Landscaping part 2

So we went through the first round of landscaping approval with the HOA.  Because of the cost of implementing the entire landscaping project, we thought it would be prudent to stage the installation over the course of 5-7 years.  Of course this meant trying to prioritize which elements would be needed to satisfy driveway conditions and HOA deed restrictions.  Although we submitted the entire first draft plan to the HOA, they requested that we resubmit every time we want to implement a new phase, so that means they'll be in our lives longer than we thought.

We decided that for occupancy, we would need any elements that support the driveway.  This means the front retaining walls, the retaining wall near the street, and all associated tree removals.  In our neighborhood, if a tree measure 6" or more 4' off the ground, you need HOA approval to remove it.  We also decided that since the pool would need to be implemented before any of the areas around the gazebo and great room, we should move as quickly as our pocketbook allows.  We could also use the excavated materials as fill dirt in the driveway area.

We met with Great Oaks and the HOA on August 13th to walk the property and examine the tress requested for removal.  The HOA committee also requested that stakes be placed demarcating landscaping elements.  They approved all the requested tree slated for removal and suggested a few more that we should remove.  They approved the retaining walls and the installation of the pool.  The pool was an interesting item.  Because a corner of the pool is exposed 5' as the grade drops away, there was consideration if it violated a deed restriction.  The deed restriction states that pools that are 1' above grade are not allowed.  Now this is intended to prevent construction of above ground pools, and ours clearly isn't an above ground pool.  I also suspect that this deed restriction was created before infinity edge pools were more popular since these would technically not be allowed.  The work around is that the exterior of the pool will be covered with a stone similar to that on the house, so it will be considered a retaining wall, which is allowed.  Semantics.

Great Oaks submitted the plans to the city for engineering approval, but ran up against a snag.  The city requires a 25' setback from wetland borders so a revision was required to adhere to the setback.

 As you can see in the front yard revisions above, the bold dashed line is the designated wetland and the other dashed line is the setback, which comes very,very close to the house.  I can't tell if we were lucky with that or the surveyor gave pity on us since we were already building.  The areas in blue were the original plans.  The large graceful retaining wall needs to be reduced to a tall concrete wall, which will be covered with the river stone that's used on the basement level of the house.  I'm not sure what the final cost differential will be since, although we aren't using loads of stone and numerous plantings, we'll need an engineer to design the wall and materials to cover it.  It might be pretty close in cost.

  Another consequence of the change is that the driveway turnaround area is drastically reduced.  We had some concerns about properly navigating our vehicles out of the driveway so Geoff and his team provided this revision.

This design extends the concrete retaining wall to provide more space for turning a vehicle around in.  They actually laid this design out in their parking lot and navigated it with a large pickup truck and a Prius, just to verify it was possible to turn around.  There will need to be a safety rail on the wall and an asphalt curb on the edge of the driveway to prevent cars from driving over, but these are the compromises that come with construction.  Bushes can be planted in the space between the driveway and fence to help obscure it and no fence is needed on the remaining rock retaining wall, providing a nice little overlook in front of the house.

The backyard required some revisions as well, shifting the pool location to the south and moving where the proposed pool fence would be.  Since the HOA was concerned about the area the pool fence would enclose (more on this on-going epic battle later) hopefully this reduced area design will satisfy their requests.

Current status of the landscaping design is that the revisions are being submitted to the city for approval.  This brought with it added costs for concrete wall engineering and survey staking.  Of course, these revision will need to be resubmitted to the HOA for approval.

Rotunda bones. Second floor.

We had an on site meeting with Jonathan and Tama of The Sound Vision so they could get a feel for the space they'll be designing in.  We're hiring them to design and install a system for lighting controls for many of the main rooms, sound and video distribution, security, and data.  No better day to be out there than on this beautiful October day.  It was great to see the progress on the second floor, as they got farther than I expected. 

 Here's where our master bedroom will overlap some of the garage space.  They're using a 2x6 support for temporary setup, but I think eventually, there will have to be a load bearing beam here.  Only a corner of the master closet will be in this overlap, but the floor will still be made of LiteDeck so we don't have to worry about impinging on the building envelope.

 Here's a shot of the rotunda steel through the front door.  Looks pretty crazy, but all the beams and posts will be hidden inside walls.

 The post in the foreground will be hidden in the study interior wall.  The curved I-beam of the rotunda will support the walkway above, which extends from the beam out to the upper rotunda walls.  The inside of the circle will be open to the second floor above.  Stairs will go up on the other side of the post.  It was engineered this way so there wouldn't be a visible post in the stairwell of the rotunda itself.  I think the section between the far post and the junction of the straight I-beam should be removed for the stairwell to be open, but I'll have to confirm this with Matt.  (pre-publish edit: Matt confirmed via text that this section will be cut away after the LiteDeck is poured.)

 Here's how the rotunda walk way is supported on the elevator side.  They couldn't use posts to support here since there isn't any structure in the basement to bear the load.  These L brackets are bolted into the concrete and will be inside of interior walls of the entry closet and powder room.  Because of this implementation, the powder room door will need to be offset a bit to dodge the diagonal bracket, so some rearrangement will be needed in the powder room.

