Glen Parker Green Home

Shilo's bedroom

2012-02-12T19:48:00.000-08:00

Shilo's bedroom is the only other room that feels close to being settled right now.

Below is the view from the doorway to the left. The late afternoon sun was pouring in.

This is the view looking straight in from the doorway.

This is the view looking from the window, back towards the closet. All of Shilo's clothes and shoes are in her closet. Only books and toys are stored outside in the bookshelf.

This is the view from in front of the closet, back towards the western wall of her room. This is a rainbow that I made for Shilo out of felt and fabric circles. Each circle has 2-3 more circles within it that I sewed by hand, mostly while we were living with my parents. I will take some closer photos of this tomorrow. The frames on her bookshelf will be hung up soon to the right of the rainbow, after I figure out the layout that I want.

This is a blurry close-up shot of the bird doorknobs that Shilo picked out for her closet.

Her three coat hooks which hold her purses...

Her name spelled out by the train...

Shilo is carefully selecting which book to read next.

I love this painting by Betsy Cunningham. Betsy is co-owner of the York Street Cafe where my mom used to work. This hung in their stairwell and I had my eye on it for the longest time. We purchased it for Shilo while I was pregnant and we have been moving it around from place to place. I am happy to see it settled in a more permanent location.

Living room/space

2012-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

One of my biggest concerns about our home during the construction process was whether we had planned enough space for the main living area. With the kitchen, dining and living room all being part of one space, I wanted to feel some separation between the different functional areas. With all of our furniture in, it feels better now. (You can notice the edge of the dining table in several of the photos.) It is cozy and airy at the same. There is not much unused space either.

Below is the living area space as you walk in the front door.

We have moved the furniture around quite a bit as we tried to figure out the best configuration. Having an open space is wonderful, but challenging when figuring out to place furniture. Originally, the back of the largest sectional piece was separating the living space from the dining area and the tv was centered on that wall. When we had people over, I found that more people sat at the dining table and island stools because otherwise their backs were facing everything else going on in the room. (Here is a photo of our couch fully connected in our loft.)

This configuration makes me happy for now. Our computer, which acts as our tv, is viewable from most areas, yet is not the focus of the living room. (Eventually, a projector will be installed in the dining ceiling which will utilize our walls as the screen. And when the tv is off, it is not a distraction.) We have a couch facing the window view and you can enter the space pretty much from any angle.

Here is the view from the end of the dining table.

The gold circle on the floor is an electrical outlet. There is another under the brown chair.

View from above.

A few things that we have planned for this space:
*An area rug
*Replacing the lamp &/or shade of the floor lamp
*Replacing James brown chair with a two seater of some sorts that fits in that space.

View back towards the entry door.

***If you read my blog through your rss feed, I am sorry for multiple postings. I hit publish prematurely!

Shilo's Nook

2012-02-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

Several times during the construction process, people looked at me a bit funny when I explained that we would have a second door to the space under the stairs. This was primarily due to the fact that people wondered what it would look like having a short door next to a tall door in our main living space. But I knew that I wanted that extra space to be accessible even if I was not exactly sure for what originally.

Once I realized that it would make the perfect playspace for Shilo, I was incredibly excited about all of the possibilities. It was the very first room that we set up and we started before we were officially moved in. I thought this would make the move more exciting for her and I do believe that was the case.

While my dad, James and I hung curtains throughout the house, I put Mom & my sister, LJ, to work. They had the task of assembling the Ikea bookshelf, setting up the kitchen and hanging the curtains.

The bottom of our construction grade stairs were rather ugly with what appeared to be glue all gobbed up in certain spots. I had wanted to paint the underside of the stairs, but that was a project that we were not prepared to undertake at this time. Instead, the ladies hung the curtains and had them billowing at each step. I love how it softens the space.

We used expanding rods for the curtains and they have held up without any problems. I also used one of the curtain panels to lower the ceiling as well as kids like their own spaces to be nice and cozy. The original height would have been too tall.

There are several things that I love about this space:

*It provides a space for her toys that are close to the main living room allowing for easy clean-up and ensures that her toys do not dominate the space.

*It is connected to the main living room so even when she is playing and running in and out, she is still close to us and engaged in our activities instead of somewhere in another part of the house. Most small children seem to like their own space but still want to play near the adults and this space allows for that. I want to encourage her presence as much as possible as I know these days are numbered.

*The sliding track allows for the door to remain open without being in the way. When we get home, one of the first things Shilo does is run in and turn on her lights. The space becomes an extended area of the living room pretty seamlessly. As you will notice from the images, it was difficult to keep her out just to take a few photos.

*She keeps the door open all the time, except when she has a friend/cousin visiting and then the door is closed for their private play. Of course, she has been able to drag her dad in there on more than one occasion and that makes her just as happy.

You can't really tell, but the lights spell out the word Nook on the wall. (I want to add something to the lettering to define it but have not decided on a fix yet. Ribbon, maybe?) The name Nook was LJ's idea and I think she said it was a reference to Harry Potter, but I cannot remember exactly. Either way, I think it fits perfectly.

Photos soon

2012-02-03T07:05:00.001-08:00

Just a quick update that this weekend I intend to take some updated photos of our interior, curtains, etc. to share with you next week. Have a good weekend and check back in next week!

Stairwell

2012-01-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

Our walls are white throughout the entire main space of the house. This includes the stairwell. (Ignore the ironing board at the top of the stairs that has not found its home yet.)

