Longhouse

A House We Love...

2010-04-07T14:35:00.008-04:00

We're really honored to be one of twenty finalists in Dwell Magazine's Houses We Love competition. If you're visiting for the first time, this post is really just a collection of completed images...the step-by-step instruction manual you'll find by reading the archives to the right...

We'd love your vote in the competition if it's a house you love (or even like a bit), it's a home that's outwardly regionalist at first glance, but thoroughly modern upon careful study...thanks for reading...

‘Ornament & Crime’

2008-03-05T12:44:00.004-05:00

The essay by the Austrian architect Adolf Loos ‘Ornament & Crime’ written in 1908, argues that all ornament is criminal in nature. Loos, “holds the Papuan up as an example of man who has not evolved to the moral and civilized circumstances of modern man, and who will therefore kill and consume his enemies without committing a crime. Had a modern — meaning a Western man — done the same thing, he would either be considered a criminal or a degenerate. By the same token, the Papuan may tattoo his skin, his boat, his oar or anything he may lay his hands on ... He is no criminal. But a modern man who tattos himself is either a criminal or a degenerate. Tattooed men who are not imprisoned are either latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. If a tattooed man dies free, this is because he has died prematurely, before committing his murder.”( ‘Adolf Loos: The New Vision’: Joseph Rykwert) Ornamentation, he contends in modern society is without merit. It forces the laborer to perform work that performs no function, other than signatory (say, a crown moulding signifying the top of a wall). Loos professes that it’s a waste of material, effort and a needless expense. Ornament freezes a building in time, Art Nouveau, in Loos’ time…perhaps pluralism or minimalism in our time.

No trim, no ornament, no crime.

Stonco 150L, with 4A backplate

Does our house look dated already by virtue of the lack of ornamentation? There’s validity in the argument that economy has driven many of our decisions, including those to eliminate ornament…but I wouldn’t have chose ogee moulding even if I had an extra five grand sitting in my pocket. I question some of Loos’ arguments and the social conditions he supports them with, but at heart I have to say I agree with his thesis. Loos worked hard to allow each material to be expressive of its inherent qualities, the only object on my walls (until I can afford artwork…is that ornamentation?) are my $11 Stonco exterior grade lampholders…a modern torch of sorts. Oh yeah…there’s the Enje roller blinds (IKEA, 39”x98”, $29.99)…which I considered stitching colored thread horizontally to add some color to the room…ornament, tsk tsk.

It’s no wonder my kids are pining for the outdoors, their required reading lists now require German translation.

Influenza A/Brisbane H3N2...

2008-03-03T16:34:00.004-05:00

has disrupted my life for a good 2 1/2 weeks....but I see traffic has really picked up around here, thank you for the nods on the design blogs mocoloco, materialicious, and others thank you-thank you!

We've been settling in to our new home for close to four months now and of course the punchlist is longer than it was on move-in day last November. I've been busy checking off things inside as the snow outside continues to pile up. One of those tasks was a radon test. I figured we would be borderline given that we've built on solid granite ledge, but the tests in the bedrooms came back at 10pci, the EPA threshold for action is 4pci...so 'act' we must. The basic idea is to drill a hole (or two if you own an eighty foot long house) insert a pipe and depressurize the slab beneath by installing a small fan in the attic space connected to that pipe exhausting to the atmosphere...where radon (being heavier than air) settles right back down on the ground?! Anyhow, the company we've hired to install the system guesses the current levels in the basement, where the radon seeps into the house, are in the 20s, not an ideal place to send the kids on a winter's afternoon to ride their bikes I suppose.

Thank you to the IRS for funding this project with $1800 of fresh hot rebate.

There's a difference

2008-01-08T13:14:00.000-05:00

between drawing, design and the take your pants off kind of living you do day to day. Where do we put our clothing? Where do we put the vacuum? How about books? Where should the bar of soap sleep it off? Why does the beautiful rainshower head function more like a misty morning? I find that designing affords freedom...line on paper lacks realism, it's all about composition, the layering of materials, walls meeting at 90 degrees. Now I'm a victim of my decision to 'cut costs' by not allowing for enough storage...not a single closet. I had an idea of where all of these things might live eventually, now I'm facing the reality of what it means to store things in the basement. Out of arms reach is quite inconvenient for things like your vacuum or...the 'diaper champ'. I'm not sure modernism allows room for things like diaper champs anyhow, but you get the idea. That's making it on the top 10 list of misgivings.

In stereo...with time lapse...

Photos of the antechamber / dressing area that transitions between the main living space and our bedroom, the pocket door to the room keeps us from frightening the children. The wardrobe works well and its size forces regular donations to the Salvation Army. These doors would make great room dividers, translucent tempered glass in aluminum frames (by IKEA).

I was checking out hinoki products after spying a stool I loved on VivaTerra and in lieu of spending a small fortune on bath mats, I spent $17 on an 8' piece of clear vertical grain western red cedar, ripped it into bite sized pieces and created a small shower rest for keeping soap, shampoo, etc. Punctuates the need for wood and other warm tones in the bathroom.

Soap tray for our shower...d-line, $197.10.....right.....keep looking

Interior skins...

2008-01-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

January 7, 2008
Still there?
We'll have more photos this week of progress inside. The holidays have kept us from posting as visitors and celebrations took priority. The top 10 lists are on the way...we've been busy skinning the interiors, the wardrobe is complete, the desk area is taking shape, the chalkboard at the kitchen island (dining side) is complete, shelving is in place. The main bathroom needs more wood...far too gray. I have some ideas about canvas panels with turnbuttons...

Living...at last...notice the blackboard backdrop

Living looking southwest

Lack wall shelving by IKEA, $14.99

Turnbuttons for canvas paneling

A proper meal...

2007-12-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

...deserves a proper table. The excuse-du-jour for purchasing new furniture? Hosting the family for Christmas, the old college furniture looks especially tired in our new environment, lights over our table are larger than the table itself...pick one. The overscaled pendant lights were a seed planted months ago...they're the right size for the space but the table that sits beneath is far too small. We chose Room & Board's Portica table in White oak, part of the Parson's typology but in brushed stainless, not black. Choosing chairs was perhaps the hardest part, what's durable enough for everyday kid (ab)use yet still fits with the look of the table and the materials of the house. At the risk of being too matchy-matchy we submitted to the oak ply chairs to match the table top. Problem is, at $89 each the order gets large quickly. What's more???? We get to assemble it, so Christmas arrives early. Throw it in with the Automoblox and LEGO sets I suppose and there will be some tired fingers come January.

Room & Board's Portica, Solid White Oak top; $1419.00

Room & Board's Boxy Chair, in Oak Veneer (cherry shown); $89.99

The other contenders:

Seven feet of table, Crate & Barrel's Big Sur in White Oak, $1699.00

I love the idea of benches but agreed that it's not practical for many guests.

Room & Board's Parson's table, $1299.00...

(we were afraid the black legs would disappear against the dark floor)

Jake by EuroFurniture.com, $89.99

Sundance by Inmod.com, $123.75

Pony Chair, CB2 $119
Laura loved this one, I contended it looked like a laundromat chair

Dressed in winter white

2007-12-04T12:48:00.000-05:00

December 4, 2007
Monday's storm is departing now, leaving about 15" over most of the surrounding island and Downeast. We were playing 'sweat lodge' last evening, cranking up our woodstove to a balmy 75 degrees inside. Blogging has taken backseat to life of late. We're unpacking boxes, tending to sick children, and catching up on other parts of life left too long untended.

My post on "10 things I'd do differently" is coming soon, (I'm narrowing the list). I knew going into this that I would treat it as a learning lab of sorts, my wife, however, didn't. Architects are often hyper-critical beasts esp. of their own work. All of this is not to say we're unhappy in our new digs, we love them and there's the companion list of thing's I'd do again that deserves a post too.

I've been fighting with my wardrobe from IKEA lately. Serves me right really. Laura reminded me that the more you spend at IKEA, the more they make you work to assemble it and come up with something good looking. Such is the case with our freestanding PAX wardrobe.

We're using it as a room divider in our master bedroom sectioning off the entry area for use as informal dressing. We knew we'd have to finish the back side of it not only because the backing board is hideous but unfinished and full of VOCs. We're using 1/8" plexiglas, sanding to mimic the translucency of the glass on the front of the wardrobe unit and mounting it on stainless steel studs. This cabinet has taken me the better part of 20 hours to assemble...no joke...and I'm no tenderfoot when it comes to IKEA pictograms anymore.

