Adventures in Home Building

Canine Refreshment Station

2011-01-08T09:46:00.000-06:00

Or, if you are from Wisconsin, "The Doggie Bubbler"

1/5th size steam-table pan
Faucet from the clearance shelf at Menard's
Too many plumbing fittings and attachments from the hardware stores (multiple trips req'd, of course)
A solenoid valve from eBay
90 degree through-hull fitting (adapted to use as the overflow)
Leftover tiles
Leftover pre-finished cabinet plywood

Voila:

Of course, I still have unpainted window trim in this place; but this sure is cool!

Cable Rail

2010-09-14T05:58:00.000-05:00

I finished the cable rail for all but the deck stairs this past weekend. A machine shop made the terminals for me from 5/16-24 SS threaded rod. I made a crimper from an old set of bolt cutters. The cable is 1/8" SS.

Steel Roofing

2010-08-27T15:32:00.002-05:00

I'll probably finish by wrapping the columns in another month or so. As you can see, I opted against the small gable, but now I know I'll need to put some "snow gems" or other device to prevent snow from sliding down onto the steps.

The next project is to finish the cable railings around the front porch and back deck.

Front Porch Rough Construction

2009-11-27T14:41:00.000-06:00

This is probably it for this year. I'll put together the materials list for the tapered columns, metal roofing, soffit, and fascia over the Winter and then finish it up in the Spring. It will be nice to not have to worry about the snow pile in front of the front door. We are still debating if we'll put a gable above the front steps. I've attached a "SketchUp" concept of what it might look like.

"Fingers Crossed" that the tar paper lasts through the Winter.

Stone Work Finally Finished

2009-11-03T15:32:00.000-06:00

The last few stones were put in place by the light of our 98' Beetle, but they are done!!

In retrospect, maybe I should have given up on this "dry stack" look. This was a lot of work. . .

Next up are the tapered columns and porch roof.

More Stone Work

2008-09-01T10:37:00.004-05:00

I've finally finished the largest section of the natural thin stone veneer. This wall section is about 4 x 44. I tried a few different methods of organization, but, in the end, the most effective was laying out the stones by size.

I still have the small section of exposed foundation under the master bath bumpout and three front columns, but this was a great "milestone" to reach.

Natural Thin Veneer

2007-10-11T21:25:00.000-05:00

This is the result of 2.5 days of work - one stinking column! I had a friend show me how to do this for the first half day. It then took a full day on Sat and Sun to finish the column.

Because I am doing the "dry stack" look and this is a column, I have to trim or grind almost every stone. I am pleased with the results

Other than this, it's really just been small projects. I have the railings up on the front and back decks, but don't have the cables in yet. Other than that there have been some small projects inside.

The reason I am finally jumping on this masonry is that I need to get the pallets of stone out of the garage because that's where the pontoon boat goes in the Winter.

Front Porch Steps

2007-06-28T07:44:00.000-05:00

With family coming into town this weekend, we have been really busy wrapping up some of the bigger undone items. We are still far from done, but these porch steps were a big thing to get out of the way.

I am guessing that folks will either say "Cool!" or "Yuck!".

The form and function behind these steps are as follows: The "form" is to tie into my design goal of "contemporary craftsman". The "function" is that since we are in WI, they don't need to be shoveled, only stomp your boots clean.

Of course, this now means we need to get the sidewalk in soon. . . . . *sigh*

I guess these pics also show that the block and capstones are done for the pillar bases, too. Still needed are the thin stone veneer on the bases, the tapered columns on top, and the roof above.

Views from the Loft, Bonus Room, and Upstairs Bedrooms

2007-03-06T20:30:00.000-06:00

Not much going on in the bonus room for now, but the two bedrooms and upstairs baths prove we ain't afraid of color!

Great Room at Kitchen

2007-03-06T20:25:00.000-06:00

When you pass from the small (intimate?) foyer and office area, you pass through a short hall that gives access to the half-bath or the master suite. Continuing ahead, leads into the Great Room / Kitchen Area.

We're In (but far from done . . . .)

2007-03-06T05:39:00.000-06:00

We moved in about 2 weeks ago with an OK from the inpector. We'll call him back in May when the front porch and back deck are done. There are lots of little things that need to be finished, but a few big things, too. The biggest stuff still remaining (in my mind) are kitchen counters, paint the trim, and finish the tile and grout in master bath.

In any case, I'll try and post some interior shots over the next few days.

Here are a couple of pics of the office and front entry area/foyer. Oh - the foyer is not properly trimmed out, either. We want to do that in a darker wood and are putting that off for now.

Recent Exterior Picture

2006-12-29T07:25:00.000-06:00

Here is a recent exterior picture.

It's nice to have the grading done (and even better when the ground stays frozen so the dogs don't get muddy).

The gaps in the siding are for window sills and craftsman style brackets yet to be made. The porch roof rafters you see had to be installed prior to siding going up, not sure when we'll get to that roof (or the other metal roofing on the bumpouts).

What do have to do is get the steps installed in the front and finish the deck. Not sure how we'll handle the railing for the inspection. . . .