For whatever reason, Shilo does not like to use the handrail when coming down the stairs. She runs her hands along this wall. No matter how many times I have reminded her about the handrail, she still prefers the wall. I know that my sister-in-law Nicole has had this problem with her girls in the past so maybe it is a universal kid thing.

This is the wall that gets the hands action.

I was lamenting the fact that our white walls will quickly have streaks of dirt running along the stairwell when my mother-in-law, Sue, had a brilliant idea. Why not paint her handprints along the wall. I thought that would be a great way to embrace the dirt that is inevitable. This past Sunday, James and I were watching our nieces and so we chose to use all of their handprints to capture each of them in their current stages and to have a variation of size of the handprints. We started with Kira, the oldest, and each took turns making their impression on the wall using the same color as the stair risers. I helped the child with the impression while James held the paint tray and then had hands clean up duty. I definitely perfected the process as we went. I recommend using a brush on the hands to apply the paint versus letting the child push their hand into the tray. That was fun to figure out.

I have some touch-ups I want to do, but all in all, I was really happy with the results.

And as if to prove my point, here is Shilo descending the stairs the following day.

Still sinking in

2012-01-02T20:28:00.000-08:00

So we have now been in our home for over two weeks. We had Christmas Day for my Mother's side of the family and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We, of course, warned everyone that the place would still have boxes here and there but no one seemed to care.

Our closet installation has wrapped up. James was putting things away in the pantry and kept commenting on how nice it was to be able to actually see what we have. Having shelves to place our clothes and other items will help us feel more settled in for sure.

Below is a recent exterior photo. It appears I have not shown any with our door fully painted. We will have topsoil delivered for the yard in front of our home in the spring.

I compiled our construction photos in one folder so that you could see a slideshow of our process if you are interested. I will also add it as a link. Glen Parker Construction

Posting here has already begun tapering as the construction process has wrapped and the living-in phase commences. There are a few things that I will post about from time to time, particularly updates about LEED certification, gardening and additional photos as things come together, but I am hoping to shift my internet focus back to my regular blog a bit more as that feels a bit more like my online home. And even more importantly, I intend to shift my focus away from online altogether and towards homemaking.

It has been a long, often stressful process, but right now all of the time and energy feel so worth it. I am proud of the smartly designed house that we call home now and it feels like us. We have our personalities built into this home, for better or for worse.

Every night, I sit down and survey the space as Shilo runs in circles and I am so incredibly grateful.

Thank you for following along.

Unpacking

2011-12-19T04:36:00.000-08:00

Stuff is everywhere but we are making our way through. Shilo likes the stools that we purchased for the island. Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your help unpacking this weekend. It made a huge difference.

Moving thursday!

2011-12-14T19:40:00.000-08:00

The straw was delivered and the certificate of occupancy was released.

The mailbox is in use.

Finally, a shot of the finished, but dusty floors. I imagine the floors will not be visible for awhile after our move.

Inspection Update

2011-12-06T04:51:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update that our inspection went really well on Friday. We have one thing to do, however, and that is to add straw to our hillside where the soil was disturbed. That was on our to-do list anyway, so we obviously just bumped it up the list a few notches. The inspector said that once it is on, he will just drive by to do a visual and then release the Certificate of Occupancy. We also had the bank appraisor visit and now he is in the process of submitting his final paperwork, which should hopefully be wrapped up in the next day or so. It is looking like a move-in this weekend may be pushing it, but maybe Tuesday or Wednesday of next week is more realistic.

The floors look great and I will share those photos soon. I also want to take a photo of the mailbox that James and my dad made. Pretty darn awesome if I do say so myself!

Concrete Floor

2011-12-01T18:33:00.000-08:00

When our floors were finally cleaned and the concrete was sealed, we were not happy with the results. I believe I had mentioned before that it was a hot day when the floor was poured and the concrete was tweaked multiple times trying to improve the finish and after it was said and done, we were not happy with the finish. See the view of the main living area looking towards the front door.

So we ultimately decided to have the seal removed and a cement microtopping added to get a look closer to what we desired. Below are the guys from NeatCrete, working on the new floor's finish. I am so incredibly glad that we decided to bite the bullet and have it done. It looks much, much better.

Tomorrow I hope to show photos of the completed floor. And even more importantly, I hope to be able to report on our final building inspection. Cross your fingers for us!

hallway, washer/dryer, vanity & stairs

2011-11-23T08:59:00.000-08:00

We passed the electrical inspection yesterday. Cross your fingers for the plumbing inspection this afternnon. Final building inspection next week.

Here are some shots of the second floor, dusty floors and all.

Our laundry space opens up to the hallway.

This is the vanity that we received from my Aunt Cheri years ago during her remodel of her bathroom. It has been sitting in our storage for about 3.5 years. We sanded and repainted it the same color as the walls, added new hardware and cut the countertop to fit to our space. We still need to add wood for the kickplate area at the bottom. (Not sure if that is what you call it.) I am really pleased with how it turned out. We also have been researching mirrors. I found one that I like at Crate and Barrel and I hesitated to buy it because it was a bit expensive. One week later it went on back order and is expected to be available in March. I am hoping to find aomething comparable but cheaper before then.

Can you say hello to bright lights? We are going to have to get some dimmer bulbs for these so they do not assault us when we turn them on.

