week 23: punching and sealing

Not a lot happened over the past week except continued punching out of the MEP (mechanical-electrical-plumbing) and a start to the sealing, a pre-cursor to insulation. The architect and builder had a hoe-down at the house over trim, and work continues on landscape planning (subject of a later post).

hunching and punching

The electrical, mechanical, and framing subs have been out to the house to iron out the last few details before insulation goes in and drywall goes up. The changes at the house are subtle ("Wait a minute: That wasn't here last week!"), but they are there. In preparation for the insulation, we did a little vacuuming and blowing in the outer walls to clean 'em up. Not convinced the sub would do that...

That can to the back got installed. It's to light up art on the wall in the master bedroom. 

Finally got the third thermostat installed!

The city inspectors wanted a header over this opening to the ERV (energy recovery ventilator). They got it. 

Three of these were added by the HVAC sub. They will provide access to the zone controllers.

Also done, but not shown, is the addition of a 240 line to the garage for a future electric car (part of the original bid set but not installed until now [glad I noticed that last weekend!]) and a finish-out of the roof penetration in the laundry. There are still a few punch-outs to address, but we're down to the dregs. Even the Columbo "Just one more thing..." syndrome has dried up. 

sealing

The insulation sub has been on-site and has started sealing around windows, in corners and seams, and in penetrations. In large part it's to seal the house from air penetration, but it's also to delay the spread of fire in the house if there's ever (let's hope not) a fire.

Foam and Fill Fireblock

Filled in the header holes for the old location of the electrical service.

Filling between the boards (guess the ladder wasn't tall enough?)

Foam sculpture. Looks like Circus Peanuts. Doesn't taste like Circus Peanuts.

fit and trim

The builder and sub haven't done trim with the look we want to achieve, so this is fraught with danger for all involved. Ideally, this is what we're looking for:

This detail, at least how it's done by Build LLC, involves first installing z-metal that holds the drywall, then installing the drywall, and then installing the baseboard. The builder is concerned that this allows little to no room for error and that the risk of having a gap of varying height is high (and that would not be good). There are also cost considerations. That z-metal is 'spensive. Although we have a healthy line budget to deal with this detail, it still may not be enough.

After hearing the builder's concerns, the architect has proposed that the baseboard be installed first but with a quarter-inch notch cut at the very top of the board (see below). Then the drywall would be installed to set on top of the board. The builder seems happier with this bottom-up approach, so he and the sub are going to install a mock-up to see how it works and looks. It won't be as deep of a reveal as shown above (3/8 inches tall, half an inch deep), but it will still be a single plane detail that perhaps looks even more refined.

Looking forward to checking out the mock-up.

Accidentally drawn to scale.

week 22: stucco done (and more fun to come)!

Big stuff on the outside, details on the inside. It's week 22!

stucco done!

The last coat of stucco is complete, and it looks great! We didn't go with baby-butt smooth stucco (= mucho bucks), but the level of smoothness we went with (teenager-butt smooth) looks pretty slick. The quality of the framing is shining through right now: sooper-dooper flat! We don't see anything that makes us go "hmmmm...."

The house at this point looks very New Mexico-y to us (we've both lived in the Land of Enchantment in the deep dark past), which is not a bad thing. Paint will likely bring the house from the Earth to the machine aesthetic.

Seeing the house with the stucco complete makes it more "real". The outside is nearly complete! Whoop! Whoop!

stucco about the powder pooper window

a corner of completed stucco

the cantilevered wall next to the (soon-to-be) limestone wall

back outside wall of the master bedroom; those lines are expansion joints

stucco "slag" (the loose stuff that sluffs down the wall when they apply the stucco) about the base of the cantilevered wall.

the back of the house (master suite)

stucco on the cantilevered wall with the reveal at the window

paint?

Now we need to choose paint colors, and pronto! The builder uses Sherman Williams, so we stopped by there yesterday to pick up chips and whatnot. After we choose some colors, the builder will throw up paint so we can see what it looks like. That will be helpful (and buys us more time before making a final decision).

look toward the left, not the right...

limestone

The builder had a chunk of limestone onsite this past week, and it's on the money: Texas Cream. The final pieces will be somewhat sizable, about half the width of the windows above.

cabinets

After a meeting that included two bowls of queso and three margaritas, we finally finalized the cabinet order. I reckon the cabs will go in right after the drywall goes up, so they will be coming soon!

