Pictures

Floor Plan

Main Floor
Upper Floor

Building Progress

June 26, 2005
Wow, long time without an update. We've been pretty busy, but haven't got everything finished yet. We've made some progress though. We went through the winter keeping warm with the already installed a heatilator fireplace. It worked really well. I spent the time working on window trim and indoor trim. Gloria would then paint them. We're about half-way on that project. We're still in the planning stages on the bathrooms, figuring out which tile we're going to use, design, etc. We've built a deck on the back of the house to have a clean, dry place for outdoor activities. We're now working on the stairs. We've put in a driveway, another badly need item to reduce the mud.

We've finally purchased a boat. That will probably slow some of the work on the house :-).

Some new pictures of the deck, driveway and boat are included in the pull down menu on the left.

October 21, 2004
We're in! Finally, after one year of building, we've now moved into the new house. Of course there is a lot more to do, but at least now we don't have to travel to and fro.

In August we received our stuff from California. The truck arrived and we unloaded taking an entire day. It sure is a good thing we had the huge attic as we filled it to near capacity. Our plan is to take things down as needed rather than walk around all the boxes in the house.

We had our countertops installed. I also took advantage of the delays in the moving to get the hardwood floors installed. Our appliances were delivered and the plumber returned to install all of our fixtures.

We've gotten my mother's room to near finished condition so that during the coming months, we'll not have to disturb her as we work on the house. We still have a long way to go. We need to install all trim and work on the other bathrooms. It will keep us busy as winter sets in.

July 21, 2004
A lot has happened since the last update. There have been times of little or no activity also. Here's what's happening.

One of the things that was holding up the drywall installation was the HVAC. This took a bit longer than expected because the unit that we wanted was not available. Another issue was the central vacuum unit. The contractor that had promised to install it was not available. Therefore, I went on the Internet and purchased all the equipment and set out to do the installation myself. With the help of my neighbor, Mark Payne, we installed the system in a couple of days. Not really all that hard and I saved myself a bunch of money.

HVAC was completed and the insulators came in to blow in the insulation in the exterior walls and put the fiberglass insulation in the overhead areas where there are floors on the second level. The sheetrock went well. It was installed in a couple of days and the finishers took about a week. During this time the siding people began their work. Painters followed.

Natural gas is not available so we had an LP gas tank buried in the yard with a 325 gallon capacity. This will be for the cook top on our range and will also feed our deck area for my grill. The size of the tank is needed as it also fuels the generator.

The geothermal loop was installed for the HVAC and the AC was put into service. The house is now taking shape as we are getting it dried out inside, all this during some of the muggiest days so far.

The electrical company installed the permanent lines to the house. Buster and I installed the ceramic tile in the kitchen and the kitchen cabinets. The electrician and I have been working this last week installing all the fixtures ( including 11 ceiling fans). On July 9, we started up Knight Run Unit 1 (the generator). The startup went fine and it carried full load which includes the AC, refrigerator, freezer and numerous lights around the house. We should be very comfortable during any prolonged power outage.

We're in the process of ordering appliances and expect to complete the garage door in the next week or so. This past week was spent installing the hardwood floors. So now all the floors are complete except the guest bedroom and the guest and master baths.

It's now been over a year since I left Burbank. I've never been busier. During the "off" hours when I'm not working on the house, I'm taking care of about 4 acres of mowing and such. We've had a couple of chances to get out and recreate but mostly, we're doing something each day with the house.

March 16, 2004
It's been a while since I've updated these pages. I've been very busy going back and forth to California to finalize the move. The original plan was to bring out the stuff my self by renting a truck but when we tried that we ran into some snags. In short, there would have to be to many trips to make it worth while. I drove back out to Virginia in the truck accompanied by my friend Alvin Kragh. After working some more with the builders, I again went back to California for the final move. We've contracted with some movers and they have moved and stored our stuff. The plan is to deliver it to the new house when it is ready. Gloria and my mother got on the plane to Virginia, while drove the car back. The move part is now final.