Here are the stairs before the white trim was touched up. The treads are stained the same color as the windows and the risers are painted the same color as the entryway and sunroom. The treads will be finished with a high-gloss seal after the floors are finished next week.

Lights, ceiling fans, appliances & faucet

2011-11-22T05:20:00.000-08:00

Today and tomorrow I have photos to share with you as I finally brought my camera to the house to get some updated photos yesterday.

Here is the view into the entryway from the porch. Disregard the dirty floor and cardboard rugs.

And now the view from the garage door, looking back to the front door:

We used the same ceiling fans in all of the rooms. This is our bedroom. We did not incorporate the light option for the fan in James' office as he has recessed lighting in there. We do not remember exactly how we decided on recessed lighting in there, but we must have concluded it made sense even though that is one of the technical bedrooms. :)

Same fan in the space above the living room, without the light and bigger. We need to get the adjustable switches because all of the fans are currently set to blow-your-head-off speed. But we were pleased that you could feel the air moving on the first floor from this fan.

This is the light in the sunroom, quite possibly one of my favorites. The funny thing is that it doesn't give off much light. Good thing it is in the sunniest room in the house.

This photo shows the fixture's color which is more true to life.

We have working appliances. As well as cabinet hardware.

And finally a photo of the faucet. I wanted to wait until we cleaned off the counter, but that hasn't happened yet.

The faucet bends and twist at each joint. Love it!

Update

2011-11-21T05:40:00.000-08:00

I think this may be the longest time without an update since construction started. Well, don't worry, it is not because things are at a standstill. We are wrapping up a million items and hope to moving in a couple of weeks, if all inspections go well. Today, the last of the lighting is installed. If I had known that it would take weeks to get some of the lights I wanted, I would have ordered much sooner. The very last light is literally being delivered today and I am going to run it to the house so that I can have it installed by the electrician while he is still there.

This weekend we spent cleaning and dusting the house. Construction causes so much dust!

The stairs are being finished. The stairs were construction grade stairs, but we decided to paint and stain them.

Plumbing is finished! Inspection in the next day or so.

The biggest thing that we have been working on is the floor. The final finish did not turn out well at all, so we have been researching different resurfacing options. We chose a cement microtopping that will be added starting next Monday. First, they have to grind off the sealer that was applied a week or so ago. Boy, are we having fun!

All in all, things are going well and really wrapping up. I will be at the house later today with my camera so that I can provide a genuine photo update. In the meantime, here are Shilo's handprints in the driveway, with a bit of mud mixed in, as is only appropriate....

Photo Update

2011-11-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

Front porch light below. These porch lights, motion detecting spotlights, and the now active security system should keep the mischief down.

Below is Dad drilling the holes for the new kitchen faucet. How have I not taken a photo of it yet? It is laying down in the bottom of the photo below.

The final concrete work was wrapped up at the house. Daniel, our contractor, is working on the apron to the garage below. I am abnormally happy to have had Shilo put her handprints in the concrete with her initials and date. I did not get a good picture because it was nearly dark by the time we made the impression. A photo will come soon.

countertops and insulation

2011-10-28T11:26:00.000-07:00

The kitchen countertops were installed this week and we are very happy with the results. I get excited when I think about the nice space for food preparation that is not separated from the rest of the family. Not being a great cook, I find preparing meals much more enjoyable while in the company of others. We have been working on assembling the vanity and sinks inthe upstairs bathroom and I am also really pleased with how that is coming together as well. I will share photos of that soon. Oh, and my excitement goes through the roof thinking about the kitchen faucet that my parents ordered for us as a surprise. I had been deliberating that purchase because it was not in the budget, but my dad went ahead and ordered it for us. I learned of this the morning after I tossed and turned regretting the previous kitchen faucet that we had decided on for budgetary concerns. (I realize that in the grand scheme of things, hardware and faucet decisions do not amount to much. But when designing a home that you want to love and live in for a long time to come, these things do matter.) When I asked him to put that order on hold, he informed that he didn't have to because he ordered the dream faucet. Yahoo! We are so grateful for all of the family support we have had through this process and I definitely believe that we would not have been able to get this far without them.

One other exciting thing to report is that the house has been very pleasant despite the weather drop. Last night, the temperature dropped into the thirties and we were fine. It is actually pretty amazing. We have somewhat of an insulation experiment going on right now as there is no heat involved. The main portion of our house is constructed of ICFs, so this involves approximately 5 inches of foam insulation. The storage area above the garage is stick-framed with zero insulation and you might as well be sleeping outside for its temperature control. The entryway and sunroom are stick-framed with conventional wall insulation and those rooms are much more comfortable than the storage space but not near as comfortable as the house. When we were debating ICF versus stick-framed home with greater insulation, we were told more than once that the ICF may not perform as well as advertised by the distributors and therefore was not necessarily worth the added expense. Last night, we are happy to confirm that we felt the difference in a big way.

Slumber Party

2011-10-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

After another break-in to our home, we have decided to start sleeping there. A few lights on inside and a couple of cars should deter the idiot kids who broke our windows for fun. The three of us prepared our little air mattress and slept under our new roof last night for the first time with no unusual circumstances. Hopefully, we only have a couple more weeks of air mattresses before we can officially move in. We know this is a no-no as far as the building inspector is concerned, but we do not have the money to keep shelling out for new windows or any other repairs/replacements. One of the pros of our home has its drawbacks: our secluded lot provides a bit of privacy for hoodlums too. Now that the electricity is on, the security will be installed very soon.

