House Construction Update

And....we have grass (lawn, that is)

2008-10-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been very busy both with the yard and on other things as well.
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We finally got the planter area in the middle of our front yard filled with bark (took a lot of time for me to spread out landscape filter fabric and then move 23 yards of bark by hand). You can see the planter I am referring to in the middle of this photo.
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I think you should also be able to see the grass starting to grow in the dirt areas, and this is very exciting for us. I weeded about an acre of yard area by hand and then spread the grass seed and fertilizer using our riding mower and a tow-behind spreader I borrowed from my sister and brother-in-law. We then turned on the sprinklers and crossed our fingers!
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It has been about a week, but it looks like the grass is starting to come in OK! Another month or so and I can start thinking about mowing....

Play structure finished!

2008-08-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

OK, so between the hot weekends (working morning and evenings only), trips out of town, and other scheduled events, we finally finished the play structure for our son. Because of size limitations we built our own instead of getting a prefab one. We probably saved a few hundred $$$ this way, but it was also a LOT more work. I think it turned out OK, but when doing a project like this you always learn that you could do things better a second time.....

We used Rubber Bark (blue!) around the structure - didn't want to use bark or rock. We were in a hurry to get stuff delivered at the time, but I found out later you can get it much cheaper ordering online than delivered by the landscaper. Should have known.....I didn't think the price difference would be all that significant, but it was.

2008-07-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of updates - been really busy! Mowstrips are in for the front yard areas as you can see in the photos above and below. Sprinklers are all installed except for the drip system - I am doing that myself. We put in a little flagstone section to allow for easy walking from the drive to the sidewalk.

In the back yard, the play structure is under construction. I have been working on some of the driplines in the planter areas as well.
Although not reflected in some of the photos (they are a bit dated, it got too dark for me to take photos after I was done today), I have also been placing more weedblock fabric in the front yard planter areas.

Front yard starts soon, back yard poking along

2008-06-25T21:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a couple photos stitched together (sorry, not the best result ever) showing the, um, "raw" nature of the front yard. In general, the disked area will be lawn and the weedy areas will be planter areas. The landscapers should start their work soon, maybe in the next few days.

I have been working on putting in all the weedblock fabric in planter areas. After that comes driplines. Then bark and rock. Then maybe we get to sit back for 10 years and wait for the trees to mature. :)

They have finished the backyard

2008-06-20T23:04:00.001-07:00

You can see the trees have been planted and staked. they did a final tilling of the soil and smoothed it out.

There is the stack of "rubber" bark (shredded tires, I think) for the play area. We need to build a play structure and get it in, then we can add the rubber bark. It is going to be in the pinched oval shape behind the closest tree in the photo above.

The square area right behind the play area is where the sandbox is going to be.

We have a couple more trees to plant, then I need to put down the landscape (weedblock) fabric, then we need to spread some bark.

We have grass!

2008-06-19T22:57:00.001-07:00

The grass is in! Looks so much better with grass than dirt and weeds. They are to be finished tomorrow with the backyard (for their scope of work - I will still have lots to do). Tomorrow they are planting the trees and doing touch-up work. We are thinking of having them also do some work in the front yard as well, given their level of service. We'll have to talk about that and see if we want to proceed that way....

Getting there....

2008-06-16T22:47:00.000-07:00

So here is our new side patio and garden boxes in the side yard. I built the boxes with redwood and went overboard with the brackets, but they will NOT come apart like others I have seen.

You can see here that the sprinklers are in for the lawn, PVC is stubbed up in planters for me to run dripline later, the concrete mow strips are in, and the Benda-board is mostly in for the pathways. Sod should be in the next couple days, and a few new trees as well. We also bought some trees on our own to save with costs and we will put those in as soon as they are ready for us to do so.

Back yard work begins!

2008-06-09T20:38:00.000-07:00

This may only have spotty updates, but there is some work going on around the house.
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We have started work on the backyard. Here is the before picture from earlier this year:

And here is what it looked like today after work was done:

I had sprayed Roundup to kill all the weeds last week. The contractor disked the entire back yard area and imported soil for some landscape mounds. They also started trenching for sprinklers. Hopefully all the work will be complete in 2 to 3 weeks!

Moving time!

2007-08-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

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We just got word from our builder that the inspection went fine and we can start moving in!
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Almost ready for move-in!

2007-07-31T08:56:00.000-07:00

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Again, sorry for the lack of updates, but we are getting close to the end and there are not a lot of drastic changes going on.
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I think we should have the fire department inspection today for the sprinkler system and other assorted items. If all goes well, I think we should have the county inspection tomorrow and we may be moving in this weekend!
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We have run into a few glitches along the way - a bench seat with a drawer that won't open after the countertop was installed, washer and dryer that are too deep for the space available, a dishwasher and microwave that were damaged during transit, etc. We are just making some calls to get these items resolved.
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The recessed lights are pretty dim throughout most of the house. I was the one who purchased the trims and bulbs, so this one was on me. I'll need to address this after we move in as time allows. The lights work, so let's just get the inspections finished and deal with it later.
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Tile guy finished installing the tile yesterday but has some final cleanup work to do in the next couple days. The guy doing our wiring for speakers, satellite TV, etc., should be here Thursday to finish up a lot of his work. Painters should be here Thursday as well, I think, for most of the final remaining painting items as well.
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AT&T should have our phone hooked up this week. Dish Network should be here Sunday the 5th for their installation. Softcom should be here for wireless broadband installation on August 15th along with the alarm company for their finish work.
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We are getting close!
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Countertops are in

2007-07-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

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Just a couple photos of the countertops after installation. Master bath (above), kitchen and laundry (below) are shown. One small section of kitchen countertop (right-center portion of photo) still needs to be installed, I'm not sure why it wasn't before.
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Now it's time for plumbing fixtures!
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Electricity hooked up

2007-07-16T06:31:00.000-07:00

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A quick visit to the house over the weekend showed that SMUD finally hooked up power to the house. There was a new digital electric meter on the side of the house with a reading of 00000 (not sure how many zeros, but you get the idea). When our builder returns from vacation next week he should be able to turn on the main and have power. Means we'll have water, too!
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We picked up the sinks for the master bath and half-bath late last week and dropped them off at the house. I think countertops should be going in as early as today and we wanted the sinks there so they can do the cutouts correctly.
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The painters had obviously visited as well - the fireplace mantel/surround, baseboards and windowsills had all been painted.
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Nothing too exciting at the moment

2007-07-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

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Sorry for the lack of posts - our builder is on vacation for another couple weeks and we are just waiting for a few things to get done.
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I think some of the countertops should be installed this week (laminate ones in the laundry area) with the Corian ones in the kitchen and bathrooms slated for next week.
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All the baseboards have been installed but need painting.
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Flooring is finished - we were just waiting for the half bath to be buttoned up.
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We are still waiting for about 20±ft of the driveway to be paved. The county requires that any portion of the driveway in county right-of-way needs to be paved.
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SMUD has pulled the power cables through the buried conduit but they have not been hooked up to the house and no meter has been installed yet.
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I have Dish Network and the alarm guys set to come out at the end of the month for installation. I still need to schedule the phone company and a local internet provider for wireless high-speed internet. No DSL or cable internet available out there, unfortunately.
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Flooring is in!

2007-06-29T07:38:00.001-07:00

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As these two pictures show, the flooring is in. All that remains is the trimwork around the edges, etc. Sheet vinyl in the laundry and 2 bathrooms is also in, but I need to get a better photo than the ones I have.
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The tile around the fireplace is also finished - we just need to get the mantel installed.
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The rear yard fence is almost finished, all that awaits is the gates.
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The following photos show the finished driveway. We had a loop put in near the front door around a landscaping mound and the septic tank (where the wood crates are). The septic tank location semi-dictated the size and location of the loop, but we think it turned out well. We also widened the driveway, especially near the garage (parking and turn-around space). We are waiting for the portion of the driveway in the county right-of-way to be paved; should be any day now.
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Flooring installation starts tomorrow

2007-06-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

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Again, sorry for the infrequent updates. We are waiting for subcontractors to get product in or get finished with their work. We are also currently staying in Davis (with my wife's parents) which is convenient for us at the moment but not very close to our new house. I think we will spend the rest of the week with my parents in Galt then stay in Davis again for a while. Not sure how long we are going to need to keep this up....
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Flooring installation starts tomorrow. Not sure how long that takes, but I think they are going to start with the bathroom areas so our contractor can put in toilets, etc.
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The tile guy should be done with everything but the kitchen backsplash by the end of today. Backsplash has to wait until countertops are in, and we are not exactly sure when those will be installed.
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If we do not have power by today we will need to postpone the alarm finish installation, as it was set for tomorrow morning.
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The fencing guys were off finishing another project yesterday (and maybe today?), but I think the fence should be complete by the end of the week.
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I also think that our driveway should be going in today. I'll have to make a call and see how that stands as well.
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Fence going in

2007-06-21T22:24:00.001-07:00

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The back yard fence is going in - they have drilled all the holes and are assembling the fence and setting the posts. It was getting dark tonight when I got there, so no good photos to share.