Stay tuned - not long now - lots going on inside.

Great Room Box Beams

2006-12-18T22:07:00.000-06:00

It was a busy weekend. The wood nailers were already installed, but on Friday I finished up the wiring and, at the end of the day, we had most of one big beams (made with 1x10s) up and all of one small one (made with 1x8s).

I told the builder that I'd pre-build all of the small beams so they could be cut to size and that I'd prep as much of the large beam parts as I could over the weekend. Then we could all work together on Monday to put up the parts.

Saturday morning, I set up a long table with a 16' 2x10 and a couple of 16' 2x4's on edge. I organized all the parts and tools and got started. The small beams all have a "routered" dado to accept the bottom panel. To my surprise, I had the parts all done (cut, routered, glued and nailed) before noon so I just started putting them up. With some help from the wife on the long parts, it was all done by 5pm on Sunday. (this also includes a "break" Satruday night were we grouted the kitchen tiles).

There is a lot of nail-hole filling and seam caulking to do, but I think these just look awesome! The pictures don't do justice to how it changes the feel in the room.

Plus, it gives me a place to mount lights (including track lights on the side of some outer-most beams) that don't create spots for warm air to leak out. Sure, there are a couple of IC cans and a couple of HVAC supplies in the ceiling, but much less than I would have had if I had to put all the lighting through the ceiling sheetrock.

(PS - white painted MDF trim may be scoffed at by some, but, for my skill level, it is wonderfully forgiving with a little caulk and putty. . . Also, in case anyone is wondering, the beam support nailers are screwed into the trusses and to some preinstalled supports between trusses with 4" screws)

Master Suite (or, for the PC, "Owner's Suite")

2006-11-26T09:22:00.000-06:00

Coming through the foyer "airlock" door, there are three directions to go.
Straight leads into the GreatRoom
Right leads into the Powder Room
Left leads to the Master Suite.
This image is looking from just inside the Powder Room door into the Master Suite. The door straight ahead is into one of the closets, the door to the left is into the bathroom.

This is the view into the master bath. It is hard to capture details on this room at this point, but we'll post new pics when the fixtures are all in place. On both sides just inside the door will be the two vanities. We wanted to enclose the toilet in its own little room, but I didn't think we had the space to do that.

Looking the other direction, this is the view of the hall with closets on both sides and out to the sliding door at the back (lake side) of the house. As we played with layout ideas, we thought it would be best to maintain this long sight line, but still prevent a view into the bedroom when just passing by outside. Building one large closet was the other option that we decided against.

These last two pics are of the main part of the bedroom - taken from opposite corners.

Foyer, Office, and Powder Room

2006-11-26T08:34:00.000-06:00

The front door does not open into the center of the foyer, it is offset to one side. This first picture is what you'd see when coming through the front door and looking left. You can see the 3 square windows on the left and the door that leads out into the greatroom on the right. We put a door on that end of the foyer to act as an "airlock" in the Winter. It will be a single panel, interior door with a glass panel. We just want to stop a big dump of warm air to the outside. We don't have a side door so all visitors will enter through the foyer. We plan on tiling in here so it is easy to maintain.

This is the view looking back towards the front door. The angled door to the left is the entrance to the office.

This is the view from the office out into the foyer. The doorway just to the right is the pocket door that leads into the Powder Room. If you go through our "airlock" door, there is regular door that opens into the Powder Room from the other direction.

This is a view from the office through the Powder Room.

A 360 View in the Great Room

2006-11-21T19:27:00.000-06:00

The "doorway" in the lower left is the pantry mentioned in the last post. You can see the support post from before, too. The doorways in the loft are the two upstairs bedrooms. We are planning on a cable rail railing to keep the view open. In the upper right you can see the first of three pairs of the Southern facing clerestory windows.

Moving to the left from that photo; you can just make out where the stairs come up from the mudroom. You can also just see the door into the bonus room from the stair landing.

Continuing left, this area will be where we put the dining table.

We've "pre installed" a footing under the basement slab directly below the gap between the two large sliding doors. The hope someday is to put a Tulikivi there. http://www.tulikivi.com/www/homeeng.nsf/wwwframeset_lämmityslaitteet?OpenPage

Continuing left, in this picture you can see the recessed outlet for the TV. The plan is to put a flat TV on a heavy duty hinged panel. The panel will pivot the TV out and into the room (sort of towards where the picture was taken from). You can also see another pair of the cleresory windows.

Interior Shots, Mudroom and in to Kitchen

2006-11-21T05:34:00.000-06:00

(I need to figure out if there is a cleaner way to do thes layouts. This may be hard to follow. I've done some searching on adding captions but have not found any useful info yet.)

