1615 Chaps Way in Steamboat Springs

  Progress on the stonework. North side. West side.  The coping pieces are now in.     South side corner. And indoors the plumbing manifold for the heating system.

Now that all the supplies are finally here, the stonework can start. The paper backing and chicken wire were put up several weeks ago.  Now a fresh coat of mortar is applied. Next comes the laborious process of chipping each stone to make the correct fit. A tub of fresh mortar to go on the sides of the next piece.   Add one more stone to the wall. A morning's work has the first wall ready for the topmost coping stones, and grading to backfill against the foundation.

 Bud hauled away excess dirt and returned with a load of gravel. The stonemasons will be happy -- a load of masonry mortar has finally arrived. Ready to start the work. And Jaime and Luis have finished the siding on the third side of the house.

How to get under the sidewalk?  First, Bud digs out the street side of the drainage ditch to the sidewalk. Then, using a long spade, he digs into under the sidewalk from either side. The backhoe pushes a prod through to connect the two holes, enough to insert the drain pipe. A good fit. Bud cements the plastic pipe pieces together. The sidewalk is conquered without having to cut into it. All that is left to do is to fill in the trench. Now the drain daylights into the drainage ditch.

  Back in December, a slotted-pipe storm drain was installed just outside the footings.  It drains to a low point at the corner of the building nearest the Angels View Way sidewalk. Now Bud digs down to find and break open the storm drain. A new T-connector replaces the 90-degree connector. Then Bud digs a trench all the way to the edge of the sidewalk. This requires some spadework down in the trench. Next question: How to get the storm drain pipe under the sidewalk and out to the drainage ditch? While the work goes on outside, Mario, Lewis and Jaime inside are building the steps from the lower level to the first floor. And the electricians painstakingly wire the junction boxes.

  The crew from Hot Stuff came to fabricate the fireplace flue for the master bedroom. The sheet metal flue rises from the fire box in the master bedroom. Up to the top floor, and through the chase. To the outside wall. Through to the final vent.

  With the water line connected, Bud turned his attention to the sewer. Dig another trench, and make the connection back at the alley. Run the line through the trench . . .  . . . and make the connection just outside the house.

  The stone has arrived. Alberto and the masons can now get started. After making the final connections on the water line, Bud fills the trench back in.

Before hooking up the water for the new house, Bud has to locate the water tap-on and the house connection.   First he digs a trench where the connection will ultimately go. Here's the pipe at the street. Where did we put that pipe coming out of the house? Found it, and hooked up the 1" copper pipe . . . which leads through the trench to the tap-on. Meanwhile, the siding marches on around the house.

As the electricians work to string their wires throughout the house, a question became how best to get power to the columns outside the garage. The wiring is already imbedded in the columns. The power will go underground (eventually under the driveway pad)  to a junction box on the garage wall. Up above, Jaime and Luis work steadily installing siding around the rear and to the west side of the house.