I went out the next morning (6/22) and got one on the way to work. They got most of the back portion of the fence installed on 6/21.
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The guy doing the grading work has put in a couple decorative "mounds" to break up the flat front yard area. We'll plant some trees and smaller plant life on them when we have water available.
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All the crown molding is installed (had to finish a couple areas after cabinetry was finished). The glass block shower is in, too. I think he might have gone a little higher than I would have anticipated, but it will keep the splashed water inside the shower, I guess.
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Fencing to start in a couple days, power soon?

2007-06-19T14:52:00.000-07:00

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Sorry for the infrequent posting - we are temporarily staying with relatives on a very slow (21.6k) dial-up connection and have been very busy with selling our house, working, and keeping up with stuff for the new place.
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Tile is going in slowly but surely, with part of the master shower tiled in a day or so ago.
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The ditch in the front yard for power and phone has been backfilled. We should have power and water in the next couple days now, I think!
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The backhoe operator also dug a few tree holes for us along the driveway and in the back yard. We should get some trees in them before too long.
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We have a local guy coming in to do some touch-up grading, clean up the backyard area, and work on the driveway. He will get going tomorrow and start with the back yard, as the fencing guys ahould start on Thursday with putting in the back yard fence. Be nice to get that in soon so we can start looking at back yard layout, etc.
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We are also looking at getting a lawn tractor/mower for the significant yard we are going to have to keep under control.
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I am sure there is stuff I am forgetting, but that's a taste of what's going on right now.
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Tile and kitchen cabinets going in

2007-06-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

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Kitchen cabinets are going in! We got a blue island for a little splash of color.
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The tile work in our son's shower/bath area is in, but needs to be grouted. The accent tiles are from http://www.sreeve.com/index.html - my wife has loved Sherri Reeve's work for years and we wanted to incorporate it into the house somewhere. Things are moving along!.
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Cabinets going in and front porch railing on

2007-06-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

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You can see that our front porch railing has been installed by our builder. He used Trex, not wood, so there should be a lot less maintenance over the years.
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http://www.trex.com/default.asp
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I got the mailbox installed today as well.
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Most of the cabinets have been set into place, including these in the dining room (buffet with frosted glass uppers).
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The kitchen cabinets are the only ones not in place yet (below). I think those will be put in on Monday. We need to get the door hardware over the weekend so they can install it next week.
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And we have a screen fence....

2007-06-03T22:07:00.000-07:00

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Dad and I put together the screen fence I had planned for the area to house the main AC unit and garbage/recycling cans. Took several hours this afternoon to get the panels cut shorter and attach all the hardware, etc.
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We did not finish putting in the mailbox. I did not drive the base into the ground straight enough (hit some gravels/cobbles? from roadway construction, I think) to get it to work. We are either going to have to straighten the base (remove and redrive) or find a workaround. I think I'd rather remove it and try to redrive it straighter.
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The local power company did get the power poles set today. Hopefully we can have power soon!
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Cabinets delivered - installation ???

2007-06-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

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And we have LOTS of cabinets. 3 rows of them taking up a good-sized chunk of our garage, in fact. I think I heard that there are over 150 boxes with cabinets/parts in our garage.
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Reminds me of the closing scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".
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House is painted!

2007-05-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

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Finally a painted house! Still some touch-up work to do later, but it is, for the most part, painted.
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They put on the remainder of the exterior lights today (in areas that were awaiting painting). In this photo the paint and stucco look like a pretty good match, which it is. Sometimes they look a bit different - all depends on the lighting due to the difference in texture and "shine" between stucco and paint. The color came out just as we'd hoped.
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Home wiring being organized

2007-05-27T22:05:00.000-07:00

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Well, phone and data connections are getting closer to being finished. Here is a shot of where we stand so far. I'm going to have to figure out where everything is going! Looks like he's doing a great job labelling everything, so it shouldn't be too difficult to follow. I think we still need a router in here somewhere....
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The water heaters have also been installed.
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http://tinyurl.com/2g8ze8
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And we are going to have to read the manual to figure out how to work this thing (heating and air conditioning control), I think. Actually, it is probably pretty easy to use once you start playing with it. Looks nice, though, and turns a nice blue (backlight) when you are making adjustments.
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http://tinyurl.com/263xad
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Back side of the house coming together

2007-05-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

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OK, lots of things going on right now, which is good! The two back patio fans and all the lights have been installed, as have the downspouts.
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The two AC units have been installed as well.
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All the lights have been installed in the garage. The fire sprinkler system shutoff valve and pressure gauge is in the white box on the far wall.
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Central vacuum toe kick plates have been hooked up. Now we just need the cabinets. They are holding us up at the moment, unfortunately. I do need to do a lot of cleanup work this weekend to get rid of the garbage in the garage and clear out room for the cabinets to be stored and our belongings to wait for the move-in date.
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And last (but certainly not least) is the hope of electricity coming soon! SMUD has marked the power pole locations and called USA (Underground Service Alert) to check for utilities in the area. After the power pole is installed the phone company will use it for their service as well.
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Some green showing up

2007-05-22T07:57:00.000-07:00

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Only major change yesterday was some of the house starting to turn green. Stucco color coat is going on, and they should be done in the next day or two. Painting comes next (for the siding), but it has been breezy here over the past couple days and that will need to die down first.
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The AC units should be going in this week as well. After painting is done, then the outside lights/electric plugs go on and the exterior is pretty much complete. I think he is going to install the water heaters this week, too.
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Moving along

2007-05-20T22:54:00.000-07:00

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Can light covers are on (above) along with smoke detectors and most light fixtures (Master Bathroom below). One exception is the family room ceiling fan (above) - installation in progress....
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You can also see the sprinkler cover in the photo above (little white dome) - not bad at all.
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Also installed are most of the switches. Below is a light switch and fan control in a bathroom. Things are moving along - I expect that stucco color coat and exterior painting should be done soon. We are now looking at tile, tile, and more tile for the bathroom shower areas and the kitchen.
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Propane tank and concrete

2007-05-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

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Our propane tank got installed today. It is next to the pump/water tank behind the garage.
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We brought over all the interior lighting fixtures this evening so they can start being installed tomorrow.
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Our builder also placed the last of the concrete today. Here is a shot of the sidewalk around the back of the house. You can see baling going on in the background. He's baling in what will soon be our backyard! Need to follow up on getting fencing quotes for the backyard fence.
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This is the other (last) concrete slab placed today. This is where the main AC unit and garbage cans will hide, so we are putting in a screen fence to shelter them from view. I need to cut those posts down to size and trim the vinyl fence panels to shorter lengths for the height fence we want.
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Garage doors on, interior painting almost done

2007-05-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

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We didn't know the garage doors had arrived - the openers were installed, too! The doors are insulated and roll pretty easily.
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We went to Lowes today and got some vinyl fencing for around the location for the main AC unit (and probable garbage can location). I think the fencing will be installed on Tuesday during the last concrete pour.
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Sounds like our builder is getting tired of placing concrete and doing the concrete finish work (he's had knee surgery recently).
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We also picked up the doorbell and chime. OK, so we're cheezy - we got the one that plays like 65 different tunes. Sue us. :-)
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We are trying to find out who we want to install the vinyl back yard fencing.
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Interior painting is just about done. The main color for the interior is the tan "Sandcastle" color to the left and right and on the ceiling. This is the dining room area, where we wanted something a little bolder. Several other rooms are various colors as well, including all the bathrooms. Most of the crown molding has been painted (as it has been here). Windowsills have not been painted yet.
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Cabinets are to be delivered June 1 with installation to begin June 7. Our builder wants the light fixtures/fans there by Tuesday night so he can start installing them Wednesday morning.
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Painting soon, and more concrete on the way!

2007-05-08T18:52:00.000-07:00

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A little morning sunshine on the front of the house.
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Painters were here today doing preparation work for painting, inside and out. Sounds like they are planning to be done by early next week. I think the stucco color coat should be finished soon, too.
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They excavated out the utility line for power and telephone today - well, most of the way. This trench makes a beeline for the wood post in the first picture after the turn (above). SMUD changed the power pole location so instead of a straight shot east to the road from the garage, we have to trench diagonally across the property to the SE corner. You can also see a small formed box to the left of the trench. It's going to be the location of the post lamp.
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They also excavated out the lines for water and propane from their respective tanks to the house. This trench is for the propane line. The propane tank is not installed yet - it will probably be located right where I am standing. The trench for the water line is just to the left of the water tank. That will also be the trench for electricity to the pump.
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The forms were set for some of the sidewalks around the house. this one will run along the front with some flower beds on either side of the entrance. Around the rest of the house it will be flush against the house foundation. I think they plan to get the front (east) and south sides finished tomorrow, along with a portion of the back patio along the garage. I think they will have much of the back (west) finished by Friday, with the north side done next week.
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New sliders, Sun Tunnels and shelves in