Master Bedroom Plan, (wardrobe orients to top of page)

Good luck if you're buying this monstrosity. You're better off purchasing the interior components and fitting them into a well-built plywood cabinet carcass. Maine Coast Lumber is a great source for this kind of thing, all made to order and inexpensive. Dovetailed drawers rec'd within 5 days (living in New England), hard to beat. Many local lumberyards offer this service, keeping things local is another on the 10 items list...next project.

Punchlist

2007-11-21T21:36:00.000-05:00

November 21, 2007
Exactly 5 months from the day the excavator arrived on site and began roughing in the driveway, we have our certificate of occupancy in hand. Funny thing about a certificate of occupancy, it's just permission...no embossed gold seal, just "it's okay if you want to live in this" kind of approval. We'll have a list of things to square, a front step, a wall hydrant, a few electrical devices, all very minor items. We were counting on receiving our occupancy permit today as we'll be picking up the U-Haul on Friday morning and moving our existence from Bar Harbor to Mount Desert. I think I convinced one of our electricians today to seek an alternate career, he was the unfortunate recipient of a tirade 5 months in the making. To be fair, he deserved it. More posts and details in the coming weeks as we settle in and skin the interior. The images that follow are somewhat stark, partially because we haven't moved in (or cleaned) and partially because we'll be adding an interior layering of function specific details. And, there's still the grading, loaming, seeding, planting, driveway...and my punchlist.

The amateur photo hour follows...

Kitchen toward living

Living sans contractors

Kitchen (minus the proper electrical devices)

The cleanest our mudroom will ever be...note the flush cocoa matting

Bathroom...with Ikea glass panels installed

Open ensuite master bathroom

Master bathroom...bad spot for the recessed light I suppose

Transitions

2007-11-12T12:22:00.000-05:00

East Gable, almost.

South elevation, almost.

November 12, 2007
Seeing our family wandering the house, my parents, Laura, Henning, & Sig is a great thing. I feel like we're laying claim to a space that's been our contractor's for the past 5 months. Moving tools out, pulling up the cardboard that's hidden our floor for a month's time, this past weekend marked the transition phase where our house becomes a home. My parents arrived last Wednesday evening and stayed through the weekend. Their visit proved immensely helpful and equally tiring for them I'm sure. Watching the boys, cleaning, cooking, assembling cabinetry, painting, doing our neglected household chores...did I mention watching the boys?

The big task this weekend was assembling the 1300 different boxes of cabinets, door panels, slides, bumpers, and nibs. If I see another IKEA pictogram I'll put a hammer through my skull. Less than useful at times the IKEA assembly instructions bordered on ridiculous...after taking about a half hour trying to add adjustable legs to the first base cabinet things went more smoothly and by the end of the day Saturday my father & I had assembled all of the cabinetry for the kitchen and pantry area. Thankfully my father's well of patience is much deeper than mine.

Dad, fixing my mistakes

Quality control

Island cabinetry in place

Vent hood + Laura pining for her range

Island palette, gray surround, white cabs, butcherblock

On Sunday Laura & I worked together to grout the mudroom and bathroom which was a smashing success and left us still speaking at the end of the day...remarkable progress. Thanks to Lester our general contractor for encouraging words and some helpful tips regarding sponge-work. Other progress...the woodstove was installed, the island completed and countertop installed, undermount sink today. Most of the doors are in place, drywall base detail is complete, the basement stair is ready for our code inspection, the heating system is functioning properly, dryer hooked up, vent hood installed, recessed cabinetry in place, everything ready for a final coat of paint, the electrical devices and plumbing fixtures. The outside is becoming a career for at least two people. Detail shots when things get more interesting.

Sore knees

Eric...repeating "It only looks like cinder block in photos"

Wash me.

Success & failure

2007-11-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

November 5, 2007

Time to confess. Not everything has gone perfectly lately.

On Tuesday evening Laura & I installed the so-called ‘self-sticking’ stainless steel backsplash. We planned the sizes, the jointing, templated the outlet locations (by this point we weren’t speaking anymore) and ‘enhanced’ the sticking power of the membrane with some liquid nails. This worked only to reinforce any inconsistencies in the substrate we were sticking it to. We used two different types of adhesive and the better performing one was clearly the DAP Better than Nails tube adhesive. Liquid Nails once spread on the surface cures very fast, turns out much faster than we can lift the panel and align it in place. The photo speaks for itself, not good. Plan B is to construct painted MDF panels that are face mounted to the backsplash to cover the already been lived with look of the stainless sheeting. Work in progress, I’m calling it a failure at this point but I’m fickle. We're speaking again, but not to the backsplash.

With a name like 'Roll-a-lam'...I should've known

This weekend while Hurricane Noel passed by to our east lashing us with strong winds and inches upon inches of rain. We were spared power outages but many of our neighbors were in the dark. A sleepless night found me at our house around 2am early Sunday only minutes later a tree fell a few feet from the car, across our driveway squarely on top of the port-a-potty. Laura and family rescued me later that morning with a breakfast sandwich and chainsaw.
The weekend plan was to complete all of the tile setting. I made it slightly more than half way by Sunday mid-day with the larger bathroom complete leaving the master shower to complete by Tuesday. Things went well, not a professional job but respectable for a virgin tile-setter. It’s markedly more stone-like in person, the photos make it look like…well cinder block. Strike that thought. Now we just have to seal and grout it. Thankfully I masked every square inch of our tub before slinging thinset around, my work with a margin trowel is amateur at best.
And…our heat is on today, starting with a low temp in the tubing to dry things out slowly.

Red = membrane waterproofing (RedGard)

Completed tile work

The details...

2007-11-01T12:39:00.001-04:00

November 1, 2007

One of the advantages of being an architect, free stuff for your house. Not the most exciting stuff mind you, but every little bit helps...and besides we get jazzed about things others might not. My local Leviton rep has agreed to kick in my electrical devices (switches, receptacles, etc.) for free. I originally specified Lutron Diva dimmers everywhere, Leviton makes a look-alike that's half the price and instead of a rocker it's a push pad, fade on/off and can be dimmed from multiple locations.

If you're familiar with a traditional dimming circuit, only one switch has the power to dim the other is the slave. Multiple dimming locations means no more deciding which switch takes priority. They have screwless coverplates in many colors, no stainless though, still using the Lutron Claro/Diva combination for those locations.

Tonight, stainless steel backsplash on a budget. Check Outwater Plastics for Roll-a-lam...can be cut with a utility knife, so they say. Peel and stick technology at its best, we'll use some liquid nails on the plywood backer just in case.

T minus 30 days

2007-10-31T12:30:00.000-04:00

October 31st, 2007

I apologize for the lack of updates for those of you still checking in...I've been working and not blogging.

Our chimney is about 18" shy of being code compliant, our refrigerator didn't fit in the framed opening, looks like we're going to run out of siding, the refrigerator door arrived with the hinges on the wrong side, the cabinetry opening in the bathroom is too small to fit our cabinet, door hardware isn't in, not all of our lights have shipped yet and I might have to put handrails and guardrails on my basement stair...everything is...well, what I expected at this stage. Lots of little finicky things to focus on right now, nothing too major, perhaps details I'll miss in another 6 weeks when I put this beast to bed.

It's really a great thing to see the floor in the house and watch the minimal details working in concert. I'm obsessing over the lack of cleanliness on-site both inside and out. Maybe it's a control thing. The bottom of the drywall finishing is taking much longer than anticipated and it's keeping us from finish painting the walls, which is keeping us from installing all of the light fixtures. Who wants to paint around hundreds of receptacles, it's much easier to paint before installing the devices.

The siding crew, Bob & 'H' both think the house looks like its clad in corduroy, vertical seams on the roof, horizontal on the wall.

I love corduroy.

Long-house, short-chimney...please fix.

Access panel removed to install the chimney

Inside photos soon, Laura & I will work together (thanks Sophie) for only the second time during the entire project this Thursday evening, stainless backsplash here we come.

Heat this Friday...we need it.

On the inside...

2007-10-19T09:28:00.000-04:00

October 21, 2007
Just days away from the original move-in date...we're not in bad shape, but our boxes are staying put. Our builder offered to split next months rent with us because it's not quite in move-in shape, every little bit helps.

Holding us up...first, the LP gas installer can't make it until November 1st and we really need heat. Second, the floor has taken longer than expected. Be wary of buying things online, a sample doesn't indicate the quality of a full box (or 47) of prefinished floor. They have a good system in place now so we're hopeful by the end of the week we'll have all of the floor in.

The siding install has begun. It's exciting to see the exterior materials coming together. I will say, Hardiplank isn't a replacement for wood siding. You have the option to get the smooth face or the wood-grained face, uh...right, smooth it is. Attaching this siding must be done by blind nailing which leaves the lower edge free to move and expand which means it doesn't always lay totally flat like a true wood siding would. However, it doesn't require any finishing which is wonderful news at this point and a long finish warranty means years of maintenance free use.