One thing that I have been deliberating for awhile is blinds. We do not currently have plans for them, but I was a bit creeped out last night walking by all of our big windows on the ground level. I am curious if anyone else lives without blinds and whether or not this is something I will get used to. I may have watched one too many horror shows as a teen.

Details & a class visit

2011-10-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Below is a photo of the hickory cabinets. As you can see, the island has been placed as well. We now have toilets and electricity. Many of the lights are in.

Next is a photo of the door to the water closet in the second floor bathroom. This is probably the wildest of all of the doors in the house and I love it. We went with birch doors throughout the house and they vary quite a bit in striation. The white walls keep a simple backdrop for all of the door action.

Last Wednesday, we had a class visit from Cincinnati State. We enjoyed giving the class a tour and explaining a bit of our process. There are so many ways to go green in your home, it is always interesting to chat with others about their process and learn why they made the decisions they did.On a related solar front, my 3rd cousin has hired Carl Adams of Sunrock Solar to do a solar installation at their home. I hope to take a photo and share with you at some point when they are finished.

2011-10-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Some photos taken on our actual camera are below.

The master bath:

The master shower:

The upstairs railing:

The downstairs railing:

An updated exterior:

An an iPhone shot of our cistern:

Home stretch

2011-10-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came out last week for the solar tour. It was nice getting to talk to everyone about their own pending projects and share our experiences.

I need to take so many photos but have not had the time. The railing looks great, the doors are being hung and the cabinets arrive today and will be installed next week. We have been working with Dad on getting our water hooked up a few nights this week and will be back there this weekend. Our mechanical room has so many lines and valves that it is confusing. I am going to have to write down what everything leads to when we are all finished so I remember.

Below are a couple of photos of the sliding doors as they are being installed. These are the two closets in our living room. The doors will be replaced as they made them too narrow and you can slightly see that they do not fully cover the opening.

The smaller closet door is for Shilo's future playspace and I am very excited about some ideas that I have for that room.

Tile

2011-09-26T05:36:00.000-07:00

The second floor tile installation is well underway. The grouting should be finishing up in the next couple of days. We are trying to get a few items completed before the Solar Tour on Saturday. The most important item being the railing for the second floor. Feel free to stop in during the Green Energy Ohio tour on Saturday, from 10am to 4pm. Our address is 1650 Glen Parker Ave 45223. My dad will be there with us to answer any questions you may have. If you do drop by, please park on the street and walk up. I am crossing my fingers that it stops raining before the weekend and dries up a bit because right now it is a muddy mess.

Photo update

2011-09-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

We are getting so close! 1st couple coats of paint are wrapping up, cabinets have been ordered, tile installation has begun, and trim starts next week. Also underway in the next couple of days are electric and sewer lines installation. Below is a photo update.

The main living room. We decided to go with a white color to keep it light and airy. The walls, trim and ceiling will all be the same color.

View southwest into living space:

Hello color! We went with a bold greenish grey in the solar room and entryway:

This is the view from the hallway into our bedroom today. I kind of panicked because the room looks bright orange, right?

And then I walked into the bedroom and realized that the foundation for the tile was a bright orange, reflecting onto the walls. Shew. The actual color is beige. I will share another photo when the room looks more true to life.

Painting & Solar Tour Save the Date

2011-09-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Based on the recent posted photos, you would think that Shilo is doing all of the work around the house lately. Fortunately, this is not the case. On Monday we were testing out paint samples and we think we have our colors picked. They begin priming the walls tomorrow and painting is supposed to begin on Saturday. I believe tile installation starts Monday. I am in the process of ordering handrails/balusters for the stairs and I finally found something that I really like. I kept coming across things that are just okay, but this will look great in our house. (It is the first two images of the three.)

I hope to take some more photos of the house this weekend. I will share as soon as possible.

Also, mark your calendars for the Solar/Green Energy Tour on Saturday, October 1st. Our home will be on the tour and would love to have you stop by! National Tour info here.

Shilo helping

2011-08-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

Shilo "helped" Dad a bit on the backhoe on Saturday. She can now officially say she helped build our house.

Drywall

2011-08-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

The drywall is now complete. The photos follow.

From the front door looking into the kitchen/dining/living space:

Windows from the 1st floor:

Kitchen/dining/living space, looking southwest from 1st floor hallway area:

South wall of windows from 2nd floor:

2nd floor walkway, looking southeast:

2nd floor walkway, looking southwest

Shilo's room:

Challenges & Door Hardware

2011-08-25T08:58:00.000-07:00

So the silence on this site has been a result of a couple of things. The primary reason being that we were on vacation at the beach last week. It was nice to be away and not monitoring construction progress every day. It can be exhausting.

Another reason for the silence was a setback we encountered the night before leaving for vacation. We had stopped in with my dad to wrap up a couple of plumbing items before we left as drywall was right around the corner. Unfortunately, we found that our home had been broken into and the plumbing ripped out for the meager amounts of copper that we used in our plumbing set-up. As you may recall, we used pex tubing for the majority of our plumbing. Some of the pex tubing was also destroyed by the removal of the copper. We had been working on the weekends with my dad to do the plumbing for awhile. It was incredibly frustrating to have his work destroyed for what we are guessing might not have been more than $15 worth of copper. The front door frame also had to be replaced as it was broken from where they kicked it in. As we surveyed the damage, it felt like the wind was knocked out of our sail a bit to see something we have been working on, dreaming about, and trying to do in a conscientious manner so easily violated. Since the break-in, we have used wood barriers over the entries that are drilled over the door at the end of the day. (You can see holes in the frame below from all of the drilling.) In addition, we finally got our new door hardware and the deadbolt will hopefully make it harder to get in. We will be getting security installed this weekend.

