At Home In The Woods

[buckeyefarmer]

My sister had Alice's Restaurant on vinyl. I had it on 8 track!

CD

wow, just found out there is a 5 character minimum, can't just reply CD....

 

[dcyrilc]

CD

wow, just found out there is a 5 character minimum, can't just reply CD....

CD

 

[dcyrilc]

CD

Just have to know how to cheat.

 

[Obed]

Obed -

Couple of questions....

Do you have other subs working in the house to make progress on the plumbing/electrical? Or are you working one sub at a time? (brick)?

Plumbing, H&A, and electrical are for the most part roughed in. The plumber and H&A subs were in the house at the same time. They knew each other and did fairly well working together to make each of their stuff fit in the trusses. The electrician did most of his work after the plumbing and H&A subs were done. We may start insulation and drywall work before the brick is finished if we can soon find subs we like and who are available.

And, what inspired your decision to go with brick exterior.....and are you bricking the entire house? I realize brick is essentially maintenance-free, but it also comes at an added cost....I'm curious what it adds, another 10 or 20% to the cost of the house over conventional siding?

We are putting brick and stone on the entire house with the exception of the walls that are above roofs (for example dormers) and eyebrows. The dining room/office at the front of the house will have stone on it. There are significant material costs and lots of labor required to do brick; that's why a lot of houses have brick only on the front wall and have vinyl on the other 3 walls. Maintenance free aspects of brick played a large factor; another factor was we just like the look of a brick house. We did not price vinyl siding so I can't say what the difference in price between putting vinyl on our house would be vs. brick. Our house has 2100 SF on the 1st floor plus 700 SF for the garage and will require approx. 29,000 bricks plus stone on part of the front of the house. $12K for materials: brick, sand, mortor, lentils, vinyl lentil covers. $400/1000 bricks for labor (approx $12K). Add another $4500 for the stone materials and labor. Total: $29K for brick and stone. Add to that the cost of vinyl for the soffits and dormers, gables above eyebrows, etc.

I'll be building in a few years, and am debating brick/stone/stucco/vinyl.. ....unsure which way to go.

Brick lasts forever, never seems to go out of style, but there's a cost to it. Also, there's risk in bricking a new house because if the foundation settles, brick will crack and make the foundation issues obvious and will hurt (or destroy) the resale price of the house. Also, it's much easier to modify or patch a vinyl wall than a brick wall. You can often notice changes made to brick walls. Based on the fact that in this area, you almost never see a spec house bricked on all four walls, my guess is that if you wanted to resell your house within 5 years of building, you'd be better off money wise to do vinyl or maybe just brick the front side and vinyl everywhere else. In our area, very few houses have stucco so I wouldn't consider putting stucco on a house here due to concerns regarding getting quality work and for resale value.

And, how's the cat doing?

The cat is doing well thanks. Her appetite is back to her normal poor appetite that she had before the DCon/peroxide episode. Looking back, I suspect that she did not eat much if any DCon but can't be certain. We took the conservative route and treated her as if she did eat the DCon.

Thanks everyone for expressing your condolences regarding the tough days we had during that week.

Obed

 

[scott_vt]

We took the conservative route and treated her as if she did eat the DCon.

Thanks everyone for expressing your condolences regarding the tough days we had during that week.

Obed

Good Mornin Obed,
Beautiful looking home, the brick work is fantastic !

On the cat issue, we had something similar happen a couple of years back... we ended up putting the cat on small doses of prednisone. The cat now eats quite well, we also switched her food to the Wellness formula, a bit pricey but she loves it, and this makes Kathleen happy that her cat is eating well !

Maybe something to think about !

 

[ruralruss]

"Brick lasts forever, never seems to go out of style, but there's a cost to it. Also, there's risk in bricking a new house because if the foundation settles, brick will crack and make the foundation issues obvious and will hurt (or destroy) the resale price of the house."

We also did our 2 1/2 story in brick. One advantage you did not mention is that it is more bullet proof. We have 15 acres but the boundaries are not marked and a lot of people here in the NW Georgia mountains hunt.

Russ

 

[EddieWalker]

There are significant material costs and lots of labor required to do brick; that's why a lot of houses have brick only on the front wall and have vinyl on the other 3 walls.

This must be a local thing. I know that where I'm from in CA, stucco is the norm for most homes with brick or rock accents. Rock is really taking off and becoming more and more common. Especially with cedar posts and beams.

Here in East Texas, brick is the norm and expected on all sides of the house. A back wall or side that's not done in brick is going to hurt the value of the house considerably. You can move a low end house this way, but there is a stigma to using anything other then brick or stone.

Hardi has really come on strong as an accent siding and trim material. It's durability and ability to hold paint without rotting is becoming common knowledge to home buyers and it's showing up on more and more homes.

Vinyl is a low end material that doesn't last and is prone to maintenance issues. I'm surprised that it's being used on this house. I would strong reconsider what it would cost to switch over to Hardi. Vinly cracks, it moves around, gets dirty and alge likes to grow on it. It becomes home to bugs, damages easily from storms and trees, and it's the first place to look when you have leaks in a wall. It's cheap and easy to install, but that's it's only advantage.

If it's common for your area, then it probably wont matter for appraisal value and resale. If you like the look of it, and don't mind the added upkeep required, then the cost savings might be worthwhile.

Eddie

 

[brin]

I agree with Eddie about the use of Vinyl ..When we built our home 5 yrs. ago we went all brick and then Hardi plank wherever the brick could not go and here 5 yrs. later the paint is like new. Hardi plank has no resins in it like wood does so paint holds up for a very long time...over 10 yrs. is what I have been told. Vinly on the the other hand is all the bad things Eddie says. I had some on a rental double wide and my tennant had one side melt just because his leaf pile was burning too close...it was probably 6 feet away and a small pile but none the less the siding melted..if you ever have a fire it is an accelerant...

 

[hitekcountry]

Hardi plank without a doubt would be my choice. It doesn't rot, termites wont eat it, it won't burn, and it holds paint better than anything. I have buildings with Hardi plank and wood side by side that were painted at the same time and the wood is pealing and is in need of being painted again and the paint on the Hardi plank still looks like new. I wouldn't use vinyl if you gave it to me.

 

[Obed]

Today, a helper and I ran Cat 6 network wire to the back and front porches. We ran two wires to each porch. I wanted to also run wire to the living room but ran out of wire. I'll have to order more. The wire I had was left over from our previous house.