Timber Frame Hybrid Home - Owner Builder

[MarkV]

Jeremy it looks like it will be a great place. I do hope you will give us regular updates as the process evolves. I do have a question already though. A see through fireplace from inside to outside strikes me as one heck of a heat loss source. Maybe I just don't understand what your plan is well enough.

MarkV

 

[jk96]

Jeremy it looks like it will be a great place. I do hope you will give us regular updates as the process evolves. I do have a question already though. A see through fireplace from inside to outside strikes me as one heck of a heat loss source. Maybe I just don't understand what your plan is well enough.

MarkV

Hi Mark,

the fireplace will have ceramic glass doors on both sides, inside and outside. They are going to modify the unit so that the vents on the outside are removed. It will vent only to the inside of the home for heat. Heat on the outside will be radiant heat off the glass only, no venting. With the doors closed it will be sealed to the outside and inside as well. I'm sure there will be some heat loss when not in use however with the doors sealed both inside and outside I wouldn't think it would be too significant. Attached is an inside and outside picture of the same unit built for another customer.

Jeremy

Inside view



Outside view

 

[J F]

Wow, those are beautiful. Betchya can't wait.

 

[Rustyiron]

Beautiful project. FWIW, I want to say I agree with your decision to frame & foam your exterior walls. SIPS are great if installed with all the precautions & techniques that they require. I took a 4 day "class" on SIPS const. from a guy that was a SIPS builder (several hundred under his belt) and highly involved with SIPA (a national sips assoc.) that promoted sips const. Their "focus" was on proper building techniques that are a MUST with sips. I believe that all, or most of sip failures are due to improper practices that result in BIG problems for a sips homeowner. They are a great product but in the hands of a well intentioned crew that has not been "schooled" on the criticle points to avoid (mostly moisture) problems, they (sips) can get a bad name or rep. not because of the product, but it's use.
To sum it up, that class scared me enough to not trust myself or any contr. that does not have years of experiance with sips. (I've been in home bldg. for 30+ yrs). And I like the "flash & batt" method that it sounds like you have settled on. One thing in this class that amazed me was the "air tight ness" of a sips house. The instructor told us that he had just come from a contest of some sort in Wash. DC where colleges are challenged to build energy efficient houses and even with extreme "air sealing" on a conventional built (framed) house, the sips house was something like 20X "tighter" than it and this was really where your energy savings came from rather than, what I had expected, the higher R value of the wall. Another lesson I learned, was that with a very "tight" house, you needed to manage your humidity levels. He had a list of normal household activities and the moisture that it put into the home, quite suprising to me! And that you needed to remind the HVAC contractor that he can not neglect the "V" in his title (ventilation) and that a heat recovery - ventalation system was in order. Check out GreenBuildingTalk - Green Building Forums on Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power, Green Construction Projects some interesting stuff there & good luck.
PS. I would like to note that that class was really based on homes that were "frame less" (the S in sips) and not so much on being the "skin" on a post frame structure, but I think the moisture concerns are the same. Repairs of panel failure would be much simpler to correct on a post & beam house.:drink:

 

[EddieWalker]

Nice floorplan. Looks like it's well thought out with a good flow to it. I'm looking forward to following your progress!!!

Eddie

 

[jk96]

Beautiful project. FWIW, I want to say I agree with your decision to frame & foam your exterior walls. SIPS are great if installed with all the precautions & techniques that they require????.

We originally planned to use SIPS. Our first choice was Thermacore. They are the mfg. and also do the install of their own SIPS. In the end it came down to cost. We were already trimming to get within budget. The cost difference of going with SIPS vs stick and foam was about $30K. Thanks for the additional info and links.

Wow, those are beautiful. Betchya can't wait.

We are very excited to break ground. It seems like it has taken a long time to get to the point we are at. We originally planned on standing the frame up in May but the timeline was just too tight. We pushed it back to the end of July and should make for a little less stress.

Nice floorplan. Looks like it's well thought out with a good flow to it. I'm looking forward to following your progress!!!

Eddie

Thanks Eddie. I'm glad we didn't rush the project. I made several attempts and revisions before we got to the current plans. Taking our time really helped.

We went out a couple of weeks ago and put flags in the ground to find the corners of the house and a few of the rooms. My wife thought I was crazy when telling her how big the home was. I think she was a little concerned. Everything looks so much smaller staked out on open ground.

 

[J F]

Have the termites already surrendered?

 

[jk96]

Have the termites already surrendered?

I sure hope so Jay.

Got some great news on the hardwood floors today. I have been looking for hickory flooring that is mostly heartwood without a large amount of white sapwood. We loved the rich color of the heartwood and varied grain pattern in hickory but just wasn't a big fan of so much sapwood. We also didn't want to stain it. Most of the stained hickory just didn't have a rich natural feel to it. Every supplier I've contacted has said that it's not available and that a large amount of sapwood is acceptable even in select grades. After an exhaustive search and almost giving up I finally found a supplier that was willing to contact the mills and supply us with heartwood hickory flooring. Planks will be 6" width. Should look similar to the samples in the pic below with very little white sapwood.

Heartwood Hickory

 

[forgeblast]

That is real nice!!

 

[jk96]

We received the first set of detailed plans today. Everything overall looked great. Only a few minor things that we may want to change. Plans also show SIPS for the center portion of the house. They will be removed and updated to 2x4 walls in the next update.

1. 1st floor laundry room - looks like a shower is included in the bathroom. Not really a need for a shower here. Would replace with single vanity.
2. 2nd floor (bath #2) - move the attic access door in the bathroom to the office if headroom allows.
3. 2nd floor (bath #2) - rearrange to make room for a stand up shower or turn bath into a bath/shower combo and move so that it doesn't block the window.
4. 2nd floor (bedroom #3) - rearrange vanity and closet to create a larger closet. This room is for our daughter so a larger closet is needed.

Pics of the floor plans below. Our stone veneer for the house and fireplace arrived this morning as well. I'll upload pics of the stone tonight or tomorrow.

Here's the original PDF file as well if anyone needs a better image of anything.
View attachment Architectural.pdf

Jeremy