4/29/09 - Forming the Foundation!

The wraps came off the footing (only 24 hrs to set? Wow!) New forms went up for the actual foundation.

Several new pads (for the posts holding up the beams in the first floor) and some grading work on the driveway have been done. The grading in the driveway shows the elevation that can be expected for the garage pad, too.

This is a good point where the house starts to get real. The foundataion starts to form the vertical pieces of the structure that define it's volume. It's a trick the human mind plays on itself. I'm sure there's plenty of Harvard-quality research on it out there, but my take on it is that most people aren't trained on visualizing things volumetricly. Looking at the isometric view of a plan doesn't tell the story of the volume. Unless you have to-scale elevations to compare with, you don't get a sense of the overall size of what the finished building will be.

4/28/09 - A footing appears...

These guys move fast. Like the wind.

The footing for the foundation can be seen here. It's done and ready for the foundation that sits on top of it. Footings are interesting to me from a archeological perspective - they are what essentially is the base for the rest of the house. Curiously, it's buried and never to be seen again. Heck, even in 100 years when the house is demolished, they probably will leave the footing (after all, houses of the future will levitate and not require footings, right? Right?)

4/27/09 - Cut the hole!

The lot has been cut! Much of the clearing work is done, too. It's incredible how quickly (1 day) it took to happen!

4/26/09 - The Lot

The day just before the clearing of our lot.

Betsy and I took my mom out to the site for a little plant identification assistance (and so she could see what was to soon become home). Not too surprising, the flora on the lot had been maintained over the years by the previous owners. The soil was well drained and seemed rich. Many flowers, shrubs and trees were strewn about. Most would be removed the next day.

Mom was adamant that the fig trees were wonderful and should be saved. Sadly, neither Betsy or I are big fig fans. Sorry, mom.

What was saved was the most beautiful Dogwood tree. Later on, I'll try and remember to post an image of it. It's beautiful to say the least.

Tomorrow the dozer and arborist arrives to remove everything and "cut" the hole where the house goes.

The beginning...

Betsy and I started our search for a new house in Portland in the Fall of 2008. Needless to say, after looking at hundreds of homes - we decided that our initial intuition to build was our best choice. Bottom line - the houses we like in Portland are beautiful on the outside, have character for days, are large enough for a family and home business - but lack the affordability we require.

Rather than wait around 1o years and 2 kids to build our dream home, we realized - we can do this. After penciling out many different schemes, we found one that worked for us financially. Better yet, it stayed well under the price point we were looking to hit.

This blog will chronicle the building of our house. Watch it come up. It should be interesting.