Plumbing and HVAC are being roughed in. This view from the Laundry into the Wine Cellar shows material staged for HVAC work. The Wine Cellar is a room within a room: two parallel walls are framed — from this angle one for the Laundry and one for the Wine Cellar can be seen. There will be a lot of insulation between in inner and outer walls. Cooling is provided by the exposed foundation wall on the left, which is 5' below grade at the top and 16' at the bottom; tests indicate this wall will stay below 55°F. The slab floor of the cellar is thermally isolated from the slab of the other rooms, so it should be naturally cool as well.

We are now faced with making many decisions. Here, Pauline discusses with the architect where structural timbers will be visible and what implications that has for ceiling heights. Ceilings in the Dining Room and Kitchen will be over 13' high, which would be excessive were it not for the overall size and open style of the rooms. We have also been spending time selecting plumbing fixtures, looking at options for counter tops, flooring for the entry, and tile for the bathrooms. For some of the exterior masonry, we are considering using rocks we have found laying around the property. Any savings from doing that would be inconsequential; the appeal of it is to be able to say at least some of the house was constructed from material found on site.

There is a lot of equipment in the Mechanical Room: 4 furnaces, 3 air conditioners, 1 air-to-air exchange, 2 hot water heaters, 1 indoor air circulation system, 2 water pumps, 1 water softener, network switches, telephone exchange, alarm system, and probably more we don't know about yet. These pipes are the intakes and exhausts for most of that equipment. Since the heat-generating equipment is very efficient, the exhausts can be PVC pipe. This duct work takes up a corner of the Pantry. Other venting will join with this above the ceiling so we will have only one roof penetration on this end of the house.

Note: the curvature of the studs is an illusion due to the close-up lens.

April 6: About 6 people are working on framing and 2 on excavation. The piers that were to hold the entry roof were sinking, so they had to be removed and a new hole dug to the rock (about 16' down). Apparently, the excavation for the foundation weakened the soil quite a way out.

There has been more snow — almost 6" of very wet stuff fell two days before this photo was taken, then melted quickly. Of course, that makes things very muddy. We spread straw and sawdust around to help control the mud, but it is still a mess.