Finally A Front Door And Heat Is On The Way!!!

It has been a snowy couple of weeks!!!!!!

So between clearing snow and continuing to put together the radiant floor system, not a lot of change has taken place. Our start up date for the radiant floor system is right after Christmas.

I have been making some adjustments on the radiant floor system; and after pressurizing it with air having to deal with a few leaks in the system. Of all things, all leaks have been on the threaded connections. All of what must be nearly 50+ solder joints have had no leaks. This weekend has been spent tying into the house with the solar tank which will feed the house with domestic hot water.

Hot water obviously is not needed in the house yet but the tank needs to be filled to offer buoyancy for the heating coils from the flash hot water heater and also the coils that will eventually be fed by the solar panels.

This past week rough-in plumbing was, for the most part, completed. The only thing that remains is to tie into the septic tank, pressurize the system and call for inspection.

Most of the wiring has been completed for the radiant floor system system. The sensor and relay for the solar tank has to be hooked up yet, and wiring from the thermostat for the main zone of the house needs to be completed.

Amongst other things, last weekend's project was to finally get the front door installed. We have been waiting for two months for the door to arrive. The other two service doors also arrived. They will be located in the kitchen area and in the master bedroom. Those will, at a minimum, have a sealer of some sort applied to them before being installed.

And lastly, this weekend has also been spent finishing up the upstairs floor joist system. We had taken this as far as was needed so the plumbers could get started plumbing at the time. We now need to get it finished up so that we can get started wiring. Our plan is to, at some point during the week after Christmas, get wiring under way. A great deal of wiring has taken place due to the nature of the SIP panels being used and the open ceiling. So most of the great room and dining room have been wired already, and with the floor joist system upstairs wiring should be made relatively easy to get the longer runs of wire in.

This past week I met with a sound system company to get some ideas on what is all needed to get the house wired for music throughout the house. They were very helpful to get me started on how the system will be set up, what types of wire to run right now, and boxes that need to be mounted for room by room control of the sound system.

And finally, to all of our friends, family and readers of this blog, Have A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

We Have Water In The House!!!!!

It has been a while since I have had time to update the blog, due to being very busy trying to keep all the things that have been going on with the house straight and moving ahead. One of the main things was to settle on the way we were going to get water from the water tanks to the house.

Originally, we were going to locate the pressure tank and pumps in the house. I liked this idea due to the fact that it would not require any type of a pump house and also any threat of freezing would not be a concern.

I called David Stevens who was recommended to us by the plumber. His recommendation was to locate the pumps in the tanks and have the pressure tanks inside the house. This would satisfy all of the things listed above, plus we would not have the noise of the pumps in the house. Even though the pumps would have been located in the mechanical room, the noise probably would have still been a factor.

So we decided to take David's recommendation and go with locating the pumps inside the tanks. There were a few problems with this whole scenario. One required running conduit out to the tanks for electrical for the pumps. As far as that goes, not a huge deal because of all of the sleeves I have stubbed out under the footing of the house. Plus, I had existing trench to dig in so the digging would not be that hard. Problem two: again a lot of digging!!! The water lines would have to be located where they tap into the tanks and be re-routed so that they would be located closer to where the pump line exited the tank.

I can honestly say I will not lift another shovel full of dirt at least the rest of the year. The digging was easy because the soil had just been backfilled over the tanks just this past summer. But the problem was that just under the soil, cinder was used to initially shade the tanks. With recent rains the topsoil was damp and the cinder was still dry and not compacted. I must have dug a total of 60 feet of trench 30" deep three times due to the trench caving in!!

Anyway, junction boxes were set for the electrical, water lines were re-routed, wire was pulled in, and the pumps hooked up. So, by mid-day yesterday, the water was running in the house!!!!

Along with the water, the rough-in plumbing has just about been completed. This is one of the few things I contracted out. Plumbing is really not my bag, although I am still getting my fill of it working on the radiant floor heating system; but more on that in a bit. The plumber had a crew of about five guys come out and within a little more than two days they had about completed all of the rough-in and are ready for inspection.

Prior to getting the plumber out, we needed to get the upstairs walls framed for the bathroom so that lines could be run for it.

