Furnace

Bob put in our furnace last week.  We spent some time analyzing the heating and cooling loads to size the unit properly.  Considering we have very well insulated walls and roof, plus triple pane glazing, the unit can be smaller than typically used for a house of 2500 square feet.

This is a Trane 95% high-efficiency unit with a two stage variable speed fan, so we hope to see some significant savings on energy usage (especially when combined with our tankless water heater).

Note:  Again, we see this as the next best thing to radiant floors which were out of our price range.

Break Metal Work

Jerry’s crew from CO Metal Source has installed all of the parapet and the first two sections of the fascia on the lower roofs.  Some areas need tweaking, but on the whole, it’s coming out very nice!

This is really the last finishing touch on the exterior other than landscape.  The Galvalume is a wild finish.  It changes dramatically depending on the daylight - in can vary from a very light silver all the way to dark gray.  If you check out the close-up, it even has a “grain” to the finish which gives it further character.

Electrical and SIPs

Rob our electrician has been patiently drilling away into our SIPs panels - this is one of the numerous challenges that brings into question the efficiency of the SIPs process.  Even with the pre-cut chases, at every corner and from wall to ceiling, in many cases Rob has had to cut out access holes to get at and pull the wires.

We had more visitors at the site on Friday (from two great local architecture firms Studiotrope and Insitu), and they spoke of a SIPs process where electrical conduit and boxes are installed as part of the fabrication process vs. in the field.  I guess if you can coordinate everything down to the last 1/2”, it would be advantageous to do it this way.

If you are building with SIPs, make sure your installers place the panels at the intended interior/exterior orientation, and that each corner is drilled out for continuous chase access.  Also, make sure each chase is well marked.  We had a few panels that are square and symmetrical which were installed backwards - an easy mistake to make, but it has created confusion when trying to pull wires, because the chase marks are no longer visible.

Weather

Here we go again.  The snow just won’t let up.  Jerry’s crew came in right before the storm and got the scuppers, conductor heads and downspouts in.  Just in time!

Windows and Doors

We’ve been impatiently waiting to reach this milestone for what seems like forever.  The windows and doors had been in a warehouse for about two months -- due to delays in the schedule.  As we mentioned previously, Loewen Windows and Doors are extremely well made and solid.

With significant areas of glazing, we felt that until the openings are filled that it would be very hard to get a true feeling of how the interior spaces will feel.  The exterior patio (pictured above) is by far the best in my mind.  Many of the other window openings do feel quite a bit smaller (compared to the rough openings), once all the visual clutter of mullions and interior screens are installed.

The swing and sliding doors still feel very good, even without the final tweaking for smoother operation. They are very high quality, which is important for doors that we will be using on a frequent basis.

Siding-Take Two

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Much better now.  We lost some sleep over this siding thing.  The contrasting stripes were getting to us.  Nancy and I spent a considerable amount of time sorting the entire stack of pre-stained clear cedar and sorted it into light, medium, and dark.

We suggested that the guys mix the two lighter varieties on the front and north elevations.  The result is a more subtle appearance and much more palatable to us.

Numerous people said they liked the “character” and “richness” of the dark mixed in, but there was just a little too much of that for us!  Another point that was made, is that by year two, the colorado sun will have this wood bleached out anyway...A big thanks to Nicholas and his crew - they did a fantastic job on the remaining areas of siding.

You’ll see the color differences depending on the location of the sun.

IKEA

After nearly an entire day at the IKEA store down here in Tempe, Arizona, we came away with some mixed feelings about the whole experience.  We’ve always believed that it represented access to decent (and sometimes great) design for a very reasonable price.  Back in Vermont, we designed/built a kitchen with Ikea cabinets combined with custom built tall oven/pantry units and it worked out very well. 

On this house, we’ve always envisioned using their closet systems for wardrobes in each bedroom (thanks to our friends Marcel and Olga for leading us to them)  and any other location where we needed storage or affordable shelving. 

However, if you don’t have an IKEA in your city or within driving distance, shipping is a nightmare.  Many items they don’t carry on their web site (available in-store only), and even if you show up at the store, they don’t really want to ship it from there!  The shipping costs are at least 25% more for whatever you buy, and if you do end up getting “special shipping from the store”, it’s even more!  It boggles the mind that they can get this stuff shipped around the world to any of their hundreds of stores, but they can’t easily get it to the last destination - to your house...  Very frustrating. 

Break Metal Work

Break metal work on residential projects is frequently done poorly - there always seems to be something wrong - the gauge is too thin so it “oil cans” (waviness), or it’s some color that clashes with the rest of the colors, or it’s just plain poorly installed!  Curt found what appears to be a very good metal sub contractor, and we’ve been talking through the parapet and fascia details.  The lower roofs are so thick (SIPS + roof curb), that we are attempting to bring the scale down by stepping the metal fascia into three sections.  Jerry of CO Metal Source mocked up a section to review.  We adjusted the top section to better match the parapet above, and stepped it out a little further to help differentiate it with more of a shadow line.  It will be installed some time this week!

Tubs Arrive

The bath tubs arrived yesterday.  These are the first items so far that reflect something “finished” in the house.  Fortunately, they look as good in real life as in all the photos! We love how simple and modern these MTI tubs are.  Check out their web site here:

MTI Whirlpools

Plumbing-Mechanical Rough-In

The mechanical and plumbing sub-contractors have been working on the rough-ins.  It’s amazing how much abuse the studs and floor joists can take with all the holes and drilling -- and still perform!

We have specified a number of interior chases (exterior SIPs walls don’t really work for this) which are quickly filling up.