2007-05-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

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Here is 1/2 the shelving in the master closet - my side. The closest bay (right side of photo) - on each of our sides - will be left open for our chest of drawers to be put in. My wife's side has more hanging space and fewer shelves. I have the feeling she will soon be taking over some of mine....
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Our builder got the sliding doors installed between the family and living room areas - we wanted the glass doors so the rooms wouldn't feel so "closed off" even when the doors were shut.
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The Velux 22" Sun Tunnel Skylights were also installed, well, the bottom portion anyways as the roof domes had been on for a while. This is the one in our son's bathroom. There is also one in the master closet.
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http://www.veluxusa.com/products/sunTunnels/TGF/
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We met with the tile guy today, ends up he went to the same church I did when I was a child. I knew he looked familiar. He still attends the same church. Anyways, we discussed some ideas with him and need to go look at tile to pick out what we want in the shower areas and as a backsplash in the kitchen.
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Doors are in, shelving in progress

2007-04-29T11:27:00.000-07:00

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Looks a little nicer with the real front door installed.
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Most of the windowsills are now on - the inside is really starting to come together. You can see the temporary door is still sitting there next to the doorway.
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Some of the shelving in the closets has been installed as well. This is what the non-master bedrooms have in the closets. Lots of space for "stuff". Master closet and pantry are due up on Monday, I think.
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Better video link

2007-04-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

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Someone pointed me in the direction of sendspace.com where you can upload large files for free. Here is the video the way it was meant to be seen:
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http://www.sendspace.com/file/75dkkg
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Trim going on and lights bulbs galore

2007-04-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

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You can see that doors are being distributed throughout the house; several have been installed and others are going up today. Windowsills are also being installed. Crown molding will follow before too long, I think.
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This looks much better - septic system is covered and you can see the front of the house again. Wouldn't be surprised to see a little settlement in the area, as compaction usually isn't a strong point when backfilling these things. Shouldn't be a problem where it is located, though.
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Stopped by Home Depot this morning and bought the trim kits for all the recessed can lights in the house. They were low on supply, so they ordered what I needed and they should be in soon. Stopped by Lowes on the way home and bought a pole light for the front yard, floodlight fixtures for the house, and LOTS of light bulbs (incandescents and compact fluorescents). As Lowes only had about a dozen on hand, I need to go check Home Depot again to see if they have enough (23) 4-pin fluorescent lights for all the cans that require them. I want to get the same brand for all lights of a similar type, if possible, to match intensity and color ratings. I also need to swap out a ceiling fan. I thought we would like a certain fan in the den, but after looking at it again and giving it some thought, I want to put in something different instead.
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Materials delivered and a video for you

2007-04-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

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Behind the empty boxes are stacks of crown molding, baseboard trim, windowsills, and doors. Door hardware is in the box to the left. Not sure if that is all of it though.
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I have put together a video of house construction (time-lapse type) based on camera shots from a window in my sister's house next door. Unfortunately, uploading to Google Video leads to the resolution being compromised as they downscale it severely. It looks pretty bad (compared to the original), but here it is nonetheless:
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4324399734433243583
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If I come up with a better way for you to see it in a higher resolution, I'll post it.
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We went out and bought just about all our exterior lights and all the ceiling fans today. That stuff adds up FAST!
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Stucco moving along

2007-04-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

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The scratch coat is now being covered by the brown coat, soon to be followed by the color coat. Sounds like a Dr. Suess stucco book. :)
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The house doors have been delivered but we are not quite ready for them yet, so I think they will sit in the garage for a couple days.
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Garage doors got ordered yesterday. Not sure how long they take to get delivered, but it will be nice to get all the doors installed and be able to lock the place up.
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The painter needs to put the prep coat and we need to get the walls textured.
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I wonder if we should put crown molding in the high-ceilinged areas where the dormer windows are. I think it would look good. I'll have to talk with my wife about it.
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First coat of stucco is on

2007-04-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

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The stucco guys have been hard at work and the first coat of stucco is on. They were back out there this morning for the next coat, I think.
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Front (east) and garage (north) sides of the house have siding; south and west sides have stucco.
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I'm pretty sure our builder should be back from vacation today. I'll try to check in with him later today.
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Sheetrock has been taped

2007-04-14T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sheetrock has been taped, but with the rain we are having today, all the joint compound is still soft and wet (hasn't had time to dry).

Our builder is still on vacation for a couple days while all this is getting done/drying, so I'm pretty sure not much else will happen until the middle of the week.

Spending more money

2007-04-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

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It gets to be a habit about this time in construction. We bought the sinks for the master bathroom today and will be giving authorization for all the cabinets to be ordered tomorrow.
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Cabinets are going to be Kraftmaid:
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http://www.kraftmaid.com/
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We are going with "Polarcrest" White Laminate <http://tinyurl.com/34qs4j> in the kitchen with a Wedgewood Glaze "Brookfield" <http://tinyurl.com/2umjud> island for a little contrast. The master bath cabinets and face frames, dining room buffet, and family room built-ins and window seat will be "Belmont" in Bisque Glaze <http://tinyurl.com/3aln5m>. Remaining cabinets and face frames (bath 2 and laundry) will also be "Belmont" but in the Honey Spice finish.
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The only problem we had was that you cannot get a range hood in laminate through Kraftmaid, and other brand hoods you could order in laminate were at least twice as expensive. We are going to get a color-matched glossy white paint and paint an unfinished hood ourselves to try to match the laminate. The other option would be to get the hood in Wedgewood Glaze to match the island, but the better half didn't want to go that route.
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Flooring will come soon as well (Classic Wilsonart Flooring in "Treasure Wood") <http://tinyurl.com/2upq7q>, along with linoleum in the bath areas and cedar flooring in the master closet.
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Then it will be fans and light in the next week or two. The fun never ends!
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Ordering day, apparently

2007-04-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

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Our builder will be ordering a bunch of stuff today, including doors, door hardware, shelving materials for the closets, crown molding, and maybe even cabinets.
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I think we are finally nailing down some color choices for some of the different rooms. Be nice to get that decided for good. If my count is correct, we have different colors for the main part of the house, the master bedroom, master bathroom, bath 2 (full bath), bath 3 (half bath), and probably the dining room. So we have six colors plus the trim color (Swiss Coffee). I can't believe all the funky names you can find for colors now.....
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We need to start buying light fixtures and fans.
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The sheetrock guys are not coming today - apparently there was a death in the family (cousin?) and today is the funeral.
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I did order one of these for the master shower light/fan this morning:
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http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/39_898_771
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It will be nice to be able to just hit the button and know the light/fan will turn off later in case we forget about it. All the bathroom fans are very quiet models (all 1.0 sones or less, I think).
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Septic system in, sheetrock about done

2007-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

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I got a surprise when I got to the house this morning - the septic system had been installed! Because of the future location of the subgrade power and telephone lines, the builder wrapped the septic system to the south instead of going due east, as previously planned. This picture is looking north from the drywells to the septic tank. Only 3 drywells were required, but the connectors allow for up to 4 and we could put 4 in with the allowance our builder had put aside for this part of the project. Having 4 wells instead of 3 definitely cannot hurt.
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As you can see, all the sheetrock is just about installed. There are still some plugs/switches they have to cut out, but I think they will be taping as soon as tomorrow. And yes, they did finish off the last bit of the garage they had left bare.
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Most of the windows look almost like gun slits right now, as they have not trimmed the sheetrock back to the window frames yet.
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Most of the ceiling sheetrocked

2007-04-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

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Almost all of the ceiling was sheetrocked yesterday - only one bedroom and a bathroom left undone. The corner of the garage that wasn't finished was still unfinished - not sure if there is a particular reason or not....
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The ceiling almost looks taller sheetrocked than not. Strange how that happens sometimes. Same thing when the floor slab was placed and framing hadn't begun - the house didn't look very big. After framing was complete it actually looked larger.
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I think I'll go down again tomorrow and see what it looks like first thing in the morning. My understanding is sheetrock will probably be finished by Friday and taping will begin.
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Batted insulation done

2007-04-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

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All the batted insulation has been installed and the sheetrockers started on the garage yesterday - it was about 90% finished this morning. I guess they are just going to start plugging along with that and we'll see how quickly that gets done.
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And insulation is going in

2007-04-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

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And so it begins. Insulation is going in. Started this morning and I think is only going to take a day or so to finish.
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Our builder doesn't use the code-required R-18 insulation, he has the installers use doubled R-13 for all exterior walls. Should save us lots of $$$ in the long run. The installer said our builder is one of the few he's seen that does that in the area.
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He is also going to insulate around all bedroom walls for reduction in noise in those areas.
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Sheetrock starts tomorrow!
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Insulation and sheetrock starting this week

2007-04-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

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I went over to the new house and shot about 1/2 hour of video yesterday trying to document all the wiring and plumbing. I think I got most of it, anyways.
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Insulation starts tomorrow and sheetrock on Tuesday. Another couple weeks and it will REALLY start looking like a house inside instead of a forest of 2x4s.
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We made another dump run yesterday, but don't seem to be making too huge a dent into the garbage pile. Going to have to step up the effort in to that to get rid of everything, I guess.
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Getting ready for insulation

2007-03-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

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The Bay Alarm guys were about 2 hours late, but they made it. Apparently got all the prewire work finished in one day.
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The builder is finishing up his wiring work and having inspections done - insulation is scheduled for Monday and sheetrocking to start Tuesday.
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All this means I get to go to the house this weekend and videotape and shoot digital photos of everything to ensure we know where all the wiring and plumbing is. Not sure how useful it is, but now is the time to do it! Also will make it easier to find the speaker and alarm prewiring after sheetrock, etc, is done.
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I ordered some fan timers for bathroom fans:
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http://tinyurl.com/2g7ltp
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and I think I may order one of these for the master shower fan/light:
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http://tinyurl.com/2dbrhu
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I would have ordered the same one as above (Leviton), but unfortunately they are not rated for fluorescent lights.
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I guess stucco is waiting until after sheetrocking is complete.
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We need to start looking at closet organization and make final decisions on cabinetry items.
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Alarm installation starts tomorrow