Most of the building is done. The electrical is about 90% complete and most of the plumbing is roughed in. Now I'm waiting for the HVAC contractor to put in our system. During this time we'll also be installing a whole house vacuum system. After this is complete, we can insulate and sheetrock the inside.

Pictures of the completed roof and windows can be seen under "Roof 3" in the picture pull down box.

January 31, 2004
Despite bitter cold, ice, and snow, work continues. The roof is now completely sheathed. The dormers have been built and closed in. The second floor is now fully enclosed as well. As soon as the ice and snow melt, they'll put the shingles on the roof and work will proceed with hanging windows and doors. The electrician will start his work soon.

January 2, 2004
Happy New Year! We have begun the work on the roof. Roof trusses are going up. We are about 1/3 of the way across, starting on the master suite side. Weather has been good, although it rained this morning losing a day. The crew worked on New Year's day to take advantage of the warm clear day. New pictures in pull down menu at left. 

December 21, 2003
Haven't had an update for a while, but work continues. We've had a bit of a delay while waiting for the roof trusses to arrive and a bit of bad weather. The roof trusses have arrived and work continues. All of the first floor has now been framed and the front and back porches have been prepped for the roof. The roof trusses will begin going up next week. The slab for the garage has been poured. 

November 29, 2003
The subfloor, exterior walls and most of the interior walls are now up. They'll be working on details in the framing while we are waiting for the delivery of the roof trusses that should be within the next two weeks. Weather still hasn't been much of a factor but that is not expected to last so the main priority is to get the structure under roof as soon as possible.

November 12, 2003
With the clearing done, we started on and finished the foundation. This only took a couple of days as the crew worked hard to take advantage of some unseasonable warm and clear weather. A large storm came in and dumped over 2 inches of rain and that made for a soggy building site. 

Yesterday, Douglas Well Drillers completed the initial drilling of the well. They will be back later in the building process to make the hook up to the house and the pier. The well was drilled to a depth of 645 feet giving us a good artesian well.

Work has started on the sub floor. The sill plates are in place.

October 31, 2003
Building has started. On October 21, Hendrickson Construction started by cutting down some of the trees that are in the way. See pictures at left.  Later in the week, I rented a DR Mower and cut down the growth around the building site and in the area of the drain field. 

I've met with the local power company and am in the process of making up the plans for bringing power to the site. I'm too far from the pole (400 ft) for a secondary line so they'll be putting in an underground primary to a pad mount near the house where we'll set up my temporary service for now. I need to set up easements and flag my property line for that purpose. 

Work proceeds on the foundation footing. Two inches of rain that I know those of you in California could have used, caused a small delay but yesterday they poured the footers. Block layers should be coming in either today or tomorrow to start the actual foundation work.

October 10, 2003
We hope to start building our new home on or around October 20. This will be the page with the latest information on that effort. Pictures of most updates will be located in the pull down menu to the left. When this page is updated, there will be a newsletter sent out with that information. You can sign up for that list on the left.

Currently, we have picked a contractor and have a contract to build the house to the finished drywall stage. We'll take it from there and finish the floors, trim, kitchen, baths, etc.

Environmental Issues

In order to get the place permitted, we needed to create a site plan to scale. With the help of William Thompson, a local surveyor, we completed that last time I was in Virginia. You'll see some pictures of that effort on the left.

The reason for the survey was the building site must comply with the Chesapeake Bay Act which provides for RPAs. RPAs (Resource Protected Areas) are the corridors of environmentally sensitive land that lie alongside or near the shorelines of streams, rivers and other waterways. In their natural condition, RPAs protect water quality. RPAs filter pollutants out of stormwater runoff, reduce the volume of stormwater runoff, prevent erosion and perform other important biological and ecological functions.

In other words, there is a one hundred foot buffer line from the water on all lots. There is to be no development in that area that includes impervious surfaces. Part of our house plan hangs over that line. We have to mitigate these requirements by demonstrating that all water that runs off the roof in that area will be directed to areas behind the 100 ft. line. In addition, we have created an equal space on the lot that has been dedicated to the RPA and cannot include any future development. Our survey created a scale drawing with the building site included. You can see it here.