Our primary way into the house will be from the garage into this mudroom. The door at the back of the mudroom leads out to the back yard. You can just make out the dog door to the right of the regular door. The elevated platform will hold the front loading washer and dryer. To the left of the W/D, in lieu of a regular wash tub, is a full size tub for bathing the dogs. Since this is on the same slab as the garage, we were able to include a floor drain. In retrospect, the only thing I wish we'd have done a little differently would be to provide a toe kick in front of the dog tub. We plan on putting a pad on the small ledge to kneel on, but it would have been netter to be able to belly-up. If it is enough of a hassle it will get later modified.
If you were to turn left in the previous picture, you'd be able to enter the stair area to get into the house. Those stairs lead down to the basement or upto the kitchen. This picture is what you'd see if you walked into the stair area and then turned left again to go up to the kitchen. I am sure the small shelf will quickly accumulate the discarded contents of our pockets as we enter the house. ;-)

Up the stairs as they curve right and you'd be coming up into the kitchen. The door opening on the left is the pantry and it will get a pocket door. This view will ultimately not be this "clear". You are looking "through" where the fridge will be. (The passageway at the far end of the photo is from the foyer area.) Up the stairs and a slight jog to the right will be the path into the kitchen.

And, finally for this post, this is the view from the back corner of the kitchen, out over the island and into the greatroom. The island will get a sink and a DW. The post will be wrapped with a decorative column.

Retaining Walls

2006-11-20T06:38:00.000-06:00

These are necessary for us to get the slope of the final grade as we desire. Stacking up these blocks is not that hard (granted, someone who knows what they're doing could probably get tighter joints, but I think these are OK). I had 4 full pallets to work from, roughtly 1 ton per pallet. I used about 3.5 pallets/7000# of stone.

The hard part is not the stone, but rather the gravel that's piled behind the walls. I had some gravel "pre-piled" by the excavator behind where the wall was to go. However, I had to move about 20 wheelbarrow loads over from the main pile. The ground was sloppy-muddy so I could not take a direct route from pile to wall. That shovelling and transporting was the hardest work of this job. There just was not enough of it to warrant a skid steer rental, but boy what I would have given to have one for just 3 or 4 trips. . . .

We have matching "thin veneer" stone that will be applied to the columns.

For the record: Any variations in wall straightness or setback angle; those aren't mistakes, that's "rustic".

Passed Rough Framing and Mech Insp and Spray Foam Pics

2006-10-30T16:12:00.000-06:00

As the title indicates, we passed our rough framing and mechanical inspection today. Now we can get the vapor barrier up and call in the rockers. After that, the'll blow the insulation in the attic spaces and we can fire up the heater. This could happen as early as 5-7 days from now.

We ordered a couple of 600 BF spray foam kits from TigerFoam to do the overhangs. Wow is that messy work! Even with the Tyvek suit and stuff I am struggling through some spot hair removal as I pick the pieces off of my wrists and neck.

Siding

2006-10-19T18:50:00.000-05:00

OK , finally, some new pics to post.

The small open areas in the siding below the windows are for sills and the open areas up near the gable overhangs are for craftsman style brackets.

We might be ready for mechanical and framing inspection by the end of next week. It's getting cold up here, so I want to get moving on the insulation so we can get the heater fired up.

Status Report

2006-10-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

There just have not been that many picture-worthy changes, but here is a status report.

The windows all look great. The last windows that need to go in are in the basement. We had made some changes from the orignal plan. We doubled the size of the basement windows by changing the single casements into doubles. I'm not sure what happened, but either I forgot to confirm the order or they never got ordered in the first place. In any event, they showed up today and should be in this week. They will help establish the line for the water table and siding.

We've been prepainting the trim before it goes up. The builder has started on the soffit and fascia. We've placed the ledgers for the front porch and back deck in preparation for the start of the siding. . . Lots of small changes.

We are about 1/3 to 1/2 done with the wiring. I talked with the electrician regarding the general layout about a week ago and have been working on my own pulling wire since then. We will work together on Wednesday. That may do it or I'll try and wrap it up by the end of this coming weekend (I hope). It won't be too long after that we'll call for inspection of the framing and mechanicals - after that the drywall should start.

The next pictures should have a lot of great changes, but that's about it for now. Lot's going on, but not a lot to show for it.

More Windows

2006-09-26T06:42:00.000-05:00

We were greeted by this fine site after work yesterday!

Windows going in and a funny story about "extra" concrete.

2006-09-25T05:51:00.000-05:00

Not much daylight left in th evenings . . . .

The windows should all be in by the end of this week. This is exciting because some of the rooms have never even had Rough Openings. Due to the nature of SIP panels, if the load above is below a certain amount, the RO can be cut on-site leaving only 1' of SIP intact above as a sufficient header. These new openings will really let the light into the master suite area and upstairs bedrooms.

The garage and basement slabs are in and they look great. I told the masons to clean out the truck chutes and dump any extra concrete into the block piers for the front porch. Well, they had enough extra to FILL the two larger ones. I figure they weight about 4000 pounds each now. They are built on a footings 8' down (same level as basement footings), but I sure hope the don't start sinking now! They did the filling the day they did the basement slab, before they came back for the garage, we put 4" block to carry small slabs that will carry the posts to support the porch roof. We formed up those slabs so when we lay the next (and last!) 4 courses, they will start just above the finished decking. I think these are really going to look sharp once the stone veneer (or cultured stone) is applied.