Below is a photo of our front door photo and the shoe imprint of the offender. (This hardware was obviously installed after the break-in, replacing the less formidable temporary hardware.) Please contact me if you recognize this footprint- I am on the case. :)

The good news is that Dad was able to call in reinforcement and have the plumbing repaired in time for the drywall installation. Photos of drywall progress coming soon!

Photo update

2011-08-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

Thought I would share some photos of inside progress. Some of the photos are grainy because I opted to not use the flash.

View from the front door to the main living/dining/kitchen space:

Back wall of the kitchen. You can see the cement board from the shower walls of the bathroom.

Looking east on the second floor:

Looking into the bathroom:

Master bath shower:

Looking into 1st floor bath:

Porch

2011-08-02T13:22:00.000-07:00

The porch was poured yesterday. It was sunny when we took this picture, so it may be a bit difficult to see it.

And an updated exterior shot without a bunch of trucks everywhere....

Just some ways Cincinnati is actually leading... thanks to Cincy Zoo and Melink.

2011-07-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share some good news of how the Cincinnati Area is leading on solar panels. The Cincinnati Zoo has the largest urban solar installation in the U.S., which creates energy for the zoo and keeps the energy off of the cars that visit, making it cooler for you when you leave the zoo. Melink is a leading production company who is also leading in renewable energy creation.

Window replacement and siding update

2011-07-27T07:12:00.000-07:00

The siding is nearly complete and I am really pleased with how it is coming along. This is just standard barn siding not typically used in residential applications. However, its durability and low maintenance was appealing and I also liked the industrial aesthetic.

That strip without siding will remain without siding for a few weeks. The window pointed out below has to be replaced. The living room is open to the ceiling of the house. Originally, it was our plan to use a long extension pole with a crank to open the windows as well as lock them. Once the windows and crank arrived, it became clear that that was not going to be possible. We considered several different options before coming to the conclusion that those windows must have motors installed to open and close. The replacement order went in yesterday and we were told it may take up to three weeks to arrive. Our contractor is going to keep things moving along around the window as much as possible. Hopefully, the rush they requested will be achieved.

Instead of two tall casements and two awning windows, we will have four awning windows of equal size. Again, I think the contrasting design will fit in nicely with all of the various angles of the house.

miscellaneous updates

2011-07-26T06:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend we rented a chipper and backhoe again so that we could finish clearing the paths for the sewer line and the electric lines. It was incredibly hot both days. My brother, Jerry, donated another of his weekend days to us on Saturday and then Dad, James and I finished on Sunday. Next weekend we get to work on the shower drain upstairs and install the tub. That will be the last work weekend for a few weeks because the following few weekends are booked.

I also met a Northside neighbor who is going through the process of designing/building a home as well. Hi Jackie-thanks for stopping by! We took a quick tour and talked briefly about some of the pros and cons of building a home using polystyrene (petroleum based plastic).

I thought it would be interesting to share how the electric is run through the ICF walls. Our electrician used a chainsaw and guided lines for the wires in the interior foam barrior. After the wiring is completed, the lines will then be filled in with spray foam. see photos below. It was early when we took these so there was not much light.

And an updated exterior shot.

Siding

2011-07-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots of the siding going up. So exciting! It is interesting to see how different the siding color appears in the sunlight vs the shade. I am glad that we actually went with a lighter shade so that the black windows stood out a bit more.

Grading

2011-07-19T06:03:00.000-07:00

They have been working on the grading a bit. This will be graded a final time after the trenches for the sewer and electrical lines and the cistern have been installed.

Bedroom opening

2011-07-18T08:45:00.000-07:00

We have gone back and forth throughout the design process, but we ultimately decided to add an opening from our bedroom to the living space below. The opening will have externally mounted doors on the living room side of the wall. They will slide on a barn door track, which should add interest on that wall, and also not limit our ability to hang up artwork &/or pictures inside the bedroom. After living in a loft, we liked the openness that the loft provided, but we still wanted to be able to have the option of privacy. This opening should allow for both. (Please disregard the dirty foam walls. It has been a muddy/dusty construction process so far.)

Here is the view from the bedroom into the second story living space. I like how you get the extra window view from both inside and outside the room.

I outlined the opening so it was a bit easier to see.

This is the view from the top of the hallway stairs, looking east towards the bedrooms.

With the opening outlined again....

Roof change

2011-07-15T06:04:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that our roof has changed from what was planned in the drawings. After speaking with Daniel, we decided to raise the roof of the sun room and garage. This saved some time (& money) because the ICF forms did not have to be cut to create the intended height. We could go with the standard height of the forms. Daniel also thought a hipped roof on the western side of the house would work better for rain flow/waterproofing and create a more finished roofline appearance. I definitely agree that roofline styles seem to match better, creating a more unified style. The roof design has probably changed more than any other aspect of our design. I think the different roofs look a little funky from the rear of the house, but I am not concerned about that.

You can't see where the two roofs meet from the ground, but here is the view from above looking west.

