House in a Day

As promised, our new house was delivered by Blenker Building Systems early on Monday the 15^th. I can’t say “bright” since the day brought light rain showers, making for cold and muddy conditions. I sat out draped in rain gear much of the day to record the process since Marc ended up staying very busy overseeing the process and helping out where he could. All in all it was quite a transformation to go from basement foundation footings to a mostly-framed and sheeted house by the end of the day.

Although our house was ready, the crew was not and as it ended up we got a “borrowed crew-for-a-day” off another job site so the house still sits without its roof trusses erected and sheeted which normally would have been done the second day. It will be Marc’s job to do the actual roofing. The builder says his part will happen during Marc’s absence. Sometime soon, the crane operator will need to stack the trusses and get his equipment back and up next it’s also a priority that the basement concrete pour be completed so the excavator can complete his backfill and also get his equipment back. Our lot definitely looks like a construction yard at this point.

Blenker Building Systems is a proprietary wall system completed using computer aided jigs inside a factory setting so everything is put together on site much like pieces of an expertly constructed puzzle. There are no weather related issues to interfere and no man made mistakes or poor workmanship. Our main floor had nine exterior wall pieces which came completed with the windows and Tyvek and it was a wonder seeing them being swung in with precision by the crane operator and then nailed into place by the workers. It’s actually pretty incredible that this much work goes together in a period of around eight hours, isn’t it?

Yet to come is another portion to our home: the front porch. Footings need to be erected and poured before that can be delivered and attached. It will be screened and maybe eventually enclosed and is a very generous 14x28 feet. It will add a superb outdoor space to livability and is where our spa will also reside. Our basement walls are nine feet tall and we went with a wood basement rather than poured concrete. This allows for 12 inch thick walls which can handle a whooping R-44 factor insulation, far superior to what is available with a concrete foundation. On the main floor, we also went with nine foot ceiling height and a tall vaulted ceiling for the great room and kitchen. The house is about 1230 square feet but double that including the full basement. The basement will not be finished square footage to keep taxes lower but everything will be set up to accommodate future expansion if desired. 

Without further ado, here are a series of photos which mainly track the erection starting with the first basement wall and ending with the crew setting the main floor interior walls.