Tahanan ni Manang

LP: Paskong Pinoy

2009-12-17T13:37:00.006-05:00

Taglish mode...
Kahit nasa America na ako, hindi ko maalis na magdagdag ng "star" sa aking Christmas decorations. Parol eh...hindi Pinoy ang Pasko kung wala akong parol. At heto ang pinakamalapit sa parol na kinaya kong gawin...

Una, meron akong mga kawayan na pinag-hugis "star" at tinalian ko ng hose na me mga ilaw pamasko...

Tapos, me mga "star" na gawa sa "colored glass" na binili ko online, na kinabitan ko ng ribbon para magmukhang parol gaya ng sa Pilipinas. Lima ang binili ko. Hindi ko lang malagyan ng ilaw unless bibili ako ng de-baterya.

At ngayong marunong na akong gumawa ng tunay na wreath, walang limit ang imahinasyon ko kung pano ko dedekorasyunan ang wreath...eh ano pa nga ba kundi maglagay ng star sa gitna...Dalawang wreaths ang nilagyan ko nito.

The rest of my Christmas outdoor decors are mainly American...pero alam nyo naman sa kahit sa Pinas, merong Santa Claus at Christmas tree at snowman...

Eh pano naman ang kainan ng Pinoy Christmas Party??? Syempre hindi kumpleto ang Paskong Pinoy kung walang lafangan/chibugan...eh di tingnan dito.

Master Bedroom & Bathroom

2009-08-13T21:20:00.006-05:00

Gary worked on the master bedroom and bathroom during early spring of 2009. He made all the cabinets and doors.

Here is a slideshow of the various steps along the way, starting from putting up the sheetrock, taping, mudding, sanding the walls, priming and painting (I actually forgot to take photos during painting), polyurethaning the trims around windows and doors, also working on the bathroom, tearing off the old shower room to replace it with a new one, taking the jacuzzi out to place it in the master bedroom, making the kitchen sink, placing a built-in medicine cabinet. I chose vanity lights that would go very well with the mirrored doors of the medicine cabinet. The color blue was decided on about two years ago because I saw and purchased a beautiful sink from home depot on sale at the time. It was hard to find tiles that would go well with it but we got lucky!

As of last week of May 2009, here is a video for a short tour of the master bathroom (if you tend to get dizzy easily, please be forewarned):

and a a short tour of the bedroom:

The Big Garage

2009-08-08T23:33:00.003-05:00

Gary built this big garage on summer of 2008 for himself...he wanted this to serve also as a shop, where he can keep and work on the vehicles (including tractor, ATV, etc.)

I don't know why he forgot to take more photos after the roof was done...In any case, he just installed the garage doors in addition. Someday I will add a photo of that to this slideshow.

Finalizing the Kitchen During Summer of 2007

2009-01-07T23:54:00.003-05:00

The following slideshow pretty much summarizes what we did on our kitchen during 2007:

So that at the conclusion, here's how my cupboards and cabinets appeared, open and closed:

And a brief tour in my kitchen coming in from the door near the washroom (Warning: You might get dizzy. I am not a good videographer.)

Porch

2007-09-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

At the start of spring this year of 2007, our first project was our porch, because that is one of the projects we could do ONLY during these days, and because we wanted to be able to enjoy the breeze on a summer day here, just outside our house.

I asked hubby if he would want to put the captions in, to which he answered, "yes, but not tonight."
So bear with the above...those are my captions.

Kitchen - What we have accomplished during summer 2006

2006-11-10T22:22:00.000-05:00

I took short video clips of our kitchen from different angles after working on it the whole summer of 2006. These are short mainly because my digicam's memory card was a small one. (The next videos will have longer ones, promise!). I shot these clips mainly because I was updating an aunt in Texas about our progress. She and her family visited us during early summer.

Notice that here we have returned our kitchen appliances where they should be, although the layout is different from how it was prior to working on our kitchen, mainly because of the creation of an island.

The Master Bedroom used as Temporary Kitchen

2006-10-30T10:17:00.001-05:00

As we got ready in June 2006 for working on the kitchen, we used the master bedroom as the temporary kitchen. We placed the fridge there, used the dresser as countertop, and Gary installed the temporary countertop (which we previously had in our kitchen) with sink on one wall near the bathroom. All other building materials are also stored here -- pile of hardwood flooring, tool boxes, etc. We had this setup for two weeks (Gary could not bear to have the busiest area in our place of rest anymore, so we transferred them back to the kitchen area as soon as we could, though it was still far from finished.)

A Better View of our Living Room as of June 2006

2006-10-30T10:07:00.001-05:00

After we were done with our living room, we now (June 2006) used it as storage area for some kitchen appliances and pantry items while we worked on our kitchen. The rest of the kitchen items were temporarily placed in the master bedroom. Here I also showed the balcony (my office) from below. This is a short clip of how the living room looks at this time. Pardon the children's noise (they seem to make more noise when they know I am taking a video.) and the mess. Hey, what can you expect of an unfinished house with no cupboards and cabinets yet???

Living Room video as of June 2006

2006-10-19T10:48:00.001-05:00

This is a video starting from the entryway into the balcony where my office is located, and opposite that is the future library. The stairs leading to the balcony originates from the kitchen and leads to a landing surrounded by the kids' bedrooms. There is a short hallway from the stairs to the balcony, where my office is located at one side and the future study area (no books/shelves there yet) on the opposite side. When entering the balcony, the triangular windows of the living room are readily seen. The balcony is situated above the living room covering about half of it. Towards the end of the short video, I am showing a view of the living room. Pardon the mess and the seemingly barren LR (we are at this point bereft of shelves, curtain, and all those finishing touches).