Solar panels!

2011-07-14T08:23:00.000-07:00

You may notice that the panels are shaded in the photo below. These photos were taken early in the morning, before the sun was over our big oak tree on the east side of our property. We previously were going to move the panels as far west on the roof as we could to maximize full sun. However, after speaking with Carl, we decided to save that space for photovoltaic panels (electricity producing) because the solar hot water panels do not need as much direct sun as the PV panels to be effective.

Plumbing

2011-07-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last several Saturdays assisting my dad with the plumbing rough-in. My parent's neighbor, Jack, has been working with us as well and so the four of us can get a fair amount done in a a day. James and I both enjoy enjoy helping out and learning about the systems within our house. Dad has been good about walking us through certain things. I was particularly grateful that I got to use the drill a few times myself on Saturday, despite being the least effective drill operator of the bunch. The plumbing was planned to be as centrally located as much as possible on both floors for efficiency purposes. For example, we didn't want bathrooms on opposite sides of the house which would require a lot more pipe and energy to circulate. Centrally located plumbing saves money.

This is a view into the second floor bathroom plumbing. Dad is relatively new to the world of Pex tubing, but he has been increasingly seeing engineers call for it in many of the drawings that he bids on. It has a couple of advantages. First advantage is the cost. It is about half the expense of copper. Second advantage is, people aren't going to be breaking in to steal it during the construction process. Copper is often stolen from new construction and we did not want to encourage any break-ins.

I like the color it adds to the framing. Dad was less pleased with the presentation as copper produces neat, clean lines. I thought it was funny to care about what is going to be ultimately covered up and out of sight, but I was not surprised at all. Dad is meticulous about certain things.

Below is a shot of the shower floor on the ground level. At some point, the shower drain was knocked slightly askew and it was not noticed until the concrete was being poured and the workers were furiously working dealing with the pour. I noticed it and thought, oh well, our drain will have a bit of character. Dad was not having it. Saturday, the concrete around the drain was cut and it was adjusted to be aligned with the shower walls. It will be filled in later. The shower floor will be concrete, just like the rest of the first floor.

A million things are happening and we are trying to stay on top of them all. Electric, porch framing, solar hot water panel installation, duct work completion is all underway this week. I have to confirm some info about our tile quotes as well. I have several drafts of updates lined up that I will try and post over the next week or so. Thanks for following along!

Roof & front door

2011-07-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

Below is a wider shot of the roof from the rear of the house. I am digging the white.

Here is a closer view of the metal panels from inside the solar room looking onto the porch roof.

The front door has been installed. We had received the other external doors over a week or so ago, but this one was delayed because of the window. It has been nice to be able to lock up the house and not worry quite as much about things being damaged while we are gone. We need to figure out what color we will paint the door. I have been thinking that a nice dramatic color would be fun so I picked up some paint swatches. But after holding them up to the small siding sample, I think I am just going to have to wait until the siding is in place before we can decide.

Roof progress

2011-07-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

You cannot see much of the roof from the front of the house. This is a rear shot, courtesy of James' iPhone. Our white roof is coming along....

Windows

2011-06-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

This will be a photo heavy post. It is late and I do not have much energy for many words. :)

The window installation has begun and is over halfway through. First floor windows:

The window in James' office / 3rd bedroom:

Stairs from the 1st floor:

Stairview from the second floor:

Looking into the sunroom from the storage area:

The large window in the storage area above the garage:

The garage door has been installed:

And finally, a full view of the house as of today:

Furring

2011-06-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

James has joined me in Fort Lauderdale for a couple of days while I am attending a conference for work. We return tomorrow. Before he departed Cincy, he did manage to get a photo of the furring strips that were being added to the exterior of our home.

I also like how the window openings have been cut-out more cleanly to get ready for the window installation. That should begin any day now, as soon as they arrive.

Porch roof

2011-06-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

Officially under roof & other photo updates

2011-06-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

I have been a bit behind in my updates as things have been pretty busy between work and summer activities. It is hard to keep up, but in the best way. Below are some various updates.

This circular foundation was poured for the porch support

.

This is the window in our bedroom. As you walk through the house, it is fairly evident that our rooms are small and our windows are big.

This is the hallway, looking east to west.

Daniel has started backfilling and grading around the rear of the house.

The garage floor was poured.

The tyvek wrap has been applied to all of the non-ICF portions of the house. The tyvek wrap acts as a vapor barrier. And we are now officially under roof!

Roof progress

2011-06-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

It was raining pretty hard when we stopped by the house after work and I didn't want to get my camera wet so I took a photo from inside the car. You can see that this was in between quick swipes of the windshield wiper. I did run around inside and I was pretty excited because it really feels like things are coming together now. With the roof mostly on, you get a better feel of the space.

SunRock Solar

2011-06-09T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today, Carl Adams of SunRock Solar is installing the radiant tubing for the second floor. (Their website has also been added to our Links & Green Features tabs above.) Carl has worked with us for what feels like forever as our designs have gone through multiple iterations. I am glad that he stuck with us. :)

This is a shot of the 2nd floor radiant tubing as you look up from the 1st floor.

Trusses

2011-06-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

The pre-engineered roof trusses were installed Tuesday afternoon with the help of a crane. I did not get a shot of the crane because we were at work.

This is the eastern wall of the house.

