Good morning all NSTAR might be coming in the near future – but I am starting to wonder if Paul will be able to get the Generac placed and running before they get organized and arrive – lol There have been some beautiful fall days here in New England and the weather, on average, has … Continue reading “Insulation is in and the concrete team produce a work of pure artistry”
Good morning all
NSTAR might be coming in the near future – but I am starting to wonder if Paul will be able to get the Generac placed and running before they get organized and arrive – lol
Paul’s Kubota tractor and a warm sun shining. The tractor is for leveling and lowering the grade in the garage in preparation of pouring the concrete floor
There have been some beautiful fall days here in New England and the weather, on average, has been very mild. There has been some frost and some rain, but not very much so far. The picture above gives a good feel for it. Paul and his team have continued to be very productive in this environment
The orange Kubota tractor was onsite to do some site leveling but also mainly to lower the grade of the garage. The original Deck Acorn plans called for a 7′ garage entrance. Paul thought I would like a 7′ 6″ entrance better (and the subsequent lower grade) and he suggested we lower the planned height of the floor. This gives the building less of the planned linear flow horizontally – but we looked at the ground and realized it just felt better in terms of the grade of the overall property, and while 6″ doesn’t sound like much, it means that the interior of the shop is now an 8′ ceiling AND we don’t need a concrete ramp up to the garage once the final grade is done (which we were afraid would crack in the future).
The concrete team did an AMAZING job. I was assuming I would need to put down a layer of epoxy or a product I saw on Jay Leno’s Garage webseries – SwissTrax. My Dad’s shop has a rough concrete floor and it is very difficult to keep swept up and clean. However, my new shop floor is already like a crystal still millpond – it is fantastically smooth and even. They did an phenomenal job on it and on the concrete pad for the Generac generator (which I forgot to take a picture of yesterday).
I really, really like it. I may still put something like SwissTrax or padding down, but for clean up purposes, I think we are good to go!
On other fronts, the insulation is blown in (two stages – a foam sealer and then standard pink fiberglass). This includes the work under the house – though everything, inside and out still needs to be closed up. The ducting and exit of the bathroom fans into the underside of the roof was also completed (so they do not have to pierce the roof itself)
Whoops – I forgot to show you what is behind the pink fiberglass – an hard foam product that blows in and cures very hard. They also put in fire stop on the poke throughs
Fall has started to arrive in Carlisle and it is a misty Saturday here. Things are continuing to move apace at the job site. As you can see below in the pictures, things have moved forward quite quickly during the week, with lots of progress on the electrical, sprinkler system, fireplace and the cedar siding … Continue reading “Fall 2015 in Carlisle – a short construction update and other things”
Fall has started to arrive in Carlisle and it is a misty Saturday here. Things are continuing to move apace at the job site. As you can see below in the pictures, things have moved forward quite quickly during the week, with lots of progress on the electrical, sprinkler system, fireplace and the cedar siding – all moving simultaneously.
I did a mid-week update here. Below is a latter shot my Dad took (the date stamped photo) and the rest are from today, Saturday 10/3. You can see how things are really moving along!
Finally, I remembered that I had some shots I took last weekend when my Dad and I went to go look at the dam at Greenough Pond. The Greenough Land is a very large conservation parcel (200+ acres) owned by the Carlisle Conservation Foundation (a conservation non-profit that also owns the abutting land next to my parent’s house). My parents were involved in this purchase in 1973. I remember as a kid, helping Peter Webster (he and his family lived there at the time and were farming it.) bring in the hay from the fields several times. I have a very strong memory of riding across the top of the dam on the fender of his John Deere tractor with other kids scattered all over and several large loads of hay bales on the trailer – we were heading to the old barn across the pond. This barn is still there, probably thanks to its slate roof, but is pretty beat up now since it has not been in use for several decades – the town has recently decided to tear it down. But a really special property and I have a LOT of great memories of hunting for frogs and turtles here as well as hoisting hay bales, jumping from the rafters into giant hay piles and just enjoying the summer.