Working on our Kitchen Project

2006-10-19T08:19:00.001-05:00

We have demolished our temporary shelves and countertops in our kitchen and here is how it looks like after the initial step of installing the insulation and plastic sheet, plus some pipes for the water source. As usual, my son wanted to be in the video, so please be patient with him. Later on I will post slides of photos that show the gradual (read: SLOW) changes that we make as we work on our kitchen. We stopped at the tile floors, and we will have to work on the cupboards, cabinets, and ceiling later when we have enough money to finish those.

How we made our arches

2006-09-08T09:21:00.001-05:00

We receive many "ahs" and "ohs" from friends and relatives who see our simply elegant arches, so we are sharing here how we made them, in case you also want to add arches to your homes (instead of plain squares dividing one room from the connecting room).

Just watch this slide and learn:

Disclaimer: We are not professionals. My husband learned how to make this by watching the person he hired when they were building his first house (which got burned in Sep 2002).

Living Room Post # 7

2006-06-12T13:20:00.001-05:00

This is now the finished window and walls. The trim is not fancy, as Gary does not have enough skills to come up with a fancy one, (although, IMO, skillful enough to make such a simple yet smooth trim).

Here Gary starts laying down the hardwood floor. The blue sheet is a thin foam lining to make it soft enough for people to walk on and to add protective feature for fragile items that might accidentally land on it.

Then he starts to work on the balcony which is where my office would be.

He placed tracking lights there, and an arched entryway from the kids' bedrooms area where the stairs are.

Painting the Living Room

2006-06-12T13:00:00.001-05:00

Gary is now applying the primer to the walls using a motorized painter which he bough on sale at WalMart.

Patrick helped on the lower areas. He realized it was not easy even with the motorized gadget! At least he did not have to carry the container using his shoulder.

Ceiling under the Balcony overlooking the Living Room

2006-06-12T12:47:00.001-05:00

Before we proceeded to painting the walls, Gary did the ceiling here first. Above this is the balcony where I would have my home office. The wall on the right divides the living room and our master bedroom. That wall will be used for what we plan to be our "screen" for DLP projection TV in the future (we hope!).

Here, Gary is installing the recessed lightings on that ceiling. We placed three of them.

Living Room Post #4

2006-06-12T12:33:00.000-05:00

Mudding came next. Muds are placed over seams and holes created by the screws. It should be as thin as possible so as not to have problems with drying (may tend to crack if too thick, plus it gets harder to dry).
Here Gary is using the power sander, and I do it manually using a sponge sander for the finished touch.

Living Room Post #3

2006-06-12T12:28:00.000-05:00

Gary is putting up the sheetrock against the wall here.

The sheetrock has finally reached the ceiling!

Now we are ready for mudding and sanding.

Working on the Living Room

2006-06-12T12:10:00.001-05:00

Gary has installed the ceiling fan here, but we are yet to work on the walls. In this photo, the ceiling is pretty much all done. That staging which we use to reach high places would soon be removed out of the LR once we have worked on the highest hard-to-reach areas.

Gary finds his table saw and a lot more other power tools very handy!

You can see on the background the windows, with walls still bereft of sheetrock.

High Ceiling of the Living Room

2005-07-12T20:56:00.001-05:00

Here is the left side of the living room ceiling as viewed from the landing. Ahead is the right triangle of the upper window.

AS you can see, before the pine boards were placed (interlocking like puzzle pieces), there is a layer of green insulation board overlying the plastic sheeting overyling the fiberglass insulation.

Here, Gary had finished putting all the pine boards one by one on both sides, but he still had to tackle with the middle part which is exposed.

He made pieces of wood from 2x2 boards, shaped them accordingly, and stained them the same color (it was not easy for a non-pro calculating the angle and actually cutting the pieces to fit!). The next thing he did was to line the electrical wiring through these A-shaped boards (support) and box them in.

Here he had covered the gaps, boxed that thing, and made a line for the ceiling fan.

It is very warm to the eyes...very homey...

I could already imagine lots of things to do in decorating...

The next thing we did was to get a ceiling fan from Home Depot. Not much choices but I did not want to get online. It is better to see it in actual prior to purchasing.

This is the box of the ceiling fan that I chose. Big enough for the size of the living room (60 inches diameter), and simply elegant. (No fancy lights that look like baso for me, please!)

These were the parts ready to be assembled. Of course, that part had to be done by Gary!

Garage's Second Floor

2005-07-02T09:43:00.001-05:00

During the winter, Gary did little things like installing eletrical outlets. He also made the stairs leading to the second floor of the garage.

We used the second floor to store things temporarily, like the swing, boxes of clothes, construction materials, etc.

We are dreaming of someday converting it into a "Planetarium" like space where we can watch the skies on a clear night and do some stargazing...

A Recap of What We Have Accomplished So Far with Our House

2005-01-13T21:27:00.001-05:00

It's a new year - 2005. We started working on our house in 2003. Without the money to hire professionals to make the plan, and work on everything from construction (including foundation up to roofing), to electricals and plumbing, as well as the minor construction work like insulation and walling with sheetrock, we try to make do with what skills we have. I myself have no prior knowledge with building, especially a house built in this kind of climate. With my hubby's explanations, I'm beginning to learn the why's (I used to wonder why in foreign movies, the walls were very easily destroyed by hurtling a man's body onto it. Now I know that it is not made of cement and that it is hollow. And now I also know that wood is a better insulation than cement and is less expensive.) I began to understand more about the dynamics of air (hot vs. cold) and water (good thing I have a very good understanding of the basics of fluid and air dynamics from physics lessons from high school to college; if not, I would be gaping at my hubby everytime he explains something).

So, before we actually start doing something this year, here's a recap of what we have done so far:

All below can be archived from first part of Our Tahanan blog.

