We give thanks....

The sleeping loft looking S. Windows are on W side of loft in knee wall.

A portion of cathedral ceiling beam will be visible at end of project,

encased in wood of some sort. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

View of Timber Lake from sleeping loft.

Main floor bathroom (under loft) will have a pocket door.
Shower stall will be in SE corner near picture window.

Porch (4-seasons room) with windows not yet cut out.
Dogs and bird will be out here.

South side of cottage with porch added. Not all windows are cut out.
Polly Tribolet in lower left of photo.

Another week of progress on the cottage. We met builder, Mike, at the site today and were pleased that he brought his wife, Polly, along.

The rest of the rafters for the main part of the cottage were up and the porch (4-seasons room) was also framed in and sheeted. Everything was neat and tidy and, as always, we were pleased with the craftsmanship of Mike, Ryan and Adam.

It has been too muddy for Rick Bauer to return to set the septic tank and finish his work. The delay in putting in the septic tank means that the backfill has also not been completed. This will prevent Mike from siding the south side of the cottage due to the uneven terrain.

Our expectations are that the well will be drilled by the end of the week, and Mike anticipates having the house dried in by the end of the week also. This involves putting up the porch rafters and the sheeting for the entire roof. He also hopes to have the windows and exterior doors installed within the next two weeks.

Let's talk about Black Friday. Kathy (thankfully) had to work and Bonnie was working from home (on her vacation) and also researching appliances we still needed to purchase. Sears was having a sale until noon on Kenmore products at 25% off. So off she went to Sears and totally shocked Kathy by purchasing a 40 gal. Kenmore electric Power Miser water heater. Good-bye tankless water heater...for now!

Bonnie also purchased a Kenmore dishwasher that has an extra large capacity. The top shelf can be removed and also raised and lowered.

A Kenmore reverse-osmosis system also got the nod because it could be installed remotely and did not have to go under the kitchen sink.

Bonnie chose a stainless steel Kenmore Elite microwave that is larger than the microwave we currently have and should serve us well. All appliances are Energy-Star Compliant.

The only item that was not purchased was the range hood. Bonnie liked a Broan range hood she found at Menards and will most likely purchase it as well as a Broan bathroom fan for both bathrooms because they have low sones which means they are super quiet. A ceiling fan to hang from the cathedral ceiling also needs to be purchased and we haven't found the right one yet. We will need to do that very soon along with purchasing our lighting and plumbing fixtures.

As a special treat, Bonnie also purchased a Vizio 32" flat screen TV, bringing our flat screen TV total to 3. This new TV will go in the rec room in the basement of the cottage along with Bonnie's home theatre system. We have two older TVs we can now give to Goodwill. One of our favorite TVs is a small Sylvania flat screen with a built in DVD player. It was purchased for the camper and now resides on Blossom Ridge in the front bedroom. It will find a place in the cottage though we aren't certain where since we have a larger Emerson in our living room in Ft. Wayne that may go in the loft. Time will tell.

View from the top!

Our camper with portable porch and deck Bonnie built.

Camp Timber Lake and Blossom Ridge Farm (red square).

Click on maps to enlarge.

Topo map. Cottage is approximately where red spray paint is.

Here is an interesting fact we have been told twice now...and that is that our land is located on the highest elevation in Huntington County. Kathy gets really excited about these things. And, until today, we didn't even know there was such a place as Timber Lake Dam! And where is this Lancaster IN that is supposed to be the nearest major town? Roanoke is the nearest town and it is a bump in the road although it does boast two very excellent restaurants and a grocery. Huntington is the nearest town of any size (it has a Super Wal*Mart), and Fort Wayne is the nearest large city (second largest city in Indiana after Indianapolis).

Our picture window is definitely on the right side of the house. From previous photos you can see that we are on the top of something and looking downward as we look to the south.

The lake itself is 8 acres. It is man-made. The two smaller lakes are also man-made. Kathy sees the shape of a starfish when she looks at Timber Lake.

The aerial photo shows that only Denny's homestead was built when the photo was taken. In the aerial photo, the red spray paint is the approximate location where our camper has been for the past several years.

45 years ago today....

SW view. Bonnie and Denny.

Click on photos to enlarge.

SW view. Sleeping loft going up. Bonnie and Denny.

Front of cottage.

View from kitchen door.

