The siding was completely installed, except around the front entry and the Trombe wall windows. I was curious why the front entry had not arrived yet. It turns out that it will not be installed for quite a while so that it does not get beat up during activities still to happen. For instance, when they pour the first floor concrete thermal mass floor, they will deliver the concrete through the front doorway. This is not something you want to do with the expensive door and jambs in place. (In this picture you can see Mort, on the roof, installing the stack for the wood stove. The wheelbarrow in front has a batch of mortar that the block mason is using to lay up the Trombe wall.)
West Side
In the previous posting they had installed the windows in front of the Trombe walls on the lower level. Here you can see those have now been removed. I suspect that it was not possible to work the window side of the block, particularly smoothing the mortar do obtain a flush joining of the blocks.
South Side
Inside view of wood stove stack.
The Trombe walls are a thermal mass used to store warmth from the sun in the winter and then radiate that warmth into the room at night. To be effective, they need to have the cores of the blocks completely filled with concrete. We were surprised to see daylight through the walls at various points. Most of these were where the cores had not been filled yet. The one that is visible in this picture, however, could not be explained that easily.
Inside of Trombe wall.
And a trip to the new house would not be complete without looking at tile on-site.
Mar and Becca checking out tile options.
