// Overall a VERY good day! A lot was done on the construction site. The south side skin was started while others are still working on the north side skin. The reclaimed redwood fence posts look amazing! I can imagine that it was a pain trimming down the slats into the different sizes but it looks incredible! We finished screwing the end cap decking. The more the house comes together the more I want to live in it! Imagine this! Waking up to the sun slightly coming in your bedroom, opening the door to let the crisp morning into the home. Getting a cup of coffee/ tea or orange juice and sitting on the end cap deck while your body continues to wake up! Wow, I wish I could do that every morning! But back to construction: The exit screen door was installed next to the mechanical room. More electrical is finished each day and a new cabinet for the circuit breaker was installed! Ross and Dan are finishing the decking that fits on our site. Tim is working hard on his system. The hydronics are complete and he only has control stuff left. Almost a month until our house leaves for DC!!

// The shades were installed today! A big thank you to Pacific Shading Systems and Nysan for helping with that. The shades are really cool fabric that control the solar gain of the house. It is part of the passive solar technology we integrated into the house. In the summer, the shades will keep the home cooler and keep the warm air in during the winter. It is a year round process. The framing and structure for the courtyard was finished on Monday. The endcap decks are being finished as well. I wish that the web cam showed the front of the house, that is where the most change is seen. But the house is coming along every day. The skin is still trucking along, it looks amazing! You can see that from the web cam!

// We were out on the site again today, working specifically on staining the deck, putting in the south siding, and detailing the mech room. It was myself, and the 4 older Santa Clara engineers, Tim, Ross, Sean, and Dan. When I say older, I mean that they just graduated with their undergraduate engineering degrees of course! After all, Team California really prides itself that it is our students who manage this project, it is our students who are updating the website at 11:55 PM on a Saturday night, and it is our undergraduate students who have driven this project from the first pen strokes on paper all the way to the final nails in the wall.

Curious about the title 'Sweat and Steel'? It's our new organic men's cologne, bringing the construction site to you, with the motto: Get your Hands dirty!

// Today the bathroom pocket door was framed. The endcap pocket walls were also worked on. We are having bamboo panels on the some of the interior walls. Those were fabricated today. The corners were mitered to give the edge a 45 degree angle rather than a 90 degree angle. Wood Anchor delivered the elm decking, which is the same material we are using on the interior floors. We won't be putting the deck up for a couple more weeks (the whole deck won't be going up until we are in DC). We are slowly closing down our fundraising gap. There is certainly a lot that still needs to be done, but the last two weeks were productive in getting pledges. If you know of any companies of persons that would be interested in helping our project out please spread the word!

If you would like to see pictures of our progress click here to see them!

// Thank you so much Dean Mungal and Engineering Dept! Lunch was delicious today! We were served In-N-Out for lunch! But also speaking of in... flooring is going in! Our elm flooring is being installed. It is amazing how the house is coming together. I am sorry I keep reiterating that, but it just amazes me! This is really a beautiful house that is turning into a home! I cannot wait!

It is great to see the construction folks working on the floor and then others ducking through the racking system to install the panels. What a dedicated team we have! =D