Alpacas Around
the House
The house is being built!
Sure, we have alpacas, llamas, horses, and bunches of other animals... but up until now they haven't really been around the
house because there wasn't one.

But we broke ground in March 2007, and from here on I will be updating this page with pictures of our progress.  
The foundation crew arrives!
Ready to dig the footers
Trackhoe ready to dig
Steve compacting the footer trenches
Footers poured and blocks ready for stemwalls
Stemwalls in and ready to be filled with dirt
View of the site from the second floor of the barn
Another shot from the barn a month later, this time with the stemwall filled and plumbing being laid in.
Ground view looking East (from septic tank)
Ground view looking North-West (Master Bath plumbing)
Ground view looking West (cleanout outside side garage door)
On the pad, looking South-East (garage bath plumbing)
This is a view of the underslab electrical boxes for the kitchen area...
These are the underslab electrical boxes for the main living area...
During the last week of May 2007, we received the OK on both the Rough Plumbing 1 and Slab
Electrical rough in inspections.  The piping and conduit have now been buried, and the concrete
contractor should be back within the next 2 weeks to dig the piers for the building frame and pour
the slab.  I had planned to take pictures of the buried piping, but on June 1st Tropical Storm Barry
decided to come through and drench us with rain.  Oh well, we needed it, and it'll help resettle the
dirt under the slab area.  I'll add a picture or two once Barry passes by...
Tropical Storm Barry 6-2-2007, Projected Path
Bulldozer and dumptruck filling the stemwall
It took about 28 of these truckloads of fill dirt to fill the stemwall area.
Well, Barry didn't cause any issues, but I didn't get any pictures before the concrete crew showed up on June 19th to start
the preparations for the piers and slab.  Following are some pictures of the site prep before the pour.
Crew starting to dig out the hole for the piers. There are 10 5'X5'X3' piers, and 4 3'X3'X3' piers.
Hole for one of the 5' X 5' X 3' deep piers. Rebar will be added next.
Another view of the three of the piers on the West end of the slab.
After the piers were dug, the pad was sprayed for termites, then covered in a heavy plastic vapor barrier.
Once the plastic was in place, 2 layers of rebar mesh were set into the hole, tying into the stemwall.
This is the recess for the Master Bath shower. By recessing it into the slab first, it can be built up to be flush with the floor later.
After everything was ready, the inspector OK'd the site for pouring.  Following are pictures from
Wednesday, June 20th when the piers were done.  They took about 30 cubic yards of concrete.  
At the same time, all the J bolts for the building and doorways were set in place in the concrete.
Concrete going into the pier. Note the 27 inch J bolts in the foreground ready to be set into the concrete.
Piers all poured and J bolts set. The rebar hairpins are in place and will be under the main slab.
The piers were allowed to set for a day, then the slab was poured on Friday, June 22nd.  The boom
pump truck arrived at about 6:20 AM, and the first of 8 cement trucks arrived about 1/2 hour later.  
The slab took about 75 cubic yards of concrete.
The boom pump truck and the first load of concrete.
Winnie on the road into the house. Concrete crew still at it...
Concrete crew spreading the slab.
Another view of the completed slab from the second floor of the barn. Concrete crew is putting the final finish on.
A view of the poured slab with the pump truck from the second floor of the barn.
It's a slab!!!
Preparing to erect the framing, view from back (in barn loft).
Main uprights in place
Side girts being installed
Sides and roof supports in place, ready to start siding
First panel going up!
Back wall in place
Rounding the corner to the East wall.
Starting in September, we decided to have a crew do the actual red iron and siding
assembly.  Following are pictures of the progress as we move forward.
Building is now completely enclosed, and the inside walls are framed in.  Plumbing and electrical are roughed in and things are
moving along.  I realized I have no pictures beyond these...  obviously we've been too busy working to record the progress.

We will take some more recent pictures and add them soon!