House II

RobS · Jul 17, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

Hey, welcome Hank. If we drilled a well that deep around here we may hit oil or natural gas /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

One of the things I am enjoying most about this thread is to learn how houses are built in other parts of the country. Thanks for your input /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

miki · Jul 17, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

Hi all,

Great post. We broke ground three weeks ago. We are building a bungalow (3284 sq feet). We hit bedrock three feet down. We ended up with a footing that is stepped and has different levels. Then they poured a 30 inch foundation to bring everything back to level. Finally they instaled the actual forms for the foundation and poured on Monday. I had the foundation walls extended to 8 feet 10 inches in case I want to finish the basement. Foundation is sticking about 7 feet out of the ground . . . it will take a whole lot of fill. Of course my builder warned me that all of this is extra. Further inside the foundation for the floor it took 20 loads of stone to bring everything back to level. We are only three weeks into the project and well over 10000$ in extra's. Not very encouraging. My well is almost finished being drilled. They are down 450 feet in bedrock. They did some hydra (or hydro) fracturing today as the gpm was too low. My well driller now says I have an excellant volume and will confirm the gpm tomorrow.

I will keep you al updated as my project progresses. By the way these posts have been extremely helpful, especially the thread about wiring for audio, video, etc.

miki

MDNY · Jul 17, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

RobS,

Sorry about that, it was 250FT down. They hit the shale at 40FT and with that we are in good spot with only 40FT or so of casing. Based on the builder we are on target (maybe a little under) our budget once you add a tank and pumps etc. But we have 4 Gpm which isn't bad, but then again it has been real dry this summer with not much snow so I figure our rates will go up, maybe.

Oh well out to the site tomorrow to see what new stuff they got done.

Hank · Jul 18, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

Thanks, Brad

Apparently, in the Wickenburg area, 450+ ft is the expected norm. It is a good water table at that depth, and ours came in at 25 gpm, but that is also a three-way share.

We are still in MD, putting our house here on the market next week, and preparing the move to AZ.

Rob (and Michael), not many Victorians out in AZ, though I am a big fan of that style. As a custom millworker for much of my adult life, I have made most of the typical stuff associated with Victorians, usually replacement items for historical-preservation houses in the Washington DC area, but also for some new construction.

Attached (hopefully) is a pic of an AZ neighbor's house; ours will be a similar style and size (2300 sq ft). As our construction begins, pics will follow. Can't wait to join y'all in enjoying the new home, but things move on a different schedule out there since they can build year-round, and prefer not to do so in the summer months.

If this pic makes it, you can see I won't be needing the MMM or RFM attachments /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

s1120 · Jul 18, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

Some of you guys seem to be in the same boat as me. I had a well on the land, they just needed to spiffy it up a bit. It flows about 4 or so GPM. The good thing is it recovers fast, about 3 GPM. The well driller says not to wast money on a new well, this one will work fine. Maby a chance in ten years or so of going bad, but we can just dig one then. Only thing he said was I will not be able to do any pool filling, OK, I can live with that.

RobS · Jul 18, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

you can see I won't be needing the MMM or RFM attachments 

I bet a rock rake would come in handy though!

Hank, what do you know about MDF millwork for the interior. We're going with mostly painted trim and got some pretty incredible prices on the MDF over finger jointed poplar. Seems like neat stuff /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

BKColeman · Jul 18, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

what do you know about MDF millwork for the interior

I personally don't know anything about it, but my wife is hooked on Changing Rooms on BBC America so we watch it all the time. They make everything you can imagine out of MDF (I assume because of price) and it usually looks incredible once it is painted.

GSS · Jul 18, 2002

mdf?

What is mdf? I am restoring an 1877 farmhouse in PA and, while it's not as gingerbready as some Victorians, there is a lot of nice woodwork and room for more.

I'll post pics once the siding is on (and I have a tractor related story to squeeze it into)... Some pics are on my site in my profile if any of yinz are bored.

- Gerald

BKColeman · Jul 18, 2002

Re: mdf?

What is mdf? 

I believe it stands for multi-density fiberboard.

It is a compressed type of wood that is very uniform throughout so it is very easy to work with. It comes in sheets at Lowe's and is incredibly smooth. But it makes tons of sawdust.

Maybe some of the woodworkers here can give a better description.

Hank · Jul 18, 2002

Re: House II, Side Doors

To be quite honest, I have not kept up with the stock millwork market since I left the custom trade in 1995. They are obviously doing more wonders with manufactured products. Searching for "mdf moldings" just now returned tons of sites.

I would not want finger-jointed *anything* if the joints are in the surface, because over time they always show. From what you said, however, it sounds like the joints are hidden by the MDF.

The builder we are using in AZ uses no traditional inside moldings, no baseboard, no window or door casing, so we have not had reason to shop that market. It is a very different look.