September Postscript

Such a change, in just one weekend.

All the drywall boards are up!  And they are starting to tape and spackle the seams.  Now we have a white house inside - white drywall boards.

View of Living Room, looking toward the Study

No more studs.

Family Room, looking toward the Kitchen

The feel of rooms .  .  .

Looking down on the Family Room, from the 2nd floor Hallway

.  .  .  and space.

Lauren's Bedroom (front west corner of the house)

View from Lauren's room, into Alex's room

In the Family Room, looking at the Stairs

I've let the pictures speak for themselves.  Still lots to do, but amazing what a difference one weekend can make.

Turning the Corner

The Very End of September

I have had a flurry of blogs in the past few days.  Only because there has been a flurry of activity on the house.  With all my excitement about the insulation and drywall going on inside the house, I have not done justice to the fact that the stonework on the front of the house has finally started.

Stonework in progress

The picture above shows the mason and his helper.  They showed up Saturday morning, and worked until dusk.  I am glad to see that there is only one mason doing the work.  And he is taking his time.

Stone water table @ the Garage - one day's work

Stone water table - turning the corner of the Garage

It may not look like a lot, but I'm glad to see his careful attention to the work.  The stone is being laid just as we want - size, shape and color distribution of stone - all good!  (We do keep trying to remind him to minimize the mortar joints.)

I can't gauge how long it will take him to finish the facade.  But if I were to guess, I would say at least a couple of weeks.  And that's fine with me.

The R Factor

End of September

The big push inside the house has been to get everything placed INSIDE the walls and ceiling - plumbing lines, electrical conduits, mechanical ductwork.  The BIG "close in" inspection was Wednesday.  A County inspector had to approve all the work that will be hidden inside the walls once the insulation and drywall start to be installed.  The inspector approved everything.

The Builder was ready to start installing the insulation on Thursday, and had another inspection called in for Friday, to approve the insulation!  It was a big job to do in one day.  But somehow they did it, crossed that inspection hurdle, and all of a sudden we have drywall boards stacked in every room of the house.

But first, some comments about the insulation.  We have a lot of it.  Partly because it is a building code requirement, partly because it is so worth doing to control the temperature differences between the outside and the inside, and partly for sound control.

Standing in the Living Room, looking toward the Study

Insulation is a fiberglass material.  It's ability to act as a heat/cold barrier is described by an R-value.  The bigger the number, the better the insulating ability.  The insulation at the exterior walls of the house are 5-1/2" thick and have an R-19 value.  The insulation within interior walls of the house are 3-1/2" thick and have an R-13 value.  There is no code requirement for insulation within the interior walls of a house, but just about every wall of our house has insulation.  What can I say?

Side/Garage Entry Hall, looking toward Kitchen

In fact, there is so much insulation that all of a sudden I can't see through the studs, and I can really feel each room, even without any drywall up!  (By the way, the garage door is now installed - it is opened up against the wall in the photo above.)

Standing in the Family Room, looking toward the Stairs

I feel like I blinked, and now there is drywall everywhere!  We walked over this morning (Saturday) and found two crews of drywallers all over the house.  Not only that, but in no time they had already put drywall up on the ceilings of the Dining and Living rooms.  You can see it in the photo above.

Looking down on the Family Room - lots of insulation, everywhere

Lauren's Bedroom, with drywall stacked and waiting, but not for long

Upstairs Hallway - all of a sudden it seems narrow!

The drywall is going up fast-and-furious.  The hallway is almost totally covered.  I'm really glad we have the window at the end.

Master Bathroom

I will end for now with a picture of the Master Bathroom.  There are a couple of different things going on here.  The "purple" boards on the wall are water-resistant drywall, and are always used in wet environments, particularly bathrooms.  The "gray" boards are a harder cement board, used as backer boards for tile.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but they are also on the floor.

Monumental Stairs

4th Week of September

After a rather slow August for our house construction, there has been a lot of progress in the month of September.  I can start to believe the house just might get done in two months.  But that is a discussion best saved for another blog.

