Well, it’s been a bit since we posted an update. June and July went by in a blur and poof, it’s already August!

While this summer hasn’t been filled with nightly hikes or mountain bike rides, we’re working toward a much bigger goal and know that this short term disruption to our daily fun quota will be well worth it down the road. And, even with working a ton on the house, we still had the opportunity to get away for a backcountry hut trip and a short trip to hang at the lake in Michigan. More on that to come!

When we last left off in June, the steel beams for the roof supports had just arrived!

So much has changed since that time and the full shell of the house is in place! One positive thing about waiting a few weeks to do a blog post is that it feels like we’re making a lot of fast progress! Please, no one take me from this happy space. Ha!

June Highlights:

We were so blessed to have plenty of help from family in June! Cory’s dad, Neil, arrived on June 8 to help for two weeks. Kelsey’s mom, Laurie, was in town for a week to help out with childcare while Corbin’s daycare was closed. Kelsey’s dad, Dave, arrived on June 12 to help with the placement of the glulam beams, and then came back at the end of the month to help with the roof.

In mid-June, we completed the wall panels in the loft, including another complicated window wall on the south side. The view from the upstairs windows is going to be incredible! The loft will have our family room, a small office, and a bit of storage space. However, the more we think about it, we might be able to forego that storage space since we have a full crawl space and with the ceilings so tall on the main floor, we have plenty of room for storage opportunity on tall shelves in the mudroom or utility room. We’ll have a spiral staircase to the loft, so the thought of hauling a tub of Christmas ornaments on the stairs is becoming less and less appealing. What do you think? Keep all the storage on the main floor and crawl space?

Kelsey’s Mom, Laurie, with Peak One in the background.

View of the front of the house on June 11.

The guys finished up the framing for the second half of the chimney chase. To help lift it and the last wall panel in the master bedroom, Kelsey rented a telehandler (think a 4-wheel-drive forklift that can reach 42 feet). Well, maybe you see where this is going...the dreaded mud struck again! Although Kelsey could drive his truck all the way around the lot without issue, the telehandler was way too heavy and sunk right up to the axles. Ugh. By some sort of miracle, they got it unstuck and were still able to get the job done, but it was not a happy couple of days on the job site.

All smiles on June 13 (after they got the telehandler unstuck). From left to right - Dave, Kelsey, Neil, and Laird in front.

Getting ready to place the last wall panel in the master bedroom.

Father’s Day rolled around and we had four dads on site! Kelsey, Neil, Dave and our friend from our old neighborhood, Dave Mack! The boys and I made a cake to celebrate. We got one of the glulam beams installed that day, the smaller one that spans the chimney and the loft. Before the installation happened, there was a lot of math and measuring.

View to the south with the first glulam beam in place.

We were lucky to have these four dads on site for Father’s Day!

Then, just when we thought we were done shoveling, we got a summer (yes, it was June 22!) snow storm that dropped about 4 inches of wet, heavy Colorado snow. Of course, the sun came out and it dried up quickly, but we had a family shoveling party and sucked up about 18 gallons of water from the sheathing with the wet vac.

Since we needed to get the crane set up closer to the house and to help avoid another telehandler incident, we worked with our pal Bill from Majestic Construction to use his excavator and bulldozer to clear away some of the mud and build a proper pad for the crane to set up. We need to haul in about $1,000 worth of material to make the crane pad, but we couldn’t keep waiting on the ground to dry up.

June 27. Kelsey was ready for the big day on June 28 to get the roof started!

Happily, the crane arrived on June 27 and was able to get set for a big day on June 28. Dave booked a last-minute flight from Michigan and flew back on the morning of the 28th to help with this important part of the project. It also worked out that our friend, Danielle, was planning a trip to Colorado and graciously volunteered to spend her weekend with us! The timing couldn’t have been better to have her visit. Thank you so much, Danielle!

June 28, the three big glulam beams are in place!

June 28, steel beams going in! Thanks to Chip at Mid-Mountain Crane!

View to the south as the steel beams are going in.

Danielle working on cutting some 2x12 pieces for roof let-ins.

The glulam beams were placed pretty easily and then the fiddling ensued to ensure we placed them in the correct places. The initial placement went fast, but then after lots and lots of measuring we had to adjust them to the final placement. Whew.

Our friends Ben and Emily (plus their 3 kiddos) also came up to help at the end of June. Emily and I helped keep the kids out of the way while Ben, Dave, Danielle and Kelsey worked on the loft roof panels. We had a full crew that weekend and it was super fun!

By the time June wrapped up, we had the bulk of the roof panels in the place!

Best buddies. Thanks for coming to help and visit Ben and Emily!

June 30. View to the southeast. You can see a bit of Lake Dillon in the distance.

July Highlights:

Enter July. My favorite month of the whole year! Our family has a lot to celebrate in July!