Due to the high ceilings and time constraints, I framed the initial wall at 10 feet and will take the remaining wall up to the ceiling as time allows.

The radiant floor has been on our to-do list for quite some time, however it seems that there is always a pressing issue that takes priority and other projects keep jumping ahead of it. We were expecting the doors this past Friday, and the front door would have been installed over the weekend, but we were told they could not be delivered due to the weather; we were having an all day rain! However, come to find out, apparently someone failed to make sure there was enough oil in the company's panel truck and blew the engine up in it. Not sure when they will be delivered now!

So Saturday was spent getting the rough opening ready for the front door, which is really the only opening in the house. The other two doors have yet to be cut in. So when they finally do get delivered it should only be about an hour or two and the front door will be installed.

Although all of these other things have been jumping in front of the radiant floor, I have managed to put some time in here and there on it. All equipment has been mounted on the wall and I have gotten most of the pipe cut and some of it soldered together.

The flash hot water heater just needs to have the wire hooked up in it, as do the circulating pumps.

At this point, it is almost a given that the solar portion will have to wait until spring. It would have been nice to have that component in place but time just did not allow for it.

Lastly, this past week marks a year since we raised our frame. We still remember it as if it were yesterday. What a fun week that was. I will admit I thought we would be much further along than we are right now, but I also look back and see how far we have come and cannot believe how much we have accomplished!

2nd Floor Work Underway

We have started to turn our efforts to the second floor. Although some framing remains on the main level, we are trying to get things to a point where we can get the plumber back out to finish his rough-in work.

One of our first steps on the second floor is to get the floor joists put down to form a cavity for the plumbing on the second floor and also to be used as an area that we will be able to run the majority of our wiring for the house. Also, we will be running Pex tubing for radiant floor heating under the two bedrooms and bathroom on this floor. The loft and office area will be heated from the fireplace and passive solar in the great room.


Fortunately, the flooring went down much easier than I had anticipated. Prior to putting down each joist we installed a thin strip of sill seal. This was to prevent any squeaking that may occur when walking on the floor due to the two woods rubbing together.

After all utilities are placed in the floor, the standard 3/4 T&G sheathing will be glued and screwed down. Now that the majority of the joists are in place we can, at a minimum, get the wall plates nailed down so that the plumber can run the necessary pipes for the upstairs bathroom.

Framing continues downstairs. The majority of it is taking place in the master bathroom. This past weekend we decreased the number of windows left to install by one, leaving only three left. The window we installed this weekend was in the master bathroom which has obscure glass in the lower half of the window.



The shower area is pretty much all framed in with soffits remaining over the vanity and just outside of the shower area. Glass block will fill in the stepped down area of framing in the shower.Also, the base and surrounding area for the tub wall still needs to be framed.

Our hopes are to have the plumber in sometime in early December and hopefully be starting to wire the house shortly after Christmas. Getting the radiant floor heating up and running is still near the top of the list as well. However, it could move up to the top priority if cold weather really starts to set in as the forecast predicts.

More Windows

The last few weekends have been devoted to installing most of the remaining windows now that the majority of them have finally come in. We also had the good fortune of having my wife's parents down for a few days to give us a hand getting some of the remaining windows in.

Unfortunately, this past weekend, we discovered that our large arched window for the great room was made the wrong size. Instead of the six foot width it was supposed to be, it came five feet wide. Our feeling is that someone along the way took 6' 0" for 60". As you can imagine the mood turned real ugly after discovering this. The missing window is evident in the picture by the big blank spot in between the two smaller windows.

So today, Monday, was notification day of the problem and hopefully it will be resolved quickly!! We have our doubts but one can always wish. This, I should add, is the second window that is being rebuilt. The dining room window did not come as specified and should be here by the fifteenth of December, we hope.

We did manage to get the south dormer window installed which is very similar to the one that will be coming for the dining room. As with the slightly arched windows in the great room we plowed out what Styrofoam that was needed for the nailers in the sip and installed short pieces of 2x6 for the arched portion of the window.

We took a little time off from our day jobs this past week and managed to get six windows installed. This takes the number left to install, if they all ever get here, down to four!!!

Also, well under way is the framing of the interior walls. Nearly all of the lower level walls are framed with just a few odds and ends to finish up on; mainly soffits and to finish framing out rough openings for pocket doors.

