The time seemed to come to a crawl as we anticipated the completion of our new home, and has flown by so quickly since. We’ve loved living here for 4-1/2 months already. We’ve enjoyed one measurable snowfall (about 5" in early January), and Merri spotted three full-grown deer grazing in the woods, out behind the dog fence a week or so ago. I guess, if you’ve seen one (or three) doe, you’ve seen 'em all, but still, it was quite nice to have them meander through. 

I captured video all around the outside and inside the house back in October, not long after we moved in, but have just now taken the time to edit it together into a whirlwind tour. Here it is, at 4 minutes and change.

We opened the house, on behalf our our wonderful builder, HomeSource Builders, from 1-5 pm on Saturday and again Sunday. Over the weekend, about 600-700 people stopped by to tour, examine, compliment, and quiz us on everything from our choice of tile to how the geothermal HVAC system works.

Of the 40-or-so PoH 2016 entries, only a handful were owner occupied (as our was, of course). That makes for a little more interesting security puzzle. We had a couple of folks from HomeSource, including owner Tim Alexander and Henry (project manager), along with dear friends Melissa and Royce, who drove the 7 hours up from Valdosta, GA, to help out. In addition, our master landscape designer/installer April Carder was on hand, as were a few others. Happily, everyone was respectful of our furnishings, and nothing was broken or disapeared.

We were pleased to have opened our new home to so many appreciative visitors. We’ll do it all over again next weekend, (Oct. 15/16, 1-5 pm both days).

Here's a handful of morning, evening, and interior photos. More to come shortly, including an 8-minute rapid-fire video compilation of the entire 10-month building process.

Movers (Gasperson Moving & Storage of Asheville) had picked up all our stuff at the apartment earlier that day. They delivered our bed, a small table and a couple of chairs, so our first night at the new house was Tuesday night.

Wednesday, Gasperson delivered all that, plus everything they had been holding for us in their storage. The move went without a hitch. The Gasperson crew has always been professional, thorough, and accommodating.

Boxes and furniture are here and there, but we love being in! Quiet and peaceful, pitch dark at night, a garage to park in, room for the dogs to run.

Having broken ground last Nov. 15, the project took just about exactly 10 months.

Thursday, about 200 feet of dog fence will be installed, and more than 100 cu.yds. of mulch will be blown in to cover the dog area and the path we built to get around the side of the house between the levels.

Merri’s dear and wonderful friend, Melissa, and I schemed up a special birthday present (as if a new house wasn’t enough!) for Merri. Melissa drove up to Asheville from her home in Valdosta, GA (a 7-hour jaunt) to surprise Merri and stay through the weekend to help unpack and organize. The two of them have done these sorts of things for one another for decades.

The following pics show a snippet of the day’s move-in activities.

They now feel very confident of hitting Sept. 15 to turn over the keys to us. That's good, because we gave 30 days notice of moving out of our apartment on Aug. 16.

We now have electricity, natural gas, and water hooked up and running. The geothermal HVAC system was fired up today, and is cooling everything nicely. In the 8 hours from flipping it on until about 9 pm tonight, it brought the four zones down from an average of 80 degrees to 73, using about 875 watts of power, according to the very informative master thermostat. At a cost of about 12¢/KWH, total power cost to run the HVAC those 8 hours was about 75¢. Maintaining a temperature should use much less energy. I think we might get by with less than $1.50 a day, or about $45/month to heat/cool our 3,350 sq. ft. We'll track it and post updates.

No video today, but here are 4 photos I took tonight—the first night we could see how the place looks lit up. Not yet presentable, but looking mighty good to us for a work still in progress.

This short video is a quick tour of some of what’s been happening lately.

I went to Hill Top's warehouse, and saw lots and lots of old, reclaimed barnwood—a bit more rustic than the look we had in mind. Then, Mike’s partner, Mike McGrath, showed me a dusty stack of reclaimed cherry flooring planks from a farmhouse in eastern Tennessee.

That lit us up with possibilities. Planing the boards would reveal their grain, and the old beveled edges could be milled down to what’s called a “nickel gap” spacing. They did that, finished it with a deep coat of Water Seal, and in the past few days, installed it all. I made this quick, 1.5-minute promo video for them. It shows the process and the finished installation.

By the way, the cream coloring on the siding is merely the prime coat. as it was delivered from the factory. Fact is, the finish color will be a medium brown.

Counting down the weeks. According to the plan, we should take possession within 11 weeks. If so, that gives us 3 weeks to move in, fully unpack, and have the place presentable for the annual Parade of Homes, October 8 - 9 & 15 - 16. If we don't hit the planned move-in date around Sept. 10, the 1,500 people expected to come through for the Parade will get to see half-unpacked boxes. Very distracting. Lots of motivation to hit the target date…

Exterior progress. Siding is coming along, although nothing has its actual color applied to it yet. The cement fiber horizontal siding is complete, showing only its pre-applied prime coat. Stucco application is coming along on the stairwell tower and the “bump-outs” on the garage and Merri’s office. Reclaimed cherry flooring has been planed and milled and will soon be installed vertically around the front door and the windows above. TimberTech decking installation has begun.

Interior progress. Drywall hanging and finishing is complete. The maple stair treads and stringer boards have been deliverered. The maple hardwood flooring was delivered a few days ago, to become acclimated to the interior climate before installation starts Monday.

Underground and landscape progress. The geothermal loop has been connected and piped into the mechanical room. Water and power lines are both in and buried. Natural gas line is yet to come.

Work will begin on the hardscape portion of the landscaping plan the week of July 4, including the entrance to the driveway, water feature, and other large boulder features.

A fair bit of this 4-minute video touches on the geothermal installation. More about the wonders of geothermal heating and air conditioning and how it works (video) in this earlier post.

It may appear that we've fallen off the radar. However, lots has been going on—just not anything very photogenic.

• All rough plumbing has been installed.
• All ducting for the heating/cooling system and thermostat wiring is in.
• The quite complex electrical rough-in is done. That includes all recessed cans, switch and receptacle boxes, low-voltage wiring for LED strips, cable TV, internet, and phone drops.
• Fireblocking is complete in the floor trusses (spray foam insulation in nooks and crannies keeps potential fires from spreading quickly under the main floor).
• Some exterior roof soffits are done.
• Siding is on-site, ready to be installed.

As soon as rough-in inspection is complete, insulation will begin. It will be a combination of batts, blown-in cellulose, and spray-on foam, depending on where it's applied. That will be followed by hanging and mudding the drywall. We're hoping all that happens over the next two weeks.

In theory, as soon as the drywallers release the home back to the builder, it’ll be another 12 weeks of construction—vaguely reminiscent the groundhog Punxsutawney Phil seeing his shadow, I suppose.

So, no video this go-round. It's just a big conglomeration of wires, ducts, and pipes—all to be covered and hidden, and make a house a comfortable home.

As we’ve previously posted, we’re using geothermal heating and cooling. We’ll have four thermostated zones (two on the main level, two on the lower level). The iPhone app will let us adjust each thermostat and access readings of indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, fan speed, and real-time energy usage, at home or remotely.

Roof shingles were installed in a day a week ago. Here's a shot in the long, 9 am morning shadows.

Here's a 2-1/2-minute video of the process.

We can now get a feel for the impression of moving up and down the stairwell tower, with its 17-foot-high ceiling.

This minute-and-a-half video gives you the stair tour.

This 4-minute video follows the progress.