| Construction Photos | ||
|---|---|---|
| The back deck again. | May,08,2008 | This is the view of the back of the house and back deck from the east looking west. |
| The back deck. | May,08,2008 | The back deck runs the entire length of the house and is 12 feet in depth. The deck provides easy access to our greenhouse as seen in the picture. |
| The guest bedroom and back deck exit. | May,08,2008 | The guest bedroom has its own door out onto the back deck. |
| The guest bedroom. | May,08,2008 | The guest bedroom is small but comfortable. |
| The guest bathroom. | May,08,2008 | The guest bathroom is located between the guest bedroom and the office. |
| The mud room. | May,08,2008 | The mud room was used as the final construction material staging area. We built a pedestal for the washer and dryer and trimmed it with the same tile accents used for the master shower. |
| The master shower. | May,08,2008 | The master shower was designed to contain two independent shower heads and a nice bench. There are three different kinds of tiles used. |
| The master bathroom vanity area. | May,08,2008 | The master bathroom is located between the mud room and the master bedroom. Here you can see the vanity area. |
| The living room area looking out to the back deck. | May,08,2008 | This is a view looking out the three large back windows in the great room onto the back deck. |
| The living room area again. | May,08,2008 | This is a view of the great room area showing the small wood stove that we will use for atmosphere and quick heating. |
| The living room area. | May,08,2008 | This is a view of the great room area. |
| The dining area. | May,08,2008 | This is a view of the dining area. It is all actually contained in the one big great room. |
| The front door. | May,08,2008 | This is a view of the front door and kitchen area. |
| Standing on the front deck. | May,08,2008 | We did pretty good in the estimation of materials for the house construction but as you can see we had several boxes of tiles left over. |
| Finished finally! | May,08,2008 | Well, the house is finally finished and we have moved in. Here is a view of the front deck and two entry doors. |
| Exiting the control room | March,30,2008 | Looking to the south exit of the control room you can see the small 8" Meade LX200R telescope that I use to write the software to control the larger telescopes. I use this telescope for public star parties and other educational purposes. |
| Observatory "Nerve Center" | March,30,2008 | In place now are the four new Dell computers that run the telescopes, CCD cameras and all observatory roll-off operations as well as weather monitoring data. Each telescope/roll-off has its own dedicated computer running the software necessary to manage the entire system without human intervention. |
| Computer builds in progress | March,30,2008 | This is the back communications room of the control room. Here is where I am building out the hardware to operate the many telescopes and their roll-off building. |
| Control room observing room | March,30,2008 | The observing room is already being used to store many of the instruments and other equipment to be used on the telescopes. |
| Into the control room | March,30,2008 | The entrance to the control room looking due north. |
| Valley view from the first roll-off | March,30,2008 | This view is looking west from inside the roll-off observatory. The wall is only 5 feet in height so that the telescope view west is not obstructed. |
| Telescope pier again | March,30,2008 | The telescope pier is isolated from the surrounding building by an air gap of about 1/2" to prevent any vibrations from being transmitted to the telescope when the building is occupied. A weatherstriping will be installed to keep out insects. |
| Telescope pier | March,30,2008 | Here is a shot through the small access "hatch" looking at the pier that the telescope is to sit on. |
| Roll-off extended | March,30,2008 | This picture shows the framework of the roll-off roof rolled out to its full extension. |
| Roll-off concrete pier | March,30,2008 | This picture shows the massive concrete pier that the telescope sits on. There is about 1.5 yards of concrete and rebar in the pier. |
| My other project | March,30,2008 | On my off days from house construction (the weekends) I have to focus on my other major project, the observatory. Here you can see the finished control room and the first roll-off roof building under construction. There are three others to be constructed this spring so there is no rest for the weary. |
| The forgotten cable | March,30,2008 | Our contractor (and friend) and I are diging a ditch to run the phone conduit through. I guess I didn't think of everything but the recovery was fairly easy. |
| The back patio deck | March,30,2008 | This view from the greenhouse shows the patio deck leading to the various entrances to the house from the south side. |
| The guest bedroom view | March,30,2008 | Looking out the guest bedroom window to the southeast you can see the valley and meadows far below. Quite often the elk and deer are seen grazing there next to the creek. |
| The guest bathroom | March,30,2008 | The guest bathroom is also a convenient place to stage materials. |
| The guest room | March,30,2008 | This is a shot from the office into the guest room. Tiling should be finished this week. |
| The office closet | March,30,2008 | Just a shot of the completed office/spare room closet. There is a storage location on top of the closet, this contains an electrical outlet for indirect lighting should we use them for decorative storage. |
| The office | March,30,2008 | The office/spare room is the first room that is complete. It is the staging area for the lighting and fans to be installed next week. The electrical outlets are not yet installed but that should be finished this week as well. |
| The back patio deck | March,30,2008 | This view of the framing of the back patio deck is from inside the great room looking south. |
| The great room stage and construction site | March,30,2008 | Here is another view of the staging and working area in the middle of the great room. |
| Kitchen cabinets and counters awiting installation | March,30,2008 | We had the cabinets delivered on Thursday and have them staged for installation this week. The only place big enough to stage them and still work is the great room so that is where they are located. |
| The mud room | March,30,2008 | Our mud room is probably going to be our main entrance into the house. Here you can see the floor tiles that Jerry (our contractor) and I laid on Wednesday and notice the elevated platform, this is where the washer and dryer go. |
| The main house | March,30,2008 | This is a picture taken outside the studio looking to the southeast at the main house. |
| Greenhouse with main house and studio | March,30,2008 | This shot is from the entrance to the greenhouse and you can see the main house (nearly complete) and the studio/shop in the background. |
