These photos were all taken at the point where dad and I had completed the siding and deck and had just completed the
drain/waste/vent section of the plumbing (before the installation of the pressurized copper supply "hot/cold" water piping)
was installed. Much of the "rough" electrical
had also been installed at this point. The date was about the third week of June 1997.
The photos are in no particular order... sorry!
This view is looking
north from my "yard" (from the septic drainfield/wildflower patch) at the southern exposure of the house. The house
is about 950 square feet and is 26 x 36 feet in size. The roof has a 5/12 pitch and the deck is 20' x 10'. The compound
is at the very north end of my wooded 10 acres (all maple/beech hardwoods) that abuts
a large state forest. Yes, the
road is paved and we do have electricity, but NO cable TV! (harumph)
This is the view of the
house from the main entry door of the "pole barn" workshop. Note the clump of trees and brush keeps it from
standing out in the lovely woodland view.
Similarly, this is the
view of the workshop from the deck. Those trees really help preserve the "woodsy" feel to the spot.
From the driveway
you can see the side door and deck. Eventually, there will be a detached garage (with attaching breezeway) just off
this side.
Mr Ed waving a
Michigan HELLO on returning from a "supply run" to Home Depot. The view is southbound down the
driveway.
This is the view
to the east from the driveway showing the side (main) entry door. The board under the door is for the future
attachment of our stoop. The planned stoop would be constructed much like a deck and extend out both five
feet in width and depth.
You can see
some of the supplies Mr Ed picked up on this latest run. Another piece of three inch drainpipe for our
venting system.
This is the view
southbound from Beeman Road of the house. I need a few more smaller trees or bushes in there! The ultimate
goal is to NOT see the house from the road (at least in summer). I really didn't want to build so close to the
road (less than 100') but the tradeoffs with winter snow removal and access were too great... even though there are
a few really lovely spots to build a home further back on the lot.
This is the
north side of the house (the part that faces the road) showing the second bedroom window on the left, then the
kitchen window and the dinette window on the right.
From where
our water well is located (just east of the driveway and north of the house) you can see both the house and workshop
in view. (note-- with a recent addition of 40+ yards of road gravel, the area around the workshop
is much different in appearance than this photo) ... And Mr Ed making his way inside with that pipe! Eventually, (next
year) this view would be blocked by our new garage. This is also nearly the spot
where we will have to mount our DSS dish to get modern TV reception (thanks to Al
Snyder for bringing his dish over
so we could verify reception!) It's nice not to have to clear all the tall trees for that!
This is the view
looking west from just in front of the north side of the house. This shows the driveway and the brown "shed". As you can
see, the ground slopes pretty good here. I have numerous landscaping plans to
turn this spot into something notable.
From roughly the
same spot as the previous photo (the northeast corner) the eastern exposure of the house looms rather massively.
From the southeast
corner looking northward toward the road you can see how the basement is nearly on ground level. This makes
for a nice walk out basement and gives the master bedroom above a nice overview of the forest to the south.
From nearly the
same spot as the last photo, looking now northwest, the deck also shares the nice forest view. As does Mr Ed,
waving to us in the photo! The area below the deck will surely find some good use too. The best idea I have
heard to date was to make it a screened in sitting area for those days when the bugs are rather nasty-- or it is
raining (Thanks Keith Farley). Otherwise it would likely be a good candidate for winter wood fuel storage.
This photo shows
what is just outside the deck perimeter-- the septic tank! (just in front of the white pipe). We had to position
the posts supporting the deck carefully so as not to interfere with our piping from the house to the tank
(hence we needed four posts!)
From the spot
where those previous photos were taken, the workshop is more in view. To the left and in the foreground is
the wildflower garden that is growing over the septic system drain field. No grass is planned on this property! The
French words "Mo de Lawn" have no meaning here!
From the deck,
looking west, you can see the driveway on it's way past the house.
Similar to the
above photo, but looking south into the forest (in this direction the forest extends for a few miles as my
property abuts the Pierre Marquette State Forest) the view from the deck is private and serene. It is hard to
notice in the photo the colorful wildflower blossoms below. The carpet of green you see are actually tiny
Maple and Beech tree saplings, no grass!
