Colors of our House Build Progress

Photos for this week’s post follow the red, white, blue theme combined or on their own. Here’s the first photo that my media library surfaced when I searched on red:

Is this nice red and white photo have you asking, what is that? Keep reading. It is definitely a part of our shouse (shop/house) build. So for this week, I decided it was time to put together a few photos documenting our shouse build progress.

The zip tie photo above is just before our shop concrete floor was poured. It’s a fun glimpse at our hydronic floor tubing (red) and what felt like 1 million zip ties (white) I used to secure the tubing in place. Mr. concrete guy was very impressed with my zip ties as it made their job easier with no worrying about the tube floating up to the surface or being cut when they do the saw cuts.

Recap July-December 2023

Nearly a year ago, ground was broken, forms were set, concrete started to take the shape of forms and stem walls. A blue crane came and went multiple times depositing concrete mix for the crew to systematically nudge and smooth in place.

During the peak heat season Steve and I built out the indoor pool which needed to be done before framing could begin. Once the pool (with a blue liner) was built out, additional fill was added followed by the last concrete pour. Our target was to get the place dried in so we could lock up and leave. We’d not get much done in freezing structure through winter.

The concrete and earth work took several weeks and included a period of no concrete being available to even haul in. The framers were ready before we were due to the final pool concrete pour. At the beginning of September, framing started, stopped, started, then finally by week 3 we had them every day til dark. Two framers, sometimes 3 made this a long phase before they were done.

A big milestone was swinging our trusses up on the roof. Under the dark blue of twilight the large trusses were lifted and secured in place.

Our final goal was met, the house was considered dried in. Steve and I placed on the roofing underlayment in between snow storms to keep the wetness at bay for the next 3 months.

Spring Activity

We got restarted in mid March or tried to restart. It was still plenty cold here making work inside the house challenging, but Steve started plugging away at the sewer plumbing lines. Notice how we keep sticking to the blue color theme?

It took over a month before the weather would comply long enough for roofing to begin. Our roofer, Casey came out on site as soon as the roof was dry. Two weeks later, Casey along with his guys and Steve formed a four man crew wrangling 43′ long panels up on the roof. Two weeks with a few days of rain and wind in the middle and our roof was finally done. Now, I’m breaking from the color theme of this post as the roof isn’t red, white or blue.

I won’t bore you with more photos of wiring or ABS pipe connections but know that when Steve wasn’t roofing he was spending most of his work day diving into electrical wiring. We estimated 3000′ if not more of wire has been installed, plus CAT cable and last will be a few low voltage lines.

While Steve continued working on electrical and plumbing, I was able to find a siding contractor and a painting contractor to get the exterior finishes going.

Once their work was completed, Steve and I spent a couple of days, installing metal corrugated panels on two sides of the house.

The last pieces will be a stone veneer on the front (seen from the road) wall; that’ll happen after the driveway is poured which isn’t until after drywall material gets trucked in. When we completely paint the interior, I’ll tackle all of the exterior door painting.

Red, White and Blue

Although many of our construction pictures did fit the red, white, and blue photo theme, I think this one is also a better fit. Our local red robin with his proud red chest, blu-gray feathers and white belly are fun entertainment after the sprinklers are done running and the worms are easily available. They also have been enjoying the cherry tree too!

Colorful birds seem to always be challenging to catch and up until now, unless they would remain still until I could approach closer, I could never catch a a photo of our red robins hanging in the yard.

I hope you enjoyed the photo construction update. We’ll be hanging out here through the summer with a goal of achieving a temporary if not full occupancy permit in the fall. Be nice to move out of the camper and into the home before the weather starts cooling down later in the year.

Our Previous Shouse Post Plus Dried In Tour Video

About the Photo Challenge

A weekly themed photo challenge hosted by Terri. Check out her Blog and come back to visit for more SundayStills and traveling posts!

More Sunday Still Posts

Thanks for visiting our travel blog and I hope you enjoyed finding the #SundayStills Challenge. You can join the weekly challenge by visiting our hosts blog Second Wind Leisure. and checking out Terri’s post for this week, Monthly Color: Red, White and Blue.