Once we hand harvested the Montepulciano, we were able to start work on the house again. Hopefully, we can get a lot done before next week’s harvest. John’s brother is visiting so, the goal is to get the roof on before he leaves!
Since we used Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF), the exterior walls went up very quickly. Now, we are working on framing the interior walls. Here are a few pictures:
It may be difficult to envision, but there are three bedrooms on the south side.
The north side of the basement will be the kitchen, dining area, living area and bathroom.
Next comes the roof (which will eventually be the floor joist of the first floor).
For the floor of the basement, we decided to seal and paint the concrete. Our house in Alabama had a clear seal on the basement floor which we liked and it held up well. We chose the same type to use here in west Texas. It is a 2 part epoxy coat which rather than being water based is amide based. This epoxy will stand up better to the wear and tear a large family gives a floor.
After sweeping, sweeping a second time and blowing with a shop vac, the floor was ready. To make it easier to see what had been painted and what was not, we chose not to tint the first coat. So, it went on white. Really bright white!
As with most things in our lives, it was a family affair to paint the floor. How many people does it take to do it? Well, for us it was: 3 to paint, 1 to move the bucket, 5 to watch/play/ provide general comic relief and 1 to photograph. It is a good thing we are a big family!
Now, I know how difficult a white floor is to keep clean and I am so glad we were not stopping here! After drying overnight, the second tinted coat was applied. The late afternoon sun casts shadows that really give the color varying shades. Although you can not tell from the picture, because of the shadows, the floor is all one shade!
While this type of finish can be expensive, it is very durable and practical. We were able to save quite a bit by doing it ourselves. Our supplies purchased included 2 part epoxy (which mixed yielded 2 gallons) to cover two coats on a 1500 sq ft slab, thinner, rollers and pole (we had an old broom handle to use for one) and cost approximately $440.
I am so thankful for coffee and this morning was certainly no exception. I always feel like a new woman after my first cup of the day! We worked until after dark last night and then came home to eat so we had a late night. But, today, the cement truck is coming at 1:00 pm and we have a lot to finish!
As you can see, we had just begun the sixth course of our ICF walls and this course involves a lot of cutting and fitting the forms around the windows and doors.
We are having 5 windows and 1 door but 3 of the windows will eventually be doors. So, we are framing them now and John will frame the bottoms of the doors to support the windows. Once the main floor is constructed, there will be rooms around the lower level for a wine cellar, cheese cave and root cellar. The windows will be removed and doors installed for access to these areas.
If you remember my analogy to legos, the ICF has the tabs that snap together and these must be cut off around the top course for an even wall. The walls looked much like a castle if you can imagine the tabs as crenelations. But, although I am still queen, my crenelations were cut off! The result, a nice level wall ready to pour. You can see the wood bracing added to the door to support the weight of the concrete as well as, the wood brace over the door. This is to prevent a break out at the cut above the door.
For the pour, we had 3 cement trucks and a pumper truck. I had never seen a pumper truck in action and it was amazing. The cement truck poured concrete into a hopper at the back of the pumper truck. It was then pumped about 40 feet into the air through a hose.
Have you ever had a remote control car? Well, a man stood with what appeared to be a remote control car controller and controlled the hose. John guided the hose around the top of the ICF’s filling the walls with concrete. Three rounds were made to fill a third of the wall at a time.
We will be taking the bracing down Saturday, cleaning the slab and popping chalk lines for the interior walls.
I have been giving step by step progress of our first floor house construction using Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF). I am truly amazed at how fast the wall go up.
As you can see at 10:00 am Thursday we have 2 courses done. With the concrete scheduled to be poured at 1:00 Friday, we still have a lot to do!
While some of the children continued to glue and snap together wall, others began to put the bracing together. From our 20 year old down to our 5 year old, everyone wanted to be involved. Even our 22 mth old walked around picking up screws and trash. (A large family certainly comes in handy!) I love the opportunity for them all to be involved and learn character and skills that they will use in their lives.
Back to our progress … The forms will hold the concrete but the bracing is used to insure straight walls. The brace parallel to the forms will be screwed into place before the concrete is poured. The blue metal pole coming from the wall at a 45 degree angle will be screwed into a block of wood which will be glued to the slab.
