New House Build in WV

[rScotty]

It’s been a slow week, but I did pick up the driveway fabric and got it laid out after dark in preparation for the gravel that will be delivered tomorrow morning.

Also got a lot of stuff cleaned up and one room mostly wired.

Shopping kitchen cabinets has been very discouraging. They seem to cost much more than I expected, but we want a nice kitchen that will last a long time. Will likely place our order Monday after taking the weekend to make sure we have what we want accounted for. Looks like it will take about 8 weeks for them to be built. That’s not a problem as it will surely take me that long to get ready for them, probably longer.

We found the same thing with kitchen cabinets. Cost a lot more than expected. Because our house has a lot of natural wood, lacquer, and varnish, we ended up getting cabinets with hardwood for doors and visible ends. The insides and shelves are a composite of some sort. The best deal we could find was through Home Depot so that is what we did. I've got to say they did a really nice job. I hired an older carpenter to do all the cabinet hanging and fitting & glad I did.

Geotextile fabric is great stuff. I wish I'd used it on more of the landscaping instead of just some.

There's a mistake I made you might want to avoid. Where I drilled holes through the bottom frame plate to run wires and electrical cables from the basement to upper floors, I should have then sealed those holes around the wires. Not sure what I would have used, but maybe some sort of hard-setting spray can or cement foam - if there is such a thing. Or maybe metal. But I didn't, and one year I got mice in the basement. Those wiring holes provided access for mice to travel freely through the walls.
If doing it again, I'd take the time to seal every single wiring access hole I drilled in baseplate, studs and top plate. It's the kind of time consuming simple job I didn't do and wish now I'd just hired someone to do it for me.
rScotty

 

[deezler]

Where I drilled holes through the bottom frame plate to run wires and electrical cables from the basement to upper floors, I should have then sealed those holes around the wires. Not sure what I would have used, but maybe some sort of hard-setting spray can or cement foam - if there is such a thing. Or maybe metal. But I didn't, and one year I got mice in the basement. Those wiring holes provided access for mice to travel freely through the walls.
If doing it again, I'd take the time to seal every single wiring access hole I drilled in baseplate, studs and top plate.
rScotty

Isn't it code to seal all wiring holes drilled through framing members between floors with fireproof (red) caulk? It is here in Michigan, anyway.

 

[rScotty]

Isn't it code to seal all wiring holes drilled through framing members between floors with fireproof (red) caulk? It is here in Michigan, anyway.

Not part of our local code here. It does sound to me like a good idea though. Not just for mice, but for fire too. I'm tempted to propose that hard mouse & fireproof caulking like that gets included next time our local jurisdiction votes on what portion of updated codes to accept - we do that every couple of years. ....although I'd like to hear arguments for and against that caulking before voting. Feel free to weigh in.

A lot depends on which code is being used. Plus lots of local jurisdictions can accept or reject whatever portions of the unified or national codes that they want or find appropriate.

For example the OP - TnWV - said a few posts ago that he wasn't concerned about the window inspections because he was done with those. Here, he would still have an electrical inspection, framing & insulation, plumbing, and final occupancy inspection still to go. At least. There might be others.
rScotty

 

[TnWV]

Living in a double wide for the last 14-15 years, we have dealt with our share of mice, that’s for sure. You just can’t seal these things up enough to keep them out, it seems. I will do everything I can to keep them out of the new house. I plan to seal off every potential place one could get in, so I will absolutely seal holes for electrical wiring between floors. I also plan to foam around any electrical outlets on the exterior walls to help keep air from being able to come through them.

Gravel made it, so I’ll be doing some spreading later this evening.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Living in a double wide for the last 14-15 years, we have dealt with our share of mice, that’s for sure. You just can’t seal these things up enough to keep them out, it seems. I will do everything I can to keep them out of the new house. I plan to seal off every potential place one could get in, so I will absolutely seal holes for electrical wiring between floors. I also plan to foam around any electrical outlets on the exterior walls to help keep air from being able to come through them.

Gravel made it, so I’ll be doing some spreading later this evening.

Put scotchbrite pads in weepholes in brick. It doesn't rust and it breathes.

I put down 12' landscape cloth on top of my clay soil, and then put about 4" of screened gravel over it. It has performed flawlessly for 17 years now, but I need to top it off with another 2" layer of fines to 1.5"

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

The price of cabinetry makes me want to buy all the shop equipment to make them.

 

[TnWV]

Put scotchbrite pads in weepholes in brick. It doesn't rust and it breathes.

I put down 12' landscape cloth on top of my clay soil, and then put about 4" of screened gravel over it. It has performed flawlessly for 17 years now, but I need to top it off with another 2" layer of fines to 1.5"

Same experience. My main drive has been in place for over 100 years, and it eats gravel. Poor drainage doesn’t help, but I’ll fix that over the next few years. I put fabric under the drive off of it that comes my current home and put crusher run over it. I’ve only toped it off once in 15 years. I put 50-75 tons on main drive every other year.

I spread 50 tons of the larger gravel over the fabric and 10-12 of the 57’s on main drive where trucks have messed the gravel up this evening. I will cover the larger gravel with 57’s once the larger gravel settles a few weeks. Still have a little more gravel moving some dragging to do. May leave work a little early tomorrow so I can do it in the day light. Supposed to rain again Saturday.

 

[TnWV]

The price of cabinetry makes me want to buy all the shop equipment to make them.