Forty-five years ago today I (Kathy) know exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was 15 years old and a junior at Maconaquah High School in Bunker Hill, Indiana. (I started school very young.) I was sitting in study hall when we got the word that President Kennedy had been shot. You could have heard a pin drop in that school.

Today we went to the farm and saw the progress (still steady) that had been made to the cottage. Denny stopped by for a chat. That grandchild still hasn't made an appearance yet!

The well man called Bonnie and he will not be doing the well next week (he is behind?) but will meet her out there Monday morning to settle where the well will be going.

The window wells are in but no more backfilling has been done and the septic tank is not in.

Bonnie purchased all but 1 gallon of the rest of the paint we need for the cottage today and we may purchase our water softener tomorrow and the pre-filtering system since they are on sale through tomorrow.

Flooring and paint

Flooring with paint samples.

Flooring

Click on photos to enlarge for detail.

We finally have some photos that give a better representation of the flooring and paint samples that will go into the cottage. Bonnie is still not happy with the way the colors photographed and she is correct...they are still not right, but closer than photos we had for an earlier post and did not use. At least they will give an idea of what we are doing.

Flooring (clockwise from upper left):

Handscraped carbonized bamboo. This will be the flooring for most of the main level of the cottage. Note the interesting markings from plant. This flooring is too light to suit Kathy but it is something she can live with.

Tile. This is not the Snapstone tile we are getting but is approximately the same color. At $5 per tile, we will not be able to use this as liberally throughout the cottage as Kathy would like which would be the entire main floor or at least the kitchen and bath. It is slated for the bathroom and, eventually, at the entrance to the house in the four-seasons room.

Enviro-Cork (Vision). The cork, which we had originally wanted on most of the main floor, will be used on the stairway to the loft and in the loft.

Natural hickory. The natural hickory is in the photos to show what the custom cabinets will be made of. Kathy is hoping the cabinets will be much more interesting than this sample, with dark streaks and knot holes aplenty.

Paint (from L to R):

It was interesting to read about the paints from the company we had hoped to purchase them from. They had the paint divided into 3 categories with each category representing a personality type. We have kept those descriptions and, as it turned out, we just happened to choose two paints from each category.

Vata individuals are light and dry by nature with a general tendency to a thin frame and low body mass. Skin and body functions can benefit from vigilant hydration. Balancing techniques can reduce anxiety. Deeper, darker colors suggestive of moisture can create balance. (We decided that Kathy's personality was most closely a Vata.)

Our Vata colors are (from L) Namaste and Autumn. Kathy considers Namaste a very pale dusty rose. This color will be the main color on the walls throughout the cottage and the one color we forgot to buy last weekend!

Autumn is the color of cream (Kathy's description). We had this made into both ceiling and trim paint.

Pitta individuals may develop occasional inflammatory conditions. They have a general tendency to a moderate, athletic frame with a muscular body mass, and a sharp, energetic personality. Cooling therapy may lower a tendency toward irritability. Balance may be derived by colors that cool, moderate, and soothe. (We decided Bonnie was most closely associated with a Pitta personality.)

Our Pitta colors are (continuing to the L) Prana and Satya. Kathy loves Prana and considers it a dull grape color. She wanted something purplish in the cottage to represent the vineyard. This color will be used as an accent color in the loft on the knee wall. If any of the colors did not photograph well, it would be this one. It looks too blue in the photo and less purple.

Satya is another favorite of Kathy's who loves terra cotta and considers this a very pale terra cotta. This color will be the accent color on the main floor and will be used on the south wall where the picture window is and will wrap around and be used on the east wall of the downstairs bathroom. It was to go in the kitchen on the east wall with the hickory cabinets, but Bonnie is considering a cherry tile backsplash like she put into the Blossom Ridge (Ft. Wayne) villa and this will look better on the Namaste than the Satya.

Kapha individuals have a general tendency to a large frame. Emotional nature tends toward calmness and steadfastness. Stimulating therapy can avert tendencies toward inertia and lethargy. Balance can be derived by using mobilizing colors such as bold, stimulating, and bright accents. Midtones and pastels may create the best color schemes.

Our last two colors are Kapha colors and are Mist and Discover. The Mist is a light green and will be used as an accent color in the downstairs bathroom with the Discover, a pale yellow-green, being the primary color in the bathroom.

Going up!

NW view. Walkout b'ment on W side of cottage.

Kit. door on N & double glass doors @ walkout.

