At Home In The Woods

[Gary Fowler]

It is hard to believe that there are so many incompetent contractors in your area that are still in business. I am so thankful that I have a good builder for my house. SO FAR, I have not had any issues with his work or any of his subs work. That sure makes it easy for me since I rely on photos and my brother in law for updates and only get home to see progress ever couple of month. We have documented each step with photos of all the work, building inspections have been completed with nary a problem. I am glad that I waited a year and a half to get this guy rather than take a chance on an unknown. He built my brother in laws house a couple years ago and it is great. THe builder works with you and no extra charges for minor changes. If anything is unclear, he phones us to make sure it is what we want. All the subs he uses are proven from past experience and the best thing is that he is also the cheapest bidder. I was actually willing to pay a bit more to get him is he was higher, but that was not the case. I had him build my 30 x 52 shop a couple years ago and liked the work and the price which is the big reason that I waited till he was available. I sure dont think I would have had the patience to put up with the stuff you have had to do.

 

[tommu56]

Wiring

According to the electrician, it is now against code now to run wiring through conduit inside the house. He said the code people are afraid that the wiring inside the conduit will get hot.

My back ground is industrial electricity and plc programing

I think he is mistaken you have to derate the temperature and or the ampacity of the wire if more than 3 current carrying conductors are in the same conduit.
Some areas of the country don't allow NM wire and you have to use conduit in houses more expensive but that is the way it is done.

tom

 

[eepete]

Your experience with the toilet vent ductwork is unfortunately typical. I can't tell you how many times I told a tradesman what I wanted, they said OK, and then just did it their way. Sometimes they charged extra to do it their way- well, I did talk to them...:confused2:

Electrical thoughts: I'm posting a pix here of my breaker panels, I added a few extra circuits... On your list, circuit 5 is a dedicated outlet for the office closet. If you're going to have electronics in there, figure out how you're going to get the heat out. Either frame in a hole for a fan above the door, or put in a duct to the outside. If it deserves a dedicated outlet, sound like this will be more than just a wireless router so you could have some heat to deal with. Speaking of wireless router, think about where your wifi box will go and how you get power in, telco in, and ethernet in. I'd run two cat5s so you can have all your options open down the road.

Think about some outlets in the halls for night-lights, either plug in or the build in ones like they sell at the box stores. Outlets in halls not required so electrician won't do them for you unless you tell him or put the boxes in yourself. Also makes for easier vacuum cleaner work. Think about the cord length on your vacuum, room sizes and the like and you may be able to find a single plug-in point where you can vacuum two or three rooms, vs. having to change outlets at each room. If you do find a few key outlets like this, you could change them out to a metal outlet so they will withstand the rigors of use. In general, about 10% of the outlets in the house will see 90% of the use so a little thinking now about metal boxes could save you some annoying wobbly boxes down the road. All of our kitchen outlets are in the big metal boxes that cost too much. But none of them wobble or can have the plastic screw hole break.

We put our outside floodlights by windows. Down side is lots of light backscatters into through the window when the light is one, upside is we will never have to get a ladder out to change a bulb. Tradeoffs....

If you have that conduit to a future sub panel for upstairs, consider running a conduit for low voltage for the same area.

Think about a ceiling box with a cat5 in the laundry area. This area is where a lot of fires start (the dryer) and it's a good place to have a detector.

The electrician gave you a quote based a few minutes of thought and your square footage. Now his goal is to do the minimum required by code. He is not thinking about the flow through the house, how you use things, where furniture is, etc. So you must do this task. One of the hardest things for me to do was to find a chunk of quiet time with no one around and walk through the house simulating life's little moments. It let me check the light switch placement out. You did spray paint which way the doors open to help catch light switch placement errors didn't you? So do the "come in from the garage", "power down the place for the night", "walk through the house at night" dry runs now and you'll find if there are places you have to backtrack too much to get the lights off.

I know I posted some things on wiring earlier, if the fog of construction isn't beating you up too bad you could re-read those posts.
It all looks good :thumbsup:. Vent here all you want, we've been there and understand.

Pete

 

[EddieWalker]

It is hard to believe that there are so many incompetent contractors in your area that are still in business.

Gary, I'm not replying to you specifically, but wanted to use your quote to help with my reply and comments.

Obed took on a huge challenge with this house and to his credit, has been totally open with everything that has gone right and that has gone wrong. I wonder how many others would be so open to sharing their mistakes and the lessons that they have learned? I admire him for this, and commend him for continuing to post everything that happens during the build. While it's easy to armchair quarterback, it's totally different when it's your money and your dream.

No house is perfect, and just about everything is a compramise of some sort. Money versus time versus what it will look like. The same is true for people you hire in the trades. What they say they will do versus what they actually do can be two completly different things. What's done in one part of the country is not done in other parts.

Obed is doing a tremendous job making decisions and researching everything. I'm guessing that he's on information overload, and I know that if it was me, I'd be inclined to tune out alot of the advice I'm getting just because it's so overwhelming and conflicting.

While Obed did make a few mistakes, his ability to recognize them and do what has to be done to correct them is what makes this thread, and him, so impressive. How many of use would honestly go back and redo so many things to make them right? Honestly? I do this for a living and do fairly well at it. I've made plenty of mistakes and have had to redo things too. Its sucks, it costs me money and it hurts my reputation with my clients. Most of the time, I spot them first and fix it before the client does, but there have been those times when I just didn't see it. There's no explaining it, and I just apologize and make it right. It's part of the business.

