Power

Last weekend we marked the trail that the electric will follow. We used a compass, 100 foot tape measure, and the survey map to figure out the straightest path from the pole at the road to the future home site. Marked trees with orange surveyors tape and then retraced our path to see if we stayed fairly straight. Then we came back another day to start clearing the trail. Mostly saplings that we could cut with the loppers but had to do some chainsaw work too. Cleared about 200 feet of the 2000. Whew! We've got a long way to go, but at least the weather is great for working outdoors. Who would have thought that we could cut like this in February. Usually the snow is too deep for us to work safely with the chainsaw but this year we've had almost no snow and the temperature has been in the 30s. I'm not a fan of climate change, but for once I'm grateful for the mild winter.

And it begins

The meeting with the architect went well and we've already had the site visit. In case anyone is wondering how we found him, we asked another trusted contractor who he likes to work with. Still had to do an interview to make sure we going to be able to work together, but it gave us a jump start. We also met with another architect to get a comparison quote and see who we liked better.

Now we're picking windows and doors to establish opening sizes before he starts to draw up the plans. We want to minimize changes after the initial design so we've also been doing a last minute "are we sure we have everything where we want it" review. And we've added a thing or two that would make a difference in the design. For example, we want a utility sink in the garage and will run a pipe off that up to the second floor porch for water use up there (I'm thinking outdoor bathtub!). This is key because we're building on a slab and need to have it in the design for waste and water lines.

Heading to the Home Show on Friday to check things out and get some info on solar heating and radiant floor systems. Woo-hoo!