Making of a home...

Rounding out the island

2008-08-27T22:15:00.000-07:00

Almost 3 weeks after officially moving in, the island finally shed it's cardboard cutout of the countertop and swapped it for something a little more sturdy:

It's in the Mail!

2008-08-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

We welcomed the most recent addition to the house (and it couldn't have come soon enough) which was the mailbox. No more trips to the post-office to pick up the mail!

Kitchen Cabinet door pulls

2008-08-15T22:09:00.000-07:00

Finally managed to install the door pulls on the kitchen and laundry cabinets.

Front Porch Construction

2008-08-01T22:00:00.000-07:00

Our front porch was a bittersweet sort of event. We had originally hoped for a large copper porch topper but as the construction project was nearing its end along with wiggle room in the budget, the copper top found its way to the cutting room floor. We also wound up placing the porch lights flanking the front door right smack in the way of the split columns were to be up against the house.

Shower time!

2008-07-20T21:49:00.000-07:00

The cultured marble shower panels were delivered and installed. I'm still scratching my head as to why I paid a $60 "measuring fee" when I had to cut every single panel to get a correct fit. Is this normal or did I just get milked for 60 bucks??

Wall prepped with liquid nail adhesive for the first panel:

Our improvised bracing system:

Cabinet doors!

2008-07-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

Almost a week later and we've got (most) doors! No handles, but there's doors! They also added an 18" cabinet and shelves to the island that were not initially installed. Also added to the island was the leg extension where the wine cooler will go. (man, I wonder who installed that sweet hidden outlet in the bottom of the island???)

2008-07-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

Once the cabinet bases were installed, things seemed to slow down a lot. 4th of July holiday coupled with the cabinetmaker's vacation halted a lot of the cabinet progress, but allowed for the applicance installs. We opted for 30" Frigidaire double convection ovens, a mid-grade dishwasher, and a fairly large refrigerator.

2nd story bath & Laundry updates

2008-06-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

The base cabinets for the upstairs bathroom were set:

Laundry cabinets, countertop, and sink:

More kitchen updates

2008-06-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

Kitchen countertops and sink installed.

Undercabinet puck lighting installed:

Return to H.E.L.L.

2008-06-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

(that's Hoosier Elevated Ladder Lift for you common folk.)

As if the previous post to install that ceiling fan weren't enough, we tackled the task of the foyer light 20 feet up. This one was a bit harder because we didn't have a 6' downrod but our ingenious system did not disappoint (patent pending.)

Buried Gas Tank

2008-06-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to make it home in time to catch them in the action of installing the gas tank but the cap and regulator are visible.

Master bath vanity shells

2008-06-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

Our his & hers vanities were also set in the master bath.

Henry Ford would be proud

2008-06-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

With all of the baseboard and doors being painted, the garage area resembled an assembly line of sorts rather than a space to store vehicles.

Kitchen Cabinets

2008-06-17T20:43:00.000-07:00

What a pleasant surprise to arrive at the house and find the base and wall cabinets hung in the kitchen. The desk area cabinets were stacked in the corner and the island was still "floating" on the floor.

The laundry cabinets weren't installed, but appeared to be next!

Herro, have you seen godzirra?

2008-06-09T00:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's not Godzilla, but it IS green: The guest bathroom. My dad and I managed to assemble the vanity without much help from instructions. Not because we're such manly men that we didn't need them, but because the single piece of instruction it came with was essentially worthless. If it was 2-ply it would have been twice as useful. It did provide us with some humor though because it was written in Engrish. I'll have to see if it's still around to provide a few quotes.

Some completed baseboard trim and more to put up.

How to install a ceiling fan on a 20' ceiling

2008-06-05T00:19:00.000-07:00

...using a 12' stepladder. Doesn't seem very feasible when you do the math does it? Neither one of us were 8' tall so we had to improvise. Here was the first plan of attack: attach a 25' aluminum extension ladder to the face of the 12' stepladder.

I "anchored" the step ladder while Jeff climbed up to the ceiling. In theory this worked until Jeff reached up to grab the wire. At this point, the stepladder decided to lift itself up about 2 feet in the air (while still being attached to the extension ladder) which prompted a string of expletives in stereo. We managed to get back down our respective ladders without crashing through any windows.

We came up with Plan B: sawhorses. Seriously, we weren't drinking; yet.

The above contraption actually worked well and was pretty stable.