Click on photos to enlarge.

W side of cottage. Retaining walls are done.

SW angle. Note bathroom window and HUGE picture window on ground floor.

SE view. Large picture window on S, window and door on E side of house.

Note footers (columns) for front porch/4-seasons room.

View of Timber Lake from kitchen window on W side of cottage.

View from picture window (S).
Denny and Barb's homestead with vineyard to the left.

View from bathroom window (S).

Once again much progress was made during the week ending last Saturday. Or is it because we drive to the cottage once a week that it looks like a lot has been accomplished?

So the retaining walls have been poured and the framing on the main level of the cottage is up. This week we expect the rest of the framing to be up. Some footers (concrete columns) were poured for the front porch/4-seasons room. This will be on the front (east side) of the cottage, will not be over the basement, and will add some interest to the appearance of the cottage by changing the roofline. This room will be heated, have nice, large windows, have the main entrance door to the cottage, a small closet, and will probably be where the dogs and bird will be contained. As pets cross over The Rainbow Bridge, better furnishings can be put into this room and it can be converted to a much nicer living room.

The main level will have a cathedral ceiling because of the sleeping loft. It will be fun to watch this come together.

The well should be drilled next week, perhaps even on Monday.

We bought our paint last Sunday while it was on sale. When we got home we realized that we forgot to purchase the 3 gallons of paint for the majority of the walls! Bonnie will pick that up soon.

Decisions have been made about several items.

Water softener and reverse osmosis drinking system: Unfortunately we will not be able to afford Kinetico during this stage of building and can, perhaps, upgrade one day. Bonnie chose a Morton space-saver, on-demand regeneration water softener that we will purchase from Menards, while the reverse osmosis brand she chose is made by Whirlpool. She is hoping to use a whole-house pre-filtering system with replaceable cartridges to filter the water before it gets to the water softener and water heater.

Air conditioner: We will not be doing central air in the beginning, choosing, instead, to order a through-the-wall (not set in a window), 12,000 BTU, 230 volt, remote-controlled, Frigidaire AC that will be installed in the loft since cold air settles.

Water heater: Bonnie won the battle here and is ordering a Takagi tankless on-demand system which will need to be dealer-installed. With the average mean temperature in the area of the cottage being close to 50 degrees, to raise the water temperature to 120 degrees, it would produce 3.3 gallons per minute. We never have two water-use appliances going at the same time, so having enough hot water should not be an issue. To put this into perspective, Bonnie wants our readers to understand that the newer faucets and showerheads sold today are set to a Federal standard flow of 2.5 gallons per minute. Greener yet would be adding a regulator that would set the flow 1.5 gpm.

Heat: Heat will be Hydro-sil electric baseboard heat. It uses silicon in it's copper tubes which are C-shaped and wrap around once inside the baseboard. Bonnie ordered a portable, digital unit to try out on our Blossom Ridge porch to see how it does compared to the electric baseboard heat currently in the 4-seasons room. This unit will be used in the basement of the cottage. Other non-portable units will be purchased for the cottage - one each for the loft, bathroom, living area and porch. Bonnie will be calling to inquire about some fully-warranted, never-used, scratch-and-dent units offered by the company. Future heating plans call for radiant floor heat in the basement and, maybe even other rooms in the cottage. The tankless hot water heater is large enough to handle radiant floor heat when we are ready to install it - another reason that swayed Bonnie to go tankless.

Flooring: Bamboo, ceramic (Snapstone) tile, and cork will all be used in the cottage with bamboo in the main living area; some tile in the bathroom and, eventually, at the entrance to the porch; and cork up the stairway to the loft and in the loft.

Bonnie wants to remind people that we are using cork and bamboo because they are renewable resources. Bamboo is a grass that grows 3' per day and you can actually hear it growing. The graining in the bamboo we are getting runs horizontally within the plank and each plank has strips that are joined similarly to fine hardwood furniture using resins.

A decision was made to drywall and paint the porch even though we would rather go with knotty pine or cedar or some other type of tongue and grooved wood. That floor will be unfinished to begin with since the 3 dogs will be out there, and will be painted with floor paint similar to our current 4-seasons room on Blossom Ridge. The basement floor will also be unfinished for now and, perhaps, it will be painted also.

Studding will be put up in the basement and the decision was made to go with a vapor barrier and fiberglass batting insulation. Finishing of the stud walls is yet to be determined.

