Snow Day

There was a dusting of snow today - and school was cancelled here. It's all relative. (Higher elevations do get big amounts, and it's not safe for the school buses.) And no sheetrock today, since workers got snowed in.

We're very happy with the stained glass windows we put beside the front door. They travelled from St. Augustine to Boston, back to FL and now here...

When we get back from our Thanksgiving travels, we should be almost ready for final inspections. Crawling to the finish line!

Seems like a good sign...

...but forget about the pot of gold - it's spent!

Concrete Karma

Seems like fate, after working on the Big Dig (3.8 million cubic yards of concrete), that we'll be living on this slab. It's good to use with radiant floor heat and works well as thermal mass for the passive solar heat. The floor will be sealed next week. Stay tuned for stucco and sheet rock...

A series of tubes...

...not to be confused with the Ted Stevens series of tubes. Radiant floor heat has been around for centuries in different forms. It's very comfortable, efficient and clean. Concrete will be poured on this pex tubing. Our hot water boiler will heat water that will go through these tubes and warm the slab. Deco will be ecstatic, but we're really not doing this just for her!

It was a busy and productive week. The crew installed all the windows, and Jackie and I unloaded the Pod over the weekend. We ask the perennial questions, why so much stuff and why do we keep lugging it around with us?

We really love these Avonni windows - they are aluminum clad outside and wood on the inside. They are manufactured locally and go really well with our metal roof. Glazing is one of the key elements of passive solar heating.

Not sure we mentioned one of the best sources of information about this type of construction - The Passive Solar House by Dan Chiras.

One of these photos shows the glass block that will be over the countertops in the kitchen (reduces the need for daytime lighting - Jackie's good idea!). Chris the Plumber and Jeramy, our project manager, are in this picture.

Halfbacks

People who move from the north to Florida (which they discover is as hot as hell, surprise!), and then halfway back to North Carolina are halfbacks. It's not technically halfway, but there's foliage and snow, so it's very un-Florida like.

We are officially here, but can't move in to our house until the last few details are finished - windows, doors, floors, sheetrock, boiler... Many updates to follow this week!