2007-03-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

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This picture is in here strictly because our son is a nutball whenever the camera points his way. :-)
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I do hope you can admire my handiwork with a broom from it though. I spent most of Saturday cleaning it out for the work starting tomorrow. We also went by today and made a dump run to get rid of most of the plywood scrap and some other stuff, still lots more to take away....
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The guys from Bay Alarm should be there before 9 am tomorrow to start installing the alarm system. I need to be there to show them where stuff goes. As you can see, there is still wiring work to be finished, so our builder has some things to keep him busy as well.
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The company doing the wiring for surround sound and satellite dish connections (and the central vacuum plumbing) seems to do great work - we have been happy with everything so far, I think. He is also going to wire for a HD antenna in the attic so we can pull in over-the-air HD stations/programming.
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I think we are going to get our cabinets from Ben's Appliance as well - for what appear to be pretty similar cabinets (quality-wise), we are going to save somewhere in the neighborhood of $15-20k in cabinet costs vs. the other quote we had recieved. That will bring us right back into about where our budget is, which is very good.
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Things to take care of

2007-03-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

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I have to leave work early today to take care of a few things.
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I need to meet the Bay Alarm representative at our new house to go over the system we are going to install and sign paperwork authorizing the alarm installation.
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I then need to go discuss cabinets/costs. We already have one quote and are getting a second from somewhere else.
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I then need to go back to the house to talk with the guy putting in the satellite wiring and central vacuum plumbing.
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We are changing the interior doors to a different style that we feel better fits our house. Cost difference is minimal, so no problem there. We also need to start thinking about closet organization, as our builder needs to order materials before too long (he builds the closets organization himself). We are talking about crown molding locations and costs for that as well.
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Wires wires everywhere....

2007-03-18T20:34:00.000-07:00

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Here is just a small example of the wires running everywhere through our house right now (these are at the 200 amp subpanel for most of the house - main outside panel is a 400 amp model). I was in Denver for a conference for most of last week, and this is what I came back to.
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Wires for power, satellite TV, surround sound, phone, etc. are in the process of being put in. Most of the central vacuum lines are in as well. Bathroom fans have been installed, too. Most of the switch and plug boxes are in place. Hose bibs on the outside of the house are installed. I also had the builder stub out a gas line at three places on the outside of the house in case we decide to have a built-in BBQ somewhere sometime in the future....
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I included this photo to show the curious what the fire sprinklers look like at this stage. You can see the fire sprinkler line in yellow - the red caps are where the sprinklers are. You can look here for more information on these:
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http://tinyurl.com/3c3j8b
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You can also see that the downlights have been installed (these are in the kitchen). The whole house fan is in the right side of the photo.
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Apparently Bay Alarm and our builder have figured out an installation schedule that works for both of them, so that is who we will go with. They are also about 1/3 cheaper on the monthly fee than ADT, which is nice.
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Starting on electrical

2007-03-13T09:23:00.000-07:00

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We spent part of yesterday afternoon discussing electrical with our builder - going over numbers of lights and switches and locations. We also discussed crown molding and under cabinet lighting locations. We also decided to look into changing the door pattern for the interior doors - the builder is going to check on the pricing for the different doors today.
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The master shower had been tarred for waterproofing. The stucco guys had finished putting up the wire under the front porch as well. Our builder had put the bathtub into place and adjusted the "rough" fireplace for the facing we want to use.
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We need to get those quotes back for cabinets. Can't wait too much more to start making decisions there. Also need to start picking up lights and fans when we see things we like.
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Ordered our HT speakers

2007-03-11T09:13:00.000-07:00

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Well, I went ahead and ordered the speakers for the home theater in the family room. I decided to go with Polk Audio speakers for some good sound at a good price.
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Fronts are going to be Monitor 50, center channel is going to be a CS1, rear (in-ceiling) surrounds are going to be RC60i. I also ordered a pair of the Atrium 55 all-weather speakers for the rear patio.
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http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/monitor50/
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/cs1/
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/rc60i/
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/atrium55/
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Bought them at Amazon.com and saved some $$$ over anywhere else I could find.
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We are going to do some more cleanup today at the new house and make a dump run, I think. Got a lot of small waste pieces of that fiber/cement siding to get rid of, along with general construction debris.
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Plumbing is in, stucco to follow soon

2007-03-10T20:22:00.000-08:00

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We went to do some cleanup work at the house today and see how things are progressing.
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You can see thay are almost finished with the stucco paper (still some work to be done for the front porch ceiling).
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They also painted all the venting on the roof black to blend in better. Looks pretty good.
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Gas and water plumbing looks to be mostly complete. All the fresh water lines are copper. Due to high rates of theft for copper recently (recyclers pay LOTS for it right now), he kept all the copper pipe on his truck until it was actually installed.
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The walk-in shower in the master bath is also framed in. There is a small bench seat and the rest of the wall around the seat - "U"-shaped - will be glass block (as described previously). Not an overly large shower, but plenty for our needs. The master shower will have 2 showerheads, one fixed, one hand wand on a bar (slides to adjust for height). I like lots of water, so we spent a little extra $$$ to be able to run both at once, if desired.

We met with the sales representative for Bay Alarm today so he could get some ideas for putting a quote together. We meet with the ADT folks on Wednesday morning.

We are meeting with our builder Monday evening to discuss electrical outlet/switch locations.

I am starting to look at home theater stuff to figure out speaker type and location. It's one of those things I can see myself getting into a little too much - I think I need to just take a step back, get something affordable but with decent quality and know that most speakers nowadays sound pretty good. To my untrained ears, I bet most anything will be great. I will still probably end up spending a little more than I wanted to get something reasonably nice. I can't help it - I want some minimum quality level that will last for a long time.

Stucco coming soon

2007-03-06T09:00:00.000-08:00

I stopped by to talk with the builder this morning and see how the house is coming along. They are working on the dormer windows - should be done with them (siding, etc. - except painting) today and he "can get off the damn roof". He's happier working on the inside than on the roof, apparently.
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The stucco guys have set up some scaffolding, so we should see some progress there any day. Except for a slight chance of showers tomorrow afternoon, we have clear weather with highs of 65-80 degrees forecast for the next 10 days or so. I cannot believe how lucky we've been weather-wise this winter. Most of the rain has come in bunches that have not really prevented work from progressing.
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Looks like after today he's ready for more cleanup work, so maybe this weekend I'll try to get over there.
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Siding about done

2007-03-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

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You can see in these two photos that they've been working on siding for the past few days and are getting close to being done. The siding on the front of the house is almost complete. All that's left is the areas under the roof eaves. The front of the garage is finished as well. My wife said that they were able to finish the area in the first picture today (she stopped by after work) - not sure about the areas in the front.
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The rest of the house will be stucco. Hopefully the color matches pretty closely. Hard to get a stucco/paint match exact.

The siding is Hardiboard (this stuff):

http://tinyurl.com/do75h

We have a small walk-in master shower that is going to have a glass-block wall. We went with the IceScapes pattern on the block for a little more privacy:

http://tinyurl.com/28xu3t

Our builder says that plumbing (first) and electrical (second) come next, and he likes the way we've decided to split the work between the water heaters. He's figuring on about 3 weeks for those and other miscellaneous items, then probably sheetrock the last week of March.

Not sure when the stucco guys will make it out - should be any day now I think....

Water temperature

2007-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

In reviewing some of the appliance manuals I was downloading last night, I noticed that the washing machine and dishwashers want a hot water temperature in the 120-140 degree range, while most folks recommend a maximum hot water temperature of 120 degrees (or even less) to prevent possible scalding in a shower, etc. I think what we will do is have one tankless heater feed the kitchen and laundry areas (with a higher temperature setting, say 130 degrees) and the other feed the bathrooms (with a lower setting, say 115-120 degrees). Still a good "division of labor" between the two and makes sense temperature-wise.
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Recent rains have slowed progress on the outside of the house (siding and stucco, etc.), but we should get some better weather for the next week or so at least. He has been working on the plumbing in the meantime.
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Looks like we also came in well under budget for the fireplace, so we can apply some of that to our overage on appliances (getting more appliances than we initially planned) and we come out pretty even.
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We are still waiting for costs for cabinets to come in from a couple locations to see which way we want to go there. Not necessarily apples-to-apples with different brands of cabinets, but we just want something that will last for quite a while.
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Appliances chosen

2007-02-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

We decided to go in and look at appliances this weekend and pretty much did all our choosing. Our contractor recommended Ben's Appliance and I must say they have been great with selection and pricing so far. In fact, in addition to great prices to begin with, they offer additional discounts for multiple purchases (multiple appliances gets you a set discount, appliances with a fireplace another set discount, etc.). The more you buy, the more they knock off. As of right now we are getting our appliances and fireplace there, probably the countertops, and maybe the cabinets. We are getting a REALLY good deal here, one of the reasons we are going to get a new washer, dryer, and refrigerator even though we had considered re-using the ones we have now.
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http://www.bensappliances.com/
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We are getting GE Profile appliances (range/oven, range hood, wall oven, microwave, two dishwashers, freezer for the pantry, and front-loading washer and dryer). We decided to go with the Maytag Ice 2 O french door bottom freezer refrigerator - it is the only one that offers a bottom freezer and a ice and water dispenser in the door, it matches the GE Profile stuff pretty well, and it is has a pretty good capacity (24.9 cf).
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http://www.maytag.com/ice2o/index.html
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We chose the fireplace facing style/color/inserts while we were there as well.
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The York furnace units are these (based off model numbers):
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http://tinyurl.com/37z98r (9.C units)
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and the AC units will probably be these (according to our builder):
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http://tinyurl.com/2notz8
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We are going to bypass the optional color inserts and stick with the basic color. Who knew you could get colored grills for your AC units?
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I am having our contractor raise the shower heads up a bit so I can't bang my head on them. I am not really all that tall (about 6'), but I hate dodging shower heads while I am washing my hair, and it happens everywhere I go (houses, hotels, etc.). Why do they put those things so darn low everywhere?
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New and Improved! Now with windows!

