Meet the Smiths

The Smiths have been planning their log home adventure for over a year. Come along with them as they build their log home step-by-step. Watch out for the mud and BYOHH! (Bring Your Own Hard Hat)

Scott standing next to our new electric pole.

It started with a Sunday drive through the country. They noticed a "For Sale" sign from the highway but didn't think much about the road frontage view. Interest piqued, they drove past the following week, however this time, Scott decided to climb the fence and walk to the top of the hill. Cathy stayed behind in the car...afraid of trespassing! Scott came running down the side of the hill yelling, "You've got to see the view from the top!" The rest is history!

Cathy points out the spot near the new log home location.

The view from the top is breathtaking! This
shows the new driveway too.

A little hard to see, but the stakes show the exact location where the house will be built.

Breaking Ground

Let the digging begin! We broke ground on January 21, 2009. Although it's not the ideal time of year to begin building a home in the midwest, it works for us!



As our excavator, Mark (we call him Miracle Mark!), began digging, he hit solid rock about 2 feet down.







Luckily, Mark was able to bring in some reinforcements! This guy operated this machine for 3-4 days. He was able to take out an additional 3 feet of the rock. It was an amazing process...and noisy! It brought a few of our neighbors up our hill to check out what was taking place!

If you look closely, you can see the layers of soil and rock. This machine is digging out the frost wall on the walkout side of the basement.

Mark adds gravel to prepare for the concrete guys.