Punaro Glen Construction: Mid-July

Yeah… you may have noticed I can’t keep up with the blog posts. Obviously a lot has happened in the past 6 weeks and much of our time has been spent at the house – sometimes just observing, sometimes planning, and lately even some working. We are down to [supposedly] the last two weeks of construction before we can move in. I can’t recount day by day, item by item what has happened since the last post, so let me summarize in photos. They’re probably more descriptive than me anyway.

First… siding is done!

We went with a board and batten style siding on top and a horizontal siding everywhere else in the same grey color. There are still some decorative elements to add and the porches to finish, but it’s otherwise wrapped up.

Our HVAC is up and running, including A/C as of today. I had to spend some time learning about these, which are completely new to me:

This is an Energy Recovery Ventilator or ERV. Basically, it allows for the exchange of outside air through the HVAC system while retaining the heat/cold of that air to reduce energy use while maintaining a well air-sealed house.

Next up… septic is in!

This system is a bit more complex than our previous house because we required a sand filter here, but since we have lots of slope it didn’t require a pump. The tank is at the bottom of the photo, which feeds into the sand filter in the middle, and then to the drain field at the top.

After that, a lot of fill was moved around.

We had a bunch of tree stumps to dispose of, which they ended up digging a pit and burying, then used the excavated fill around the house and to more than double the width of the most treacherous part of the driveway. That gives quite a bit more shoulder to slide on to in the winter if the driveway is more slippery than it appears.

Much ado was made about drainage, which is still going to require some adjustments after we saw how it performed with the rain over the weekend. We also had some discussions about what the county was going to require regarding ditches, culverts, and “DIs” (drainage inlets/catch basins) if we cleared a parking area at the bottom of the hill. At the moment, the cost for doing what the county was going to require we put in were prohibitive, so I’m going to take that on as a side project on my own. But we did get the driveway stone in!

Inside, there’s been about a month’s worth of trim work and finish carpentry going on. I don’t have a lot of good pictures of this, but you get the idea with these:

There are a few more things I could show here, but I don’t want to spoil all the surprises just yet. Tile for the shower in the master bath is underway. Some of the lights have been hung and other finish electrical work is started. The painting/staining crew is back in this week to stain all the unfinished wood. Amanda and I are finishing a couple of pieces ourselves as well.

It’s kinda hard to imagine that we could be moving in by the end of the month. There is still a lot stuff that’s in progress or needs to be done. All the basement plumbing and finish plumbing, flooring, lots of lights to hang, countertops, remaining trim work, gutters, and the garage floor needs to be poured. But at the same time, we’re trying to determine how and when to get all our stuff to the new house, which is currently at three people’s houses, in two storage units (one stationary, one mobile) and one old pop-up camper. So close, yet so much more adventure to go! Stay tuned…