Photos: House, October 18, 2009

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Standing atop a ;arge bundle of lumber, Lydia is holding onto her mom while she is gazing at something far away.



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Lydia's dad is carrying a tripod on his shoulder while walking around the back yard next to the small excavator in search of the next spot to take a picture.


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Lydia is lifting the orange plastic fence at the driveway while her father observes her.



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Beams in the crawl space

Note: This past's week major accomplishment with respect to the construction of the home was the framing of the crawl space. Pressure treated lumber posts, which are water resistant, are firmly anchored on the concrete footings, and on top of these posts are beams made of 2 x 10 dimensional lumber.

Building note: "A house must withstand a variety of loads (forces): the dead load of the building materials; the live loads of the people in the house and their possessions; and the shear loads from earthquakes, soil movement, wind, and the like, which exert racking (twisting) forces on a building. . .

Loads are transferred downward by framing members, primarily by exterior walls sitting atop a perimeter foundation and by interior bearing walls, often supported by a secondary foundation consisting of a girder [beam], posts, and pads. Generally, a girder runs the length of the house, and supporting floor joists run perpendicular to it." (Michael Litchfield. Renovation. Taunton Press: 2005. pages 151-152)


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Family picture on the concrete footings of the deck

SiowFong decided that since we had taken so many family pictures showing the front of the home, it was time to take one showing the back of the home.





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Family picture on the rear foundation wall

Note: We try to take one family picture a week at the job site, and this usually occurs on the weekend when we have more free time. We have been fortunate that rain has not yet intruded on one of these Saturday or Sunday family photo sessions.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 18, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: Card Writing 2

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Lydia is preparing to place a Winnie the Pooh sticker on a card.

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Lydia is "all smiles" as she shows the three cards that she has worked on today. The card on the left is a sympathy card for Grandpa Al (Al Crane), whose wife Florence (Grandma Florence) died a week ago and the other two are birthday cards.

Note: Before Lydia came into our lives, SiowFong and I sent many more cards than we do now, but with Lydia's interest in drawing, signing, and decorating cards with stickers, we are starting to send out more cards.

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Lydia is extending her arms to decorate a card with a sticker.

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After working on the cards, Lydia is tired.

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Lydia proudly holds up her Winnie the Pooh sticker book.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 17, 2009 in the dining room of our home.

Photos: Card Writing 1

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After drawing a little girl, Lydia is signing her name on one of the two birthday cards that she worked on today.

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Concentrating her full attention to the task at hand, Lydia carefully and slowly creates her drawings and signature.

Note: Beside her is her green plastic bucket that is filled with crayons, pens, pencils, and erasers.

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Lydia is drawing a flower on a card.

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After drawing and signing her cards, Lydia affixes stickers to them while her mother is encouraging and guiding her.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 17, 2009 in the dining room of our home.

Photos: Ballet

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Exterior view of the Francia Russell Center

October 7, 2009

Note: Lydia's interest in ballet began as a result of her experiences at day care. For the last year, she has been taking "Tumble Gym", a weekly activity which has increased her agility and confidence; in addition, Lydia reports that dance is something that the teachers have introduced to her and her peers.

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Lydia loves to swing on the ballet dance bars.

October 14, 2009

Note: Pacific Northwest Ballet school has a number of classes based on age. For Lydia's age group, the children's division of the school offers a "Mommy and Me" class, which involves a parent as well as the child. Lydia began attending these classes in September 2009, and she looks forward each Wednesday to the forty-five minute session.

"Toddlers ages 2 to 3 and parent or caretaker dance together while focusing on rhythm, movement, music and fun! Learn dance moves for home while developing healthy toddler bodies and coordination. Classes meet once a week for a 9-week quarter, and children must be 2 years old by December 31, 2009. No audition required. Cost: $165 (9-week quarter) Dress code: Non-restrictive clothing" (source: http://www.pnb.org/PNBSchool/Classes/ChildrensDivision/)

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Lydia honed her skills on the monkey bars at Whizz Kids, her day care, and she uses the time before class to refine those skills further in the dance studio.

October 14, 2009

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Lydia loves "to look pretty", and SiowFong thinks one reason that she relishes ballet class is because it provides her an opportunity to dress up in her lavender tutu, pink ballet tights, and pink ballet shoes.

