At last, we start on the house! Let the digging begin! Step 1: Excavation View fullsize Time to get dirty! Bring in the backhoe! View fullsize Not sure if they have a plan yet. Maybe they're just having fun with the construction equipment? View fullsize Long days on the ranch working til dark. View fullsize Now it's starting to look like something! View fullsize Carving out the hillside. View fullsize This might be a dirty, tough job, but you can't beat the weather and the views! View fullsize It's actually starting to look like a build site! Lookin' good out there Kris! View fullsize Here's some perspective on how deep the hole is so far. View fullsize Rachel's already climbing the walls and the house build hasn't even started! View fullsize Yes, I think this spot will do! View fullsize Now they begin digging our the footings for the foundation, View fullsize It looks like we're digging a moat around a castle! View fullsize We could just leave it like this as a maze for our fur-baby Hobbs? View fullsize Guests will stay on the middle peninsula! Haha! View fullsize ...all in a days work...or many days... View fullsize Additional excavation is required over Thanksgiving weekend. Just what we wanted! View fullsize Shortly into the workday the mud and snow create a bit of a sticky situation. View fullsize ...a REALLY sticky situation that set us back hours. Not off to a good start. View fullsize We're back on track so the work begins...again. View fullsize Not sure how they can keep track of where to dig and where to dump the dirt at this point. View fullsize Additional excavation required compacting the soil in one area. This requires lots of water and adding different dirt. View fullsize A compactor creates a nice strong base for the foundation. View fullsize Starting to look a bit neater! View fullsize The finished product looks perfect! View fullsize Unfortunately we had some erosion where the equipment got stuck, so now we have to dig more dirt out to add footings to this area. View fullsize Kris takes on this task by himself! Can't hurt to get better at driving these things, right? View fullsize ...and drive it he did...well into the night! View fullsize The site is getting muddier by the day. The little snowfalls here and there are starting to accumulate too. View fullsize Trekking through the mud is no easy task. View fullsize Rachel resorts to melting the snow and ice with a torch! View fullsize With news of a major storm arriving, we rush to string together as many tarps as possible to cover the dirt. View fullsize The storm arrived and dumped massive amounts of snow. So much for drying out the mud! View fullsize The tarps certainly helped, but Kris about broke his back shoveling all that snow out. View fullsize At least the tarps preserved most of the markings. View fullsize ...and our Christmas tree still stands! View fullsize Next plan is to stop fighting Mother Nature and make a better cover for the site. Kris begins building a frame for a more permanent snow mitigation system. View fullsize The snow cover is going to need LOTS of wood. View fullsize Subzero temps won't keep Kris from working! Mother Nature doesn't know who she's dealing with! View fullsize So many nooks and crannies to cover. View fullsize Snow mitigation system is nearly done! View fullsize Take THAT Mother Nature! Now I'm sure we'll get no snow the rest of the winter. View fullsize Crawling below that topper is what I imagine it feels like to be a miner. Perhaps we need to bring a canary down there next time? View fullsize So much snow melt seeping down into the hole. All we can do is scoop out a bucket at a time. View fullsize Monitoring the temperature of the dirt. We need it to be above freezing. View fullsize It's starting to dry out! Time to add the heaters! View fullsize Some visitors wander in! View fullsize Enjoying a little sunshine! View fullsize Apparently this is a boys only outing! View fullsize Prepping for a big snowstorm! Kris dug trenches and filled them with our foundation drainage pipes to hopefully pull water away from the foundation area. View fullsize ...and the snowstorm arrived. Another foot of snow to deal with. View fullsize At last the snow has melted and we take a huge gamble and remove the cover, hoping to pour concrete before the snow returns! View fullsize Kris definitely built that topper to last! View fullsize These little heaters kicked butt and melted the ice and snow under the topper. View fullsize Here's the field of Home Depot buckets! I think we picked 50 this season! Pretty sure they multiply every year! Ha! View fullsize Starting to look a little neater! View fullsize We were very thankful for help on this one. The amount of lumber these guys hauled off today was crazy...and in 40 mph winds! View fullsize Now that the topper is removed, Rachel gets to work insuring the ground will be above freezing for inspection by blasting the dirt with a torch! View fullsize Testing out our new addition! This little guy can haul some serious weight! Pretty handy! Step 2: Pouring the Foundation View fullsize The foundation framers arrive! View fullsize These guys are crazy fast! I think they've done this a few times. View fullsize Foundation framing continues... View fullsize This is starting to look like an archeological dig! View fullsize Gotta love those nice straight lines! Do you notice our Christmas tree in this photo? It's still there! View fullsize Rebar is placed in each footing area. View fullsize Not sure how they can make sense of this maze. View fullsize Framing is done for the day and inspection looms first thing in the morning! View fullsize Another gorgeous day and we passed inspection! Not wasting any time, the concrete trucks start showing up! View fullsize A bit of surprise, the massive rig that shows up is 2x bigger than was ordered. Eek! View fullsize This thing is a beast!! Will it fit all opened up? View fullsize This is gonna be interesting. View fullsize First issue is the foot goes out so far it's now on soft soil and is sinking. View fullsize Kris the engineer to the rescue! Make a large platform with our foundation topper wood. Worked like a charm! View fullsize Those boards are only slightly bending! Yikes! View fullsize Bring on the concrete! View fullsize Everyone's very ready to go! View fullsize The "beast" starts to unfold. View fullsize This rig is absolutely huge! Looks like a transformer bug, right? View fullsize A view from farther away. Definitely looks like a construction site. View fullsize ...and the concrete flows! View fullsize Precision pouring! View fullsize This will support retaining wall! View fullsize Making quick work of this job. View fullsize Rebar is put in place. Apparently the candy cane look is for safety in case someone falls in the hole! Hmm, I think that would still cause some damage. View fullsize So neat and tidy looking. View fullsize Perfection! View fullsize A bit closer look. View fullsize The forms are removed and the footings are officially complete! Only took us 5 years to get here! View fullsize Foundation wall forms are delivered! View fullsize The crew starts to organize the forms. View fullsize Assembly begins. View fullsize For newbies to foundation work (like me!) the concrete will be poured in between the wall panels once they're all in place. View fullsize Not sure how they can keep track! This is like a giant jigsaw puzzle! View fullsize The long end section is going to be part of our massive retaining wall. View fullsize Little by little the pieces come together. View fullsize Now it's starting to look like we might be building a castle! View fullsize The retaining wall forms start to peek above the hillside. View fullsize This is quite the process. View fullsize Starting to look like an industrial site now! View fullsize Check out all the rebar inside our retaining walls! These walls are gonna be seriously strong! View fullsize More retaining wall forms go up. View fullsize This might qualify us for one of those container