John and I have traveled back to the Midwest to see family and friends. While we are really excited to see many of our loved ones, we are sorry to miss any of the building developments – especially as there are exciting updates everyday.
All the windows were installed this week, so the process of getting the house “dried in” has made great progress. “Dry-In” means that the building shell has been completed sufficiently to keep out wind, rain, or the weather in general, thus assuring that weather-sensitive materials or work can begin indoors without those materials suffering weather damage.
The primed Hardie board and batten siding has also been going up. You’ve probably heard of Hardie Board if you ever watched the TV show Fixer Upper, as they frequently used it on their renovations. A big benefit of this siding is it’s durability.
Hardie board’s unique blend of concrete and other composite materials makes it impervious to elements like rain, high winds, and humidity. It also is highly resistant to hail and flying debris and is a very low maintenance siding.
One big key to the longevity is that cement does not retain moisture, so this siding never rots, swells or warps. It’s also fire resistant.
Most of the exterior doors were also installed this week. All the exterior doors are fiberglass with a simulated fir wood exterior that can be stained. Like the Hardie siding, we opted for stained fiberglass doors for durability and minimal maintenance.
Finally, we did our exterior electrical walk through and the outdoor outlet boxes, light, flood light, and fan wiring was all run so they could begin adding the ceiling to the outdoor porches.
We are excited to see all the developments when we return, which will be significant! By the time we return the house will be fully “dried in” and ready to be painted. The red iron of the barn will be in place so we’ll get to see the bones of the barn. And immediately upon our return we will have to do our interior electrical walk through and cabinetry walk through, which our builder warned us will take hours if not entire days. Wow, right?
Be on the lookout for a post asking for ideas about outlet placements and cabinetry ideas. Until then, thanks for stopping by!
Hugs, Libby