2/12/2013 Well, we're off to the races.

2/12/2013
Well, we're off to the races.  Today has been the fastest moving and "most to show for our efforts" day since excavation of the site.  I found out we had a crew out at the build site most of yesterday clearing ice and snow off the first floor, clearing the driveway, and staging all the equipment for today.
We started the morning by digging all our panels out from under approximately 6 inches of snow and a solid 1-2 inches of ice from the ice storm of last weekend.  Thank goodness they had covered everything up with heavy plastic sheeting when we first unloaded it from the semi's.

That major milestone of placing the first wall section was reached about mid morning, and things went quickly after that.  Because of the steep terrain we are built on, even our all terrain fork lift could not reach the majority of the foundation for placing the walls.  What we wound up doing was lifting each panel up on the deck with the fork lift, then wrangling them into place by hand, which turned out to be way easier than trying to wrestle them off the back of those damn semi trailers.  The first one was terrifying because not only was it one of the heaviest panels (800+ pounds?) with a 6 foot picture window in it, but it was the one over the walk out portion of the basement, making it feel like we were 50 feet up.  Just a few inches over center and the whole panel would crash to the frozen ground below, and there wouldn't have been a thing we could have done to stop it.  After that, each panel got easier as we went and gained more experience in how the Deltec panels locked together.   The last five panels were able to be lifted and placed using the fork lift, finishing the days work just after sunset.  Tomorrow we hope to finish putting up the garage walls, the wall dividing the house from the garage (built on site and not supplied by Deltec), and maybe even setting the temporary center support pole in anticipation of starting the roof on Thursday.

Digging out.

Moving from the staging area to the house.

Happy to the point of being giddy with the first panel being placed.

Delivery of Roofing material, lumber for the interior walls, stairs, etc.

Taking shape.  The weather was beautiful for this time of year, with temps in the low 30's and lots of sunshine.

We're going to love this view to the south.  Kitchen is on the right and fireplace on the left.

Still have to build the wall separating the garage from the house.

Looking back from the Southwest.  The kitchen window is in the center.

The front entry 

One last look back up the hill from the south.  When finished, the deck will wrap almost 180 degrees around this side.