I feel sorry for the poor bastard 50 years from now who says, "lets knock out these piers and change the look of the front porch".

We made good progress on wiring this weekend (see next post) and started painting the trim to prepare for install. A local electrician is advising. I've hired him for consults and a few days of labor; however we'll do most of the wiring ourselves. It will probably be a couple of weeks before we'll call for the next inspection (framing and mechanicals), in the meanwhile, the builder will finish the windows and start on the soffit, fascia, and trim.

How to install outlet boxes in a SIP walls

2006-09-25T05:35:00.000-05:00

During the plan stage, you mark up your drawings with every location you think you might want an outlet or switch on an outside wall. When the panels are being manufactured, they cut vertical chases into the foam at those locations; and then mark the OSB top and bottom. As the builder is setting the panels, we drills holes through the bottom plate and through the top spacer and 2x6.

I made a template for my router by tracing around a face-mount box with a marker. By cutting to the outside of the marker line, the hole is the right amount "oversize" so I can use a collar round the router bit. Here are pics of the sequence during install.

Sorry for the Delay - Mechanicals and Slabs

2006-09-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

The shingles have started and the HVAC and Plumbing rough are mostly done. I am not totally satisfied with the mechanicals and am going to try to have a few minor changes made.

The vertical shot shows the HVAC chase looking towards the kitchen and loft. The run on the left is the supply to the bonus room - ot does not go to the second floor, but rather runs through a soffit off to the left. The middle run is the upstairs supply; right is the return.

The other two pics show the prep for the basement and garage slabs. Foam and rebar in the garage; and a rough in for a basement bathroom.

Gables and Stairs

2006-08-28T20:53:00.000-05:00

Not a lot of major stuff lately, but things are moving ahead.

The HVAC rough-in started today, and we finished the stairs from the first to the second floor. Those were a real head-scratcher because of the landing and doorway that will go through to the bonus room.

The distance from the first (finished floor) to the landing was divisible with a 7" rise. The distance from the landing to the second finished floor was divisible by 6-5/8". Not the best way to do a set of stairs, but it seems to be OK.

My thought was that a slightly shorter step up after a landing (going up) would be safer than a taller step. Further, on the way down and after the landing, the slightly longer step down does not seem noticeable. I am going to post this over in the Breaktime forum at the Fine Homebuilding website to see what some experts say.

Trusses

2006-08-16T18:45:00.000-05:00

Not much to say about this one. It was a long day, but I'm not complaining since we had a crane. The rafter tails are not long enough so we will be scabbing on some extensions prior to sheathing. They plan on completing most of the sheathing by Friday.

New Site Supervisor

2006-08-13T22:05:00.000-05:00

This little hummingbird built a nest not 6' off the ground and 20' from the house. The wife was the first to spot it. We think she's sitting on some babies.

More Interior Walls

2006-08-13T20:46:00.000-05:00

This just about does it for the interior walls. The wife and I finshed the interior walls by building the walls for the office, powder room, and her closet on the first floor, and the bedroom and bathroom walls on the second floor.

The picture with the dogs shows the foyer and the door to my office. The dogs are looking out the front door and the powder room is on the other side of the wall on the left side of the picture.

The picture that looks like a jumble of studs is taken from the office looking back towards the powder room (there is access to the powder room from the office via a pocket door, or the hall via a regular hall). You can also see in that picture the small pantry and the HVAC chase.

The picture taken from above the top plates is the upstairs bedrooms and the bath they share (and a nice view up the bay)

This week the crew will finish framing the garage walls (those are being built conventionally) and get ready for the trusses and crane on Wednesday.

Check back Thursday.

Anybody out there?

2006-08-11T18:27:00.000-05:00

I know that we have some family and friends checking out this blog, but I am curious who else is out there. I put a sitemeter counter up and I see that folks from all over the world have clicked over for a look-see (Cool!).

I am guessing that most click over from the updates I put on the Breaktime Forum over at FineHomebuilding.com. If you've been checking this site on a somewhat regular basis or just clicked over from Breaktime, Thermomass, or where-ever, click on the small "X comments" link at the end of every post and let me know.

Lurking is allowed, but if you have any questions about what I am doing or why, ask away.

We hope to wrap up the interior walls this weekend.

Interior Shots with the Second Floor now up

2006-08-10T05:37:00.000-05:00

These pics show the clerestory windows from the inside. (Those openings are actually for 2 windows each). The three on the right are high up on the wall in the great room. The one on the left is in one of the upstairs bedrooms. That picture was taken from what will be the other bedroom and through where the upstaris bath will be (Since there are no interior walls on the second floor yet)

The other two pictures show the loft/balcony from above and below. The stairs come up there and the area below the loft defines the kitchen.

3 Days Later, a Second Floor

2006-08-10T05:26:00.000-05:00

They put down (up?) the second floor deck on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, they stood up all of the second floor walls.

The headers for the clerestory windows were installed before they put up those panels. The windows on the three bumpouts (and one in-between the two upper bumpouts) will probably be cut out and bucked today.

