It's Taking Shape

They have been working almost every week day on our construction project and we now have a really good idea of what it looks like.

The framer crew chief kidded around as I took his picture. Do you suppose he really could hold up the frame?

After they had the walls built, the roof trusses were delivered and installed, then fiber board put down for the roof.

The roofer was here the last two days, putting down several layers of roofing. The second photo shows you what the finished roof looks like.

At this point, the ducts for the heat and air conditioning are in, the lights and electrical outlets are installed. There will be an inspection by the county, then drywall, insulation and stucco will be completed. We are please with how fast they are working now.

We had impatiently waited for months for this construction to begin. The resort owners insisted construction in this part of Superstition Views not begin until after Easter. There are still four model homes on this street. After seeing how crowded the street is while there are working, we can see why we had to wait.

Construction Begins!

We bought our Arizona winter home in October and at that time signed a contract for the concrete rv pad and driveway and for a workshop to be built next to the house. The concrete was poured in January and we have been anxiously waiting for construction to begin on the workshop. Finally, Monday they started work!

First, the framers started bringing out their tools.

Since the lumber hadn't been delivered yet, they borrowed some from a nearby work site.

Finally, the full lumber load arrived.

By the end of the first day, they had all the studs in place, as well as the supporting beams in.

We are so excited to see this project take place. We plan to stay here until most of the work is done. That way we can answer any questions they have, as well as understand how the room is put together. Neither of us knows much about construction, so we are really enjoying seeing the work progress and learning something in the process.

The crew returned today and this is what our workshop and car port look like at the end of the work day.

Things Are Happening

It has been a month and a half since we bought our house in Arizona.  We have been busy buying everything we need to furnish it, while waiting for the contractors to prepare the rest of the site and pour the concrete for our driveway and RV pad.  Finally, there is activity in our front yard.

Other workers arrived and began removing the rocks along the edge of the house. They put them in a wheel barrow and arranged them on the other side of the house.

These fellows doing the work have gotten a kick out of me taking pictures and at times have hammed it up for the camera.

I have never watched anything built like this, so it has been very interesting. A workshop will be built next to the house in the spring. They are digging trenches for the footings now, so that concrete can be laid at the same time they pave the driveway. It is a lot of hard, physical labor. They even use a small jack hammer at times.

The tractor grades the site. Before the driver began that, he used a site like surveyors use. You can see that in one of the photos above where they were showing off for me.

When they left for the night, we had a big pile of dirt in the front yard.

On Thursday, Dan the plumber arrived. He had to dig a trench for the sewer and water lines that provide full hookups for our RV.

Dan has been very friendly and more than willing to explain what he is doing. Here he is putting a red sleeve on the blue water pipe, protecting the pipe from the dirt.

Here is the completed trench and the pipes waiting to be connected to the utilities underneath the house.

We're not the only ones interested in what is going on. This morning I looked out and saw these four men, neighbors I guess, who stopped by and asked Dan about the project.

Late this morning, Randy, who is construction supervisor here for our builder Cal-Am Construction, came to see that everything was going well.  Woking with him, we made a couple of changes in the plans.  Randy has been great to work with, friendly, helpful and prompt to respond to any questions we have.

One thing he had to do today was mark out an area of concrete that has to be cut out next week. It is interesting to see what has to be done to connect the utilities from the house to the addition.