Additional framing will be done in the basement near the same area as what will be a small utility room. Bonnie plans to enclose another small portion of the basement for use as a wine cellar and it will include some bare wall on the north side of the cottage under the stairs. Cool and dark is the hope. This will also be left unfinished, to be completed at a later date.

The more things change....

Ryan working on the trusses.

(Click on photos to enlarge.)

Basement framing for stairway.

Trusses from basement looking up to main floor.

Openings in trusses near Ryan are for bathroom plumbing.

Some of the materials for the framing.

It has been a see-saw week for us as far as decisions about flooring, paint and water heaters and, in some instances, we have come full circle.

Paint. Let's discuss paint first. The brand of paint we had decided on because it was green, was very, very expensive. Bonnie stopped at Menard's last Saturday and found that they carry a green paint by Dutch Boy that is currently on sale. It has Arm and Hammer Baking Soda in it. Menard's can match any color we want. We will most likely purchase the Dutch Boy paint this weekend before the sale is over at a considerable savings over the other brand.

Last weekend we purchased our one-piece shower unit. It is a one-seater with a seat big enough to allow for any future expansion of our derrieres! I (Kathy) am sure there will be times when we will wish we had a bathtub, and perhaps one can be put in the addition. The shower unit was to be delivered to the site on Monday as it will have to be set in place before the framing is done on the main floor since it won't fit through any opening afterward.

Water heater. This has been a tough decision which has yet to be resolved. Bonnie wants to go tankless. One of Kathy's managers at the Georgetown Library, Stephanie, copied several articles from Consumer Reports on the subject of tankless water heaters yesterday and we are now armed with enough information to make an informed decision.

There are many things to consider with tankless: if it can be mounted outside the home (this is mostly climate-dependent) as well as inside; the gallons per minute of hot water it can produce and at what temperature; is it large enough to be used for two applications at one time; what the life expectancy is compared to a conventional tank; the cost of the system and it's installation vs. a tank. Tankless is more green than conventional; however, there are high-effeciency tanks like one manufactured by A.O. Smith that are almost as efficient with similar initial cost, annual operating cost, energy savings and number of years to payback. After reading the articles, Kathy would be just as happy with the high efficiency tank but will let Bonnie make the final decision.

Flooring. Flooring has had us on the see-saw more than any other single decision concerning the cottage other than Bonnie's designing of the cottage itself, which continues to evolve with minor changes still being made.

Because we wanted to go green, we settled on flooring made from two renewable resources: bamboo and cork. After much research we finally settled on a beautiful cork floor as described previously. Additional research about installation brought up the facts that cork can fade and that permanent indentations can be left in the cork from heavy objects. This is really hard to believe since the samples we have are extremely hard. Because the cottage will be loaded with windows, fading would be something that would need to be addressed. In addition, it was mentioned in an article that area rugs, when removed from cork flooring, could leave the floor uneven shades.

We decided to forget cork and concentrated on bamboo, hardwood and some laminate flooring. Bonnie looked at some samples at Menard's and took Kathy to see them last Sunday. Tile was, once again, discussed as an option. Bonnie came up with a plan to use a combination of tile, bamboo and cork in the cottage with the cork in the loft where the least amount of direct sunlight would reach it. Then she dropped the cork again in favor of more tile (a wonderful but very expensive locking tile), and bamboo. Kathy doesn't care for the lighter shade of bamboo...still.

Kathy's attitude toward the building project is that whatever goes into the home should last most of their remaining lives and that the decisions made should only have to be made once. Bonnie's attitude is that we may upgrade or replace almost every item in the home (custom cabinetry excluded) at least once. Because of this attitude, Bonnie awoke this morning once again favoring the cork which we both really love...Kathy for it's color and pattern and the fact that it is a renewable resource, and Bonnie for some of the same reasons as well as its ease of installation.

So, to date, we still have made no final decision on water heaters or flooring.

Backfill, framing, Mike & Denny

Front (east) and south (window) sides of cottage after backfill.

Click on photos to enlarge.

South side of house. Framing for walk-out basement is completed.

Front (east) looking down on basement and west toward lake.

West side of cottage with walk-out basement.

Bonnie and Mike discussing options.

Looking W toward lake. Openings for double glass doors & utility room window.


Bonnie

Builder Mike Tribolet
Would you trust this man to build YOUR home?