On the interior, I've been painting the pocket doors and the pivot doors, love this hardware from Stanley. These will be mounted on jamb-liners to produce a concealed panel look to the doors.

Also, I've been cutting my 16x16 limestone tiles in half to create 8x16s. While I love the look of the 1/2 running bond and the rectangular geometries, it's a huge hassle cutting every tile and the slipped bond makes every cut where it meets the wall different. Day one of tiling I was able to do the prep work, cutting tiles, and the layout and bedding of tiles on one side of the laundry room. Day two, I built the mud base for our shower tray, the walk-off area outside of the shower and bedded the rest of the tiles in the laundry room. I'm thankful I push a pencil around most of the day, tiling makes for sore backs and arms. I'm going to seal the tile as soon as I can and start the waterproofing in the shower and tub/shower areas tonight.

Master shower with deck mud base and walk-off area to the right...

Tile to right side of mudroom, pocket doors on left...

More grainy photography in the mudroom/laundry

Long-on-house, short-on-time

2007-10-16T15:12:00.000-04:00

October 16, 2007
Since we last posted our roof is almost weathertight…the ridge cap is a wee bit small so we’ve ordered another one, in the meantime grace ice & water shield is keeping us dry at the ridge.

The floor installation hasn’t proceeded as smoothly as we would’ve hoped, our contractor contends we’ve purchased a cheap prefinished floor, our wallets think otherwise. After three days of miscommunication and misfires a cork pad mounted to the bottom of the floor nailer solved the problem. Each time they were nailing it was marring the finish. So…up with the damaged boards, down with new, all the while hoping we have enough ‘extra’ to cover the floor. It does call into question the milling tolerances of prefinished flooring. When the tongues and grooves aren’t the same size, you end up with gapping and ultimately more waste and more time picking through the pile of flooring drives up the price. With a fixed price contract that’s okay but in any other agreement it could be more costly than purchasing a higher grade floor.

Cement board underlayment will be installed today at all of the stone tile locations, we’ve been promised a front door today as well. I’ve given up on the bulk of the painting while we wait for our LP gas tanks to arrive and the heating system activated. The exception here are the doors which need paint before our contractor can hang and install the hardware. Slab doors, unprepped for hardware, hinges or locksets…more expensive than prepped doors. Interesting how mass production processes drive the market. We’ll need to install the stone tile before the gas appliances can be delivered, the gas appliances need to be in place before the LP gas line is run on November 1st.

Our trip to IKEA over the weekend was successful. Everything we needed was in stock, only one more trip to replace an incorrectly ordered cabinet…six hours in IKEA is inhumane we were bound to make mistakes. The store in Stoughton, MA is 200,000 square feet of Swedish goodness, and our trip included a full plate of meatballs and a salmon platter. This store is a really a gift to anyone looking to do modern on a budget. Despite your love/hate relationship with IKEA a modest expenditure will outfit your house nicely. We spent more liberally than we thought...thanks to Mom & Dad R. and Dad & Pat G. for your help. Our kitchen will work hard to thank you when you visit.

One of my favorite IKEA picks, AVSIKT doors - frosted glass in aluminum frames

Nights are getting longer and days much shorter, we must be getting close...

Galvalume tastes good

2007-10-10T13:48:00.000-04:00

Galvalume roof

It couldn't be intentional, but a seam centered on our door...I'm beaming.

October 10, 2007
This past weekend we were joined by Kim & Patrick and divided kid and house duties accordingly. Kim & Laura were able to corral the kids while Patrick, myself and Metallica (pre-Black album), insulated the first floor system beneath the radiant heat tubing. This was done ‘on the cheap’ as it wasn’t something I was going to initially install. Per strong advice from my heating contractor I decided it was a good thing to change order before the heating season began and the change order paid for itself in fuel expenditures. From an efficiency standpoint it makes perfect sense, but economics are driving most of our decisions right now. The cheap fiberglass insulation is even more toxic than the pink stuff from Dow, if you can believe that. That expended a good part of the day on Saturday. Our builder joined us for part of the day beginning the metal roof installation.

Sunday we were able to get a single coat of paint on all of the ceilings. The sheetrockers left the entire house primed, which was an immense help, so cutting in and painting (for the moment) seemed like an easy task.

Monday I planned on finishing the ceiling painting but with the flooring installation beginning a day early I bounced around picking off odds and ends for most of the day. I started digging the 50’ trench for the LP gas line between the basement and the tank pads, wondering how Maine was ever known for potato farming and thinking Kennebecs are much better suited to this soil than gas lines.

Our move-in date October 31st…21 days from now…not happening, we know. We’ll have running water, a working bathroom and a partially functioning kitchen by then but we’ve extended our lease by another month to allow for some DIY tiling, the rest of the painting, cabinet assembly, oh…and moving of hundreds upon hundreds of boxes across the island to our new home.

IKEA this weekend...

Color

2007-10-03T14:28:00.000-04:00

With the task of painting squarely in front of us we're moving quickly to finalize the color palette that coordinates with our material selections. It's important to gather all of your materials and look at them together, it's best to do this under daylight if possible. Incandescent light especially when used as the primary light source can distort colors quite a bit.

Clockwise from upper left: Taun, white porcelain, stainless steel, Bateig Azul limestone, cocoa matting, 'Swiss Coffee', 'Granite Boulder' (Behr Premium Plus)

We’re relying heavily on the materials for color in our house, the floor, the stone tile, the countertops so our paint colors are meant to complement those materials not take center stage. Here’s the thinking behind the paint selection process. The dark brown wood in the floor will perform the heavy lifting in our color palette. Visual weight is the key here, the floor will ground the rooms nicely and the wall will provide the contrast and background for the floor. Using a color on the walls would change the value and tone of the floor. With a floor this dark adding vibrant wall color can be a difficult exercise without a lot of experimentation which of course equals time and money.

For the walls and ceilings we chose a classic white (Swiss Coffee - Behr) that will complement the browns in the floor, so while it’s ‘white’ it’s not a super-white. We chose Behr Premium Plus Interior paint in an eggshell finish in two colors, one is the primary wall and ceiling color for all exterior walls the other is a deeper accent color used in select locations. With regards to gloss level, the general thinking is that flat paints (while less expensive) show wear and tear much more readily than even one gloss level up. Eggshell (one gloss level above flat) has a light luster, subtly different but it affects wear and won't marr as easily as flat. Satin borders on semi-gloss, not what we're after. People generally reserve flat for ceilings (to hide imperfections) and semi-gloss for trim for cleaning and durability. No trim here though so eggshell it is.

The second part of our paint palette is the accent color reserved for the center block of rooms and the freestanding wall in the master bath. This is a muted warm grey and emphasizes the inward focus of these spaces The grey color we chose (Granite Boulder - Behr) directly references the stone tile and the stainless accents we have in those spaces, but the walls will be a smooth textural counterpoint to the stone and stainless. White plumbing fixtures pop beautifully on the grays.

Special thanks to my colleague, fiber artist and color authority Jennifer Morrow for her consult and advice.

What is it about the dust?

2007-09-30T21:04:00.000-04:00

Corner bead at typical window jamb/sill

Monday October 1, 2007
As some of the photos clearly show, sheetrocking is dusty business. It's absolutely everywhere. Friday the hanging crew was able attach all of the sheets, save for two or three, Saturday they hung the rest and installed all of the corner beading (the white plastic edges) for mudding against. No trim in our house means lots of perfect corners, that's the way I'm picturing it at least.. The mudding and taping should begin tomorrow.

Living Space looking toward future kitchen alcove

The bedroom photo below shows the technique we're using to eliminate the need for base trim. We've attached a 7/8" pine strip at the floor temporarily which the drywall rests on. This gives an edge to mud against and will be removed after the primer has been sprayed. This allows us to slip the 3/4" thick flooring + rosin paper beneath it and still maintain expansion space and a small reveal above it. I've always felt trim is an unnecessary element, mostly from an aesthetic point of view but as with many things in this process of trying to accomplish something a little out of the ordinary, one realizes the true value of trim. The trim allows the drywallers to be less fussy with what they do at the base of the wall and it automatically creates a space for the flooring to expand, the joint is covered by the trim. I still dislike trim, I'm hopeful the drywall finishing is precise enough to pull this detail off.

Bedroom One

The terrible photo below is of the pocket door tracks installed. The hardware set is by Johnson, ball bearing carriers, extra heavy duty set. We've thrown out the vertical framing members that came with the kit and substituted 2x LSL (laminated strand lumber). Engineered lumber is much stiffer and will keep the pocket from moving over time...don't plan to use any KD Spruce (regular framing lumber) for this type of job, it will move over time and your door won't open. The wall is also a 2x6 wall, not the more typical 2x4 which allows for beefier framing around the opening.

