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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! Comments are closed.
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