So the morning continued snapping, gluing, putting up bracing complete with walk boards on top. Although we tend to grow them tall, once we reached the fifth course, the top could not be reached. The walk boards were used to finish the last course as well as pouring the concrete.
By Thursday evening we had finished the fifth course and begun the sixth.
As the sun set I noticed the view our our soon to be kitchen window:
We continued to work into the night. I moved the van so the headlights would shine upon our work area but .. the mosquitoes! They were vicious man, woman and child eaters! So, at 9:40 pm we were pulling away for a much needed night’s sleep.
For those of you who are new, we have just begun the first floor (basement) of our new home which will overlook the vineyard. We are using the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) and were able to finish the first course or layer yesterday evening. We chose the Rewards ICF not only for their insulation and strength characteristics but also their price.
It is amazing how easy the ICF is to snap together. They are really like legos! Inside are plastic dividers which give strength and we will place rebar before concrete is poured for added stength.
First came marking the slab as a guide. So, we popped the line. Our concrete slab is not blue as the picture portrays – it is really gray! This line is our guide to make sure the blocks are square.
Each block is 4 ft wide and has teeth (remember legos) to snap to the next course. Since the first course will be sitting on the slab, the teeth of one side were cut off. A line of glue is then put down on the slab using a glue gun and lining it up with the inside edge on the line, the block laid on top. For the next block, glue is put on the slab and up the ends of the previously laid block.
The blocks are then held down for a few minutes until the glue sets.
What happens if the block is too wide – you just cut it to fit!
Hopefully, most of the walls will be up by this evening with bracing. For now, though, I am off to buy more glue!
We picked up the door and window frames to be used with the Rewards Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) today. John and the children began assembling them immediately. It is amazing how easily they are put together. The 16 foot pieces were cut to size and then screwed together with sheet-rock screws. Of course, there are always mechanical difficulties!
Corner braces are then added to maintain the 90 degree angle as the concrete is poured. Additional bracing with 2×4′s will also be added to prevent the forms from bowing.
Here is a picture of the door frames completely assembled. The corner bracing will be removed after the concrete is set.
Since these are plastic, the sawing to size creates a lot of snow-like trash. So, we have our own cleaning crew!
Tomorrow we will pick up the bracing and begin laying the ICF blocks. On Friday, if all goes according to plan, we will fill the forms (which will make our walls) with concrete.
Doing it yourself is a lot of work but also a great sense of accomplishment. It will be a wonderful experience for our children. Especially the younger ones who were not old enough (or not around yet) to help with our house in Alabama. Plus, we will be saving a ton of money!
Puppies, beans, corn and peas … We have had an exciting couple of days around here!
The most exciting news first, our corgi, Sophie had her puppies – 3 tri colored boys and 1 red female. Born Wednesday, they are adorable and of course the children are thrilled. A couple of months ago, Sophie survived a coyote attack ( I am not sure who attacked whom) which really aged her. So, I am planning on keeping the red and white female. For now, we are contemplating names for her and Squiggles is in first place. At the present, there is no second or third place.
Sophie now has inside privileges again and is really enjoying all the attention. When she does leave, the box of puppies which is under a chair, is pulled out and examined. Sophie will never want for a puppy-sitter!
Earlier Wednesday, beans were picked. The same day, a friend blessed us with several plastic bags of corn. We shucked and cut the corn off the cob and creamed some. After the corn was done, we started snapping beans and did not finish until 12:30pm. The time went quickly with everyone working together. Of course, watching Oceans 11 helped too!
Some little people could not wait for the corn to be cooked and got right to eating. If you have never tried raw corn on the cob, it is really good.
Thursday was met with (in addition to vineyard work) peas to be picked and shelled.Whew, just relating all that has been done makes me tired! I am looking forward to a quieter weekend.
My birthday is right around the corner, so, when my husband asked me what I wanted, I was not sure. Later for supper, I was scrambling eggs and thought that I would really like a big cast iron skillet. My largest skillet, which once had been a Teflon coated one, was now quickly becoming a tefl-off pan! When I mentioned it, he suggested that I check online for sizes and prices.
Now, when we have scrambled eggs, I use at least 20 eggs and a cup of milk not to mention the onions, peppers and whatever else strikes my fancy. I need a big skillet! It did not take long to find my dream! A 17″ beauty with loop handles. It is made by Lodge Logic and is pre-seasoned. Now taking out my ruler, I checked our stove to make sure it could handle such a skillet. It could!
