Waiting. It's what you do.

There is one thing that is becoming clear about building a house. You must be ready to just wait. Wait for everything.

When you are house shopping you actively go out and look at the homes that might work for you. Even if you don't find something you like, there is an element of action. With building a house the instant gratification of choosing isn't there. We have many more specific choices to make but it isn't the same. Our choices will eventually become a physical thing but at this point in the process they are all just paper. This waiting is just part of the process but that doesn't mean we like it.

There are professionals from many fields that need to come together to build our house and they are busy people ( = waiting). There is also an order things need to go in (= waiting). This is painfully slow at times. For several weeks we have known we needed to meet with the town to clarify a few things (= waiting). The town meeting has officially been set for this week! Town Meeting! FINALLY!

Well... not exactly a town meeting. It is more of a building department meeting but I can't help hearing the Mayor in my head.

We had to wait for the construction documents to arrive before setting this meeting. We need to wait for the building department meeting to then get our new engineering quotes. With any luck by next week we will have some clue on how to handle our current road block. Then we can just wait some more while the engineer finalizes the plans.

Comments

Construction Video and Geodesic vs. Monolithic Domes

While we wait as patiently as possible for spring to dig holes for our new perc tests my posts will be directed towards general dome related things. Most people I talk to know what a dome home is but are clueless about the different types of domes. This post is to help show the differences between geodesic and monolithic domes with a few pictures of each. The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" is true and a video must be worth 100000 words. (Watch a video of a monolithic dome being constructed at the end of this post to really wrap your mind around the process.) Many people have asked me how a monolithic dome is different than a geodesic dome. The answer can be quite simple. A monolithic dome structure is all one piece and geodesic domes are made up of many pieces (triangles) connected together. Monolithic domes are sprayed concrete like some inground pools. Here are some photos of interior and exterior monolithic domes. Compare the above Mon

Radiant Heat and Drywall DONE!

We are DONE with dry wall and everything is painted!!! It looks almost like a real house inside. I can top that news by saying WE HAVE HEAT!!! Lets take a moment to celebrate having a functioning heating system in a cold climate in the middle of winter! The marathon of drywall is done for now. We still have the master wing of the house to do after we move in but we would like to just pretend we are done for awhile. It was a long slow dusty process but it looks amazing. The flat walls are a cool white and the dome surface is a warm cream. All our color will come from materials not paint colors. We have plans for wood, metal and stone throughout the house. We are finally getting to install more lighting fixtures and finalize all the outlets and switches. To watch a five minute video walk through CLICK HERE . Greatroom floor outlet in the center of the room. We decided that since the room is 32' across it needed an outlet in the center where furniture would be. Kids bathroom sconces

Spider Tie System Stem Wall Forms Complete

We finished building the stem wall forms last weekend! Personally I think they look super cool and I will be a bit sad to deconstruct them after we pour them. So much work to build them only to take them apart again and then just bury the whole thing underground. The original plan was to pour the stem wall on Friday October 11th but our weather was once again not cooperating. We are got yet another rain storm fueled by a storm/hurricane that thankfully mostly missed us. Because of this storm we are now scheduled to pour it on Monday October 14th. This was quite the ambitious DIY project for us. I can understand why we couldn't even get a company to put in a bid. Part of me is amazed that we pulled it off...so far. The truth will be in how it holds up to the concrete. It took almost 3000 screws to put the plywood skin on the Spider Tie towers and we cut 120 sheets of plywood! We joked that we were the Dometastic saw mill. Watch some videos of the process. It is

Dometastic

Search This Blog