 Detail on how the brackets are bolted to the elevator shaft.  Should hold just fine.

 Detail on how the L brackets are welded to the rotunda support.  Crazy how much weight will be supported by these brackets.  I think if we weren't using the LiteDeck, this wouldn't be possible.  The LiteDeck will be using steel for support, but when hardened, creates more structure and rigidity than wood or steel truss.

 Welding details of the two curved I-beam pieces.  I think the rebar was used to temporarily hold the halves together.  You don't see the plate that's welded on the other side.

 Shot of the rotunda steel from the greatroom.  The space between the beam on the right and the rotunda steel is for the stairwell.  It seems like there should be a beam welded between these two, to support the end of the rotunda walk way.  I'll have to confirm this as well.

 You can see the plate they welded on the outside of the rotunda support.  You can also see the crane used to hoist the heavy steel into place.

 They're welding porch posts into place so they can place the steel beams that will support the second floor turret.  Three posts will support three beams off the corner of the house here since 3/4 of the turret float above the front porch.  They placed plywood and 2x6 as temporary scaffolding so they could work out there.  I was tempted to venture out to get a feel how the porch will be, but I didn't want to get in their way.

 One of the welded posts in place.  I'm not sure when the actual deck structure will be laid, but I imagine it will be after exterior building materials are on so the deck doesn't get damaged.

 Beautiful skies make for great building days.  You can see some of the LiteDeck on the right.

LiteDeck installed over the kitchen, butlers pantry, mudroom and some of the dining room.  9' ceilings.  The LiteDeck sits inside these beams instead of on top of them so we won't have drop downs for the beam.  More temporary supports will be installed before the pour. 

 Looking into the kitchen and mudroom.  The 9' ceilings really enclose the space.  I know it's a huge room, but it still feels small.  Maybe it will feel bigger when walls are up and stuff is put in.  Does that make sense?

 Standing in the kitchen, looking at the mudroom and dining room.  Like the basement, every other wooden joist will be removed.  The remaining will provide a 16" nailer for drywall.  Talking to Jonathan, this should be enough space for speakers since the 6" in-ceiling units are designed to occupy the same space as a 6" recessed can light.

 Here are the three posts that will support the turret steel.  You can see the beam pockets in the corner of the house that will support the turret and rounded out porch roof.  I was wondering how this would be designed, and I have to say, it's pretty amazing.

It's really starting to resemble something we can live in.  On spectacular days like this, I really can't wait for this to be finished so we can move in.  There's still a TON of work to be done, but bursts of progress like this really help keep us fueled.

We have a second meeting with Margaret  and Eric, the kitchen designer at Cobblestone Cabinetry next week for the cabinet estimate revisions.  I think this will be pretty close to final design, but there will be some minor details to figure out.

Landscaping pt1.

So I've been promising some more information on landscaping so I'll start giving more details.

As I've mentioned in older posts, we've gone with Great Oaks Landscaping as our landscaping designer and installer.  We met with Geoff early 2015 when there was still some snow on the ground to get some preliminary information about what we were looking for in landscape design.  In pretty quick order, they drafted a preliminary design before we paid a retainer and signed on with them.

We talked about the desire to keep as much natural space as we could.  Probably about 5.5 acres of our lot is wooded and we might be developing on 1/2 acre.  I've never measured it, but I think 2 acres is water.  All hardscape and plantings would be installed by Great Oaks, but the pool would be subcontracted out to a pool designer/installer they like to use.  We're planning on having our builder build the pool shell from ICF and finished by the pool subcontractor.  We're also planning an ICF bunker built under the deck to house pool equipment.  The all foam and concrete construction of the bunker will go a long way to reducing the sound impact of the equipment.

Since the extensiveness of the work is so great, incurring a high cost, we're looking at implementing the whole plan over 5-7 years.  I think we'll be able to break up the project into sections, first starting with any retaining walls necessary for the driveway (front yard), and the ICF pool shell.  We need to complete the pool shell before any of the northern landscaping because we'll need a path to the back yard for heavy equipment.  Any plan implementation will require HOA approval before starting, so we'll have to deal with them for a pretty long time.  

Even though we're not implementing it yet, we've already had some push back on the proposed back yard fence.  By law, the pool must be enclosed in a barrier to the outside.  If the house is used as part of the barrier, then audible door alarms need to be placed on the house doors leading to the fenced in area.  For some reason, the HOA doesn't like the amount of area enclosed by the fence.  The fence perimeter was designed this way so that it runs in the woods and is less visually obtrusive.  I believe the HOA would rather have us fence in the pool deck, which is aesthetically unappealing.  The best part is that there isn't a written deed restriction that dictates pool fence placement, and that there are other houses in the neighborhood that enclose an area equal or greater than what we're proposing.  The only difference is that the other houses have the pool location more centralized, and that the entire enclosed area is concrete.  This is a battle we'll be fighting.

We need HOA approval on the removal of any tree greater than 6" in diameter, measured 4' off the ground.  We've obtained approval for all tree removal, ICF shell, and front retaining walls, but due to wetland setbacks, there will need to be some revisions to the plan.