home tv shows! View fullsize This eventually will be the sidewalk to our day jobs! View fullsize Long day of work pays off! So thankful for the beautiful weather! View fullsize A new day of work begins and the foundation crew is hard at work first thing in the morning. View fullsize It's definitely looking more like a castle. The big gap around the forms could easily become a moat! Ha! View fullsize Pretty impressive work today! View fullsize The final forms are placed as we prep for concrete day tomorrow! View fullsize We hoped a somewhat smaller rig would show up for concrete day, but no...the same massive rig shreds our driveway once again. We're happy to have it here though because our foundation will soon be complete! View fullsize Release the concrete! View fullsize The first pour of the day begins! View fullsize Attention to detail. View fullsize The transformer bug returns! Ha! This rig is just so massive! View fullsize The crew is clearly right at home hopping from one wall to the next. View fullsize Concrete day is nearly complete. Working hard to finish before it's too dark to see! View fullsize ...and concrete day is complete! What a crazy whirlwind this day has been! View fullsize Less than 48 hours later, the forms come down. View fullsize Here's the reveal of our massive retaining wall! View fullsize Well look at that! We might actually be building a house! View fullsize It was so exciting to watch this in person! View fullsize The forms are all down! View fullsize A thing of beauty is all we can say! The best day we've had so far! Our crew was AMAZING! Step 3: Power, Sealant, Drainage & Backfill View fullsize Soon after the foundation was complete, the power company moved in and started installing our power pole. View fullsize Burying the power lines is going to take a few days and unfortunately winter returned to "help" them out! Let the fun begin! View fullsize The electrical trenching continues! Do you think they're just digging designs now to have fun? View fullsize Cutting out a space for the utility boxes. View fullsize ...and we officially have the power hookups in place! View fullsize Kris got a new toy! This will definitely come in handy! View fullsize Maybe we can use that Bobcat to scoop up our mess at the build site? View fullsize Rachel's not super excited filling holes in the foundation walls. At least the sun's out? View fullsize Kris is just happy to not be shoveling snow! View fullsize Now the REAL mess begins. Tarring the walls. As you can see the heaters are out, which means that it's cold! View fullsize Do we really have to do ALL the walls??! View fullsize Slowly plugging away at each wall. View fullsize Tarring was a huge mess, but at least it looks nice and neat now that it's done! View fullsize Now we start on the foundation drainage. Kris dug trenches all the way around to hold rock and drainage pipes. View fullsize We had 2 of our nephews fly in to help with the build! Did they know what they were getting themselves into? We shall see! View fullsize Looks good so far! View fullsize Snack time! Rachel kept very busy feeding 3 hungry guys all week! View fullsize Now each section gets drainage pipe... View fullsize ...and rock to help hold the drainage pipe in place. View fullsize Shoveling massive amounts of gravel may not be in the "fun" category, but think about all the muscle you're building guys! View fullsize Shoveling rock went well into the evening. View fullsize Unfortunately mother nature once again wreaked havoc on the build site. What a cold miserable day! View fullsize The sun eventually came out and boosted spirits! Still chilly, but the hard work continued. View fullsize Situating the drainage was quite a bit trickier behind the retaining wall. The guys built a plywood slide to dump some of the rock down into the hole, but the rest still had to be hauled down 1 bucket-full at a time. View fullsize Kris used our handy new Bobcat to bring the rock where it was needed. View fullsize Back breaking work! View fullsize Despite the snow, the drainage is completed around the house! View fullsize Now the drainage has to be run away form the house. Kris starts digging more trenches across the driveway. View fullsize Was anyone supervising this trench digging??? This looks VERY precarious! View fullsize Drainage pipe is hooked into the foundation. View fullsize At last it's completed! No water issues are gonna plague THIS house! View fullsize Now we move on to backfill! View fullsize Building a bridge to get inside the future garage. View fullsize Bring in the earth compactor! View fullsize If you haven't had the "privilege" of using an earth compactor, it's not a fun job. Kris is NOT enjoying this part of the house build! View fullsize The dirt bridge is now drivable! View fullsize Surprise! Winter has returned...again! View fullsize The mini excavator arrives to start pulling more dirt down for backfill. Good thing this little machine doesn't care about the snow! View fullsize Kris, with gigantic wind-blown hair, lives his childhood dream of digging in the dirt with construction equipment! Ha! View fullsize IT's starting to come together! View fullsize A look from behind the retaining wall. View fullsize Dig, dig, dig! More dirt needed! View fullsize While we have the excavator, Kris does some work on grading our driveway a bit more. View fullsize Now we'll have a little more room to move at the site with the driveway expanded a bit more. View fullsize Stepping back to get a full view of the site! View fullsize Back to back-filling! View fullsize Chilly days earn you a hot cup of coffee! View fullsize Oh no! There's a Bobcat in the Pilates studio!!! :) View fullsize A view from up higher. View fullsize Garage is about done! View fullsize Looking down from the retaining wall. The Pilates studio looks nearly completed too! View fullsize Aside from the corner that awaits plumbing, this section is complete and perfectly level. View fullsize More trenching begins for the electrical conduit. View fullsize The trench runs all the way down to our utility boxes. View fullsize This roll of wire is 1000 pounds! Yikes! View fullsize Time to relocate our baby cedar tree! View fullsize Everyone's been driving around our tree as it was in the middle of our driveway. View fullsize Hopefully it enjoys it's new location! View fullsize Today the plumbers arrived! View fullsize I guess we shouldn't have worked so hard making the dirt level. The plumbers ripped everything up! View fullsize Running the plumbing into the future mechanical room. View fullsize Kris finishes running the electrical conduit so we can continue the backfill. View fullsize Rachel finds an use for the electrical conduit spool! OSHA would approve of this on-site construction wheel chair! Ha! View fullsize A view of the build from behind. Our second story will have some amazing views! View fullsize This is a view from behind the house looking at the unfinished portion of our driveway. View fullsize ...and a long distance view of the build. View fullsize Good work Kris! It's all coming together and looking more like a house! View fullsize This will eventually be our front door and the sidewalk to our home offices and guest room. View fullsize The house backfill is complete! Step 4: Expect the Unexpected View fullsize Next step we install the radiant heat before we pour the slab. Kris makes a Home Depot run for the insulation board. Our little trailer has gotten a workout! View fullsize We begin to put the insulation down. View fullsize This is like a giant jigsaw puzzle! View fullsize All but the garage is completed! View fullsize Done for the night. A very productive day! View fullsize Well, our productive day turned into disaster as a massive rainfall flooded the entire site. View fullsize Another view of the damage. Looks more like a swimming pool. View fullsize Kris tries to pump as much water out as possible. View fullsize A little onlooker arrives to survey the damage. View fullsize This is alongside