2003

april - cleaning the site, water pipe

may to june - foundation done

june - laid the radiant heating system, cement floors and erected the first wall

july - proceeded with the skeleton of the house (walls and joists and rafters)

august - finished roofing, added doors and windows

From this point on, the plan for the interior is pretty much flexible. WE try to arrive at a final plan inside as we get the feel of living in it. We also install electrical wires as we feel necessary. (Well, we usually make it a point to have an outlet every 2 ft along the wall, enough for working with the vacuum cleaner anywhere in the house without needing an extension cord. But we keep in mind not to overload the lines.)

september - I and my boys arrived; worked on temporary shower/bathroom/toilet and sink and countertop
installed major appliances (washer/dryer, oven, dishwasher, fridge); bought dining set
later purchased and installed fiberglass shower/jacuzzi and toilet; phone line activated again; computers set up
I worked on fiberglass insulation in preparation for the cold weather
Gary started working on the main furnace in a room within the garage.
october

november- jacuzzi installed

december - furnace and chimney in living room installed; chimney
stairways made

2004

january - insulation and plastic sheeting of living room finished
- enclosed the washer/dryer in the washroom adjacent to the mud room
- started working on the 2nd floor rooms (insulation/plastic sheeting/sheetrockin)
- I made temporary shelves in the kitchen

From this point on, the details of our incremental work on our house can be viewed on the archives of this blog.

april - further work on 2nd floor (mudding/sanding)

may - painting the kids' bedrooms; beds made; wirings for power/telephones/computer network installed

june - worked on powerline (transferred main line)

july - gary transferred his office location to second floor contiguous with Ben's room; worked on garage doors and trims; started on sidings

november - finished sidings; made stairs in the garage door to convert second floor into storage room

Some friends (both old and new) find it amazing that we are building our house almost without the help of people outside of our family, but believe me, if we had the money, we would hire someone else. Although we would probably not spend more for a larger, more lavish housing. We planned this house so that we have enough space to move and for everything to have its place, without being estranged from each other by mere distance and space. Also, as part of our foresight that in our empty nest stage, we will not have a big empty house to see us through until we reach our sunset. Our master bedroom was located at the first floor in preparation for weak arthritic knees...Hubby and I have long decided to live together forever, here and for eternity and beyond, if there is.

On the other hand, building it by ourselves is not so bad...we get satisfaction, we can't blame anyone else if something goes wrong, we learn from our mistakes, and yes...we can rightfully say that this lovenest (which may not be a dreamhouse to other people's standards) is truly one we built with our blood and sweat, and therefore, our hearts will always reside in this house.

Plans for this year:

work on the living room

work on the kitchen

I already have an idea of what I would like to do with my kitchen. One thing definite: I will not have granite on my countertop save probably for a small space where it can take the trauma of hot pots and also serve as my kneading area when baking. That is, if we will have the money for it.If not, laminated countertop will suffice.

I am practical and I abhor lavish and extravagant practices for the purposes of showing off and maintaining image. That's also probably one reason why I created my blogs. A lot of people show off what they have on the internet, and you can very well see the reasons why they are such show offs---they have the money obviously! My blogs reflect the life of a simple family, one that is probably the average (at least in this area), that despite a frugal lifestyle find happiness that is deep, mainly because of meaningful relationships that are not based on money or economic status, but one that is based on love and a sincere desire to help one another...These blogs are no Cinderella type of story. It's more of reality, but very unlike the so-called reality TV shows which really annoy me.

A Recap of What We Have Accomplished So Far with Our House

2005-01-13T08:38:00.001-05:00

It's a new year - 2005. We started working on our house in 2003. Without the money to hire professionals to make the plan, and work on everything from construction (including foundation up to roofing), to electricals and plumbing, as well as the minor construction work like insulation and walling with sheetrock, we try to make do with what skills we have. I myself have no prior knowledge with building, especially a house built in this kind of climate. With my hubby's explanations, I'm beginning to learn the why's (I used to wonder why in foreign movies, the walls were very easily destroyed by hurtling a man's body onto it. Now I know that it is not made of cement and that it is hollow. And now I also know that wood is a better insulation than cement and is less expensive.) I began to understand more about the dynamics of air (hot vs. cold) and water (good thing I have a very good understanding of the basics of fluid and air dynamics from physics lessons from high school to college; if not, I would be gaping at my hubby every time he explains something).

So, before we actually start doing something this year, here's a recap of what we have done so far:

2003

april - cleaning the site, water pipe
may to june - foundation done
june - laid the radiant heating system, cement floors and erected the first wall
july - proceeded with the skeleton of the house (walls and joists and rafters)
august - finished roofing, added doors and windows

From this point on, the plan for the interior is pretty much flexible. We try to arrive at a final plan inside as we get the feel of living in it. We also install electrical wires as we feel necessary. (Well, we usually make it a point to have an outlet every 2 ft along the wall, enough for working with the vacuum cleaner anywhere in the house without needing an extension cord. But we keep in mind not to overload the lines.)

september - My boys and I arrived; worked on temporary shower/bathroom/toilet and sink and countertop
installed major appliances (washer/dryer, oven, dishwasher, fridge); bought dining set
later purchased and installed fiberglass shower/jacuzzi and toilet; phone line activated again; computers set up
I worked on fiberglass insulation in preparation for the cold weather
Gary started working on the main furnace in a room within the garage.

october

november- jacuzzi installed

december - furnace and chimney in living room installed; chimney
stairways made

2004

january - insulation and plastic sheeting of living room finished
- enclosed the washer/dryer in the washroom adjacent to the mud room
- started working on the 2nd floor rooms (insulation/plastic sheeting/sheetrockin)
- I made temporary shelves in the kitchen

april - further work on 2nd floor (mudding/sanding)

may - painting the kids' bedrooms; beds made; wirings for power/telephones/computer network installed

june - worked on powerline (transferred main line)

july - Gary transferred his office location to second floor contiguous with Ben's room; worked on garage doors and trims; started on sidings

november - finished sidings; made stairs in the garage door to convert second floor into storage room

Some friends (both old and new) find it amazing that we are building our house almost without the help of people outside of our family, but believe me, if we had the money, we would hire someone else. Although we would probably not spend more for a larger, more lavish housing. We planned this house so that we have enough space to move and for everything to have its place, without being estranged from each other by mere distance and space. Also, as part of our foresight that in our empty nest stage, we will not have a big empty house to see us through until we reach our sunset. Our master bedroom was located at the first floor in preparation for weak arthritic knees...Hubby and I have long decided to live together forever, here and for eternity and beyond, if there is.

