So much has happened since my last building update, the best way to go over all of it is bullet points.

Walls

Exterior and interior walls are at elevation. This was probably the fastest part of the build. In a conversation with a friend, I realized that so far, there is no wood anywhere in the entire house. I’m so used to wood frames and drywall, I didn’t even think that we wouldn’t have it, but beyond that, everything is stone, brick, concrete and rebar. Kinda trippy!

Roof

I never really thought about how a concrete roof is constructed. Below are a couple pictures of the prep for our roof. They create a flat surface with wooden forms, build the bricks up to the roof level, lay copious amounts of rebar and pour into the wooden forms. I suspect they then pull the wooden forms out from the bottom and voila! Concrete roof! Pouring will commence this week.

Bovedas

When we first met Bruce (our builder) he took us around to a few of the houses he’d built and the owners were kind enough to allow us to tour and get a sense of what to expect. One of the places we toured resonated with us more than the others. The design was a bit more traditional/colonial and I liked the open spaces and light throughout the house. When we walked into the bedroom and looked up, were were struck by this beautiful domed ceiling of brick – a boveda – with a tiny nipple window at the top. One look at Switch confirmed that we were both as impressed. Curiously, the cost is not much more expensive than a regular roof, so we decided to do them in both bedrooms. The master bedroom boveda is nearly finished, and they will likely complete the second bedroom this week. I’m astounded about how fast they went up. The guy who does them is truly a master. Our neighbor took a video of him working and it is mesmerizing.

Hardware

I chose and purchased all the faucets and sinks for the house. I had been dreading this task – there is so much to choose from – but I narrowed it down by thinking about four basic principals:

• Clean and modern design
• Manual – hot/cold with separate handles
• Simple to use
• Easy to clean

We’re going with an undermount fireclay farmhouse sink because they are good for shorties like me and I think it will look good with the concrete counters. The prep sink in the island is stainless and also undermount. Here’s a picture of the bathroom faucets I chose:

Windows and interior doors

We are going with PVC. Before you poo poo, check out the wood grain on these doors. It really does look like wood and they’ll be very durable and will stand up to weather. They put a metal plate in the door to make it feel heavy like wood – which will also probably help with sound. The windows will be fine, but I’m dubious about the feel of the doors. Of course, we can always replace them later if we don’t like them.