No kidding. We added a few options that increased the cost a bit such as spice rack drawers, utensil rack drawers, pull out shelf’s, and have several wall cabinets taller to give a staggered look. Crown, under cabinet lighting trim and all knobs/handles are also included.

Lowe’s/Home Depot were higher. We found one other supplier that was a bit cheaper, but their cabinets didn’t have all the same options and just were not as nice overall, and I’m afraid we would be disappointed with them. There are a few other places I could check, but I believe they will be more, from what I’ve been told. Hard to find time to shop for stuff as well.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The price of cabinetry makes me want to buy all the shop equipment to make them.

That’s what I did. I built my cabinets in the year it took the former house to sell

 

[TnWV]

That’s what I did. I built my cabinets in the year it took the former house to sell

My father in law built his cabinets as well. He built them around 2003. In 2015, we tore their house down and built them a new house in the same spot. Old house had too many structural issues and they were better off building new than fixing it. We designed the house with the exact same kitchen as the old house so the cabinets fit right in. I just don’t have the time, or patience, to do that, unfortunately.

 

[TnWV]

I managed to get the 3 loads of gravel mostly spread. I’ll need another load of 57 to cover the larger gravel, but will let things settle in for a couple weeks before doing that. I did use 57 already where the driveways meet because I needed some gravel there on the main drive to repair where the large trucks have done a number on it throughout the build. I have family that lives over the hill and they use that part of the road as well.

Still have a little bit left to spread and need to dress the edges up some more.



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Did some more electrical wiring after playing on the tractor. Apparently my 18 volt Milwaukee Fuel drill isn’t up to the task for drilling the studs. May run out at some point tomorrow and get a more powerful right angle drill, that would make the drilling go faster for sure.

 

[EddieWalker]

Curious what gravel costs for you there? Rock is kind of rare in my part of Texas, so it has to be trucked in from the Dallas area. Road base limestone is $23 a ton if you buy the entire load off of the end dump, which varies from 22 to 24 tons. If you buy it from the yard, it's $40 a yard and they will deliver up to 8 yards from a single axle dump truck with a $50 delivery fee.

Crushed concrete is a little cheaper, and I've found it to hold up and compact a lot better then limestone. The limestone that we have here is kind of soft and wears out over time. I've never seen any sign of wear with crushed concrete.

 

[TnWV]

Curious what gravel costs for you there? Rock is kind of rare in my part of Texas, so it has to be trucked in from the Dallas area. Road base limestone is $23 a ton if you buy the entire load off of the end dump, which varies from 22 to 24 tons. If you buy it from the yard, it's $40 a yard and they will deliver up to 8 yards from a single axle dump truck with a $50 delivery fee.

Crushed concrete is a little cheaper, and I've found it to hold up and compact a lot better then limestone. The limestone that we have here is kind of soft and wears out over time. I've never seen any sign of wear with crushed concrete.

25 tons is about $820 delivered. Delivery is $150 of that price. Rock is barged in, and is pretty expensive here. I used crushed concrete for my fill in the garage and it definitely packed good. There is only one supplier in the area and they did not have any clean crushed concrete available right now. The stuff I used in the garage wouldn’t have worked well on the drive, it had pieces from softball size to dust. A lot of the pieces had metal in them as well, so didn’t want that on the driveway either.

 

[ovrszd]

Crushed limestone runs around $15 p/ton delivered. I have a quarry East of me 4 miles and another South of me 10 miles.

 

[TnWV]

Crushed limestone runs around $15 p/ton delivered. I have a quarry East of me 4 miles and another South of me 10 miles.

That’s less than half my cost. My road would always be in pristine condition if I could get it for that price!

Distance from the quarry really makes a huge difference in price. Doesn’t help that the closest gravel yard is a 35-40 minute drive in a loaded dump truck.

 

[mred2]

I wish I could get it that cheap. It is more than $40 a yard delivered, 18 yard load. If you can get it for that. $50 a yard if you pick it up. Location make a big difference. The best rock pit will not even load a small truck.

 

[ovrszd]

That’s less than half my cost. My road would always be in pristine condition if I could get it for that price!

Distance from the quarry really makes a huge difference in price. Doesn’t help that the closest gravel yard is a 35-40 minute drive in a loaded dump truck.

I keep a pile for those little repair projects.

 

[TnWV]

Not much to update, the friend that was going to help me pour the garage floor tomorrow had something come up, so that’s out for now, will try again after the holidays, weather permitting.

I’ve been working on electric wiring in the evenings, and have a few rooms wired up.

I’ll get the last basement window and the door installed this weekend, that will allow me to hopefully keep some heat in there for when we start the plumbing drains in the near future. Cold weather really slows things down and really kills the motivation to get out and work. Have to power through it and keep things moving.

 

[TnWV]

Not a lot of picture worthy progress, lots of hanging can lights and wiring. Bedrooms, dining room, kids bathroom, and hallway all done. Picked up a bathtub for the kids bath yesterday, may start, plumbing that side of the house later this week or next weekend. HVAC guy coming this week to get a material list together, and will get going on it after Christmas sometime. That is costing more than I wanted, but we are using all Lennox equipment, and this guy has been real good to me on my current home and my in laws house.

I did manage to get the basement door and window installed, as well. Should be able to warm it up a little for the guys installing the duct and when we are plumbing.

 

[TnWV]

Dormer window came in so I got it installed yesterday. Also go most of the beam under the porch roof put up.

Other than that, I’ve been working on wiring, probably getting close to half done with the wiring. Still waiting for AEP to get the power in.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!