THE stairs have been installed!  When I say "the" stairs I refer to the one staircase that takes us to the second floor.  I know I have mentioned before that the "heart" of the house is the Family Room, but a close second is probably the stairs.  They are spatially the center the house, around which almost every room abuts.

We made what some might think is a drastic design decision when we turned the stairs away from the front entry of the house.  We have a very traditional entry to the house, into a Entry Foyer.  The Living and Dining rooms are to either side of the Foyer.  In most homes the primary stairs leading to the second floor would be accessed from this front area of the house.  But as homes have gotten bigger, and the orientation of living spaces has migrated to the kitchen and casual living areas, builders have been providing a second, more practical stair.  We didn't want this.  Not only does it take up space, it tends to create long and circuitous hallways upstairs.  Instead we decided to orient the access away from the front of the house.  Our stairs are accessed from the main corridor of the house, and adjacent to the Family room.

View of the Stairs, from Family Room

The staircase is in three sections, forming a U-shape.  The space is open to the second floor.  The space the stairs take up could be a small room.  When stairs are designed in this fashion they are often called "monumental" stairs.

Standing on the lower landing of the Stairs, looking toward the Family room

Standing on the lower landing of the Stairs, looking up

The hallway at the top of the stairs overlooks the Family room.

Standing at the top of the Stairs, looking down

Right now the house has such an open feeling (because it is still a sea of wood studs) that it is hard to imagine that it will be the openness of the stairway and corridors that visually and spatially "connect" the living spaces of the house.

One last detail about the stairs.  They are 42-inches wide!

P.S.  The "temporary" stairs are gone; not needed any more.

I Spy With My Little Eye

4th Week of September

The little details.  There are so many of them.  I do this for a living, and yet I am still overwhelmed by all the little decisions and details that have to be made, almost on a daily basis.  As the construction progresses I am not only starting to see the results of those details, but also reminded of how important such small decisions can be.

I am reminded of the picture game "I spy with my little eye .  .  ."  If you were to compare two pictures of the house taken in the span of just one week, at a glance there doesn't appear to be much difference.  But, if you look closely you will find many differences.  Take the west side of the house.

West view, 19 September 2013

We almost always approach the house through the path that connects our rental house to our back yard. So the first thing we see is the west side of the house.  This is rather ironic, because when we move into our new house and live in it, we will rarely find ourselves walking around this side of the house.  It is the farthest away from the driveway!

West view, 25 September 2013

So compare the two pictures above.  How many differences can you find?

Do you see them?

Okay, I'll tell you.  The trim around the basement windows is done.  The siding around the chimney is done. The red backhoe has been used to dig the foundations for the rear patio and retaining wall, and the front stoop and steps.  The pile of siding materials has dwindled.  (It was such a small pile to begin with, I am amazed there is anything left!)  And a pile of cement, for the stone mortar, has arrived.  Oh, and the basement door that was leaning against the house a week ago has now been installed.

View from the Buddha, 25 September 2013

Another thing that has changed is that the pile of dirt in the rear yard has also dwindled.  For the past couple of months I couldn't take a good picture of the house from the Buddha, because of the large pile of dirt in the way.  The contractor has used almost all of it to regrade immediately around the house.  By the time the house is done, that dirt pile should have been all used!

Side by Side by Side by Side

3rd Week of September

As was recorded in my last blog, the siding is being installed on the house.  They started Monday.  I took the following pictures Thursday evening.  It looks like they will come really close to finishing by the end-of-day on Friday - just one week!  The guys doing the trim work are barely staying ahead of the siding crew.

Rear of the house - siding is complete

The house looks like it's almost done, from the outside anyway.  The basement door assembly is leaning up against the far side of the house.  Something about that door was not right when it was first delivered; had to be corrected and re-shipped.  The Builder is also digging the foundation of the basement patio slab and retaining walls, which we really need because of the grade change on the garage side of house.  And there are a few little "poke-thru's" on the walls, for things like exterior light fixtures, vents, hose faucets, etc.

