how to tell if you're a fat ass

So last week the above happened. It started slowly, but then during one sitting CRUNCH!!! there she went. Given the resulting crack gap, it's clear the ring was under quite a bit of lateral tension and (ahem) vertical compression.

Went to order a new seat and was jabberwockied by the choices. After poking around we realized that the toilet didn't come with a seat (and we didn't specify one) and that the builder ordered the cheapest seat and not the most aesthetic one. Not that we noticed... We ordered the aesthetic one as a replacement. Maybe it's sturdier? Maybe we need to go on a diet?

Time will tell...

houzzwerk: how to place vanity lights

Bathroom Workbook: How to Get Your Vanity Lighting Right

reason #432 to get a tub

Our cat, Lilli (Reich), loves the tub (which is why we keep a towel in there now). Not sure if the tub-love is because that's where we bonded (we adopted kittens the same time I had surgery and had to soak in the tub several times a day). She liked to crawl down my leg and sleep on my chest (in the tub!). These days, she jumps in the tub and chatters and tweets until she gets her tummy rubbed. 

Couldn't do that without a tub.

to tub or not to tub: part deaux

Way back when, when we were in the early stages of putting together our wish list of what we wanted with the house, the topic of whether or not we should have a tub in the master came up. Ultimately, based on resale expectations of buyers and falling head over heels in love with this tub shown above, we tubbed. However, another item of consideration on whether to tub or not to tub came up recently: health.

When you are young, strapping, healthy, and (ahem) a wee bit on the handsome side of plain, you don't think as much about the future, and the future generally includes health issues. And those health issues may require the use of tub. I bring this up because I've been dealing with a health issue the past couple of weeks where the doc has prescribed, among post-surgery narcotics and muscle relaxants, three to four tub soakings a day. You gotta have a tub to soak.

I suppose you could still live without a tub in the master and have one elsewhere in the house, but if it's up on the second floor and you can't walk upstairs, that tub ain't going to help you. The tub could be in someone's else's bathroom on the first floor (easier if someone doesn't live there), but even that's not ideal (and probably requires a bit of scrubbing before the tubbing).

If you are designing for aging in place, or anything really, I recommend putting a tub in your master. Having spent quite a bit of time in ours recently, I can say that it is quite convenient and awesome (a cocoon, really).

Doctor's orders.

review: Swanx cabinetry

The funnest person we had the chance to work with while building the house was Michele, owner of Swanx. Not only was she great to collaborate with (I truly felt like we worked as a team), but her ideas and design and decorating thoughts were spot on (even when they didn't seem like it at first; I learned to trust the Swanx: she knows what she's doing). And she's a hoot to boot!

The kitchen and baths came out awesome, and she even did the built-in cantilevered-off-the-wall bedside cabinets, which came out cooler than we could have ever imagined. Oh, and she also did the buds-n-suds room adding the pizazz of lights in the uppers. She does more traditional (and transitional) kitchens as well but was perfect in our Modern project.

Highly recommended!

horizontal wooden planes

We also hired the good folks at Coulbury Design to built and install bathroom shelves and the built-in desktop in the upstairs bedroom. As might be expected, we requested hickory to match sills and floors. Dan, who is fixated on not showing screws or attachment hardware (a good fixation for Modern), was able to install with simply the board showing. One design element we requested was to pull the desk top out from the wall a couple inches so any electrical cords could fall down the back. He claims the desk is strong enough to support baby making... 

powder pooper redux

Catching up on some stuff I haven't loop back on...

One punch item list item to be dealt with was the wall-mounted cubist pooper in the powder room. The initially installed toilet gave quite a bit when sat on (a toilet should receive, not give...). The solution? Tear out the drywall backing and replace it with hardie-backer covered with tile. That toilet is now solid as a rock. We haven't had any of our former linesmen friends over to try it out yet (Bob? Where have you been?), but I think she'll hold.

That pooper is coo as poo and works great too. Cantilevered off the wall, dual flush, quiet closing lid, and comfy. Hip hip hurray!

spouting off (and other nuisances...)

It's been awhile since I've written about the house. I found myself running a state agency for six weeks during a rather interesting transitional period, and it was all consuming time wise. But now I'm back from the land of 12-hour days!