I have also included a snipped picture of what the Barn used to look like – from the cover of the very interesting (at least to the locals – lol) retrospective of The Mosquito. If you are reading this and are not from Carlisle, The Mosquito is the local town newspaper – its very name gives you a good idea of the local proportions of dry land vs wetlands!
Deck house is known for their classic cedar tongue and groove vertical siding – there was a bit of a delay for installation as we were waiting on delivery from California. But it is here and going up and my Dad caught a shot of it today. Tyvek vapor barrier and then the siding is … Continue reading “As we move into Fall, exterior stuff is happening”
Deck house is known for their classic cedar tongue and groove vertical siding – there was a bit of a delay for installation as we were waiting on delivery from California. But it is here and going up and my Dad caught a shot of it today.
Tyvek vapor barrier and then the siding is going up as of this morning – some of which has already been trimmed
Chimney is progressing too – looks fantastic!
ok – the word has been passed – pasta is ready – a more substantial update over the weekend hopefully 🙂
Chimney stack going up – the roof is now penetrated and the exterior, above roof line work is going to be proceeding soonTyvek vapor barrier and cedar siding going up
My prior post on the electrical, fireplace, kitchen and bath details grew into a monster of a post – so I decided to leave out my thoughts on why and how did we get here? and instead break them out into this post. This photo on Houzz.com early on became one of the design touch … Continue reading “Kitchen & Bath design thoughts and other things”
This photo on Houzz.com early on became one of the design touch points when I was talking about the layout of the house with Deck. It had the traffic flow layout that I was looking for and it just seemed “right” to me. The house entry is on the left, the kitchen and casual eating area is in the center, and off to the right, is the traffic flow to the private side of the house. This is actually how my house is now laid out – it fits the site well in terms of orientation and ground slopes.
Last week, when we were looking at the giant beam over the center of the kitchen, talking about roof penetrations and other things, Paul mentioned down draft ventilation and his personal good experience with it at his house. That triggered the changes to the layout described in my prior post. The main thing was the deletion of the overhead stainless hood/ventilation system. While talking with Shelby at the design center I realized that, because of the light in the Houzz picture, the hood wasn’t very ‘present’ – so what we are doing comes even closer to what the mind’s eye imagines when looking at the Houzz photo.
We are going to do a white subway tile with an accent color – probably orange or red – not the mix and match in the Houzz photo. The hanging rectangular light fixture will still be made – Paul is going to construct it from maple wood and hang it from cables.
It is interesting how we are getting closer to the feel that the photo evokes even as we in reality depart from it!
In the bath, I really was not interested in having a tub for my everyday usage – I can’t remember the last time I took a bath and I really, really don’t like how water always leaks around a shower curtain into parts of the bath that are not designed to be water proof. So the master bath is being designed for showers only and will have a walk in shower structure. Again in white subway tile but with some sort of accent color. Both bathrooms are specifically designed to not be large and opulent show spaces – mostly because I don’t spend much time getting ready for the day and this way, on cold winter days, they will heat up easily (plus – as part of my design philosophy of putting all the utilities and mechanicals in the core, they shouldn’t get too cold!).
Finally – ceiling fans. One thing occurred to me this month – the sprinkler system is going to be pretty high up near the ceiling – and on a series of really hot days, it could get pretty hot up there – which is probably not good long term for the wax in the sprinkler heads. So I thought about re-circulation. We have near ceiling make up air for the geothermal heating system but a fan may still be a good idea – hence pre-building a mount point.
Finally – while we were wandering around the site yesterday, the Fields (my neighbors and the good folks who sold me the land) dropped by. I had never met them so it was very, very nice to finally speak with them. Their son Chris informed me that he was the one who spoke with Comcast when they quoted $65,000.00 for cable to be dug and run to all the houses on our common drive. Apparently also, if I had a land line put in, Verizon is no longer selling DSL internet service. So, in order to get internet service, I either need to spend uber money on a conduit from the street or go with a service that provides structured internet via the cell network – like this one from Verizon. Essentially they mount a commercial antenna on the outside of your house and you can sign up for 10, 20 or 30GB of data per month. I am thinking I will go this way – at least for awhile – maybe Verizon will bring FIOS to town at some point in the future. I would do satellite for TV services.