October 14, 2009

Note: When Lydia and I visited a local Barnes and Noble bookstore a few months ago, she saw a paperback children's book whose front cover featured three small children dressed in ballet outfits, and she asked me to buy it for her. Entitled We Love Ballet, the book, which is authored by Jane Feldman, has been one of Lydia's favorites. Lydia frequently asks her mom to read this book to her, particularly during story time prior to bed time.

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Giant photos of ballet dancers on the exterior of the ballet school

October 7, 2009

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Wearing the blue tutu given to her by May Li, Lydia is standing at one of her favorite spots in the dance studio.

October 7, 2009

Note: All of these photos were taken at Pacific Northwest Ballet's dance school at the Francia Russell Center, which is located at 13440 NE 16th Street in Bellevue, Washington.

Photos: Mommie and Lydia Tickling

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Tiger, Lydia, the big pink dog, and mommy are smiling during the tickling and hugging session.

Note: One of Lydia's recent requests after dinner is to ask her mom to tickle and to hug her, and one of her new requests of her dad is to hang her upside down by her ankles.

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SiowFong, Lydia, Tiger, and the big pink dog are resting after tonight's tickling session.

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SiowFong is tickling Lydia's ear with a brown bear.

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SiowFong is hugging Lydia and the big pink dog.

Note: With much of our free time and energy concentrated on the construction of our future new home, including photographing its progress, we have not had as much time to document our life and Lydia's development at home, so tonight fortunately provided an opportunity to do some of that.

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Hugs, hugs, and more hugs

Note: These photos were taken on October 11, 2009 following dinner in the living room of our home.

Photos: House, October 11, 2009

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"Little Brother" and "Big Brother" excavators

Note: Erik Wickman, the owner and the only employee of Wickman Construction, owns three pieces of heavy equipment, these two excavators and a large dump truck.

Building note: Among the costlier items in a construction budget is excavation. John Koffley, one of the principals of Latona Builders, another residential construction firm that we considered during the builder selection process, said, "Moving and hauling dirt are expensive." For example, the truck drivers who haul excess dirt away from a job site charge $ 100 per hour for their work.

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The garage slab

Building note: The amount of concrete needed for this garage slab, which is 800 square feet, is 10 cubic yards. "Most concrete mixer trucks can hold 9 cubic yards to 11 cubic yards." (Michael Litchfield. Renovation. Taunton Press: 2005. page 222)

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View of the foundation walls and footing from the rear elevation (south side of the home)

Note: In the center of the foundation is a buck out, which is part of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The high efficiency York gas furnace in the garage will connect via the buckout to ductwork in the crawl space, which will then supply conditioned air to the rooms on the first floor.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 11, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: House, October 10, 2009

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SiowFong and Lydia are waving to Lydia's dad as he takes this picture.

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Deck piers

After seeing the presence of these concrete piers in the backyard, Lydia walked on them, beginning on one side and ending on the other side.

Note: Ten of these 18-inch in diameter concrete piers that are 4 feet apart from each other will support the deck, which will be 10 feet wide and 40 feet long.

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Lydia is playing with the zipper of her new pink winter jacket while she is standing on a cut section of a large tree trunk.

Note: At Lydia's day care, the children have outdoor play time each day unless it is raining or snowing, and because she outgrew her green winter jacket, we bought this new one for her at REI, a retailer for outdoor enthusiasts. The aspects of this jacket that Lydia really like include the fact that it is pink, her favorite color, and that it has a yellow whistle that attached to the zipper which we bought separately. We emphasized to Lydia that if she is ever in trouble or needs help, she should blow the whistle to alert her teachers.

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Lydia is walking on the new concrete slab that forms the floor for the three car garage. Joe Bergevin, our builder, used the word "perfect" to describe the results.

Note: This was the last of four main accomplishments this week at the site. The first was the waterproofing of the exterior foundation walls; the second was the backfilling of the trench around the foundation; and the third was the pouring of the concrete footings for the deck.

Building notes: "[Concrete] slabs consist of 4 inches of concrete poured over 4 inches of crushed rock with a plastic moisture barrier between. In addition, garage floors are often reinforced with steel mesh or rebar to support greater loads and forestall cracking." (Michael Litchfield. Renovation. Taunton Press: 2005. pages 220-221)

"(Not shown in this picture but easily seen when walking on the garage floor are important control and isolation joints. Without these grooves in the concrete, the concrete slab would crack due to "lift[ing] and fall[ing] with seasonal changes in ground humidity. Slabs in unheated areas like garages are also subject to frost heave." (Fernando Ruiz. Building An Affordable House. Taunton Press: 2005. page 56)

Little things like this can make a difference. For instance, in our current home, a production or tract home, the builder's concrete subcontractors did not make any control and isolation joints for the garage slab, and some easily noticeable cracks ensued.