On the other hand, building it by ourselves is not so bad...we get satisfaction, we can't blame anyone else if something goes wrong, we learn from our mistakes, and yes...we can rightfully say that this lovenest (which may not be a dreamhouse to other people's standards) is truly one we built with our blood and sweat, and therefore, our hearts will always reside in this house.

Plans for this year:

work on the living room

work on the kitchen

I already have an idea of what I would like to do with my kitchen. One thing definite: I will not have granite on my countertop save probably for a small space where it can take the trauma of hot pots and also serve as my kneading area when baking. That is, if we will have the money for it. If not, laminated countertop will suffice.

I am practical and I abhor lavish and extravagant practices for the purposes of showing off and maintaining image. That's also probably one reason why I created my blogs. A lot of people show off what they have on the internet, and you can very well see the reasons why they are such show offs---they have the money obviously! My blogs reflect the life of a simple family, one that is probably the average (at least in this area), that despite a frugal lifestyle find happiness that is deep, mainly because of meaningful relationships that are not based on money or economic status, but one that is based on love and a sincere desire to help one another...These blogs are no Cinderella type of story. It's more of reality, but very unlike the so-called reality TV shows which really annoy me.

Garage and Furnace Room

2005-01-09T23:10:00.001-05:00

This is an old photo of the garage which also shows the furnace room already in place. The furnace room was constructed during fall of 2003, in preparation for winter. Its walls are insulated with fiberglass to keep cold air out and maximize the use of the warm air the furnace produces.

When you enter the furnace room this is what you will see: the furnace (which Gary covers with insulation materials as well), and the oil burner (blue, on the left). The two are connected, with the hot water coursing through the copper pipes. The silver pot-like thing above the furnace is the expansion tank. It has a rubber valve inside, with air on one side and hot water on the other. It serves to "absorb" the fluctuations in volume (since the furnace goes from cold to hot to cold, creating volume expansion/shrinking depending on the temperature). The expansion tank maintains the pressure at 10 psi. Without it, there is the danger of explosion secondary to very high steam pressure if water/air gets too hot.

This is a better view of the side where the oil furnce is, with its own expansion tank. During the early days we placed our upright freezer inside the furnace room (I asked hubby if it would not do harm that the freezer is placed in the hot furnce room. He said the freezing cold air in the garage would do more damage.) Those circuit boxes behind the expansion tank are relays getting signals from the low-voltage thermostat to the high-voltage furnace. (I'm not sure if I got it right...that's what I got from hubby's explanation...haha!)

Power Lines and Door Trims

2005-01-09T22:21:00.001-05:00

A closer look of the outside switch. You can also see a door trim already in place (dark brown in color).

Power Lines and Studs

2005-01-09T22:18:00.001-05:00

That blue box there is a power line. There is another box that leads to the inside of the room, for light switch. The box facing the hall is part of a four-way switch that Gary made so that children (and adults) can turn off/on the lights from either side of the hall or from down the stairs. No groping, no trippin in the dark. The powerline is that yellow cable. That's a table saw in Juliana's room. That yellow rod is a leveling tool. (Gary would love a laser one which also comes with a stud-finder. A stud is that bar of wood that is sandwiched between the sheetrocks. Those are the only points were you could hammer/screw shelves/cabinets/frames, etc.).

Arteries and Veins of the House

2005-01-09T22:13:00.001-05:00

Of course before the sheetrocks are all in place, Gary had to install the power and telephone/computer lines. This is a socket for telephone and computers (we have a LAN of computers, the lines for which are those of the white cables; each has a port for internet connection, hence the telephone lines which are grey).

The Different Layers of Walls and Ceilings

2005-01-09T21:57:00.001-05:00

This part here somewhat shows the layers of the walls and the ceilings from outside inward:

(1) plywood

(2) green insulation board

(3) fiberglass insulation , attached to rafters and joists (wood bars that serve as support)

(4) plastic sheeting

(5) green insulation board (again, for the ceiling)

(6) sheetrock

The sheetrock serves as the inner wall. These are thick slabs of white and compact cement-like
chalk-like wall, attached to the supporting bars (joists and rafters). The blue lines there are the joint tapes, placed where sheetrocks meet, to cover the seams, and on which mud will be applied to fill in the spaces and sort of erase the seams to make it look like a continuous wall. The mud is allowed to dry for a day then sanded to make it smoother. Then another layer of mud is applied and dried and sanded for final smoothing, before the walls are painted finally. The joints at the corners will be covered later by trimmings (?) - bars of nice-looking smooth wood to hide where the paint ends. You can see more of the process of mudding and taping then painting on the second part of this blog here:

Juliana's Room and the Kids' Bathroom

2005-01-09T21:54:00.001-05:00

This is an earlier photo of the side of the 2nd floor where Juliana's room and the bathroom would be. No division yet. The one with the smaller windows is the part where the bathroom would be. That fiberglass bathtub (standing next to the window) will be installed later.

The Balcony

2005-01-09T21:52:00.001-05:00

This is the view when emerging from the stairway and then standing on the left side. You will face this landing, which will give you a view of the living room if you are standing on its edge. We are currently utilizing it to store these pine bars (to be used for ceiling). Later it will contain books and probably a common computer (although we each have our own computers save for Ben...still working on his, waiting for the money to build one. Some parts are already with us, either from Gary's or mine upon upgrading ours, or given by other relatives/friends who upgraded theirs.) The windows as seen here are those of the living room. We might chop off some parts of these ceiling to make room for shelves or part of one closet room. WE are flexible on our plans inside the house.