our driveway where the ground eroded from so much water! View fullsize We had to remove all the insulation that was installed because it was floating. View fullsize With multiple days of rain in the forecast, we go into action trying to build a tarp to cover the build site. View fullsize After several hours of work, we put the finishing touches on and cross our fingers it keeps the water out! View fullsize More rain moves in as we clean up the site for the day. View fullsize Several days later, our tarps are in pretty sad shape. We had massive flooding. View fullsize We once again clean up the site and pray for dry weather. View fullsize Pretty sure this is an actual scene from the movie The Money Pit! The build site is in sad shape, but at least it seems to be drying out. View fullsize Now we've discovered mice are eating our insulation board! UGH! View fullsize Starting fresh yet again. With no chance for rain, our friends came out to help us for the long weekend and day 1 started off with tremendous progress! Now we break for lunch. View fullsize Shortly after we return from lunch, the sky opens up and dumps massive rain. View fullsize Then we had hail. View fullsize In an effort to save the work we'd done, the guys built a make-shift squeegee. View fullsize It worked pretty darn well! Maybe we'll actually be able to salvage the project...if no more rain falls today! View fullsize Not so lucky. View fullsize Another round of rain falls and this time the entire site floods. View fullsize So much for our productive DRY day. It's a muddy mess! View fullsize Only a pot of mud at the bottom of THIS rainbow! View fullsize Quite the frustrating day, but we still pause to watch the stellar sunset! But little did we know our day wasn't over. View fullsize After dark, another round of severe weather hits. The site is flooded this time with massive amounts of hail! View fullsize Seriously??? View fullsize We had roughly 2" deep of hail. Now it looks like we've gone back to our winter nightmare! View fullsize A little blurry, but this is our sad water bailing cup floating around in the foundation. View fullsize The next day we bailed out, the guys re-leveled the dirt and the moment we put fresh plastic down...you guessed it, more rain! View fullsize Rachel works to dry off the plastic, once again trying to save the site as the guys work to re-level the dirt in the house area. View fullsize We have some new visitors watching the work! Baby bunnies! So cute! View fullsize This little fluffy baby wasn't even scared and let us get up close for a picture! View fullsize With the garage complete...again...we opt to cover the site as we go, to ensure it stays dry. View fullsize You know, maybe we should be building a pool instead! A hot tub on the side perhaps? View fullsize Our stone sculptures are the only thing surviving the rain! The wise man built his house upon a rock, right? View fullsize Time to start adding the metal grid to mount the radiant heat tubing to. View fullsize Today Rachel learned what this is! Any guesses? Hint: It has nothing to do with dental hygiene! View fullsize The rebar and metal grid are tied down and ready. Now we button up the tarps for the night to keep it dry...just in case! View fullsize Well guess what arrived...again. Flooding rain all night and all day. This was a sad sight. View fullsize Our tarps seemed to hold pretty well, but we've still got a massive mess to clean up and it's still pouring! View fullsize After bailing 300 gallons of water, we reset the tarps anticipating more rain tomorrow. View fullsize ...the next day we bailed 200 gallons of water. This is getting very old! View fullsize Water mitigation system #352 should be JUST right! This is getting absolutely ridiculous! View fullsize Remember the "Vortex of Doom?" Well we're pretty sure it's now sucking in the ground around it! View fullsize This has been the view every night for the last week. We've officially gotten over a foot of rain in the last month. The mud is actually now sucking your feet down like quick sand. View fullsize As we walk the property assessing the damage, we come upon a massive mushroom! If the money pit continues, we may have start living off the land! Anyone have any good Hawk's Tail mushroom recipes? View fullsize The sun is starting to dry things out so it's time to pull the tarp and continue working. View fullsize A little bit of water got through the tarp so now the fun of drying it off. View fullsize Kris is once again having fun playing with the big boy toys! View fullsize So now we know, there's actually a Bobcat at the end of the rainbow! View fullsize At least we have amazing sunsets to look at while we're bailing water. View fullsize In between storms we press on! Time for more backfill, which means the earth compactor has once again emerged! So fun! Not! View fullsize We hoped to make more progress on the radiant heat install, but now we got news that a massive multi-day storm was fast approaching. Time to cover things up...again! View fullsize This time we're not messing around. We created a ramp with plywood so the water will hopefully run down and off the site. View fullsize All ready for the storm to come, and as you can see in the background, it's arriving momentarily. View fullsize The aftermath... View fullsize So much mud and water behind the retaining wall! View fullsize Nothing worse than bailing water...except when you have to crawl out from behind the retaining wall every time your bucket is full!! View fullsize Our second drainage culvert will go here. For now it's obviously a free flowing river! View fullsize Anyone tired of flood photos yet? Yep, you guessed it, another round of rain came through. Ugh! View fullsize This was quite the super soaker. Our future guest bath will apparently always be filled with water. View fullsize Our little side section of tarp (which we call the wading pool now) had 7" of water in it! View fullsize At long last, the rain moves out and the blue sky moves in! View fullsize Still tackling the damage from the last storm, Kris breaks a water dam that was occurring at the top of our future drainage route and it produces an actual river flowing down. View fullsize Good thing the views are pretty, because one look down at the ground and it's not so enjoyable. Step 5: Radiant Heat and Concrete View fullsize A new workday starts and it doesn't involve bailing water! View fullsize Time to start installing the radiant heat. Kris preps the concrete for the manifold where we hook the water tubes in. View fullsize ...and we start installing the tubing! View fullsize Long day, but it's sure great to make forward progress. View fullsize Everything's hooked up to the manifold and ready for pressure testing and inspection! View fullsize Passed inspection bright and early! Now we at long last get to move on to concrete! Yay! View fullsize The concrete truck arrives! View fullsize The crew jumps right in. View fullsize What a messy job! I hope our radiant heat tubing is secured down because they're walking all over it! View fullsize Time to start smoothing out the concrete. View fullsize Oh yes, now it's starting to look nice! View fullsize Almost done pouring. View fullsize Now that the concrete is poured and level, they start to smooth it out. View fullsize Now cutting in the seams. View fullsize Last bit of polishing. View fullsize ...and just like that we have a garage floor! Isn't it a thing of beauty? View fullsize Later that day it dumped rain, but mother nature was too late! Haha! View fullsize Now we start on section 2! It's a hot one today so Rachel pulls out the sun hat. View fullsize The insulation board didn't quite go back together the way it went in the first time. Too many rain storms pummeled it. We used rebar and buckets of sand to hold it down hoping that it would help the warping issue. View fullsize Pretty soon this will all look like the garage floor. View fullsize Now we tape down the seams. It was so hot on that insulation that Rachel