Gettin' It Together

Sunrise from the House on the Hill.

This morning I drove up to the House on the Hill before dawn because I wanted to see the sunrise from the front window on the first day that it was all together. Boy, does that sound good; I got up before dawn to watch the sunrise. Well, maybe not. I had left all the windows open last night and M came back in before he left for work and told me it was starting to sprinkle. So, I hauled myself out of bed; he leaves for work at 4:30am so this WAS an accomplishment. I went out into the dark and headed up the Hill to shut the windows.

Getting to see the sunrise was serendipitous.


Twas a good thing I went when I did, those dark clouds in the corner moved in very fast and a heavy rain began right after this pic was taken. I had to drive down the Hill with the rain pouring and the dirt road beginning to get slippery. Gravel soon is a must.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day up on the Hill watching the crew. They leveled, blocked and tied down the front half.



It took them much longer than it should have because they had to chisel out areas of the pad to put tie down plates for the concrete block piers to sit on. M built the pad from the clay that is all over our property, it dries brick hard. The Boss Guy laughingly told me, "Don't have to worry bout this house settling none!" A rigid plastic plate went under every concrete pier and on the corner piers they put 18" square steel plates that have a steel tie down piece attached to the middle Ibeams. There wasn't enough light to get pics of these. But I will, Pop. Even with these M intends to tie it down more when we put the foundation in. Notice the big chunks of hardened clay they had to break out?


After the front half was leveled they took the wheels and axles off.


The axles seemed almost sculptural to me. Redneck garden art?


Then off came the plastic.



The Boss Guy and The Monster Mover




moved the back half from this uncomfortable position



to here, where it belongs. This is the only pic I have of this because I went down the Hill to lunch and when I came back this is what greeted me. A whole House on the Hill instead of 2 halves.


The crew repeated the process and then hooked the 2 halves together (they used huge lag screws and an air wrench, Pop) at the top, bottom and sides. The few shingles that had blown off were replaced and the peak was capped. The job was done.

They cleaned up the site


loaded their gear and headed out. They did such an awesome job!



I had my House on the Hill all to myself. I think I let them get out of sight before I went inside but I'm not sure. So I could just walk around in our

living room/foyer


dining room


family room


M's office. The chair came with the house. It's a cool chair too!


and laundry room. Small, but a real laundry room.



I walked around the entire house last night but there was not enough light to take any more pics - these were taken before the house was moved. I don't have any pics of the guest rooms and sewing room and I'm not putting any of the rooms that are so stuck in the 90's up on this post. They deserve their very own post.

M got home while I was still walking around and joined me. He finally got to see the inside of his new home. I think it's safe to say, he really, really likes our House on the Hill.