There's still a few straggling items out there to get done on the house (the gutters, which have to wait until the rainwater tank goes in [which goes in tomorrow!]; solar)...

spouting off

If you recall, when I went to try out the guest shower I realized that there was no way to turn the shower on (no pull thingy to transfer water from the tub spout to the shower head). To make matters worse, it turns out the wrong valve had been ordered and installed, the replacement of which would have required tearing out the tile. In short, a mess.

Ye olde spout.

We told the builder we were open to getting a different spout rather than forcing the installation of a new valve. This is actually a blessing in disguise (been getting a lot of those lately...) because we weren't completely happy with the installed spout: yes, it was gorgeous, but it was bulky and haphazardly installed (not the fault of the installer but a design deal). The bulkiness, lateral extent, and visual impact makes it look like something that could be used for support, and the haphazard installation design  meant that if someone made the mistake of using it for support, bad things would result.

The replacement spout is perfect! It matches the gestalt of the showerhead and valve controller and fits the theme of the house. Yay!

The new spout.

gated in

We finally got the driveway gate surfaced. The original plan was to clad the gate with Hardie to match the Hardie fence. Would have been sweet! However, the Hardie, while hardy, has little (what's the word?) rigidity. It's floppier than bunny ears. The builder suggested Polygal, double-walled plastic sheets that come in a variety of shades. We said "Sure!" It closes the space in but still has a bit of transparency to it. Carrying the Hardie around the corner and onto the gate would have looked cool, but also would have darkened up the space under the carport a bit. All in all that 'gal looks mighty fine!

art lights

Got the last of the art lights lit!

The art lights, in general, are simply awesome. Highly recommend them. Besides (ahem) lighting up the art (always a nice touch), they can also be used as a mellower, more indirect light in a room (by not turning on the other lights). Kinda wishing we had put more in (and may switch out some cans with the arty eyeballs to do so).

coming...

We've got a few aftermarket carpentry items coming in (shelves, desk, plug-hider, LED hider/horizontaller), the rainwater tank, the gutters (the last punch list item), and the solar coming. Stay tuned!

howz them vents workin' out fer ya?

Glad you asked!

So far, so good. We're particularly pleased with how the vents in the master bathroom are working, extra-especially the one in the shower.

To refresh, we decided to place the shower vent directly in the shower (go figure!).

Time will tell if this is a mistake or not. The electrician didn't think this was a good idea, surmising from experience that the moist air will corrode the fan in short order. He may be right, but what made us think our situation may be different is (1) recognizing that effective ventilation requires appropriate ventilation time and (2) by placing a timer on the fan we will run it for that more appropriate length of time after a shower event. If there's no timer, most folks will understandably turn the fan off when they leave the bathroom. A primary purpose of these bathroom fans is to expel moist air from the house.

So far, this fan has worked beautifully: It keeps the moist shower air in the shower. When on (sometimes we forget...), there is no humidity in the rest of the bathroom. Also, because the fan is pulling air from the top of the shower door, we don't get chilled. As the warm air rises, the fan ejects the warm, moist air and pulls in air into the top of the shower from the rest of the bathroom (more on this later...).

As part of our evil plan, we also placed a fan in the toilet closet over the toilet to remove (ahem) potential odors. Again, this has worked great. A more typical alternative would have been to place one fan in the general area of the master bathroom. Wethinks this would not have worked nearly as well.

One thing I worried about was the make-up air. That which is blown out of the house will come in somewheres else. Where would it come from? Turns out some of the make-up air for the shower comes in from the vent in the toilet closet. How do I know? It gets a lot warmer in there when the shower vent is on.

This is all fine and good: the air has to come in from somewhere, and that's a better place than others I can think of. Except there's one small problem: the shower is venting right next to where the toilet closet is venting:

See those two vent hole covers? One is for the shower and the other is for the toilet closet.

So there's a chance that some of the air being vented from the shower is coming back in through the toilet fan plumbing. Not a big deal, but if we had to do it all over again, we would have wanted these a bit farther apart.