had to use gloves to press it down because it was burning her hands! View fullsize Now we add the rebar. View fullsize The metal grid goes on next. View fullsize We use our handy dandy metal tie tool to fasten it all together so we can start putting down the radiant heat tubing. View fullsize Night came too quickly, so we returned at 6am to put the tubing in prior to inspection! View fullsize After we passed inspection, we called the concrete crew and they said they wanted to come right away instead of the next day as planned! We scrambled for sure, but made it in the nick of time! View fullsize We only had time to snap this one picture of the completed radiant heat setup before the concrete hoses came out! View fullsize The crew wastes no time. View fullsize Looking good! View fullsize Already onto the final section. View fullsize You should know this process from our previous pour. Time to smooth everything out and make it look pretty! View fullsize Cutting the seams. View fullsize Another stellar job! View fullsize Even though it was in the 90's we stayed til the end to celebrate our final pour! View fullsize No tarps coming out tonight! View fullsize The next day we start to clean up and organize the site. View fullsize Kris has been trying to salvage all the wood and lumber we can, but I think this piece has seen better days! Let's go ahead and throw that one out! View fullsize So neat and tidy! What a great feeling! View fullsize We watched the gorgeous sunset that night with great anticipation for the next step! Finally! Step 6: Install the “Necessary” Stuff View fullsize Time to install the septic system! We had no idea what a huge excavation job this was going to be. View fullsize The father-son team made quick work of the excavation! View fullsize This gigantic hole is for the septic tank. View fullsize The supplies are unloaded and ready for install! View fullsize This is our leach field where all the liquid from the system ends up. View fullsize We have 4 long runs for our system to drain into. View fullsize Perfectly even rows. View fullsize Now the piping goes in and works it's way up towards the house. View fullsize Continuing the long trek up to the house! View fullsize The giant septic tank arrives! View fullsize A perfect fit! I think they've done this before. View fullsize The pipes are all installed so now you can see the route on the way down from the house. Starting by going under the driveway. View fullsize ...then alongside the driveway View fullsize ...this is a clean our access should things get plugged up! :) View fullsize ...making our way down to the septic tank... View fullsize ...from the septic tank we go down to the leach field... View fullsize ...be sure to take note as you pass the tank, that you do NOT want to go inside! Ha! It's sad that this has to be printed on the lid. View fullsize ...ok we once again make our way down to the leach field... View fullsize ...this "hub" is where the water flow is regulated for each of the 4 runs. View fullsize ...a closer look at what the each run looks like. View fullsize Backfill begins after we pass inspection! View fullsize The leach field is all backfilled! View fullsize Taking a step back so you can see how large it actually is! View fullsize Bet you've never seen such a great view from a septic tank! Haha! View fullsize A view from the driveway so you can see how far the tank is from the house...and how large the entire system actually is! They did a fantastic job and we learned a lot along the way...which is good because now we have to do regular maintenance! Eek! Step 7: The Framing and Unexpected Well The lumber starts to arrive. We are of course ever paranoid about rain after this spring so we quickly wrapped everything up in plastic. Just in case! More lumber to wrap! Looks like we're lining up bodies or something out here! Haha! The framers arrive! Day 1 the framers do a layout and prep to raise some walls. I think we're going to see a speedy transformation! Didn't want to leave out our little outhouse! The first wall starts to go up. A completed wall! Amazing how the view changes so quickly! The future garage. This doorway will lead to the front entry staircase. The garage is almost framed in! This is where our front door will be as well as a sidewalk to our day job offices. An overhead view. Kris jumps in to help place the garage door header! ...and the garage header is installed! The crane moves in. The crane begins to bring over the steel support beams. Beam 1 is in place! Beam 2 is much bigger! No doubt this one was a beast to install! Success! The last beam is in place. Now the crane starts bringing over the floor joists. Look! No wheels on the ground! Those are some heavy joists! Another view of the crane seemingly hovering off the ground! The floor joists are ready for level 2. All set for the next day! Floor joists get installed Down below, the plywood begins to go up! This is starting to look like a house! Voila! We have a 2nd story floor! Kris heads up to check out the views! Story 2 has it's first wall! The crew is cruising right along. This picture always makes me think of an old western storefront! The master bedroom is what's coming together above the garage. A side view of the crazy fast transformation! This is the back of the house. The large opening is for our double glass sliders that go out onto the porch. Looking good as sunset approaches! It's amazing how a little plywood makes it seem so much bigger. Today the crane arrives to begin setting the roof trusses. Very impressive! Here's a look at the house from a distance. Pretty nice! The crane truck is doing wheelies again! This is the view from down the driveway a bit. A little deer came to check out the build! A surprise appearance from the well digging company! We were not notified beforehand, so this came as quite a surprise! The drilling truck gets into position. The build site looked like rush hour on the freeway! Quite the ordeal getting this well dug. Not to mention, juggling the framers at the same time. In spite of the drillers, the framing crew pushed on and are making quick work of the roof! Wow! It's actually a house! A view from the other side. Looks great...minus the well drill sticking up over our roof. The drill broke down halfway through, so it just sat there for days. A first look inside! That huge opening is the kitchen window! The view from the the future patio into the house. This is where the master bedroom will be. Going down to the ground level, this is looking in from the mechanical room and Kris' office. The Pilates studio will be on the far right. Here's that kitchen window up close! I think washing dishes will become a bit more enjoyable....minus the well rig of course. The view from the patio! This will be the future front entrance and staircase. The wall starts to go up to close in the front entrance and staircase. More plywood goes up to start closing everything in. The front door is carved out! The stairs will come later. Nearly finished! Don't forget about those well trucks in the way. They are wrapping up, but not before completely destroying the driveway! The muddy mess they left was horrible!! That little blue spot in the picture is the final well. All that mess for that little blue thing??? Framing is officially complete! This is the east side of the house where the staircase will be. The south side of the house looking at the garage and master bedroom above it. Here you can see a better view of the front entrance. ...and our soon to be favorite spot of the house...the patio which has those amazing mountain views! Step 8: The Stairs View fullsize Time for the stairs to be built! With only 2 of us trying to hoist these heavy stringers up, we had to get creative. Kris pulls with a rope from up top and Rachel pushes from the bottom! View fullsize No easy task, but stringer #1 is up and ready to be measured to make a stencil for the other 3 to follow. View fullsize Kris starts to cut out the first stair stringer. View