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 10, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: House, October 8, 2009

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View of our future home from across the street

Note: A week or two earlier, I had the pleasure of meeting Chris, a nice elderly lady who lives across the street from our future home (the front of our house faces north).

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View of our home from the left elevation (the east side)

Note: John, a painter, and Dani, his wife who is an elementary school teacher, live in the home that is next to the east side of our home, and among all of the neighbors whom we have met over the last year, they have been among the friendliest.

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Storm water culvert, cylindrical concrete footings for deck, and the back yard (which slopes down from the home)

Note: Because the city requires that a new home has a system for managing storm water (precipitation that results from rain, hail, sleet and snow), we hired a civil engineer to draw up a storm water drainage system, which includes the storm drain seen here.

The city's rationale for this requirement is that the city does not want storm water filling the regular sewer system, which is designed and sized for managing waste water, whenever precipitation occurs. It is amazing to me how much storm water can result from rainfall. "[For instance], a 1,500 square foot roof catches 1,000 gallons of water in a 1-inch rain." (Gary Branson. Home Water and Moisture Problems. Firefly Books: 2003. page 25)

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 8, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: House, October 7, 2009

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Northwest corner of the home

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Southern side of the home

Note: In a crawl space, the dirt floor altenates with runs of concrete footings.



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Northeast corner of the home

Note: The black material, a DuPont manufactured plastic material called Typar GeoTextiles, is used to waterproof the exterior foundation walls. (In many homes -- even custom homes, the cheaper, but less effective waterproofing solution is spraying a liquid membrane onto the foundation walls.) In addition, clear plastic material is placed over the area where the foundation's perimeter drains are located to prevent soil and other debris from clogging the perforations of those PVC pipes.

"Manufactured in Tennessee, USA, Typar® Geotextiles have been used in paved and unpaved roads, industrial yards, subsurface drains, erosion control, landfills, recreational facilities and septic systems for more than 25 years.

Whatever your project needs, Typar Geotextiles can help. The durable fabric is available as 2-dimensional roll goods. . .[Its properties and / or attributes include:]
• Polypropylene, with a 20 percent recycled content• Strong, durable fabric • Prevents intermixing of aggregate and subgrade soil• Excellent tensile strength • Tear and puncture resistance for stability• Hydraulic properties allow for filtering that prevents clogging• Available in various weights and opening sizes" (source: http://www.typargeotextiles.com/)

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 7, 2009

Photos: House, October 5, 2009

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6 inch in diameter perforated PVC (polyvinyl chloride) piping for the drainage system of the home

Note: Prevention of water and moisture problems is one of the top concerns for our builder, Joe Bergevin, because these dilemmas unfortunately are not uncommon even in new homes.

The first line of defense is proper grading of the lot such that the foundation of the house sits at the highest elevation of the lot and such that the soil around the foundation slopes away from the foundation. The second line of defense is the installation of these 6-inch in diameter PVC perforated plastic pipes around the perimeter of foundation. The third line of defense is ensuring that the downspouts and gutters are properly placed.

Finally, behind the pipes is a mound of excavated dirt that is covered with black plastic to keep it dry until it is time to backfill the foundation.

Note: This picture was taken on October 5, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: House, October 4, 2009

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Lydia, who is 36 and 1/2 inches tall and who often says that she is a "big girl" now, is temporarily taller than her dad since she is standing on the four-foot high, eight inch thick exterior foundation wall of the den / office.

Note: The two holes in the foundation wall are some of the conduits for drainage pipes that will ensure that the crawl space stays dry. The thin metal straps that are taller than the foundation walls are Simpson Strong Ties that are required by the local building code to fortify the home against earthquakes. "These structural connectors that are used in a continuous load path transfer system can effectively resist these forces by reinforcing the structure from the roof to the foundation." (source: Simpson Strong Tie website)

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Lydia's dad is carrying Lydia.

