The book has been a great help to me. Larry Tabone

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Fireplace Stone, Tile, and Garage Doors

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 4/27/2009

Fireplace stone has been set. We will have a wood burning stove with a stone wall going up two stories behind the stove pipe. We think the stone looks great, next to the wood, and black stove pipe should make make a nice contrast. Tile has started, should be done by May 1st. Garage doors have been installed and are operational.

Wood flooring install is starting tomorrow, April 28th. Kitchen cabinets are on site and should be installed by May 1st. Interior doors started getting hung today. Bathroom vanities should go in this week as well.

Need to select kitchen countertops and appliances. Moving along!

Pictures from April 17th.

Photos

Yep, that's tile. (in mudroom)	Fireplace almost done!	Garage door facing the road.
View from road, over huge septic mound and partially blocked by dumpster!	Lake side of the house with garage door installed.

Tongue-and-Groove Ceiling and Painted Walls

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 4/19/2009

Okay, trying to catch up on my posts. These pictures were taken back in early-to-mid March. Walls were painted and tongue-and-groove ceiling and side walls are up!

Photos

Future kitchen with some paint on walls.	Always have to include pictures of the lake!	First floor, lakeside bedroom painted walls.
Tongue-and-groove ceiling going up.	Tongue-and-groove almost done.	From lakeside -- still need garage doors!
Tongue-and-groove sidewall above the kitchen and dining area.	Tongue-and-groove before stone wall is installed.	Looking up at the loft area from first-floor living room.
From loft down toward dining and patio doors.	Okay, last tongue-n-groove pic!	Future kitchen, again.

Insulation and Drywall!

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 3/1/2009

Insulation and Drywall!

Photos

Walls had insulation blown in which provides better insulation than rolled.	Ceilings stuffed!	Insulated interior walls and first floor ceilings for sound insulation.
Drywall going up	Good thing that I arrived, they were putting drywall on walls that were to be tongue-n-groove wood! They were incredible fast; stand in one place too long and you may be stapled to the wall.	Bedroom
Bath	Putting on Solid Products, Inc. joint compound -- the best!!	Bedroom after joint compound
Future kitchen and big mess	Water is open and ice cleared on 2/12/09

Electrical & Plumbing Roughed

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 2/2/2009

Been a while since my last post! But things are progressing pretty well.

Furnace is in and ready to go.
Electric rough-in is complete and we passed our inspection.
Same for Plumbing rough-in.
House is totally wired for:
a) 7.1 theater surround sound,
b) outside speakers,
c) speakers in garage, 
d) speakers in loft,
e) HDMI tv for projector, loft, kitchen, garage, and master br,
f) surveillance cameras for lake, street, etc.
g) cat5
h) coax to rooftop satellite dish.

Insulation is going in now and should be complete by Wednesday (2/4). Insulation is being blown into all exterior walls. And all interior walls will be insulated for sound purposes.
Drywall will start on Friday! 
Tongue and groove cedar ceiling will start in two weeks.
We need to finalize cabinets and flooring selections!!

Photos

Front of house with porch post in place. Door color will change!	Another angle on front porch.	Lakeside of house with siding pretty much complete except for sections that will be completed when patios are poured.
House is totally wired for: a) 7.1 theater surround, b) outside speakers, c) speakers in garage, d) speakers in loft, e) HDMI tv for projector, loft, kitchen, garage, and master br f) surveillance cameras for lake, street, etc. g) cat5 h) coax to rooftop satellite dish.	Insulation is being blown into all exterior walls. And all interior walls will be insulated for sound purposes.	Austin sitting on insulation playing DS.

Siding Going On

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 12/21/2008

Been a couple of weeks since my last post and these pictures are already almost a week old. I like the siding! I think the color has the rich look we were looking to achieve.

Photos

From the road	Front, southeast corner	From the lake
Another form the lake side	Closer angle from the lake side. I'm likng the look of the siding.	View out to the frozen lake from the second floor loft

Roof On and Other Progress

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 12/5/2008

Roof is on. Chimney set. Starting to pre-stain siding in the heated garage.

Photos

Shingles are on. Soffit and fascia completed today, 12-5-2008. Chimney is set for wood-burning stove. Also installed some PVC from the roof straight down to the basement for future satellite dish cables.	House from the lake side. Green roof and window trim and plastic is off the windows!	View from great room out to the lake. Used low-awning windows, so that no screens ever obstruct views.
View from the loft out toward the lake.	Framing for elevated hearth for wood-burning stove.	View from great room toward front door and up to the loft.
View from south-side bedroom (facing east)	View from north-side bedroom (facing east)

Posted by Ted in Fort Bragg, CA on 12/6/2008 Ted's Forum Posts: 0 Randomly Selected Image 12/6/2008

Awesome buddy.  Looks GREAT.  Very exciting.  We need to start setting a golf weekend date for next year!!!!!! Way to go. T

A Lot Can Happen in a Day ...

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 11/20/2008

Wow, it was a big day for my project. A month ago, my design was sent off to a factory where they engineered my house, put all the walls and windows together and shipped back all of the framing for my house on four semis. The trucks arrived this morning and a crane was used to put the house together like a big, 3-D puzzle. The floor system went in in about an hour and 15 minutes. Interior and exterior walls for the first story went up in the next two hours and 15 minutes. Second-story flooring went in the next 45 minutes. Stairs were installed in 20 minutes. Second-story interior and exterior walls went up in the next hour and 30 minutes. Roof trusses will go up tomorrow and roof will start to be covered.