A Weekend's Worth of Interior Walls

2006-08-06T20:57:00.000-05:00

A friend from work came over Satuday. He helped me with the two main load bearing walls. It took him, my wife, and I to raise the big one. The reason that the one wall is made from 2x10's is because it will support a SIP above, and a run of trusses over the master suite. The 2x10 gives us the width we needed. Also, the studs in that wall are 24"oc and layed out so the trusses fall above each stud. In any event, getting those walls raised was the main goal for the weekend.

The next day; however, the wife and I made a bunch more progress. We did the rest of the layout and cut the bottom and 2 top plates for all of the first floor walls. We even got a few more of the smaller walls up, too. Mainly some short walls in the powder room that tie into the pantry and HVAC chase.

The goal for this week is to get the second floor deck and walls up and be ready for the trusses.

Tall First Floor Walls

2006-08-04T19:07:00.000-05:00

(Wow!) Now we can really get an idea of how the great-room is going to look. The tall windowless wall on the right in the interior shot will get some windows later. You can see the open spot at the top which will receive the header. The big window wall is topped by a gable. We spec'd that truss as "load bearing" so we could get away with the long SIP headers.

We are going to work over the weekend to get two main interior walls up so they crew can work on the second-floor deck on Monday.

What a Difference a Day Makes

2006-08-03T05:53:00.000-05:00

The picture from the previous post showed a completed floor deck on 8/2, here is what was done by 2pm that same day.

The panels ARE structural, but some window openings will still require headers. The other window openings - those not cut out yet - are field cut with an electric chainsaw with a special baseplate attachment. Then the foam is removed to a depth of 1.5" from the cut and 2x6 lumber is installed around the perimeter of the rough opening.

Floor Deck Done, Ready to Raise Some Walls

2006-08-03T05:44:00.000-05:00

I wanted to throw this quick one in here to show that the floor deck was done. The picture you see here was taken from a vantage point that I am using on a regular basis. I don't hold the camera in the exact, perfect spot every time, but the idea is to show a chronological progression.

I-Joists and SIP Rim

2006-07-29T09:15:00.000-05:00

They started by installing the SIP rim on 3 sides. It straddles a 2x4 that is glued and nailed to the sill plate. Nails are then driven through the OSB flange on the SIP into the 2x4. Next, they slide in the I-Joists and cut them to length.

The double LVL in the floor system will carry the load bearing wall that extends up to the clerestory windows and uppermost roof. The doubled I-Joist will carry the post that supports the sitting area of the loft that overlooks the great room. I mentioned mistakes in the original engineered floor layout and those were it.

In the original layout, the LVL was missing and the loft sitting area support post carried down to another post in the basement. The missing LVL could have been a real problem and should not have been missed. The post, in my opinion, was more of a "cop out" on the part of the floor designer. The sitting loft is small, carried to the foundation on almost 3 full sides, and is a "floor load" only. The double I-joist removes a post from a bad spot in the basement and is more than sufficient to carry this load.

Sill Plate and Basement Beams

2006-07-29T08:53:00.000-05:00

These are the two main load carrying beams in the basement. The lumber yard sent the wrong length steel columns so the beams are on temp supports for now.

The small walls will support/surround the nested stairs and those rest on those single course of block I mentioned in a previous post.

Not as visible here is the treated sill plate. The builder installed it on some pink foam sill seal and took the extra step to tapcon it down to the inner wythe (there were regular anchor bolts in the outer wythe). The specs for the Thermomass wall call for only a 2x6 sill plate, but I bumped it up to a 2x10 since we are using a 4-1/2" wide SIP rim board.

2.5 days to backfill

2006-07-26T05:53:00.000-05:00

We should wrapup bacfilling/rough grading today. It has taken a bit longer than expected for a couple of reasons. Primarily, there has been a lot of fill to bring in. Not only do we have a lot of the basement exposed due to the high water table, but we are taking this opportunity to resolve some drainage issues.

When I get the bill for all of the gravel and fill hauling, I will post the number of loads. I have a feeling it is going to be a large number. We hope it is not too much of a budget buster. The other reason is that the truck hauling the fill got a flat tire yesterday.

There have been a couple of other minor bumps in the road that had to be addressed, too. There were mistakes in the engineered floor layout I only discovered the day before yesterday (and framing stars today). I was never given that layout drawing, but I did find it in the materials with the lumber delivery. Mainly miscommunication issues, but one or two were plain-old "the floor guy didn't read the plans close enough". Luckily, none of those issues should hold us up.

Also, in a minor panic, I realized/remembered that there are some short load-bearing walls in the basement. (If you want to go back and see the plans, they are the walls that support the stairs.) In any event, the slab in the basement has not been poured yet, so there is no place to build the walls. The footings are there, but those will be covered by the slab. I kicked around a few ideas on how to fix this.