We will then turn our attention to starting work on the upstairs floor. Our hopes are that this will go relatively smooth and possibly get the plumber in by mid-December to finish up the rough-in plumbing.

The utility room is really starting to come to life. I installed some recessed lighting to really brighten things up in there so that when the work on the radiant flooring system starts, I will have plenty of light to work with.

Speaking of which, most of the components for the radiant flooring have arrived and it is just a matter of time before that project gets under way.

Also, this week, the Solar tank arrived and we managed to get that rolled into the utility room. This will act more as a hot water heater except that it has two sources. One from the solar panels and one from the flash hot water heater. This will then heat the domestic hot water and also will heat the floor throughout the house. Fortunately, we have been having some very nice Fall weather so it has not been needed, as of yet, but it won't we long now I am sure. We also now have use of the fireplace which will also help if heat is needed before we get the floor heat up and running. With the majority of all of the windows being cut in now, the passive solar effect that we get during the day is really helping to heat the house up.

The only component that has not arrived yet is the flash hot water heater. That should be here some time this week. My hopes are to have the system up and running by sometime around mid-December.

Cabinet Drawings

A few posts ago I mentioned that Tony and Donna Gutowski of Gutowski cabinets had come up on a Saturday to layout and get measurements to start the process of building the cabinets for the house.

These drawings are of the kitchen area and pantry

Late last week we received the drawings for the cabinets. Shortly after they had taken the measurements we did some re-thinking on the style we wanted. We had originally considered going with a raised panel door and using knotty Alder wood.

These pictures are of the upstairs office, which will be apart of the loft area. The next picture is of a hutch that will be seen as you enter the front door of the house.

After doing some research we started looking more towards the Craftsman style or also know as the shaker style cabinet. Our thinking here is that the straight lines would blend well with all of the straight lines and square timbers of the timber frame. Also traditionally the shaker style cabinets are constructed of oak, which is the type of wood that the timber frame is made of. Our only concern that it may just be to much oak. One answer that we are considering is to possibly get some contrast with the stain we end up choosing.

These drawings are of laundry room and the small powder room right off of the kitchen area.

Our current plans are to visit a show room that Tony and Donna currently have under construction in Prescott, AZ this Saturday, where they have used the Shaker style cabinet in their show room kitchen.

A Little Finishing Work

This weekend found us installing some of the siding and trim board. We jumped on this project for two reasons. One, to see how our colors that we have chosen look; meaning the trim board and the stain that we have chosen for the siding. And two, we wanted to get the electrical main permanently anchored to the wall before we call for inspection.


This is one project that, once we get the 1x3 furring strips screwed on to the SIP's, goes relatively fast. And the best part about it is you really feel a sense of accomplishment. The furring strips, as I a may have mentioned in an earlier post, are so that the nails holding the siding have a solid material to fasten to. Going into just the SIP would eventually find the nails popping out and the siding would be loose.

We also set the two 8x8 posts for the back porch. This is not a priority project, but I wanted to get the posts up and into place and a coat of Land Ark on them before the weather starts to turn. My hopes are to get the main beam across them sometime within the next couple of weeks.

This past week the chimney for the fireplace was put in place and the hole through the roof was cut in and run out to the outside. The company showed up on Wednesday to do the job. I had to be there for that. Too much was at stake to have a mistake made while cutting a hole through the T&G, SIP, and up to the outside chase. Honestly, I had nightmares of them punching a hole through the roof and missing the already framed chase and putting a hole through the metal on the roof. So I parked myself up on the roof inside the chase and helped cut the hole. As usual, when doing any dealings with the SIP's it was quite messy, but all went very well and within a couple hours we had it completed.

And lastly for this week, interior framing continues. The entire hallway has been framed. We will now turn our focus to getting all of the walls for the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet walls framed. After these are completed a little framing in the mechanical room and then we will relocate to the upstairs and start the flooring and those walls up there.

Williams Warehouse......

Is what it felt like last week. It seems that everything decided to come at once. Except for the doors and windows, of course, but more on that later.