The process was quite amazing. Here are few of the 100+ pics I snapped off today.

Photos

Just getting started on first floor walls. About 9:15 AM.	About 9:20 AM, pictured from the lake side.	Prepping the "big wall", about 9:35 AM.
The "big wall" going up at 9:40 AM.	From the road side at 9:45 AM.	How the walls arrived.
About 10:20 AM	10:50 AM	11:05 AM
A big piece! 11:20 AM	No garage yet. 11:30 AM	Garage walls almost all up. 11:55 AM
Lower section of L-shaped stairs. 1 PM	Second-story floor going in, 1:05 PM.	Second run of stairs about to be set in place, 1:10 PM.
Largest single piece of second-story floor coming in, 1:25 PM.	Second-story flooring set; second-story walls going up, 1:55 PM.	Last exterior wall section of the second-story going in, 2:45 PM!
One more pic of the lake side of the house.	Coming in the front door.	Can't wait til the plastic comes off!

Posted by RogerC in Phoenix, AZ on 11/21/2008 RogerC's Forum Posts: 54 Interview Answers: 3 Average Forum Rating: 3.36 Randomly Selected Image 11/21/2008

'Wow' is right! That's really cool! And it's going to be a beautiful house. How does that process compare in cost to doing all that framing and window/door installation on site the usual way?

Backfilling and DrainTile

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 10/16/2008

This week (of Oct.12th), drain tile (very rough gravel) was put in the crawlspace. Garage is being backfilled. And we passed our first inspection!!! For footings and foundation. Concrete for the crawlspace and the garage floor will be poured on Monday, October 20th.

Sand for septic mound was being hauled in yesterday and today. A lot of sand has been hauled in. Plumber is coming out tomorrow, Friday to place cells for the septic mound.

We also placed the order for the floor systems, roof trusses, and panelized walls (walls pre-built in the factory). It will take three to four weeks for those to get manufactured and delivered. We are expecting the week of Nov. 10th, but we will get a specific next week.

Things will slow down for a while until things arrived from the factory, but then the structure and exterior of the house will go up in just a few days!

Photos

Picture taken on Oct. 16, 2008. Taken from the road facing toward the lake showing septic mound in foreground and crawlspace walls in behind. Lots of earth and sand getting moved around yesterday and today!	Picture taken on Oct. 16, 2008. Drain tile inside the crawlspace walls. Concrete will be poured over the drain tile next Monday.	Picture taken on Oct. 16, 2008. Taken from the lakeside. Silt fence in foreground and foundation walls behind.
Picture taken on Oct. 16, 2008. Taken from the crawlspace wall from spot where front door will be.

Footings and Crawlspace Walls

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 10/12/2008 8:41:53 PM

Crawlspace footings and walls were poured this past week, the week of Oct. 5th. 

Photos

Picture taken on Oct. 09, 2008 Taken from the road facing toward the lake showing crawlspace walls.	Picture taken on Oct. 09, 2008 Taken from the road at a different angle.	Picture taken on Oct. 09, 2008 Taken from lakeside deck facing toward road and back of house.
Picture taken Oct. 09, 2008 On top of poured wall where front door will be.	Picture taken Oct. 09, 2008 On top of poured wall where kitchen will ne facing out through dining room.

Posted by RogerC in Phoenix, AZ on 10/13/2008 RogerC's Forum Posts: 54 Interview Answers: 3 Average Forum Rating: 3.36 Randomly Selected Image 10/13/2008

That sure is a beautiful lot!  Years ago, I lived in a house on the waterfront of Lake Superior in Marquette not too far from you.  Although I love Arizona now, I do sometimes miss that beautiful northern country.  Congratulations on your ground-breaking!

Starting to Build

Posted to Castle-Rock-Lakehouse by Gary in Necedah, WI on 10/9/2008

Okay, here we go!

We broke ground on October 1st. The goal/plan is to have the house completed enclosed by Thanksgiving. The interior work will progress at a slower pace after that, but we absolutely will be done by Memorial Day; although I am hoping for certificate of occupancy sometime in April.

I will try to post pictures at least weekly. The first set of pictures is of the "raw" building site.  The second set is after excavation for the crawl space.

Photos

Picture taken on Sept. 29, 2008. From the road facing toward the lake and looking at the front(future) of the house.	Picture taken on Sept. 29, 2008. From the lakefront deck facing toward the road and looking at the back(future) of the house.	Picture taken on Sept. 29, 2008. Just another roadside picture from different angle.
Picture taken on Oct. 05, 2008 We "broke ground" on Oct 1st. Taken from same spot as roadside picture taken on Sept.29th. Trees remove, crawlspace dug and future house staked. Also have septic tank in, mound to come soon. Things go quickly at the start!	Picture taken on Oct. 05, 2008. Another angle from roadside. And this picture includes one of my sons, Austin, since they are the reason it is being built.	Picture taken on Oct. 05, 2008. From the lakefront deck facing toward the road and looking at the back(future) of the house. Silt fence in the foreground to protect lake from run-off.