As you all must know, construction is not for the weak of heart or stomach!  I’m new to this game.  I have never been involved in a major construction project, especially in a rural area.  So far I am reminded of that famous movie quote from Betty Davis:

“Fasten your seat belts… It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” 

Once we had our blue prints together with  full engineer approval, we had a month and a half delay just to procure our building permit!

This was because the ONLY INSPECTOR IN THIS ENTIRE COUNTY had ten building projects ahead of ours. Yes, this county is getting more popular, probably because of the amazing natural beauty in combination with quite reasonable land prices.

Then we got some bad news about road set-backs on our property, leading to the need  to spend $10,000 extra on backfill materials.  We chalked that up to no use building a home on a less than solid foundation!

Then it seemed like we were making some great progress… for a while.  We got the footers in quickly and then the foundation. The plumbing was going in and the slab looked imminent.

That was until Mike realized the builder has forgotten about the foundation insulation.  This is essential in a passive solar home.  The heat that gets absorbed into the slab floor must be retained by insulation under the slab and at the foundation walls.

That meant another week delay to get the insulation here.  Now we’re waiting to get the excavator back up there to install it and finish the slab so the actual home construction can begin.

In the meantime we have been living in a 1,000 square foot rental in Walsenburg built in 1911.  For the past four months we have been waiting to get this show on the road!  With half of our stuff  in storage, we are constantly saying, “Yeah we have one of those. We just don’t know where it is!”

We are so anxious to get out on our land and I can assure you, I am NOT a patient person!  Luckily Mike is a master at calming me down when I go off the deep end…