The stonework will begin early next week.

Should be beautiful. I will post some pics in the photo gallery as soon as I have them.
Stone Haven is providing us with an exclusive coupon that will allow new Southland Log Home customers to purchase their fireplace at a substantial discount. You can always call me (Susan) for more information about this if you are interested - 800-892-2322.

Beautiful large windows in this log home

The building process of the model is already in the final stages. I am amazed at how quickly everything is being completed. The interior framing is finished, and all of the doors and windows will be completed by the end of the day. The large windows in the great room are gorgeous and really add to the visibility of the model from the interstate. I noticed them last night when I drove by at dusk. I can just imagine building this home in the mountains or by a lake and being able to look out of the large picture windows at sunset. The builder is going to place a spotlight in front of the deck so the construction can be viewed at night! Later today, the site will be cleaned up and the scaffolding removed so it will be ready for visitors to come and check out the construction progress. Next on the schedule is putting the fireplace in and then on to the metal roof. We are almost ready to start building the garage, which will be home to my new office. Get ready for us, Statesville!