There is No Such Thing as Too Much Concrete

As nature abhors a vacuumm, so does the Earth abhor an empty trench and demands that it be filled with something. So what could we possibly use to satisfy the need; the need to fill?

Starting at the beginning, here are the trenches:





And then this truck happens by ...

and the concrete flows into one trench, then the other like the spring thaw. Here's the trench leading to the stairs:







And here's the trench on the opposite side of the garage:







And here's what the concrete looks like after setting for a day:





This is certainly an improvement over the ricketty board and plywood arrangements that required lightness of foot and precise balance to cross from the front door to the stairs without getting impaled on rebar. The fact that it is also holding up the building is a definite bonus as well.

And there is a lot of progress all over the house. First, large slabs of drywall material are delivered and staged througout the house:





Some of the drywall material is not exactly dry any more. An early rainstorm found its way into the house and onto the waiting drywall:



The Teak flooring is also sitting in the house getting acclimated to its new home:





Other than the concrete, which always gets top billing, the next exciting bits of news are from the plumbing department, and here they are:

Both bathtubs are installed and plumbed and wired in.

This is the master bathroom soaking tub:



with the tub filler connector installed in the ceiling:



And the second bathtub is also ready for some (simulated) soaking action:



In addition to the tubs, the plumbing of the Mansoon Room, or as it is known in the plans, the master bathroom shower, continues apace:

The electronically controlled mixing valve is connected to the Water Tiles:



And this is what makes it rain in the shower:



Needless to say, this is bit more complex to plumb than your average shower:



And to keep all this supplied with plenty of hot water, the plumbing and wiring for the boiler and the associated pumps and other machinary was put into the boiler shack:





And the Grotto's wall is getting ready to receive all the control panels and circuits for the systems in the house.



Next week: things get steamy, more plumbing, and some of the most dramatic elements of the house start to take shape.