Starting New House Finally!

[WhyNot]

Also in there is the TV/Satellite junction box where all of the cables for TV go to various locations in the house, plus the rotor cable. The splitters and such will be mounted to the wall in that space and I can work on them without getting so hot in the summer. There are 3 RG6 (quad shielded) to each TV location - one for antenna and two for the satellite (so I can record two channels at once on TIVO).

Alan, you did not mention anything about how you are going to wire up your telephones (if you are even going to use a land line) so I'll make a suggestion. run a 6 pair from where the nid is going to be (usually under the electric meter) up to you attic next to your cable splitter. From there home run 4pr to your jacks and don't forget to run cable to each place that rg6 terminates since most sat. companies require a phone line to hook into their box. If you do it this way you can add/change numbers with out any troubl where a lot of times they run the phone cable in a loop and if you use up all the pairs you have to run new wires.

 

[Alan L.]

Every room does have a phone jack wired, back to someplace near the electric meter. I think the phones are wired with Cat 5e cable.

We got up late this morning and decided to go to IHOP about 30 miles away to eat breakfast. I had big plans to burn stacks and stacks of cardboard boxes full of scraps, wire insulation and sawdust when we got back. The garage is so full of trash its hard to get around in there. It was 61 degrees and sunny.

By the time we got back from breakfast it was raining, 42 degrees and high winds from the north, so we didn't get a chance to burn anything, but did get the house swept out and looking pretty good. We have $1500 in our budget for dumpsters but are saving that by cleaning it out ourselves and burning what will burn. At the end I will rent a trailer for $150 from my trash pickup company. We fill it up and they haul it off. Its about 4 by 6 by 10 and holds quite a bit. About 90% of all the trash will burn. Even if I need it twice we'll save quite a bit of money.

When Mrs. Alan L. went to the staircase company pickout our railings and skirting and whatnot for the stairs, she found that they also do cedar shutters. These are fake shutters that don't actually operate but just mount on the sides of the brick. They use 1.5 inch thick rough cedar and do the installation also. But the price is about $160 per window which seems a little steep. We have 7 front windows that we want shutters on. I keep saying I will build them but I don't know when I'll find the time to build and install them.

The stair work using black wrought iron ballisters of a couple of different patterns and red oak railings, posts, and skirting is going to be about $2200 including taxes, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

Since our balcony is ready for railings we now are going to look into wrought iron for that too, but we really need to keep the cost down. There is an iron works outfit about 20 miles away that my builder says will do the work reasonably. Its probably about 35 running feet of railings, I'm hoping we can get it done for $600 or less.

I wil try to get some pics of the balcony when the weather improves. I think the brick layers will be here in a week or two also, so that will be some visible progress.

 

[rox]

Alan,
I continue to follow your new home construction and enjoy all the details.
Before they drywall would you consider putting in one of these?
http://www.dryerbox.com/
A recessed Dryer venting box. I always wanted to get my dryer pushed back to the wall and never could because of the venting hose. I love this idea and whished I would have installed it. When your dryer goes out and you need a new one you don't have to worry about getting a tight fit on the existing pipe stub to the outside venting. This recessed box makes installaion of a new dryer a breeze ++++ the biggest fact for me is that you can push the dryer back flush with the wall and not stick out into the room a couple inches from the washer.

 

[Alan L.]

Rox - that dryer box looks like a great idea. The duct goes out the back of the dryer, through the wall, and into the garage, and from there it turns 90 degrees and exits the garage wall about 4 feet away. The framers had to build a chase around the duct, which we will put some shelves on top of. Not sure if the dryer box would work in this application, but I will check into it.

 

[Alan L.]

Alan, you did not mention anything about how you are going to wire up your telephones (if you are even going to use a land line) so I'll make a suggestion. run a 6 pair from where the nid is going to be (usually under the electric meter) up to you attic next to your cable splitter. From there home run 4pr to your jacks and don't forget to run cable to each place that rg6 terminates since most sat. companies require a phone line to hook into their box. If you do it this way you can add/change numbers with out any troubl where a lot of times they run the phone cable in a loop and if you use up all the pairs you have to run new wires.

I forgot to mention that there is a phone jack in the living room next to where the TV goes.

 

[midlf]

If I was building a house today I would put a double box on each wall. Connected to this box would be 3/4" smurf tube (the flexible blue stuff). The tube would run to somewhere accessible and have a pull string in it. That way whatever changes I could easily get the telcom, computer, cat99, or whatever wires to where ever I needed.

 

[Alan L.]

If I was building a house today I would put a double box on each wall. Connected to this box would be 3/4" smurf tube (the flexible blue stuff). The tube would run to somewhere accessible and have a pull string in it. That way whatever changes I could easily get the telcom, computer, cat99, or whatever wires to where ever I needed.

Probably a good idea. I find myself wanting the project to go faster but yet wish I had more time too.

 

[Alan L.]

Here are some pics of the slow progress, especially the cement balcony. There is a 2 x 4 under the lip edge of the concrete that will be removed later. Also, the fireplace inside is framed in per my plan, which is derived from Mrs. Alan L's plan from 20 years ago, so the fireplace is pretty much identical to the one we had in our previous home, and we loved it. Difference is this ceiling is much taller.

 

[Alan L.]

More pics of the back porches. In the blue area (to be bricked) to the right on the back porch area (this is the back of the garage mostly), there is a 6" duct sticking out about halfway up the wall on the left, and another one on the right. The one on the right is the fresh air intake for the ERV unit, the one on the left is the stale air exhaust.

Hopefully they will be spraying foam insulation this week some time.

 

[ronjhall]

Wow Alan. You & Mrs Alan are sure building a great home.
What are you planning on doing with the place you currently live in?