We should be painting by the weekend...and more insulation for the floor system this time. I'm just itching to do more of that.

Pocket door I-track at door head

First day of Fall

2007-09-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

1/2 of our roof...~44 panels

Galvalume Plus, standing seam roof by Everlast Roofing

It always seems Fall suddenly appears...we look up from our busy lives and realize there are leaves on the roads, the evenings quickly dip into the 40s, color shows on the mountains, kids decide what they're going to be for Halloween. This year it's a reminder of just how soon we'll be packing our things again this time moving into our new home. Many steps left though so our focus is on the next set of tasks.

Saturday and Sunday were full days of finishing installing R38 in the ceilings, installing blocking in the walls, and fitting a vapor barrier over the entire roof assembly. Vapor barrier always goes on toward the warm side of the ceiling...this prevents moisture laden warm air from ever getting to the cold air in the attic and condensing.

The insulating marathon behind us, this week should bring some drastic transformations. The metal roof has arrived on site in two crates, it's fared better than most of the items I've taken delivery of lately. I have particularly poor luck when it comes to shipping porcelain, or for that matter, anything breakable...via FEDEX, UPS, or INSERT NAME OF COMMON CARRIER. I received 47 boxes of prefinished flooring today weighing in around 3300#, all boxes were in pretty good shape, the usual ding or open box but overall fine.

The roof install should take place this week, drywall will be hung on Wednesday. The plan is hang everything in one day and begin mudding & taping the following day. They're throwing in a primer coat, we're certainly up for painting but after two weeks insulating sweat equity has an entirely new meaning.

Planning ahead

2007-09-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

Some things to consider when you think you're done insulating...

Where will you put the towel bars, the shower curtain pole, toilet paper holders, wall cabinets, handrails, thermostats, vent hoods, wall hung plumbing, shelving, closet rods?

All of these require different attention to detail. Handrails, towel bars, ventilation hoods, shelving, poles...these all need solid blocking fastened inside of the framed walls. This provides a place to attach the anchoring hardware each of these items requires. For the most part scrap 2x material (2x4, 2x6) will meet the task. Fasten it at the proper height and you'll have no trouble mounting all of your accessories after the sheetrocking takes place. It can be time consuming and forces you to consider finished details at a stage when the house looks quite unfinished but it's worth it to add blocking even if you suspect you might need it in the future, it's inexpensive and allows lots of flexibility. Think about closet walls, shelving locations, soap dishes, hooks for hanging heavy items. There are a few places where hanging a sheet of 3/4" plywood makes just as much sense, esp. if you haven't finalized the layout of particular items. We're doing this on the wall of our mudroom where we know we'll have hooks, shelves, and perhaps a wall cabinet or two but don't know the exact spot where they'll all be placed.

Speaking of vent hoods we're opting for a lower end model with higher end styling from EuroKitchen.com. I purchased it for $329 a few months ago. It lacks the finesse and finished details that a Bosch might have but it's a third of the price, I expected it. The buttons that activate the three speed fan are analog to the core, think of your old tape player - push one button in and the other pops out kind of action. I don't mind it but if you're looking for smooth digital action, this isn't your hood. It claims 860CFM which is more than enough power for our little slide-in range, but I'm doubtful we could stand the noise associated with running it at full speed. The aluminum grease filters are of good quality and it's a listed appliance (UL/ETL listed). Purchasing items on the web can be tricky in that regard, especially when it comes to lighting so be careful, your electrician will be hesitant to install a fixture or appliance that's not listed by a testing agency like ETL/UL. We have to run the ducting in the ceiling space before we finish insulating so this is going over to the site soon.

Finishing up these details before we poly the ceiling over the weekend making way for the sheetrocking next Wednesday.

Unfaced fiberglass insulation batts are little packages of misery

2007-09-17T12:55:00.000-04:00

R-21 walls / R-38 ceilings

Every time I blink my eyes, I'm reminded of the work we accomplished this weekend. It feels like someone has inserted little blankets of steel wool beneath my eyelids. We've certainly gained a strong appreciation for the work we often take for granted, work like insulating a little 1600sf house...with 200 lineal feet of wall.

Ceiling batts, strapping helps keep it place

Batts everywhere

After meeting with Lester, (our foreman & part owner of Cadillac Builders, our G.C), and the electrician, and the plumber, and the bank representative, and some of our new neighbors...Laura & I spent the remainder of our weekend sweating it out installing insulation. The walls seemed easy enough. Place a kraft faced batt in the wall, staple the edges to the studs, and you're done. Then repeat 149 more times...for the walls. Unfortunately, the batts are only 93" tall, the stud bays are 96" tall. Didn't someone, somewhere along the way figure this one out? So, after about 25' you get the rhythm and can make good time, until you get to a window or light fixture, or anything else that obstructs an open stud bay. Then you cut and fit and staple and stuff into little holes. I'm complaining...it's tedious work but just about anyone can do it even an architect. At the end of day one we had insulated 130 lineal feet of the walls, about 70' remain.

David..arm wrestling the propervent - a little fuzzy, sort of how I see things now.

Windows are in

Sunday was a beautiful fall-like day and I really wanted to begin the roof insulation. I was joined by David for the entire morning and we were able to finish the vaulted ceiling area, a huge task indeed. Installing the proper-vent (a foam baffle which maintains airflow from eave to ridge) and two layers of 6" batts, one spanning parallel to the truss, the other perpendicular to it.

The remainder of the day I spent working alone, finishing the master bedroom ceiling, installing the remaining proper-vent, hanging recessed lights, blocking and another 160 lineal feet of attic insulation. I'm a bit ashamed to admit it but the climbing up and down has left me a bit sore this Monday.

We have 7 days to finish insulating the walls, install all of the blocking for the plumbing fixtures and accessories (you need a place in the wall to attach mounting screws), install the ceiling vapor barrier, and foam all of the windows.

...and sleep for a few minutes.

Night work

Dispensing with economy

2007-09-13T12:33:00.000-04:00

We're all fallible. We admit weakness in spending on this light fixture, a 60% discount...we just couldn't help ourselves.

Sistemalux, Modem Small Six (kitchen island pendant)

Design Public, Weegee 14"h /24"d, $240

There are few places we've decided to spend extra on, there's little room for luxury in our home but the dining and kitchen lighting join the stone tile as money we deemed well spent. The challenge for us with our lighting scheme has been bridging the stripped down utilitarian bent of our wall sconces with the more refined palette of the wood floors, the stainless backsplash and the stone tile. Equally there was the problem of the proximity of the lights serving the dining area (a softer, warmer fixture) and the kitchen lights. Both spaces required pendants because of the vaulted ceiling but we wanted the geometry of the two to be noticeably different.

The 'Modem' fixture works on two levels, first it references the industrial detail and color of the wall sconces and second it sets itself apart from the typical 'hang three glass pendants over an island' aesthetic. This also lets us choose a much larger, softer, shaded fixture for over the dining area...make that two.

Of course spending begets more spending and nice light fixtures beg for a nice table beneath them...

Farm Tek

2007-09-12T12:25:00.001-04:00

Repurposing unusual fixtures and materials is a sort of an obsession of mine. I'm not sure these have a place in the Longhouse...but I'm always archiving for future projects. Farm Tek has a deep catalog, lots of potential here...

Brooder lamp holder, $6.95 : Galvanized float bowl, $26.95 : 2" Nylon pulley, $0.95

Quilted insulation curtain (36" wide), $7.23/ft : Galv. tube door frame, $119 : 304 Stainless steel plate molding, 2"x8' (18ga), $10

Plenty of progress to report, more photos soon. All of our windows are in, save for one which mysteriously never arrived. I don't think I've worked on a project where all of the windows arrived on time or without error, consistency is good. The basement stairs are in, plumbing rough-in has begun, the radiant tubing installation is under way and our electrical rough-in continues. Metal roof??? "Next week" ....has a familiar ring doesn't it?

Insulation is being delivered on Friday, Laura & I have a serious two-day date with fiberglass this weekend. The line in the sand is September 24th when sheetrocking begins.

Viking work

2007-09-08T20:58:00.000-04:00

Who better than a Viking to endorse your staples?

