Build - Day 42 - August 24, 2011

We're baaaacccckkk! ;-) Not a lot of visual progress this week. The crews have been busy on the inside of the house and the plumbing and HVAC lines are mostly done. The biggest visual impacts are in the basement, bathrooms and attic space.

The other things happening are outside of the new house and relate to flooring choices. We've settled on our tile (Emser Strands for floor tile, Solistone Carrellton for the kitchen backsplash) and know we will be doing cork in our kitchen and dinette. We're not sure yet on the type of carpet but are leaning towards either EverStrand (Mohawk) / Green Smart (Bliss) fibers which are both made out of recycled PET bottles or the SmartStrand (Mohawk) that is made from corn in a methane-powered factory which a near unbeatable stain resistance.

The other item that rocked our world this week was the 5.9 earthquake in Virginia. That is about 8 hours from here but was strong enough to give you some weary sea legs similar to your first voyage at sea. I wish we would be in our new house which is basically earthquake proof with 6.25" of concrete for all exterior walls from the basement to the attic. To be honest, the 5.9 quake was the largest in 150 years but it is still nice to know that mother nature would need to bring her A-game.

Also, when looking at our toilets our GC realized that in one of the bathrooms our toilet was directly over a floor support. This would have mend a switch to a single-flush so we're switching the vanity and toilet location so we can keep our dual-flush toilets.

On the back patio we've added two gas lines; one for the grill and one for some overhead terrace heaters you'd normally see at restaurant patios. This will extend the usability time of our back patio far into the fall and winter. We're looking forward to a nice grilling session outside watching the snow fall outside from our heated patio.

Alright, off to load some pictures so y'all can see the progress too... and here they are:

Electrical boxes for switches and outlets. We're using the rocker style switches instead  of the regular switches.

Plumbing for the main-level laundry.

The product box...

The product used (with insulation surrounding it)

2nd story laundry room plumbing

Basement plumbing (left side is the rough-in for a future planned bathroom)

Return-air roster

The flooring choices: espresso shaker cabinets, white quartz counters, kitchen back splash, Emser floor tile, cork sample and carpet sample all in our colors. We think it looks pretty good... ;-)

Build - Day 26/27 - August 6/7, 2011

This weekend was dedicated to research as we have a whole lot of decisions to make now that the rough build is basically done. So, we planned trips to Keim Lumber in beautiful Charm, Ohio and to our nearest IKEA in...Pittsburgh, PA.

The first trip, on Saturday, was kind of a bust. It is a beautiful drive through Holmes county, the heart of America's largest Amish population. We saw lots of horse-and-buggies and hard-working people in their traditional plain clothing. For the frequent visitors of this blog, you know we have nothing but respect and admiration for these folks, and are so thrilled with the work our crew did on our house. If the rest of the world modeled their work ethic and less of a consumeristic mindset, I think we'd all be better off. However, tech-savvy people that we are, we forgot to check the Keim's opening hours, so we got there 10 minutes before closing. Bummer. We made up for it by stopping at a local kids store, so at least our son thought it was a useful trip... ;-)

The second trip (to IKEA) was a greater success. We figured out the master closet configuration, the pantry configuration using the Varde collection  (which matches the bookcases we are repurposing), a few things here-and-there, got some kitchen organizing equipment and found the poles for under Jen's baking center. Beautiful stainless steel posts for $15ea (IKEA Vika Moliden). Our GC initially thought them to be $59... We also bought some Lansa pulls for the new kitchen cabinets to compare against the (much higher priced) ones the kitchen suppliers ... well... supply. Stay tuned on that.

For the upcoming week the following items are on the agenda:

• Decision on kitchen supplier. We have the layout down, now we need to decide which one will actually get the job.
• Faucet decision. We will use the Delta Touch2O series for the kitchen and in-law suite and Moen's Eva series for the rest of the house. Both are WaterSense (the aquatic equivalent of EnergyStar) units which is a requirement we've set ourselves. It has ruled out some cool-looking units, but we want 'eco-performance' over gadgetry...
• Shingle installation. The roofers will come out on Wednesday to install the remaining parts of the roof. 
• More touring. We have a guest book and floor plan at the house for the 'self-guided tours' but I'm sure we'll be giving a few ourselves as well. Today we did 3...

So, the progress will be a lot less visible for the upcoming week but we'll keep the blogoshpere updated on all other items pertaining the building of our dream house. 

Build - Day 25 - August 5, 2011

Today we say goodbye to our Amish crew. The house is ready for the next set of folks to perform their magic. In the last 3.5 weeks we went from grass to a 2 story, full ICF house under roof with all but 2 windows and 2 sliders left to close the building envelop. Amazing pace. They worked in a scorching heat, dealt with a 18" of water on the morning of the basement concrete pour and yet they still got it all done in 25 days. Oh, that is 25 calendar days, not working days.

Here is a little photographic testimony to their incredible work... a few more pictures than normal but today warrants it.

9am progress, face plates.

Side of the house.

Windows ready to be installed.

Able to get the Energy Saver Plus window. U-value of .27 for the fixed and .30 for the non-fixed.

Pretty ThermaThru door. The wife LOVES this one and that makes me happy... ;-)

Windows and doors are in. Just 2 windows left, 2 sliders and the 2 garage doors.

Hall way / Foyer, all clean thanks to our crew. Amazing group of guys.

Foyer from the living room with stairs to the 2nd floor.

Kitchen and dinette. The little wall will be shortened to allow maximum light from the window into the kitchen.