2007-02-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

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It was too dark the other day to take a picture, but here it is with windows installed.
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Looks like he has also been working on the siding trim a bit. He also put on the glass domes on the solatubes.
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Windows are in

2007-02-21T20:38:00.000-08:00

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The windows were installed today. Rain held off until tonight (probably around midnight or so) so no problems with that for window installation. Looks like everything was just as we wanted (with the correct obscure glass in all the right windows, etc.). Looks great to us!
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The "rough" portion of the gas fireplace was also installed today as well. We are using one of these (Chateau 42):
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http://www.countrystoves.com/fireplaces.htm
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Not sure of the finish styling yet, though.
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I called/emailed about appliances and home theater stuff today. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling on those items before long. I think we are going to get some GE Profile appliances - have to go in and look at what the current models are as the last time we looked it was about a year ago. For home theater, I am thinking about a 50-56" DLP TV with speakers from Paradigm:
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http://tinyurl.com/2y59ov
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I have a couple friends that got their speakers there and have been very happy with them. Need to go look at specifics on models and prices to know for sure, though. The sales guy I spoke with on the phone assured me that he has some nice products in the product type and budget range I was looking at.
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Moving along

2007-02-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

Things are plugging along nicely.

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You can see the house is wrapped in Tyvek (except for the one exposed wall here, they needed to get one more roll). Part of the housewrap used was not Tyvek but Typar, a similar product - he said they both work fine, just depands on what's in stock and what he has left over from the last job he can use up to save some $$$.
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http://www.typarhousewrap.com/housewrap.html

My dad and I spent most of yesterday morning picking up garbage/scraps to make a dump run (I took the day off to take our son to a short field trip first thing in the morning and meet with the cabinet/flooring folks in the afternoon). We took two pickup loads and there appears to be about one more load remaining at this point. If we do some of these things it means the builder doesn't have to and we save a little $$$. We also discussed some exterior lighting items with the builder, as he needs to get the siding started and the stucco guys to come out before long.

We have decided to go with Wilsonart "Treasure Wood" high pressure laminate flooring for most of the house (part of their "Classic" product line), with some sheet vinyl in a couple bath/laundry areas and cedar flooring in the master closet. We are using the upgraded noise-deadening pad underneath.

http://tinyurl.com/3562ny

The sheetrock guy said he's concerned about some possible minor cracking at the joints in the family room due to the long ceiling span (temperature related maybe?). I'll have to follow up with that.

The painter also stopped by to discuss exterior colors.

The next 3 weeks appear to be slated for electrical, plumbing, and siding, in whatever order the weather allows. Apparently sheetrock is due to start when those items are complete.

The fireplace has been framed in and so have a couple decorative interior columns. Pocket (sliding) door frames were delivered yesterday, and our builder had picked up the bathtub and some plumbing items. Windows are due to be delivered today. Hopefully it is not raining and he can put them in.

We need to go finalize our appliance choices next.

We also discussed one other item - the possibility of a future shed for gardening supplies or a playroom for our son or whatever other purpose comes to mind. We may have the builder pour a slab while he's placing concrete for the sidewalks and stub out an electric line and hold off on building it until later. Just an idea at this point....

Ready for Tyvek

2007-02-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

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Well, the roofing is essentially finished today (except for some trim work, I think). No rain for the next few days, either.
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You can see one of the two solatube locations in this photo towards the right side of the picture (looks like a good sized hole in the roof, because it is). Our builder got the larger solatube size for additional light - should work out well, I think.
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The 400-amp panel and phone box are installed (side of the garage), but I don't know what the time frame is for electricity hookup. I sent an email off to SMUD to get more information on that.
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You can see the larger of the 2 AC/heater units here. Thankfully our builder had them run all the ducting up high and out of the way so we can move around relatively easily in the attic if we need to. The units are York Affinity 9.C series, one 5-ton and one 2-ton.

These photos were taken in the morning, but by this afternoon we had some of the exterior siding/trim delivered and two rolls of Tyvek HomeWrap sitting in the dining room for installation. He should have some of the Tyvek installed as early as tomorrow. Windows arrive Tuesday, I think. Maybe the exterior doors, too? He said he is going to start working on the siding soon, but the Tyvek comes first and windows soon after. I think the siding will find it's way on as he gets the time between all the other bits and pieces he's working on.

http://tinyurl.com/2agq2g

The cabinet/flooring folks are coming out Tuesday for measurements/discussions with the builder and us. Should be an interesting afternoon (and probably expensive, unfortunately).

Change in plans

2007-02-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

We are going to go with the Takagi tankless heaters (the ones our builder is used to using) instead of the Rinnai - I think the main reason being our builder's comfort level and some venting requirements. He said the Takagi have done well in the homes he's built and he's had no complaints.
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I think we are going to use the Flash T-K3, as it is their "smallest, most versatile and most powerful residential model". You can also hook them together in parallel like the Rinnai models, so hopefully we can still maintain that functionality. If for whatever reason we do not, we can divide up the load fairly equally between the two of them pretty easily.
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http://www.takagi.com/web2003/tk3.htm
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The only concern that I have is the lack of a warranty due to being installed on a well setup, but he hasn't had any problems with well water in the area so far and they have been OK past their normal warranty period.
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Work continues

2007-02-12T20:57:00.000-08:00

Our house is plugging along, with the roofers out this morning and sheetmetal guys due today to work on some ducts for the heater/AC units.
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The builder's helper is out today with the flu, so we hope he feels better soon. They were going to work on finishing the dormers today and putting in the 400-amp main panel, but with his helper out those items probably got postponed.
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I think there was more wall sheeting to be put on in a couple spots today and I know he was working on getting the tankless heater vent ducting figured out. The ducting for the Rinnai heaters is different from others (I think) and he may be scrambling a bit to get the proper flashing installed on the roof so the roofers can finish their work. I have some additional information from Rinnai (design manual for multiple unit installation) that got e-mailed to me today that we need to get to him in the morning.
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He also had the roof flashing units for the two solatubes - they are big suckers, with the openings about 2-ft or so in diameter. Should let in a lot of light!
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We need to look at cabinets next. I think we have the kitchen stuff pretty much nailed, but some of the other ones may need some "deciding" before long.
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We also need to look into lighting and switches in the next few weeks as well.
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Got a little more rain today, but I think we're still good right now. I think we're going to have pretty nice weather for the next week or two.
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Ballpark guesstimate of a finish date puts us somewhere around the end of May.
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Attic truss sheeting in

2007-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

Getting some more rain right now, but it should clear up by Monday and stay dry for the next week. Hopefully that will be enough time to finish putting the shingles on and get the exterior sheeting finished to allow for the Tyvek wrap.
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Here is the attic space in the house. Lots of room! There will be things taking up some space (heater/AC, etc.), but this will be great for storage, etc. There is a similar area in the garage, too, just a little bit shorter in the headroom department.
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Nice to have a dry garage to park in with plenty of room for my truck!

Roofing going on

2007-02-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

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Basically all the roof (except the dormer windows, under construction) has been papered and is getting shingles installed. When I arrived late this afternoon the roofing crew was cleaning up and leaving for the day. If you look close in the left dormer, you can see their portable radio hanging from a nail.
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Here is a photo-stitched shot of the inside of the house looking north from the family room. Off the photo to the left would be the second bath, our son's room, and the extra bedroom (all down a short hallway). From front to back on the left side of the picture is an open breakfast nook to the left of the door, the kitchen, and a doorway into the pantry. Behind the pantry is a short hallway and half bath and the laundry room with a door into the garage. On the right side - again front to back - is the living room (we will have double sliding French doors where the header is between the family and living rooms), the front door, dining room, and the master bedroom area. Off the picture to the right is the den/computer room.

And here is the view to the south from the kitchen showing the family room. We are going to have two sliding glass doors flanking the entertainment center (left side) and gas fireplace (right side).

There's the tour!