| Four baby fruit trees | March,30,2008 | We have an orange, lime, lemon and tangerine tree just in their beginning. |
| Greenhouse coming right along | March,30,2008 | The greenhouse is now home to many newly sprouting fruit trees and vegetables. |
| Greenhouse Completed! | February,04,2008 | The greenhouse is now complete except for the live electric and water. |
| Inside the greenhouse | February,04,2008 | A picture of the inside of the greenhouse. |
| Inside the greenhouse "Part Duex" | February,04,2008 | Another picture of the inside of the greenhouse. |
| Greenhouse walls | January,20,2008 | The walls are nearly ready and we will be getting help placing the roof onto them soon. I have plumbed water and power into the greenhouse for the drip system and control functions. |
| Greenhouse under construction | January,20,2008 | The greenhouse is a 8-1/2'X20-1/2' structure and has to be assembled in phases. Here you see the roof section ready for lifting onto the walls. |
| Inside plumbing | January,20,2008 | The inside plumbing, both drains/vents and piping is nearly finished. |
| Front closed tight | January,20,2008 | This is a shot of the front of the house showing the doors and windows and also the redwood that was delivered for the front deck. |
| Framing everywhere | January,09,2008 | This is a shot looking at the framing in the ceiling, roof and walls as seen from the master bedroom. |
| Looking at the front patio | January,09,2008 | The roof makes up a 10 foot ceiling that covers the entire front patio deck. |
| Roof installed | January,09,2008 | The roof was installed and covered with the protective barrier cloth. |
| In the shower | January,04,2008 | Here you can see the framing that makes up the master bathroom shower. Donna is posing in the shower. |
| I think I got it straight! | January,03,2008 | Jerry Miller, our wonderful contractor and friend, puts the final check on the final truss just before attachment. He is one dedicated individual to making things right and "perfect". |
| Trusses and the west eve. | January,03,2008 | Here you can see the roof trusses and the west end eve construction. All the trusses are up at this point. |
| Final truss install. | January,03,2008 | Here the whole construction crew is installing the last of the trusses for the roof. |
| One awesome porch! | January,03,2008 | This view is from the northeast corner of the house looking down the front porch overhang. It is a full 10' porch cieling and will have the deck set at the height of the tow visible doors. |
| The first roof truss. | December,31,2007 | In this image you can see the first roof truss being hoisted up on the roof. What a machine that fork lift is! You can also see the start of our front porch top 4"X6" beams, man this is going to be great! Happy New Year! |
| Our to-be great room. | December,20,2007 | This is a view of our grate room looking south from standing in the kitchen. The view is going to be spectacular! |
| Some details. | December,20,2007 | Here we see some details of the general interior wall construction. All ceilings are 10 foot in height. |
| Another shot of the interior walls. | December,20,2007 | Today just about everything came together with only a few minor modifications requested. |
| Interior walls. | December,20,2007 | All but three small interior walls have been installed and we have ordered the windows and doors. |
| Master bedroom view. | December,19,2007 | Here is a view looking out the master bedroom door that leads onto the back 12 foot deck. |
| Our great room view. | December,19,2007 | Here is a view looking out our great room windows to the south. El Paso Texas and Mexico lay beyond. |
| First inside walls. | December,19,2007 | The last exterior wall is up, and the interior wall construction has begun. |
| Three up. | December,19,2007 | The third of the exterior walls is up, one more to go. |
| Two up. | December,17,2007 | Two walls up, two more exterior walls to go. This was another good days work! |
| The second wall. | December,17,2007 | Here is the second wall being placed in the upright position with this awesome forklift. All exterior walls are constructed of 2X6" boards and all walls are 10 feet tall on their inside, finished, dimension. |
| The first wall closer. | December,17,2007 | Here is a close up of the first of the four outside walls in place. |
| The first wall. | December,17,2007 | Here is the first of the four outside walls in place. We are on the way now! |
| A view to the west. | December,13,2007 | A view to the west from our "master bedroom" to be. |
| Floor installation complete. | December,13,2007 | Here we see the floor installation at nearly 100% complete. |
| Floor installation in progress. | December,13,2007 | Here we see the floor installation at nearly 50% complete. |
| Joists from the crawl space. | December,12,2007 | This is looking up from the crawl space door at the joist bottoms. |
| Another look. | December,12,2007 | A different perspective. |
| A closer look. | December,12,2007 | This is a closeup look at the joists. |
| Floor joists are installed. | December,12,2007 | The floor joists have been recieved and installed. |
| Side access door. | November,27,2007 | The access door goes to the "crawl space" (8' max, 4' min) where the solar how water heater and control system will be placed. Additionally this is access to the under floor water heating system that will be installed upon house completion. |
| Block installation is true. | November,27,2007 | The concrete blocks can't get much straighter than this, and all done in 1/2 day by a really good team. |
| Footing blocks installed. | November,27,2007 | The concrete blocks have been installed and soon will come the floor joists and flooring. |
| Footing blocks staged near footing trench. | November,8,2007 | The concrete blocks will be installed after the footing concrete is poured. |
| Footing blocks arrive on the scene. | November,7,2007 | Load of concrete blocks for the footings being delivered. |
| Maybe two can do it better? | November,5,2007 | Sometimes, like most times up here, it takes two to get a job done. |
| I truly believe we have about 4 inches of top soil here somewhere. | November,5,2007 | Well that might be a bit ambitious, it's probably more like 2 inches! |
| I know I put that water line here somewhere! | November,5,2007 | This is Jerry Miller, Jerry Miller Construction, our contractor and a good friend. |
| Curious critters | November,5,2007 | It would appear that all the construction activites aren't stopping our animal visitations. |
| An unexpected visitor | November,5,2007 | A small rattle snake came to sun and watch the activities. This was the first we ever saw! |
| The initial ground breaking | November,5,2007 | We needed all the power available to break through the rock up here! |