fullsize When you have crazy high ceilings, your stringers are really, really long! View fullsize Now that we have a stencil, stringers 1 and 2 are already up! View fullsize Stringer 3 goes in, though we began having issues at this point which we later contributed to the header being slightly crooked at the top. View fullsize Stringer 4 gets hoisted up and we cross our fingers they all match up close enough to move forward! View fullsize All 4 are in and we can now start on the stair treads. View fullsize Kris begins meticulously making each stair to ensure they're level and super sturdy. View fullsize Someone's getting a bit too excited about these stairs! Ha! View fullsize Passing the halfway point! View fullsize Don't look down! It's a bit steep! View fullsize ...and finally finished! This staircase will give you quite a workout! View fullsize That is quite the drop, but we sure enjoy not having to jump off the back deck, then running around the house to get to the lower level! Step 9: Trimming and Waterproofing View fullsize Time to put up the trim around the roofline! View fullsize The trim definitely gives it a nice finished look. View fullsize Then we have to wrap the trim in waterproofing material. View fullsize A view of the trim from the front! View fullsize Kris is looking like a pro up there! View fullsize Boys and their toys! Kris decided to see how high the lift goes. Watch out for those dark clouds! View fullsize Ok, so the super high view is pretty spectacular! View fullsize Here we are! The happy builders up on the roof! View fullsize Construction site charcuterie anyone? View fullsize Looks like a french cottage on the hillside. View fullsize Kris finds a trespasser at the house! Eek! No, we're not keeping it! View fullsize Time to put the waterproofing layer on the rooftop. View fullsize Some sections of the roof seem a little easier... View fullsize Taking a few steps back to see the progress! View fullsize ...and some a bit harder! View fullsize A LOT harder! Yikes! View fullsize Look Mom, no hands!! View fullsize Rachel stays close by to...ummm...catch Kris if he falls??? View fullsize At last the roof waterproofing phase is done! View fullsize Our stucco crew came and set up a crazy scaffolding system around the house. They were nice enough to let us use it while wrapping the house with Tyvek waterproofing paper. View fullsize These giant rolls of Tyvek help speed up the wrapping, but those rolls are crazy heavy! Every time we brought it out, the wind would pick up making it just a little bit harder. View fullsize The wrapping is done and we step back to take a look at our home, now quickly transforming! Step 10: Windows, Doors and More View fullsize Window time! Kris is all smiles because family just arrived to help move the house build along faster! View fullsize The master bedroom windows are in! View fullsize The guys have found their groove with window install and are cruisin' now! View fullsize An outside view of the master bedroom windows. View fullsize Next up, the staircase landing and laundry room windows. View fullsize The guest room view is pretty sweet! View fullsize The garage windows complete the "easy" part. View fullsize Now the hard part. The kitchen window. This beast is gonna take 4 guys to install! View fullsize A brutal lift even for 4 guys, but it's in place! View fullsize Once the window is secured, Rachel hops in to see the picture perfect view! View fullsize The next challenge was installing the glass sliders. Super complex to assemble and it took all of us to get them in place. View fullsize Whew! They're in and they open and close! View fullsize The side door to the guest room arrived! View fullsize It was another challenge to install, but looks pretty amazing. View fullsize The guys made a makeshift coat rack for their coats and tool belts. View fullsize Our driveway is starting to look like a parking lot! View fullsize Last but not least, the garage door! View fullsize One panel at a time goes in. View fullsize It's starting to take shape! View fullsize A view from outside. View fullsize ...and it's done! We're officially weather tight! Step 11: The Stucco and Roof View fullsize Moving into stucco phase. The guys start working on the fascia while the stucco crew begins putting up their own wrap and chicken wire. View fullsize The crew makes quick work of the wrap. View fullsize A view from the back. Day 1 of stucco prep is complete! View fullsize ...and winter arrives the next day! This crazy weather will certainly slow our progress. Kris at least gets to try his plow out for the first time! View fullsize Once the snow melts, the crew is back at it! More wrap and chicken wire. View fullsize The stucco prep is completed on the garage side! View fullsize ...and completed on the back side. View fullsize ...and the deck area is ready! View fullsize The guys continue to work on the fascia when the stucco crew takes a break. It gets a bit crowded up there! View fullsize ...and the fascia is complete! Looks so clean and neat! View fullsize The sand delivery arrives for the stucco crew. View fullsize The rest of the supplies arrive. View fullsize This crew is thorough! They draped the worksite so no concrete would land where it shouldn't land! View fullsize ...or maybe they think we have termites?? Ha! View fullsize The full crew arrives and they're ready to start! View fullsize The rest of our family crew arrives too! Yay! View fullsize Layer 1 is called the brown coat...for obvious reasons. View fullsize Wasting no time today! View fullsize They move around to the back deck area. View fullsize This is quite the process to watch! Glad we're watching and not DOING this phase of the house! View fullsize A close up view of the brown coat. View fullsize Moving right along to the back. View fullsize They're just about done! View fullsize ...and the brown coat is officially done! View fullsize This is really starting to look like a house now! View fullsize While we wait for the brown coat to dry, the guys start working on the roof. Safety harnesses...check! View fullsize Clearly it's a windy day, so those safety harnesses came in handy for the guys! View fullsize No fear for these guys. They climb right up! View fullsize The first piece is the most critical. View fullsize Piece #1 is done and it was a learning experience...in the wind. View fullsize Now they're showing some progress! View fullsize Time for the stucco to start back up! We cannot wait to see the final product! View fullsize More tarps go up to protect the area from falling concrete. Of course this also covers the progress so we have to just bite our nails waiting. View fullsize ...and the completed front of the house looks amazing! View fullsize Taking a step back for a different view. Check out the sunset in the master bedroom windows! View fullsize ...and the stucco is complete! Now they'll remove the scaffolding for the full reveal. View fullsize The completed garage/master bedroom side. View fullsize The completed front of the house. View fullsize From this angle you can see the guys have made more progress on the roof. Looks amazing! View fullsize This is where our front door will be. We're just waiting on the custom door jam. The side door down the walkway will go to Kris' office and the guest room. View fullsize A view of the back of the house. View fullsize Taking a few steps down the driveway. Better than we could have imagined! View fullsize ...and last but certainly not least, the back patio/deck area! We will definitely be spending a lot of time out here. FYI, the deck will also extend all the way out to the end, where the support post is. View fullsize Now back to the roof, which seems like a never ending project! Our family has sadly gone home now, but a good friend came to help today and we were so grateful! View fullsize Between the stucco and roof, someone is always way up in the air! Those safety harnesses have definitely gotten a lot of use. View fullsize The last little portion