Day Three

Monsoons zero,Us zero. No rain today, in fact it was a beautiful, clear day but the roof joists are still too wet to roof on Friday. And, the roofer doesn't work on weekends so even though we are nearly dried out what are the chances of staying dry for three more days until Monday? Not looking good but maybe the weatherman will be wrong.

Day Two...

Day two: Monsoons two, us zero!!!!

We Lost

Just like in the Tour de France, our race with the monsoons is going to be one with several stages. Today the monsoons won. They dumped right on our house again around noon so no roof sealing this Wednesday. Luckily the plumber and electrician can still work so things have not come to a halt yet. Though, I guess the plumber and his helpers got pretty wet today! Stay posted for the latest results.....

Why We Seal the Roof

As I have mentioned before, the monsoons are a hit and miss, scattered sort of event. The other night, we had just a sprinkle at the lot but the roads nearby were full of water. Today we were out at the house, we'd cleaned up after the workers and were just sitting around enjoying our various views. It sounded like it was starting to rain or even hail and we started getting ready to go to the car. I wasn't in a hurry because I wanted to see which overhangs actually would protect the windows or doors. Then we had hail, then thunder and lightening right above us and we didn't dare run out to the car. But after that we learned why we seal the roof. The roof is currently covered with OSB plywood with 1/8th inch gaps between each piece so they can swell if they get wet. But if Mother Nature puts enough water on the roof it all pours through those gaps, rather like a sieve! And, as we learned, whatever or whoever is underneath gets totally soaked. Suddenly we found ourselves standing in a half inch of water, sopping wet, and not daring to move. It let up after only a few minutes and we dashed to the car. After we got a bit dried off we decided that since the rain seemed to have stopped we ought to check out the drainage ditches and our erosion control work. All those seem to have worked as planned. We'll have to add some more rocks to slow the water in one area but it looked good. Of course, there wasn't much water coming out of the drainpipes since it was just coming through the ceiling!! THAT'S why we seal our roofs. We hope to seal ours this coming Wednesday. And when we drove away there was no water on any nearby roads!

Who Will Win the Race?

Officially the monsoons have begun. The definition is that the average dew point for the day be above 54 degrees for three days in a row. So "officially" the monsoon season began on this past Monday. We have had thunder and lightening shows for the past 3 nights, but not too much rain. It is still pretty scattered. Tonight we were at the lot and watched a huge cloud coming from the south across the city. Some rain fell at the lot but as we drove home we found the nearby roads running with runoff. Obviously the heavy rain had missed us. We are scheduled to have our roof dried in (sealed) on Wednesday, July 27th. That means we need little or better yet NO rain on the 26th and the 27th. The remnants of Hurricane Emily may arrive in our area on Saturday, which would certainly mean we would get soaked. So we continue to hope and pray that we can get the roof done before we get the rain we really need. As you can see from the pictures below the framing is nearly done. All the unique nooks and niches are going in now. It is truely beginning to look like the house we envisioned!
P.S. As I sat finishing this I heard a rustling outside the window and a faint, musky odor. A quick look and yes indeed the javalina family was visiting the neighborhood.

Our fireplace. We are proud of this because in the end we designed it ourselves, adapting it from a photo we saw. 

Finally all sheathed in. Note the chimney now has depth. 

Favorite Retreat Threatened By Fire

For our anniversery, a month ago, we got away to a cool, moist, woody area for a great respit from the heat and hard work of the house and family care. We went to the Chuperosa Inn B & B in Madera Canyon. It is actually a world-famous birding area and though we are not birders we did identify a number of birds we had never seen before. We throughly enjoyed ourselves and were delighted to know there was such a lovely retreat spot available to us. About a week ago one of the pre-monsoon storms spewed lightening without rain and sparked a fire, now called the Florida Fire (pronounce: flor-ee-da), in the mountains which surround Madera Canyon. Yesterday all residents of the area were evacuated. The firefighters expect to save the structures in the area but we fear for the unique environment of the canyon. I'm afraid our retreat will be unavailable for this summer anyway. So I'm sharing the photo below of this wonderful location. Arizona isn't all desert!! Much as we'd like the monsoons to hold off for our roof's sake we really need some rain.

Chuparosa Inn in Madera Canyon. 

More Framing Progress

This week we have seen the roof line becoming more evident. With several different heights it had been hard to see what went with what but now you can tell which walls match up to each other. We are still missing a few interior walls, seemingly all in spots I have cabinets planned, so we can't order those yet. But the windows have been measured so bit by bit things are progressing. Both the entry porch and the rear patio have been framed in. Perhaps tomorrow the porch with city views will get done. We figure we have at least a full week of framing left. Our neighbors' homes are moving right along. We run into them out at the site often now, as we all are out checking on our homes. I have to admit I'm jealous that they are several months ahead of us, but then we are learning from both their mistakes and successes!

The roof line is becoming more evident. A covered porch will be added soon. 

It is beginning to look more like the architect's drawings every day. Front entry shown here. 

The house interior, from great room towards kitchen and including foyer area. 

Crane Day

Saturday was "Crane Day" at the site. At 6:30 am the cane arrived and the operator decide the trash bin was in his way. So, with his crane, he picked it up and moved it over. I missed the great photo when he had it 6 feet in the air. Once that was done he used the crane to place several stacks of roofing OSB on top of the walls. Then he set 3 large beams in place. The framers had nailed several feet of wall framing to the top of the beams so that they were actually setting whole sections of wall in place. Last of all the crane placed the special trusses on top of the great room and the carpenters nailed them in place. The crane sure saved alot of labor, and even provided some humor when it got stuck in the back yard for a while.

Here come the special order trusses. 

The easy way to put up a big beam! 

Putting the roof sheathing materials on top of the house. 

"Get this trash bin out of my way!"