Winter finally slows down construction

   Winter is finally deciding to say hello this year and it's perfect timing to mess up our progress.  We've finally started truss assembly and got ten inches of snow dumped on the site.  Even though the snow was deep, the crew managed to get a little work done at the house.  I was hoping for faster progress, but if the weather doesn't cooperate, work will go even slower than before (if possible).

   Here's the truss stack at the front of the property.  It looks like they moved some of the trusses to the house site since there were more trusses here last time.  I didn't see any new trusses delivered, but there was other truss related material on site.

   So here's some of the work that was done over the last week.  We actually got hit with snow on Wednesday, so they had a few days last week to get some work accomplished.  Judging by the tire tracks in the snow and the amount plowed out of the way, it looks like they were actually here later in the week.  This doesn't look like a pre-built truss since I don't see any nail plates or truss construction/ID tags.  It looks like a gable end, but I'm not sure where they'll go.  I think the only place they could go are on the front of the house above the laundry room.  The great room doesn't have a gable end and if I recall correctly, the only other place that has a gable is the end of the garage.  

    Here's the current state of the motor coach.  You can see the two gable ends being constructed with some of the pre-constructed trusses in on the right of the frame.  Looking at the scale of these two gables, I think the one on the left is for the laundry room and the one in the middle is for the garage end.  You can see stacks of foam that were delivered last week.  I'm surprised to see this much foam board.  Usually, the "attic" space is unconditioned and no insulation is needed since all the insulation is on top of the ceiling.  Some of this foam will probably be used for the turret, but it looks like there's more here than needed for that.

   You can see how they're constructing this gable end.  Plywood sheathing is used as per usual but the foam board id applied to this on the exterior of the house.  Over that, house wrap is applied, so I know this is on the exterior face of the house.  I didn't take a tape measure to the wood, but you can see this offers a generous overhang.  It's nice because this will allow for a nice gable end detail that will match the architecture of the house.

    Here's a shot of the material that was delivered last week.  You can see the stack of foam board with the stacks of plywood.  I don't think there's enough here for the whole roof decking, but I could be underestimating the amount needed.  Maybe they'll deliver more later when the trusses are all up, but they should have calculations on how much will be needed.  They plowed out an area to work on.  It's was in the 40's today and will be in the 50's tomorrow so hopefully some of this snow will melt away.

   Here are the trusses that were moved from other locations on the property to the house.  Still have no idea how they're going to be assembled, but I'm excited to see them go up.  We'll be meeting with Ken and Matt on Wednesday this week to get coordinated on timing for all the pre-order items were working on.  Things that need to be considered at this stage in the build is cabinets and hard surfaces inside the house.  I think we should also start considering what we want for roofing.  Actually, we know what we want for roofing, but we need to touch base with Matt on when we can order it.

    They also delivered some of the steel studs that will be used for interior walls.  We requested that the kitchen walls be assembled so we can get close to final measurements for the kitchen cabinets.  It will be nice to see these walls up and finally get some sense of scale to the rooms.  This is possible on the first floor since we already have all the second floor structure up.  We can't build any second floor walls until we have the trusses up.

    Here's the start of walls in the house.  It's too bad that I can see they're already incorrect though!  I called Matt when we were here and he said that he cut the sole plates to length but had some issue interpreting the blueprints.  I could see that corners weren't lining up properly and measured some key locations.  I found that the wall measurements were off in many places that would account for the error.  When I talked to Matt on the phone, he said that he knew that it was off, but felt it wasn't by much more than a few fractions of an inch here and there.  I'm not sure where he was measuring but I found discrepancies of 6" in some places.  I'll review with him on Wednesday when we meet, but it just goes to show you that you should always double check everything, even if you have a general contractor and builder looking at it.  These sole plates were already shot into the floor, but they can be pulled up and correctly placed.

   We had a meeting mid week with Margaret and hammered out some more decision for tile and counter tops.  I'll update midweek after the site meeting and provide more details on our interior decisions.

