On Friday, the shingles were installed on the roof, and the front elevation of the house was completed. Windows will be installed Monday. Our meeting with Laura for our first Energy Star verification, and walkthrough with Dan for electrical, will be Wednesday.

Here is the picture of the completed roofline:

On Friday evening, we met Matt and Wayne at the house to discuss a few framing matters. There were some slight differences between the elevations as drawn and the house as constructed from an engineering perspective, and the Ackers wanted to make sure we were aware and accepted them. In each case we found that we weren't compromising; we liked it better as built.  (Especially the height of the roof over the front porch.)

We also discussed the construction of the tray ceiling in the master bedroom. When we insulate, we will be covering art:

Here are some pictures of the upstairs:

We also have a new sign, courtesy of Acker Builders:

And finally, here are a couple pictures of how our under-construction home fits into the neighborhood.

The progress on the roof continues, with the plywood nearly complete and the waterproofing material covering most of the area. Here are some exterior shots.

To the front of the house, they added the cover over the front porch. We are still awaiting the continuation of the triangle from the roof peak down over the garage (compare to plan) but we suspect this will be among the last things to go on because it is decorative, not structural.

Here are some pictures taken inside. It was cloudy today and approaching dusk, so the illumination from the flashbulb isn't the greatest on these... sorry.

Here's a picture of our house and car.

More of the roof is on today... here are the pictures.

According to Matt, the windows are scheduled for installation next Monday. We have confirmed our first Energy Star visit with Laura for next Wednesday.

The house is now starting to take shape as the roof goes on.

The house framing does not display all the exciting, "sexy" green measures that will ultimately be included in the house. Today we see something much simpler -- the energy heel:

An energy heel (raised heel) lifts the roof -- in our case by about 6 inches -- so that we can get extra insulation in the attic. Instead of being pinched off where the roofline meets the outside wall, this extra space lets us get full height insulation above the exterior wall. This eliminates a cold spot that would otherwise develop around the perimeter of the home. We have contracted for spray foam insulation in this area to ensure complete coverage with no air leakage.

The cost to us for the energy heel: $0. We saw this on our Green Built Home checklist and asked, and Wayne Acker said, "sure." And this is pretty typical; any truss company can raise the heel at minimal or no cost. The only other cost consideration is an extra lap of siding.

Further reading about raised heel roof trusses:

• http://www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/...

Now that the walls for the second floor are all framed, it was finally time to break out the wide-angle lens for a room-by-room tour.