Juliana's Room

2005-01-09T21:47:00.001-05:00

This is the side where Juliana's room would be, and the bathroom (on the right) already partly has the sheetrock. Gary sets up the bars first, then when the sheetrock is up, he will saw off the bars at the bottom of the doorway.

Now We Got Easy Access to the Second Floor!

2005-01-09T21:45:00.001-05:00

Upon getting to the second floor this is what you will see...No railings yet.That wall far ahead meets the sloping ceiling. It will form part of the children's closets in the future. To the right are the boys' rooms-to-be, Juliana's and their bathroom (not seen here) will be on the left.

Garage and Furnace Room

2005-01-09T09:06:00.001-05:00

When you enter the furnace room this is what you will see: the furnace (which Gary covers with insulation materials as well), and the oil burner (blue, on the left). The two are connected, with the hot water coursing through the copper pipes. The silver pot-like thing above the furnace is the expansion tank. It has a rubber valve inside, with air on one side and hot water on the other. It serves to "absorb" the fluctuations in volume (since the furnace goes from cold to hot to cold, creating volume expansion/shrinking depending on the temperature). The expansion tank maintains the pressure at 10 psi. Without it, there is the danger of explosion secondary to very high steam pressure if water/air gets too hot.

This is a better view of the side where the oil furnace is, with its own expansion tank. During the early days we placed our upright freezer inside the furnace room (I asked hubby if it would not do harm that the freezer is placed in the hot furnce room. He said the freezing cold air in the garage would do more damage.) Those circuit boxes behind the expansion tank are relays getting signals from the low-voltage thermostat to the high-voltage furnace. (I'm not sure if I got it right...that's what I got from hubby's explanation...haha!).

Sidings All Done!

2004-11-10T13:19:00.001-05:00

Gary has finished the siding all around the house (hooray!). He worked hard for the past months (starting first week of August), often working late at nights when he comes home and also during weekends. Here is a view from the front. The narrow beam of wood showing is where the future porch roof will be attached. Then at the cove between the living room and the kitchen will soon stand the sunroom.

And here is how we plan for the front of our house to look like in the future...(Gary used the Punch Pro software to design our house)

And this is how it appears from the back...

This is how we want the back to look like in the future...

The porch, sunroom and deck will all have to wait as our budget will permit. Meantime, Gary is planning to work on the interior next, especially that the weather has gone icy cold outside. We are so delighted to have finished the siding, as cutting the vinyl in a very cold day is quite hard. The coldness turns it brittle. Besides that, working at a height on an icy cold windy day is no fun at all. And I was so relieved that finally, the worst working-with-heights project is finally over. Though the ceiling in the living room is quite high, too, it is far less scary and the height is shorter than with any of the heights from the gable ends' exterior down to the ground.

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-23T19:05:00.001-05:00

Tadah! Before night was over, Gary has finished that biggest gable end of the house. I am sooooo proud of my husband!

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-23T19:03:00.001-05:00

The window on the 2nd floor was hoisted up there using a rope. Gary used the top rung of the ladder as "pulley" around which the rope went, one end tied up to and pulling up the window, which Gary held as he went up the ladder, and the other end Dad and I pulled down synchronuously as Gary lifted up the window. Then Gary continued working on the siding and the soffits.

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-23T18:58:00.001-05:00

Gary continued upwards...

Chimney, Garage Door, and Sidings

2004-10-19T12:41:00.001-05:00

Then after fixing the chimney back he also made a door there beside the window, then installed the corresponding fixtures (he ripped the shack's door off to transfer here), then started putting the sidings up. These were done last weekend. That night Mom and Dad dropped by just in time for Dad to help Gary lift the window up the staging to be installed on the second floor.

Working on the Sidings, Chimney

2004-10-19T12:37:00.001-05:00

After finishing the cul de sac in two days of the weekend prior to the last, Gary started with the highest and most difficult wall behind the garage. Here he is putting the chimney bib in place first. He had to dismantle the chimney prior to that.

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-19T12:34:00.001-05:00

Then continued putting the vinyl sidings in place...

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-19T12:31:00.001-05:00

Gary has just placed the flashing at the cul de sac behind the washroom, as part of the prep for putting the sidings.

Comparing present status to the plan...

2004-10-19T12:27:00.001-05:00

Here's now a photo from south-west view of the house...

Comparing to the plan...really, really close!...(outside part of the house, that is!)

Working on the Sidings

2004-10-19T12:23:00.001-05:00

Continuing up on the second floor's outside walls opposite the bathroom and Juliana's bedroom, Gary used the staging again (conquering his fear of height) to finish the siding and the soffits...

Working on the Stairs

2004-10-19T12:11:00.001-05:00

Sometime in Dec 2003 Gary "sculpted" 4 bars into this shape, to act as support for the stair leading to the kids' rooms.

Then placed these boards as steps. The lighter and easier task of sanding was left to me; however, since we were seeing more up and down movement of heavy pieces of wood and building equipment like the table saw, we procrastinated the sanding until such time that it is ready for the finishing touch.

2004-09-29T09:07:00.000-05:00

Last week, Gary worked on aligning the french doors both at the living room and our bedroom...

then worked on the siding at the walls where those french doors are, and started working on the gable end of our bedroom.

So that with the gable end of the living room finished, as well as those walls at the sides, here now is how our house looks from the west end toward the back. This part is what can be seen from the road, which is quite far, so that we still enjoy our privacy.

Mudding and Taping

2004-09-16T20:50:00.001-05:00

Last Tuesday I went back to mudding. I continued where I left off - the kids' bathroom. Here are the materials I used: mud, mudbasket, taping knife, and used freezer bags that I use to apply the mud along corners or joints on the ceiling (hard to use the taping knife for those!)

