the threaded rod sticking up is the tail end of the wedge-all
anchors. They will be cut off with a grinder 1/4" above the nut.

by using come-alongs to pull the pieces into square, I was
able to come back by myself the day after assembly to
prepared the structure for attachement to the slab.

a sunset peek

the house is tucked into the hillside and just peeks
over the hill

it took 1 day with three friends to erect the entire aluminum
structural frame

2x4 rakers are placed to shore up the structure until
it is braced and secured to the slab

The structure is built upside down in parts and then tilted
up into place

The entire structural frame is made of strong but
featherweight aluminum by Bosch. Normally the Bosch
system is used for automated assembly line robots and
test-benches but we discovered that it would be perfect
as the rust-proof lightweight structural system for a
small house. Every piece can be lifted into place by
two men.

The view across the living room slab

We came back the next
morning to flood the slab with water. The more slowly the
slab dries out, the stronger it will be. It won't reach design
strength for 29 days

1,300sf of concrete slab with two outdoor courtyards
(opposite sides near center)

Steel trowel for the final finish. You know when it's
done when the trowel "screams" on the concrete surface

By the time the pour begins on the last part, the
first part has already be leveled and floated

First, fill in the footings

the manifold and pressure test gauge

the compression connections for the manifold.

all the zip ties get cut off before the concrete pour.

the tubing is held down to the rebar with zip ties

1,000 ft. of radiant tubing

The desert house radiant barrier with 24" o.c. #4 rebar in place for the pour on Saturday.

Fresh out of the box: the Rehau manifold that we'll be hooking up during the radiant tubing installation at the desert house on Wednesday.

The desert house, all set for the radiant tubing.

I finished the installation of the radiant barrier for the desert house in the dark - this was the last picture with daylight... Over the weekend, the rebar was finished and so now on Monday I'll spray paint the radiant heating pattern so it will be easy to lay in the radiant tubing with Linda during the week.