Note: Praise the Lord for dry weather this past week as those conditions allowed the concrete subcontractors to pour the concrete for the footings and the walls. Joe Bergevin, our builder, has emphasized to us that dry conditions are critical during the excavation and foundation phases of the home building process, and thanks be to God, we have had favorable weather in September and early October.

Because the site is relatively level and because steel rods (rebar that is shown in the picture as stubby metal spikes atop the foundation wall) have been embedded within the concrete to reinforce the strength of the concrete walls, less concrete is needed for the foundation walls because the walls can be thinner and shorter. In short, the topography and soil conditions of the site along with the size of the home greatly influence the cost of the foundation.

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Lydia is walking across a concrete footing.

Note: Unlike a basement, in which the entire floor would consist of concrete, a crawl space, which is not meant to be inhabited, features linear runs of concrete that alternate with linear runs of dirt (the spaces between the lines of concrete shown in this picture).

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With her mom following her, Lydia is running towards her dad.

Note: During the excavation phase of construction, which precedes the foundation phase, the excavator dug this 3 foot high and 3 foot wide trench around the perimeter of the foundation so that the concrete subcontractors who create the foundation have enough room to accomplish their work. After the exterior of the foundation walls are waterproofed, then the excavator will backfill this trench.

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Post Foundation Family Picture

In the garage, we are standing on the wooden boards that the concrete workers used to create the forms into which the concrete was poured. After the concrete hardens, the workers removed the wooden boards and stacked them here.

Photo note: The camera was attached to a tripod that was set up on the the body of the excavator, and a set of PocketWizard Plus II radio transmitters was used to trigger the camera remotely.

Note: All of these pictures were taken during the late afternoon on October 4, 2009 at the site of our future home.

Photos: Moab, Salt Lake City Airport Hilton Hotel

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After taking her bath, Lydia is cheerfully eating a snack before bedtime.

Note: SiowFong took this picture on October 3, 2009 at the Airport Hilton Hotel that is located at 5151 Wiley Post Way in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Photos: Moab, Lydia and Daddy

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Portrait (vertical photo) of Lydia and Dad

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Landscape (horizontal photo) of Lydia and dad

Note: SiowFong took both of these pictures on October 2, 2009 at sunset in the Garden of Eden at Arches National Park.

Photos: Dead Horse State Park

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"How can anyone not believe that there a great God who created all these things?" writes Lydia's auntie Patsy (Patsy Seuc) after she saw some of the pictures from our trip to Moab?

Note: Lydia's first Bible, which we have read to her many times, says, "In the beginning there were no people. No animals. No light. Nothing. Then God said, 'Let there be light.' And there was light. Day and night. And that was day one. Next God put water in the sea and clouds in the sky. And that was day two. Then God made dry land. And hills. And rivers. And valleys. That was day three. On day four, God put the sun in the sky." (source: Candle Bible for Toddlers. Candle Books: 2006. pages 10-14.)

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"Even if you do not have much time, don't miss Dead Horse Point State Park for an outstanding panoramic of the area [the Island in the Sky section of Canyonlands National Park]. . .[as it] offers the prototypical view of the American West canyons, as pictured in many ads and movies." (Laurent Martres. Photographing the Southwest: Southern Utah. PhotoTrip USA: 2006. page 237)

Note: Of all the state parks in America that I (Tom) have visited, this one has the most stunning scenery.

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Some have noted the similarities between Canyonlands National Park and the Grand Canyon, and at this viewpoint, one can glimpse the mighty Colorado River as it meanders through Canyonlands.

Note: All of these pictures were taken at Dead Horse Point in Dead Horse State Park on October 3, 2009 between 7:05 AM and 7:05 PM.

Note: Along with Antelope Island State Park and Wasatch Mountain State Park, Dead Horse State Park is considered one of the top three state parks in Utah. "Located 11 miles northwest of Moab on US 191 and then 23 miles southwest on Utah 313 to the end of the highway. Dead Horse Point sits high on a desert plateau overlooking Canyonlands National Park and the Colorado River. Activities in the park include hiking, photography, geology, and wildlife viewing. Camping is available in the park, reservations are not required, but highly recommended. The campground has drinking water, modern restrooms, covered picnic tables and barbeque grills. There are no showers available and no fires are allowed. There is a visitors center with an information section, auditorium, souvenirs, and restrooms. All facilities are ADA accessible." (source: http://usparks.about.com/blbestparks-ut.htm)