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Well, after the Christmas break, we got back to it, finishing up the attic insulation.
Initially, we had thought we would subcontract this job, never having attempted it before ourselves. So, we got a quote on the job from a recommended subcontractor. He quoted us a rate of $1.50/sf for R-30 insulation blown in to the attic. For approximately 2600 sf (just the main part of the house — not the WWII museum and research center), this equates to a cost of $3900. We actually wanted more insulation — up to R44, so we decided to see how difficult [...]
I cannot believe it has been more than a month since I posted an update… suffice it to say that we have not stopped working and been laying about!
In the past month, the exterior of the house has been almost finished, including:
Stucco Caulking and Painting Exterior Trim (soffits and fascia) Exterior Door installation Chimney Roofing Installation of Garage Doors Gravel placed on drive and on road Exterior Light fixture installation
We hired a subcontractor for the stucco. While they worked on stucco, I kept up (barely) with painting and caulking all the soffits and fascia. We used the [...]
Since we are doing all the prep work ourselves for the slab foundation, we also did the installation of the rebar for the foundation. We did get some help from a couple of local construction workers who worked with us for an hourly wage. That helped a great deal and made the work go much more quickly. The entire family did learn how to wire rebar and how to insert support rebar for the footers. Here are a few photos of the process:
Nearly all rebar in place…
Corners bent without Cheater pipes.
18" apart Rebar meets [...]
I’m a bit slow in posting updates (we’ve been really busy!), but here is a panorama shot of the house with form boards in place.
Form Boards in place
This summer has already brought huge forest fires to New Mexico. The nearest fire, near Ruidoso, altered the sky even 70 miles away… The following three shots were taken from our land toward the northwest turning toward the west…
Smoke on the horizon
We had a wonderful week of rain here in the dry southeastern New Mexico desert. Because of the dirt road in front of our property, we tried to minimize the driving we did when the weather was so wet, but welcomed the wonderful smell of the rain and much-needed moisture. It came just in time to give additional water to our newly-transplanted pecan trees, as well as the native cacti on the property. Here are photos of the blooms that came soon after the rain:
The prickly pears look like they’ll be producing fruit, so maybe I’ll try my hand [...]
Yesterday was a red letter day! We got two of our four pecan trees placed on the Homestead. While the process was going on, I was able to video them. See the progress here:
Preparing the Hole:
Planting the Tree (1st Tree):
Planting the Second Tree:
For more information about transplanting mature pecan trees, check out our previous posts on Mature Pecan Trees and Pecan Trees for the Homestead.
Now that the trees are planted, we know we need to be very diligent about watering them heavily until they are very well established. Initially, we plan to [...]
As mentioned in an earlier post, pecan trees do very well in New Mexico. We were fortunate to find someone to sell a few to us for the Homestead. According to my Dad, with the trees having the late spring and summer to establish themselves (assuming we give them good quantities of water), we could possible see some pecans on the next year (2013) winter harvest.
To get ready for the trees, we had to identify where we wanted them, the spacing and how we planned to water them. With the ground being so completely dry (due to lack [...]
Well… it has been a hectic month. We have driven over 4500 miles, criss-crossing the southern U.S., hauling our belongings, pets, kids and selves from Georgia to New Mexico.
The first leg of the trip began on Easter. After playing and directing the choir for Easter Sunday Mass, we loaded up the kids, dog and lizards into the two vehicles and started out. Behind the dually, we had the gooseneck trailer hitched (loaded with 2 bulldozers); the Tahoe pulled a rented U-Haul trailer with the WWII Harley WLA motorcycle strapped inside. We stopped in West Monroe, LA for the first [...]
COST UPDATE: After talking with the driller, we found out that all the drillers in the region have a minimum fee for drilling that is about $2500. Apparently, even though it was not quoted to us, it is the going price for the work involved in hauling out all the equipment, setting up, etc. We are still thrilled with the fact that the well came in at only 40 feet, but would caution folks to ask what the minimum charge will be in a case of this sort so that they are not surprised.
Based on my research [...]
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