The joining tape

Me in the process of applying the mud

This is how it looks like when the mud is applied. I try as much as possible to make it smooth and to hide the joining tape beneath the thick layer of mud. If there is severe discrepancy in the levels of the edges of the sheetrock, I use more mud to creat a smooth and discreet hump along the joint, so that when the paint is finally applied on the wall, it will be smooth. But I have to let this dry first (at least for 24 hours) then smoothen it with sponge sander (that is a lung hazard because of the very fine powder - see my earliest posts), then apply another layer of mud and do the sanding again before painting.

Working on the Sidings

2004-09-16T20:34:00.001-05:00

Last weekend Gary started working on the back part of the house (which was the wall of our master bedroom.

Then continued to finish the wall of the living room facing the west...

Our house's external features now approach that of the plan. The only eyesore now is that spot on the wall of the 2nd floor where we plan to put up the future porch's roof before continuing to work on the wall siding.

So, going back to the plan, let's compare...Almost there!

Problem is, we don't exactly know when we will start with the porch. Next summer, maybe?

The Master Bedroom/Bathroom during the Initial Days

2004-09-16T19:55:00.001-05:00

During our first days here, the house could practically be likened to a person who was just purely skeleton and skin. The green insulation board on the walls of our house, plus the typar plywood facing the outside were all that separated the inside from the outside. Quite unluckily, the moment we got here, the weather shifted from very hot (summer) to one of very verrrrrry (brrrrrr?) cold one (start of Fall).

This photo shows the master bedroom at that time, with a makeshift bed that Gary built, and we used inflatable mattress which we borrowed from my in-laws.

This shows the same room after I have installed the fiberglass insulation on top of the green insulation boards.

Adjacent to the walk-in closet was the master bathroom. This was taken sometime in September. The fiberglass shower room here was already an improvement from the makeshift one that Gary made out of plywood, and where I first would wash the dishes. The toilet first installed here was too short, so we opted for the taller one (easier for the oldies to get up from). I was the one who chose to have a pedestal type of lavatory. All the plumbing and the electrical/telephone/computer network lines are being installed by Gary incrementally according to the area he is currently working on.

The triangular jacuzzi, our source of pleasure and luxury from time to time, is placed at the corner against the would-be wall. In this photo the network hub of the computer is also seen as rectangular black thing near the speaker (we like music from Gary's computer when taking a bath) and the colored things on the window sill are the scented candles for adding romance in an otherwise cold-looking room....

My workstation beside the bed. Gary builds all of our computers and, when finances permit, upgrades them, along with the scanners and printers (at least him and I have our own).

Since we used the living room as a storage room for the flooring and for the staging which Gary used to reach the ceiling when he put the insulation and the plastic sheeting, we had to move the couch and the TV to our bedroom. Here the bedroom door is not yet in place...

Then sometime in January we finally had a door!!!! (hurray!) and the sheetrock on the walls, so finally, we had privacy (though sounds are quite easily heard from the outside so we always gotta be careful...

One Fall Morning...

2004-09-05T21:15:00.002-05:00

This is now how our house looks like from the front-side view as one walks along the driveway towards it. Pretty nice, huh?

Working on the Sidings

2004-09-05T20:00:00.001-05:00

Gary tried to finish today the siding on this end of the house. (He had to pause for the birthday celebration of Patrick's then went back to it until dark.) He said that he wanted to do as much as the weather will permit because when it gets too cold in the fall, the vinyl siding gets too fragile it's impossible to cut through it without totally damaging it. Anyways, this wall is the hardest of all because the triangular windows made it hard to shape the siding accordingly.

Working on the Sidings

2004-08-23T09:35:00.001-05:00

Gary started working on the part where the future sunroom will be. He left a small strip there below the roofline for the sunroom's roof to be attached. He also left most of the front part naked so when we are ready to attach the roof for the porch, he won't have a hard time doing so. Getting there!...

Posted by Hello

Working on the Sidings

2004-08-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

During the past week, Gary had been working on the siding. Here, he has also installed the window on the 2nd floor of the garage...

Here he has finished the garage side, as well as the cul-de-sac corresponding to the washroom. He has removed the staging...

and transferred it to the west side where the living room is.

Working on the Sidings

2004-08-13T15:53:00.001-05:00

Gary built this staging to make it easy for him to put the sidings up that high. He uses cranks on both sides of the poles supporting the planks to go up incrementally. However, when he got to the triangular part, the planks would get caught at the roof's ends. He had to remove the extensions at the sides.

Working on the Sidings

2004-07-26T21:11:00.001-05:00

The past weekend Gary started working on the sidings of the house (something which is best done while it is still summer - warm and dry outside). For a starter, he had to establish lines as guide to make sure that the bottom-most sidings are placed at the same level. He used an optical level to mark the points with my aid (I marked them down with a pencil, then he drove a nail on those points).

While I squat here waiting for his cue, I took a shot of him peeking through the optical level

This is the optical level...at first I thought it was a videocam of some sort! Haha!...ignorant me...

It had some calibrations like in a microscope, with a tiny bubble that had to be centered to determine the level. When one takes a peek, there are crossed hairlines that point at that spot where I would make the mark. We made several marks on corners of the house, at least two points at each surface to make a line. What a wonderful gadget!

After all the preparations of marking, as well as putting the trims around the garage doors and the corner molding (all plastic molding came with the sidings - totalled $5000 when Gary purchased them last year), here now is Gary's first siding in place. Tadah!!!

By the end of the day, this is what Gary had finished putting up. Beautiful!...<br><br>(Gary wanted that vinyl siding, as well as tin roof and our windows and doors, for a maintenance-free house!)

Posted by Hello

Starting Work on the Living Room

2004-07-26T20:48:00.001-05:00

This is now the living room, the side that faces the back part of our house, sometime in August 2003. I love the French doors opening to the same spot where the FD of our master bedroom opens too (in the future, there will be a deck there, leading to an elevated pool). The kids used the area as their sleeping space initially. (The second floor had no partitions yet, and there was no stairway going up at the time.)

This was the side that faced the front and the west end of the house then. Noticeable here is the absence of insulation (it was Fall).