Rain is back

2007-02-07T21:11:00.000-08:00

Got some rain today - first since the first week of January - but not too much. The roofing felt/paper (whatever they use, I'm not sure) was installed earlier today, so the wood sheeting was protected for the most part and got very little moisture on it. My wife said that they have stacked the asphalt shingles up there too. Sounds like roofing is about to commence in earnest.
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Our builder is going to work on the dormer windows tomorrow, so hopefully the roof will be essentially complete by Friday. What a relief that will be, with rain planned off and on through Monday and more to come.
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I think we have nailed down all the plumbing fixtures except possibly in the master shower. Although almost all our plumbing fixtures will be Delta, we might go with Hansgrohe in the shower:
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http://www.hansgrohe-usa.com/products/singleprod.php?prod_num=06116&pass_group=Shower&page=prodthumbs.php
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- without the body jets - as this setup is the only one we have found with an integrated valve and diverter so you don't have so many knobs to operate the shower. My wife really likes that idea.
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Sorry I don't have any pictures recently, but I can only make it down there a couple days a week and sometimes it is after dark. Hopefully I can get some this weekend.
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A flash of metal

2007-02-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

We have some metal on the house - gutters were installed yesterday. I didn't go all the way around the house, but the ones on the front were installed, anyways. The sheet metal guys also installed heater/AC inlets and outlets in the house.
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All the roof sheeting appeared to be on except where the dormers are, as they were not built yet. I think that was on the agenda for today after he put in the plumbing vents out the roof, as that was first on his list.
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I asked about putting a timer on the bathroom fans. I don't think we were quite on the same page as he was probably thinking of a manual "twist" timer, while I was thinking of something more like this:
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http://www.energyfederation.org/consumer/default.php/cPath/39_766_134
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with a hidden adjustable timer behind the switch. You can turn off the switch and the light goes off but the fan still runs for up to 1 hour. I'll have to print that out and show it to him.
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Looked at plumbing fixtures today and my, have they gotten expensive. Ouch.
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Jury duty is over

2007-02-05T18:06:00.000-08:00

Served my one day on jury duty today and didn't get called to serve, so I am done for the next year.
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Our builder was out ordering the "solatubes" (not sure of the brand) we have going in the master closet and our son's bathroom for some extra light. For those that haven't seen them, they are something like this:
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http://www.solatube.com/residential.php
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I was also wondering about the solar powered attic fan vents, but our builder has had some not-so-wonderful experiences with them, as he says he has one and has put them in for others, but they tend to break down after a while. He's putting extra eave and gable-end vents in and along with the foil-backed roofing and whole-house fan, thinks it should be fine without the extra fans.
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We are anticipating a little rain over the next few days (40-70% chance of showers). We'll have to see how much we can get done with that kind of pattern.
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We have to get our plumbing fixtures selected soon - we found some nice, offbeat ones at a local store my wife wants to use in our son's bathroom, but I think we might go with Delta for most of them. We found some nice ones we like in a catalog and need to go talk about pricing with the plumbing supply place our contractor uses frequently. He can get a nice discount there, and they have been very helpful and friendly when we visited previously.
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Starting to look like a house

2007-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

Most of the roof sheeting was finished today - you can clearly see the ridges and valleys on the front porch now (top photo) and the finished garage (bottom photo) - compare to yesterdays pictures. The only major areas of the roof remaining is the area over the non-master bedrooms (bottom photo right side, mostly hidden, south side of house) and the dormer windows (top photo, those two rectangular "holes" in the roof). I'm pretty sure he'll be tackling those on Monday.

The builder will have the door guy track down one of those magnetic chalkboard doors for us, he thinks he knows where to get one at a reasonable cost.

The builder put in for his second draw, but the funds were not transferred soon enough today for me to get a check made out, so we will have to get it to him ASAP next week.

I have to go in for jury duty on Monday, so my schedule next week could be a bit screwy. We'll have to play it by ear for a few days.

Roof sheeting going on

2007-02-01T20:58:00.000-08:00

The builder is putting on the oriented strand board (OSB) roof sheeting - back part of the house (top photo) is mostly done, and they were working on the front today. Most of the regular OSB sheeting on the front walls of the house is installed too.

The roof sheeting is LP TechShield: http://tinyurl.com/qj4qw

You can see it in the lower photo on the support next to the ladder. The aluminum overlay on the OSB is supposed to help the attic stay cool in the summer and save electricity.

Apparently we have several things coming together right now. Windows have been ordered and should be delivered in a week or so. Doors were apparently ordered today (at least the door guy came out to check sizes, etc). The roofer is coming out tomorrow to give his estimate as well.

As soon as the sheeting is finished, I think he's ready for the Tyvek wrap. Then windows and doors and roofing (hopefully roofing before the rains hit, a chance of which is being called for by next Friday). Then comes the plumbing and electrical and siding, I think. Not really sure at this point exactly what comes when, but then that is his job, not mine. I just get to show up on occasion and check out how progress is doing and learn as this goes along. My feeling is some of these things are somewhat flexible depending on weather, etc.

My wife wants a magnetic chalkboard on the pantry door (I forgot about this) so I need to see if he can track one of those down for us at a decent price. Something like this, I think:

http://www.millenniumdoors.com/marking.html

Sunrise through the front door

2007-01-29T21:59:00.000-08:00

I took these pictures Saturday morning (1-27-07). The second photo really doesn't show much yet, but you can see the ridges he's constructing on the left and right sides of the front porch. It should be more obvious when the sheeting starts going on the roof.

I think we are going to get a new refrigerator and possibly washer and dryer. We were thinking of using the ones we have now, but we may just go "all new" appliances everywhere and hopefully get a few more years down the road before we need any repairs. This way we can also use the ones we have as potential bargaining tools for selling our house (if the buyers don't have some already), as they are still in good condition and are only a few years old.

Back to work

2007-01-25T09:53:00.001-08:00

Well, our builder is back to work after a nice vacation. He caught a cold his last day there, so we hope he's feeling better soon.
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Windows were ordered yesterday and should be here in a couple weeks. We are using Milgard Vinyl Classic windows - some with frosted glass in bathroom areas.
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http://www.milgard.com/products/vinyl-windows/classic.asp
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They are continuing to work on the roof to prepare for sheeting. He thinks they might be ready for that on Monday or so. He also has to cover the front of the house with plywood (so the siding will be level and flush with the shearwalled areas) and get ready for the Tyvek wrap.
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We are using siding for the front (east) and garage (north) sides of the house and stucco for the remaining (to save some $$$). My wife went down to the stucco company and picked out a nice green color for the exterior a week and a half ago.
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We have a whole house fan going in to help with energy-efficient temperature control and two high-efficiency AC/heating units (one 5-ton, one 2-ton).
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We now get to pick out our insulated garage doors. We have 2 garage doors, one 18-ft wide and one 10-ft wide (both 8-ft tall). We'll get windows along the top to let in more light.
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We need to start pricing out fencing as well. We have an allowance in the loan for it, but we are not sure how much (linear feet) that allowance will get us right now.

Hi-ho, hi-ho....

2007-01-24T08:39:00.000-08:00

Well, our builder should have been home from his vacation yesterday. I forgot to set up the camera, so today's work will go unrecorded. I think I'll go out in the morning and see how his trip went and get the camera going again. He'll probably still be in shock from the cold after the 85-degree days on the beach he's been enjoying.

Major trusses are up

2007-01-11T07:49:00.000-08:00

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As you can see, the rest of the house trusses are up (large ones, anyways) and the garage is done as well.
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The smaller trusses over the computer room/den (extreme left side of photo) and master bath (left-center of photo) are up as well. They are now working on the trusses over the front porch (hard to describe the features being worked on, you'll be able to see it better when it's farther along). He's got some hips and ridges and valleys to construct....
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We are going to use Rinnai tankless water heaters, as they are the only major brand I could find that cover well installations, most other companies void the warranty for non-treated water. My cousin has a Rinnai and says they have been very happy with it. They also have the longest warranty on their new models (6 years, 12 years on the heat exchanger). You can find more information on them at:
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http://www.rinnai.us/.aspx/0/a.46f8f3/Overview
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and
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http://www.foreverhotwater.com/
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Our builder is going on vacation next week and won't be back until the 24th, so there may not be much (if anything) to post for the next two weeks or so....
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Trusses going up

2007-01-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

Well, besides seeing the fact that our son likes to get in front of the camera any time he can, you can also see the roof trusses are being erected into place and braced. The trusses over the 2nd and 3rd bedrooms are up (left side of picture), as are most of the trusses over the main part of the house. For the larger trusses, still not erected are some trusses over the master bedroom/closet (main part of house - right side of picture) and all of the garage (not visible). Smaller trusses over the computer room (behind our son) and master bath (far right side of picture) as well as the entry area over the center of the front porch (between the two) still need to be erected as well.

The two gaps in the trusses are where the dormer windows are going to be built. These will function as skylights in the dining room and living room areas. The roof trusses on either side of these dormers are "doubled up" to account for the "missing" trusses.

