week 10: Framing almost done...

The framers been framing, putting the finishing framing touches on the house. Most of the framing of the walls is complete, so they've been focusing on the roofs. They figured out the ceiling goofiness in the rear entry/pantry area as well as the roof intersections in the "armpit" part of the house (where the "public wing" intersects with the "private wing").

Also, the stairs are completely done (we call this next series of photographs "Thankfully Amply-Dressed Homeowners Descending a Staircase" ):

The cantilever is more framed out, especially on the back. Believe it or not, it still has a foot or so addition coming to it!

It's been fun checking out the views out the windows. Here's one of the corner windows at the front of the house:

Looking from the back toward the master suite:

Looking along the front of the house:

Perched framer:

Long and nice-looking:

The good news about the head framer mucking up his achilles is that he has more time to chat. He said the cantilevers were a challenge. He said they had to search high and low for a glu-lam beam to meet the specs for our house and finally found the one place in Texas that one (and it was expensive!). He said the carport was tricky to build but will soon be removing the supporting walls in the living room and framing the bookcase wall.

other news:

• The architect and builder toured the house together this past week. Looking at the horse wall in the master bath (no, we're not done talking about that yet...), they both agreed that it would be better to have the wall tied into the ceiling. Now that they're both in the same camp, we're gonna tie it into the ceiling.
• The replacement faucet for the guest bath arrived, and it is mucho better than the first one (the faucet is straight this time). One of the handles doesn't quite sit in the off position flush with everything else, but at least that can be adjusted. This faucet is relatively inexpensive; you get what you pay for, it seems...
• Big-D over at Green House, Good Life has been a great resource for us; even better, she's watching our back! She was at the Austin Energy Green Building open house last night and asked about our HVAC situation. They told her that they often give exceptions to the 600 square-feet per ton requirement to be eligible for five stars if indeed someone is caught in half-ton purgatory and meet the 550 square-feet per ton requirement (which we do). Good news! I know, I know: "often" does not mean "guaranteed", but we feel good that our variable-speed compressor (we loves us some variable speed compressor...) will seal the deal.

the future!

• The framers start sheathing next week and expect to finish by the end of the week. That'll be interesting because the house will become more solid and we'll get a better feel for the space.
• We need to order the foot faucet and the faucet for the laundry (the supplier can't pick 'em up).

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