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.

Basement walls

North (window) and east sides of basement. Click on photos to enlarge.

East or front side of house.

South side of house.

West side of house (walk-out basement)

Photos were taken on Sunday. There will be a four-seasons room on the east (front) side of the house which will not have basement under it. The dogs and bird will probably be housed in this room as they are in our current villa. Eventually this room will become the living room of the cottage. There will be retaining walls added to the west side of the house for the walk-out basement after the floor for the basement is poured, the west wall is framed in, and the remaining excavation for the retaining walls is completed. Cats will have area in basement for litter boxes, etc. The basement walls will, in some areas, be out of the ground up to four feet. There will be back-fill up against the basement walls. There will be steps to climb to get on to the front porch and at least one step from the porch into the main part of the house. The elevation of the house will, hopefully, give a nice view from the kitchen window of the lake, and definitely will afford that view from the sleeping loft.

Bonnie went to the Good life Show at the Coliseum this past Saturday while Kathy worked. She is more determined than ever to go green in the cottage as much as we can afford to during the building phase and, when not financially possible now, then down the road as money permits.

We will be doing the tankless hot water heater from the get-go and also Kinetico water system and reverse osmosis drinking water. Though a reverse osmosis system is not considered green, Bonnie justifies it's inclusion in the cottage because of it's health benefits (we will have a well). Bonnie plans to use Safecoat paints from Green Way Supply in Indianapolis for our interior colors. The colors we currently like are very rich and earthy.

We are also looking into bamboo flooring which is harder than red oak or maple and can be resurfaced several times...bamboo because it is a renewable resource. In addition, if we can afford it, we will have Icynene applied as our insulation of choice. It is Energy Star compliant and green certified, is healthier than other insulation, and acts as a noise barrier from outside noises.

We will be taking our current stove and fridge because, when we purchased it for our villa in Ft. Wayne, we thought they were the last we were going to buy and we got exactly what we wanted. Though Kathy has since changed her mind about the side-by-side fridge (the freezer is too small and too narrow), she does like the ice and water through the door and the great filtering system. She thinks the drinking water through the door is about the best she has ever had. Also, the fridge is Energy Star compliant. So new and less expensive appliances will be in place when the villa goes up for sale, saving us hundreds of dollars. We have a commercial upright freezer (Energy Star compliant) that will go in the basement as well as a small dorm-sized fridge/freezer and a wine cooler, so we are set for fridges, coolers and freezers.

Bonnie brought Kathy home some apples from the Good Life Show that are excellent. They are from Country View Greenhouse in South Whitley. They are a green apple and are called Shizuka. Part of green living includes buying locally. You buy an apple from a local grower and you save energy by not purchasing the same apple from the State of Washington where it had to be shipped. Here is my question though...if you have to drive to South Whitley to buy the apples, aren't you still using energy (gasoline) to get there and back? How is this green? Or is it just greenER buying locally grown produce than that produced in far-away states?

Bonnie complimented Kathy on having lived somewhat green most of her life. If buying clothes from Goodwill and wearing them until they have so many holes in them that they are indecent and you have to be told to put them in the rag bag is green, then she is green. If buying a low-mileage used car and driving it for 15 years or until it won't run any longer without huge repair bills is green, then she is green. If wearing the same pair of shoes long past when they have gone out of style, or pulling Bonnie's cast-off tennis shoes out of the trash to wear to go geocaching (even though they are two sizes too large) is green, then she is green. If making do with tools that aren't quite suited to the job in order to not have to go out and buy a new tool (even if that means taking twice as long to do a job) is green, then she is green. If washing the colors with the whites to conserve water (even if it means that the colors might run and the whites have to be washed over again using bleach) is green, then she is green. If (and this is Bonnie's least favorite of Kathy's green doings) getting every drop of margarine, mayonnaise, etc., out of a bottle, jar or tub is green, then she is very, very green! If taking a shower only once a week in order to conserve water is green...ok, we have gone too far! But you get the picture.

Friends and neighbors

The forms going up for the walk-out basement.

Denny and Barbara's home.

The front of the Dull home.

Another angle of the front of the house. Click on photos to enlarge.

The top photo today is of forms going up for the walk-out basement for Blossom Ridge Cottage. As of today, the basement has, supposedly, been poured. We will check this weekend as we will be driving by the area.

Today's blog is about our friends and neighbors who live adjacent to or near the farm. Some of these people qualify as friends, some as neighbors, and some as both.

The first neighbor we will discuss is Richard Hansen to our north. You may see photos of his beautiful log home in previous posts. We aren't quite certain what Richard does for a living, and we would have to check his business card for confirmation, but he might dabble in the gold market.

Richard lives in his log home with a variety of people, or so it seems. He has a large, gentle dog named Regan, and there is, more often than not, a second large dog at the home. His son lives with him (or did) and there are various cars and people coming and going from the home on a daily basis. We see Richard to wave to and that has been about it since he graciously gave us a tour of his home about a year ago when we knocked on his door and introduced ourselves to him after purchasing the two acres next to him. Perhaps there will be more dialogue after we move in. Richard's home has been for sale since before it was completed. The original price has been reduced, but in today's market it may be a very long time before it sells. Bonnie spoke with Richard once at the airport and came away with the feeling that he didn't really care if he sold the home or not, and only would for the right price.

Denny and Barbara Dull, our underground neighbors to the south, are everything you could hope for in neighbors. The first of today's photos of their spread shows their barn, a small out-building that is currently housing our tiller thanks to Denny's generosity, Denny's observatory (he says that light pollution from the city of Fort Wayne interferes with what once was a great view of the sky), and an entrance (from above) to the house below from its "roof."