Attaching the motor and the 6' downrod was the hardest part.

...and finally the finished product. Lovely.

Flooring

2008-06-04T00:08:00.000-07:00

We started off with marble silk tile in the master bedroom.

Then went with a dark slate/greenish tile in the laundry room.

Hand scraped brazilian walnut in the master bedroom.

And Bruce oak hardwood for the rest of the main floor.

Finished staircase

2008-05-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Final touches on the staircase:

Holy cow it's stairs.

2008-05-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

I really grew attached to the double 2x4 treads that served as temporary stairs along with the 15' 2x4 nailed across the loft area to keep you from falling into the living room. So needless to say, I was quite surprised when I showed up and saw the following:

The clamps you see were actually pretty interesting. They rip the hand rail into 5 approximately .5" pieces and proceed to smash it between 2 pieces of hard plastic and bend it to the exact radius of the stairs. So they start halfway up at a straight part, then bend the wood to the shape it needs to be. Once the wood takes on the correct shape, they reglue all the pieces together and it looks like one nice bent stair rail. Pretty cool!

How 'bout a snag?

2008-05-02T23:48:00.000-07:00

It's really no fun building a house if everything goes right. Right? A couple problem areas with water popped up creeping into the living room/kitchen area and the front door. They weren't too bad in that none of the interior walls got wet (or insulation) and didn't do any damage.

Let's have a painting party!

2008-04-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

With the walls primed and the ceilings painted white it was time to break out the brushes and rollers. It's painting time! (And there's a ton to do...)

"Eggnog" for the kitchen!

"Ocean something or other" (Phoebe's going to kill me) :-) in the dining room.

"Grasshopper" for the living room (to match dead animals going on the wall) and a khaki-ish "Wheat Bread" for the halls.

"Sonata" for the master bed/bath.

"Golden Buttercup" for our little buttercup.

Approaching Level 5

2008-04-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

The mudding and taping and sanding (repeat a bunch of times) has finally completed. The final wall surfacer (which also doubles as a primer for paint) was sprayed on. Boy they're smoooooth.

More concrete work

2008-04-17T13:07:00.000-07:00

2nd section of driveway and the start of the 3rd section down to the street were poured along with the front porch! The suggestion of our concrete contractor to have the brick guys make a footing around the edges really turned out nicely.

2008-04-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Evidently a Level 5 finish is a LOT of mudding...then sanding, then mudding, then some more sanding.... you get the idea. This is about the 4th or 5th round of mudding and sanding.

Don't look now, it's a driveway!

2008-04-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

The weather FINALLY broke long enough to allow some progress on the driveway installation. 1 section of the driveway was poured and the rest framed out. Let's hope the weather stays dry long enough to get it all done.

Mud & Tape

2008-04-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well the drywall contractor has indicated he's got about a week's worth of mudding and taping to do to complete the finish on the drywall. We elected to do something a little different than most homes in the area. Instead of plaster veneer, we're getting what's called a Level 5 finish on the walls. This eliminates the gritty texture of plaster and provides an additional protective coat on the face of the walls. It's supposed to be smooth as a baby's butt and show no seams or screw holes.

More Drywall

2008-04-09T12:51:00.000-07:00

A bunch more drywall photos... the house looks much cleaner with the scraps and screws all carted off to the dumpster.

On the walls and what a mess

2008-04-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

I've put up a few sheets of drywall in my day but to watch these guys do it makes me feel... well, completely inadequate. They've got 12 screws in the board by the time I get one on the tip of the gun. I also think, for these guys anyway, the RotoZip drywall router was the best tool ever invented. I bet those old time drywallers sit and curse this tool when they meet at the coffee shop drinking coffee with scarred hands from having to cut out all those fixtures and receptacles by hand.

Kitchen area

Upstairs bathroom

Upstairs bedroom

Garage

Drywall stocked

2008-04-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Nothing too impressive here just stacks and stacks of drywall all over the damn place.

Soffit, fascia, and deck rails

2008-03-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Insulation!

2008-03-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Master bedroom blown in...

Kitchen/dining area:

2nd story bedroom batting/blown:

Garage:

Overlooking the living room:

Day of Reckoning

2008-03-19T20:11:00.001-07:00

Today was a pretty important day. Inspection Day!! (x3) Framing, plumbing, and the 2nd of our electrical inspections all took place today... here's how we did:

With the rough-in inspection out of the way a lot of things that were waiting on it will be happening in the next week or so weather permitting. Insulation has been scheduled 2 days away along with drywall the following week. If the weather holds, the gutters, soffit, and fascia will be installed along with the water meter and sewer system. Not to mention the driveway and front porch concrete work as well. Hopefully with the 8" of rain over the last 24 hours we'll be dry for a while.

