Building a stick frame house in the woods in 90 days

[J F]

The animals were here long before we were and they like to keep reminding us that even though we pay the taxes, they still own the place.:confused3:
Ron

:laughing: Yeah, it's good to know who you work for.

 

[pclausen]

Ron, thanks for those Hardie links again. I'm going to make a point of discussing both where the composite decking meets the hardie, as well as the patio pour. I don't think I will have an issue, but should something develop, I want to make sure I raised awareness of the issue with the builder. I'm quite sure they will support mom's house past the 12 month "official" period.

Day 95

The front walk way poured

And after about a 4 hour wait, it was stamped. As I mentioned yesterday, once they hose off the powder and then seal it, it will really come into its own.

I like the "step" being stamped as well

The septic tank was dropped in position this morning

And all the remaining material for the septic drain field was dropped off

By late afternoon, 4 of 5 drain field runs had been completed

Close up showing the 4 completed lines. The drop in each line has to be 1/4" per 10 feet. Health Inspector is coming out Monday to verify before they can completely cover everything back up again

The rock work guy dropped of his tools of the trade

And some starter "rocks". So he will likely get down to business tomorrow

The solid core doors showed up today

Inside, they got the T&G ceiling mostly done. I did talk to them this morning, and all of it will be sanded before the clear coat is applied. Personally I think they are doing a decent job and that this will look great once completed. Here are some pictures. They only have a little bit left to do. It looks better in person that what these picture show.

 

[SPIKER]

P.

That Pine ceiling really looks pretty good unfinished, too bad it will darken a lot if not finished.

I would have thought they would have run it thru a small portable soft drum sander just prior to nailing it up. Would have saved them a lot of effort...

Mark

 

[FairfaxStu]

Peter,

I admit that the ceiling turned out a lot better than it looked at first. Are they gonna put some kind of shoe mold up there to hide the gaps at the ends?
-Stu

 

[pclausen]

They will Stu. In fact, they will rip some of the T&G for this purpose. They will also use ripped strips around the aluminum equipment rack, and at the transition from grey to green in the hallway. I think I'm going to inist that they sand these ripped pieced before installing them to give them beveled edges and whatnot. And they should also clear coat these piece before installing. I took next week off from work to help supervise this critical phase of the overall project.

 

[FairfaxStu]

I took next week off from work to help supervise this critical phase of the overall project.

Yep, that is exactly what I wanted to hear. A wise choice.

A couple of things come to mind. Where do you stand with power at this point? Have you had the final for that? And what about the generator and overall gas plumbing?
-Stu

 

[pclausen]

Power is live at this point. I assume that means we're pretty close to 'final'. Not sure if there needs to be another electrical inspection once all the switches and receptacles have been wired or not...

On the gas, I talked to the gas company yesterday, and they will come out next week to install the regulator and fill the tank. The normally don't do that until at least one appliance can be tested, but neither the dryer, cook-top, nor log starter have been connected yet. The fireplace still needs a gas line run to it.

Generator hasn't been ordered yet. Figured there is no need to drop that cash until mom moves in. I have the installation manual with the specs for the gas line that needs to be run, and I discussed that with the gas company. So they can do their piece once they show up.

I also finally got to the right department at Verizon to have them come out and do a burial drop for the phone "before" she puts in an order to have her existing number moved to the new address. That just about took an act of congress!

 

[FairfaxStu]

On the gas, I talked to the gas company yesterday, and they will come out next week to install the regulator and fill the tank. The normally don't do that until at least one appliance can be tested, but neither the dryer, cook-top, nor log starter have been connected yet. The fireplace still needs a gas line run to it.

So the gas company does ALL of the gas plumbing in your neck of the woods? In my case, the actual plumber did everything inside the house from the outside regulator inward. He installed some kind of funky manifold and regulator inside where it connects to my various appliances that use LP. IIRC, it was something like 2 PSI on the supply line from outside and then 1/2 PSI going to all appliances.

Word of caution here. I think you will find that your cooktop and perhaps dryer are setup for natural gas so somebody has to convert them. They typically include the new nozzles to do this which is a very good thing. In my case, neither my contractor nor my plumber would touch it, so I called the gas company. Turns out they had dealt with this type of range before and new exactly how to change out all 7 nozzles to convert it over.

Bonus was that they only charged me $45 for the service call and all. I figure they definitely lost money because not only did the tech spend over an hour doing the conversion, he drove here 30 miles each way in god-awful DC traffic in a Ford F550.
-Stu

 

[mkane09]

Better...much better. I really liked the stamped concrete and, yes, I believe that t&g ceiling is gonna be just fine. I agree also with the week off to help "supervise." It's almost a house!!!

mkane09

 

[ljnelson109]

So the gas company does ALL of the gas plumbing in your neck of the woods? In my case, the actual plumber did everything inside the house from the outside regulator inward. He installed some kind of funky manifold and regulator inside where it connects to my various appliances that use LP. IIRC, it was something like 2 PSI on the supply line from outside and then 1/2 PSI going to all appliances.

Word of caution here. I think you will find that your cooktop and perhaps dryer are setup for natural gas so somebody has to convert them. They typically include the new nozzles to do this which is a very good thing. In my case, neither my contractor nor my plumber would touch it, so I called the gas company. Turns out they had dealt with this type of range before and new exactly how to change out all 7 nozzles to convert it over.

Bonus was that they only charged me $45 for the service call and all. I figure they definitely lost money because not only did the tech spend over an hour doing the conversion, he drove here 30 miles each way in god-awful DC traffic in a Ford F550.
-Stu

Ditto- The systems they use around here work the same way. There are actually 3 regulators. One at the tank that drops the pressure to around 10 PSI and one at the outside wall of the house that drops the pressure to 2 PSI. There is often a return line from the 2nd regulator back to the tank (buried with the supply line) which is open inside the access hatch at the tank. Apparently it is not uncommon for the 2 PSI regulator diaphragm to fail and they want the gas to vent away from the house. Finally the regulator on the manifold in the house brings the pressure down to around 14" w.c. And, just like Stu said, the appliances definitely need to be converted. The range does typically include the kit, my dryer did not. I had to order. The installs for both are very easy. I did both at my old house.

Lee