The drawback was the skillet cost $69.00. Then, I had a revelation – why not check amazon.com, after all, I had redeemed my Swagbucks for amazon giftcards. What else would I use them for? Sure enough, they had it and it qualified for free shipping. I could get the skillet I wanted, without having to pay any money out of pocket. I ordered it and it was in in my greedy hands in 2 days!
Needless to say, I started using it immediately and love it! This may seem funny to some, to get so excited about a skillet I mean. But, after all, it is the little things in life isn’t it?
Well, I have my skillet. Now, I wonder what John is going to get me for my birthday?
While many people have been harvesting from their gardens for a while now, ours is just beginning. Yes, I have missed fresh squash, tomatoes, beans and … But, with all the vineyard work, I am thankful to have a “late” garden!
We have harvested enough zucchini and yellow squash for vegetable enchiladas – Mmmm! The beans and peas are just about ready to pick. We have bell peppers that I used in scrambled eggs yesterday. The tomatoes, well, they are growing and in addition to a couple of tiny tomatoes, have quite a lot of blooms. We put up a trellis fence for the tomatoes and as they grow we will tape them (with the vineyard tapers) to the fence. There is just nothing like fresh garden produce!
I fertilized yesterday and thankfully we got a rain shower last night! John used seven dust on the corn which is just beginning to tassel. Have you ever shucked wormy corn? If so, you will appreciate the value of seven dust.
Since I desire every area of our lives to feel and look homey, I even decorated the garden. Look closely and you can see my pink flamingos – I think every garden should have at least two! I must confess, I had been coveting them at a local store. Since finances were tight, I did not think it prudent to spend money on them. Besides, how would I explain their appearance? I did not think anyone here would buy the lie that they flew in – they are pretty smart and everyone knows that pink flamingos don’t normally fly through the west Texas area!
Do you know where pink flamingos live? Well, I did not so I had to look them up on Wikipedia. The four American flamingo species live in the Caribbean, South America and the Galapagos islands (off the west coast of South America). Other species live in Asia, India, S. Europe. But, my pair is an American variety made of plastic. A sister-in-law saved me from my coveting- she visited and as her gift, she brought a pair. Thank you, Joan!
You know the saying, “All work and no play makes Jack (in this case, John) a dull boy.”
Well, I can’t have that! So, below is the picture of a very happy man. Why? – you might wonder. Not only is he making his own beer, but he is making it using the rye that we grew and had a neighbor harvest! In “Harvesting Rye” I posted pictures and gave details of the planting and harvesting.
He has just made homemade beer even more economical – that is why he is so smiley! (He calculates it to cost less than $14 for the ingredients needed for a 10 gal. batch. Add < $1 for cleaning, propane and water and it is still less than 15 ¢/ 12 oz bottle – his time is free.)
Their are several ways to make your own beer. The easiest is to start by peeling the label off a bottle from the store and call it your own, and it would be, unless you stole it! Otherwise, you can get a kit online or at a local beer/wine making shop. These kits can be simply just mixing and bottling or actually cooking some of ingredients. John’s favorite way now is to start with the malt and grain. Sometimes he roasts the barley malt (to enhance the caramel flavor) and then grinds it by hand (with the help of the younger fellows). The malt is slowly cooked (mashed) to convert the insoluble starch to sugars. The liquid is filtered off and then sanitized by boiling (this also cooks off some bad flavors). The cooled liquid, now called wort, is transferred to glass carboys (on the counter with the blue funnel) where yeast is added. (Up to here usually only takes him 1/2 a day.) The yeast will ferment some of the sugar to alcohol over the next few weeks. Finally, the green beer (translate “young” – it is not literally green!) is decanted from the yeast cake and bottled with a little more corn sugar added to generate carbonation in the bottle. (The proceeding explanation was written by my ghost writer, former chemist husband.)
I did not acquire the taste for beer until we lived in Germany. “Das Schwartze” was a dark German beer that appealed to me. John was not making beer at that time and it was not until we moved back to Alabama that he began. He has made some very good ones. My personal favorite is a type of Belgian Wheat which has orange peel and coriander in it. It is always a waiting game to see how it tastes once bottled and allowed to sit for the carbonation to develop.
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