As the house comes together and there is more to see, I am going to start working on a post about the design process and influences. More on that in the coming months.
Very busy week this week on the job site for me – we went through a lot of decisions as Paul had me meet the Electrician and the Mason (again, I am terrible with remembering names on the first meeting and I have forgotten them – sorry) and on Friday morning I went up to … Continue reading “Electrical decisions along with Kitchen & Bath design”
Very busy week this week on the job site for me – we went through a lot of decisions as Paul had me meet the Electrician and the Mason (again, I am terrible with remembering names on the first meeting and I have forgotten them – sorry) and on Friday morning I went up to Amherst New Hampshire to finalize the kitchen and bath built in designs.
Electrical
The electrician walked us through in a very, very thorough, but efficient manner, the electrical layout. I came onsite at 7:30am on Monday and he and his team had clearly been onsite for quite awhile as he had put in the rough ins for electrical power every 12′ feet in each room and had marked out locations for switches. Also he had identified areas he needed decisions on. Fantastic stuff and we worked through things effectively I hope
Inside the house, some of the key decisions we made were:
confirmation of the power outlets along the walls of each room (and wall switches too)
two in floor, flush mount, under floor power outlet boxes/ canisters s in the middle of the great room – location and type to be determined later (like Hubbell SystemOne? or the Legrand Evolution? or Steel City?)
Quad electrical outlet box near the computer setup
Where ever possible we will do LED lighting
decision to have no over head built in lights in the bedrooms – wall outlet driven only. Which then drives the switched/not switched circuits.
Wall lighting in the hall.
No in ceiling lights in the cathedral ceiling space – all track lighting. We will have 3 main tracks above the main beam in the living room. A track above the beam over the kitchen sink. And if I remember properly, a track in the main entry hallway.
An electrical box for a ceiling fan in the middle of the living room
Kitchen cabinets will have under cabinet lighting
Location of the main panel to be in the equipment/utility room
And probably some other stuff that I am failing to remember sitting here at my keyboard
aaaand I did forget – Panasonic vent fans for the bathrooms – which apparently will be designed to run all the time as per the ‘stretch code’ that lots of towns are going to. I wonder – can we vent this under the house like the kitchen ventilation – and eliminate another penetration of the roof?
We then moved outside
Location of in ceiling lights, on sensors, in the carport – for those after dark arrival home from work in the winter
Flood lights on all sides of the house – some switched only, some on sensors
Addition of a 50 amp, 3-phase panel in the garage (for arc welding and anything else that needs heavy output
electrical outlets in the garage every 12 feet.
Power for twin tracks of lights (florescents probably) in the ceiling of the garage
Miscellaneous
External electrical power outlets on the garage wall in the car port
External water spigot in the garage wall in the carport (for easy access to all sides of the house
under house flood lights – switched and external power socket – for late night retrieval of items from under the house, critter removal and general interesting look
location of the generator and propane behind the garage, on the down hill side
wiring for lamps along the driveway
A lot of stuff – fortunately he was taking notes on the studs as we went and it was mostly pretty standard stuff. Also, I almost forgot – Paul and I discussed that the plans call for a 7 foot garage door – he proposed going to a 7′ 6″ door, and lowering the level of the concrete slab for more clearance and headoom. This would also eliminate a concrete ramp up to the garage door. This all sounded great to me – less site work and mounding of dirt and gravel, the ramp would crack and break anyway and more room sounds awesome. Paul is going to take a machine in and remove some of the gravel from the garage.
Masonry
On Thursday morning, I met with the mason, who Paul has worked with extensively and who has done several Rumford Fireplaces. The fireplace is a 36″ Superior Clay design, and as you can see in the pictures below is tilted slightly towards the center of the room. We decided on a traditional concave grout contour, the fact that the chimney should be square on its self – so it would be at an angle to the room with 90 degree corners. We did a last second addition of a bluestone cap on the top of the chimney as an anti-icing attempt (plus it will look good I think – a nice capping horizontal line.
Kitchen & Bath
Finally, I went and met with Shelby Brown at Fairview – the kitchen designer Paul recommended. Finally I remembered someone’s name (but I do have her business card so it is hardly fair – lol).
