Prepping a house site and building a house

[Columbo]

Moving right along. Thank you for your continued inspiration.

Thank you for the compliment! I’m following your project with interest too.

 

[RocketScott]

Are those Marvin Essential windows?

Those are one of the options I've been looking at for my remodel

 

[Columbo]

Yes, they are. I wanted a fiberglass window for longevity and due to the fact my wife insisted on black windows. All the color options on vinyl windows are “painted on” after the vinyl extrusions are formed and I’m of the opinion that any dark colored vinyl window is a problem waiting to happen. The other option was the tried and true Andersen 400 series but surprisingly those were several thousand more in total cost over the Marvins. All in all I have no complaints on the Marvins, at least not yet.

 

[skyking1]

I'll look into that. I was pricing out the milgard options.

 

[Columbo]

Framing is finally done (for now)! I put up the laundry utility wall in the basement today. The mechanical room has been mostly sheet rocked, I left a few pieces off the walls and the entire ceiling to allow utilities access.

Next up the plumber and electrician will continue their thing, the HVAC contractor is going to rough in the mini-split linesets in the wall and I’ll be running the radiant heating loops under the first floor.

 

[materthegreater]

You've been busy!

 

[skyking1]

Oooh Radiant!

 

[Columbo]

Ok, where were we again…. The electrician is almost finished with rough-in, as is the plumber. Mini-split linesets are in the walls and the ventilation contractor is installing the ventilation system now. I installed all the radiant floor tubing under the first floor and the hot water baseboard zones to the second floor. I also set the master bath shower pan on the second floor and the fiberglass shower in the first floor full bath. Not to be outdone, the dog had her own dog wash station roughed in right inside the rear mudroom door. I also got the basement laundry roughed in over the weekend. The plumber has been doing all the drains while I follow behind and do the pex tubing and connections.

 

[CM1995]

Awesome progress!

Wife and I have been debating a dog wash in the laundry room and was leaning towards deleting it until this weekend talking with family that said we should include it since it will handy for all sorts of things like washing muddy boots, hanging wet clothes, etc in addition to washing the dog. Then I see you're putting one in so I think it's a done deal.

Is that going to be a zero entry shower?

 

[Columbo]

I had built a small shed at my last house and when I sold the property the buyers did not want to pay for the shed. Rather than leave it behind I disassembled it and moved it in pieces to my family’s property near where I am building. Last year I reassembled it there and used it for storage during this project. Our early spring was short-lived and yesterday we got 12” of snow. I took the opportunity to relocate the shed to the house site, about 1/2 mile on an access road through the woods. A few small adventures along the way but now the shed is at its new home. The side by side was chained to the back to provide braking on the downhill sections.

 

[Columbo]

Home sweet home!

 

[Columbo]

Awesome progress!

Wife and I have been debating a dog wash in the laundry room and was leaning towards deleting it until this weekend talking with family that said we should include it since it will handy for all sorts of things like washing muddy boots, hanging wet clothes, etc in addition to washing the dog. Then I see you're putting one in so I think it's a done deal.

Is that going to be a zero entry shower?

That was our thought too, it will be great for letting boots dry/melt off as well as washing our often muddy dog. Both the dog wash and the master (tiled) shower will have low curbs (about 4”).

 

[Columbo]

The insulation crew was working away steadily all week, they have about 1 more day to go and then they will be done. All walls/attics are blown in cellulose, R30 walls and R60 attics.

Before the insulation was started I had a blower door test completed to check the air tightness of the building envelope since my air barrier is the taped Zip sheathing. Code maximum is 3ACH50 (3 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of depressurization, the larger the number the leakier the house is). My goal was 1.5ACH50 for the finished building. Much to my surprise the initial envelope-only test was .56ACH50! The energy auditor said it is the tightest home he’s ever tested. Given that score I don’t think that insulation/sheetrock will improve it much but I’d like to have the finished house at .5ACH50 or better. I guess all that air sealing paid off!

 

[CM1995]

Well done!

Is this a city/muni inspection requirement or just one you wanted to do yourself?