Last Monday the company supplying the fireplace called and said it would be delivered on Tuesday. Up to this point no word on the siding either which was supposed to be the week before. Well, Tuesday they showed up with the fireplace. I managed to meet them out at the house and we set it in place right away. They are scheduled to run the chimney either Monday or Tuesday of this week, so at least we will have our first source of heat, or maybe, I should say our second. With our east facing windows, the morning sun really helps heat the house up for the day.

Well, we no more than got the fireplace delivery done and the trucking firm that is bringing the siding calls, and he tells me that he will be there in a couple of hours. The trucker asks if I had a forklift on site to unload with. I immediately told him "No" due to the fact that I was told it was an enclosed trailer so access with a forklift would not be possible. As it turns out, it was a flat bed with a sliding enclosure so a forklift would have worked. So now I have a "not too happy trucker" on my hands. To make a long story short, I was able to get some help and we unloaded the truck by hand which must have amounted to about 1,200 pieces of siding, T&G soffit material, and raw cedar trim board in about an hour and a half. Fortunately, the trucker helped but he was not happy about it.

All of this had to be handled and transferred again due to the fact that it was unloaded at the end of the driveway. There was no way that a semi would get up the driveway and get turned around. So the rest of the week was spent getting all of the material hauled up to the house using the pickup. All of this material came from Lakeside Lumber out of Oregon. All of the siding material and soffit material is pre-stained cedar, and the trim boards will be stained or painted an accent color on site. It probably seams rather odd to have to go all the way to Oregon to get this type of material, but every time I mentioned pre-stained siding around here, they looked at me like I had two heads and was from a different planet!!

So then, out of the blue, the tub company calls two weeks early and says that both upstairs and downstairs tubs are in and will be delivered on Wednesday. So Wednesday they showed up right on time and we got both tubs unloaded and they even helped me get the upstairs tub lifted up to the second level.

So with everything here, unloaded, and covered we got word that the windows would not ship until the 24th of this month. We had originally planned on having them by now so this was not the best of news, but not the end of the world. We just would like to get as much of the outside work done, as soon as possible, so we can concentrate more on getting the inside work completed over the winter, and have the house totally weather tight before the weather really starts to turn on us.

The doors I will not even go into at this time. Every time we think we have it all figured out there is something that does not come with the type of door that we want, or if we do find the one we are looking for, the price of one single door practically eats half of the interior and exterior door budget alone. Our hopes are to have them ordered by early this week.

So unto the work on the house. The priority was to get the fireplace chase framed. So last weekend was devoted entirely to getting the chase rough-framed in so that the chimney could be run. I first had to get back on the roof to locate a point inside the chase already framed on the roof to measure off of for exact location of the fireplace inside. Getting up and over to the fireplace now is a little bit more of a challenge with all of the metal on. The 9 /12 pitch part of the roof takes a little bit of doing to keep your footing on.

Once this was complete, we slid the fireplace into position and went to work framing the chase. On the recommendation of our architect, our intentions with the chase were to taper it down so that we didn't have this massive amount of stone in the middle of the house. Ty's thinking was that it would be too over-powering for the room and perhaps take away from the rest of the area. And after getting the chase framed in, he was definitely right. The whole thing resembles a mine shaft right now, but at the point where it tapers we will band it with some of the left over oak timbers to kind of break it up. The taper also falls at the same level as the second floor oak beams which should tie it all in very well. This should go nicely with the rest of the room once it is enclosed and the stone work completed.


Until the chimney pipe is run, there isn't much more that I can do on the chase, so I have moved on to more framing of the interior walls. The powder room just off of the kitchen has now been completed and the entrance into the laundry room and mechanical room has just about been completed.





The powder room corner was angled by the request of my wife. I was a little hesitant at first to do it, but it has really helped the flow of the whole kitchen area.


Also being worked on and all but completed is the electrical main. All of the wire between the outside meter panel and the main inside the house has been run. This past week I for the 4/0 wire landed inside the main and all of the grounding completed. I would still like to get the siding run behind the meter panel on the outside so I can permanently anchor it to the house prior to inspection.


And lastly here is the years last harvest from the garden. A few potatoes and onions remain but this is about it. A strong cold front pushed through on Friday and lows by Sunday morning were to dip into the low 20's. Saturday morning San Fransisco peaks to the east of us got a dusting of snow so I am sure winter is not far off!!!