Then later, Gary put up the insulation on the ceiling, using the staging to reach it...

I continued with the insulation (it kept me busy during those boring winter days) on the walls. Then Gary put this furnace in place (for additional heat. The furnace in the garage is the main heat generator.)

Then Gary worked on adding the plastic sheeting running from the ceiling down to the walls.

Getting The Kitchen Functional for the Moment

2004-07-18T20:05:00.001-05:00

Gary is installing the cooking range here...behind him is the area where we would have the sink and countertop.

This was the kitchen area then (no stairs leading to the 2nd floor yet, no sink, no countertop.)

This photo was taken around Jan 2004...Gary had installed the sink, the dishwasher and cooking range, I had finished putting up the insulation but not the plastic sheeting.)

Sheeting and Installing Windows in the Garage

2004-07-18T19:53:00.001-05:00

Gary worked on the garage's sheeting (?) this weekend...

He also installed the windows at the sides of the garage. Now it is ready for piling wood and we will no longer worry about them getting wet during rains or snow.

Temporary Office, Now Game Room

2004-07-18T19:48:00.001-05:00

This is now what Gary has made of his office adjacent to Ben's.

UPDATE as of 12-29-08
This room which used to be Gary's office then became my office for doing medical transcription, is now being groomed to be the children's game room. Still not finalized at this point.

Starting the Wash Room

2004-07-16T15:30:00.001-05:00

This is the wash-bathroom downstairs, first to be encountered when one enters the house from the garage. In September of last year, the washer and dryer were installed....

Sometime last January, the walls surrounding it were put up (plus the toilet for the room was also installed.

Installing Garage Doors

2004-07-11T20:34:00.001-05:00

Gary has finished installing both garage doors and the doorknob at the side door of the garage near the power meter...

Gary has finished installing both garage doors and the doorknob at the side door of the garage near the power meter...

It easily slides up and down. (I am really very proud of my husband!). He said that in the future, I will just have to click on a remote control to open the doors without getting out of the car. (Matagal pa yun!)

Revised House Plan

2004-07-08T12:56:00.001-05:00

(Click to see larger photo)

Second house plan's first floor...

and 2nd floor

Though there were changes in the interior floor plan, we actually followed the original, and the following external features will be added sometime in the future...
A porch in front of the kitchen, plus a sunroom annexed to the living room...

viewed from the west side...see the addition of a deck leading to the pool...

Viewed from the southwest side...

Installing Garage Doors

2004-07-08T12:44:00.001-05:00

Gary worked on the garage door last Monday...

Taraaaaah! Future plans: automatic open-close remote control...

Gary's office beside Ben's room

2004-06-26T13:22:00.001-05:00

This was the "dead space" beside Ben's room that Gary decided to convert into his office.

So he started stripping off the part of the ceiling and wall at Ben's room to make a doorway for it.

Then next we (including the kids) lugged his stuff up.

UPDATE as of 12-30-08: This dead space is not being groomed to be the children's game room.

Power Line

2004-06-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

The CMP already did its job. We have now transferred the line and the meter. Gary (my brilliant handy husband) here has just finished covering the trench.

The Garage and Furnace

2004-06-16T19:34:00.001-05:00

This was the garage then (Sept 2003)...

Some materials that we needed elsewhere were placed in the garage in the meantime...

Gary working on the pipes leaving the furnace...At the back part is the oil burner. He was preparing for winter then. He was about to build the furnace room.

The furnace room was done in time for winter. It contains now not only the oil burner but also the tank for the firewood (the furnace), plus our upright freezer in which we stock our year-long supply of beefcuts.

Digging up a trench for electricals

2004-06-15T17:06:00.001-05:00

I worked on the garden. Added this part around the trees for the annual flowers so I could place there some of the flowers that Mom gave me...

some more photos of the flowers (can't remember their names...)

My garden that time...

DAd helped me haul big rocks to line the boundaries of my flower garden using his tractor.

wild strawberries...Dad was showing me the berries starting...

Gary rented a small excavator to dig up a tunnel for the elctrical wiring and the telephone wires as well...

Patrick was watching by...

the pipes containing the electrical wires...

the tunnel continuing to the house...

I am really so proud of my husband that he knows these things. IF not, we would have had to hire another person to do it (which we can't afford at the moment), yet I don't like the feeling of paranoia that gets into me when something like this is done by another person. What if he does not do it right? What if he overcharged? Anything can go wrong...I feel so secure with Gary on these things and I am so grateful for having him for my husband...

Fixing the Fountain in the Garden

2004-06-07T13:10:00.001-05:00

Last Saturday Gary managed to fix the fountain at the flower garden (despite the missing hose). And yesterday (Sunday) he also made a switch to make it easier to turn on from inside the house (He's such a talented man!)

Installing Doors for Children's Bedrooms

2004-06-07T13:09:00.001-05:00

Gary installed door trims at the children's bedrooms, using pine boards stained with the same paint as the ceiling.

We had a roof above our heads!

2004-06-07T13:05:00.002-05:00

When we (my sons and I) finally came here, the roof has been installed. In the past days it had been very hot, but the moment we stepped onto this land, it suddenly became very cold! We had to use several sheets of blankets to keep us warm. During those first few days we had no insulation yet. We only had a makeshift bathroom and toilet, no kitchen sink.

from west...

the back of the house. Two French doors facing the same spot where we plan to place a deck and a pool...one opens up to the master bedroom, the other to the living room...

Still Working on the Roof

2004-06-05T19:45:00.001-05:00

here is the steel roofing going on...now you can see why everyone in town calls our house the Red Roof Inn!

Still Working on the Roof

2004-06-05T19:44:00.001-05:00

roofs all sheathed in & rubber membrane laid in the valleys...gettin there!

Putting up more Roofs

2004-06-05T19:40:00.001-05:00

more roofs.....(My husband hates heights!)

Starting the Roofs

2004-06-05T19:38:00.001-05:00

now we start the roofs...