Furnace installation

2008-03-12T20:08:00.000-07:00

The geothermal unit finally was freed from its crate in the basement and hooked into the ductwork and pipes connected to the loops outside.

More wiring updates

2008-03-05T20:03:00.000-08:00

Outside meter can prior to inspection.

Basement breaker panel

Garage breaker panel

Meter can after inspection and meter installation (you can also see some of the final deckwork underway as well.)

Deck & Siding Progress

2008-02-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

More wiring...

2008-02-11T09:38:00.000-08:00

The 2 story living room provided us a real treat to get wired and some experience in setting up scaffolding.

Service panels were installed in the garage and basement:

Satellite/phone/internet wires and the media box they'll wind up in:

How 'bout some deck!

2008-02-09T09:33:00.000-08:00

Geothermal Trenching

2008-02-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

A quick break in the weather was cause for celebration and 1200' of water piping! The HVAC contractor was finally able to trench in the loops for the geo system; and then it snowed 6 inches the next day. Talk about just in time.

Some fun wiring...

2008-01-12T09:08:00.000-08:00

At first glance, it just looks like Jeff's up on the ladder wiring in a fixture

Here's the part where he inched his way across the 2 2x10s we spanned across the foyer opening to reach up to where the entryway light will be located (about 20' above the floor.) Needless to say, it was a little bouncy.

Retaining wall almost complete

2008-01-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

We hurried to complete the retaining wall 14' out from the house so it could all be backfilled and leveled in time for the deck construction. We'll still have some followup work to taper the wall down so it looks a little nicer and not so staggered. Here's the ALMOST finished product:

Retaining wall updates

2008-01-08T09:01:00.000-08:00

Bill & Dad doing a little work (the foreman was taking pictures)

Pause for camera time...

Just what we want, more blocks.

Bill inspects his toy

Plumbing!

2008-01-01T08:57:00.000-08:00

Our ginormous water heater...

If it ever backs up, I think it'll be here:

Basement Stairs & Arches

2007-12-04T08:51:00.000-08:00

Stoned!

2007-11-28T08:48:00.000-08:00

A close up of the stonework:

We had a small ledge built up with brick on the sides of the front porch to reduce the amount of visible concrete on the sides. We figured it would look a little bit nicer this way.

90% bricked... and the start of a wall

2007-11-21T14:56:00.000-08:00

Scaffolding removed you can see the brick a little better. I still think the west side of the brick needs its acid bath but they're pretty much finished with the brick and only have the stonework left on the front.

Retaining wall out the back has started with the worst of it, the first few rows:

Some more brick updates

2007-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

The brick updates weren't captured as often as I'd have liked to, but you get the idea...

...and then the next day we saw this:

Miss a few days for deer season, Blues game, and uh... poker, which brings us to:

Concrete and brick (yes, brick) updates

2007-11-13T14:34:00.000-08:00

The driveway has been framed out and the drainage lip trimmed down (to prevent backs from going out of alignment pulling into the driveway) and now we're just waiting for the garage side of the house to get bricked to try and pour the driveway before winter sets in.

Stairs and concrete updates:

2007-11-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

Temporary stairs to the 2nd story are installed:

Another look at the garage doors with decorative hardware installed:

3rd garage bay has had concrete poured:

Garage doors!

2007-10-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

Garage slab 2

2007-10-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

Contractor working on a Saturday???

2007-10-27T17:52:00.000-07:00

I went out to the house to make some more headway hanging electrical boxes and was pleasantly surprised to see the fireplace being installed. On a Saturday!! (I hope I'm not the one paying him time and a half!)

Another friend said he drove by while the installer was up on the roof securing the chimney cap and said he heard more four letter words than not. He seemed to be in a decent mood when I showed up but I think that was because he was almost finished.

Garage slab 1 & Fireplace delivery

2007-10-26T17:45:00.000-07:00

2nd half of basement slab

2007-10-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

1st half of Basement slab

2007-10-22T17:36:00.000-07:00

Concrete prep work (cont.)

2007-10-20T17:33:00.000-07:00

Concrete prep work

2007-10-16T17:29:00.000-07:00

Upstairs Windows

2007-10-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

Windows!