I am surprised that he is this far along, as he estimated trusses would take about 2 weeks to erect. He's done this much in 2 days (Tuesday and today). Tomorrow is calling for rain, so he's got rainy weather items on his agenda, namely checking into the doors and windows we want, getting the 400 amp main electrical panel and the subpanels to serve the house and water pump/misc (200 amp and 100 amp respectively, I think), checking on the tub and toilets we picked out yesterday, etc. The weather forecast shows clear skies after this little hiccup until Friday, January 12th - good weather for building!

We decided to go with Toto toilets. We have heard nothing but good things about them from plumbers, product reviews, and our builder, who says he recently switched to using them in his projects with great success. Here's where you can find more info on them:

http://www.totousa.com/consumer_landing.asp

Trusses delivered today

2006-12-29T22:16:00.000-08:00

We had no trouble with the trusses being delivered today. Here is a shot of one set of trusses being unloaded. The ceiling height in the center of the house is 10' with the porches and some rooms at 9', hence the "stairstep" in the trusses at the ends.

You can clearly see the attic truss feature in this photo - the truss opening is about 5.5' high by 10' wide and runs almost the length of the house. In the garage, the truss opening is of similar size, maybe *slightly* shorter and wider. We are having plywood placed throughout the attic trusses for future storage use and ease of access in case of any necessary repairs, etc.

Our builder hopes to get all the trusses up and braced over the next 2 weeks or so, then he's on vacation for a week (planned before he started on our house), then it's attacking the roof sheeting (if the weather allows). Looks like the forecast is for clear skies next week, so we're keeping our fingers crossed on getting the trusses erected pretty quickly. You can see some of them lying on the walls in this picture.

Happy New Year to all!

Rain, rain, go away....

2006-12-27T09:48:00.000-08:00

We got a bit of rain yesterday and this morning. We are expecting trusses to be delivered on Friday 12/29. Looks like clear weather after this last bit of rain goes away (at least through 1/4). Hopefully thigs will dry out enough for the truss guys to get the access they need to deliver the trusses.

Forecast is calling for sunny, breezy conditions today and tomorrow, so that will help.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Ready for roof trusses

2006-12-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

You can see that the front (above) and rear (below) porches have posts and beams installed for the roof trusses (both porches are covered).

The original truss company repriced the trusses and their new price is about 5% lower than their original quote. The other truss company actually came in more expensive, so that issue is settled. Trusses have been ordered and should arrive Wednesday 12/27. I thought they wouldn't be here until the new year, so this is good news!

They are not working tomorrow or Friday - doctor's appointment for the builder and his helper went home sick today - so they will just come back after Christmas. He still has some minor framing work to finish up next Tuesday (finish framing in the windows, etc.).

I am on vacation next week (at least most of it), so hopefully the weather holds and I will be able to get some good photos/video of the trusses being put up.

Basic framing complete

2006-12-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

OK, basic house framing is complete. This is the front of the house, with the computer room/den (9-ft ceiling) on the left of the front porch, with the family room and living room to the left of the front door (with a photostitch seam running through it, grrr) and the dining room and master bedroom to the right (all 10-ft ceilings). Master bath is to the right of the front porch (9-ft ceiling).

The front of the house is perfectly symmetrical about the front door. The six large openings will each house two single-hung windows side-by-side.

Here is a shot of the man-room (err, garage). We will have an 18-ft and 10-ft door, both 8-ft tall. The extra space to the right of the doors is the testosterone corner (err, workshop area). The openings you see through the larger garage door are going to be a door to the back yard (left of the sawhorses), a large slider window, and a double door to the back yard.

He's got another 1-2 weeks worth of misc. stuff I guess (securing the framing, adding all the top sills, putting in the columns and headers in the porch areas, etc.). Sounds like we should find out more tomorrow about the trusses. He's thinking that with the holidays coming up, we'll shoot for trusses after the first of the year.

Made the first payment to the builder today (draw #1) from our loan (well, we wrote the check, he'll pick it up tomorrow). Money was wired to our account today from the lender and it's already gone. Easy come, easy go....

Framing about half done

2006-12-12T20:52:00.000-08:00

Here is our son standing in what will be his bedroom (photo on Saturday 12-9-06).

This is the framing work they finished on Monday. It was a little wet today to do much, so he was going to check on the trusses today. Have to see if he found out anything.

In this picture, you are looking southwest over the driveway apron, through the garage (as yet unframed), and into the house. Most of the house has 10-ft ceilings, except as noted. To the very left is the master bath (9-ft ceiling) and the master closet. Just over the left sawhorse is the laundry room. The half bath and pantry are over the right sawhorse. Then comes the kitchen and an open breakfast nook. Finally, to the right lies the guest room, second bathroom, and our son's room (all 9-ft ceilings). The rest of the rooms are along the front of the house and are not really framed in yet.

Here is the view out the kitchen window (looking west). Sunsets look better when it isn't cloudy/raining....

Well, it's a good thing that we poured all the concrete early, as the recent (and still upcoming) rain has made it a bit muddy out there. You can pull up the driveway and walk right onto the driveway apron and not get your feet muddy.

Walls are going up

2006-12-07T20:52:00.000-08:00

The builder started framing and as of today has our son's bedroom and the adjacent bathroom framed. The guest bedroom is partially framed. You can see that many other walls are about ready to be tilted up as well - pretty quick work for just 2 guys.

He is going to be out tomorrow trying to get the final inspections/finishing touches done on the house he completed before ours. Hopefully all goes well and he can put that one to rest. Framing should be pretty much completed next week unless weather interferes.

We are checking on getting the roof truss costs reduced by having the company who did the truss calculations recheck their prices and also by checking with another company who is a little more affordable. Our builder used the other company for his last house and was very pleased with the product, so we'll just see what happens.

We did it

2006-12-05T22:45:00.000-08:00

We signed the loan papers today, putting us in the "poorhouse" for the next 30 years. Paid a few points (not out of pocket, wrapped into the loan) and will be saving about 10% per month which will "repay" the points in less than 4 years.

On the bright side, the well is being put in so at least we'll have water. One of the well drillers is a high-school friend of my sister's, so it was neat seeing him after almost 20 years. Here's a shot of the drill rig.

Loan approved

2006-12-01T23:29:00.000-08:00

Got the call today that our loan is approved - we should be signing papers on Tuesday if all goes as planned!

Now we're broke for the rest of our lives!

Oh, yeah, and there is a lot of lumber piled up out there. 2x4's and 2x6's mostly (we have 2x6 exterior walls), along with some headers and a glulam beam or two for good measure.

Porches done, driveway apron tomorrow

2006-11-30T12:55:00.000-08:00

I spoke with our builder this morning and he's planning on the following schedule right now:

Today: Prepping for one more concrete pour tomorrow (driveway apron), maybe start framing the walls.
Tomorrow: Placing concrete for driveway apron and more framing. Well driller starts on domestic water well, I think.

He doubts he will have any walls "tilted up" by the weekend (putting framing together on the ground first), but all the concrete except for sidewalks should be done by tomorrow. He said the weather is holding up great for concrete so he wanted to get the apron done to help keep mud from getting tracked everywhere once the rains hit and they are working on plumbing, electrical, etc. The apron is going to be the same length as the garage (43 feet) and extend out 20 feet in width. That will put the apron right at the edge of the aggregate driveway we have right now.

He will probably be tilting up at least some of the walls next week by the sound of it.

He figures he's got about 135+/- yards of concrete placed after tomorrow's pour. That will increase significantly once the sidewalks are added in the spring.

I took a closer look at the house slab today and saw only 2 cracks in the entire slab. Both were approximately hairline in nature and occurred in re-entrant corners, very common locations for these to occur. Given the size of the slab and lack of control joints (not put into residential floor slabs), I was impressed!

Floor slab is complete - porches next

2006-11-26T14:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the concrete was placed last Monday (Nov 20th) and the results look great. Nice cool weather and humidity were good curing conditions and with the fibermesh reinforcement, I didn't see one crack out there today, just some slight surface "crazing".

Edit - sorry for the somewhat "jerky" picture - the photo stitch software seems to have a bit of a problem with the photos used for some reason.

It looks like they are now preparing to place the concrete for the front and rear covered porches/patios (necessary to do now because the columns in them are structural in nature - they support the roof). I will call the builder tomorrow to check on his schedule. I know the exterior walkways/sidewalks are going to wait until the spring when they won't be damaged during construction activities.

Edit - I called him and the front porch concrete will be placed Tuesday and the rear porch Wednesday - framing lumber to start being delivered as well.

They didn't put sand down over the 15-mil Stegowrap before placing concrete and given the weather conditions and slab/footing construction method, I agree with the decision. Good curing conditions (weather) and a slab placed integrally with the footings (instead of a two-step pour) means the chances of curling are minimal. Curling is one of the main reasons sand is used under the slab, it helps speed curing of the bottom of the slab and protects the vapor barrier from damage.

In using Stegowrap, the vapor barrier material is so durable that protection wasn't required.

Also, the use of sand can be detrimental to a nice, uniform thickness slab without defects, as it gets pushed around and tracked into the concrete during placement.

The time-lapse photo camera seems to be performing well - I wonder if a momentary power glitch caused the problems with not all the photos being taken a couple weeks ago.

Ready for concrete

2006-11-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

Well, we are ready for concrete. Stego Wrap is down and the sand cover should be placed tomorrow. Concrete will be here on Monday.