Early Days upon Raising the Walls

2004-06-05T19:36:00.001-05:00

Going good so far...

Raising the Second I-beam Support

2004-06-05T19:34:00.001-05:00

Here we are raising the I-beam which supports the garage 2nd floor. This weighed about 2000 lbs and had to be hoisted 14 feet into the air. This tested the maximum capacity of my husband's homemade crane. The guy is my brother-in-law, Shannon, welding the I-beam to its support column.

Second Floor Joists

2004-06-05T19:29:00.001-05:00

Here is a view of the 2nd floor joists.

Hoisting the main I-beam

2004-06-05T19:27:00.001-05:00

Here I am hoisting the main steel I-beam for the kitchen span.

Raising walls

2004-06-05T19:26:00.001-05:00

Here is an inside view of the living room.

Raising walls

2004-06-05T19:24:00.001-05:00

Here Gary was raising the living room west wall...this was tricky, as it weighed about 1000 lbs and was quite flimsy until it was nearly vertical. Gary used 2 whalers, which are not visible, to stiffen it.

Raising the first wall

2004-06-05T19:21:00.001-05:00

Here is my husband's "baby" ( a 1958 John Deere 630 tractor) with his homemade crane on it, raising the first wall

Temporary housing

2004-06-05T19:19:00.001-05:00

This is the "guard shack" where Gary lived while he was working on the house. Behind it you can see some of the other materials....roofing, vinyl siding...about $30,000 worth! ( You can see why he was sleeping close by...a major theft would have broken him.

Lumber and foam insulation

2004-06-05T19:15:00.001-05:00

This is the pile of building materials (lumber & foam insulation)

Materials

2004-06-03T19:57:00.001-05:00

This is my dad, and his beloved 1948 Ford truck, with 250 sheets of 1/2" OSB to sheathe the house. I paid $6.47 for this stuff in June of 2003. Currently (June 3, 2004) it is going for $17.85 a sheet!

Concrete work

2004-06-03T19:52:00.001-05:00

Now the concrete work has been done, it is time to start building!

House Pad

2004-06-03T19:49:00.001-05:00

This is the main house pad ready to be poured.

Hydronic Heating System Manifold

2004-06-03T19:47:00.001-05:00

This is the radiant heating system manifold assembly being pressure tested before pouring the floor.

Forming the rest of the house

2004-06-03T19:43:00.001-05:00

This shows the main house foundation work...the grade is levelled, poly is applied, & the 2" foam insulation has been laid down.

Inspector General Casper

2004-06-03T19:40:00.001-05:00

This is the REAL Inspector, my cat, Casper! You can see he is running behind, working late at night. So much to inspect, so little time!

Inspector Juliana

2004-06-03T19:39:00.001-05:00

This is my daughter, Juliana, inspecting the finish of the garage floor...hope it passes!

Concrete work

2004-06-03T19:36:00.001-05:00

This is the garage floor poured & finished...waiting for it to dry now.

Gravel pad

2004-06-01T18:57:00.001-05:00

This the gravel pad, ready for the forms, the site with all the fill hauled, leveled, and compacted. Now we start the concrete work...yahoo!

Laying filter fabric

2004-06-01T18:56:00.001-05:00

With the rocks & filter fabric laid down, we then hauled in about 500 cu. yds of gravel...then I compacted it with a vibratory roller (not shown) until it was very firm

Laying filter fabric

2004-06-01T18:51:00.001-05:00

The first 3 feet of fill was rocks (for drainage), then a layer of filter fabric (to prevent finer material from settling around the rocks, preventing drainage)

Where our house will stand on....

2004-06-01T18:44:00.001-05:00

This was taken in April of 2003, this is the site leveled and the water pipe from the well buried...next step is to start hauling fill.

This was all that was left of my previous house...here I am cleaning up the site about a month after the fire.

Babe's room

2004-06-01T17:43:00.001-05:00

We finished Babe's room today...Gary started putting door trims using the pine board and painting it the same color as the ceiling...

The second floor is now too colorful: Blue room for Patrick, Green room for Ben, and Red (as in RED!!!) room for Babe...I wonder what to color their bathroom and hallway with?...

3-D rendition of our house plan

2004-05-29T08:03:00.001-05:00

I took several snapshots of 3-D renditions of our houseplan from several angles. This houseplan does not have the sunroom which we will probably add to the house later. These will help us keep focused as we build our house slowly over the coming years...it will be such a delight to look back at these when we have reached certain goals.

This is now the 3-D image of the houseplan, right-front view...

viewed from left-front...

viewed from left-back...

and viewed from right-back.
I made a revision of that to include a porch and a sunroom, as well as a deck with pool, with some changes in the rooms; however, the actual thing came out with the rooms as laid out in this first plan. And though we are about to add the porch, deck and sunroom, at this point in time, the house resembles these 3-D renditions.

The design/house plan

2004-05-28T21:12:00.001-05:00

Allow me to start this houseblog with the design of our house. My husband used the Punch Pro program (Auto CADD) to design it. These photos show the floorplan. Click on the photos to get a larger view.

This was the plan as of the date posted (July 2003). The next posts will be the 3-D image from several angles.

Patrick's Room

2004-05-26T22:48:00.001-05:00

Gary painted the room (Patrick chose thise blue color)

Temporarily sleeping on the floor...

2004-05-26T22:43:00.001-05:00

Juliana had to sleep on the floor (with mattress naman eh!) because Gary has not made a bed for her yet

Sleeping on Gary-made Beds

2004-05-26T22:42:00.001-05:00

Boys on their bed ready to go to sleep (?). Hopefully tomorrow we can finish Ben's room as well...

Sanding the Boy's rooms

2004-05-26T13:45:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we prepared their rooms for painting. I sanded the harder to reach parts

Sanding the Boy's rooms

2004-05-26T13:44:00.001-05:00

Patrick helped in sanding the lower part of the walls