Western North Carolina Development Stage:  Complete Bed/Baths:  3 / 3 Square Feet:  2519 Location:  Blue Ridge Mountains Project Images The Story This Aquarius 2 home is in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the North Carolina side of the Eastern Continental Divide. This home has optional attached garage and porches. A porch wraps around the East and North sides of the home. Excavation, footers, rebar, forms, concrete. The solid-poured foundation is well under way. The poured-in-place concrete foundation is under way for an Aquarius 2 in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even in this isolated mountain town it was possible to get a concrete company to deliver. On this hilly site, the concrete truck could not reach the North wall with chutes, so the concrete was pumped through a hose. The South wall (left) is low because there will be tall windows in this area. The view on the right is through a window block-out form in the North Wall. The first step in the subfloor construction is to build a triple band around the outside of the foundation, and girders under the sunspace wall to support the heavy timbers. Then the rest of the subfloor framing is constructed. Posts are required in certain locations in the lower level. Some are temporary, some of them will be hidden in the stair well, and some may be boxed in if the lower level is "finished." At every step of the way, the plans are consulted. Door Frames are critical. They serve as guideposts during construction and add strength to the walls. They will be braced in all directions, or they will not be effective guides. This home has an optional attached garage on the West. The garage floor is at a lower level than the house floor and is built at the same time as the house, but in separate stages. The bundles of timbers for the walls are on flat ground as close to the foundation as possible. The main level walls are going up. The verticals are buttresses that add strength to the North wall. On the South the garage walls (left) are nearly completed and the sunspace "tower" is taking shape (right). Due to the topography of this site, a large retaining wall was poured on the South side. Again, the plans are consulted at every step of the kit construction. The garage floor was not poured until most of the timbers were set. With the radiant heated slab this will be a comfortable place to work on a project any time of year. The local residents seem comfortable with the new structure going up. The heavy timber floor system is under construction. Renting a crane saves time and money in the long run. The Porch Option includes the heavy timber porch framing, but does not include the floor or roof decking. Just as on the main level, the upper level window frames are set and braced as the walls go up. The outer North and South walls are completed, and the East (left) and West (right) gable walls continue. The last of the wall timbers are in place. They are notched for the ridge beam which will be put in place to start the roof system. Imagine the feeling of satisfaction in building this home and thinking of the generations of secure, sustainable living it will provide. The garage trusses are not part of the kit option. The homeowner ordered them locally. The crane comes in handy again in setting the ridge beam. With the ridge beam in place, the next step will be to set the rafters. The rafters complete the Enertia® kit. The walls are going up. Here you see the doubled North wall. An Enertia® home can have many windows on the North side and still maintain its energy efficiency. Notice that there are windows in each of the two North walls in each window location. People are rarely aware that the windows are doubled once the home is finished. The poured-in-place foundation is under way for this Aquarius 2 in the Blue Ridge Mountains.