Stay tuned for longevity issues with placing the vent directly in the shower.

still punching: plugs, art lights, doorbell, wall hung, HVAC woes

We've been out of town the past week, so just a quick note (with follow-on dancing with architectures coming up!).

floor plugs!

The floor plugs are in! Took a while to find the right aluminum (not brass) plugs, but here they are:

eyeballs!

All but one of the eyeballs is in. We would have preferred something flatter with a slot, but eyeballs is all that works with these particular cans (make note of that if you are canning up your house). We had debated whether or not to bother with the eyeballs, but we're glad we did. They focus the light on the art (as they should) but also reduce the glare from plain ole cans.

wall hung!

Got the drywall behind the wall hung toilet replaced with Hardie backer and tile. That should hold the toilet better.

doorbell (and chime)!

Finally chased down the doorbell chime (no thanks to moderndoorbells.com...). Turns out they sent it to our old apartment and not the bride's place of bidness as requested. Back when it didn't show up (and showed up at UPS as being delivered), I verified the order (it was correct) and sent the doorbell folks an email. After not getting a response, two weeks later I sent another email. No response again. Went to call them, but no number is listed at their web site. Buyer beware: If you don't get your product you are probably ess oh el.

The good news is that the chime works with the doorbell button and it now glows as it should (very cool) and rings the chimes. Yay!

HVAC issues continue...

Still no resolution to the HVAC issues we've been having. I found the installer instructions for the dampers online and read 'em and then took a closer look at the dampers. Discovered that one of the dampers (the one to the master, of course) is not wired correctly.

Notice how the wires are different?

I'd fix it, but since, as a homeowner, "I don't know what I'm doing" and would void the warranty, I'll let the "professionals" fix it. I did learn from the installer's instruction how to override the electronic control and manually open the damper. Cool air, my friends, flowing into the bedroom! There is hope!

moments of bliss

punch party! (attack of the HVAC, house numbers, you grasshole, and more!

Still ironing out the wrinkles on the house. Took Thursday off to sit with the builder and an army of trades as they banged on the punch list. Lots done, but still bits to go...

attack of the HVAC

The biggest wrinkle in our ironing has been the HVAC system. The sub came out and fixed the blown damper and also hardwired the ERV into the system such that it doesn't blow when the full system isn't blowing (all it would be doing at that point is wasting electricity). Unclear why they didn't install the Bryant ERV, which better integrates into the thermostat, allowing the user to control how much fresh air is brought into the house.

We're still having major temperature control issues with the various zones, and the sub basically doesn't know how to fix it (although they won't admit it). The on-site guys say that the system does it all itself, so there's nothing to worry about. Yet we continue to have serious problems:

Byant says "The system will never purposefully cool or warm greater than three degrees from the set points." Yet that is what it is doing.

I'm not an HVAC professional, but I figure it might be one of four things (or combos of all):

1. The dampers aren't working properly, particularly the damper to the master suite. There are times when we get a (comparatively) good amount of air into the bedroom, but more often than not we hardly get any air while the system dumps air into the rest of the house.

2. The dampers are working properly, but the "factory settings" don't send enough air into the master suite. The system is "smart" in that it measures back pressure in the main air distribution center and adjusts the dampers to maximize air flow and minimize air noise through the vents. I found dealer documentation for the system online, and it says that this function can be overridden. We're at the point we don't care about vent noise. Get us some damn air!

3. The ductwork "design" is causing problems. Air flows like water: it prefers the path of least resistance. The path to upstairs is short and sweet: 3 to 20 feet in large and relatively straight tubes. The path to downstairs is also short and sweet: 3 to 20 feet in large and relatively straight tubes. The path to the master suite is a nightmare, long and bitter: 20 to 40 feet through small tubes and various right angles. It is the path of most resistance. What might be happening is that at the lowest fan speed for the system, there's too much back pressure such that the other zones open up to dump the air, and then that's where all the air is going.

4. The ductwork to the master suite is somehow pinched or blocked, which would cause the air dumping just described. Since it appears the sub may have "disposed of" pieces of insulation board in the ductwork (that may have been the problem with the blown damper), it's possible a piece of insulation board is also in the ductwork to the master suite.