Below is the rear of the house, looking westward towards the garage. I think when you are looking at the front of the house, it appears that it is much bigger than it is because you assume the house is a square. When you realize that the house is L-shaped, with the garage and main body of the house only connected by a corner, you see that most of the space behind is open.

And below is a view from the drive.

2nd Floor framing

2011-06-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

The second floor framing of the non-ICF portion of the house has begun. All areas of the house that will be heated were enclosed by ICFs to create a super tight envelope. The solar room will have a lot of windows and I hope to use that area for drying clothes and an indoor garden during the winter months, but it will not be heated.

We originally wanted the garage to be completely underground with a green roof. After receiving some quotes for this plan, we decided that that was a project we could do without. We have had to continually weigh our priorities and preferences for this home versus costs and that didn't make the cut. We then decided that it was not that much more expensive to build a second floor for storage and shed use since we will not be having a basement.

Above you will see the opening to our first floor. This was included in an effort to increase the movement of air throughout the house by having the varying ceiling heights on the first floor. The majority of the minimal windows on the northern wall of house are above the stairwell of the second floor, so that the warmer air will circulate up and out.

Below is the view looking east from the western wall of the house.

2nd floor concrete

2011-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

On Monday we visited our site with James' mother, who was here for the weekend, and did a little bit of cleaning. We noticed the second floor northern wall seemed way out of alignment and we knew that the pour was scheduled for today. (When standing at the northeastern corner, looking towards the northwestern corner of the house, you could see a generous curve.) Fortunately, James spoke with Daniel, our contractor, and he reassured us that he does not finalize the alignment of the walls until right before he pours. He said that he normally gets at least one call per job where they ask about the walls not being straight before the pour. When we stopped in at lunch, we were pleased to see straighter walls as shown below.

The huge "arm" of the concrete truck is very exciting to witness. At least for me. Pictures do not easily show how high it is. I am, however, including a couple because I could not narrow it down.

2nd Floor

2011-05-28T06:24:00.000-07:00

The 2nd floor is coming along.

Below is an inside view of the ICFs with rebar.

Beginnings of the second floor

2011-05-24T03:55:00.000-07:00

The space above the garage will be for storage/shed use. It will not be heated and therefore, we decided to utilize traditional framing instead of ICFs to save costs.

2011-05-23T06:52:00.000-07:00

The garage and entryway framing is underway.

Joists

2011-05-20T05:44:00.000-07:00

The installation of the floor joists has begun.

Framing

2011-05-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

The first floor framing of interior walls has begun. It is so exciting to walk through the space and feel how the rooms will be laid out. The joists for the second floor have arrived also and the installment of those should begin shortly.

The photo below shows the I-beam highlighted because it is difficult to see against the backdrop of the trees.

Can you tell it has been a bit wet here lately?

honeysuckle

2011-05-18T06:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was spent at the property clearing a path for the sewer lines to run up the hill from the street to the house. We rented an excavator and a chipper to clear out the honeysuckle so the trench could be dug. The lines will have to weave a bit to go around trees, but we did not want to lose any if we could avoid it. My Dad and my brother Jerry have done so much work on clearing with us over the last few years that a simple thank you feels so insufficient. Multiple weekends a year have been devoted to preparing the property and it is a lot of work. They take control, pick up the equipment, and hustle all day weekend without asking for anything in return. (Our prius is not exactly good for hauling equipment. Or scaling our driveway, for that matter.) Thanks guys. We really appreciate it!

Before

After

concrete

2011-05-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

The first floor of the house was poured last week. Apparently, the concrete began to dry quickly, quicker than desired, and required some mad dashing of the crew to smooth it out. I am taking photos through the window cutouts to stay out of the way.

Below is a shot of the radiant piping climbing up the wall in the area that will be the mechanical room.

Radiant Floors

2011-05-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

The tubes for the radiant floor heat were installed yesterday.*

I love the pattern of the tubing and the dog that is part of the crew.

*This post was posted earlier this week, but then blogger starting having some issues and removed it.

Insultarp & Foam

2011-05-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

The insulation under the radiant floors was installed yesterday (Monday).

In the photo below, you can see the two layers of insultarp sandwiching 2 inches of foam.

View from the front door below.

Gravel

2011-05-07T05:49:00.000-07:00

We did not quite get to the insultarp yesterday, but a couple of loads of gravel were unloaded and spread around in preparation.

Progress

2011-05-06T06:51:00.000-07:00

The braces have been removed from the 1st floor and the interior feels a bit more spacious, but still compact. This is from the western door looking east.

The stair footer was poured. You will open the front door to be flush with the wall housing the stairs. In a previous design, the entrance to the stairs from the first floor was right as you walked in. We flipped it so that your eyes are not drawn up as soon as you walk in. As a result, you will enter the second floor after walking into the main space and and turning left just past the wall. This will keep the second floor a bit more private.

The dining area and the living area are one open space, but I am hoping the windows somewhat frame the spaces to delineate the two.

They also removed the forms that were temporarily placed for the garage and entryway footers to be formed. James thinks foyer sounds stuffy but I did not feel like editing the text in photoshop.

These are rolls of the insultarp that will be installed under the poured concrete slab. We went back and forth between choosing insultarp and foam a million times. The performance of each varies depending on who you ask or which online source you are referencing. After much discussion with Daniel, we decided to do two layers of insultarp sandwiching one layer of foam. This first layer should be installed today.