Part of me wants to suggest that everyone realize that Obed and his wife are under a ton of stress and to chill out, but then the other part of me thinks that all of our combined comments have had a direct impact on what's been done and how the house is turning out, and to keep up the comments and questions. It's up to Obed what happens, and how he takes all of our comments. I'm hopeful that he realizes that we're all in his corner and wanting him to create the best home possible for his wife and new daughter.

Eddie

 

[lakngulf]

Well said, Eddie. This whole thread is interesting primarily because of Obed's openness and honesty to let us know what is happening. I admire his patience and ability to find, fix and share frustration. Keep it up Obed and family, and keep it up forum contributors

 

[Gary Fowler]

Thanks for the note, Eddie. My post was basically just a note to say that I am very thankful that my GC on my house is so diligent in making sure everything is right. I really admire OBED in having the time and patience to rework all the stuff that has gone wrong.
The only problem I have had with my house has been with the plumbing height of the body shower nozzles in the MBR and he corrected it at no charge, even though it was my brother in law who gave him the location to put them. They were too high and would have hit my wife directly in the face. He admitted that he thought they were too high, but had the plumber put them where my rep said to. He also put in lots of extra wall sockets and 3 way switches to control all the lighting and be able to turn them off without recrossing the rooms. All this extra was no extra charge also. Not many contractors do that kind of work which is why he is in demand in the Hot Springs area of Arkansas. I attached a progress photo of my house which was started March 3, 2010 and is in the bricking stage now. We are waiting on cabinets now on interior, so I think it is coming along pretty fast. Completion date is scheduled July 15th. with move in no later than 25th.

 

[MarkV]

.
No house is perfect, and just about everything is a compramise of some sort. Money versus time versus what it will look like. The same is true for people you hire in the trades. What they say they will do versus what they actually do can be two completly different things. What's done in one part of the country is not done in other parts.

Eddie

Well Eddie I think that is a great paragraph you wrote when it comes to building or getting advice on the internet. I couldn't agree with you more. I have been in the trades for over 30 years and normally hesitate to participate in the building threads posted here. There are so many regional differences, local code standards and opinions expressed here it all becomes opinion based on local experience. What works in my area of Ga. may not work in Maine winters. They build a certain way in your area for a reason, find out why. Heck I don't even agree with some of the things Eddie advises and I think of him as an independent contractor trying to do a great job for your clients.

I provide experienced information and skills for my area but they may not apply to yours. My best advice, to those looking, is find the person in your area that has been around awhile and well thought of. They most likely will know what stands the test of time where you live.

MarkV

 

[dcyrilc]

Wiring

Here's the electrical breakdown as best I recall:
Circuit 1: Master BR outlets
Circuit 2: 2nd and 3rd BR outlets (13 total - yuk). I asked him to wire these bedrooms in a way that I could easilly put each BR on its own circuit breaker myself later.
Circuit 3: Foyer, hallway, front porch, and laundry outlets.
Circuit 4: Dining room/office outlets
Circuit 5: Dedicated outlet in the office closet (for computer electronics)
Circuit 6: Washing machine
Circuit 7: Dryer
Circuit 8: Kitchen outlets
Circuit 9: Living room outlets
Circuit 10: Master bath outlets
Circuit 11: Master bath in-wall 240V heater
Circuit 12: Hall bath outlets
Circuit 13: Hall bath dedicated outlet for space heater
Circuit 14: Garage and back porch outlets
Circuit 15: Attic outlets
Circuit 16: One outlet in the basement garage plus one outside outlet by each of the two exterior basement doors.
Circuit 17: Whole house fan
Circuit 18: 240V water well pump
Circuit 19: Lighting for all 3 BRs
Circuit 20: Foyer, hall, dining room/office lighting
Circuit 21: 5 flood lights, 4 porch lights, 2 lights by exterior doors, garage lighting (I'm not certain about this one)
Circuit 22: Lighting and vent fans for the master and hall baths
Circuit 23: Kitchen lighting
Circuit 24: Living room lighting
Circuit 25: 5 attic lights
Plus circuits for utility equipment (HVAC, gas water heater forced air venting, etc.)

Good mornig Obed,
The only suggestion I would make here would be to add an additional circuit for the kitchen. Not much is worse than heating something in the microwave and needing to use a blender or other appliance and having the breaker trip. I would have a minimum of two to three different outlet circuits in the kitchen.

Another thing with I noted and think is a great way of doing it is that you have the outlets and lighting seperated. Nothing worse than tripping a breaker and then having to find your way in the dark to reset the breaker. I am amazed at how many electricians around here try to combine the outlet and lighting circuits to save money on home runs.

Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

 

[PAGUY]

Obed - I am just wondering about that extra 220 line you are running into the house. Will it tie into the wiring you are installing now or will that be a separate breaker box for the basement? Will any wiring be run from it now or in the future?

 

[dave1949]

Good mornig Obed,
The only suggestion I would make here would be to add an additional circuit for the kitchen. Not much is worse than heating something in the microwave and needing to use a blender or other appliance and having the breaker trip. I would have a minimum of two to three different outlet circuits in the kitchen.

Another thing with I noted and think is a great way of doing it is that you have the outlets and lighting seperated. Nothing worse than tripping a breaker and then having to find your way in the dark to reset the breaker. I am amazed at how many electricians around here try to combine the outlet and lighting circuits to save money on home runs.

Keep up the great work.:thumbsup:

My thought too Cyril. Usually they put microwaves on a dedicated circuit here. In any case, a kitchen needs several circuits, not just one.
Dave.