Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[pclausen]

Day 110

Pretty frustrated by the fact that the tile is *still* not here. It was a special order from Home Depot. Apparently the tile is coming from Texas and for whatever reason, it did not show up on the Thursday truck as was expected. Then it was supposed to show up by 4pm today. Didn't happen... Now they are saying Monday. Builder offered to have it all Fexed on his dime, but that would fall outside HD normal methods, so that was a non-starter. I suppose I'll keep my fingers crossed that it will be here on Monday. In the meantime, the tile layer suggested that he goes ahead and do the sun room in a diamond pattern, this way he can get started Monday morning on that while waiting on the missing 6x6 tile to (hopefully) show up.

At least the hardwood flooring was delivered this morning

It is a natural color maple. They got the master bedroom just about completed today. This pic barely shows the floor since they had taken the saw in for the night already, but I think it will turn out real nice

Guest bedroom. I guess they are fitting scraps from the other room to prep for doing this next?

Mom came over and we played with how to do the tile transition. We settled on using all grey pieces into the dining area

I was busy chipping up small trees along the deer fence perimeter. Once I get those all cleared out, I'll start dropping the yellow pines. This should make it easy to skid them out along the fence line.

I'm skirting along the upper edge of the newly seeded lawn. Today is day 6, so I guess it will still be a few more days before there will be evidence of the seeds sprouting.

 

[pclausen]

Pete, the problem with the vibratory cable plow is that you will soon have no trace whatsoever of where the cable is buried. I suggest some semi-hidden reference objects right over the line so you can sight between two to locate the line. Of course, the phone company will come and find the lines for you, but why not mark the location in some easily distinguishable manner for your use. An alternative is to take lots of pictures right over the line and maybe measure some distances from fixed objects and record them.

Good idea! I believe mom has plans to put in trees and bushed along the driveway on both sides, so know where the cable is will be important!

 

[J F]

Looking good Pete. :thumbsup: Sorry to hear about the tile delay, but I really like the hardwoods your mom picked out, it will give the rooms a nice bright feel.

And I'm anxiously awaiting pics grass sprouts too, the prep work you did was fun to see, and it looks like you did a heck of a job, nothing like watching a new lawn come in.

 

[tractchores]

Good idea! I believe mom has plans to put in trees and bushed along the driveway on both sides, so know where the cable is will be important!

X2 on the marking. I've got mine buried the same way and it's so shallow that even a scoop with the FEL will dig it up / break it. If the soil is still loose you could try to bury a ribbon or brightly colored wire just above so you know its there. I also setup a site line between 2 landmarks so I can tread carefully in the general area. The problem is its so shallow even a scoop with shovel can cause damage.

 

[pclausen]

Day 111

I was looking at Lowe's web site and discovered that the water heater we are planning to get was on sale right now for $200 off. I checked availability and of the 5 closest stores, only Charlottesville had one in stock. Given the delays with some of the other items, I decided to jump in my truck and snatch it up, rather than relying on the plumber or builder to get it. While I was there, I also looked at whole house filters and noticed they were on sale as well, so I picked one of those up as well.

It was a bit of a pain walking down the stairs at just under 200lbs

Tight fit through the door

I think I want it lined up with the air handler like this with the water filter in-line as well. Should be no big deal for the plumber to move his lines over a little

Side shot. The pressure tank is getting moved here as well. This way all the mechanicals will be concentrated in the center of the basement, should we want to finish out the rest later.

Since I was in Charlottesville anyway, I figured I'd drop by Crutchfield and pick up some of the electronics for mom's new house. Besides, it's mother's day.

Since it is mother's day, here's a shot of my 3 girls, ready to go out to have lunch with my mother in-law and grandmother in-law. I couldn't go since I have to continue working on clearing a path for the deer fence.

 

[FairfaxStu]

Well, I see you went out shopping and your wallet must be hurting badly. Are you just going to use the receiver to control the zones? I thought there were 3 but if there are only 2 then you should be good as is.
-Stu

 

[FairfaxStu]

I think I want it lined up with the air handler like this with the water filter in-line as well. Should be no big deal for the plumber to move his lines over a little

Isn't there a way to put the HW heater in as they have it plumbed and then put the pressure tank and filter in between that and the furnace?
-Stu

 

[dave1949]

Wow, you are one of those "power shoppers." :laughing: That is the sort of shopping that gives me a headache--besides feeling "poorly" in general.

I would leave some more space between the mechanicals, room for servicing, inspecting and cleaning everything from all sides.

 

[pclausen]

Well, I see you went out shopping and your wallet must be hurting badly. Are you just going to use the receiver to control the zones? I thought there were 3 but if there are only 2 then you should be good as is.

Just 2 zones (5.1 in the living room, and the pair of in-wall speakers in the bedroom). Her current receiver is getting a little old in the tooth and the remove volume stopped working a few years back. This new one will be much easier to operate for her and she can stream Pandora directly from it. If/when she adds more zones, I'll utilize her Yamaha integrated amp, which features A, B and C speaker connections. I'll just feed it a 2 channel analogue source from the Denon (if supported) or directly from the media server if not.

 

[pclausen]

Isn't there a way to put the HW heater in as they have it plumbed and then put the pressure tank and filter in between that and the furnace?
-Stu

Yeah, I messed with it a little more, and I think I need to move both items to the other side due to the rough-in for a bathroom. I think the way it is right now, the shower/bathtub would need that space.