Building a new house: from foundation to finishing, and all the woodworking

As some of you might know from my lates threads, we are building a new house and I have taken up this as an opportiunity to use my woodworking skills (as a hobby) into some serious work. I have posted several threads about my interior doors builds:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ors&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ors&highlight=
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ors&highlight=

The entry door build:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...%29&highlight=

some columns:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...mns&highlight=

and posts for railing (to be followed):

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...sts&highlight=

It is a 2 storey house, design is my own.
Here I plan to document this build in one post starting from Sept of last year when we started digging the ground.
These photos show the excavation, footing, and foundation (for basement wall):

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Then it was weeping tile, water proofing (from inside and outside) and full membrane all around the foundation:

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And back fill:

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By the time we were starting framing (Nov) winter had already started here:

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The framing was finished right on Christmass eve, the crews were working until 5:00pm that day!

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In the new year, we started working on the roof as well as rough-in for electrical and plumbing inside:

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We poured the basement floor in the dead of the winter. It was extremely cold that day and I had two heaters running to keep the temp high enough:

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Spring came (and all the slush) and we started working on the exterior of the house as well:

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The exterior siding was finished back in June with only a portion left around the entry door that will be finished after I install the door (hopefully done in the next few weeks):Attachment 295200Attachment 295199Attachment 295202

The curved staris were also installed in May that was 1.5 months later than originally planned! I will try to do the railings myself (hopefully soon again)

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For insulating the exterior walls we used spray foam at 4.5-5" thick, that should give an R-value of about 32.
There were a crew with two big trucks that did the whole house in 5 days. They said they have done very few houses with this much foam in the walls. There is also a main floor bedroom with vaulted ceiling that I have 9" of foam (R60). The second floor ceiling will have blow-in R60 insulation as well. Everybody not wearing mask had to be out while they were working but I managed to get a pic just about when they were starting (and left soon after).

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It was around mid June this year that we poured the garage floor.
While the drywallers were sanding we did some exterior work. They also did the entry steps. These guys do an excellent job (same that did the basement floor). The floor is smooth as glass. Next is to insulate and drywall the garage, and hopefully move to finishing stage inside. I think I'll love that 12' ceiling in my shop

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Now we are at the finishing stage inside and most of my days are spent there as I'm doing a lot of work myself. I have a (good) finish carpenter who will do the standard jobs (installing doors, casings, crowns, etc) but I am doing some major works myself. First thing was to install some arches and those columns I built a while ago (see thread above).

The columns are going to be at the enterance of living and dining room. There are also two arches with corbels on the ends, one between living/dining room, and one for the enterance to family room.

First I build the major curved pieces in my current house; they are 3/4" Maple sheet and I use 1/4" sheet over to make the panel, plus a 1/4" quarter round over (seen later). The first few pics show the little jig I made to get 2 1/4" wide curved pieces. The first cut is made from a template, then a bushing and a circle with a little piece. The radius of the circle attached to the bottom of the router is exactly 2 1/4".

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Then I make some backings for the arches. The pictures should be clear.

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Since the columns will be close to a wall at one side and would be difficult to stain after they are installed I stain/lacqure them now.

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Here I am installing the columns. A tricky task that took a lot of thinking to figure out how to do to secure them to the floor without any fastneres visible anywhere.
There is a beam right below them (so no way to screw from below either).

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Under the arches I have put bending ply which then gets veneered with maple. Another tricky task that I had never done but they turned out great I think:
Three of them will have lights (that's what the wires haning are for). I'll cut the holes for Push-in lights later.

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Here are my high tech tools for cutting miters with 1/4" quarter round overs that get applied to the inside of the panels.

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It is almost done and I should be able to move on to the fire place mantel next....

I don't envy you.

There ARE people out there as crazy as me. Been looking forward to this thread, Mreza.

Looking Great!!

What a project! Its got to be super satisfying and stressful at the same time. Good luck with everything

Wow...keep the pics coming! This is SO cool to see, Mreza, and fantastic work by you as well!