In in prior post, I noted that we eliminated the overhead ventilation hood – by doing a downdraft cook top and venting under the house. That freed up some new thoughts – often a dangerous thing!
I pulled out my copy of Atomic Ranch’s book on mid-century modern interiors (ISBN 1423619315) (which as an aside, is a great book. So is their other book and their magazine). There is a Eichler remodeled house with a fantastic kitchen in it (Shelby has my copy of the book – a new one is on the way!) – so I can’t give you the page number. However it had a few interesting features that I have now blatantly stolen
In their kitchen, same as mine, the island is an eating area, with a stone counter top – to support an extended off the end overhang, there is a drilled I-Beam for counter-lever support and the cabinets have aluminum picture frame faces with a translucent pebbled glass main surface.
We are going to riff on this – I found online aluminum I-Beams at Onlinemetals.com and they were cheap – so I ordered two 7 foot lengths of 6 inch I-Beams – so we can screw up without having to wait for more delivery. We are going to weld on a 1/4″ aluminum plate to spread the support out and use it to support the countertop weight off the island at the opposite end of the island from the cook top. To provide visual balance, from the living room side, we added one small cabinet that is aluminum with a pebbled glass front. The rest of the cabinets are all maple. I am sure this is impossible to visualize without a picture, but I am hoping it will look really neat and it should be very functional. My Mom pointed out that if you are eating near the cook top, that may not be super nice – so we are placing at the end of the island and the seating clustered around the other end
So – kitchen decisions:
Cabinets are Decora – all maple with a 45 degree bevel on the edges. Slab sided (ie – flat on the front). The aluminum single cabinet tie in with the I-Beam is also Decora
Counter top is Quartz – London Fog (or London Sky – i am unsure of the manufacturer.) Quartz is 95% ground quartz and 5% resin – so you get a strong but less brittle than stone, slab that is very even – an engineered product. It does not require sealing and is very heat resistant (but not as much as stone – so a trivet is recommended). The counter top should look something like this Ceaserstone online sample and will go well with the raw aluminum elsewhere
The island will be lower than normal – regular table height (29″ vs normal 36″) – so you can eat at the island while sitting in a regular chair instead of on a stool. It should seat 5 or 6 people
Layout wise, along the wall, it will be, from left to right: dishwasher, sink, refrigerator, stack of wall oven and microwave. Cabinets on the wall bracketing the sink.
Bathroom decisions:
Each bathroom is going to have a floating vanity – I unfortunately have forgotten the make and model.
Miscellaneous:
To help fund the changes in the kitchen, we decided that I will self provide furniture around the computer/office.
I will ask Paul to build in the computer desk however – just to have something to use right out of the gate.
Initial layout of the fireplace – which includes a cold air intake and ash dump in the hearth floor into the chimney stack. There is a door into the chimney stack, under the house, for removing ashes. I have never used a fireplace with features like this before – I will need final instructions before using!The Rumford Fireplace taking shape. The hearth will be a piece of bluestone. Note the chimney is square but is at an angle in the corner – Deck House designed it this way in order to angle the fire more towards the room instead of just sitting in the cornerLots of raw materials! Paul put a temporary beam under the house to help carry the load presented by the materials that will eventually make up the chimney stackThe view from the entry, across the future kitchen and into the computer/office area on the left and the living room on the right6″ Aluminum I-Beam for supporting the island counter top via cantilevering. I think we will weld on a 1/4″ aluminum plate to the top of the I-Beam for greater coverageThe north side sliding half height windows are in – they are very smooth operatingThe wall of windows along the front of the house. Note the windows down low will open out (they are in the garage drying after being stained). Floor registers on this side of the house for the forced air heating are visible to the left of the insulation – the square cut out. There will be floor mounted power outlets in this areaThe orange PVC piping is the sprinkler system. We are going to paint the exposed portionsMore sprinkler pipe workOverhead forced air heating in the bedrooms. Paul, the electrician and I decided that we would have lighting only come from wall outlets – no in ceiling can lights in the bedrooms since the ceiling heights are not super high – the lack of spread makes it not worth whileScaffolding and materials for the exterior chimney. Brick, with a top mounted gasketed chimney flue. We decided on the spot to add brick columns and a blue stone top stone over the chimney to try and avoid the flue from icing up in the winter. It should look good as well. Hopefully not too expensive an add!The backside of the house. Paul, the electrician and I decided on adding flood lights and power under the house – for getting at stored items while it is dark out and potentially interesting lighting effects during the winterA quick jump over the silt barriers and a new perspective of the house. It is looking great
A bare bones update – more of a list of things that I have decided on or need to finalize with Paul tomorrow morning. New London Style Pizza is waiting – so this is going to be fast Roofing: Everlast 24 Gauge Architectural Series – color: SIERRA TAN Appliances: – all from the great folks … Continue reading “Weekend update 2 – appliance decisions and other stuff”
A bare bones update – more of a list of things that I have decided on or need to finalize with Paul tomorrow morning.