I'm thinking the issue is prolly a combo of 1, 2, and 3. Since 3 is impossible to address right now (at least not without tearing up half the house), we have to hope the problem can be solved with the dampers. I don't think 4 is the issue because there are two tubes that run to the master, and both seem to have issue with air flow.

The builder is working to get a Bryant technician (not a dealer tech) out to the house to check the system. The sub sent their best guy, and his response was "I've never seen a system like this." Hopefully the Bryant tech can fix it.

we have numbers!

and they look grand! These are the numbers we bought from modernhousenumbers.com who were kind enough to make us a small zero to riff on the up-and-down rhythm of the o's in our address. The first time we put them up (we being the builder and me), we put 'em up upside down. We were so focused on placement and distance from the light that we neglected to notice that the numbers work right side up (6909) as well as upside down (6069). After they were up the first time, I'm, like, "They look good! but something ain't right...". Fortunately, we only had to change two of the numbers. Our sock-of-the-month club deliveries will now arrive safely.

you grasshole

The first time around they forgot to cut the pavers for feather grass holes. We have them now:

power

We now have power to the hot tub as well as the (future) stage:

outdoor speakers

The outdoor speakers are now installed.

handrails

Our neoplastic handrails are installed! Interlocking-cubist-volume hardware with a slab-of-hickory rail. We bought the rail from stairsupplies.net. Reasonable price for some real nice rails.

tidbits

They put a wheel on the gate:

fill metal on the windows:

spigot on the garage:

and holes in the wire center cover in the pantry:

some laggards...

Besides the HVAC problems, a few other straggling issues...

The doorbell chime we got doesn't work with the doorbell button. Because the doorbell button rocks it hard, we ordered a chime that we know will work with the button. The only problem is that it never came. UPS says they delivered it, but it didn't show up. We had it sent to the bride's office. However, UPS says no one was home and left it at the front door at 2 pm on a Monday. Someone was at the office (they have a receptionist), so that suggests it was misdelivered. If that isn't frustrating enough, the chime supplier won't return emails about the order.

Fixing to go blog postal on 'em...

On Thursday (punch) morning I told the bride that I was going to shower in the guest bathroom to make sure everything was in working order. She looked at me like I was crazy (as she often does), but I tromped upstairs to get my scrub and suds on. After adjusting the water temp out of the tub spout, I went to engage the diverter to turn on the shower (the thing that forces the water out the showerhead instead of the tub spout). However, there wasn't one (this took a bit of time to conclude because I was sure I was missing something)!

After discussing the lack of a shower diverter with the builder and plumber later in the day and both swearing there wasn't one during the install, the builder checked in with supplier and found out they had sent us the wrong control assembly. In other words, there is no opportunity to install a diverter in the present set-up. That's bad news because replacing the control assembly requires tearing up the wall. Presently looking at tub-spout based alternatives...

This could be a blessing in disguise. The tub spout with this set-up, although gorgeous, is not terribly stable (the sealing has split several times now...) and, because of its heft, begs people to use it for leverage (which breaks the sealing and portends greater problems in the future).

Speaking of sealing issues, we still haven't dealt with the potty problems in the powder room. The toilet cantilevers off the wall, which fits the cantilever motif of the house but isn't exactly the most stable of configurations, especially when former football players stop by for a visit. The installation has left the toilet with a wobble, which breaks the sealing between the toilet and the wall and just feels ominous. After discussions with the plumbing sub and builder, the plan is to cut out the drywall (the source of the wobble) and replace it with Hardie backer and the large format white tile we used in the other bathrooms.

decorating news

Upgraded our IKEA dresser with a higher-end (IKEA) dresser:

Moving on up, baybee! (and moved the old dresser to the guest room.)

Found a cool neoplastic water bowl for the cat (he only drinking moving water...). Filtered and splashed with a UV light. Great for disco parties, too!

Found a new coffee pot. Had a cheap Black and Decker black pot for the apartment. This one fits the house better:

Also found a magazine rack for the "contemplation room". This clever little thing made out of silicon came from Kontextur. Only comes in packs of three, so we have two more to figure out what to do with...

Also from Kontextur are a toilet brush and plunger/roll holder. White and wood goes good (as it should).

coming up

More work on the punch list, more decorating.