Stage 3: The Framing (Months 3 through 5)

It took quite a while, but Jon and his crew are building the Huether family a beautiful house.  During this blog post, I will document the different stages of the framing of 2716 Aspen Road.

The three pictures below is the framing process of the "basement" level, which is built into the side of a hill.  The cinderblock walls on the right hand side of the first picture is on the "bay" side.

In the second picture, you see the "basement" level from the western side (away from the bay) which is where we will drive up from the road below.

In the third picture, you will see the "basement" framed out from the view of the back yard.

The next stage is the first floor. The first picture you see below is Jan looking out (toward the west) out of what will be the guest room window.

The picture below is of the western side of the house as the first level of the house gets framed. You will notice that the wood is being covered by a "foam" product which will add insulation to the house and hopefully keep our energy bills down.

The picture below shows continued framing of our house. We're getting there!!

The picture below is a view looking west at what will eventually be our kitchen.  The big window on the right is where our sink will go and the smaller window on the left is where our kitchen "office" will be located...

The picture below is our first look at what our living room will look like. The room will be 22 ft by about 17 ft...we hope the view of the bay will be great!!

So now we are onto the second floor!  The picture below shows Jan standing on what will eventually be our master bedroom.  Notice all the trees in the background with red ribbons around them...the won't be around too much longer!

The picture below shows Ben (on the right) and Hannah (sitting on the left) standing on the the second floor.  The house in the distance (to the south) is our neighbors the Boniors.

 

As you can see below, the second floor is coming along...from left to right, there is Hannah's bedroom, then Ben's bedroom and the master bedroom on the right.

 I took this picture below to highlight all the work that Jon and his crew did to build our roof/second floor....it was a real construction project...everything was built by hand...with great craftmanship

Here is a picture of our builder Jon Bird working on the second floor roof...a true craftsman!

Finally, with the second floor coming into shape, we can now see what our house is going to look like from half way down the driveway..Wow!!...we can't wait to move in!!

Below is a view from the south east...as you see there is a dormer (on the left) facing the south...this eventually will be Hannah's closet.

Here is a view (from the East) of the house.. As you see, the second floor is coming together.  Ben's bedroom is in the middle..Hannah's is on the left and Jan and Dave's in on the right....

Below, you see Jan (in front of the window on the ground floor) standing in front of the back of our house as our master "copula" is being built...

Here is Jon's crew, led by Migal, building our "copula" in the master bedroom.  It took Jon's crew about 3 weeks to build our roof...but the wait was worth it...they did a great job...

Hannah and I went out on the water (Chesapeake Bay) with our good friends the Serpans (Dave, Felecia and Lilly) in their motor boat and I took this picture of our house from the Bay!!

Finally...the roof is on and the second floor is complete!!  Now its off to roofing, windows, siding and starting on the interior!!

Stage 2: The Driveway and Foundation (Month 2)

After a week of roughing out the driveway, the Hopewell construction crew worked on building a series of retaining walls that are needed to make the driveway "drivable".  The following pictures and video show the construction of the retaining walls.

When our neighbors walk by...they refer to our driveway as a "work of art"...and it is...just watch!

To build the retaining walls for the driveway, Jon's crew used forms made out of wood and they eventually filled each form with cement.  Here are two of Jon's crew digging a trench for the first, and longest retaining wall. This picture is taken from the road at the bottom of the driveway.

Here is one side of the form for the first retaining wall up in place.  Note: when finished, our driveway will be at the level of the retaining wall!

Here you can see the Bobcat delivering the cement to fill up the first retaining wall (the driveway is so steep that a cement truck can't drive up it...especially on just dirt!  Notice the metal inside the wooden form...this is to add strength to the wall.  

Note:  When the guys were building the retaining walls, several bald eagles sat in trees above and dropped dead fish carcasses on them as a sort of protest to Man invading their space. 

Finally!  The first retaining wall is complete.  Jon and his crew had to deal with a lot of rain in June, which is why it took such a long time to get the driveway done.  Now, they will take the plywood forms off the first retaining wall and use them for the next two!

Starting to "form out" the second retaining wall

Finally, with the driveway "done" its time to dig out the basement of the house.  I am taking this picture from the North side of the property.  Toward the other end (where the big excavator is) is where the garage will be.  Keep in mind, that because we are coming up a BIG HILL, the garage is on the basement level...

After the foundation was dug out, the "footer" for the cinderblock foundation was poured... all of this cement had to be driven up from the bottom of the driveway with a Bobcat!

Here you can see the "completed" driveway (roughed in with stone).... Jon and his crew did a great job!  We just hope we can get up and down in the snow!

The picture above the the two below (and the video) are of the masonry company that built the foundation of our house.  From start to finish, they did the job in under a week!

Stage 1: The Start (Month 1)

2716 is the address of our new home in Scientists Cliffs, a neighborhood on the west coat of the Chesapeake Bay about an hour south of Annapolis.  On Thursday, May16, 2013 we finally began construction of our new home.  We began this process 7 1/2 years ago.  Now we are finally getting started.

This blog will provide documentation on a weekly basis of the progress being made on our house.

This first entry covers the first week of activity.  In subsequent entries, this blog will provide details of the 7 1/2 year process that it took to move from concept to construction.  This is a complicated and interesting story that involves our dealings with the county, state and federal government, the great recession and constructing a home in the "critical area" on the western short of the Chesapeake Bay.

First, here is a look at our lot (see below).  The top of the picture is East, the bottom West.  The top (EAST) border of the lot faces the Chesapeake Bay atop an 86 foot cliff.  The lot is fairly flat back to where the house will be located but then declines rather dramatically (about 50 feet) to the road below.  It is on this section of the lot where our driveway will be located.

The driveway was designed my Jan's dad and an engineer.  When finished, it will be very dramatic, and very steep, rising at at 25 degree incline all the way up to the top of the hill where our house will be located.

On May 16th, construction began with the clearing of the lot.

To give you some perspective, here are some pictures of the building of the first week of activity during which time the driveway was started!

Excavator at the bottom of the lot..this is where the driveway will start

Botom half of the driveway (picture taken at "the turn")

Top half of the driveway leading to where our house will be

Belos is a video of the top of the lot.

After the first week, the picture above is how the top part of the lot looks.  I am standing at the top of the driveway and the whole being dug out of the hill is where the basement will be.

This is the status of the driveway 1 week into the project.  The construction company has done quite a lot of work in the first week.  A neighbor came by yesterday and told Jan's dad that the driveway was a "piece of art".  This made Jan's dad very happy since he helped design it!