Appliances: – all from the great folks at Hunter Appliance (they were excellent. They have a very, very good service department so they can really speak to how well does a product install, run and service. Reliability is important to me so we oriented that way and did a lot of mix and match of manufacturers). Many, many thanks to my salesman Howie – he really took the time to listen and took the time to explain why he was recommending each item.
KitchenAid 30″, 4 element cooktop with central down draft ventilation. This was not onsite when we were there – they had just sold their last one. However, this link here shows basically the same thing. model KECD807xBL ( all black – no chrome surround)
SpeedQueen washing machine – top loader – not sexy or elegant but the only choice if you want reliable AND a top loader according to Hunter. They said it is this or go European front loader. Model AWN432SP113TW0 (white)
Wiring the living room for ceiling lights and fan(s). I am worried it will get very hot at the top of the ceiling (I am not sure where the make up air intake will be for the furnace?). Lighting up there will be some sort of track lighting. As far as fans go – I am looking at these: the Big Ass Fans, Haiku series – in polished aluminum
For electrical outlets & random stuff – that will be a discussion with the electrician – but I, if possible my “would like to have” list of things and other randoms is below
4 way receptacles – since every wall receptacle seems to instantly acquire a power strip to be able to service more items
flood lights outside
external power receptacles in the car port (garage side)
some capacity for network Cat6 cabling
a home base for electronics in the garage or pantry? aka – server room
the potential to run multiphase power in the garage for MIG welding using medium duty welders
Finally – cabinetry
Paul has two designers and I like portions of each one of their designs – but the change from a ventilation hood to a down draft system has created possibilities – I have some ideas that I want to discuss for the cooktop island. I am bringing a copy of my book Atomic Ranch – mid century interiorsto the site tomorrow
My first full weekend back in Carlisle for awhile and lot has gotten done My Mom, Dad and I went over to the job site on Saturday morning – Paul and his family were there as well as the plumber (brain lock on my part – his name has slipped my mind, despite shaking hands … Continue reading “Construction update – a weekend of decisions”
My first full weekend back in Carlisle for awhile and lot has gotten done
My Mom, Dad and I went over to the job site on Saturday morning – Paul and his family were there as well as the plumber (brain lock on my part – his name has slipped my mind, despite shaking hands with him several times – sorry!).
Paul and I reviewed the progress so far – which has been great. NSTAR has been fiddling around but should be able to run power in the next few weeks.
On the house itself, the roof trim is all up and the mahogany oil stain looks fantastic. It is a three coat process and there is a definite difference between coat #2 and #3 which can be seen in the photos below. It is a Sikkens product. Paul explained that he is going to give me a sample / control piece that has been finished with three coats – after three or so years, I will need to bring out the sample and compare colors – where needed, a single new coat will be applied. As long as I keep on top of it, everything should last a good long while
In terms of decisions
we decided on the Sikkens clear oil that will be used for the exterior siding and the tongue and groove ceiling. It should give a nice variety instead of making the surfaces all blandly the same color. The team will sand the interior and clean things and after the clear is on, put another top coat on to polish things up (less ability for dust to cling!)