of roofing on the end is complete. View fullsize The back of the house is much more complex with all the cool roof lines coming together, making them less "cool" once you realize how hard it is to roof! View fullsize Section by section, it starts to come together. View fullsize This was by far the most challenging part of the roof. These pieces were over 30 feet long and you don't even want to know how they got up there! Let's just say there was a moment that the roofing was on Kris' head pushing him down the slope. Yikes! View fullsize Another friend offers a hand to hopefully keep Kris from sliding off the roof! View fullsize The hardest part is done! Kris can come down for a moment and rest. View fullsize Nice work guys! View fullsize Kris is now solo for the rest of the roof. Time for selfies? Glad he's still smiling! Haha! View fullsize Some arial views! View fullsize You can see from this view the roof is so close to being done! View fullsize A view from the ground level. View fullsize The house looks so charming and quaint from this view, doesn't it? View fullsize Some arial views of the house. The big window up top is the kitchen and it has amazing views! View fullsize The garage and soon to be front door that's not going to be installed until workers are finished making a mess inside. View fullsize The back side of the house. The little sidewalk leads to our offices and guest room. You can also see a portion of our back deck. View fullsize A better view of the deck which will extend out further than it is in the picture, and eventually will step down to a tiered outdoor living space. Step 12: Utilities View fullsize A crew moves in to permanently hook up the well! View fullsize It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it. View fullsize Anything well related requires at least 1 big truck. Hook up is completed outside so they move to the inside. View fullsize This is our well pressure tank. It holds water but also pressurizes it so it can be pushed to any area of the house. View fullsize We had an issue with the tank connections freezing up in the dead of winter, so we tried wrapping it with tarps to hold in the heat. View fullsize The tarps didn't work, so we moved to electric blankets followed by an insulating blanket. That seemed to do the trick! View fullsize On cold winter nights in the trailer, we'd find Hobbs snug as a bug rolled up in the blankets and pillows on our bed! He's no dummy! View fullsize Our not so lovely but necessary shut off panel for the power. Maybe we can hide this with a plant or something? View fullsize Power meter is hooked up and they're ready to start sending us monthly bills! View fullsize The gas company arrives to start installing the line that brings the gas to the house. View fullsize They brought their own welding crew too! View fullsize They bring the gas line from the road to the driveway. View fullsize Looks good! Now it's our turn... View fullsize Who doesn't like digging in the dirt? Kris rents a trenching machine to start digging from the house down to where the gas company ended. Too bad we had a cold snap just prior that froze the ground. View fullsize One slight problem. He dug through the power line that was running to our trailer. Eek! Guess who had to use the generator all day? View fullsize Good progress overall for 1 day. View fullsize Day 2: Just keep digging, just keep digging... View fullsize Made it all the way down with time to spare! View fullsize Here are some drone shots of our gas line path. View fullsize Quite the dig! View fullsize The full view! The gas company was shocked by how precise Kris' trench was! View fullsize The gas line trench was completed just in the nick of time! A huge snowstorm moved in right after. Made for one cold outhouse! Ha! View fullsize The snow drifts went almost halfway up our front door! View fullsize The Bobcat is ready to start plowing....once we dig it out. View fullsize Our first big snowfall at our new home. Had to get some fun pics! View fullsize At least in Colorado, it's mild enough to take a snowy walk! View fullsize Winter wonderland! View fullsize Now, back to the house. Our bathtub came! View fullsize Kris went right to work framing in the tub surround. View fullsize Another happy arrival....our appliances! Too bad they can't be hooked up yet. We'll just put them in the garage like everything else! View fullsize The plumbers arrived to start installing the gas line on the INSIDE of the house. View fullsize Anywhere you see black tubing, that's a gas line. View fullsize Here's a gas hookup on our deck for the future fire pit. View fullsize ...and the gas hookup for my cooktop in the kitchen! View fullsize Now on to the radiant heat. Kris began the very tedious process of installing the radiant heat tubing for the upstairs....which is inconveniently put into the ceiling of the downstairs. View fullsize The loops have to be even so when they're pulled up into the ceiling, you get nice, even heat distribution. View fullsize Here's a closer look at the process. So time consuming!! View fullsize Once the tubing is in place, you install a metallic foil over the tubing that disburses the heat across the floor. View fullsize Every portion of the ceiling has to be covered. View fullsize If you like neat and tidy, this is the picture for you! View fullsize Kris installs the boiler system in the mechanical room. View fullsize We have multiple zones to the house and each one has a manifold like you see in this picture. This allows us to control the temperature in each zone. View fullsize This is a puzzle to see if you can find out which tube goes to which zone! Haha! View fullsize Once the tubing and foil are completed, the final heat shield is installed. This metallic paper essentially catches any heat being lost off the tubing and bounces it back up onto the floor. View fullsize The winter fun continues as we get slammed with yet another blizzard! View fullsize This is a view out the front door of the trailer. Watch that first step, it's a doozy!! View fullsize The snow doesn't keep the deer down. They might be belly deep in snow, but they seem to be unaffected otherwise. View fullsize Kris heads out to try to measure our snowfall. He could probably just jump up onto the roof the snow is so high! View fullsize Quite the storm! View fullsize Hope no one needed the outhouse today! View fullsize The front door is absolutely buried! Crazy! View fullsize The snow melt came fast and furious and we soon ended up withe a giant mud puddle. View fullsize The snow didn't stop our tile delivery! One more thing to add to the garage! View fullsize Unfortunately we found some broken tiles, which led to us going through over 7,000 pounds of tile...box by box...ugh! View fullsize Red tubes are in and now we move to orange! Orange brings the water to the manifold and the red tube distributes the water. View fullsize One could go crazy trying to follow all these tubes. View fullsize Everything's hooked up so we can mount the manifolds to the ceiling. View fullsize All ready for pressure testing! Eek! Cross your fingers! View fullsize ...and pressure is holding steady! That means our hard work paid off and our radiant heat system is leak free! View fullsize We marked all the zones and we're ready for another inspection. View fullsize After a long day of work, Hobbs decides to take over my spot at the dinner table! View fullsize Some exciting wildlife sightings around the property! A bobcat stopped by the house for a photo. He is now known as Uncle Bob. View fullsize ...and some wild turkeys stopped by for a potty break apparently! View fullsize HVAC installation begins! View fullsize The crew did speedy work. View fullsize Lots of duct work needed. View fullsize Duct work in Kris' future office. View fullsize A tight fit in some areas! View fullsize Our downstairs ceilings are starting to look a bit full. View fullsize Duct work going in to the mechanical room. View fullsize Kris has to install venting for the HVAC