Week of November 27, 2006

We took a big step forward this week when:

1. We Signed the contracts that will finally allow us to begin the utility and foundation work for our building. The picture to the left shows the surveyed and staked lot done by Hoy Surveying this week that locates the house and garage on our lot.

2. Lisa F. and Meera P. of the Columbus Green Building Forum, Home B.A.S.E. students, and a Home B.A.S.E. teacher met on Saturday to work on the interior details of the house. We want to make this 1,500 square foot house a handmade jewel with exquisite interior design detailing to showcase outstanding green, energy efficient, and high performance affordable housing.

3. We received confirmation from American Electrical Power (AEP) that our application for the electrical grid tie-in for our solar panels was approved. That means that the electrical output that is generated from the solar cells on this house will be sold back to AEP to reduce the cost of the energy consumption for our home.

This is the second class framing some of the last interior walls of the house.

Click on the picture to enlarge it so see the quality we are building into our walls.

Some studs were a bit too long in the bathroom plumbing walls of our house. Here is Megan helping Anne cut them to the correct size to re-frame the entire wall. Learning how to spot an error, understanding that these are only errors and not mistakes, figuring out a strategy to fix it, fixing, and moving forward is tremendous internal strength to develop. Some Home B.A.S.E. students who commit to the class learn to understand, internalize, and practice that character trait in a supportive learning community during the course of the year.

We are very proud of the work we have done so far. Behind these students, except for just a few walls, is an entire panelized house ready to be taken by truck to our site when our foundation is complete.

Phil is our really wonderful mentor that helps us be successful beyond our current abilities http://homebaseadults.blogspot.com/2005/09/phil-starting-his-first-build-with-us.html

We are keeping all of our short scraps to be either mulched and returned back to the earth as compost or used in our house somewhere thus keeping our environmental footprint as small as possible