Garage side of house - siding on the main part of the house

They have come around the corner and completed the siding on the garage side of the house.  But they have not yet done the siding on the garage "door" wall.  There is to be a stone "watertable" on the lower part of the walls of the Garage.

Front side of Garage

There are multiple things going on at once now.  The Builder has moved pallets and dumpsters out of the way of the electric service path, which will be installed underground to cross the driveway and run behind the garage to the side of the house.  Everything is ready for the electric service; just waiting for Virginia Dominion Power to schedule the service connection date.

Siding wrapping around the Garage

The Builder is also digging the trenches for the entry stoop/stairs foundation.

They weather has really played into the Builder's hand this week - no rain and temperatures in the 60's - 70's. It's exciting to see so much happen in just a week.  We still haven't seen the stone show up, which will cover the main facade of the house.  I will keep my fingers crossed that we will see that work happening next week.

Side by Side

3rd Week of September

I have to admit, I am pretty happy this week about the house progress.  The siding is going up!

East Side of the house - it's almost all done, at least on the outside!

And it looks beautiful.  Steve and I agree it was well worth going with the Hardi-Plank siding materials. There really is a noticeable quality difference from the typical vinyl siding products, which is what we originally thought we would use.  I also like our decision to use two different colors - one for the straight siding and one for the shake siding.

NW view of house, looking at the Study

They started to install the siding on Monday.  In two days they have completed one side and part of the rear.  I hope that tomorrow when I get home to see the entire rear wall completed!

Trim Work in Progress

2nd Week of September

Siding Material stacked in the back yard

Our siding material took two weeks to arrive, once we had selected our colors and the Builder could place the order.  The stacks of material don't look very large, but this material will cover three sides of the house. But before the siding can be installed all the trim boards need to be installed.

West side of the house

There is actually a lot of trim!  All the windows get surrounded by 1x4 flat trim, with a "crossheader" at the tops. All the vertical outside corners also get 1x4 trim.  A 12-inch bandboard transitions between the basement walls and the 1st floor.  And of course there is the cornice trim under the roof edges, including the soffit boards with venting.  They have started on the west side of the house, installing all the various pieces of trim, which is just about done, and ready for the siding installation to start.

Family Room windows with most of the trim

They are working their way around the house, west, north, east and then south (front) sides.  The rear of the house has more trimwork surrounding and in-between each window, to make them look like one composed group of windows.

3rd Bathroom exhaust louver, in the peak of the wall

Another element that is being installed as part of trimwork are the bathroom exhaust louvers.  By the way, all the trim material is a product called AZEK.  It is not wood, but a resin material that comes as a solid white material.  This is great not only to work with in the field, but long term we don't have to worry about rotting wood or something that needs to be painted.

Window & Roof Edge Trim Details

Only one side of the cornice trim is complete at this point

"Eyebrow" roofs are over the bathroom windows (Master bath and Alex's bath), and there will be louvers at their peaks connected to the bathroom exhaust fans.

And speaking of exhaust, keeping up with all the material selections, as well as site utility connections, has been a bit exhausting these past two weeks.  I am looking forward to having this big decision-making period behind us.

The Rough In

2nd Week of September

A lot of the material that was sitting in the garage a week ago is now installed.  For a little while we will be in that phase of work sometimes called the "rough-in", where everything is being installed INSIDE the stud walls. - all the plumbing piping, ductwork and electrical wiring.

View toward Kitchen - floor boxes for air diffusers

All the ductwork for the first floor is being routed within the basement ceiling, to registers in the floor. Something slightly different had to be done to locate the air registers in the Kitchen.  It didn't make sense to locate the registers in the floor, because all the floor area is "working space", and you would be stepping on the registers, no matter where they were located.  The solution is to bring the ducts up below base cabinets and provide an air register in the toekick of the cabinet.  This will happen in two places in the Kitchen, under the wall oven cabinet and under the peninsula cabinet.

