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Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 6/9/2010
Painting is finished. Just touch-ups after we get finished. Whitey finished the stucco work on the link wall the first part of May. Now we have to do the prime and two coats exterior paint, whenever it stops raining. We seem to hop and jump around on the projects, but the weather is a big factor here. We are in our thunderstorm season. Not much can be done outside right now.
Whitey wired the lighting everywhere. Last weekend we bought our receptacles and switches and have most of those installed. We are waiting on five weatherproof/tamper-proof receptacles. We wiped out all the Home Depots in Lafayette on our regular receptacles. Will be getting the septic in soon and then maybe we can get the electric hooked up (and then No More Extension Cords hanging all over the house). We purchased our interior doors and baseboard material also. So there is a lot to keep us busy inside this summer.
Any ideas on how to finish our staircase, that is contemporary and inexpensive?
Comments (2)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 4/4/2010
We have been painting over the past month. Jason, a friend who happens to be a paint contractor, came from LaPlace to spray the prime coat on the interior dome walls and the rest of the walls inside. The actual paint we have rolled on. We have had some issues with the DensDeck sheetrock absorbing the paint where there was no sheetrock mud. Whitey ended up having to roll another type of primer on the areas that were not seamed and mudded. As always with this project, it just isn't as easy as it may appear. We still are not completely satisfied with the end result, but we will worry with it later. Yes there is a little Scarlett O'Hara attitude going; we just want to finish this house and get moved in. I am enclosing my dining area wall and kitchen wall pictures. I am pleased with my color choices.
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| Dining-area view from the living room. |
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| Dining-area view from the kitchen. |
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| Kitchen wall into dining area and front entrance. |
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Comments (2)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 1/20/2010
Where does the time go anyway? We have our sheetrock textured and the upstairs bedrooms and bath primered. It looks good. The downstairs concrete floors are being stained. We are waiting on sealer to dry so we can get busy on painting, etc. It looks great, like a real house. We are planning on getting started with our Schluter products in the upstairs shower and bathroom floor, while the floor downstairs dries. Then we can tile and be just that much further along... we are going on four years and getting tired of this project. We want to be finished and getting ready to move. Another huge task being that we have lived in this home since 1987. 22 years of stuff to weed through!
So... until next time. No home photos this time, just us at a Mardi Gras Ball.
Photos
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| Whitey and me at Krewe of Victoria Mardi Gras Ball. |
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Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 10/13/2009
Pictures!
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| Master bath with cool jacuzzi |
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| Master bedroom |
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| Living area looking to kitchen |
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Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 5/22/2009
We are still working little by little. Whitey put his truck back together and it is running. We have finished more stucco on the high profile entrances. Running coax, cat5, and speaker wires the past few weeks. It looks like we won't get a break with the weather this coming weekend. It never fails!! It gets discouraging, but we won't give up. We received some good bids to insulate and hang and float sheetrock. We are ready to let someone else do the work for a change and are getting anxious to get this done.
Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 3/16/2009
I haven't been too helpful with the house project, I spent time with my sister who brought Mom from Wyoming and my nieces, who came to visit Mom at her new home. She wasn't thrilled about her situation, but we are doing what we feel is the right thing. Mom has Alzheimers/Dementia issues and needs to be watched 24/7. She is at an assisted living with a special care unit.
Whitey worked all weekend on taping and mudding sheet rock on the dome walls. He wants to get the scaffolding out before we stain the floors and put up the sheetrock on the flat walls. There is still a ton to do on the outside, but the weather has been rotten - and it is no fun to stucco with rain threatening. When the weather is fair, we will continue on the outside and get it painted and sealed up. There are a few leaks, but we feel sure it is due to the fact that there is still foam exposed in those areas.
I know I promised pictures but there really is very little to show just now. Until next time...
Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 2/24/2009
We passed all our open wall inspections. The first time around we failed the A/C inspection because we didn't have a clothes dryer vent in place. No big deal though, Whitey got right on it and we passed all inspections. I have been sick the past week so I have only been out once in a week. Whitey finished the stucco on the upstairs bathroom window today and it looks great. We had off work today for Mardi Gras. No parades for us, we have too many other things going on! We enjoyed one parade last night and came home with lots of beads. Whitey wasn't feeling so good over the weekend, so we didn't get a lot accomplished on the dome front. The next few weeks will also be busy with my mom moving from Wyoming to Lafayette. Next time more photos.
Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 1/19/2009
The air conditioning is near completion. It turned out that we found a different guy to do our A/C. Air conditioning is very important in South Louisiana; we want to get it right. We got a 16-SEER Rheem that is a two-speed unit with adjustable temperature and HUMIDITY level!! This should prove to be very beneficial in the dome during the summer. The air guy (Don) suggested that we get a 2.5 ton unit, but we decided on a three-ton unit. Also, he came up with the idea to have a sheet-metal plenum built to go in the floor-joist space to receive all the ductwork! It looks great, but only time will tell. Plumbing is ready to test for leaks. We have been putting in all the switch and receptacle boxes and positioning all the hard-wired lights. The electrician will come to pull the wires one day this week. Inspection after that; I hope all will go well with that.