In the ceiling area of the carport, we decided on a mahogany luan plywood, with battens to cover the seams
We talked about the length of the window seat by the fireplace – the plans call for an 8′ length but we are thinking of extending that so it covers the full window. More to come there.
The fireplace structure is going to be tumbled brick and we agreed on how the chimney front will go
We discussed the skylights in the bathroom – manual vs electric. It turned out that I did not remember correctly the design I had picked out – I went manual on the factory release but had forgotten. We are going to proceed that way for now
Additionally – we discussed whether or not we should add a cap/flashing to the butt end of the ceiling beams by the clerestory windows. The butts are vertical/flush cut and are going to be exposed to a lot of sunlight and I have been worried about the wood checking and cracking. Paul rubbed his chin and started to think about water. We might add some copper flashing as a cap around each beam. I think it could actually look pretty good – and as Paul pointed out, that replacing those beams would require removing a large section of the roof and that would not be fun. More thought needed here!
And I keep remembering things – we also discussed what color to paint the PVC sprinkler system pipes. We definitely want to do that before they mounted. I am unsure. One way to go would be to go black and let them visually disappear – the other would be a mechanical color.
Next steps are that I meet with Paul and the electrician on Monday morning. Paul is looking for final decisions on a number of items – so I have been working on them. These are –
Final decision for the roof color
decision for kitchen appliances and ventilation – or more specifically the size of the cook top and the ventilation structure
fixtures/trim kits for the plumbing
electrical outlet locations
Ceiling fans discussion with the electrician
To keep this post of a reasonable size, I will do a new post with the appliance & roof color decisions
Below is are photos from yesterday’s visits (we went over twice)
I just got back last night from San Francisco where we had our annual Disaster Recovery exercise and our next year strategic planning offsite (sort of heel to toe on those) – however, both went really, really well so the lack of sleep was definitely worth it. I have been laying low today (plus it … Continue reading “Short construction update after a lot of business travel”
I just got back last night from San Francisco where we had our annual Disaster Recovery exercise and our next year strategic planning offsite (sort of heel to toe on those) – however, both went really, really well so the lack of sleep was definitely worth it. I have been laying low today (plus it is on and off again drizzling here)
Paul and his team have been making progress however and we went over to take a look.
Upcoming is the final decision on the metal roof color, the hood over the kitchen cooking surface and the brick work for the fireplace. As far as roof color goes, the roof manufacturer is Everlast Roofing and I really like the Brite White. It looks good, will have the minimum heat loading and will match the barn next door – so very site specific
I haven’t figured out the cooking hood yet but the brick looks great. Paul and I just need to confer and keep him on track 🙂
My parents and I stopped by the construction site today after stopping off at the Transfer Station and dropping off the recycling and trash. Great day, great weather! Paul and his team are going along great – hopefully soon NStar will show up and run electrical power up to the house so they can stop … Continue reading “Construction update – going up fast!”
My parents and I stopped by the construction site today after stopping off at the Transfer Station and dropping off the recycling and trash. Great day, great weather!
Paul and his team are going along great – hopefully soon NStar will show up and run electrical power up to the house so they can stop using a generator for power. They are doing a fantastic job and the house is really taking shape – my Mom said that it is just “floating there” (when looking at it from across the mill pond) and I think she is right. With the complex roof lines, I was really hoping for something that was open, airy and uplifting – not a hulk squatting on the lot. Nothing is done till its done, but it is looking good!
Speaking of Rumford style fireplaces – what is a Rumford anyway? In short it is fireplace that is designed to maximize the infrared radiation (aka – the actual heat from a fire) out to a room. The way it does this is by having flat sides and a very shallow and open hearth. To keep the fire drawing well and not smoking up the room, the chimney/flue design is much like a smooth wind-tunnel. The top-front of the fireplace (below where the mantel is normally) is a smooth internal airfoil. As the hot air rises, the airflow is smoothly accelerated there and keeps the smoke flowing up the chimney. There are other effects like induced turbulence in the flu to increase burning of gases etc… – but that is basically it. Measurements on some fireplaces have the temperature at the front top of the fireplace at 72 degrees while it is hundreds of degrees hotter only a foot deeper in the hearth.