Most options either involved temporary supports or placing treated lumber that would later be encased when the slab is poured. I did not like either of those. What we finally did was lay a single course of 6" block. These block will support the walls and the slab will be poured around and half-way-up the block when the time comes. I think this is the best solution - today we'll see if I set them in the right place ;-)

Porch Piers

2006-07-24T05:22:00.000-05:00

How much (many?) concrete block can a husband and wife lay in 2 days? This much. . . not bad for a couple of DIY'ers. We were hoping for "good enough" and I think we did better and got "not too shabby". It is isn't professional quality, but it is level, plumb, and square and there is only 1/4" difference in height between all 4 pillars. As with many projects like this - skills improved during the course of the project.

These are the supports for the front porch. We made them out of block for 2 main reasons:
1 - We are going to cover them with cultured stone or stone veneer. The final shape is acheived right away with block. The alternative was to pour tubes and then build square boxes on the tubes and cover them. To me, too much of a hassle and not as good of a base for the stone.
2- I wanted us to have a hand in each stage of the building process. I did not want to take on the whole foundation, but this was something I thought we could handle.

We hope to backfill today so we had to get the level of this block above grade. There will be either 3 or 9 courses of block above this. It depends on if we want the stone veneer to end below the porch , or continue up to the bottom of the taper in the porch columns. We are leaning towards the latter, but that's for a future weekend.

Foundation Exposed

2006-07-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry - this post is a couple of days late. The forms actually came off on Monday. The only forms that were pulled on Saturday were the ones on the inside of the outdoor fireplace footing. The mason said that forms inside a small space like that are nearly impossible to remove after more than a day or two of setting.

The mason accidentally installed regular basement windows when the plans were marked for rough openings for some small casements. Since he has to cut them out anyway we decided to make them a little bigger.

The next guy through will be applying damp-proofing coating below the line I put on for finish grade. As you can see we need A LOT OF FILL. The water table is so high and the top soil so thick that couldn't dig very deep. . . . It's not so bad since we had some drainage problems on the lot anyhow. The slope we can establish from here should remedy that problem.

I also need to set lay the block for the porch piers. We may try to start backfill on Friday. We'll see. . . .It's going to be a busy week!

Forms come off tomorrow!

2006-07-14T21:44:00.000-05:00

We saw this beautiful site when we came home from work!

(Had to climb up on the wall for some of these pics) The little kickout on the one wall will be support a future outdoor fireplace. Those walls drop 6" down from the basement walls so we can just build the deck over the top until we are ready to build it (read - afford it). We have plans for Soapstone Tulikivi woodburner on the inside someday, too. You can sort of see the footing for that on the inside of the wall.

The original plan was to just have footings and I'd later lay block up to where we need it. A friend of mine (who laid the block for my garage foundation/frost wall) told me, "you'd be a complete idiot to not let him pour that wall for the outside fireplace" and "don't call me for that one!"

They finished off the pads for the deck sonotubes and porch piers, too.

Can't wait for tomorrow!

The Rep and The Mason

2006-07-14T21:36:00.000-05:00

Thanks Guys!

More Pour 2

2006-07-14T21:24:00.000-05:00

Handy T-Mass Pour Chute V1.1

2006-07-14T21:14:00.000-05:00

The mason had mentioned to me that on a similar job he'd done before it helped to have a chute to drag along the top of the forms. The key - according to him - was a 2" wide piece of wood running down the center of the chute. The purpose of the wood was to split the concrete so it did not damage the T-mass panel. You can sort of see it in one of the pictures.

I built this thing based on his description. I thought I'd get creative so I made it with one of the short ends extending down into the form, but with a slot cut into it that straddled the T-mass panel, too. As a joke, I painted an arrow on it to let the guy know that you had to drag the slot ahead of the fill. Well, that didn't work very well. When I tested it, the slot got hung up on the foam so I cut off. Of course, that meant the arrow had to become double ended ;-)

Minor blow out

2006-07-14T21:05:00.000-05:00

There was a minor blow out along the North garage wall. Someone either missed one of the wedges in the tie or something knocked it loose. There is no T-mass in these walls and the guys jumped right on it.

The jammed some 2x4's on either side of the blow out; pulled the inside form; shoveled out the concrete; re-set the form; and shoveled it back in.

Pouring continued

2006-07-14T20:44:00.000-05:00

They started in a corner near the garage - keeping the height of the concrete balanced on both sides.

After that, they moved to the garage wall.

Pouring the T-mass walls

2006-07-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

Here we go - Putzmeister Telebelt in place at about 6am

Last wall forming post

2006-07-14T20:26:00.000-05:00

On this picture you can see where the garage wall will run from the corner. If you look back at older posts you will see the floor plans and how the garage depth is the same as the house. The difference in height is necessary because the basement stairs and inside stairs "nest" one over the other. Also, the landing on the stairs from the 1st floor to the 2nd will be at the right level for the bonus room over the garage.

Form Setting Continued

2006-07-14T20:13:00.000-05:00

Forming the walls with T-mass

2006-07-14T19:50:00.000-05:00

Per the spec sheet for this pour, it started with 2 runs of #4 in the footing. Not that different from a normal footing in this area. They then inserted dowels (short pieces of #4 rebar set vertically) in the footings 72"on center. Those had 8' lengths of #4 re-bar tied to them. There were two horizontal runs of #4 and then another vertical run between the verticals tied to the dowels.

