Frigid Weekend in Minnesota - January 20th

Well, it's been below zero in Minnesota for the past several days. In fact, the crew was happy on Friday to not be outside working as earlier in the week they braved the elements by working to install the James Hardie plank on the river side of the house while stoking a fire to stay warm.

We hope that this coming week, it will get back into the teens so they continue with outside work.


A successful week in terms of passing mechanical, plumbing and electrical inspections are receiving the go ahead to start insulation. So, on Friday, they started by placing insulated panels in the roof/lid of the living, dining and kitchen area and put up plastic in the upstairs of the house. The spray foamers for the "closed cell" insulation will start on either Monday or Tuesday, January 21st or 22nd. Sheetrock is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday, January 24th and they plan to start hanging the drywall on Friday, January 25th.

Rather than just pictures of the house, I thought I would include pictures of the Trumpeter Swans as they were out today on the river while I was outside taking pictures.

This picture from the living room area of the house (below):

January 13th, 2008 Update

Here is an update on the house progress, a lot has been occuring in terms of the inside as the past few weeks has concentrated on installation of plumbing, HVAC ducting, electrical and low voltage. In addition, the doors and some of the final windows were installed. As for exterior work, they have been working on putting up the Tyvek wrap and firring strips along with installing cedar trim around the windows. I believe the next step internally will be insulation followed by sheetrock and as far as the exterior they will be proceeding to installing the James Hardie plank.

Enjoy the pictures.

The windows were installed this past week in the upstairs area sitting room and it is such a great view of the river, landscape and wildlife.

The two views from these windows, first looking north towards the river and the second photo is looking east towards the barn and open field.

Interior pictures of the ductwork, central vacuum piping, electrical wiring, low voltage wiring and recessed lighting:

The tub in the upstairs has been set in place.

Happy New Year 2008

New Years day in Minnesota is very cold; however, it was a great day for taking pictures of the house project. Blue sky and lots of sun, but too cold for cross country skiing, so following our pictures we went to the movie - Charlie Wilson's War.

The next several months will see a lot of activity on the interior of the house -ductwork was partially completed last week, the plumber starts tomorrow, the electrician comes on Monday, January 7th along with the low voltage sub-contractor. I believe dry-wall is scheduled for mid-February.

Updated pictures of both the exterior and interior of the house - window installation is progressing nicely and there is about half a dozen to go.....

Looking uphill at upstairs bedrooms and our bedroom with garage in backgound. The plywood on the1st level will go from our bedroom to concrete deck off with the hot tub.




Above is a picture from inside the house looking south out the windows. Below is a picture of the main living area. The far wall will have the fireplace and audio video cabinet and door leading out to the screen porch.



River pictures from different locations throughout the house - all taken from inside the house.

Dining room.

Corner of living room

Our bedroom.

These 3 pictures are from the upstairs bedrooms.