Now that the drywall is done we are in the final sprint before move-in. Just in case it weren’t already clear, that will by no means equate to being “done”. Rather, there are 5 weeks left before our lease runs out on our rental place and we become homeless, so there is ample motivation to wrap things up. Amy does project management as a part of her day job and I’ve also run my share of IT projects informally over…
The key to modern green building often comes down to the details of what they call “the thermal envelope” or the building envelope. If you imagine a building like a great bubble, the envelope is the outer skin of the bubble. Its the part of your house that keeps the outside, well, outside. If you want to have a highly efficient home then you need a highly efficient envelope. Many of the design challenges of our house (and a few…
The drywallers had a few days of delays due to rain making it hard to get materials onsite, but once they did they were a FORCE. The whole house worth of drywall was hung in a day and a half. Then the mudding/taping guy came in and worked 8 12 hour days straight with barely any breaks. Then they primed and painted the ceilings in another day. It might be hard to see some of the details/flow due to everything…
It feels strange to say we’re taking it easy now, given all that’s still going on, but compared to a few weeks ago, its definitely true. Through most of May we were in a mad dash to get done everything that happens behind the walls – all the wiring, plumbing, ductwork, firestopping, insulation, and even bits of blocking for mounting your towel bars. Some of the last things to go in were the mail slot, the tub and shower drains…
This was a big and busy month. So busy in fact that I forgot to start cataloging our work until we were over halfway through the month. If you need to catch up (I know not everyone get notices about new posts) here’s our backlog of progress for 2019: January February March April Here’s what we’ve accomplished this month: Spray foam insulation Installed the balcony brackets Passed our last electrical and rough framing inspections Installed venting for ERV and range…
Amy has asked before when we were going to stop referring to our past and future address as “the job site” and start just calling it “the new house.” I’m starting to wonder if that day is soon approaching. In the past we’ve renovated several homes, always working room by room while we were living there. This is a very messy and time-consuming way to work, as you have to contain your chaos and restore it to some semblance of…
Last week I gave an update on the boring, tedious work that goes into making the parts of the house you’ll never see. We were hard at work protecting the inside of our walls from spreading fire, as well as a myriad of other related activities like stapling off wire (to keep it out of the way of errant drywall screws), installing blocking for towel bars, hand rails, and closet rods, and handling those last few hidden items like tub…
This video was taken at the same time as our 1st floor framing tour so it’s been about 5 months. I hope to have another video tour soon with all the drywall up! I think then the space will have better definition and you’ll get an idea of the flow of rooms. But until then enjoy this little ‘walk through’.
There are many different parts to a house, and many different tasks that go into building one. This has become much more complicated in the days since my grandfather built his own family home 50 years ago. Many things like framing and roofing would be readily recognizable. Others like home network wiring and spray foam insulation would be foreign. To improve efficiency, comfort, and safety we’ve accreted a thousand new individual details that must be attended to – at least…
We asked awhile back for anyone to stop by or submit your thoughts/wishes/hopes to ‘graffiti’ the house. Time’s almost up. We running headlong into spray foam (already booked) and drywall. Then I will have to insist that no one write on the walls- maybe ever again. But if you have something you’re dying to convey- let us know. If you can drop by the job site you can get a free tour and Sharpie to find a just-right spot for…