Truss delivery

   The truss delivery took place this week and I had an uncharacteristically warm day to visit the build site.  The temperature was in the low 60s and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  While all the snow melted, it also softened any disturbed ground so it was a muddy boot day.  The weather is supposed to cool back down again later in the week so maybe the ground will harden up again in time for work to begin again.

   Here's the first stack of trusses I encountered coming onto the property.  It's at the first curve of the driveway off the street and it has some of the longer pieces.  I guess they're stashing it here until they can find more room for it at the house or until they need it.  When we first talked about the storage space requirements of the trusses, Matt told me that they'll probably need to use the crane to lift the trusses over the garage to stash them in the back yard.  I guess they still might have to, but here they are for now.

    Another angle of the first truss stack.  They're all labeled 915 and each one has a small tag on it with a descriptor of the roof pitch.  Even still, I can't really make heads or tails of now it will go together.  I know which roof pitches are where as per the elevation documents, but I couldn't tell you where these are supposed to go.

    Here's the second stack of trusses, about halfway up the driveway.  I did drive back with my RAV4 this time and didn't have any trouble slipping.  The driveway is soft for an inch or two deep, then I think it's undisturbed ground underneath. 

   Again, I can't make heads or tails of where these will be used, but you can see some larger peaks. It's all made from 2x4 pine, connected with those nail plates.  It's hard to believe that these will hold up the weight of the roof decking and roofing tile.  Modern wood engineering at its best.

    Same pile from a different angle.  They seem pretty flexible on their own, so it will be interesting to see how they hoist then into the air and secure them to the top of the ICF wall.  I'm pretty sure there needs to be some kind of wooden sill plate or header bolted to the top of the wall, then these will be attached with strong ties or something.  Can't wait to see the progress.

    Same pile from the other side.  Not sure where these are going, but at least you can make out the overhang.  Maybe the garage?  It doesn't seem like there's enough in these piles, but Matt did say that they were expecting two flatbeds worth of trusses.  This would take up two flatbeds.  Trusses are spaced larger than floor joists so I guess it's possible they're all here.

    These are by far the longest pieces and there are only three or four of them so I'm guessing these will make up the spine of the roof.  Probably have a peak that installs on top of it or something.  Trusses are weird.

    So I didn't get great shots of the retaining walls since they were covered in snow.  Now that it's a week later and two times the temperature I can take some more detailed shots.  Here's the boulder retaining wall on the right of the driveway/motor coach.  It goes from two courses to five as you get closer to the house.  The height is probably three feet at the lowest and eight feet at the concrete wall.

   Here's where the boulder wall meets the concrete wall.  It's a nice climb up the boulders and I imagine the twins will have fun doing a few years from now.  As I said before, we'll have to come up with a creative way to gradually transition from the large boulders to the smaller granite cobbles that will cover the concrete wall.  I don't think I've ever seen a large stone boulder veneer so I'm not sure how we're gong to make that happen.  

    And here's the top of the caramel mint retaining wall.  Geoff of Great Oaks said that there's still some finishing work to be completed here.  I have to get more details, but I'm hoping they'll fill the voids with smaller rocks to make a clean edge on the inside.  This should be the final grade so dirt/planting bed will be flush with the top of the stone.

  Looking down the steps.  Geoff confirmed that the stones here will need to be shaped for the stairway.  The top step on the first run of stairs is slightly proud of the ground between the steps.  I'm not sure if we'll fill it with another stone or if crushed stone will be used.  

    I went up stairs to check out the condition of the second floor. I haven't been up there in a few months because of the ice danger so it was nice to be up there again and dream about the layout.  Here's a shot of the wall from the edge of the turret.  You can see how the top course needs to be finished so it has a single edge.  I didn't dare go closer to get a shot of more wall.  

    I did take pictures from the second bedroom window though.  It's unfortunate that this view will be blocked by the wrap around porch when it's finally installed.  You can see all the extra stone that will either be used or taken away.  Or maybe we'll keep it on site for the walls in the back yard (future phases).

    Just a shot of the rotunda from upstairs.  The 2x4 material is just a support structure for the second floor concrete forms.  It gave the form something to brace against.  The rusty curved I-beam will be removed and the stairs will go up from the first floor from right to left.  The removal of the I-beam will give the rotunda a more open feel, but it was necessary to create and support the pour of the second floor.

