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The siding, for now, is done! OK, you may notice a spot around the front door without siding yet.
That section is waiting until the front steps are poured, so the guys can get as good a fit as possible. It was very cool watching the siders working in the screen porch area, they also did the ceiling of the screen porch. And, on Friday, the roofers started with the standing seam metal roofing! They are starting with the south roof of the garage. In the slideshow above you can see that section is almost complete. Each section spans the full height of the roof and is about as wide as a ladder. Downstairs, we added a bit more spray foam insulation on some of the south wall. Because the south wall is exposed on the outside, we wanted more insulation. Where the wall is up against earth, less insulation is needed as the earth is much warmer than the air outside in the winter. We also met with the solar installers last week. We need a couple more conduits from the inverters outside to the planned battery pack inside. As the drywall is ready to go this week, and the conduits will be far easier to install before the drywall, we are going to try to get that done early this week so as to not delay the drywall. Please cross your fingers for me:) This week we have a new neighbor!
Frosty, is a very impressive double stacked snowman, who is kind enough to keep a close eye on our place. He always greets me with a smile:o) While Frosty really likes the cold, we don't. Which brings us to... More insulation! Yes, the spray foam insulation is in place downstairs. The interior 2x4 walls, and the small gap between the wood wall and poured concrete wall are now filled with insulation. In addition, we insulated the ceiling of the game room to minimize the amount of sound in our bedroom. I am not sure how clear it is in the photos, but this stuff almost looks like frosting :o) Back on the outside, the gutters are almost done. We have one section on the south side of the house yet to complete. The installers are double checking the location of the downspouts with our architect. The siding is also almost done. The south side of the house needs to be done. The area of the front door will be waiting until the front steps and supports are in place, so the guys can make sure to get a good fit. Weather has been an issue lately. When temperatures are too cold, we simply can't have guys working outside, especially on a metal roof. I am hoping after this cold spell we can start moving more quickly. We also got some good news from our Solar Installers (Innovative Power Systems). They got some information we have been waiting for about the Powerwall battery backup system! So far, it looks very promising that it will work well with our project. We don't have specific timing yet, however, I it looks pretty good for a summer availability, and possibly even late spring! Things happen slowly in the deep freeze, so this week I am going to talk a bit about our screen porch and planned landscape. Last week we had a meeting with Marc, our architect, and Matt, our landscape designer. The purpose of this meeting was to make sure we were properly accounting for naturally filtering water. We want to treat all the water that falls on our lot. There are a number of ways to do this. From rain gardens, to simply minimizing the amount of impermeable surfaces (such as concrete, asphalt, etc). One popular method is to use permeable pavers for the driveway, walkways etc.. The downfall to this method is the cost. While the pavers are beautiful they are costly. In addition to the pavers, an area below the pavers needs to be engineered, dug out and the proper materials used to allow the water to soak into the ground and/or route the water appropriately. In our case, we are able to manage all the water that falls on a impermeable by sloping the driveway slightly. So in the end, the rainbarells will capture the water that falls on the roof (while the solar panels capture sunlight that falls on it :)), water that falls on the driveway and walkways will be guided to rain gardens rather than the city streets, and we will have a couple of curb cuts that will take some rain from the street and guide that to rain gardens rather than the sewer system as well. There will be a little bit of water, coming off the driveway near the street, that runs into the street. Our curb cuts will take in more water than flows out. By our calculations, the yard will handle 100% of a two year rainfall event (which is measured at 2.83 inches of rain over a 24 hour period. Actually, it will handle a little more than that. In addition, once the plants and small amount of turf have gotten established, natural rainfall should be the only watering they need. The grass is called Tall Fescue and is very drought resistant. We have been using it in our yard for the last few years. The Tall Fescue does so well, the last two years we have been able to turn off our irrigation system. At the new house, we will have no built in irrigation system.
The work on the siding continues around the house. With almost the entire west side of the house now complete.
The inspection of the basement wiring is complete, with more plumbing, insulation and drywall coming up next. Sound deadening drywall has arrived and will be placed in between the bedroom and great room, as well as the ceiling in the game room which is under the bedroom. Gutters will be installed Tuesday and Wednesday of this week (Brrrrr). Once those are on, the metal roof will follow. Designs for the cabinets and built in shelves for upstairs are being finalized this week and final door and door hardware is being selected. And perhaps best of all, by the end of the week, my new neighbors will no longer have to look at the temporary electric meter (sorry neighbors!). Till next week, stay warm! |