Nope: Our bed won't be in the dining room. Nice try, Cabinet Lady, nice try...

final (we hope) "we wiring"

Due to finishing details on the electrical and responding to inspection deficiencies on the electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and framing (they always find them, I am told), our project is now about 30 days behind schedule. The builder is apologetic, but we've appreciated the extra time to contemplate and install speaker wire and network cables. We were back out there yesterday to run network cable for wifi stations (one in the hallway between the kitchen and dining, one in the back of master bedroom, and one upstairs). We also ran an extra network cable to the TV area in the living room. TVs are getting smarter, so I can see direct network connections coming soon (if not already). Another network cable might allow us to keep the cable box in the pantry and control it remotely (and allow us to serve the telly signal about the house). We also ran network cable in the garage for a couple video cameras.

In all, we ran cable for all the speakers in the house and the garage, network cameras for video cameras, network cables for glass break detectors, and network cable for wifi stations. Including what the electrician's ran for network cables and cable cable, we have 34 returns to the pantry. Not a lot in the grand scheme of things (I've seen insane photos on the interwebs), but a fair amount nonetheless. I think this is all we will do.

the bundle on the right is theirs, the bundle on the left is ours

wood for ceiling and soffit

We had decided on cedar, and then undecided, and then decided on pine, and now have undecided on that. And now there's a new wood in the mix: cypress. We would absolutely love cypress. We saw it on the house below during a home tour, and gasped with joy. The builder says he now has a good source for cypress and will check in on price. Cypress or cedar, that is the question...

this photo from here

landscaping

With the exterior nearly complete, here come the serious discussions on landscaping.  We have a fairly healthy budget for landscaping, but at the same time, we don't think it will cover everything (it's an allowance at this point). First things first, we need to have a master plan for everything. It's always good to have a plan, but it's even more important if you plan to phase stuff in over time (which we may have to do depending on the cost of things). You want to think about the big picture before putting in the little picture stuff now so you don't have to tear stuff out (and waste money) in the future.

We've been working with the architect on finalizing the hardscape features (the most recent version below ["I notice more walls," noticed the builder]). We've also talked about the stage design for the back yard as well as planters.

We've discussed the sidewalk with the builder. We can put in a sidewalk per city code or write the city a ransom check (for twice the cost of putting in the sidewalk). I'm amenable to a sidewalk for the front of the house if we could get a "curb hugger" (a sidewalk that's up against the cube instead of set back two feet), but the builder said that the city will insist on the two foot setback (gives pedestrians more time to dodge careening vehicles, apparently...). A curb hugger, in my mind, would make it easier for passengers to get in and out street-parked cars and look less goofy than one house on our side of the street having a sidewalk.

ready for the runway?

The builder suggested that the architect ought to consider getting professional photographs made of the house when it's done. That's a good sign! And the architect has felt us out about being on a home tour at some point. Sign us up! We've appreciated the many good folks about Austin that have opened up their homes to us (and many, many others) in the past, so we're good to give back.

The neighbor has the best view of the house.

overall...

...things are going great! Little glitches here and there, sure, but the balance weights heavily-heavily o-so-heavily towards "Totally awesome, dude!" Lots to do, but it's all terribly exciting, and getting us closer to our move in.

Fahrvergnügen in the back. Fahrvergnügen in the front. 

week 21: doors and more!

Big news this week: The doors are (finally) installed! Layer 2 of the stucco is on! And the slow inexorable ironing out of details on plumbing, electric, and HVAC...

The Doors!

Very excited to see the front and rear doors finally installed, and they look great!

And there's now glass in the powder room window as well:

The front door is BIG! (The builder: 'That's a big front door." The bride: "That's a big front door."). It needed the height in order to have the to windows line up with the windows above the bookshelves. Looks good.

stucco: layer 2

The rest of the detailing got done, including by the front entryway:

and the second layer is completely on. It's less rough than the first layer but still somewhat rough to provide grippiness for the third layer:

Here's a panorama of the back courtyard:

I imagine the third layer will go on this next week, dry a week, and then the final layer, paint, will go on the week after that. Yikes! At that point, the outside of the house will be done barring the limestone on the front, the eaves, the lights, and the gutters!

shower sealing

The shower is fully sealed and appears to be passing its leak test:

still MEPing around...

The plumber, electrician, HVACer, and framer are still attending to details, some due to inspection deficiencies. The changes aren't particularly photogenic, but were are a few:

A vomit of wires out the back of the house.

Faucet in the powder room. 

One yuck what-were-they-thinking discovery we made over the weekend: The vent for the laundry room exhaust fan. The HVACers hadn't put the penetration in before the roof went on, so they hacked one in. Then they left the hole and hose (uncovered) sitting out in the elements. I crawled up there to cover it ahead of the expected (but unrealized) rains this weekend, but the hose sat uncovered through the week's earlier rains, so peering down into the hose shows rain (and stucco!) in the pipe. Hope that didn't screw up the fan...

