Building our new house
In early 2007, we began building our new Round House here at Sacred Groves with a vision to expand our residential community on this beautiful land.
We purchased 3 round structures from Oregon Yurtworks--a big house with a large round Great Room that has become the heart and hearth of the Sacred Groves community, and 2 yurtlettes, private bedroom-cabins for new residents. We are modeling a "small is beautiful" lifestyle with small personal spaces, sharing kitchen, bathrooms, laundry, living room. We are enthused about the joys and challenges of community living, committed to the spiritual and personal growth required for sharing life in this way.
This blog, which has the most recent entry at the top, tells the story of the construction of the new house, starting with the foundation built Spring 2007. Carpenter and Groves resident Tere Carranza has managed the project from start to near-finish.
Monday, October 22, 2007
October moves us toward completion slowly but surely!
Work continues steadily this month. The plumbing 'rough-in' has been completed and Tere prepares to do the electrical rough-in, seeking advisement and supplies, drawing out the plan for the 'panel.' Meanwhile Sarah has been steadily laying the twice-recycled floor boards in the main room. Now THIS is GREEN BUILDING at its finest! These boards were purchased last spring from a guy who salvages and re-sells lumber. They were originally part of a warehouse floor in Seattle. We used them initially to make forms for our foundation. Since then, they've been sorted and cleaned and now being laid for the floor! Several people really like the colors and textures of the wood, but we DO plan to sand and re-finish it. We're buying salvaged wood for the walls too--Jeff just brought it today. Considering how much we cherish our forests, it feels really good to avoid using more virgin timber for this house. (for more photos click here.)
With my right hand still a bit 'lame' (tendonitis? Carpal tunnel syndrome?) I've been busy on the computer researching appliances through Consumer Reports. OH MY!!--there is so much to learn! Last week Tere and I went into Seattle to a lighting store--another OH MY!! It looks like we could spend $5000-7000 on basic lights if we aren't careful. There are thousands of choices--how to decide!!?? Appliances are like that too, but consumer reports offers good information to help sort through the options. THANK GOD for that good service!
We're hoping to complete the electrical rough-in within a week or so because the insulation is scheduled to be 'blown in' next week. The gutters will be installed next week too (none-too-soon!! We've already had some heavy rains resulting in mud and puddles all around).
I could tell you a funny story about our failed attempts to install our first toilet last Saturday, which resulted in water spurting straight up to the ceiling unexpectedly! Imagine me trying to hold back the geyser by standing on a crumpled blanket on top of the leak that was ineffectively plugged with plumbers putty while Tere ran all over trying to figure out what to do! It was "one of those moments....", pretty humorous actually. But we had it figured out and cleaned up within a half hour--not too bad! But we STILL don't have a toilet..... We ARE looking forward to using that $30K septic system someday soon!!
posted by therese # 3:54 PM 