Starting New House Finally!

[Alan L.]

Alan,

sure feel great to get in doors and windows doesn't it? Must be the camera angle but it looked like the roof of the porch was sloping towards the house. I am sure that can't be right and it jsut must be the camera angle. Do you have a name for your spread/property/house?

Rox, I guess we don't have an official name for the place yet. The slope of the porch ceiling looks the way it does because of a crooked photographer (me). It is flat and level. The floor of the porch actually slopes away from the house.

Here is a picture of the front showing the posts. They put the decorative braces at the top of the posts today. The siding on the dog house is hardie plank. We almost put the same cedar siding up there as the back porch, but decided against it because of the sun exposure this area will experience.

The front door is new, but also will have a shelf under the windows and some window light dividers that go on it.

The balcony on the rear is holding things up. Before it can be finished, a pan has to be made out of sheet metal and then ligh-weight concrete poured on that. They came and removed the temporary bracing (from floor to porch overhang) and put braces back to the wall, so that they can finish the floor. Basically its a big piece of flashing upon which the concrete will be poured.

We just had a third rain since the roofers left the ridges uncovered, which is really hacking me off. I don't know why they didn't cover them temporarily. One of my wood windows got wet on the lower sill. I dried it off and it appears OK, but raw pine is not supposed to get wet.

It took 4 trips to get the 28 pallets of brick delivered (14,000 brick). The turn into my property was too sharp for the big brick truck to make it, and they had to turn around and came back once a day or a several day period.

The electician is supposed to be here Friday and the HVAC contractor Saturday. They delivered a bunch of flex duct and metal plenums today. He is putting in 2 Trane 16i units, plus an auxiliary minisplit in our bedroom and an energy recovery ventilator (to bring in fresh air).

I am still debating on the insulation between open cell completely filling the walls and cathedral ceilings vs close cell foam 3/4" only to seal with lose fill dry cellulose netted into the walls and same on ceilings. Price probably about the same - $8000 for the house. I am not doing the entire envelope but opting for a vented attic with radiant barrier.

 

[rox]

House is looking GREAT! i'm not understaning about the pan before the cement. if oyu are not to busy couled you elaborat eon that. Is it the floors of the house? Is it outside underneath the balcony? Why do you pour thin cement?

Can't wait for pics of the brick. What color did you get? really enjoying your project thanks for sharing.

 

[Alan L.]

House is looking GREAT! i'm not understaning about the pan before the cement. if oyu are not to busy couled you elaborat eon that. Is it the floors of the house? Is it outside underneath the balcony? Why do you pour thin cement?

Can't wait for pics of the brick. What color did you get? really enjoying your project thanks for sharing.

Rox, in the back of the house there is an upstairs porch, or balcony. Below the porch is part of the downstairs porch. There is a bedroom and loft upstairs, and there are exterior doors on both that lead out to the balcony, which is 6 feet deep by 23 feet long. The balcony is covered with a shed roof.

Currently, the floor of the balcony is 1 1/8" tongue & groove plywood, the same as the floor of the second floor inside. Obviously that will not hold up to weather. So the plan is to put a sheet metal "pan" on top of the plywood. they will then pour light weight concrete on the pan, so that the floor of the upstairs balcony will be concrete and weather proof. The light weight concrete is to reduce the load on the structure holding it all up from below.

I found today this metal pan installed is going to cost about $800, and the concrete will add some more cost

The brick is "Regal Oak" from Acme Brick. Unfortunately they don't have a picture of it on their website, so I attached a picture of a commercial building that has both the brick and the white mortar (and white sand) we plan to use.

Thanks for your interest, its fun posting our progress.

 

[EddieWalker]

Thanks for your interest, its fun posting our progress.

Thank you for posting, it's fun to follow your progress!!!

You're building a really cool house and doing some new things that I'm not familiar with. That alone makes it very interesting. I especially appreciate your replies and reasoning for your decisions. With all the thought and planning that you have put into your home, it's been a very informative thread.

Eddie

 

[rox]

Alan,
What a coincidence, your brick is exactly the same as the brick we used on our last home. one thing about red brick is that it never goes out of style. in Milwaukee there are a lot of brick homes old ones and new ones. What we did was drive around an look at brick buildings and homes. you could see the yellow color bricks that were used in the 60's and it dated the homes. one thing i determined is that a red brick home will never get dated because red brick always looks good, 100 years from now your home will still look attractive and contemporary. Not meaning contemporary as in design but meaning contemporary as being in this era. Other colors come and go and you can date a hme by the color of it's brick but a red brick home is ageless.

Traditional is red brick with white shutters and green accents. I think your house is going to look awsome. It's all brick if i remember right isn't it? I can't wait to see the pics of the brick going on, that will be fun to see.

Thanks for the explination on the thin cement and the pan. You are really building this house "right"

 

[Alan L.]

I spent all day today taping up my Tuff-R joints. Thats the 1/2" rigid foam on the outside of the OSB. Probably not necessary since we are going with spray foam, but it is now (before bricking) or never. Also caulked some doors on the outside.

The HVAC contractor's crew was here all day and its amazing what they got done in one day. Both air handlers are in and most of the duct run. Looks good.

The trim guy came back last week and shimmed the windows, and the gap between the windows and doors and the rough opening will be insulated by the spray foam contractor.

 

[Alan L.]

Well, not much to take pictures of recently. We have had lots of rain and cold weather and the upstairs balcony is holding up the works. Can't install two exterior doors until the balcony floor is poured (lightweight concrete), so can't insulate the house or do drywall yet. Hopefully next week sometime.....

Meanwhile, the HVAC guy is done with his rough-in, the elctrician is about done (have a few changes to make), and the plumbing is roughed in. We had $8500 in our budget for all the custom cabinets, but they are coming in at about $11,000. Going with knotty alder in the kitchen and master bath, paint grade in the other two baths and mudroom.

 

[EddieWalker]

Going with knotty alder in the kitchen and master bath, paint grade in the other two baths and mudroom.

Alan,

I'm not very knowledgable on my woods. When you get a chance, I'd love to see what the Alder looks like.

Was that the price for just the cabinets? Are they finished? Will you still have to buy hardware? (knobs and handles) What type of counter top are you going to use?

It's sleeting here with a few reports of snow. From what I'm hearing on the news, it's allot worse in your area. I sure am glad you have the roof on and have the house sealed in as much as you do!!!

Eddie

 

[Alan L.]

Mrs. Alan L.spoke with the cabinet guy and if we do paint grade in the utility room and 2 of the baths we can get it down to about $10K. This is cabinets only, there is no hardware other than hinges which are included. The hinges allow any door to be removed easily and repaired if necessary. There are really quite a bit of cabinets in this, and she wanted lots of drawers in the lower cabinets, which costs more than doors.

The counter tops are not included. We have a $3500 budget for the kitchen only, probably some sort of solid surface or granite.

Alder looks sort of like pine, but is a harder wood.

Other than the door leading into the garage from the house (its not in yet) and two upstairs doors, the house is in the dry and sealed up. The upstairs door openings each have a 4 by 8 sheet of Tuff R rigid foam insulation nailed to them to keep out the elements.

 

[KentT]

Here's some alder cabinets showing different finishes. As Alan said, it is much harder than pine -- some consider it a substitute for cherry. It is very versatile, and can be used to match pine, maple, cherry, mahogany, etc. -- basically most common woods other than oak, which has a grain all of its own...

Alder Cabinets by Fashion Cabinet

I'm considering using alder cabinets in my retirement home, since it is much less expensive than some other woods...