Really?

Not sure if the builder knows about this (but he will!).

In general, the lack of respect certain sub employees show for other's work is appalling. For example, the buffoon that decided he needed to clean his boots off on the drywall stack. Really? Then there was the yahoo who chewed gum and spit it on the floor (thank dude...).

It all works out in the end, I reckon, but still, the sausage making can be a little stomach turning...

week 15: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Sorry for the delay in posting: The weekend and the past couple of days have had our free time consumed with house stuff. Truth be told, that's what I should be working on now (but this strikes me as more fun at the moment [and needing to get done...]).

the good

Went out to the house on Sunday after a long but productive 2.5-hour meeting with the cabinet lady. We then spent the next six hours picking up nails, sweeping, and vacuuming the house. It was a full (and hot!) day.

The big news is (drum roll please): The big-ass window in the living room is installed! And it looks quite grand:

The biggish window at the top of the stairs is also in:

as is the storefront frame (no glass yet) for the powder room:

and the side window in the front:

Nice!

Big news on the roof front: We're starting to get a finished (as in there-ain't-no-leaks-no-more) roof! We've been selfishly fortunate that it has been a very dry fall despite predictions of El Nino conditions this fall (El Nino was canceled). In fact, no rain fell in Austin in November, the first time that's happened in over a 100 years.

That white bidness you see here is the roof: thermoplastic olefin, what the cool kids call TPO. Highly reflective (it's white, afterall) and fully sealed (if installed correctly...), it should be a good roof (and better, wethinks, than torchdown).

There's tub in the house:

and there are holes in the LVL beam to run ductwork through:

Those darkish things you see are metal angle irons to compensate for those big 'ole holes in the beam. Helps hold the house up, so that's a good thing. The framer did a great job here: real clean and ready for drywall.

the bad

During week 14 the plumber ran the drain pipes hither and dither about the house. During the past week, he ran the water lines. And it wasn't purdy: There was a herd of stuff that was just plain wrong because he hadn't looked at the spec sheets. The plumbing for the powder room sink was all wrong (including the drain). He plumbed it for a standard sink in a cabinet instead of an in-wall faucet  and wall mounted sink (with the plumbing hidden behind the sink). That's gotta be redone.

Now picture yourself facing the garage. Off on the right side, out of the slab, is a water-supply pipe. Clearly marked on the plans is an outdoor spigot right at that spot where the pipe comes out of the ground. Makes sense: The ground is insulating the pipe, so that helps keep the pipe from freezing (and breaking). What did the plumber do? Ran the pipe up the wall into the attic space, then ran the pipe clear across the front width of the garage, and then back down the opposite wall. Huh? Seems like a freeze hazard to me. Comically (to my eyes) they insulated the pipe. But this is in unconditioned space, so I don't think that insulation is going to do much during an extended freeze. (I say pipe, but technically they run hose these days. It very well may be that the flexibility of the hose is enough to accommodate the expansion of water during a freeze.)

Given how the spigot for the garage was installed, it's good we had a central shut-off valve for the outdoor faucets installed. After discussions with the builder, we decided to install this valve in the pantry. Where did it get installed? In the laundry room. Not fatal. The valve could go in there, but they installed it where the backsplash to the potential bar area is going. Not good.

The plumber ran pipe for the potfiller. Again, he neglected to check the specs and made an assumption that it was a wall mounted pot filler. But it ain't: It's a deck mounted pot filler. Oops. In his defense, I bet 95 percent of America's pot fillers are wall mounted, but still: check the specs, dude. I mentioned to the builder that much of this could have been avoided with a pre-install walk through with me.

Looks like there may be a wee bit of replumbing going on...

the (not so) bad (but prolly for the best)

Our master bedroom door to the outside was installed! But it's the wrong door... After doing so well on the first bid, we upgraded the door to a storefront aluminum and glass door. However, the door we installed is the original one spec'd, not the upgrade. This is prolly for the best since we were having second thoughts on having a glass storefront door in the master. Not that I don't look (fairly) good in my whitey-tighties (especailly after a wax), but (cough-cough) I'm a little shy, so I'm not eager to give the neighbors a show. We'll stick with the door the builder installed and apply the money we save on the change orders.

