When we set out to build a house over the winter I was really, truly surprised. Our builder assured us that it was fine. He said that fall was the busiest time a year for contractors. We were not convenienced but needed to get the house built so went forward with the expectation that at some point during the winter construction would stop and we would pick up in the spring. it was still sooner than waiting until spring.

Shortly after agreeing to start building so late in the year four houses started springing up in the neighborhood where we were living. It was a race.Each morning we would see how far along each house was and compare it to ours. We won most of the time except for the 1200 sq ft shotgun style house. Cute little thing but little being the operative compared to the two story 2,000 to 2,500 sq ft houses that remained in the race.

One morning early in the race that no one but we knew about, the house closest to the ski condo we just vacated had so many trucks parked around it I thought there was a funeral. Then I realized that it was the building site. I had not been able to see the site though the forest of trucks. I counted 14 trucks at one house on a tiny 1/8th acre lot. Through the winter that house in particular has had so many workers that it is a maze to find a place to drive down the road near it.

The 14-worker house has been running behind us all winter. When it was frigidly cold they were working and our guys were safely tucked snugly away at their homes or out skiing. Our roof was finished before the deep freeze hit. They were roofing in snow and 10 below. They had platforms set up at varios places on the roof so they could work without falling off. They blade puhed the snow off the tar paper to add the roofing. I was worried about them. Being that cold, moving around on a roof with periodic platforms putting in shingles where snow was moments before was a recipie for disaster in my book. To my knowledge no one fell off which is a relief.

When the temperatures in our house were reaching 0 it was impossible to work. A couple of weeks ago with the doors and windows all in as well as some of the insulation, the big fan heaters have helped keep our house to a comfortable working temperature in the 50s.

We are fast approaching the point where all the insulation will be in and the full HVAC can be installed. I know everyone will enjoy that.

The warmer indoor temperatures have made it easier to do finish work. The floor boards are tempering as is the tongue and groove for the kitchen and dining room ceiling. It is hard to believe that we are ready to be doing that after so many months of 2 x 4 framing with unimpeded views from room to room.

This weekend my desire is to finish up the kitchen, install a good construction dust air-block under the interior french doors that lead from the garage-level entry hall into the cruise ship basement apartment and most importantly, clean. The little apartment is almost complete and we plan to move in on Tuesday. The upstairs is coming along. I don’t know when we plan to move upstairs but I am guess 6 more weeks minimum.  The dusty conditions will continue upstairs so we will play keep-away with the dry wall and the stone cutting dust during the work days.

We will have a break in the weather this weekend. No dust storms are predicted. It will be a good time to complete the final details for the Tuesday embarkation of the basement apartment known locally a the “cruise ship.”