Putting Down Roots

I’ve started many blog posts and finished none lately… lots of heavy stuff has been happening, and as cathartic as it is to write, these are also not topics I feel I can hurriedly slap together and upload.  So for now, just an update on the house!

I really thought most of the details of the construction phase would be handled by the mobile home dealer, who is acting as General Contractor (at least on paper).  As it was, we had to find each of these folks, get quotes, coordinate schedules, and meet them out there to open the gate, show them where things go, and answer any questions (thank goodness Mom has some flexibility with her schedule and is just around the corner, with a camera phone).

So the first crew took down some trees, leveled the land, and brought in some fill dirt where necessary.  They also put in the septic system. 

Levelling

 Bringing in fill dirt

  When they were finished, it looked like this.

Then, the concrete folks came out to pour the footers.  Because my house is so heavy (being built with the same products as a site-built house instead of the much lighter standard trailer-fare) I also have a concrete perimeter around the outside of the footers, which has the added bonus of letting me add masonry underpinning later if I’d like to – otherwise, it would be vinyl skirting for better or worse.

Almost done...

We gave the concrete a few days to set, and then the dealer delivered the house!  It’s a double-wide, so it came in two pieces.  I won't bore you with the play-by-play, but it was really cool to watch.

 

Wahoo!

Yeah, it was hot - I watched from the car!

Once both halves were in position, one guy gets up on the roof to shingle the ridgeline between the pieces, and more guys scramble underneath to start spreading black plastic (I guess to keep stuff from growing under the house???), and stacking the concrete blocks that will support everything, along with these metal ties so the house doesn’t blow away.

Under the house - ok, not tornado proof, but it's solid, for what it is....

Thankfully, after a quick, efficient cleanup, they took off and (intentionally) left it unlocked for me.  I got to go inside and peek around!  It was hot as hades without any a/c, but I had a huge thrill finally being in my home on my land.

In case you're wondering, this is what a dream-come-true looks like…

Ok, so I need to do some landscaping and build a decent porch.  And I can’t live in it yet, because I have no utilities, no heat pump, and no underpinning.  But this is the start of the rest of my life!  This is solid proof that putting down roots doesn’t have to be done in tandem with a spouse.  This is where I belong now.  This is home.  It might be a little too quiet inside, it might stretch my salary a bit and it might suffer a little under the care of a single woman who doesn’t know much about home maintenance… but it’s home.  It’s MY home.