I have dream of maybe at some point installing an Allandale door made locally (like across-the-street locally) by Crestview Doors, inventors of Door-o-Vision.

the ugly

There be some ugly at the house. I'm learning that some of the practicalities and code requirements result in ugliness. Reality sucks. Some of the issues:

The gas connection to the house has to be toward the front of the house. When the email discussion first when back and forth on this, I was later horrified to realize that I may have agreed to the have the gas connection placed on the front of the house, so I was relieved as heck when I saw that it was just around the corner of the front of the house. Ideally, this would have been pushed farther back, but the builder claims this placement is a code requirement. Regardless, given that it's on the side, it will be easy to hide with either a low (tastefully designed) fence or a shrub. Whew!

Non-centered exhaust vents. This is a view of the powder room looking towards the toilet. That metal box up yonder is the vent. That looks (slightly...) off center. Not the installer's fault 'cause that's what the framing looks like but boo nonetheless. On the other hand, a wee bit of asymmetry may look cool (perhaps balanced by a toiler plunger to the right of the toilet). Why yes, we meant to do that, yes we did.

General infrastructural kookiness. Look at that picture below taken of the ceiling area of the master shower. Holy moly, there's a lot going on up there! That ceiling's got more snakes in it than Samuel L. Jackson's emm-effing plane! Here's a case where the ventilation fan (the square box) could have been centered (ain't no framing to prevent it) but can't because of the need to run the ductwork through the truss. And then there's ventilation ductwork, and water lines and (yet to come) electric wires. Dang. Maybe we need a glass ceiling in here to show this off.

Those aren't the ventilation fans we wanted. Oddly, for whatever reason, the issue that has made me the most angry during the build of the house so far (somewhere between "dang-that-dude's-face-is-really-red" and "smashing sh!t up") are the ventilation fans. I proudly found some swank ventilation fans that had the perfect intersection of price, function, and aesthetics. During the back and forth with the builder and sub on ventilation fans, I asked that they put in the ones we wanted. The builder responded that there wasn't a local supplier for those fans. I responded that they could just order the ones we wanted. And these are not them.

When I first saw these suckers, I coulda eaten a handful of fire ants. Maybe two handfuls. When we got back home, I looked up the emails of what we agreed to on the subcontract. We agreed to "lo sone" fans, and I assumed they were the ones we wanted (we indeed wanted low sone fans [super-duper quiet]). But it turns out "Lo Sone" is a Broan model, so we unwittingly agreed to Broan fans. Irritating, but we don't have much (any?) ground to stand on here (and there are probably more important things to worry about than this [Focus Bubba: Context! Context! Breathe! One. Two. Three. Breathe!).

Nonetheless, I predict we won't have any fire ants for a few years after we move in...

What up, shower wall, what up? The last we left the shower wall, the builder was super nervous about having it only go up eight feet instead of the full nine feet of the ceiling height. We first investigated installing steel posts to support the wall, but the engineer couldn't guarantee the wall would be inflexible. At that point we said "Screw it." and said finish the wall to the ceiling. The architect then suggested that the end of the wall could be carried up to the wall to support it and the rest could be open. Although not as elegant as the original design, we thought this was better than running the full wall up to the ceiling. So that's what we decided. So we were surprised to see plumbing plumbed through the as-yet-unchanged wall. When we mentioned this to the builder, he responded that anything other than a full wall was a bad idea, which is why it's a full wall. Hmmmm... Still thinking about this (and will probably discuss with the architect). While writing this post and looking at the photo, I realized that without that wall, you can't run the water to the tub control and spout very directly because of the big window over the tub. On the other hand, do you need "instant" hot water for a tub?

Where will art thou hang, kitchen pendants? Since electric is coming up next, I methodically walked through the house looking for potential electric problems. And I found them. The most vexing are the pendants for above the kitchen peninsula. The air handler (I think that's what that big silvery box is called) is located in the very place the pendants need to hang. In other words, there ain't no place to put the electric boxes for the lights. Given that that's task lighting, I don't think that lighting is really optional. Not sure what the solution is, although I've read that not having pendants over islands and peninsulas is the new thing. So perhaps we will wind up hipper than we anticipated.

 Closet space? A large part of the infrastructure kookiness is the difficulty in dealing with the HVAC system in the house. As the builder puts it, the HVAC system has been a pain. I had envisioned the ductwork running up the spine of the house defined by the hallway from the front of the house to the master bedroom. Unfortunately, there's something like four solid beams between here and there that make that impractical, so the duct work had to run through the second story attic down to the master bedroom. Only problem: No place to run the ductwork down to the master suite, so we had to give up space in the guest closet (already not very big) for the duct work. Not a problem for how we plan to use the space, but I can already see the House Hunters episode filmed at our house: Hip young couple with 12 children liking the house but then, when opening up this closet, grimacing and making a snarky comment like "Is this where they keep the backup espresso maker?"

Spirited design makes for spirited challenges in installing internal infrastructure.