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The Project: A 2,163 square foot house utilizing dry stack concrete block construction with a central courtyard and based on the Spanish colonial-era missions in San Antonio. The Challenge: Can a forty-something married couple design and build an attractive, efficient and mostly paid-for house while remaining sane, solvent and married? With no actual prior construction experience? Hmmmmm - let's check in on our Contestants and see how they're doing... |
| Our friend Tim checked in to ask for a photo of the entire house as it currently stands. The house has got the profile of either the Alamo or Monticello, depending who is offering their opinion. Personally, I quite enjoy seeing the reflection of the house in the surrounding water feature, especially with the lights on at night. |  |
| This large (84 inches by 52 inches) picture window is secured with decking screws (where the red arrows are) driven through the metal fin into the 4x4 header brace. Attached to this are two sheets of insulating foam board and a plywood cover which brings the header flush with the rest of the wall. This will be covered in ferrocement. |  |
| This photo shows a window header ready for cement to be troweled in to the armature made of metal lath. The lath is hooked over the tops of the windows, then bent at 90 degrees to run up the front of the window header where it is held in place by a series of screws marked by the red arrows. |  |
| A member of management (looking like a very hot dog, frankly) inspects a pair of old wooden screen doors which we got at a yard sale for $10 apiece. These are solid, heavy wood and just need a little attention to look good again. We collected architectural salvage like this in our garage for years before finally being able to start construction. Management reminds us that there is important business to be taken care of back at the air-conditioned house, so we pack up. |  |
| The Garage Mahal as evening falls. You can just make out the cross block in the front of the barrel vault with the light shining through behind it at the apex of the arch. With temperatures in the 80's before the sun is even up, we try to work more often in the cool of the evening. Moments like this make all the work seem worthwhile as we pack up and head for home at the end of a very long, hot day. |  |
| Want to see a rough floor plan?Want to be notified when we post new pictures? Just e-mail us! Want to see the rest of the story? Click on Gimme Shelter Home Page. |
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| Next installment: Closing In Click HERE |
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