Our little niche, with building documents. Now also with 2 copies of the floor plan for visitors to use during their own walk through. Hint... ;-)

Build - Day 24 - August 4, 2011

Today we have reached another milestone. Yesterday the blog went over 5,000 page hits (still blown away by that...) but today we've reached the highest point on our house. Yes, the roof trusses are on. Both for the main roof line and for the garage.

Yesterday the dinette was 'topped', today it was the rest of the house. Tonight - after we received another kitchen quote - we took some cool night shots as well. Here's a sampling of it...

Early morning progress

Lots of these were consumed over the last three hot weeks... 

4pm progress, roofs are on...

Back of the house showing the roof lines.

Sky finally cooperated. 

Showing the tray ceiling in our bedroom.

Playing with the light on the 2nd floor.

The great room in a great light.

Build - Day 23 - August 3, 2011

A bit of a rainy day today but as usual a lot was done by the crew. They put the roof trusses up on the dinette and sheeted the back porch. They also finished up the interior framing of the 2nd story and around the would-be-fireplace.

Speaking of fireplaces, we will have an electric fireplace (see the fireplace post for the details of that decision) so we will not need a big protruding fake wall so the current framing (see pictures below) is gonna be made a little smaller probably on Monday to give us some time to finalize the design.

They also delivered the Master Bath enclosure and D's tub/shower and put up the top-plates on all the walls. For the Holmes aficionados among us, yes, there is a membrane between the concrete and the wood as wood should never touch concrete to prevent moisture transfer.

We also made a few decisions today together with our GC while touring the site:

• The wall between the kitchen and dinette will be made shorter to allow more light into the kitchen. We'll reduce the number of cabinets /and/or reduce some in size to accommodate this change.
• The window in D's room will be changed from a single-hung 3x5 to an egress 3x3 to avoid an overlap with the dinette roof structure, which will also bring it in line with the other 2nd story windows on the back of house.
• We will change the linen closet in our MBR from opening into the 'toilet area' to open opposite the vanities.
• We will add a poured-in ramp from the back patio onto the in-law suite slider to create a no-barrier-entry and add a poured ramp from the side of the house onto the back patio for the same reason.
• We will reduce the 16" of stone on the right side and back of the house around the patio to accommodate a higher grade level to help with the poured ramp. 

Crew hard at work on a rainy day.

Top-plates are on. Walls are done.

Current fireplace framing. Will be reduced in size... 

D's window oops. Will be changed to from a 3x5 to an egress window.

Membrane between the concrete and wood to stop moisture transfer.

Dinette trusses.

Starting to look like something... 

For tomorrow and Friday: roof trusses.

Build - Day 22 - August 2, 2011

Today they finished up the last ICF block stacking (bit of a rite of passage almost...) to form the 2nd story exterior walls in preparation for an afternoon concrete pour. The also covered the back porch, added the great room and kitchen arches and framed the 4th bedroom upstairs.

At 9am they had finished stacking the ICF blocks. 

Great room view of the stairs, upper window and 4th bedroom.

And they call Montana 'Big Sky Country...'. 

View from the kitchen to the great room.

Close-up of an ICF wall. Solid, solid as a rock...

4th bedroom framed

Our covered back patio. Gonna spend a lot of summer and fall evenings here...

Build - Day 21 - August 1, 2011

A new month and a new floor to complete. August will be the month where the build will reach its highest point and also when the progress will start to slow down. After having our stairs issue resolved we can get full-speed ahead with the 2nd story and roof structure.

First look at 8:30am

Lunchtime progress

End of day.

The great room forms have been completed.

The beam has been removed from the stairs.

First peek at the second floor

Tomorrow the crew will pour the walls in the second story.

Build - Day 19/20 - July 30/31, 2011

This past week a lot has been accomplished and we went from main level ICF stacking to having interior walls and a sub floor for the 2nd story. We also found an issue with the stairs to the 2nd story - which has since been resolved - and are looking forward to the progress being made in the 1st week of August.

It appears by this time next week we might have the trusses for the roof up and maybe even have the roof sheeting done. Here's to good progress... ;-)

Build - Day 18 - July 29, 2011

Today is our anniversary and the progress today seemed to celebrate that with us. Here's the rundown:

• Main level walls have been cured
• Interior framing has been completed
• Stairs are installed and usable
• I-joists for the 2nd floor hung
• 2nd floor sub floor laid
• Wall placement for 2nd floor drawn

All-in-all a very large amount of work got done today. Since the majority of the walls are all up now, we've also taken the opportunity to add some personal touches to them. 

Speaking of personal touches, we've also found a potential issue with our design regarding the stairs. We've envisioned them as being open, but maybe that got lost somewhere in the idea-to-plan translation. We've send some pictures of the 'idea' to our GC to see if we can still realize that. Carefully optimistic that we can... ;-)

After talking with the foreman it is his prediction that by next week Friday they might have the roof on!! As a testament to their work-effort, they normally have a ranch under roof in about 2.5 weeks, but since we have a 2-story it will take 'm a little longer. Still, under roof in about 4 weeks is unheard of in Europe, especially with concrete exterior walls. Oh, and the building crew is only five guys... and no, not the burger-kind... ;-)

I know I've been slacking a bit with the photo sets and later tonight those will go up as well. They are available on FB already for those with the right access. Below is a sampling of the progress over the last 36 hours.

Start framing the in-law suite

The in-law bathroom

Looking at the kitchen wall. Cooktop will go where the
sheet is standing. The in-law suite is in the back and covered.

The 'store', a.k.a. the pantry. Large, but could double as elevator
shaft in later years if necessary.

The cured cement inside the ICF blocks and the sub floor of the
2nd story.

View from our bedroom. Due to the well on left, it will be
permanently green.

This is where the 2nd story walls will be.