As far as I know this type of testing is not required in my area.

 

[Columbo]

Well done!

Is this a city/muni inspection requirement or just one you wanted to do yourself?

As far as I know this type of testing is not required in my area.

It’s been part of the IRC energy code since 2015 (I think). However, not all municipalities have adopted these provisions and there are ways around the blower door test provision in the code (such as manual inspection of certain areas). There’s no code enforcement or building inspector where I am building so I did this for my own peace of mind and interest. The test cost $350 so it’s not terribly expensive.

 

[CM1995]

Haven't built a house in a while but here the framing inspector will inspect the insulation and envelope. In one large city the framing inspector has to inspect the orientation and nailing pattern of the sheathing. The framing inspector comes out twice - one for sheathing and one for framing.

I learned of the sheathing and nail pattern inspection the hard way. Tyvek is expensive the first go around and very expensive the second.

 

[skyking1]

Ok, where were we again…. The electrician is almost finished with rough-in, as is the plumber. Mini-split linesets are in the walls and the ventilation contractor is installing the ventilation system now. I installed all the radiant floor tubing under the first floor and the hot water baseboard zones to the second floor. I also set the master bath shower pan on the second floor and the fiberglass shower in the first floor full bath. Not to be outdone, the dog had her own dog wash station roughed in right inside the rear mudroom door. I also got the basement laundry roughed in over the weekend. The plumber has been doing all the drains while I follow behind and do the pex tubing and connections.

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twin autowashes, two washing machines?
Good on ya for the ADA handrail blocking in the shower. It is the right way to do that.
We have kicked around the dog wash thing and ours will be outside. The plan is to install a total of 3 of these.
Either the Prior brand:

Or the Woodford brand:

The dog station is a galvainzed tub on legs, with a catch bucket for the mud then it dumps into the downspout drain pipe. Our dogs are all small and we want them about waist height.
That tub will be under the carport roof, and really handy for dirty boots and tools so you can keep it outside.
I'm designing it as I type. The bucket will sit under the drain of the tub and have an overflow spout on it the dumps into the drain pipe. That way it catches the bulk of all turbidity, and when it gets a load you take it out in the garden and clean it out.
Winterizing is dumping the water out of that bucket.
I may be done working for the man but I will still bring muddy boots home, working for fun.

 

[Columbo]

twin autowashes, two washing machines?
Good on ya for the ADA handrail blocking in the shower. It is the right way to do that.
We have kicked around the dog wash thing and ours will be outside. The plan is to install a total of 3 of these.
Either the Prior brand:

Or the Woodford brand:

The dog station is a galvainzed tub on legs, with a catch bucket for the mud then it dumps into the downspout drain pipe. Our dogs are all small and we want them about waist height.
That tub will be under the carport roof, and really handy for dirty boots and tools so you can keep it outside.
I'm designing it as I type. The bucket will sit under the drain of the tub and have an overflow spout on it the dumps into the drain pipe. That way it catches the bulk of all turbidity, and when it gets a load you take it out in the garden and clean it out.
Winterizing is dumping the water out of that bucket.
I may be done working for the man but I will still bring muddy boots home, working for fun.

I like those faucets, very nice! Having hot water outside is great, I have a hot water spigot to the side yard and one to the garage for hosing the cars off in the winter.

Two washing machine hookups in the basement- one will be the primary laundry with the “good” washer and the second will be for a cheap top loader for work clothes, etc.

 

[skyking1]

Indeed! I'll use that galvinized wash tub outside to rinse the gross dirt off. When my faucets are not winterized, I do that with the really bad day work pants that could grow a garden.
I'll put the one hot and cold under the carport roof somewhere for the dog wash and car washing, the other will go up on the big sundeck, and the 3rd one is that cantelivered deck.
Solar panels need cleaning. I will be able to go up a 3 step ladder and rinse the panels off on the south facing roof that starts at the bathroom wall.

 

[Columbo]

Good thinking on the solar panel maintenance! The area labeled Shaft 2 in your drawing is open space around the stairs? Very nice!