In Kitchen, looking at plumbing & power rough-ins

It might be hard to see in the picture above, but a wall box for the water connection to the refrigerator is in the wall now.  Also hard to see is the vertical plumbing lines that are running up to our master bath.  Wall boxes for electrical outlets have been mounted, and in most places the wiring has been run to them as well.

2nd floor duct work runs in the attic space

We have two HVAC systems for the house.  One gas-fired heat system is located in the basement and distributes air to the basement and first floors of the house. A second, electric heat-pump system is located on the second floor to serve just the second floor.  This is not unusual in large homes.  The air distribution works better by providing two systems, and overall it will definitely be more energy efficient.  Another small detail we have done differently is to locate the 2nd floor unit in a small room, off the laundry room.  Typically these units are put in the attic space.  But then it is a pain to maintain and service them.

2nd Bath & Laundry Room plumbing lines

Most of the rooms that have plumbing are localized in the house - another deliberate design detail on our part.  Alex's Bathroom backs up to the Laundry Room (which I really wanted on the 2nd floor), and is over the Powder Room.

3rd Bath plumbing lines & tub

The picture above shows the 3rd Bathroom rough-ins - both plumbing and ductwork.  AND you can see the tub!  It isn't installed yet; just sitting on the floor.  (The 3rd bathroom is the only room with plumbing that is remote from all the other rooms with plumbing.)

Master Bathroom - installing the Tub

I was taking my pictures on a Saturday afternoon.  There were a couple of guys working on the plumbing; specifically setting our soaking tub in the master bath.  Steve and I are not "bathing" people.  I can't remember that last time I actually took a bath.  We thought about not even installing a tub in our bathroom.  But the "resale" issue decided us to put one in.  It isn't oversized, and it doesn't have any kind of whirlpool features.  It is just a tub, but what is called a soaking tub.  It is 20-inches deep.  The Master Bath is located over the Kitchen; again we worked to congregate the plumbing in one area of the house.

A Trim Fit

1st Week of September

Material is starting to arrive. The garage is the delivery point and staging area. Right now we have a lot of exterior trim board material stacked up just outside the garage, with the basement stairs, exterior doors, piping, and plumbing fixtures sitting inside the garage.

Stacked exterior trim boards

boxed Plumbing fixtures

Front doors!

 But the material does not sit around for very long.  Most of the exterior doors have now been installed.

Rear door & most of the window trim

 

And the last of the windows have been installed as well.  This included a couple of octagonal windows - one on the west side of the house and one on the east side of the house.

More ductwork is upstairs.  A lot of the ducts are installed, as well as most of the plumbing.  Today Steve and I spent four hours at a tile store making final selections for all the bathrooms.  Tomorrow we meet with the plumber to set faucet locations.  So progress is being made on many fronts. 

Corner Stone

Our mason started the stone work on the house!

Like every other decision on the house, this one took much consideration.  We have been trying to find the right mix of stone - mostly gray with some brown, roughly rectangular and square in shape.  We looked at several stone distributor websites, drove around Great Falls and Vienna looking at homes with stone facades, and even visited a stone yard in Rockville, Maryland.

It was in the stone yard that we found a stone we felt pretty good about, called "Silver Lake". The Builder bought one pallet and the mason set up the stone at the front corner of the garage, for us to review.


Corner Stone

Actually what the mason did was a "mock up".  Steve and I walked over this morning to look at this front corner of the garage.  In general we like it a lot.  We like the sizes and shapes of the stones.  And the variety of color is very close to what we want.  We can probably be happy with it, although it has more brown in the color range than we had wanted.  But it's very pretty.  I think we will ask the Builder to mix in a couple pallets of a stone called "Corinthian Granite", which is predominantly gray.  That should balance out the brown.

We also want to ask that the mortar joints between stones be a little smaller/tighter.  But it's a great beginning for the stonework on the house.