September 8, 2007
This guy shows up at our place, dons a tyvek suit and 20 minutes later, rim joists foamed. Honestly I had higher expectations of the DIY kit I bought from Tiger Foam . The real purpose of foaming the perimeter of the building at the rim joist level is to short circuit convective air flow near the radiant heat tubing. This provides a vapor barrier and seals all of the imperfections at the sill plate, as a bonus it gives us about an R-7 at the perimeter. We'll still add a little fiberglass to bump it up to the code required R-11. This kit gave us exactly 200 board feet (1" thick, 12" wide, 200' long) but the expansion was quite a bit less than I expected. I could've used about 25% more to really seal all of the sills to the foundation wall top. The installation though was a cinch and I didn't have to wait 3 months for a subcontractor to show and gum up my entire basement. I highly recommend the respirator and leaving to let it off-gas unattended.

This...plus this...
equals...

I finished the layout for all of our receptacles and light fixtures today as well. Our electrician has begun the wiring and our radiant tubing has arrived as well. Good weather this week will allow us install the metal roof and the windows.

Progress is happiness

We could be 'Greener'...

2007-09-06T17:19:00.000-04:00

a long house, not a 'longhouse'...but so good.

September 6, 2007

No posts for a while means only one thing…no progress. I’ve installed all of the blocking for the light fixtures, did some creative editing with locations under the “I can live with that” mantra which translates to not relocating studs in bearings walls.

Unfortunately, we’re at the mercy of other trades currently. Electricians, plumbers, heating system installers, I’ve heard from each of them these exact words, “I’ll probably start on this tomorrow”, now I’m acutely aware of what it means, next week…maybe never.

So, with a little time to reflect I thought I’d post on ways we could’ve been better stewards of our earth's finite resources.

The best thing you can do from a ‘green’ standpoint is cut your energy consumption. So many people focus on green products as the solution. By cutting your overall energy consumption you’re targeting power demands, the extraction of earth’s resources and the delivery of power and fossil fuels to every corner of the globe. This is where it’s at…if you like straw-bale cabinetry, great...install that too but that doesn’t carry the global weight that reducing your energy consumption might.

Practically speaking, where do you start?

Insulation. Create as tight a building envelope as you possibly can. We framed our exterior walls with 2x6s at 16” on center, setting your framing at 24” on center will not only reduce material needs and labor costs but it will give you more space to insulate. Less wood in the wall assembly (which is only about R-1 per inch) and more insulation means less heat loss. We’re using R-21 kraft-faced fiberglass batts in the wall. It’s standard stock at our local lumberyard and R-21 is required by the International Residential Code. If your budget is bigger than ours, go for sprayed foam, preferably closed cell (about R-7 per inch or R-38.5 if you fill a 2x6 wall), environmental trade-offs here too with off-gassing and nasty blowing agents. Stay away from soy-foam, it may be good for the environment but it shrinks after it’s installed. Fiberglass isn’t exactly a user friendly (or earth friendly) material but there are other batt-type systems out there. A colleague of mine building in Bar Harbor is using this product made from recycled denim and cotton waste to insulate. I could only find it up to R-19 so you’re trading on R-value, but using recycled material and installing it without protective gear has definite benefits.

Building siting. Take advantage of solar radiation and prevailing winds. Heat and cool your house by natural processes and you’ll save energy. If your state has net-metering available within your power grid, you might check these guys out. Basically they install a photovoltaic solar system on your house, maintain it, and you fix a buy-back rate for the electricity you generate for 25 years based on the cost of today’s power rate.

Fixtures. Buy energy star fixtures, low-flow plumbing fixtures. Skip the compact fluorescents, they're loaded with mercury. Use dimmers and cut your power consumption instantly. If you like LED lights, they actually make color-corrected bulbs now that are even more efficient than CFLs.

There are many others, google LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and you'll find a residential pilot program that outlines many areas to target with updated building strategies and technologies.

We certainly could be greener, but the infrastructure is there to support upgrades in the future and you only get one shot at siting your house...at the very least we got that one right.

Metal roof and windows next week…

...or maybe never.

Rough-ready

2007-08-29T14:18:00.000-04:00

Broken pallets = broken tile

August 29, 2007

If a skid of stone tile shows up on your doorstep looking like the above, think twice about signing for it. The shipper's story changed as soon as I signed the waybill about who I contact for a damage claim. Before signing, "contact the shipper's claim's office", after signing, "contact the original supplier". You can imagine what the original supplier said to me. Lesson learned, don't sign if things look sketchy. Looks like they dropped this thing off of a lift somewhere in transit, thankfully only 6 tiles were broken. According to my supplier that's okay because I should've ordered 5-10% more than I needed...yeah right, at $6/sf I ordered about 20 extra square feet, six-16" tiles is 10.6 square feet...see the problem? Being an architect I can order 6 'sample' tiles so if you're ever in a bind...pretend you're an architect, works some of the time. Use terms like AIA, and LEED and you're all set.

While I'm ranting...Here's something I didn't expect my builder to say to me..."Well, if you're particular about where you want your wall mounted light fixtures then you're going to have to install the blocking for the junction boxes. I just planned on mounting them to the nearest stud. That's what we carried in the price." If I'm 'particular'? So the dimensioned electrical plan.... just an idea really, a napkin sketch, a wish list item, not really how I wanted it. It's still early in the project, not time to put up a stink and besides, I want it done correctly. So this weekend with a chop saw and a nailgun I'll be adding blocking between the studs where my sconces will go so the electrician can mount the boxes next week. I'll be tracking my hours so we can have the discussion when the final bill comes in, early winter I expect.

The interior framing looks great and given that two weeks ago I was staring at curing concrete, I'd say we're in good shape.

Kitchen cooking wall

End bedroom looking toward living space

Pocket door to Master Bedroom looking toward living/kitchen

Subdividing the space

2007-08-25T20:11:00.000-04:00

August 26, 2007
I guess from here on out, things start to get smaller on the inside. The photos show a few walls have been framed on the interior. Our builder has laid out the plates on the floor (see the second image below) for many of the remaining walls. To either side of the center of the space will be a hallway which allows circulation at the perimeter of the more inwardly focused spaces of the mudroom/laundry, bathroom and study area. This hallway works to increase the perception of space on the interior, essentially it inverts the typical double-loaded corridor you see in tract housing. Double loaded corridors load rooms to either side of a center hallway.

Bedrooms at far end

Kitchen will be in foreground

Current Partial Floor Plan (eastern half)

We've made some minor changes in our plans for the kitchen. We were determined to make the refrigerator feel more customized and built-in so we added two walls to enclose it and will use a flush panel mdf door on concealed hinges above it to complete the wall. This creates a nice asymmetry to the kitchen and will weight the cooking space differently than the clean up sapce behind it which helps in a small kitchen. We're also making use of IKEA's Grundtal wall shelving in many places, including for dish storage above the cooking wall.

Grundtal Wall Shelving $19.99

Design detail: Eaves

2007-08-23T13:16:00.000-04:00

August 23, 2007
The past few days have been spent preparing for rainy weather forecast for Friday. The roof has been sheathed, Grace TriFlex installed (basically building wrap for the roof), Grace Ice & Water shield at the perimeter, and all of the rafter tails added to make up for the missing truss legs. Small triangular shaped studs were tacked on to the top chord of each truss. This completes our clipped eave profile. Many old farmhouses especially here in New England utilized a version of this clipped eave as a means for preventing ice dams. Uninsulated interior spaces meant a lot of snow melt running off of the roof plane. A minimal overhang meant there was no chance for the melt to re-freeze on a much colder overhanging eave. The inspiration meets reality...our small overhang has been more than doubled by a truss mistake. Such is the messy business of construction. I actually like the proportion of the new overhang though and the critical detail for me is the creation of the knife-edge at the termination of the metal roof, it feels fussed over and direct.

East Elevation

South Elevation

Eave blocking installed

Now that the roof has been made weather-resistant, interior framing can continue inside. The ceiling space has been strapped with 1x2s which provides a place to fasten the sheetrock and will keep the batt insulation in place until the sheetrock has been hung.

Interior walls tomorrow, which will allow the electrical and plumbing rough-in to follow shortly thereafter. Do we really have 8 weeks until move-in?

Yeah, that might be a problem.

Lighting

2007-08-21T10:29:00.000-04:00

Looking around for an economical lighting solution we stumbled across these from a favorite manufacturer of ours, Stonco. We plan to use them as wall sconces at regular intervals in the living spaces mounted with the centerline of the junction box at 6'-0" above the finished floor.

We'll also be using them in selected spaces as uplighting, the bathroom below shows them near the mirror. The lampholder is about $15, the coverplate is $8, all in natural aluminum. Compare with Artemide's Elio...checking in around $800 and we're looking great. Aesthetics aside, I think we'll enjoy the function of these and hardwiring fixtures in the living spaces means we can swap out the fixtures should we tire of them.

