Lots happening on the job site, thankfully. Doors are going in, tile is progressing, hardwood floors are being nailed down, and the metal roof is being installed. Tomorrow will see final grading and countertop installations.
This image shows the slats alongside the stairwell. They are continuous from the basement through the top level, providing the code-mandated barrier while allowing peek-a-boo glimpses through it.
This blog is intended to offer glimpses of the design and construction process for this new house venture. It's fun to show exciting images and progress, but it's important for me to also present the "dark side" when it becomes the dominant item of the day. Right now, the frustration du jour is on helplessly waiting for things to happen that were promised but haven't happened yet. I won't list them all, but big and small they are many. With the upcoming closing date with our mortgage banker and our need to move out of this rental apartment, I'm anxious about having things get done so these major milestones can happen with some assurance.
Today, I finished putting up the salvaged cedar slats on the porch wall (about an hour after I took this photo). When the weather warms up later this week, I'll stain the wall and ceiling. The board-and-batten wall beyond will be painted dark blue.
As the project's completion is on the horizon (a fog-shrouded horizon, but it's out there we're sure), questions remain which will be answered this weekend:
- Which ceiling fans should we go with?
- Which closet system to commit to, and in which closets?
- Where do the new trees get planted?
- What is the last paint color (or two) that we can agree on?
and:
- Should we go with a yellow basement floor?
The main reason for building this house to have a screened porch. A screened porch with a house attached behind it - that's all I want, really. I started staining the cedar band around the perimeter today and will continue tomorrow. The porch "ceiling" is the salvaged, planed fence slats from the original house's backyard fence.
The warm stained cedar will closely match the fir front door finish and will mediate between the deep blue board-and-batten walls and the white lap siding walls. The black-stained PSL columns will get another coat and there will be additional framing infill to create the screen frame supports (ScreenEze) and screened door.
Many months ago, as I modeled the house in BIM (computer software: "Building Information Modeling"), I did some semi-photorealistic renderings to help communicate the design to JoAnn. Now that the built conditions are approaching completion, it's interesting to compare some of the initial images to what things look like at the house. Here are two examples:
Above: View from the dining area to the living room and the entry/desk beyond.
Below: Overview of the kitchen.
Upstairs, the 4-¼" yellow birch hardwood is going down. It's a more random blend than we'll have on the main floor; a callback to the tradition of using a lesser species or grade on upper levels than on the main level.
Interior cabinetry has arrived and the kitchen base cabinets have been installed. Also, the gas fireplace is in place and ready for the surrounding cement board and stone.
We had to make a last-minute design change when we found that the fireplace required 10" more headroom to provide a safe separation to combustibles. Where the fireplace was to be 6" above the floor and with a lower mantel, it's now down at floor level and the mantel has been raised up. Who knows? Maybe it will look better this way.
Another milestone: This afternoon, JoAnn and I completed our tile selections. Our task was to select the tiles for the 3 shower niches. Because this is a good opportunity to do something fun and not be so budget-conscious, we picked some good stuff. For titillation purposes, I won't show pictures yet but what we got includes a) purple glazed ceramic tile, b) 1"x2" glass tiles with a linear "drops on pond" pattern on the back, and c) a linear mosaic tile with dark teal glass, beige and grey ceramic, and marble tile strips, all surrounded by a beige marble bullnose frame.
My preference for a brushed copper tile was rejected, but I'll assume that in the end it's all best that we went the way we did. Minor compromises at times make for a healthy marriage, after all.
Lots of stuff is happening inside, but the outside of the house is starting to look good. The siding is about half done, and the reclaimed cedar fence slats (from the backyard fence) now form the front porch ceiling! I'll stain these, and the cedar accent band around the low house form, within the next few weeks.
This is the northwest corner. The fiber cement board-and-batten siding will be painted a dark blue, with white trim.
One room that is ahead of schedule is the powder room. The plumbers did an outstanding job, and the light fixtures are powered by methane gas that we generate on site!
Here are a few photos from earlier today showing the status of construction. The drywall will be primed on Monday and then hardwood floors will go down. Siding continues, and cabinets should start arriving soon.
Click on the images to advance right or left.
With less than 7 weeks to go, we are making the last of the material selections. Next on our list are some final decorative light fixtures and paint colors. Then: final bathroom accessories, closet fit-outs, and window treatments.
A key stage has been reached. Drywall is nearly complete on all floors and taping and mudding is in progress. All of the rooms are now defined clearly and the rough-in utilities are now concealed.
Meanwhile, JoAnn and I continued our search for the final tile selections - kitchen backsplash and the three shower niches.
Building Knowledge conducted the initial blower door test this morning, now that the wall and rim joist insulation is done and the vapor control layers are complete. The current Minnesota Building Code requires a maximum of 3 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals of pressure. The most stringent building standard, Passive House, requires a maximum of 0.6 ACH. Today's preliminary test resulted in 1.6 ACH; not at all bad!
It's likely that the final blower door test, near the end of construction, will result in a slightly better number than today's.
In other construction news, drywall has begun upstairs and siding continues on the exterior.
The spray foam insulation is about complete, and the vapor control layer is about half installed. The VCL is comprised of both a standard 6-mil polyethylene sheet at the vented attic space (where it will covered by drywall from below and about a foot and a half of blown cellulose insulation above) and a "smart" membrane from CertainTeed that has variable permeance depending on the seasonal humidity.
