10 Years Later

The front of the house 2017

We typically have several endangered gopher tortoise burrows on our property--that are inhabited seasonally.

We put in a second, larger pond for plants and wildlife.

The plants have grown in 10 years.

Some sculptures I made from found objects and trash, 2017.

Chainlink Garden, Finishing Floors and Cabinets

The garden tub inside the chain link "box". I have planted grape, passion vine and other vines to cover the fencing.











Since I like to have natural ventilation, this felt like the best solution for security when leaving sliding screen doors open.
















I used some recycled pavement like the ones for the car pad in front of the garage.









Here you can see most of the cabinet fronts --some are being recut and no handles, or toe plates are on yet. The wood is sustainable rustic alder stained with a very light coating of ebony. I am doing the interior doors with the same color; I found some VOC-free stain at EcoProcote (it doesn't effect my breathing at all.

I had just grouted the floor in the center of the space. I plan to get it cleaned and sealed/enhanced before I move in.

Solar Hot Water Collector & More Tiling

A view of the front. The black plastic was used to temporarily kill weeds. I am not having any turf, just plant beds and mulch or gravel walkways. That means I will have absolutely nothing to mow or irrigate regularly.











The solar hot water collector, on the stand that ECS erected.

















I have almost completed the guest bedroom floor. I have the small tiles to layout and attach in one other room and part of the entryway yet to complete. All the large tiles are down and almost all are attached.









The upper kitchen cabinets without doors. The dishwasher is installed, the refrigerator, stove and microwave are just sitting out of place.

Solar Hot Water Tank, Tiling, Backsplash

Here is the solar hot water tank and circulator. The PV inverter is on the wall in the corner. They are completing the structure to support the collector on the roof now, it should be complete this week. Typically they are easily mounted on a traditional roof, so this house presented a challange to mount on the ground such that it would be pitched properly to drain into the tank by gravity. Since the house is protected by the membrane, they had to build the structure off of the house into the slope beside the house. ECS of Gainesville has been up to the challenge










The tiling is coming along slowly, since my breathing condition only allows me to work a few hours at a time. I lay out the large tiles and attach, then fill in with the broken tiles, attach those, and finally grout.

















The backsplashes have been installed and the granite enhanced and sealed.

















Here is a view from up the driveway. The house sits back over 500 feet from the road, and cannot be seen from the road.

Garage Doors, Cabinet Bases, Stairs to "Roof"

This is a view of the inside of the utility room (part of the garage module). I have a sort of hybrid mini-split/ducted HVAC system that should be super efficient. The solar hot water tank will go in this space also--to be put in this week.



















I had some stairs built to make is safer and easier to get on top of the house.


















The kitchen cabinet bases are in with part of the counter top. I am using a common granite (baltic brown) turned upside down and sandblasted to give a more natural, mat, stone look. The edges are chiseled to look even more like stone. The floor here is partially done; I completed and grouted the areas under the bases. Now I have the task of attaching and filling in with broken tile the rest of the floor.















Here is the recycled pavement car pad and the garage doors installed.












A more current view of the entire house.

Septic, Solar PV and Tiling

The drain field for the septic system.















The tiling in the master shower. I still need to grout the vertical tiling.















Their were multiple cracks throughout the kitchen/living/dining room slab--so I had a crack isolation membrane installed before I tiled.













The solar PV panel. Along with the solar hot water, I should be selling KWs back to the electric company during the day.

Interior Stucco and Tile

The garden tub is finished, the grade will be higher than is shown in the photo so that only about 16 inches will be out of the ground.

Below you can see the stucco color of the interior and the way I am laying out the tile. This is the master closet.

This is the master bedroom looking toward the bathroom.

The pond is full, I am conditioning the water before I add some little fish. It has attracted dragonflies immediately after being filled. I plan to cover the bottom and side edges with pond pebbles and gravel, I need to get some more bentonite to help hold the stones in place on the membrane.