40 Trusses

2007-08-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

August 19, 2007
Roof trusses and recessed lights don't work well together. I diagrammed the truss layout for our builder to be sure the two coordinated. If a truss chord aligns with a location where you planned on using a recessed light you can be sure the electrician will find a spot to install it that aligns with absolutely nothing. The trusses arrived configured slightly differently than we planned so a slight adjustment in the soffit overhang will be necessary, a change for the better in my opinion. The top chord of the trusses was supposed to be left 'wild' so our builder could field cut the tail to the length we specified in the detail. They negelected to leave the tail 'wild' which means we'll need to tack on a longer tail. The other addition will be a freize board with a rabbet in it to receive the top 'ragged' edge of the Hardiplank siding. When you cut Hardiplank it tends to leave a fairly rough edge, the trim will hide this and ensure water infiltration won't be an issue.

Next steps: interior framing, electrical, heating & plumbing rough-in, then Laura & I will begin insulating. We couldn't afford sprayed-foam insulation so we're going with faced batts in the walls (R-21) and unfaced in the ceiling with a poly vapor barrier (R-38). The windows are due in this week, the galvalume roofing the first week of September.

Living area scissor trusses

Sig double checking the plans
East End

North Flank - from the septic field

Progress

2007-08-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

August 18, 2007

While I really miss the view to the forest that I've carved out of our four acres, I don't miss the trips to the land seeing nothing but a foundation. We have walls, we have floor decking, soon we'll have roof trusses and while everything isn't perfect...like the housewrap...I'm pleased to be able to walk into our home and in my mind's eye pace through the spaces.

Ready for the roof trusses

Sig, plugged in...

We ordered all of our flooring this week, save for the recessed cocoa matting at the mudroom and entry areas this week. Lead time on both the stone tile and wood floor is about a month. That should give us some time to shop for a tile saw...

Bateig Azul Limestone - 16"x16" honed, (cut to 8"x16")

Teak Stained Taun - prefinished

Tilt-a-wall

2007-08-16T08:16:00.000-04:00

August 15, 2007
One of the two 80' walls has been framed. The plan is to fasten the sheathing while it's on the deck and assemble a mass of workmen to tilt it into place. I double checked all of the window centers and things checked out perfectly. I spend all day fussing over alignments, and happily these guys used my dimensioned plans. The remaining walls will be framed, sheathed and tilted up today and tomorrow. The roof trusses are in at the lumber yard and will be set on Saturday. We're already rethinking a few things on the interior partition layouts. More on that later.

South Wall

Advantech Decking

Framing begins

2007-08-15T09:25:00.000-04:00

August 13, 2007
Our framing start has coincided with some very rainy weather here in Maine. What is typically our the driest month has turned out to be one of the wettest. Monday they were able to level the sill plates, a green plate (pressure treated) on the foundation and a regular plate on top of specifically for leveling irregularities from the concrete pour. In 80' we're out of level by 3/4"...all taken care of by the top leveling plate. They also set the triple 2x12 girder at the center of the 20' span and temporarily braced it. Tuesday they cut all of the concrete filled lally columns and installed those beneath the girder. They're using full 20' 2x8s to speed framing and lessen floor deflection (it changes it to complex beam instead of a simple beam, which reduces the bending on both mid-spans). I wanted to use 2x8s to frame the floor to keep the overall thickness of the floor construction to a minimum, again to keep the connection to finished grade as close as possible. Framing should move along quickly now as the only opening in the floor for the basement access stair has been accounted for and the rest of the floor is straight 16" o.c. sticks.

East end

South Flank

Ready, set, frame.

2007-08-03T08:23:00.000-04:00

Looking East - Master in foreground
Looking West - boys' bedrooms foreground

Progress since last post...
-All slabs poured and foundation backfilled
-Water line routed to basement
-Sewer line connected to tank
-Rough grading complete

Issues...
-The Bilco outside hatchway access seems to be too high to fit the stairs with proper headroom to get into the basement. Hoping they'll sawcut it down by 1' or so to make access less painful.
-The basement slab needs some grinding where they were careless with overspray. Three pours means there's lots of opportunity for this sort of thing to happen.
-Minor crack in the basement slab needs a patch and an additional control joint to be sawcut.

Overall, things look smart. The grading is quite close to how I imagined it, barely any foundation showing. They promise framing this week, but I have my doubts.

Foundation work continued...

2007-07-29T15:30:00.000-04:00

Wall poured, anchor bolts installed

Control Joint Insert

Foundation pre-slab pour, ledge in foreground

Basement Slab - Lift 2 (looking west)

Concrete trucks never leave your site without dumping all of their concrete. If you're lucky it's a 1/4 of a yard or less, however the more they have the more creative they seem to get: see this blog I've been following for a classic example.

Sunday July 29, 2007
This past week's weather didn't stand in the way of progress. Since our last update, the walls were poured, and a few days following the forms were stripped. The basement slab is 75% complete and we have temporary power. We're pouring the basement slab in three lifts because of the irregular terrain and ledge that we encountered. The first pour was the lowest level of the basement, followed by a pour yesterday which isolated the ledge beneath the living room area and created a step up beneath the boys bedrooms to accomodate the rising ledge at the east end of the building site. I expect tomorrow will bring the third and final pour for the slab. The concrete sub has carefully tooled control joints in the floor slab at prescribed intervals to control cracking and we've used a 6mil poly vapor barrier beneath the slab and ledge areas to prohibit migration of moisture. They also used a power trowel on the floor which produces an extremely smooth finished surface. The remaining dampproofing (the black bituminous coating in the photos) will seal out exterior moisture usually wicked in by capillary action.

Things to attend to during your concrete pour...

1) Finished top of wall elevation. Unless you want 4' of wall exposed when you backfill this is a critical thing to coordinate with your builder. We flagged a benchmark on site to be sure we carefully controlled the exposed foundation.

2) Be sure to use control joints in walls and slabs, your concrete will shrink, it needs a place to crack.

3) Drainage beneath your slab and at the entire perimeter is essential, lots of gravel and perforated drain tile will ensure you have a dry basement. We added a drain in the center of the basement slab as well for mechanical drain-downs and unforeseen circumstances.

4) Check your reinforcing. We still utilize the basic concept developed by the Romans today because it capitalizes on steel's inherent plasticity and strength under tension. Concrete works wonderfully in compression, but is terribly weak in tension. The steel is placed in wall locations that maximize it's tensile properties and works with concrete where it is weakest. Two rows of rebar top middle and bottom horizontally and 24" o.c. vertically placed nearer to the inside face of the wall combined with a 10" thick footprint and you have a strong base to build upon.

This week: first floor framing, foundation wall insulation, and backfill. Have to be sure to brace the foundation walls prior to backfilling esp. with such green concrete.

Pouring and curing

2007-07-24T08:06:00.000-04:00

July 23, 2007
The weather was ideal for pouring today. Not too hot, not too cold, overcast skies. Perfect for allowing the cement in the mix to hydrate without the water evaporating too quickly. The reinforcing looked great, anchor bolts were set, all bond outs (sleeves for routing utilities from outside the foundation to inside) were in place. The forms will be stripped in another day or two and following that the concrete slab in the basement will be poured. The concrete will be green for a couple of weeks and the initial cure time is 5-7 days. The mix we're using is a 3000 PSI mix which means if we were to test it at 28 days we would expect it to be able to bear 3000 pounds per square inch. Our concrete supplier typically mixes on the high side achieving an average of 3300PSI at 28 days for a 3000PSI mix. The concrete will continue to cure over a period of a year or more. It's critical, esp. with long walls like we have, to be sure to place control joints in the wall assembly. Control joints are joints tooled into the surface of the concrete (in our case they're small wedges placed on the inside face of the forms every 25' or so). These joints 'control' where the cracking occurs as all concrete will shrink during curing and thus cause cracking.

Only a few items remain for the foundation work to be complete. We'll be waterproofing the outside of the foundation and insulating with 2" polyiso to keep the cold out. The rim joists will receive a 2" coating of closed cell foam we're looking for R-14 and a way to seal off air movement which is the largest factor contributing to heat loss in any space. The radiant tubing beneath the subfloor won't perform very well if it's constantly battling air movement.

Temporary power service is on the way, waiting for Bangor Hydro to hold up their end of deal.

Taking shape

2007-07-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

Looking West

Still working on the reinforcing

add (2) #4s top/middle/bottom

A few more forms to place

One spot of ledge exposed in the basement

Thursday July 19, 2007

We're told the foundation will be poured tomorrow...not sure that's going to happen given the lack of forms, reinforcing, spot footings and two missing corners. The weather might not cooperate as well so perhaps a Saturday pour is the more likely scenario.