Two other photos of the front of Denny and Barbara's home shows how it is tucked into the hillside. This house is in no way dark as there are windows all down the front of it. These photos also show Denny's gazebo. His veggie garden is between the gazebo and the barn.

Denny is retired from GE and living, with Barbara, what appears to be a very comfortable life. Denny is a bear of a man about our age, while Barb is a very petite woman. They are clever, witty, generous, and we consider them our friends. We look forward to having some wonderful times with them. Denny keeps his eye on our property in our absence, and more honest and caring neighbors would be hard to find.

Jonathan and Olivia Kline own Camp Timber Lake, and it was from Jonathan that Bonnie purchased our 2-acre farm. We understand that Jonathan knew from a very young age that he wanted to buy the campground, and purchase it he did, right out of high school. What Jonathan and his family have done in the few short years they have owned and operated Camp Timber Lake is staggering. Jonathan is a Jack-of-all-trades, and there is not much he can't do when it comes to developing the campground. Olivia, also a hard worker, does much of the mowing, cleaning and, I am sure, many other things that go uncredited. She is a recent college graduate with a degree in graphic arts if I am not mistaken. The age difference between the younger Klines and us will probably keep us from developing more than a casual friendship with them. We have, after all, children much older than them!

Jonathan and Oliva have been helped enormously in the development of the campground by Jonathan's parents, Rex and LeAnn Kline, and LeAnn's mother, June. Also on the roster of campground developers is Don, who is 85, and has been a fixture at the campground for many years. Don is currently recovering from back surgery which has forced him to participate less in the more stenuous activities at the campground. As of last year he lives year-round at Camp Timber Lake in a small cottage that used to be the campground office and which was moved to the location on the largest lake where he had a summer cottage that was not set up for year-round habitation.

Rex is a retired plumber and electrician whom Bonnie has contracted with to do all of that type of work for Blossom Ridge Cottage. LeAnn still works parttime but puts in many hours, still, at the campground. Rex and LeAnn love to ride their bikes on long (50+ miles and more) trips with groups and friends. They are always busy with one project or another. They recently put a metal roof on their lovely A-frame home and Rex, though retired, continues to work as a plumber and electrician as much as Social Security will allow. We feel blessed that he agreed to work on our cottage. The advice he has given us has been invaluable.

LeAnn, like Kathy, rescues kittens and cats. We have lost count of the number of cats she is currently housing. It makes Kathy's three cats seem like nothing. Not all of these cats are housecats, but they are well taken care of and loved. Homes are being sought for some of them. (Perhaps Possum will post their photos on his blog.) Again, we feel fortunate to have Rex and LeAnn for neighbors and hope for more of a friendship with them down the road.

June is a wonderful woman. She keeps herself busy in her retirement with her veggie garden and volunteer work. She has a wonderful little rescue terrier named Scooby. A visit from June is always a treat. We hope to also have a deepening friendship with her over the years.

Moving to the cottage will also cut 35 minutes off the drive to Logansport to visit Kathy's mother and two brothers, a trip that usually takes 90 minutes. It will also put Kathy closer to geocaching partner and friend, Rick, his son, Ricky, and Geodog, Patrick.

Cottage drawings

Yep...walk-out basement!

Main level

Loft

© 2008 Bonnie Pennock

Click on photos or drawings to make them larger.

Footers

Bonnie inspecting the footers last night.

The temporary electric box.

Bonnie and Little Bear after basement excavation.

Our neighbor to the north.

Mille examining the covered leech beds.

Walk-out basement looking toward road.

Gizmo checking out the fall colors.

Footers.

The grapevines are making a come-back - Cabernet Franc.

Traminette

Vidal

The footers have been poured and have passed inspection. We are hopeful that the forms for the basement walls will be put up today. There is a 70% chance of rain late this afternoon into the evening. We think the forms may go up but that the walls will not be poured.

As you can tell from the photos, the cottage is very small...cozy is our preferred word. We have also uploaded photos of the rejuvinated grapevines.

The log home in the one photo looks like it should be the lodge for Camp Timber Lake. Our little cottage will look like the servant's quarters for the log home. This is a beautiful log home, very spacious, and would make a wonderful B&B. It wasn't completed when the owner, our neighbor Richard, had it up for sale with a very hefty price tag on it. We have had a tour, compliments of Richard, and it has a wonderful, open feel to it. No fireplace. A home like this should have several fireplaces.

Our neighbors to the south are Denny and Barbara Dull. Their home is equally impressive. It is underground. We have also had a tour of this lovely home. In some of the previous photos you can see Denny's huge white pole building that houses his camper, his car and van, and his woodworking shop. You may also notice a building with a round roof. That would be Denny's observatory. Near the observatory is a small outbuilding where Denny has graciously allowed us to house our tiller until we can have a building of our own constructed. See first photo in previous blog for distance shots of Denny and Barb's homestead and also photos from inaugural post. We will upload a photo of the front of Denny's home soon. More about these people in an upcoming Friends and Neighbors blog.

So the work is progressing on the basement and Bonnie wanted made mention the fact that she saved 35% on the windows for the cottage. Builder Mike went to a place in The Fort that sells orphaned windows and more. These are windows that people have ordered and then, for one reason or another, have not used. They can be purchased at a tremendous savings. So we now have more windows for 35% less money than the original estimate which included no windows for the front porch. By buying the orphaned windows we now have windows for the porch. Kathy's favorite window (sight unseen) is going to be the huge window that takes up the whole south wall of the cottage and overlooks the vineyard.