Pictures

Grading Behind the House and Near the Pool

Ed Building a House March 31, 2017April 1, 2017Construction, Land, landscape, Pictures 0 Comment

A lot of progress has been made moving earth and reshaping the land around the house. Today that work continued, and some work was done further down the hill to level the ground around the pool.

There is a start of a level area behind the house, where there will be a stone terrace by the master bedroom (foreground in photo below) and a portico (toward the background) and a small yard/garden.

(Anne was concerned that there wasn’t enough flat area behind the house. Kevin said that this work is only partially complete, it will fit the plan we agreed to, and that we will be able to make adjustments when we visit in May.)

Start of Level Behind the House
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There was a lot of need to level the land near the pool, as that part of the hill was rather steep. They started on that work and have much of the rough earth moving done.

Grading Around the Pool
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Here are all the photos from today and a short video, showing work near the house and the pool. And another beautiful spring day:

Front and Slope Down from Parking

Front and Olive Trees

Truck on Bottom Parking Level

Moving Earth on North Side

Start of Level Behind the House

Grading Around the Pool

Leveling Area Near Pool

Grading Behind the House

Continuing the Grading Near the House

Ed Building a House March 29, 2017April 3, 2017Construction, Land, landscape, Pictures 0 Comment

Today they continued the work to move large amounts of soil from in front of the house to behind, to make some level terraces on the hill.

Now they have the slope down from the parking area to the house softened and the area right in front of the house leveled.

(My only concern is that in these pictures I don’t see the two olive trees that were to frame the walkway down from the parking to the house. I’m hoping it’s just the camera angle and that those trees were not removed.)

Front and Slope Down from Parking
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Here’s a view taken from the kitchen (north) side of the house where I can see some olive trees and the level area in front.

Front Grading Nearly Complete — Front Grading in Process
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Work has also been done on the north side of the house, to level that slope and move soil to the back of the house.

(One question that arises here is the slope of the adjacent land. It will still be just the hillside, so the edge of our property will be above in some places, below in others. I’m not sure how we’ll address that. I don’t want to need to build retaining walls that aren’t in the budget.)

House from South Side
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Here are all the photos:

Grading Slope in Front of House

Front Grading in Process

Kitchen, Grading, and Olive

Front Area from Other Side

Working Behind the House

House from South Side

Working Above the Parking Area

Starting to Shape the Land

Ed Building a House March 27, 2017March 28, 2017Construction, Land, landscape, Pictures 0 Comment

Now that the base slab for the top floor is complete and the concrete is curing, they are starting to shape the soil to turn the hill the house is on into a series of terraces.

Starting to Move and Level Soil
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My favorite view of the work is the one below, that shows the finished top floor base slab and the view, with the digging equipment up the hill from the front of the house.

Looking at the ground floor columns and this base slab reinforces [pun intended] my security in the strength of the construction.

Completed Ground Level Structure
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The remainder of the pictures from today show some of the heavy work relocating soil from in front to behind the house to make the terrace levels.

(I’m not quite sure what the reinforcing steel bars shown in the last photos are for. I’m sure we’ll find out in the coming days.)

Starting to Move Earth for Parking Area

Two Diggers Working

Digging, House, and View

Leveling Soil in Front of House

Digging in Front of Kitchen

Moving Soil to Back of House

Getting Ready to Move Steel

Lifting the Steel

Working Higher on the Hill

More Ground Floor Beams

Ed Building a House March 11, 2017March 12, 2017Construction, Pictures, Structure 0 Comment

We only received one picture today, but it’s a nice one, showing the addition of the smaller cross-beams on top of the main beams. Once the plaster is added during internal finishing, these will give the ground floor a traditional look.

Adding cross beams to a new house structure in Le Marche — Cross Beams Added to Structure
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Acting Cagey

Ed Building a House March 10, 2017March 10, 2017Construction, Pictures, Structure 0 Comment

They are continuing to build the support structure for the top floor. This involves building a framework of steel cages that will be encased in concrete.

These cages are also linked to the interior chestnut beams, even though these beams are not integral to the structure. You want them linked so if the house moves because of an earthquake, the whole structure moves together. Plus, you don’t want the beams falling, which might happen if they were not part of the structure.

Here’s an overall view of the cage-and-beam framework being built:

A Beautiful Day to Set Some Beams in Place
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In this shot, Anne’s favorite, you can see the snow-capped Sibillinis in the distance on the right side of the photo.

Blue Sky and Snow-Capped Peaks
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The full series of photos shows the size of the chestnut beams and how they are anchored to the concrete columns and the cages. You can also see that they’ve connected the water line, which Kevin considers to be a big of a miracle since we only made the payment to the utility 2 months ago.