2007-10-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

Fireplace roughin & more shingles

2007-10-11T22:16:00.000-07:00

Roof shingles and basement plumbing

2007-10-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

2007-10-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

...and more sheathing/tar paper.

2007-10-04T21:59:00.000-07:00

More sheathing

2007-10-03T21:50:00.000-07:00

Sheathing & Tar Paper

2007-10-01T19:57:00.001-07:00

Even more trusses

2007-09-28T17:55:00.000-07:00

Trusses Part 2

2007-09-27T23:01:00.001-07:00

More trusses up:

Roof trusses!

2007-09-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

I wasn't able to get there in time for the crane, but I got some pics of the first ones placed...

2nd Story Framing

2007-09-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

2nd Floor subfloor installed

2007-09-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

Sheathing completed on the garage section.

Subfloor installed over 2nd story trusses.

2nd Floor Floor Trusses Installed

2007-09-18T14:58:00.000-07:00

Main floor completed

2007-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

With today's progress finishing off the garage, the main floor framing is completed.

Floor trusses for the 2nd floor have already been placed on top of the main floor.

Interior Walls? Check.

2007-09-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

The week's worth of work ended with the completion of all interior walls on the main level. According to the builder, next week we'll see the garage framed up and the 2nd floor.

Exterior Walls? Check.

2007-09-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

All of the exterior walls were completed today and the interior walls in the master bed started.

Boy what a difference a day makes...

2007-09-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

9/12 - Boy was it exciting to see walls! They made it all the way across the front and around to the back of the master bedroom.

The back great room wall is laying on top of the subfloor.

Got a floor... let's dance

2007-09-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

09/11 - All of the subfloor was laid today and they had already started building the window headers and marking off some of the exterior walls.

Stacks of plywood, 2x4's, and 2x6's

Floor Joists and Steel beams!

2007-09-11T12:56:00.001-07:00

Main beam and support posts looking out towards the back with a view of the stair opening.

Bring on the Wood!

2007-09-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

First evidence that it actually takes wood to build these suckers!

Even MORE concrete!

2007-09-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

The basement at this point is pretty much finished. You can see the garage walls have been poured and backfilled with rock.

Water sealer has been applied to the walls (the black goopy stuff.)

More Concrete!

2007-09-11T12:22:00.000-07:00

Porch Footings:

Garage Footings:

Concrete!

2007-09-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

It's time to break ground!

2007-09-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

Pictures are worth a thousand words or so, so here you go:

Time for Bids...

2007-09-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

So months went by from our initial attempts at a floor plan to delivery of the final product and I decided to take on some of the work and get a few bids on my own.

We waffled between high efficiency heating and cooling versus geothermal heating and cooling and tapped into our hippy sides and decided to go green.

Boy is it green... and about 2-3x the cost up front compared to conventional HVAC systems.

We thought the long term savings along with the warm & fuzzies of using the Earth to supplement our heating and cooling was worth the initial premium for the system. (Plus there were certain tax credits available to help offset the cost of using a renewable energy source to heat and cool the home.)

I also got roofing, guttering, soffit, fascia, excavation, concrete, windows/doors, and cabinet bids. I had a few recommendations for a lot of these so it wasn't too painful.

At first I almost passed out with the initial quotes for everything, but we managed to bring the $$$ back to Earth and a doable level.

The beginning...

2007-09-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

Phoebe and I decided that we would build our "dream home" somewhere in the vicinity of Freeburg. We looked into subdivisions, land, lots, and more lots. We finally found what we thought was the perfect lot.

I wanted a place that was large enough to have a nice yard, a garden, and on a lake.

Phoebe wanted basically the same thing and a place that was aesthetically pleasing.

Lot 37 of Savanna Oaks became ours late August in 2005.

Floor Plans

2007-09-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

What can I say about a house in making?

It takes a lot of decisions about a LOT of things that you never could even imagine goes into planning a custom built home. I completely understand now why a lot of folks buy a home that's already built, or just pick a general layout out of say, 3 options, or something like that.

I like to joke that a year and half later and 3 'almost divorces' we finally arrived at a general consensus with our floor plans.

With that said, here you go:

Main floor plan

Second floor plan

Front & Right Elevations

Rear & Left Elevations

* A huge thanks to Katie, Brett, and Rita for helping us transform our ideas into the finished product you see.