Unfortunately, we will be in Missouri at the time, so I hope the camera is working OK.

We are not going to be using welded wire mesh in the slabs as that is rarely placed correctly and seldom does any good wherever it ends up. We are going to use fibermesh (http://www.fibermesh.com/product.aspx?name=Synthetic+Fibers) instead. We used this for our back patio where we live now and there isn't a crack to be found.

Looks like the weather is perfect for concrete placement as well, with temps in the 60's and cloudy weather.

Drains are in

2006-11-14T07:50:00.000-08:00

All the drain lines have been installed and are ready for pressure-testing today.

After the test, the trenches the lines are in will be backfilled with sand and he can start placing baserock (capillary break), vapor barrier, and the thin sand layer in preparation for concrete placement.

We are using Stego Wrap (http://www.stegoindustries.com/) instead of visqueen due to it's superior strength and vapor blocking capabilities. This is a first for our builder, and he thinks he might start using it on all of his future projects. I need to double check and make sure he's going to be placing it in the garage as well to help prevent efflorescence.

He may be placing concrete on Monday for the house and garage slabs.

Our family is going out of town for Thanksgiving week, so I will miss part of the fun.

2006-11-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

Our builder has started putting in the drain lines. He's trying to button up the other house he's finishing, but needs the tile and flooring guys to

get their stuff completed. We haven't had a lot of rain (just some more light sprinkles today, mostly), but too much of the wet stuff will start causing problems unless the concrete is placed. Still not quite to that point, obviously....

Forms are going up

2006-11-09T22:08:00.000-08:00

Stopped by our site this evening and the forms for the foundation are partially installed. Too dark for pictures, unfortunately.

I am having some trouble with the digital camera I set up for the time-lapse photos. It only took about 5 photos out of 100 this week (the first 5 scheduled). I don't know why. I tried to turn off the flash before setting up the camera last time, so I wonder if that had something to do with it, but I'm not sure it would....

Bah. Why can't things just work as advertised?

We have broken ground

2006-11-03T23:25:00.000-08:00

The backhoe guy did his thing (at least for now) and trenched for the septic drain line inside the house as well as the footings. The first photo is looking at the front of the house (looking west). The second photo shows the back of the house (looking northeast). We also have 3 fair-sized piles of trench spoils I wasn't anticipating (which I was standing on to get these pictures) - but I think this might give us a little landscaping material. Maybe a couple small hills/berms to add a little variety?

Sounds like the builder has a couple more days left doing touch-up work at the house he's finishing up and he's ready to work on ours full-time. He'll hopefully be done there early next week.

The little rain we've had the past couple days has been perfect to moisten up the ground without causing problems.

The SMUD gal showed up on Wednesday and marked out locations for a pole across the street as well as a pole on our property for service to our house. Let's see if they actually go in where she marked them....

A vision in chalk

2006-10-31T17:58:00.000-08:00

Our builder laid out the exterior walls, footings, septic line, and front and rear porch areas in chalk today (see photo). The garage got cut off a bit on the right side of the picture. The backhoe is due out tomorrow for some trenching/digging work. We're breaking ground - woohoo!

Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD - the local electric provider) didn't show up today to discuss bringing electricity to the parcel like we had discussed. After I called to see why nobody had shown up yet, they said that the designer I had talked to was new and they didn't know why nobody was there. They rescheduled for tomorrow - the supervisor I spoke with will come out instead.

We have chosen a loan provider and that process is now underway.

We are now trying to figure out where fences and trees and sprinkler lines and the pump and the propane tank and the trench for power and phone service and everything else are all going to go....

We have a driveway

2006-10-20T16:22:00.000-07:00

We got about 75 tons of aggregate base (AB) delivered today. Our builder smoothed it out into a decent enough driveway for construction purposes. Should get everyone through the winter and we will "revisit" it next year when construction is done, if necessary. Driveway is about 200 ft long or so.

Here's a couple pictures from this morning. First one is from the first of three deliveries of AB, second is the (almost) finished product.

Our builder should be on-site a week from Tuesday (October 31) to start laying out the house on the pad and may be excavating sewer lines and footing locations with a backhoe a day or two later. He's going to get us a final cost estimate on Monday or Tuesday so we can finalize our loan.

Kind of exciting to see things starting to move forward. I need to work on getting rid of the blackberry bush sprouts starting to pop up along the front of the property where we removed all the old bushes and the fence.

Got Aggregate Base?

2006-10-12T15:11:00.000-07:00

We are having aggregate base delivered for the driveway next Friday (October 20th). About 75 tons worth.

We need to be sure that we are not tracking dirt onto the road because the county will fine you for the mess and the contractor may need access during some not-so-nice weather. We really don't need him getting stuck or unable to work due to a muddy driveway.

We have a lender selected and almost all of the required background information has been provided to them. Still need a couple things from the contractor, but I just got the paperwork for him from the lender today and he's picking it up tomorrow, so that should be done in relatively short order.

Things are starting to move forward a little faster. I need to go fiddle with the camera setup for the time-lapse photos I want to take of construction activities.

Plans approved

2006-10-04T20:50:00.000-07:00

I got a call today from our builder saying the plans have been approved by the County and he's going to pick them up tomorrow. He is pretty excited to start on our house, as he is going to be doing a couple new things (using Stego Wrap for the underslab vapor retarder instead of plain visqueen and putting in two tankless water heaters in parallel, for example). Our home will also be very close (less than 10 miles or so) from his house, so a nice short commute is appealing, too.

We are obviously pursuing financing right now and while it shouldn't be a problem, we need to get the plans and some paperwork put together and submit it with a cost estimate/contract and get the ball rolling. We could be under construction in less than a month!

Sticker Shock

2006-09-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, we met with the builder today and got a bit of sticker shock, although I think we all had figured we were a bit to optimistic about the originally assumed price per square foot.

His estimate is about 20-25% higher than we had hoped.

A lot of this comes from the roof trusses, as they are about twice as expensive as the house he's currently working on and will take about 3 weeks to install instead of less than a week for simpler roof layouts. Ours has numerous valleys and ridges - more complex than your typical roof.

He has also budgeted on the high side for allowances such as flooring, cabinets, and roofing (assumed 50-year asphalt shingles, for instance - we may go for something more along the lines of 30-40 year). I have the feeling we would be able to trim some of the "fat" out pretty easily and get it closer to where we would feel a little more comfortable without too much sacrifice or effort.

I need to call about school fees - need to pay them when we resubmit the plans (he will do that on Thursday). My sister said their fees were over $11,000 when she and her husband built her house in the same general area a couple years ago. With a similar size house, I doubt ours are going to be any cheaper....

I need to follow up with a lender or two as well and get that process moving. It's possible we may start construction in less than a month.

2006-08-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well, the general contractor said that he takes care of getting the power and phone hookups scheduled/co-ordinated, so that should be taken care of at the proper time. He also has the fire department reviewing the plans and creating a fire sprinkler layout for the inside of the house (required in county areas).

Still waiting on the plan corrections from the architect - he should probably finish later this week or early next week. Then resubmittal to the county, and hopefully we're done. ***crosses fingers***

We need to start making a few more decisions on items like the front door, fixtures, etc, as those things will impact the final house price and we'd like to be able to assign a firm number instead of a generic allowance. We already have appliances, gas fireplace, gas tankless water heaters (two in parallel for increased simultaneous hot water use capability), countertops, roofing, and a good portion of the cabinetry chosen, so that helps. We also have siding and stucco planned (siding for the front, stucco in the rear). Window type and brand has been chosen, as has general flooring type.

We're getting there, it just takes a while.

2006-08-20T10:44:00.000-07:00

We went out to take a look at progress on the building pad - pad itself is done and the grading contractor has placed some fill on the driveway area and compacted it to raise it a little above grade.

Our little guy likes the dirt - nothing better than 5 acres of soil and a Tonka truck!

Plans back to architect

2006-08-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

I returned the plans to the architect this morning with the county review comments and our own corrections. He thinks they (architectural, structural, and energy calculation revisions) should be finished within a week or so and ready for resubmittal.

Our contractor is currently working on another house and hopes to be finishing up that one by the first week or so of October. We may be breaking ground in under two months if this is the case.

I need to find out about getting electric and phone service to the site.

Earthwork complete

2006-08-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

Spoke with the grading contractor early yesterday - earthwork would be complete yesterday before noon. All that remained was some minor trimming of the graded pad and placing some fill for the driveway (to elevate it above adjacent grade for drainage reasons).

I need to look into getting aggregate base and asphalt placed, but will probably wait until concrete is placed for the floor slab. The fewer heavy trucks running over it the better. I think I have a good recommendation - I need to veryify and follow up.

Here is a picture of our son next to the earthwork contractor's tractor. He thought it was pretty cool.

Earthwork Underway

2006-08-14T13:38:00.000-07:00

Driveway culvert pipe is in and the ditch has been backfilled. Placement of aggregate base and asphalt will be later - no point in accidentally tearing up asphalt during construction. Photo is looking to the south.

The building pad is being graded and is almost complete. Top of pad elevation is about 2 feet above original grade. The pad should be done within another day or two.

Here's a couple shots of the site as well. The house to the right in the second photo is my sister's place. First photo is looking to the west, the second to the northwest.