In other words:
two runs of #4 in the footing
vertical #4 32"oc
a low and a mid horizontal run of #4.

The T-mass panels were pre-cut per the form layout submitted by the mason. Those panels had the fiberglass standoffs inserted and locked into place on site - it went very quickly. The corners were precut, too. Those got folded and taped and placed so they didn't spread apart during the pour.

They started by placing some inside forms. Then the T-mass panels were placed and followed by the outside forms. The mason's commented that the standoffs (sometimes) pretty much put the outer wall right on the money for the ties to be locked in. Other times it seemed like the outer form needed a bit of extra persuasion to get the tie wedges in place. All in all it did not seem to slow them down at all.

Footings

2006-07-12T05:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, granted, footings are not a thrilling step of the building process. However, I do want to create posts for most of the steps, so here it is.

I checked opposite corners with the 3-4-5 method and I pulled diagonals. Not taking into account any stretch on the tape, the footings are within 1/4" or less of "square". We are using the "Form-A-Drain" system in place of the traditional drain-tile set up.(http://foundations.certainteed.com/)

As mentioned in previous posts, this design aims at being "efficient" in many practical ways. By "efficient" we not only meant with regards to energy, but also with regards to construction methods. For example, you can see in these pics that the foundation does not have an excessive amount of corners. The challenge was not only to limit the corners, but to do so without making the design un-exciting. I will touch on points like this again as they come up.

The masons are setting the wall forms on Thursday and we hope to pour the walls on Friday.

Holes!

2006-07-06T06:37:00.000-05:00

From this point on we start bringing things to the site, rather than taking stuff away.

Not Much Left

2006-06-29T06:51:00.000-05:00

Wood Siding, Wood Paneling, No Steel Beams. . . .
The last picture is from the following morning - nothing but a pile of truss mending plates, the odd applieance, and the cast iron stack.

Extra Long Marshmallow Toasting Sticks Required

2006-06-29T06:40:00.000-05:00

VFD: "We haven't lost a basement or crawlspace in 50 years"

2006-06-29T06:33:00.000-05:00

My guess is that's an OLD firshouse joke - still, made me chuckle.

More Burning Pics

2006-06-29T06:26:00.000-05:00

Burnin' Down the House

2006-06-29T05:45:00.000-05:00

Things went very smoothly for the burn. The neighbor bought some food to grill out and we made a party of it. The VFD started out doing some clearing and evacuation exercises using a smoke machine. After that, they started and nearly extinguished a fire inside 3 or 4 times for more training.

Burn Baby Burn!

2006-06-18T22:16:00.000-05:00

June 28th, 6:30pm. The old cottage will give itself up to the Volunteer Fire Department. I want to say we hate to see it go - but we really don't. . .

Check back after that date for more pics.

If the weather holds, we'll have footing poured the week after the 4th of July.

Last three Loft interior shots

2006-06-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

These pics are to show the view from the sleeping area looking West and from the living room area looking East.

To clarify, there are two posts. Basically, I am near one at each picture, just facing a different direction.

In the picture on the right, you an sort of see the wall that holds the pocket door to get into the bathroom.

Garage Loft Interior Pics

2006-06-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

And, finally, here are some pics of the bedroom/sleeping area and reading nook.

Garage Loft Interior Pics Continued

2006-06-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

We went a bit overboard with the bathroom, but we are happy with how it turned out. In some respects, I've asked Jennifer to live without a bathtub for over 5 years now. Maybe I am just trying to make up for that.

More Garage Loft Interior Pics

2006-06-18T21:54:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures of our "non-cooking area" .

As part of our variance/agreement with the town, a guesthouse has been defined as not containing permanent cooking facilities. At one point, we had planned on having a 24" range, but we are doing OK with out one.

More Loft Interior Pics

2006-06-18T21:51:00.000-05:00

The dogs seem to be settling in well. . . .

This image was taken with the arch top window behind me.

More Garage Loft Interior Shots

2006-06-18T21:48:00.000-05:00

Here is the other half of the living room area.

To give you an idea of scale, the height from the floor to the celing peak is about 10'. To the bottom of the beam below the clerestory windows is 5' 8".

Garage Loft Interior Shots

2006-06-18T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, the sewer and water has been connected to the garage and we've moved into the loft. For the next few posts, I will post some pics of the loft interior.

We are very happy with how it turned out and have now been living in here for just over a week.

Here you can see the "living room" area. If you scroll back down to the exterior picture of the garage, you will see the arch top window from the outside.

The wall behind and next to the loveseat is over the stairwell that leads up from below.

To our future "guests", we hope you will approve of your private accomodations. . . .

Game ON!

2006-05-19T10:02:00.000-05:00

Variance was approved last night. Time to get rolling.

Check back in 2 weeks and I hope you will see pictures of progress.

