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!
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| Excavator at the bottom of the lot..this is where the driveway will start |
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| Botom half of the driveway (picture taken at "the turn") |
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| Top half of the driveway leading to where our house will be
Belos is a video of the top of the lot.
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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!
