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.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
it's only Tuesday and we're done!!!
Phew!!! We did it!!! We passed the electrical final inspection!! yes- it WAS a big deal - because it's the last hurdle before the City of Bainbridge Island can issue us a Certificate of Completion ( OK - there's the septic system certification in the pipeline that COBI also needs - but I don't have anything to do with that at this stage). So - whether or not we'll get the COC before I go to Costa Rica next week is a moot point. The real point is that now we can relax - this phase of the push is over!!!(check out the latest pics )
We embarked on this electrical work in October - and we've valiantly blundered forward ( with the requisite several steps backward at each lurch) from drilling holes in the studs ( thank you Sarah!) to pulling the wires - often several times ( thank you Sarah!), to pulling the big main wires through the conduits ( Thank you Sarah and Teagan and Carol and Jodie and Robert and Dennis K), to installing breakers at the panel ( many thanks to Carol and Dennis K and Annie) , to installing outlets and switches ( thanks to Carol, Jodie, Teagan, Sarah, Dennis K, Annie), to firing up the main panel ( thank you Dennis and Annie) and getting the yurtlette panels hot and functioning ( thank you Annie) - and the many hours and many gray hairs that pushed their way out of my head as I struggled with the spaghetti of wires pushing their way out of the many many three and four way switches ( what was I thinking?!!). Anyway - our 5 month apprenticeship is OVER!!( the only difference between me and someone who's gone thru the entire 5 year apprenticeship program is that they understand what they're doing....).
Have you noticed a theme in this tale....that Sarah has had a hand in just about every stage of this house building. And she's turning into quite the kick-ass carpenter!! She's already garnered several offers from other builders. Her humor, can-do attitude ( and 'attitude'), willingness to jump in to any project, desire to learn, and generally being a good sport and good egg have made it a pleasure to come to work every day, and made her an indispensable part of this home!!!
Sarah - you rock!!!
posted by Tere # 9:15 PM 