We ordered our windows today and expect them to ship from the Andersen factory on August 22nd. Time feels as though it's slipping away. If the pour happens in the next two days, the forms will be stripped early next week and the final slab pour mid-week.

Well, well, well.

2007-07-18T13:58:00.000-04:00

July 17, 2007 : The well has been drilled and preliminary reports from Hillard Walls put it at 140' deep at 12 gallons a minute. That's flow. Just hoping for no iron or radon now.

The tailings are distinctly pink from the local granite.

Sure footing...

2007-07-14T15:41:00.000-04:00

Joel at work

Looking west

Light areas are exposed ledge

75% done by 10am

Resuming work on the longhouse after a week's hiatus, the foundation crew of two quickly formed the footings for our house. We coordinated the final top of foundation height on site to ensure the house wouldn't rise too far above the surrounding grade, we'll know soon enough if our calculations yielded the intended result.

We're told that the footings will be stripped tomorrow and they'll being forming the walls on Monday (July 16th) for a pour sometime next week.

Another unexpected issue arose while on site regarding the power drop from Bangor Hydro. The nearest utility pole sits about 10' beyond our property line. We're obviously not able to run buried service from that pole to our house as we don't own the property. All of this means we need to contact a line company, set a new utility pole on our property which we'll run primary power to, set the meter and continue on to the house with our buried service. Amazing what a straight creosote impregnated limbless tree goes for these days...$1000. It doesn't stop there, if they hit ledge you pay an additional anchorage fee plus guy wires for anchorage. Then the power company adds their $250 fee to 'drop' service to you on the pole that you provide. This will draw down the contingency fund but it's a great case for having one in the first place.

We're quite pleased that the groundwork is progressing and eagerly anticipate the wall pour this week.

Sig, 'throwing metal'

If only they left the keys...

Excavation begins

2007-07-05T12:23:00.000-04:00

Looking East - Master Bedroom in foreground

Excavation for the main volume of the house began on Tuesday and our fears of hitting ledge have been realized. The far upper right corner shows 6' from existing grade to the bottom of the hole (where we hit ledge). That will be taken up by gravel, 1' of footing and only about 5' of wall. The ledge dives down a bit in the center of the house but rises again near the dining room and living area.

Lacking the funds to blast we'll be working with what's at hand, pinning the footings to the ledge and pouring a 2" covering slab over the exposed ledge. We're counting on substantial storage area in the basement so we may raise the building out of the ground a bit more than we had planned. It's important that we maintain 4' of cover on the footings to avoid heaving issues so more fill around the house may counter the raised elevation of the foundation wall.

Hopefully today the last of the digging will take place and we'll have a better idea exactly what elevations we'll be dealing with. It's not the deep full height basement we were planning on but we're hopefully we can squeeze 6' clear beneath the floor framing.

The weather has been great and allowed the foundation contractor to get caught up and we're hopeful the forms will arrive on site soon.

Looking East - Bedrooms at far end

Center of house looking South - more elevation to work with...

Field in the forest

2007-06-27T11:52:00.000-04:00

Field

Insert Tank Here

Wednesday June 27th

The septic field has been installed which consists of 10 concrete end-fed chambers and today the concrete holding tank will be set. We've encountered ledge in many spots but have enough cover to make the tank work. We’ll have to shift the foundation slightly to the west to miss a stubborn knob of granite near the boys’ bedrooms but we’re hopeful that will be the only ledge under the building.

I’ll be setting the height for the top of foundation wall this weekend in preparation for the concrete form-work arriving next week. We’re doing our best to marry the building with the site grading, but given the overall length of 80' it’s a challenge. We have about 38” of natural drop-off from one end of the building to the other and need to swale the water around the house to maintain proper drainage. Ideally, we would be dropping the east end of the building (the boys’ bedrooms) by a couple of feet to keep the west end from becoming a ship’s prow sticking out of the earth. Foundation contractors love dropping 8’ foundations in 4’ holes, which makes their work easier but means a lot more fill to hide the walls. It also means steps to get into the house. We’re trying to preserve the house’s connection to the land by closely tying the existing grades to the imposed order of the house and minimize the amount of fill required.

Next week, foundation. Perhaps.

Fill...in the void

2007-06-22T14:01:00.000-04:00

Driveway Entrance

Approaching the house site

Septic field ahead, Sig to left

Laying out the septic field

After signing our contract last Saturday morning, June 16th, I arrived on Tuesday evening to stack some logs to find the silt fence placed at the perimter of the building site. A phone call from our builder Wednesday morning asking for the building permit assured us they were ready to begin work.

Thursday they roughed in the driveway, grubbed out (removed the stumps) the foundation site and began prepping the septic field. The boys and I made a trip over Friday morning to watch the excavator and met Bruce and 'Duke'. I was politely told that my rather large brush piles would be in the way when they started excavating for the foundation. Coincidentally (wink-wink), Duke owns a chipper and has just enough time in his schedule on Sunday to chip up the piles. After researching how much a chipper rental would cost ($250 + fuel + my time), I decided a not-to-exceed price of $500 to chip everything was a worthy investment. His offer to trade for firewood was less than generous so I decided to keep it for our own use.

Fun with dirt

Henning ran into the forest saying, "He's coming up here, he's coming up here!" when the excavator started up, Sig just kept eating gravel.

Permit, check.

2007-06-07T12:03:00.000-04:00

Three permits actually, building permit, driveway opening permit, and the subsurface wastewater disposal permit (septic system). There are others of course, but no more that we need to coordinate. The plumber will pull his permit when he begins work inside, no electrical permits as is typical in most locales, though the CEO (code enforcement officer) checks for basic National Electrical Code compliance. We're happy to have crossed this hurdle, having checked with the CEO prior to purchasing the land to be sure we could place the house where we wanted to place it, we assumed it was merely a formality but there was an outside chance that something was missed during the intial evaluation.

Had we chosen to let our contractor pull the building permit for us we would've spent an extra $420. The process is straightforward, if you can handle registering your car, you shouldn't have any trouble pulling a building permit, you certainly don't need any special drawing skills, napkins are even acceptable.

Step 1: Any designed septic system will be accompanied by the necessary three copies for CEO approval and will have complete information that the State of Maine requires. You'll pay between $300-400 for the septic design but this is money well spent as the requirements for this permit are specific and tedious. You'll receive the design in triplicate ready for your signature and submission.

Step 2: Building permit application. Find your tax map and lot number, the CEO can then tell you the zoning district you reside in. Each zone has different requirements for setbacks make sure you comply with every single one of these standards. Small lots are usually more problematic in this regard.

Step 3: Driveway opening permit. Fill out the form...no fee, and they have to grant you at least one entrance permit. They'll check the road width and length and be sure you're in compliance with their standards. If your driveway is long beware, you may have to build a much wider road to allow fire vehicles passing space. Sitework is a significant expense so making a road wider by just a few feet will cost a lot of money.

If you have wetlands on your property, be sure to consult with the DEP and your local CEO. The more information you have and they have the smoother the process will go...and get absolutely everything in writing you'll need it. We had no trouble communicating wetland information to the CEO after meeting with the DEP and getting a letter from them stating the outcome of that meeting.

Our next step...sign the contract with our builder and wait for the trucks to arrive.

Blue skies

2007-06-04T12:46:00.000-04:00

Ready for the earthwork to begin

Thanks to many hours of hard work from our friends and three weekends worth of work, we've managed to carve out enough room in the forest to place our house. Until our builder arrives and tells us that we haven't left nearly enough room for their equipment to manuever. Our thanks to Uncle John, Patrick, Gareth & Fengyun for your hours in the forest helping us get the project off and running.

Felling trees without the aid of a chainsaw is considerable work.

After one trip to the hardware store to purchase a wedge, hand axe and a handsaw and one-half hour of hand-cutting, this tree succumbed to gravity.

This doesn't need a caption.

Clearing

2007-05-21T12:34:00.000-04:00

After a long week, we managed to close our land deal on Friday afternoon at 3pm. Before the ink could dry on the paperwork, we began work on our project.

We were joined on Friday evening by Laura's Uncle John who arrived with a toolbox full of toys for our work the next day. In earnest we began clearing in the drizzle on Saturday morning at about 8:30am.

Couple of things to note:
1) If you gaze out upon your forested land and think you don't have much to cut...you're wrong.
2) Driveways are nice, when they're less than 130'.
3) Clearing land by yourself, is impossible.

The building site, before any clearing

Driveway entry, before

Driveway entry, after

One of the early lessons here is to keep your house as close as practical to any pre-cleared roadway. We entered into this thinking we wanted maximum privacy, which remains true but over 100' in the woods off of a private road is more privacy than we know what to do with. We very quickly revised the location of the house to be closer to the private road. The septic field is set, designed and permitted. Had I this to do over, I would've waited until the lot was cleared to spend the $400 to design the septic system. Lesson learned.

