The House Project: Landscaping

They are beginning to work on the landscaping. Scott had me run up and take a look today at the progress that the guys with the earthmoving equipment are making on the west end of the garage. I think that we should have dug a little more of the hillside before we poured the foundation, but that's hindsight; the next time I am crazy enough to have a house built....

We have filled around the east end of the house, largely with the very nice rich soil from the Payette Formation sandstone soils on the north side of the property. (The house itself is on a basalt spine--very stable, but not good for grass.)


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Here's the Caterpillar guys at work on the west end of the garage, making sure that we have a walkway there, and some terracing to prevent heavy rains from bringing mud onto that wall.


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Here's the trench behind the house that leads from where the backup generator will sit to the regulator for the LP gas supply. The gas pipe will go in that trench.


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The little mound of rock and dirt beind the house is now gone. Those white LP gas tanks are temporary, while they repair the valve on the underground tank.


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The roofers are finally putting the top layer on the roof:


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Tiles in place in the family room--but not yet grouted:


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Here's John, the tile setter at work:


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Here's a corner of the dining room where the grout is in:


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You know that horrible joke about the old woman who asks the Scotsman, "What is worn under a kilt?" Well, I never wondered what goes under tile, but this is the answer: "HARDBACKER: THE ULTIMATE CEMENT BOARD"--a very hard surface that won't flex, and so won't break the tile.


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One of my readers suggested that I should very precisely map the location of the septic tank and leech field. Well, this picture suggests that I won't need to do that--that thing sticking up isn't going to disappear.


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I'm trying to get the appraiser for my credit union up there sometime next week--we should be close enough to complete for him to make a good guess. The ten acre property down the hill from us (the one with only an excellent, but not spectacular view) just sold for $130,000. Of course, it has a well and a septic tank in already, but that still makes the $55,000 we paid seem like a bargain. My wife wanted to buy that parcel also, just to make sure we didn't get any neighbors too close, but too late now!

Last house project entry.