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!

Many New Developments

My parents talk like things are moving so slowly at the house, but it seems to me like every day something new is happening.

Putting in underground lines for landscape lighting and irrigation.  "That was some hard work," said my dad.

Outside the house: A new well has been dug; the septic system is in; back patio pavers have been laid.

In the kitchen: Most of the kitchen cabinets are installed and the granite countertop is finished.

On the first floor and in the bathrooms: The tiles will be finished on Monday.

In the laundry room: My parents and sister found cabinets at Ikea and a sink on Amazon.  My sister assembled the cabinets on Friday, so they're ready for installation on Tuesday.  The tiles are almost finished in the laundry room, too.

On the second floor: We stacked the wood floor boards, so they are ready to be laid- the wood is sustainable eucalyptus.

In the whole house: The walls are painted; the air conditioning is running; lights are in, including special turtle lights.
The elevator is installed and working to connect the three floors!

 Stay tuned for frequent updates on the construction of an ultramodern house that is equal parts sensational and sustainable!

Heather

The House Takes Shape

The house looks like a house.  Where once loomed dull, hulking blocks of cement, tall white walls stand proud and clean.  The Leisure-blue roof folds into the building in fitted layers.

So what happened?  What caused such a big change?

It's all in the stucco.  The stucco, which every day is closer to being complete.  This week, the workers began what my dad calls a synthetic stucco.  The synthetic stucco contains the acrylic colors we picked out.

Stick around for frequent updates on the construction of the ultramodern home with a backyard where Juan Ponce de Leon probably landed!

[and check out The Blergh.]

Blue and Gossamer

The first thing I said when I stepped around the house into the backyard was, "Wow."

Then I said a few choice words of which I will not post here.  Then, "Dad, come look at all the dragonflies!"

The air was thick with them.  A hundred, nay, a thousand dragonflies filled up the sky, humming and flitting back and forth on flat wings like airplanes in the early 20th century.  It was like nothing we had seen before.

Zoom in anywhere to see what I'm talking about.

We picked out the colors for the exterior and they've been painted in some places.  The choice for the accent color was between three shades of blue.  The three of us- my mom, my dad, and I- unanimously decided on "Leisure Blue".

Here are some other shades of blue I like:

Stay tuned for frequent updates on the construction of the ultramodern beachside abode watched over by a loyal legion of dragon(fly)s!

Heather

Playing On a Construction Site at Night

Most parents would strongly discourage their children from playing on a construction site at night.  My parents take me to the construction site.

To be fair, we don't actually hang out inside the in-progress-house.  We head to the beach out the backyard.

On Tuesday night, we got there around ten pm and saw the moon rise.  Then, trying to be very, very quiet, we watched dark shapes of mother turtles slide up the shore to the dune, where they flung sand behind them to make their nests.

Before that, we had gone out to dinner at a nearby restaurant.  See the bottom of this post for more on that.*

And before that, while it was still light out, we gave a guest a tour of the house.  During the tour, I noticed stickers like these on the windows:

"What do those numbers mean?" I asked my dad, and he explained.

The windows are designed to withstand hurricanes.  The number 65 on the left means that the window can withstand pounds per square foot of wind blowing inward.  There is suction pressure on the backside of a house, so the 70 on the right means the window can withstand 70 pounds per square foot of wind pressure going outward. 

I was confused, so my dad illustrated this concept by pushing me towards my right-the direction the hurricane wind is blowing in- then running to my other side to pull me in the same direction he pushed me-the suction pressure trying to suck the window out.  I think I may have made it more confusing than it is just by writing it down.

The windows are also rated for impact.  They have several layers of glass and air space between some of the layers, so if they are hit with flying debris, they don't shatter.  This may come in handy when Dad teaches me how to fly the drone.


*We went to a nearby restaurant called Ocean 302.  It's awesome.  This is the part where I advertise my blog:  If you like food stuff, check out The Blergh.

Also check out The Blergh's Instagram. @theblerghblog

Stay tuned for frequent updates on the construction of the ultramodern home so groovy that sea turtles swim by just to see it.

Turtle Nests Everywhere!

Under the guise of the night, turtles shuffle onto the shore, lay their eggs in a nest by the dunes, and scoot back into the ocean.  The baby turtles face many dangers from the time they are laid as eggs to the moment that the first salty wave breaks over their head.  Mostly, we can't ensure their safety, but we can help:  Firstly, by keeping a close eye on pets.  Secondly, by installing turtle-safe lights.  These lights are required along beaches because won't confuse the turtles as they make their way towards the ocean. 

Installing turtle-safe lights is just one of the precautions we have to take for this house.  My dad just finished setting up a lightning protection system.  Additionally, with the stucco still in progress, the windows and doors were layered with plastic as protection.

The aluminum roofing is up.  When I saw it from far away, it reminded me of Vector's house in Despicable Me, because the blue roof almost camouflaged with the noontime sky.

I didn't get a photo of the roof, but I thought
this was a cool angle.

In other news: some errors with the windows were fixed up; and the ocean is still a little chilly, despite the thermometer hitting around 95 Fahrenheit every day.  (We still swim, even if it's a little cold!)

 Stick around for frequent updates on the construction of 65 Degrees, the lair of a surfing mad scientist.

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.

Roof Deck

Another beautiful day!  The building is continually progressing.

More Foundation Work

The foundation is starting to look like something.

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!