   Wide shot of the wall and the house on this beautiful day.  Hopefully next time I update this site, you'll see some trusses up there too.

   This week, we'll be meeting with Margaret at a tile store to look at some more selection.  While we have almost everything figured out, there's still some tile to select.  Something for the wetside of the shower wall in the master bathroom.  Also we'll be looking at something else for the kitchen island counter top.  Tanja decided that the initial material was a little too blotchy looking and wanted a cleaner look.  Something solid surface white with some sparkle, but little to no aggregate.  I probably haven't posted our material selections yet, so if I have time this week, I'll provide a mid-week post for that.

Walls completed! (for the most part)

We're finally getting a taste of winter here with some snow sticking to the ground.  Forecast for later this week puts us in the 50s with rain though so I'm not sure if it will be sticking around.  If there ever was a great winter to build this would be it.  Hopefully we'll see quicker progress on the house.

   Bob from Great Oaks said that they would be able to finish the boulder walls up near the house, then pull off his guys so we can get truss delivery.  To my surprise, they finished all the boulder walls (at the house and street), although it looks like there some finishing work that still needs to be completed.

    Here's what the driveway entrance looks like.  There are still some boulders lined up on the right side, but the wall on the left side looks completed.  I'm not sure what the extra boulders are going to be used for.  There aren't any other walls slated for installation in this area.  The boulder retaining wall added a good 6 feet to the left side of the driveway, but this space will be used to place one of the gate pillars, and will be mostly filled with a planting bed.  It still feels much wider here and will add some assurance that we won't be falling off the driveway into the designated conservation area.

    The boulder wall is pretty long and about three stacks high.  I'm estimating that it's about 4 feet high.  The landscaping fabric is still visible at the top, so maybe one more course will be added.  That might place the grade of the driveway pretty high.  Maybe they're keeping the boulders on site just in case.

    Here's what it looks like coming back from the house.  We had the option of using the same carmel mint stone here, but we wanted to keep this area looking more natural since it's a conservation area.  Also, it's on the backside of a slope that we don't really see, so it didn't make much sense to put something really great looking in there.  If the snow is obscuring the ground too much, the wall does extend past those two trees, but dodges them by a good enough margin.  Glad we could keep them.

    So it looks like the wall at the house has been completed.  The top of the wall is level until it starts stepping down for the grade change.  There isn't any visible landscaping fabric but there are some cut stones left up here.  The top course doesn't look completely filled in since there are still large gaps on the top course high side that will probably need to be filled with the left over stone.  

    I really like this area.  It makes a neat little alcove for this bed and I think will be a great planting bed.  I don't think we'll need a safety fence here since height isn't too great.  It would be a shame if we did need one.  Hopefully we won't run into any trouble with the trees growing too large.  If it happens, I guess we could take down the tree closest to the wall and leave the other two standing.

   There is some landscaping fabric visible in this picture, but I think the final course is laid on the lower tier.  It seemed like they placed one more step on top of the lower tier since it was a bit high compared to the land around it.  It might have been a trick of the snow though.  The bottom step is still cracked at the corner but I imagine with the cold temperature, any adhesive wouldn't cure properly so the repair couldn't be made.

     Reverse shot of the wall.  Start to finish, I think this took about three weeks so the timing wasn't too bad.  I'm really impressed with Great Oaks and can highly recommend them.  Our interior designer knew of them and said that they were pretty much the best around, but you get what you pay for.  Definitely a large chunk of money went into this phase of the building, but I think it will be the most expensive phase, outside of installing a swimming pool.

    Our visit to Hardwood Door and Bevel last week paid of this week.  They came out the site to get measurements on the front door and called me later in the week to give me the details.  We're getting a custom mahogany single entry door flanked by 14" sidelights.  The door itself was supposed to be an eight foot door, but due to flooring choices and trim, will actually be just shy of eight feet, at 94".  