Clearing was difficult work. Thanks to John for two days of hard work and to Gareth for his help on Sunday we were able to make great progress this past weekend.

Surveying the drive

End of day one

The Clearing - 2 days in the making

John & Gareth - off gassing

Dowsing for water

Robert Krieg joined us Sunday afternoon to dowse for water. Using his sticks he quickly found a vein of water, denoted by the sticks moving from straight to crossed in a matter of a foot. He'll be back again in another month after the driveway is in place to mark the final drill locations.

House Project : mid-May

2007-05-16T13:07:00.000-04:00

Our closing date has come and gone. We stand in the frustrating position of waiting on lawyers to resolve the details of our land purchase. So we wait...the first in a long line of many delays we know. We've learned a great deal about banks, financing and the business of construction this past month. Our hope with this part of our blog is to document our process and build it as a resource for others in our position, people looking to build a well designed home affordably.

Financing
We're seeking 100% financing, a much more risky type of loan for the banks. The amount we've saved for a down payment is quite modest and not nearly enough to afford us the ability to eliminate Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). Each year that we waited to build or buy a house we were losing out to increased construction costs, inflation, and time we could be spending building equity. Our savings rate didn't exceed any of these factors so the time seemed right. We learned very quickly that excellent credit scores means close to nothing when you're looking to borrow 100% of the amount required to buy land and build a house on it. We were naive...and, having had some time to reflect on it the special treatment we received was the privilege of buying without any personal financial outlay. Having accepted our application and approved us the next step was for the bank to choose an appraiser and evaluate the land, our construction estimates and the building design. When the appraisal was complete, we discovered that the house design was actually a liability. The way this works is this: the appraiser can evalute the submission in one of two ways. The first way is the cost approach, add up the actual costs of building the house add the value of the land and there you have it, the appraised value. The second approach is the comparable sales approach. This method looks at houses in your area that have sold within the last year that are: the same size, same number of rooms, same amenities, same lot size, same design style, you get the idea. The more similar your house is to those that have sold in the past the better chance you have of finding a decent comparable. Our problem was two-fold. One, the housing market has cooled considerably in the past year and two, our design isn't like other houses in many ways. We're trying to be efficient with space and money. We've kept a single bathroom in the entire house because we felt we couldn't afford the second bathroom. We've kept the size down and amenities to a minimum and chose to spend our money on quality materials, efficient heating systems and good insulation. Many appraisers don't reward for those things, ours certainly didn't. Needless to say, our appraisal came back significantly lower than what we were expecting which did two things. First, we couldn't borrow what we were looking for and second, the PMI payment skyrocketed because now the loan to value ratio was out of whack with the appraised value. The appraiser found the land to be valued at a higher amount than we paid for it but the house was valued at less than what it would cost us to build it. At this point we found out that the appraised value is what sets the PMI payment for the life of the construction loan (12 months) so even if the appraisal came back much higher after we were complete with the house and we were able to adjust the PMI down, we still had 12 months of PMI payments that weren't reducing principal or doing anything of use other than making the bank feel better. Here again, excellent credit scores...no value.

Thankfully, using a local bank has many advantages and this was a time where it paid off. The bank was able to reduce our risk rating and work out a PMI premium that seemed equitable. Overall, the appraisal process was a difficult one. We had to evaluate the house in a new light now. We viewed it throught the lens of an appraiser. I think this is a mistake many first time home buyers make, not understanding that it's the market that determines what's valuable, not you. This is a real frustration as the market needs some lessons from a good designer but we're working on that. We'll be adding the second 'market-preferred' bathroom to change the comparables that we'll be using for the final appraisal. We're optimistic that the appraiser didn't see many things that will be manifested in the full scale version of our plans and that in the end we'll scrape up a little equity along way.

Some of the other things we've been thinking about...

Design
Our design from the outset looked to utilize a 4' module drawn from common dimensional lumber standards. This allows us to minimize waste, eliminate labor costs for cutting irregularly shaped materials and pick from readily available off-the-shelf materials. We also agreed that minimizing the amount of structural work would save us money which suggested a single floor living concept. We knew keeping a simple shape would allow framing to proceed quickly and further limiting the width of the structure to 20' allowed us to use 2x8s for the floor framing with a simple girder system. The 20' width provided for generous proportions in the all of the rooms even given our small footprint, and allowed us to keep most spaces one room wide allowing natural light into the entire depth of the plan. Developing served and servant spaces demarcates use and activity zones and we've separated the core support services into a block in the center of the plan allowing for circulation at the perimeter. This circulation zone, while seemingly a waste of space in a small plan contributes to the appearance of a larger grouping of spaces and eliminates the double-loaded corridor so often utilized in modular homes.

The section above is taken at the living area where we chose a scissor-type truss to further expand the interior dimension. The entire roof will be trussed as that's the most economically feasible thing to do but surprisingly the attic-type truss (which allows for storage above the ceiling) is almost twice the price of the scissor-type so we've used those on the ends of the building where we can store items above the bedrooms.

Energy Efficiency
Siting our house was an extremely important exercise. This can be the single largest contributor to energy efficiency along with the amount and type of insulation you add to your home. We've sited the house with the long axis oriented East/West. This allows the long flank of the south wall to collect daylight and insolation (solar heat gain). We can't afford the most efficient form of insulation today, sprayed-foam (R7 per inch), but opted to bump up the standard R19 in the walls to R21 for very little additional cost. Where we can afford it, we'll be using Energy Star appliances and the programmable digital thermostats will setback the temperature for us. The heating system also contributes greatly to the overall efficiency of our house and with an outside air setback sensor which modulates the boiler firing to limit the energy we expend on warm days.

Mechanicals
We initially assumed a radiant floor system was out of reach for us financially, however, with the advent of new heating technologies and the market permeation of PEX tubing we've settled on a non-traditional radiant floor heat system. The plan is to utilize two tankless hot water heaters , one for the domestic hot water, the other for the radiant floor heat. The boilers average about 85% efficiency and produce hot water only when demanded. No tanks to store hot water, no reheating, recycling, or firing all day long when no one is there to use hot water. Life-cycle payback times approach less than two years in many cases. Because we have two heaters ours may be a little longer, but given the rising rate of energy costs the payback times are shortening weekly.

Our wood stove allows us to streamline the heat loss calculation and keep the equipment sized at an absolute minimum. The stove is designed to release only as much CO2 as a log naturally decaying in the forest would.

N44°34.619, W068°38.560

2007-05-16T12:52:00.000-04:00

Laura & I have been hard at work finalizing the building plans, talking with the builder, the bank, and permitting agencies. From the coastal map of Maine, the lot sits on the western side of Mount Desert Island about one mile south of pond's end (Long Pond).

Locus Map

Aerial Photo

Directly across the street from us is part of Acadia National Park , and the 5 lot subdivision is bordered on the northeast by Acadia National Park as well.

The Longhouse

2007-05-16T12:24:00.000-04:00

Excerpted from Wikipedia: "Longhouses were built by native peoples in various parts of North America, sometimes reaching over 100 meters long (330 ft) but generally around 5 to 7 meters wide (16-23 ft). The construction method was also different: the dominant theory is that walls were made of sharpened and fire-hardened poles (up to 1,000 saplings for a 50 meter house) driven into the ground with their tops bent over and tied to the poles of the opposite wall. Strips of bark were then woven horizontally through the lines of poles to form more or less weatherproof walls with doors usually in one end of the house, although doors also were built into sides of especially long longhouses. "The Iroquois who lived in New York and Ontario built and lived in longhouses. Longer than they were wide, these longhouses had openings at both ends that served as doors and were covered with animal skins during the winter to keep out the cold. On average a typical longhouse was about 80 feet long by 18 feet wide by 18 feet high (24 x 5.5 x 5.5 m) and was meant to house up to twenty or more families. Poles were set in the ground and supported by horizontal poles along the walls. The roof is made by bending a series of poles, resulting in an arc-shaped roof. The frame is covered by bark that is sewn in place and layered as shingles, and reinforced by light poles." With a few slight differences, this has served as the inspiration for our first home. No bark on the exterior, no 20 family minimum occupancy, you get the idea. We think we've found a suitable piece of the Maine wilderness to construct our longhouse, and we've been speaking with a builder in Bar Harbor to define the finances involved. We're excited by the promise of building and our design has been driven by economy which has historically produced some great buildings, refer to almost any of FLW's Usonian houses. We have some interesting ideas that this house will be exploring and it's our hope to use the blog to document our progress and share those ideas as they develop into our new home.