Laird’s Birthday - July 3
Independence Day - July 4
Cory’s Birthday - July 12
Cindy and Neil’s Anniversary - July 12
Dave’s Birthday - July 13
Cory and Kelsey’s Anniversary - July 15
Cindy’s Birthday - July 23

Oh, and the Tour de France. Sidebar, Kelsey and I went to France for our 5th wedding anniversary in 2011 and watched 2 stages of the Tour. So, we’re definitely fans!

This year Tim and Gina (Cory’s brother and sis-in-law) were coming out for a backcountry hut trip over the 4th. They arrived in time to help finish the main roof panels (Tim’s new nickname is “The Closer”) and celebrate Laird’s birthday!

July 1. Only a few more main roof panels to go!

We celebrated his 6th birthday with a little party at the Frisco Adventure Park. We ordered pizza, I made a cake and the kids rode bikes for hours while the adults hung out. It was just right.

Laird (still wearing his helmet!) at his birthday party at the Frisco Adventure Park. Cake and bikes, two of his favorite things. We can hardly believe he’s already 6!

The next morning, July 4, we left on our hut trip to the Polar Star Inn, located outside of Eagle. If you’ve never done a hut trip, it’s wonderful. You hike in (in the summer you can drive pretty close), then relax and explore around the hut. There’s a full kitchen, comfy beds and always wonderful company. We went with a few other families and all the kids played well, stayed up too late, and ate too many s’mores. It was a wonderful way to spend the 4th of July holiday.

Tim, aka “The Closer”, celebrating the placement of the last main roof panel on July 4.

The sun going down on a wonderful 4th of July.

An amazing sunset on our last night at the Polar Star Inn.

Before Tim and Gina left, we took them on one last adventure and drove to the top of Mt. Evan’s. One of Colorado’s 14,000+ foot mountains. We saw mountain goats, marmots and of course, beautiful views.

Thanks for getting this family photo, Gina!

After a few days of playing, it was time to get back to work on the roof, this time...the loft.

The intersection of the loft and main roof panel is a puzzle. We have one section that has panels above one of the steel beams, a weird triangle-shaped one and some other odd size panels. After a couple of days of head-scratching, Kelsey got everything in place.

In the meantime, I had to take a quick trip to Boston for work from July 13-16, so Kelsey was on kid-duty and we lost a work weekend while I was away. Not ideal for house progress, but the kids and Kelsey were able to go see a free concert, meet up with some friends, and go for a mountain bike ride.

July 17. The boys taking in the view from the roof.

Over the next couple of days, we got the itch to get to Michigan to hang with our families. If you’ve never been, Michigan in July is perfect. It’s warm during the day and cool at night. So, on a bit of a whim, we booked a last-minute flight to fly to Michigan on July 22 and fly back to Colorado on the 26th.

With that deadline in place, Kelsey got cracking on installing the water and ice membrane on the roof. This is an adhesive membrane that goes down directly on the SIP panels before the metal roof is installed to protect the roof from damage from, you guessed it, water and ice. He pulled some really long hours and we buttoned up the site just moments before heading to the airport. To give this a bit more context, we left Summit County at 11 pm, arrived at a hotel near the airport at 12:45 am, slept for approximately 3 hours, and then boarded a 6 am flight.

July 21. Water and ice membrane going on!

In Michigan, we saw our family and friends and enjoyed lots of time on the lake. We’re looking forward to next year when we can spend more than a few days.

Thanks for a great few days, Mom and Dad! And, we all love our new Lewiston gear!

Once we got home, the loft roof was waiting. Kelsey had already moved all of the panels in place but needed to place two, 2x12 splines in between each panel. I had never lifted a 2x12 until I had the task of moving the lumber from the driveway to the main floor. They are incredibly heavy. I still can’t quite figure out how Kelsey managed to carry them up the ladders to the roof and place them all of this on his own, but he did. I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised, this is the same man who single-handedly moved a full-size couch from the basement of our old home out to the garage.

August

And, here we are, the start of August….

The summer is already winding down, school starts up again in a couple of weeks (here we come 1st grade and preschool!) and with the days getting shorter again, it’s only a matter of time until it snows again.

We’ll be ready.

Until then, here’s what’s coming up next:

Finalize the temp power. We passed inspection on August 8 and looks like power will finally be on site next week! We started this process last August, so if you’re building a house, start early on this project.
Order windows. We’re aiming to finalize the order on Monday. We had a couple delays in ensuring what we needed for high elevation and getting them approved by the building department.
Order siding. We’ll be doing a mix of 1x4 clear heart cedar and board and batten. We’ll get this ordered, hopefully on Monday, so I can begin staining and painting.
Interior walls. We’re excited to get the walls in place to begin laying out plumbing and electrical.
Rough plumbing
Rough electric
Radiant floor
Pour the concrete floor on the main level

August 5. The last loft roof panel is done! Kelsey finished up the water and ice membrane on Friday, August 9.

We say this on every post, but we really mean it….we couldn’t do this without all of your help and support. I can’t wait until it’s time to start selecting the interior finishes and painting some walls. Ladies paint party this fall?