   We've already picked out the door and sidelight styles, but still need to design the leaded glass that will be installed in the sidelights.  As part of their service, they'll install this construction door so we can button up the house.  It also serves as a template for the interior and exterior building materials since the installers can drywall or shingle right up to the template.  The final door is created at a door manufacturer, but assembled and stained by Hardwood Door and Bevel in their workshop.  The finish for southern exposure doors is something other than standard polyurethane.  They use a multi-coat process that slowly polymerizes and provides a more UV resistant coating to protect against weather and fading.  While our door is under an eight foot porch, it's still south facing and tall so we'll probably get that finish.

   The leaded glass is designed and built in the Hardwood workshop and it's real leaded glass thermopaned between two pieces of glass.  Sometimes, you'll see fake leaded glass, with the lead only adhering to a pane of beveled glass.  Not so in this case.  Each facet is cut and leaded in a true manner, with any design being possible.  I initially priced out a Provia eight foot door with 12" sidelights.  We couldn't get 14" sidelights because Pro-via doors are made to standard widths, so we would have had to fill out some of the door opening, which wasn't preferred.  The Provia door would have been fiberglass and stained, which would have arguably provided beater weather resistance, but the stain can also fade.  There's a marginal difference in insulation properties when comparing the foam filled Provia vs a solid wood door.

   The hinges are all square cut and ride on ball bearings.  The lock will be a Baldwin mortise lock, cut at the Hardwood workshop.  The mortise lock is good, but I would have preferred the option for a higher security lock.  I don't think there's an option to re-core the mortise.

   We're also getting the greatroom and mudroom door from Hardwood Door, so I'll post more information on those when we get them.  

       So not only did Great Oaks finish the driveway wall, but they completed boulder retaining wall that connects to the concrete wall!  I wish there wasn't so much snow, so I could really see what this area looked like, but that will have to wait until next weekend.  This portion of the wall is pretty long since it extends all the way past the circular motor coach and down the driveway a bit.  I'll have to get some aerial shot of this whole area to see how it matches up to the final design.

    The boulder wall here is about 4 or 5 courses high, but the boulders used are much bigger than the ones at the front of the driveway.  Here's here it interfaces with the concrete all.  You can see the slope they needed to use to make a stable wall.  The wall will be covered with smaller granite cobbles, so I think it will transition smoothly.  We're looking into options to have larger cobbles near the boulder wall that will transition down to the smaller standard cobble, just so there isn't a large and immediate difference between the two materials.  The boulder wall is eight feet high where it meets the concrete wall, but quickly tapers down to four feet as the grade drops away down the driveway.  There are no mechanical devices holding the boulders up, so it's just a matter of gravity and placement that retains all the dirt.  Considering the weight of these things, I don't have much worry about shifting.

    So here's the house in all it's snowy glory.  Even though it looks like not much has been completed, it was a huge step towards finalizing the driveway and cleaning up the work area here.  

   Trusses are going to be delivered this Wednesday and we're strongly considering taking delivery of the windows so we can get the bank draw on those large ticket items and button up as soon as possible.  Next update should see trusses on the ground and hopefully some trusses installed on the house.  I'm told the roof is complex and there are many pieces, so all available flat surfaces will be needed to store the truss components.  Once trusses are up, the roof decking needs to be installed, which can take some time since you're moving large pieces of plywood up there.  We'll need to finalize and order the roof material, but after that, we can get windows installed and we'll be on our way to buttoning up for interior work!  

They made short work of a long wall.

Warm weather again for this weekend and we actually got a sunny day to visit the site.  We were greeted with the driveway lined with large boulders but the driveway itself was clear of obstacles.  Many of the deep ruts in the driveway that were filled in with the recycled concrete have been smoothed out so it looks like Great Oaks also leveled it a bit.

   There are more boulders at the front of the site than there were last week.  I think this is all that's needed for the street retaining wall.  I've been coordinating between the building crew and Great Oaks since the roof trusses are ready to be delivered.  We've decided that Great Oaks can finish the walls near the house and delay the delivery of the trusses until next Friday.  I'm told that we'll need every available flat surface to store the trusses on since the roof design is so complex.  Matt says that they'll need to move the trusses back to the site with the skytrack and probably use the crane to move them over the house to the back yard for storage.  At least after the walls are done, there will be more usable space in front of the house for large machinery.

