Building Begins

Lot

   Although the main focus of this blog is xeriscaping, I will also be posting pics updating the progress of the house as I believe that it is an important and interesting part of this adventure. The first pic shows the building lot with all the weeds. You will notice that it is a small lot. My parents are approaching 60 and want to have both a smaller footprint and less yard work.

The 'Hole'

This pic shows what my mother has dubbed the 'Hole'. It encompassed almost the entire lot as they have to dig beyond the foundation measurements in order to setup the forms. There is a little island of dirt in the middle of the hole. It's the bit covered in green. It is where they poured the garage floor.

In 'Hole'

This is the view from in side the 'Hole'.  My mother climbed down inside to take a look see.

Foundation

This is the most up to date pic taken today. The foundation is up, basement floor and garage floor are in. Next they'll start framing.







 After seeing the foundation in I have a much better idea of how to lay everything out. I am getting an idea of how the shadows fall and the amount of light the different areas around the yard will get. Once the exterior is up I will  have to go up to the lot at several different times of the day to find out how much and when the sun shines on each area because our neighbors to the West has a two story house that blocks most of the sun during the evening. This will be an important factor in plant placement because different plants require different amounts of sun light. In some cases placing a plant that is normally in full sun in a part sun area will make it more drought tolerant. In other cases a plant will not have this flexibility.