crew. That means going up on the roof. View fullsize Since we don't have a lift on site right now, he had to climb up via the Bobcat. Eek! View fullsize Hope that rope tied to the Bobcat does the job! View fullsize The holes are drilled. View fullsize Vents installed and now Kris' dismount! View fullsize The finished product and Kris is on the ground safely. View fullsize HVAC system is in and it's time to seal it up! They've got quite a fancy system. View fullsize Apparently they push a chemical up into the duct work and it seals up any leaks. View fullsize Their computer will tell you the stats as it's sealing. View fullsize Can't be inside during this process. It's super stinky!! View fullsize Now moving on to lighting and electrical. Kris starts with all the recessed lighting. View fullsize Around the same time, the fire sprinkler installers started. Anywhere you see an orange tube in the picture, that's a fire sprinkler line! View fullsize Small orange sprinkler heads are hidden all over the house. View fullsize Adding task lighting in the kitchen. Those are the little blue boxes. View fullsize Electrical boxes installed in the kitchen. View fullsize Lighting and venting installed in the master bath. View fullsize Electrical pulled to the master bath and powder bath. View fullsize Recessed lights and fire sprinklers are installed in the master bedroom. View fullsize HVAC starts in the upstairs! View fullsize Electrical added to the living room. This will be the TV wall. View fullsize Electrical begins in the laundry/mud room. View fullsize ...and of course, we also need lights on the back deck! View fullsize This is a view from the deck, looking in to the main living space. It's starting to come together! View fullsize Electrical pulled to the staircase ceiling for future art lighting. View fullsize If you think you're cut out for being an electrician, here's your first test! Get all these wires to fit inside the box. View fullsize Don't forget, it needs to be neat and tidy! View fullsize Panel 1 ready for inspection! View fullsize Panel 2 ready for inspection! View fullsize Our data cables are a bit out of control. This is what happens when you wire for a "smart house!" Clearly some more work will have to happen here. View fullsize Now we tackle the dreaded broken vent pipe that broke after our first big snowfall. Once again, we have to use the Bobcat...but with the added bonus of a ladder on top! View fullsize Yikes! I can't watch! View fullsize The new pipe is in place and I'm happy to report that Kris made it down in 1 piece. View fullsize Another delivery arrives! This time, our interior doors! They're going to look amazing! View fullsize Just when we thought we were finally going to have some smooth sailing, mother nature brought us another special treat. View fullsize Massive amounts of hail and rain came through and almost took out the trailer...with me and Hobbs in it! View fullsize Heavy rain and hail fell for an hour creating a flash flood! We ended up with about 4" of water in 1 hour. The ground around the trailer started to wash away. View fullsize Once the storm passed, we surveyed the damage. View fullsize Hard compacted hail everywhere! View fullsize The driveway took the brunt of the flood. View fullsize You can see here how much of the driveway fell into the ravine. View fullsize This was a bit too close for my comfort! Hobbs and I will be moving into the house for any future storms because the trailer is now literally teetering on the edge! View fullsize Apparently there's no pot of gold at the end of our rainbow. Just a "potty" of gold! Ha! View fullsize Our evening visitors! So fun to watch the babies grow! View fullsize Now back to the fire sprinkler system. We knew our water holding tank was going to be big, but today's delivery shocked us both! View fullsize Not only is this tank massive, but it's crazy heavy! The delivery guy offered no help so it was up to Kris and me to maneuver this beast! View fullsize Gonna be a tight fit in the mechanical room. View fullsize Kris needed a ladder to reach the top of it! View fullsize ...and it's in! A massive tank of water that we hopefully never need to use! View fullsize Another "special" gift from the fire department. Not only do we have to have sprinklers, but apparently we have to mount this siren and strobe on the peak of the house for all to see! Oh brother! View fullsize We upgraded to a white fire alarm to hopefully help it blend in. View fullsize I think it's much better than red, don't you? View fullsize Now it's plumbing time! This is the main branch into the house. View fullsize Plumbing installed in the master bathroom! View fullsize Plumbing finished in the laundry room. View fullsize Outdoor water hookups are in. View fullsize Now it's time to frame in and organize the mechanical room. View fullsize We had the floors coated to keep them water tight. View fullsize I think this radiant heat system is pretty self explanatory....right??? View fullsize Mechanical room wall gets framed in! View fullsize An actual doorway. Lookin' good! View fullsize This is Kris' future office space. View fullsize The office ceiling is like a maze! View fullsize Before we move into insulation and drywall phase, we need to get the bathtub installed. They quartz surround looks amazing! View fullsize Now the bathtub gets set in concrete. We used what we had to weight it down! View fullsize Ta-da!! Our beautiful master bath! Can't wait to try this baby out! Step 13: Insulation and Drywall View fullsize Time to start insulating! We opted for spray in insulation for all our exterior walls and the ceiling. This seals up the house from any future leaks and makes it very efficient in the winter. View fullsize Here you can see the spray insulation in the ceiling. View fullsize The master bedroom is all sprayed... View fullsize ...and of course the master bathroom. Can't have a draft when I'm enjoying that luxury bathtub, right? View fullsize The next phase of insulation is blown in. Here they start hooking the pumps up so they can begin. View fullsize This is the mud/laundry room. You can see the pink blown in insulation is behind plastic to keep it where it's supposed to be. View fullsize The staircase gets the pink layer applied! View fullsize Now the walls of our living room and kitchen. View fullsize ...and of course the master bathroom goes pink as well. View fullsize The staircase has a combination of spray-in, blown-in, batt and acoustic insulation. Wouldn't want any heat to escape now would we? View fullsize The dark insulation in the walls is acoustic Rock Wool. It deadens sound and is made of basalt rock, so it's fire resistant and super durable! View fullsize Heres a pano of our main living area fully insulated! View fullsize ...and another pano looking in at our main living space from the staircase entry. View fullsize Finishing up the master bedroom and bathroom with it's combo insulation. View fullsize The master bedroom looking out towards the kitchen/living room. View fullsize We definitely want sound proofing around the washer and dryer area! No one needs to hear our laundry rattling around. View fullsize Now for the downstairs. Here's the guest room! Nice and insulated so our guests are cozy. View fullsize This will eventually be the guest bathroom. I promise you won't even recognize this bathroom when it's done! View fullsize This is the hallway from the guest room looking at the side entrance. View fullsize Last but not least, Kris' future office...which currently doubles as the catch-all room! He definitely wants the acoustic insulation in here so our guests can't hear him yelling at his computer! Haha! View fullsize Drywall delivery day!! View fullsize Don't even ask how this delivery truck got to the back of the property. It involved me not watching the 1 inch of clearance between the truck and the trailer. View fullsize Now that the hard part is done, they can unload the rest into the garage. MUCH easier! View fullsize The drywall