   Because of the thaw, the driveway was a bit soft in some places, but the deep ruts were leveled or filled so it's mostly walkable.  I could have probably driven back, but I don't want to risk getting stuck or puncturing a tire.  Immediately visible is the lack of large stones that used to line the drive.  It looks like they've used almost every piece for the wall.

   And what a wall it turned out to be!  I'd say it's probably 90% complete.  It looks like they need to finish off the top course but most of the wall is completed.  Many of the stones look like they've been cut to form the curves in the wall.  You can also see that they deviated from the original plan by connecting the main wall to the small wall around the pine trees.  The result is awesome.

   You can see there's still some work to complete on the right.  I think the land will naturally grade down so I think the wall will step down similar to what you see here.  The visible landscape fabric is folded over the wall and the top course is placed to hold it down.   As it is, there's one stone on the final course and it's a full stone higher than current grade.

   Great Oaks and Matt communicated to determine how the exterior granite cobble would be attached to the basement walls so they could cleanly mesh the landscaping stones to the house.  Looking at the ICF courses, you can see the total height of the wall is about eight feet.  

   You can see how the Rosetta stone stairs cut through the wall.  There will be plantings on top of the lower wall, but I'm not sure how they'll be watered.  The beds up there are pretty isolated so I'm not sure how irrigation will be able to run up there.  Something to discuss with Great Oaks I guess.

   These steps are great.  Each step is a standard height which makes climbing them comfortable.  The color matches very well with the caramel mint stone but you can still tell that they're a concrete product.  It's unfortunate that there was some damage to the lowest step, so I'll ask Great Oaks how they'll address that.  Since it's a concrete product, I think they can just use a construction glue to fix it.  That's part of the perils of using a man made product.  Another disadvantage of using a concrete product is that if a chunk does break off, you can see that the "inside' is concrete.  If you use a natural stone, then it's just stone inside.

   Looking down the steps.  I'm not sure what's going in the flat space between the steps.  We might put stone slabs or crushed concrete, whatever looks better.  I believe the rock on the right is the top course so one more is needed on the left to bright the wall to height.

  Here's where the implementation deviated from the design.  In the design, there was supposed to be a break in between these walls but there probably wasn't enough space to implement the slope.  It could have been that the grade was too high and would have made too great a slope.  Whatever the reason, we really like the changes.  

   Here's the whole wall again.  I think the curved area will all be a mulched bed, but I don't think there will be any other plantings in it.  The rest of this area will be grass... someday

   They moved some of the boulders close to where the boulder retaining wall will connect to the concrete wall.  These boulders are the largest of the lot, some of them measuring more than three feet across.  The plan is to finish this retaining wall as well, buy Wednesday, so there will be enough space for the truss crane.  We'll need so much fill dirt up here to bring it to grade.  

   Here's another shot, standing where the stairs are.  It's a good shot of one of the planing areas on the wall.  I guess there's a maximum height a wall can be, before you need some kind of safety fence.  these walls were designed to be below that height so we won't need a railing here.  There will be a railing on top of the concrete wall since it's eight feet higher than the grade below.

   Here's a close up of the damage to the bottom step.  Probably not a big deal, plus, I'm not sure how they would replace it since it's sitting under the step above it,  Even if they use a construction adhesive to glue it back together, there will probably still be at least a hairline crack in the stone.

   Final shot of the house before the walls are done and the trusses are delivered.  Soon the sky will be filled with roofline,

   We also got the chance to visit Hardware Door and Bevel to place our order for the front door, mudrroom exterior door, and great room door.  The whole operation is really impressive.  They specialize in custom entry doors, making any dimension and style you want.  We've decided to go with an eight foot solid mahogany front door with 14" side lights on each side.  The sidelights will have leaded glass thermopaned between two pieces of glass.  We still need to decide on the leaded glass design, but they make it on site in their workshop.  They also come to the build site to measure and install a temporary door and frame the exterior finishers can build right up to.  Check that item off the list.