So who thought this all up? A native son of Massachusetts – Count Rumford. He started writing up his ideas and plans for this type of fireplace in 1796. Count Rumford was born Benjamin Thompson in Woburn MA in 1753 and was given his title in Bavaria where he spent the Revolutionary period (he was a Loyalist and Woburn is only a few miles from the Lexington and Concord revolutionary battle fields). His writings are very interesting, even today.
While I have probably seen a Rumford design in older houses before, I have not ever been able to build a fire in one. I heard about the design from the This Old House 25th anniversary show, which rebuilt a house about a mile from my parents place in Carlisle – they put one in. Programs 2410 and 2411
So – this fall should be fun to experiment with different fire building strategies to see what works best
A brief gap in the updates on the construction front while I had some business travel to California and Paul awaited delivery of some of the roof trusses. Paul however made progress with getting NStar/Eversource rolling for running electrical power to the house – that should be happening “soon”. The contact and initial jousting over schedules … Continue reading “Construction update – roof trusses arrive”
A brief gap in the updates on the construction front while I had some business travel to California and Paul awaited delivery of some of the roof trusses. Paul however made progress with getting NStar/Eversource rolling for running electrical power to the house – that should be happening “soon”. The contact and initial jousting over schedules has happened – so hopefully not too long for that.
The trusses arrived and they are very interesting. Part of the plan for this house was to not do a Deck roof throughout the entire space of the house and garage. A Deck roof is a very specialized structure – adapted as the name implies – from house decks, and performed by only some special roofers newcastle. Without going deeply into the details, most of which I am not expert in, what you see from the inside is a cathedral ceiling with massive beams and tongue and groove cedar planking. This allows for really open spaces and lots of wood to be shown. For a different feel (and lower cost) Deck also has a truss based roof system. I chose to utilize that for the mechanical and private areas of the house – I am hoping that this will give the public and private parts of the house two very different feelings or vibe. (note – there is also a different truss system for the floor shown in some of the earlier photos here – allowing for very easy wiring.)
The construction of the trusses themselves is interesting. They are nailed together with standard carpentry nails through galvanized metal plates – gang nail systems. I had not seen these before and I did a little digging – they seem VERY strong and apparently houses in south Florida that were constructed with them survived hurricane Andrew much better than those which were not.
Truss connector plate close up – from Simpson Strong Tie website
The plates are pierced and form lots and lots of “nails” – so you get a flat surface that has connection to the wood below – across its whole face. Then you use a half dozen carpentry nails for that deep connection. It seems like both a very strong and fast way to build a truss
Trusses have arrived and are unpacked. These cover the mechanical space and the bedrooms. A complex and interesting design while still being cost effective. Note the flat plates – these are the connector plates that make the trusses much more affordable AND strong. According to the wiki page on the inventor of this technology, houses built in Florida with these connectors were much more likely to have survived Hurricane Andrew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin_Jureit
In some of the earlier photos, you may have noticed the big orange machine in the background – that is Paul Heberts’ Lull Telescopic Lift machine – a key piece of equipment on a Deck House building project from the looks of it. It handles the majority of the heavy work related to taking the flat pack materials from the factory and placing them around the site and for final assembly. My dad happened to capture a series of shots placing a truss.
The trusses are now all in place I believe – or really, really close to being done – so some interior shots below – you can really start to see how it is coming together now. Fantastic progress since June when it was just a hole in the ground waiting for a foundation.
Some design thoughts :
From what I can tell, the house tends to get a fair amount of breeze from the south due to the lay of the land. The south facing glass has more sections that open – so the house is asymmetric in terms of volume and location of openings – my thinking during the design phase is that this might induce a venturi effect when the wind is not blowing strongly – in other words, it will act like a wind sock in low wind speed conditions – the large opening moving to a small. This should generate a compression acceleration of the air speed, creating a proverbial “ahhh – a nice breeze” on day that would normally be considered low wind or even stuffy.
I am starting to think about a post that ties together the design thought process I went through and how it is turning out in reality – maybe even a series of posts with a separate category from “construction”…. hmmm…. 🙂
