Building our castle - the roof is coming!
We're adults now. We have a mortgage. It's that kind of feeling, isn't it?
Finally, our banking system is in place and we are ready to start paying off our mortgage. It wasn't a smooth road to this point, but I'm sure that is pretty common for everyone when they are investing in property or building their own. But, we're sorted and cannot be more relieved and happy to have a massive debt for many years to come.
After several interrupted days due to numerous typhoons spinning through, the construction of the house is starting to pick up speed.
The foundations have finished and are surprisingly high off the ground. Japanese houses are usually around 30cm or so off the ground for a number of reasons. The first and most apparent reason is that the entrance (genkan, げんかん, 玄関) is the "dirty" place where visitors take their shoes off before entering - look at the photo with the red witch's hat. This is usually at ground level and then there is a little step up to the floor of the house. Secondly, and especially in newer houses, the elevated space allows for a circulation system to be placed under the floor of some houses. I'm sure there are a multitude of other reasons I cannot think of, most likely related to earthquakes and insulation. However, you can clearly see that our floor is more than 30cm off the ground, but this will be filled in with gravel and soil, or something, afterwards.
Today though, was a landmark day. As I mentioned earlier, we finalised the banking details and this coincided with news that the frame and roof will go up in the next two days. We were told yesterday that a small crane would arrive tomorrow (today) to begin the unloading and movement of timber for the frame. This is how much they completed over the past few days:
As you can see from the side-on view, the house appears quite large. It is almost the same length as the two houses that sit next door, with a land area almost equal to the two houses combined as well. It is drawing those comments from absolutely every person that we bump into - "it's huge", "that is a really big house", "it is going to be massive". That is what it is, and that is what we wanted.
The other distinctive attribute of our house so far, in comparison to most of the houses in the neighbourhood, is that our house will be mainly comprised of wood. That is of course obvious at this point and will become even more apparent as it progresses. We love the smell and natural feel of a house that breathes through wood. We have always dreamt of this and now it is becoming a fact.
It is really happening now!