Prepping for second floor

October is quickly passing by and preparation has begun for the second floor LiteDeck installation.  First floor wall supports have been removed and wooden platforms have been erected in the greatroom in preparation of building the walls for the open ceiling room.  Beams have been ordered and should be installed soon.  Things are moving forward, but is it fast enough before winter hits?

 Here's the greatroom and sitting area wit some of the kitchen on the right and some of the guest room on the left.  The wooden platform has been constructed since the great room is two storys high.  I'm guessing they'll be used to support the walls as well when it's time to pour.

 All the wall supports are gone, but some of the 2x4 feet remain.  I'm sure they'll be cleared up soon since they're no longer needed.

 Shot of the kitchen without supports.  Funny how you can still see the color difference in the concrete were the Litedeck creates beams.  It just rained the night before so I don't know if that's a factor in the different coloration.

 Here's the corner between the greatroom and the kitchen.  This is where a beam will span the opening of the greatroom, supporting some of the second story fireplace.  The beam pocket sits at 9' so I'm a little confused on how this will go together.  The ceilings are supposed to be at 9' on the first and second floor.  In the basement, the beams are at 9' and the Litedeck sits on the beams so the underside of the Litedeck (basement ceiling) is at 10'.  Here, if the Litedeck sits on the beams, it will also place the ceiling at 10'.  I texted Matt, but haven't gotten a response yet.  All the visible beam pockets are like this.

 Here's the beam pocket in the mud room, looking at the garage wall.  The rebar spikes on the garage wall will tie into the garage roof trusses.

 Long shot of the house front to back.  The curved stair opening is under the plywood.

 Side wall of the house, containing the study, guest bathroom and guest bedroom.  The little window sits above the toilet and will be oval.

 Finally a clear shot of the front of the house.  Fall is a great time of the year in Michigan.

 Front corner of the house.  The black tarp is just a tent protecting the electrical boxes from rain.

 Most of the supports have been cleared out of the basement under the greatroom (future workout room) since they won't be needed to support the weight above.  The rest of them will remain until the second floor is poured.  This will allow the weight to transfer from the second floor all the way to the basement.

 Here's the workout room from the rear walk out.  I can't wait to use it.

Shot of the greatroom so far.  Add another layer on there with matching windows and it will really look impressive.  Oh, a finished exterior will make it look nice too.

First floor walls poured.

It's a rainy, cold day in October and the first floor walls have been poured.  Matt the framer said that first floor setup could begin right away, but I'm not sure what "right away" means.  We're shopping for doors for our huge opening and got some revisions to the landscaping plans due to wetlands setbacks.  First draft of the kitchen cabinet designs will be looked at this week.  Things are moving along.

 Front shot of the house.  Like before, wood supports and bucks are used to hold the weight of the concrete.  I almost forgot they did this since they have long since been removed from the basement level.  For some reason, the horizontal board in the front door opening says "FRONT DOOR!!!"

 Detail of one of the greatroom window openings.  The thin plywood is removed from the face but the 2x8 remains as window bucks.  Even in the rain, we spent some time standing here looking at the lake.  It's going to be awesome when it's done.

 Front door opening.  The opening is a large 85 3/4" w x 100 3/8" h.  That gives us room for a standard height door with two 14" side lites, a transom window, and 7" on both sides to build up, or a double door with transom window and a few inches to build up, or an 8' door with side lites.  Might need to go custom on this if we want to fill the whole space.  8' door might look nice.

 The structural rebar above each opening that will tie in to the floor/walls above.  The ICF is built up to 9', so any beams will sit on top of this wall.  That means that the LiteDeck will sit on top of the beam, making the ceiling 10' actually.  I'm really not sure if that's correct, but that's the only way I can imagine it.  

 Standing in the great room.  On the corner at the left, you can see where a beam will be.  The greatroom was actually built up one more level so that beam will span the space where the fireplace will be to the other corner of the room.  They cleaned up the site nicely.

 Here's how the wall supports are anchored into the floor.  Blue tapcon screws hold the footing and the arms are adjustable like a turnbuckle screw.  They hold the brace against the wall.

 The back deck/gazebo wasn't poured.  I think they'll use a different mix for this area.  You can see they built out the edge for the form.  This is so the concrete deck will overhang the ICF, which will be in line with the stone we're installing on the exterior.

 Closer shot of the greatroom beam pocket.  Again, if the construction method is the same as the basement, the LiteDeck will sit on the beam.  Since the beam doesn't "drop down" into the room space (i.e. sit at 8'), the bottom of the LiteDeck will be at 10'.

 Beam pocket between the guest bathroom and the study.  I think this will be supported by a post at the stairs up, and cantilever over to support the second floor rotunda walk way.

Beam pockets on the exterior corner of the house off the study.  These will support the turret in the bedroom above.

I keep meaning to make a post about landscaping and everything else besides the house but life and work have been pretty busy.  Maybe I'll find time this week, especially since the landscaping plan is solidifying.  Suffice to say for now that Great Oaks has been ridiculously awesome.