Neighbor Denny Dull shooting the breeze with Bonnie.

We were very surprised and delighted to see the progress made this week on the cottage. Most of the backfill had been completed and the grade was not nearly as steep as we had feared it would be. The land had been leveled on the west side of the cottage near the opening to the walk-out basement which will keep the rain from pouring into the basement. The appearance of the cottage after this week's dozer work exceeded our expectations.

It was agreed that window wells would be needed. This will prevent Kathy (who is shorter than Bonnie) from having the best of views looking south from the basement. Mike was purchasing the window wells on his way home Wednesday to install Thursday.

While doing the backfill, an older tile was unearthed into which the perimeter drainage tile can be tied. This is the same tile mentioned in an earlier post which was discovered while putting in the leech bed and into which the perimeter drain for the bed will drain. Tying in the perimeter tile may take some doing since it is currently lower than the older tile. The great thing about finding this tile is that there is no longer a need to trench and run the perimeter tile out into the woods. It has saved extra excavating and expense twice now. Had the cottage been built further east on the property as originally planned, this tile would have gone undiscovered and left unused for the perimeter drainage. But in situating the house further west and having the walk-out basement, it was found when additional excavating was needed for the retaining walls and to level the area outside the walk-out basement.

Rick Bauer still needs to set the septic tank and finish the backfilling. With the majority of the backfilling completed, he can now set the tanks. He will need to finish the backfilling after the retaining walls are poured. The retaining walls can now be poured because the excavating that needed to be done for that part of the project has been completed.

Denny and Barbara were in their yard while we were talking to Mike so we waved them over for a visit. They are expecting their third grandchild very shortly.

Our flooring samples arrived yesterday and Kathy loves the cork. She also loves the hand-scraped bamboo, just not the light color sample that came. While at lunch at Moosewood yesterday, Bonnie and Kathy talked to a man whose hobby is bamboo. There was much discussion about bamboo flooring, and the samples (which were taken into the restaurant) were studied, with pros and cons debated.

The samples were brought out again and shared with Barbara and Denny, and Barbara gave her stamp of approval to the cork. Denny and Bonnie discussed how to cut the flooring and Kathy is hoping they can tempt Denny into helping to lay the flooring when the time comes. It needs no underlayment and is a floating floor. The sections are fairly large, 1' x 3', so should go down quickly. No gluing...just snaps into place. Should be simple to install. They are insulating, sound-deadening, and will work with radiant floor heating Bonnie would like to install down the road.

The interior colors we picked out from Safecoat: Discover, Mist, Satya, Prana, Autumn and Namaste, all look GREAT with the flooring. Our maple dining set and ash pie safe also look wonderful with the flooring, which is Enviro-Cork from Simple Floors and the color is Vision. We will try to upload the colors and the flooring.

Thursday note: Kathy was able to download color samples of the paint colors and flooring but the pictures, when posted, looked nothing like the samples; i.e., a beautiful pale green with some yellow in it looked gray. So it is doubtful that photos will be uploaded.

Basement floor

Finally...REMC electrical box is ready to go.

South (window) and north side of basement w/ tarred walls.

South side of cottage with perimeter drainage tile.

North side of cottage with drainage tile.

Basement floor is poured.

Sump pump hole.

View from south window - Denny and Barb's homestead. Vineyard is to left.

View from north window is of Richard's homestead.

The basement floor was poured last week. Bonnie had asked for a floor drain in the basement and got a sump pump hole instead. That is probably a good thing.

The perimeter drainage tile is in place. Next will be more excavating for the retaining walls and the trench for the drainage tile also needs to be dug and the tile run across the property where it will deposit the runoff into the woods. Perhaps it will be joined to Richard's existing tile that also empties into the woods.

Still to be done is the placement of the septic tanks and the backfill up against the basement walls. We are meeting with Mike today to discuss options. Bonnie is fine with the basement sticking out of the earth 4', but all the contractors have concerns about all that wall exposure. To be discussed is how high the backfill will go up against the basement walls and the possibility of window wells. We are very open to making any change that will decrease the possibility of water in the basement.

We are waiting for floor samples and have chosen samples of engineered hardwood, cork and bamboo. The samples should be here this week.

The holes for the electricity to enter the cottage (above tar) and wastewater to leave the cottage (below in tar) can be seen by clicking on the second photo from the top.