Today's progress...

Today was crazy at the job site...the framers will finishing up, plumbers were bringing the lines thru.... I met our contractor there to discuss some details that needed addressing. We ended up leaving the vault in the master bathroom instead of having it framed with a flat ceiling. Hopefully it will make it seem larger.

Another last minute change: the engineer put in a beam right in the middle of the kitchen wardrobe/closet separating the mudroom from the hallway. Originally it was supposed to be open at the top but now we will have to close it in. One advantage is that we have to shorten the closet so it will give us more walking space between the kitchen and hallway.

Yet another issue was the window in the master closet. It was spec'd too large so the closet will come right up to the window edge which will make it hard to open the door. We have Lori at Alpine working on alternative solutions without doors for the ends of the wardrobe wall.

Tomorrow we are meeting with Joe, our electrician, to do a run through for lighting. We just found out this afternoon that we needed to do this asap. Everything is moving so quickly that its hard to keep up. Luckily our contractors (Aaron, Todd, Josh) have level heads, reminding us constantly that not everything is a crisis situation code red.

Still Framing....

Some days I think its detrimental to our mental health to visit the site everyday...The other day we had framing issues, Friday saw the electrical box in a weird location, Saturday saw the trusses overhanging the small box when they should be flush to the wall and Sunday brought the installation of the gutters. Yes, that's right...they installed the gutters on the bare wall while they were still framing. By Sunday night Jason and I were so tired of hearing the comment "I can't believe they installed gutters while they are still framing the house!" We couldn't believe it either.

This weekend we went to Ferguson to pick the plumbing and to ProSource to drop off the sample chart for rubber stair treads. We made some changes in our plumbing selections from what we posted on the blog earlier. Changes included dual flush toilets from Kohler (for more GreenStar points), a Kohler Archer tub and simple shower faucet set from Delta for the 2nd bath, Kohler Oblo controls for master shower, Delta kitchen faucet with low flow aerator instead of Hansgrohe.

For the stair treads, we are going with Raised Square rubber treads from Johnsonite in Storm Cloud or Medium Gray. Prosource is ordering samples for us.

We Have Walls!

Floor trusses up

Jason enjoying the view out our front window

Today, all the exterior walls are up! Framing is supposed to be completed by Saturday. So many decisions to make as our timeline speeds up. We need to finalize and order plumbing, select an alarm system and choose were we want our whole house speakers placed...to name just a few tasks...



While the focus right now is on the interior, we met with another landscape designer tonight. He seemed to really understand our functional needs for each individual section of the yard. Making a decision will be hard.

Backfilled today

Jason looking into our basement

The backfilled hole

View from the back

Our back yard (anyone want a birdhouse?)

Now that the hole was backfilled, we were able to walk right up to our house. It really feels real now. The backyard is small but not that bad. The side yard is tight but workable....we will need to be careful how we orient the steps. As you can see in the photos, the foundation is slightly higher so we could keep the basement windows above grade. This should increase the light coming into our basement. Unfortunately, space is at a premium on the north side by the egress windows. If we put a fence up there might not even be enough space to mow grass. We might have to put in flagstone pavers with pea gravel or grass

Progress in the Hole

Wall Forms

Wall Forms removed, waterproof coating applied, insulation going on

Egress Windows

Flooring....

We met with Chris from City View Hardwoods @ T&G Hardwood to pick out our floor. Decided on the following (for entire first floor except bathrooms):

Ashawa Bay Engineered Wood
4" White Oak unfinished (custom site stain)

The stain will be like a black-espresso color to contrast with the white walls.

For the steps going to the basement, we want to do something a little different (although we've seen it in a few mod homes in our area) by using rubber coin stair treads in either black or graphite, instead of a stained hardwood tread. Aaron had a fantastic idea to use metal - either stainless like we are using for backsplash/toekicks in the kitchen or perhaps a galvanized sheet - for the risers. Should be fairly economical but look phenomenal!

Basement Wall Forms

Not much happened today...forms for the basement walls were placed in the hole. Tomorrow they set up the forms and pour the walls. Apparently, with these particular forms, one side has a brick pattern while the other side is smooth. Aaron gave us the choice to have it on the inside or outside. We considered the inside but once I saw the pattern on the forms, I knew the pattern is going to have to be on the outside. Since we are insulating the exterior of the basement walls we would rather see the smooth surface on the inside, especially since we hope to keep some cement wall exposed for decorative effect.

Final and Full Permit Approved Today!

Thanks to our builder for all their efforts in getting our permit approved. Its been a frustratingly long process for all parties involved but because of Aaron/Todd's quick responses to the City's every whim, we've finally received our full permit.

Footings Poured

No rain so footings were poured today! Its fascinating to see the outline of our house, but it looks so small. The drain tile is apparently built into the footings. My dad got the tutorial from the guys doing the work, sounds pretty interesting. The basement walls should be up by Wednesday. The time is going to roll right by now.

Big Dig Complete

It took 4 days but the hole was finally completed on Friday. All next week should be fantastic weather but you never know. The footings are scheduled to be poured tomorrow. If all goes well, our basement will be done by the end of this week.

Also up this week: meetings with Chris from City View Hardwood for our floors and with Matt from Rosenlof-Lucas for potential landscape design.

The Big Dig Wasn't So Big After All...

With all the obstacles of the first day (slow digging due to not enough trucks, dirt being hauled to Stillwater...), the second day brought a solid 24 hours of heavy rain. The third day (today) saw no digging at all due to 10" of standing water. We hope tomorrow sees the last of the digging as well as the footings poured. But really, who knows what tomorrow brings? Its always something unexpected...

Plumbing Fixtures

Here are some of our plumbing fixtures:

Kohler Cimarron 1-PC Toilet (1.6 GPF)
Chord sinks for master bath (with single faucet hole)
Purist single handle faucet (Brushed Nickel)
Watertiles (qty 3 ) for the master shower (Brushed Nickel)

Low Flow Options for Water Conservation

Roxanne (from ecodeephaus blog) gave a great suggestion to go to the vendors for options so I dug out my Kohler Faucets and Accessories book. Low and behold....low flow aerators were available for all of my Purist faucets. Water flow is restricted from 2.2 GPM to 1.5 GPM....all for the low price of few dollars!

So now we need a low flow showerhead, however, most options are not that attractive for the modern aesthetic. Searching through the Kohler book, I found the MasterShower Relaxing 3-Way Eco Handshower with a flow rate of 2.0 GPM, down 0.5 GPM from their regular lines. Is 2.0 GPM enough to be considered "eco"? Not sure...but I do know that the low flow showerhead used in Motel 6s is the most painful showering experience so maybe the 2.0 GPM is a nice compromise!

Photos from the Big Dig

MN GreenStar

We got the go-ahead last week from GreenStar but need some additional points in Water Conservation. One of the ways is to do low-flow plumbing fixtures and dual-flush toilet. Will have to do more research on this. Any ideas?

The Big Dig

We got the excavation/foundation portion of our permit from the city on Friday so today was the day: the big dig. It started early but got off to a slow start. The excavation company only had two trucks which then hauled the dirt across town to Stillwater. Our contractor was finally able to summon up more trucks in the afternoon. That helped tremendously. At the end of the first day most of the area was dug out but it was only 3'-4' deep. Tomorrow the digging should be finished. Hopefully, the rain will stay away so we can start the footings.

Jason and I have never so excited to see a hole dug in our entire life. Now if we can get the rest of our permit approved....(need more info on the beams).

Will post photos when I find the camera...