We want to get the rest of the concrete work done, but the weather always seems questionable when we can work. It has been a very cold winter for us. We actually had SNOW in December!! We want to get the outside work done before it gets sweltering hot again.
Photos to follow.
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| Our December snow. Nothing to do with the dome. The pictures Whitey took of the dome with snow on it didn't come out. |
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| Air-conditioning ducts.They are a tight fit. |
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| Plenum |
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| Whitey working on covering the suspension rod in the loft. |
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Comments (3)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 11/17/2008
We have progress on the home site! It just feels like we continue to run into obstacles that keep us from moving forward to get our open wall inspection. We are trying to reach this milestone. The interior is completly framed, also plumbing and air ducts have begun. The air conditioning is really an issue right now. We now know why our blueprints did not come with the air ducting plans. It is very difficult to get all this together. We thought the floor joists were our answer, but it hasn't solved the issues. We want high (9ft) ceilings and it looks like that will be compromised by the air ducts. We Are Not Happy. Larry (the carpenter) is trying to assure us that he is going to make everything look good, I have my doubts. He does excellent work, but he is not a miracle worker. We will meet in the morning to go over everything AGAIN. I will try to journal again after this issue has been resolved.
Lots of photos though!!! More to come!!!
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| Front entrance |
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| Upstairs loft and bedroom |
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| upstairs bathroom window |
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| Fireplace wall from the upstairs loft |
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Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 10/11/2008
The windows and three doors arrived on Monday morning. They look great, unfortunately the upstairs bathroom window will have to be reordered (we received a fixed and wanted a casement). All sorts of mix-ups this week, but everything is working out okay, I know there will be more before this is over. Hopefully, our front door and master bedroom door will be installed next week. We are searching for our upstairs flooring (more mix-ups there too), Larry needs to know the depth before he frames the stairs. The economic issues of the past weeks have us concerned. Stocks have dropped drastically, and that is discouraging. I just hope we can get the house finished so we can sell the house we are in, so we can payoff all our loans! I have a few photos this week of the exterior and a few of the interior.
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| View from the front entrance of the interior framing. |
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| Front entrance |
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| Fireplace flanked with windows. This should be framed up on Monday. |
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| Fireplace again but looking toward the front of the dome. |
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| Rear entrance (link), above will be a balcony off an upstairs bedroom. |
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Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 10/5/2008
No pictures this week, not that I didn't take any, they were just sort of dark. We went to the site every evening after work to see the progress of the carpenter. It is really strange to see where the walls will be after seeing the open slab for two years now. We are very excited and things are moving along smoothly. Windows and doors should be in soon. I am anxious for that day. The first floor stud walls are almost complete. The staircase needs to be framed and the floor joist guys will come for measurements. We didn't work this weekend on the house, I work at a quilt shop and am usually off on Saturday, but I worked. Whitey took the opportunity to go to the deer lease and put in some food plots. We should be moving at a much faster past now with Larry and his crew on site. I will try for some pictures tomorrow afternoon and see if they don't come out better. Until then...
Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 9/23/2008
It was a pretty tough weekend. It was threatening to rain on Saturday, so we did clean up. We pressure washed the slab, getting ready for the carpenters crew to get started this week. That took all day; we were exhausted and really sore the next morning. I told Whitey it was the first time that I wanted to be shorter, bending over to get the tough spots was rough on the back. I didn't even stay up to watch LSU football on Saturday night. We headed out late on Sunday morning, moving slowly. Whitey started priming the top three rows of seams and panel. I picked up limbs (four pickup loads) and mowed the rest of the lot. Wiped out again!!
Monday we met with our carpenter Larry and some guys from a floor joist company out of Kaplan. We are looking to use floor joists that are 12" instead of 10" that are manufactured like I-beams with circles cut out for wiring, air ducts, etc. We are interested in this so we don't have to box in our air ducts. We hope it will be less labor intensive. We also had lumber delivered to start framing the interior and the concrete board - to be ready to close in when the windows and doors are delivered. Hopefully there is a lot to report next week.
Photos
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| Top of dome primed |
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| Kitchen wall and utility room (link added on dome) |
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| Fireplace wall |
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Comments (0)
Posted to Eschete-Dome by Janie in Lafayette, LA
on 9/16/2008
Hello to everyone. A quick introduction... my name is Janie Eschete and my husband is Whitey. I will be submitting info in this journal. Whitey doesn't fool with the computer very much. Our dome home project began in August of 2006. This photo was taken in March 2008. Unfortunately, I lost some files of photos. I will do regular back-ups from now on. We are progressing slowly but surely. Our windows and doors are ordered and should be on site in a week or so. We have hired a carpenter to help this project along. We have completed the seams of the dome and they look fabulous. Whitey did an excellent job. I will take some photos this weekend and submit them soon. We have come out OK with the hurricanes Gustav and Ike, just lots of limbs to pick. No trees fell on the house, Yeah! Although, it has slowed our progress. Whitey plans to prime the dome later this week, we are having very pleasant mid 80's temps.
Photos
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| Master bedroom and upstairs balcony entrance of our dome March 2008 |
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| Whitey concreting seams |
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Comments (2)
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