Hot, hot, hot

Seems like everything going in right now is a heating appliance of some variety. First, the water heater is now situated in the corner of the utility room in the basement (although not hooked up yet, obviously.)


Next is the heating/AC unit, which wound up in the workshop, actually (it was too big for the closet in which it was supposed to go... Oh well, I just have to live with some extra storage in the rec room.) The ducting & vents are all in place; you can see some of the vents in the second-floor bedrooms here.


Finally, we took delivery of our new woodstove today from Dillon Heating & Cooling in Odessa. Highest recommendation, BTW! They were very helpful & were happy to keep our stove on their showroom floor for a couple of extra months until we were ready for it. We got a Jøtul F3CB stove, which is not huge (as you can see) but should be perfect for zone heating on the first floor family-room area. Plus I can cook on the stovetop in a pinch. (Pinch is here defined as a power outage.) I think it's an adorable little stove, just the right size for a cozy little fire. Wayne, one of the owners of Dillon H&C, mentioned that the demand for stoves has grown so much that there is a fairly hefty wait for some models these days. Seems more & more people are turning to wood/corn/pellet stoves as a way of offsetting ridiculously high heating-fuel costs. Woo, am I glad we put our order in early.

Autumn Leaves

Here is a pretty shot Mike took of the dome while pulled over on the highway. He was chatting with a couple of guys that are building a house here on the lot facing the highway (it's the lot kitty-corner to the dome lot; it backs up to our second lot) -- he had actually met them a while back & had offered to show them the dome sometime. They took him up on the offer today & took the tour; they were quite pleased to get a chance to see the inside. Apparently we're the talk of several neighboring towns... all the contractors & builders know about the crazy dome that's going in, and everyone wants to get a peek at it. I have a feeling we'll get some random doorbell rings once we're moved in.

HVAC

With framing in place, the various things that go between the walls are all being installed. This includes pipes for plumbing, as well as the ducting for the heat & air conditioning. Here is the ducting coming out of the basement shop (where the HVAC unit will be located). Looks ugly, doesn't it? It all gets covered up anyway, so no matter.

Nuttin much

Nothing photo-worthy seems to be happening at the moment. There was a big old boo-boo in the basement plumbing, putting the toilet drain only about six inches from the wall, which is making the plumber unhappy because he'll have to tear up a section of the floor & re-do it. Measure twice, cut once, right? Oh well, I guess there's always at least one of these things.

Mike walked through with the electrician today, he should start wiring in the next day or two. After that, DRYWALL! and floors & cabinets & sinks & stuff! It's getting close...