Yes, I’m in Maine. I honestly never thought I would come here. Those who know me well, know I’m a Southern girl through and through and the thought of going “up north” well, just seemed bizarre. However, Andrew had taken a trip to Maine on the Appalachian trail when he was a teenager and when the opportunity presented itself, he was very excited. The house is being built for his good buddy, Noah, and his family. It’s not a “normal” house project on several aspects.
First, Andrew, his helper (Juan), and Noah are the sole constructors of the house. In most home constructions, there’s a main contractor who oversees the job, and then there are sub contractors (like plumbers, electricians, roofers, carpenters, etc.) that fulfill the ‘hard labor’ portions of the job. So almost every aspect of the home is constructed by Andrew and Juan. There have been a few things that have been outsourced, the grading, concrete flatwork and septic tank, but the bulk rests in Andrew’s hands, although I’m absolutely positive that Andrew would have loved to have his hands on the big grading equipment to even do that portion by himself, the man loves tools!
The other thing unusual about this home’s construction is the material. In Georgia, most homes are stick built, this home’s exterior frame is composed by styrofoam forms filled with concrete. In Maine it gets cold – big surprise, right? Well, I’ve lived portions of my life in Idaho and Utah and the wet cold you get up here is ten times more cutting – and it’s only OCTOBER!!! The house that Noah and Mindy rented last year is quite interesting. It’s absolutely beautiful in that it sits on a point in the bay and from almost every angle you can see the water, but the house itself, oh my! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is a solar powered home, meaning there is no power running to the house. at. all. So if it’s a cloudy day, the house must have a generator to charge the batteries to the house so the house has power. This also means you can’t leave the house without having someone house sit because the batteries are required to maintain a certain level – what a pain, I know! And from what I’ve heard, the worst is yet to come. In the winter time the cost to power the generator can climb upwards of $800 a month, and that’s with the house’s heat set at the lowest bearable levels – yikes! Lucky for Noah and Mindy they will be out of the rental house before the cold, hard winter sets in, which brings me back to their new home being constructed. The reason for the concrete and foam is it’s incredibly insulating qualities. The local hardware supplier has even done a feature on the home as an excellently built energy efficient home – pretty exciting! So it’s great for it’s warmth and protection, but it is a more time consuming and tedious process than a stick built constructed home.
Mindy and Noah keep a blog on the home’s construction titled Building a Little House in the Big Woods – after the Laura Ingalls Wilder book “Little House in the Big Woods”, the home is even constructed off Ingalls Road – cute, huh?
We are hoping the house will be nearing completion by the end of November as that’s when they will be moving in, no matter what is completed. Noah will build the cabinetry himself, so we will need to make sure the drywall and electrical (not to mention plumbing) is at least completed in the next few weeks. As of today the siding is now going up and the roof has been completed (yippee!!!). Soon we’ll see placement of windows and doors which will make it a lot warmer to work on the inside.
I am very excited for this project’s completion. It’s been an excellent experience to come up here and build this house. I have really come to love Maine, but I know my heart is in Georgia and I can’t wait to go home. Mindy and Noah have been the best hosts to us while we are here; we have really enjoyed all their home cooked meals and their company. However, we miss home. It’s been hard to be away with all the flooding going on and having to rely on others to make sure our home is safe. We miss our home and have come to realize how much we have taken it for granted. We miss our friends and family, so it will be extra special for us to be home for the holidays. We’ll be happy to leave the Dean’s with a strong, warm home that they will hopefully enjoy for many years to come, and we will be happy to come and visit – in the summer, of course :).
Get ready, house in progression…
Mindy with the kids (from left to right – Jonah, Phebe, Tabitha, and Abel)
Andrew talking to Jerry, the grader
The beginning of a graded driveway/road
Surveying the foundation
Footings poured, getting a gravel bed – the equipment to distribute the gravel was not able to be there the day they needed to spread the gravel so Andrew devised the plan of sliding the rocks in with a ramp, well, they didn’t really slide. It was a lot of work with Noah manually pushing down the gravel and Andrew and Juan distributing the gravel around the foundation.
Noah pushing (or pulling) rocks – this is what Professor Dean does in his spare time :)
I want Noah’s job!
Laying the foam forms
Even Madeleine helped!
First wall pour – super scary, we had our fingers crossed the whole day! Blow outs (concrete exploding through weak spots) are very common, but we were soooo blessed!
The massive pump truck, piped the concrete into the walls. Here the truck is ready for a refill.
Andrew walking back a refill
Another refill – move over cow!!!
Beginning actual framing in the basement
After my trip home, this is what I came back too. Second floor going up.
This is the view of creek/river running along the property
We’ve had a couple bonfires and finally created a makeshift table, Madeleine enjoyed it, especially the cookies. Too bad my Dawgs lost that day :(
Roof ready to receive shingles
View from the top story windows overlooking the drive
View from the family room windows
Looking from the eat-in kitchen/dining area to the family room and at the end, the library
This past weekend it was finally warmer than the 40s so we brought lunch to the daddies. Mindy’s kids even had some yummy ice cream.
Madeleine with Juan, and Andrew and Juan beginning the siding.
Okay, so Madeleine had some ice cream too. It made her so cold she had to sit in the car to warm up right afterwards.
Madeleine’s a great overseer.
This house with shingles, I love the picture of Mindy looking at the house. Mindy is such a hard-worker. When Noah was bed-laden with a fever, Mindy hauled shingles up the ladder to make the roof come together faster – quite impressive!
Juan making the cut, and Noah happy to see the house coming together.
Don’t forget your gloves – it’s cold!!!