Looking east on
the deck you can see how we prefer to get onto the roof. The day these photos were taken we were installing
the two roof projections for the plumbing vent system, and part of the ridge vent for attic ventilation. The view
also shows the master bedroom southbound window.
The deck railing
was fun to build. Again it was constructed for parties of large people. The balusters are specifically spaced so
small people (under four inches in girth) cannot escape to the ground.
Yet another view
of the deck.
Here is yet another
view of the workshop from the deck. That white "thing" just to the left of the right tree trunk is part of the
deck roof. Regretfully, during winter the workshop will be much more in view.
Along the west side
of the house is a fresh new clump of Sasparilla. I was saddened to have part of my little
Sasparilla plantation disturbed
when we needed extra back fill (it was the closest logical spot for dirt). I am happy to report however, that there are
colonies of sasparilla sprouting up in varous locations around the house and over the drainfield. My original
ginseng patch has grown enormously in the past two years also!
The underside of
the deck shows the 2 x 8 joists and the dual 2 x 12 main beam. This deck is built extra durable to withstand
many a large party!... and a party of many large!
As you can see
from this shot of the house, the plumbing vents are now in place. The left pipe is the "main vent stack" and the
right one is for the clothes washer and slop sink.
This is a view from
the bathroom door looking northwest at the kitchen window. If you look really closely, you can see parts of the
main vent stack and the venting for the bathroom vanity sink.
This view is
northbound from the master bedroom and looking through the large closet into the second bedroom and then
out the window toward the road.
This photo is
from the same location as the last one, in the master bedroom, but looking northwest through the hallway and
part of the bathroom and kitchen areas.
Ahh... yet another
hopelessly out of date photo. This is looking down the stairs to the basement and shows a nice landing before
the steps turn to the left. Since this photo has been taken the window has been installed where the boards are,
and the wall on the right has been studded in.
From the bottom
of the basement stairs you are greeted with one of our three main basement work tables. This table is displaying
a fine assortment of plumbing fittings. Surplus Tyvek house wrap is used to protect dad's queen sized mattress
in storage.
To the left of the
previous photo (the northeast corner of the basement) are two more work tables. In the upper left is a window
that we have covered up so that people driving by can't easily see our tools and supplies inside. Eventually I
am likely to remove that window as it is unneeded.
It is fun to go
through these photos when they become obsolete so fast! This is a shot of the drain system where the washer
and slop sink go (under the side door on the west wall). At this moment there is more water supply piping in
this view than drain pipes! You can see a cleanout on the right with the 2" pipe for the washer just left of that.
On the far left is the main drain line coming down from a long travel through the house from the kitchen/bathroom
area. We luckily have a 13 block basement which gives us plenty of headroom to work with! (a 8' 6" basement
ceiling!)
Here is a shot of
my electrical breaker panel before I wired in the main service connections. I'm glad that I
labeled everything!
200 Amperes and lots of room for breakers (and filling up fast!)
This view shows
the drain lines under the bathroom, with the smaller 2" branch heading off to the kitchen on the left.
Yet another
angle on the main bathroom drain system. The toilet line is the one on the right. I used a 3" main drain with
PVC Schedule 40 pipe.
This is a historic
shot of the workshop. Again, another out of date photo. My contractor friend Bill came by to dig the trench for
the water pipe leading to the house from the well and while he was here with his machine, Kasson sand and
gravel dropped off a few truckloads of road gravel. The area where the driveway meets the workshop is now
considerably larger and has room for numerous vehicles. This view is altogether different now ('cept for the
workshop and the cars!).
My friend Bill Byrnes brought his new machine by to make fast work digging the
trench between the house and the well (for the water supply). What a neato
machine he has!
With the touch of a small lever he takes days of work and reduces it to minutes.
The 40 foot trench 4-5 foot deep only took about an hour at best for him-- would have
been days for dad and me!
Somehow I think I've seen Bill on stage with a guitar somewhere....
John sweating a pipe. Note that I am blocking the actual technique from view--
don't want to let any of my secret methods out! (none of my sweat joints leaked!).