Fun with Permits (aka: a one month delay)

2006-04-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

Our lot is next to one of the the public boat launches for our lake. In the very first picture in this blog - that was taken from the launch, near the lake.

Anyhow, it turns out that that gravel path is platted as a town road. Therefore, according to the county code, we need to be 75' from the centerline of that "road". Taking both side setbacks into account and estimating the width of the lot at that point, that would mean that the house could not be more than 20' or so wide. . . . .

The existing structure is located within that zone, but there is no "grandfathering". We need to apply for a variance which will most likely be granted without any dispute, however, the next variance meeting is not until 5/18.

We were really looking forward to starting soon - oh well, hurry up and wait. . . .

Second Floor

2006-04-12T09:26:00.000-05:00

The roof over the master suite is not shown, nor is the bonus room over the garage. This only shows the 2nd floor living space.

The door on the stair landing is for the bonus room. The loft area delineates the kitchen below.

More messing around in MSPaint to roughly modify the jack-and-jill bathroom layout. Since I increased the size of the bath and HVAC chase, I will need to shrink the BR closets just a bit. Whatever happens, they will be sized to accept some standard size bi-fold doors.

The BR bumpouts are cantilevered over the front porch (scroll down to see elevations)

Floor Plans - First Floor

2006-04-12T08:41:00.000-05:00

Here is a shot of the first floor layout.

The "Master Suite" runs front to back along the south wall of the house. We have not finalized the layout of the closets in the master BR, nor the exact master bath layout. You will notice that I once again was plaing around in MSPaint with some options.

Also missing from this layout is the garage. When I cut the graphic from the scanned PDF, I left that off.

As part of our goal for an "efficient but not boring" design; note that the building only has 4 corners. The garage walls, if they were there simply follow the line of the front and back of the house. The garage is "2 wide and 2 deep", but the corner of the garage near the door in the stair area will be converted to a mudroom.

Some other comments - The powder room shown between the office and foyer area. That strange "other toilet" drawn in is going to be a urinal (the wife is very understanding, don't you think). The enclosed area behind that is an HVAC and plumbing chase. I want to have 2 large return air ducts at the high point in that greatroom and this will be the path they take.

I suppose if anyone wants to see the actual entire plan set (foundation and both floors) please let me know and I will post them.

Better Garage Picture

2006-04-06T16:01:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of the Garage taken in the middle of summer a couple of years ago. It shows the overhang shielding the clerestory windows from the direct sunlight. I am guessing that the next few posts will either be floor plans or some interior shots of the "guest house"

South Elevation

2006-04-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

This elevation shows the clerestory windows for the greatroom, as well as a couple in one of the upstairs BR's. The 4 long windows are in the master BR and bath. And, obviously, the bottom 3 windows are to allow light into the basement.

You will see in the next post that this view is meant to relate to the southern elevation of the garage. The clerestory windows work with the soffit overhang to allow direct sunlight (passive solar heating) in the Winter when the sun is low, but indirect light only in the summer.

North Elevation

2006-04-06T15:16:00.000-05:00

There will be a "bonus room" above the garage built using room-in-attic trusses. The 3-tiered windows are in the great room.

Here, you can better see the planned retaining walls and how the "bump outs" on the front cantilever over the front porch.

Rear (Lake Side) Elevation

2006-04-06T15:09:00.000-05:00

The rear facing garage door is to make it easy to get things like lawn furniture, kayaks, etc, out to the lake. You will be able to see on the North Elevation that the garage extends from the front of the house to the rear.

The gap between the 8' sliding glass doors will (someday) have a chimney instead for an outdoor fireplace. Provisions are being made with the footings for the same purpose.

Front (Street Side) Elevation

2006-04-06T06:22:00.000-05:00

I am having a hard time posting some decent pics of the plans. So far, this is the best I have been able to do. (If anyone reading this knows a better way to post or attach PDFs, please let me know. I made this work by copying the image from the PDF into MS Paint and then saving that as a JPG. . . )

We are considering a small gable in the center of the porch roof witha small "timber frame style" visible truss.

Since I had this in MSPaint, I made a feeble attempt to show how a retaining wall and how the grade will slop away from right to left.

Some Background

2006-04-04T19:39:00.000-05:00

The wife and I bought an old vacation cottage about 5 years ago. It is on a lake in Wisconsin. This is our primary residence and the plan had always been to knock it down and build a new house as soon as possible.

Along the way, we built a 3-car garage on site with an upper level "apartment" we will live in during construction. When we are done, we hope to use that area as a guest house for visitors. As the old saying goes, "Guests, like fish, start to smell after three days." Giving our guest their own place to stay will make an extended visit more pleasant for everyone. . .

The picture shows the place as it pretty much is today - in all of its 720 square feet of glory. (The odd frame around the picture was caused by a broken part floating around inside my mom's camera) You can also see in the picture the shed we built as a prototype for the look we were going for on the garage.

Future posts will cover the path to this point, more info on the garage, and our progress as we move ahead. With any luck, the volunteer fire department will be setting this place ablaze within the month!