crew wasted no time getting started! This is the guest room which actually looks brighter already! View fullsize Another view of the guest room. View fullsize Drywall hanging begins in the master bedroom. View fullsize Each piece that goes up makes such a difference. View fullsize Ooohh! The bathroom went from pink to blue! Maybe we'll keep the cheery, bright blue! View fullsize The powder bath in the master bedroom. View fullsize Now they start in the main living area. View fullsize Another view of the living area. View fullsize What a messy house we keep! View fullsize Here's our mud/laundry room. View fullsize Do you see the boards mounted in the stairwell? This was the crew's makeshift scaffolding! Doesn't that look safe and secure? Eek! View fullsize The drywall hanging is complete in the guest room! View fullsize Looks so nice! View fullsize Here's the hallway to the side entrance. It's incredible how much higher the ceilings look when it's white instead of that dark insulation. View fullsize Kris shows off the grand staircase! View fullsize Some views of our main living area! View fullsize The kitchen window! View fullsize So excited about these double sliders out to the patio. They are going to get some serious use! View fullsize The living room area. View fullsize The baby grand piano will go just to the right of the sliders! View fullsize A little pano of the master bedroom. View fullsize Master bath drywall hanging complete. View fullsize Apparently, this is the view if you're standing on top of the bathtub....not sure why you'd be standing on top....never mind. View fullsize A random visit from the wild turkeys! They are so funny to watch! View fullsize Now we begin with taping and mudding. This was DEFINITELY a job to hire out. View fullsize It's looking like a house! View fullsize Piano area and living room. View fullsize The kitchen. View fullsize A nighttime view through the kitchen window. Looks like a framed picture! View fullsize Mudding completed in the master bedroom. View fullsize Amazing sunlight coming into the master bedroom. View fullsize Mudding the mud room! View fullsize The completed staircase! Wow is that grand! View fullsize A view from the bottom looking up! View fullsize Just don't look down. It's a huge mess! View fullsize Now the downstairs. The hallway to the guest room. View fullsize A view from inside the guest room. View fullsize Nice bright light coming in! View fullsize Kris' office looks so neat and tidy now! View fullsize The garage. View fullsize Right after drywall we rushed to complete the garage so we could move tools, appliances and anything else in asap! Awesome finish on the floors! View fullsize Kris got all dressed up to start painting! Nice suit! Are we building a house or a laboratory? View fullsize Looks good! Enjoy it while it's clean! Step 14: The Patio and Driveway View fullsize Now it's time to tackle the back patio. First we need to extend it to it's true size. This will require building an underground support for the weight of the patio. View fullsize Kris had no fun at all playing with this new toy! A giant auger to dig 3 massive holes! View fullsize He made short work of that! View fullsize Now Kris inspects his work. Watch your step!! View fullsize Time to prepare to fill the holes with concrete! Check out our cute little pumpkin concrete mixer! It turned out to be a real gem! View fullsize Now we fill the holes with a bunch of rebar and wire as added support. View fullsize We hauled sooooo much concrete! Our neighbors came to the rescue and helped haul a ton of it. View fullsize Time to start mixing and pouring! View fullsize Once a hole is filled with concrete, we added yet more rebar. The pieces that stick out will allow us to tie into the retaining wall footings. View fullsize Hole #2 complete! View fullsize Hole #3 complete! A total of 8,000 pounds of concrete! Ugh! Can we say sore backs??? View fullsize I couldn't resist personalizing our concrete. Maybe someday future generations will find it! View fullsize Next we start building the footings on which we'll attach the retaining wall. View fullsize Time to start mixing more concrete!! Oh goodie! View fullsize Another 2,000 pounds mixed and poured! View fullsize Added all the remaining rebar as the concrete was setting. View fullsize Now it's time to start building the forms for the retaining wall. View fullsize Kris worked tirelessly to finish the forms and get supports up so we could be ready for more concrete before the cold weather moved in. View fullsize Here's a view from the top of the forms. We will NOT be mixing this batch of concrete by hand. View fullsize Here's a view from the back. View fullsize Time to call in the pros! View fullsize Concrete pouring begins. View fullsize All finished! That was way easier than hand mixing concrete....just a lot more expensive! View fullsize The concrete is dry, so it's time to take off the forms and see if it still stands! View fullsize Looks great! View fullsize The next step is backfilling behind the wall. View fullsize Add a layer of dirt... View fullsize Take the earth compactor after it... View fullsize Repeat until it's full! View fullsize Now we roll on a layer of waterproofing, just to be sure no water gets through! Structural engineers will have to do an inspection before we can go to the final stage. View fullsize Now we move on to the driveway. View fullsize All the things you don't think about when you start to build a house. Things like, wrapping your house in plastic so the concrete workers don't splatter on your new stucco! View fullsize The workers arrive and start to frame in the driveway. View fullsize At least this time WE don't have to compact the dirt. It's so nice to hire a few jobs here and there. View fullsize Framing is about done! View fullsize Time to pour some concrete! View fullsize Haven't seen one of these trucks in a while! View fullsize Now the smoothing process begins. View fullsize Looks about finished! View fullsize All done! Looks great! View fullsize A view from the side. View fullsize We're so happy with the end result! Step 15: The Gutters and Snow Stops View fullsize Time to control the rainwater to avoid future floods. That means it's gutter time! View fullsize Two downspouts required for this section of the roof. LOTS of water drains off here! View fullsize Our guests will appreciate this gutter. It's right over the front door! View fullsize Coming around to the front of the house now! View fullsize This is a super long downspout. Hope we don't ever have to climb up to the top to clean it! View fullsize The gutters are complete and awaiting their first test run! View fullsize Now the man lift comes out for the tougher part of roof completion...the snow stops!! (Ominous music plays here) View fullsize This seems a bit sketchy. View fullsize Good thing we have a snow stop model in the lift! Our niece Ruth is Kris' assistant today! View fullsize Watch out for that first step Kris! It's a doozy! View fullsize They worked til sundown. View fullsize One final daredevil move before they wrap up for the night. Eek! View fullsize Kris looks super excited. He just LOVES this roof so much! View fullsize The last of the "easy" sections. Now on to the brutal portions of the roof. View fullsize Making our way to the back of the house. View fullsize One sketchy section done! View fullsize I'm in the man lift and you can see where Kris had to hang out for this side. We couldn't quite finish because it got too dark. View fullsize Day 3 started at sunrise! There were a couple scary slips and falls stopped by the safety strap. It was a terrifying portion to watch! View fullsize The final portion was completed with less than a few minutes left on our man lift rental. View fullsize Here's the finished product! View fullsize 1 week later we put those snow stops to the test with 3 FEET of snow!! View fullsize No avalanches off the roof yet! The House Plans View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize