August 2022 – New House

Framing 95% done

After our last post, the framing crew got pulled off on another job for two weeks. Don’t ask us why. This is New Mexico, it happens. The delay did give me time to agonize over appliance choices. Oh goody (said sarcastically).

Then one day, the framing crew reappeared! Rejoice!

And the monsoon rains reappeared too.

Our RV garage floor was a tad wet. The drain in the center has not been opened to the outside yet.

The “eyebrow” architectural features were added.

Some interior features were added too.

I got out my photo editing software and mocked up what our front door may look like.

This is close. The windows outboard of the front door and sidelights are going to come down so the top of the little widows are even with the top of the transom window over the door.

Things were moving along, we took an evening to sit on our back patio and enjoy the view.

We are looking to have solar installed. The company we are dealing with sent out their project manager with a drone. They use the images from the drone along with some software to determine optimal placement of the solar panels. The guy was nice enough to share a few of the pictures with us.

Front of the house. In the foreground, the car garage roof is the place where we are going to put our “Margarita Deck” facing the Organ Mountains.

Yeah, I think we can fit a few solar panels up there.

The HVAC team should be in next week. After that comes plumbing followed by electrical. We still need to do an electrical walk through this trip (we are picky about where our light switches go) before the electricians show up. Then we need to head back to New York for a while.

More framing

Some more framing happened this past week. Things are closed in a bit more.

Standing in the kitchen, looking out the back.

Standing in the corner of the great room looking towards the kitchen.

Standing on the back porch looking towards the front door. There was a very nice breeze blowing through the house. I longed for a lawn chair and a cup of coffee so I could just sit and relax.

On top of the garage you can just see Jim’s 2nd floor shop.

Another view of Jim’s shop. You can see a door for roof access. Plus a horizontal window to put a fan into to blow out sawdust.

The south side of the house (spare bedroom/sewing room) borders an Arroyo…”A deep gully cut by an intermittent stream; a dry gulch.”

The garage side of the house. Our outside RV pad will be long the RV garage wall with the four small windows.

Framing update

We are on-site and got pictures of the progress that was made in a week!

It’s happening! View from the end on our driveway.

RV Garage on the right, two car garage on the left.

Looking out the living room. Dining room to the right.

It’s happening!