The House is Hospitable

The house is hospitable!

There is now a real driveway.  Inside the house, the first floor is tiled and the second floor is complete with wood flooring.

The electrical work is completely finished.

The kitchen is practically usable, with electricity, a granite countertop, and half of the appliances.  The cooktop is induction rather than conduction, so it heats the pan using a magnetic field.  The cooktop itself won't get hot!

Earthquake checking out the kitchen.

Additionally, we have access to water, since the installation of plumbing, a water heater, and a water purification system (so the water no longer smells nasty).

On Wednesday, the final survey was performed.  Surveyors checked to make sure the house was in the right spot and each floor was on the right elevation.

We were thankful to have the family home for the holidays and we wish you all a very happy holiday season.  Stay tuned for frequent updates on the construction of an ultramodern beachfront soon-to-be home!

Hello.

Allow me to introduce myself.  Hello, I'm Heather.  I'm a fifteen-year-old kid and writer of The Blergh. But enough about me.


Let's talk about my dad- the mastermind behind 65 Degrees.  He's a hardworking structural engineer with a penchant for old radio shows.

And this is Earthquake.

Last summer, when construction got started, my father asked me to set up a blog to follow the progress.  I did so with great enthusiasm at first, but when school shouldered its way into August, Dad was left to run the blog himself.  He did a pretty darn good job, especially for a math-minded engineer who moans at creative writing.  But he works hard and has a lot on his plate, so this post is sort of my announcement that I am taking the blog duty off of his shoulders.  I'll make it good, Daddo.


I don't understand the architecture and construction stuff as well as Dad does, but he's pretty good at explaining it.  Here's what I've picked up so far:

1.  Building a house, like everything, is a lot more fun on the beach.  Dad leaves a surfboard in the house so the construction workers can surf in their lunch break.

2. Building a house, like everything, is just a sequence of problems and solutions.  Most of the time, you just have stand up and solve the problems yourself.

3.  There is an art to stucco.

4.  One must duck when one walks under the scaffolding, so one does not hit their head.

Earthquake, enjoying the shade and watching over the house.

As is the way of summer in Florida, the days have been decorated by scattered afternoon thunderstorms and powerful, day-long deluges.  Even with the rain, 65 Degrees is making progress.

1.  We've picked white with a gray-blue accent for the outside colors.

2.  The insulation is in.

3.  The stucco has begun.

The view from the house.

Happy Father's Day.
Stay tuned for frequent posts on the development of 65 Degrees, the house of ultramodern Annette Funicello's dreams.

Update, roof, framing, A/C, deck

I haven't posted an update in a while.  It isn't that nothing has happened.  I've been so busy that this blog has been neglected.

All of the interior framing is in.  The underside of the roof deck was insulated with closed-cell spray foam.

The aluminum standing seam roof was installed on the upper sloped roof.  It is an Englert Slate Blue. The flat roof deck and the oceanfront balcony are finished with a PVC membrane decking material called DecTec CoolStep.  The air conditioning ductwork was installed.  I installed the piping for the central vacuum system.

Last Friday, the electricians started the interior rough wiring.  It should take them a couple of weeks.  The plumber has been so busy, he keeps pushing his schedule back.  He probably won't start for another week or two (If I'm lucky).

The stucco contractor has started prepping the house, but they can't start until the trades are finished.  They may be able to do part of the work before the plumbers are done.

Windows

Windows are in.  The roof underlayment is on the sloped roof.  Here is a photo facing west.

Roof Deck

Another beautiful day!  The building is continually progressing.

Roof trusses and roof deck

The roof deck and roof trusses are on.  There will be some bodacious parties on that deck!  There will be a couple of rooms carved out of the roof trusses.  Possibly a man cave?

Photo was shot with a DJI Phantom 3 standard drone that Santa brought.

2nd Floor Walls

 The walls are 6" thick, cast-in-place concrete.  There are over 200 tons of concrete in the walls!
~110 cubic yards

The 2nd floor walls are up and the view is amazing!

This is a view from the living room.  The glass opening is 24 feet wide!  The concrete forms will come off soon.

Flying Floor Trusses

Now there is a second floor.  The upper concrete walls go up next week.

Concrete Walls

The first floor concrete walls have been poured.  Check out the view from the first floor.  I can't wait to see the second floor view!

Wall Forms

The wall forms are going up!

Walls Started

As soon as the concrete was poured, they started placing the steel for the concrete walls.

Foundation complete

The foundation finally got poured.  They used a 32 meter boom pump to place the concrete.  The foundation has 73 yards of concrete.

And a Hurricane

There have been some minor delays.  The plumber was busy and it took a while before we could get the rough plumbing completed.  Then hurricane Matthew blasted through.  We stopped work and secured everything.  There was no damage to the property, though there was a lot of beach erosion.  Finally, the concrete guys could finish the foundation.

More Foundation Work

The foundation is starting to look like something.

Foundation

The guys started forming the foundation grade beams and slab.

Pilings

The pilings were drilled today.  There are 28 continuous flight auger piles.  The piles are 16 inches in diameter and 30 to 35 feet deep.  It is amazing to see how they install these!  They drill a hole to the pile depth with a hollow auger, then pump concrete under pressure through the drill.  As the auger is removed concrete is pumped to the top of the hole.  Then a steel reinforcing cage is lowered into the wet concrete.

Gold Dust

We brought in 14 loads of fill today.  The dirt has to be approved as compatible with the existing beach dune sand.  Therefore, the stuff is trucked in from Vero Beach and costs like it is flecked with gold!

Tear it down!

Demolition of the existing buildings started Friday.  Great fun!

Ready to Build!

We have all of the permits necessary to start construction!  There is a permit from the Florida DEP for the new building, one from the County, demolition permit, well abandonment permit, permit for the new well, septic abandonment permit and another one for the new septic system.  Seven permits for one house.  We'll need two more for the pool (State & County).

Well Abandonment

The current well was too close for comfort to the new septic location.  Before we could get a permit allowing the new septic system, we had to abandon the well.  To achieve this, the well was pumped full of concrete.

After the demolition of the current buildings, we will begin construction of the new well.