Ikea

2011-05-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to Ikea on a weekend day? That ratrace is my idea of hell. However, I ventured in last Thursday and I nearly had the place to myself. It was awesome.

Big Day

2011-04-29T05:39:00.000-07:00

There is something really exciting about seeing many people hustling and big trucks moving around on our site. All of our planning and preparation resulting in something tangible. I think I could have watched all day. But alas, I had to work.

The first floor walls were poured yesterday. Below is the concrete truck which has a long extension to pump the concrete into the forms. The forms have rebar both vertical and horizontally.

In the photo below, I indicated the arm of the concrete pump in red so you can see its arch more clearly. The trees camouflaged it a bit. It was pretty dynamic to see such a large piece of equipment on our property.

And finally, here is a closer shot of the concrete coming out of the pump. The photo is a bit grainy because I was not very close and did not want to get in anyone's way.

Spaces continued

2011-04-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Since I was just talking about space, I thought I would provide some context and share images of the homes that James and I each grew up in. Below is an image of James' childhood home in Sunnyvale, CA. (Image courtesy of Google.) I love that you can see her vegetable garden in the front. Some of her neighbors were not happy about it when she first started, but I think she has converted them.

Next up is a photo that I took yesterday of my parent's home.

Both homes are compact in size. (However, James' mother's home is deceptive as it has more space in it than you would imagine due to an add on that was built years ago.) Growing up in intimate quarters, we both are accustomed to living without a lot of extra rooms. I believe that there is an old adage somewhere about small homes = happy families, but I do not recall it exactly.

Space

2011-04-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

This is a view from inside the house. These supports will be removed after the walls have been poured. Everything feels a bit tight inside the house and last week I was a bit nervous that maybe the house is going to feel cramped. Maybe we hadn't planned the one living/dining/kitchen area with enough space to transition from one area to the other? I measured the rooms in my parent's house and my brother's house to reassure myself that we had enough space. I was further reassured after talking with my brother and his inlaws about walking through their homes during the building process. They all relayed a similar feeling of concern at that time that the spaces in their homes were too small. Maybe it is some optical illusion that is created by having the walls and no roof? Not sure.

The house will have 2,478 square feet of living space, give or take a foot or two. This does not count the garage or space above the garage. James and I originally wanted a smaller house, with a target of 2,000 square feet. However, we could not get all of the rooms that we wanted, while maximizing the passive solar gain and air circulation with the square footage of 2k. It was just a target number so we kept that in the back of our minds every time we revised the plans to make closets bigger or some other adjustment. While building/designing our own home is exciting, it is a bit nerve wracking. We will only have ourselves to blame for any goofy planning.

ICFs

2011-04-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

It has been slow going with the record breaking rainfall, but Daniel's crew is still plugging away when they can. Below you will see the first floor of ICFs. Only two of the first floor walls of the garage building will utilize ICFs. The rest will be stick framed. This is to save some costs since that space will not be heated at this time. The eastern and northern walls of the garage's first floor are underground and so had to be concrete. Above the garage will be our storage area/shed since we do not have a basement. You will also notice that there is a bunch of dirt that will have to be moved around with a later grading. We are fortunate to have some space to move it so it will not have to be hauled off.

Below is the southeast corner view.

This is the northeast corner (rear) view.

And below is a shot of the internal structure of the ICF. I think of the ICFs as big building blocks or legos. Once they are in place, concrete will be poured within the forms. The foam provides the home's insulation and the drywall will be attached directly to the forms.

Daniel is hoping to pour the walls on Thursday. Hopefully, we will only have spotty showers throughout the week and things won't slow down too much.

Topography

2011-04-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

Before I share the Permaculture plans for the site, I thought it would be helpful to see the layout of our site. (More information on Permaculture to come soon.)

The image above is a topographical view of Northside, formerly known as Cumminsville. Below, you will site our site zoomed in so that you can get some sense of the topography of our lot. There are a lot of hills on our lot, some of them steep, and the area most suitable for building is pretty much in the middle of the lot. This site was where the property's previous structures existed and therefore required the least amount of tree removal to build. While making construction access a bit challenging, we are fortunate that the flattest area also affords the most privacy. The star below marks the rough location of the home.

First ICFs

2011-04-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

They have installed two rows of ICFs for the house. And these latest rounds of storms have not appeared to do any damage, at least besides dumping a bunch of water.

Funny side note: James purchased a new iPhone a couple of months ago when he switched to Verizen. He was taking photos of the property with it, but all of the images were coming out distorted around the perimeter and I was not sure why. He then decided to remove the thin plastic protective film from the iPhone. Whenever he buys something new like that, he leaves those protective sheets on until they start peeling off. He is one of those individuals. Wouldn't you know it, the images improved significantly without the plastic covering the camera?

Plumbing & Rain

2011-04-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

We have had much rain lately and that has had things stop and go. Above you will notice plastic had to be placed on the hill to prevent collapse. We had a couple of areas slide atop of the foundation and into some of the ICF blocks. The blocks were placed to act as a guide for the plumbing. The photo above shows the plumbing sleeves that my dad inserted before the poured the footer. (You can see one of the blocks above, but I will show those closer later.) I believe there were 5 sleeves in total.

We also met to make some final decisions regarding windows last week. Right now, we are slated to purchase Marvin Windows based on performance, although they are not the cheapest. The interior frames will be unfinished wood which we will have to stain. We were originally hoping to stain the windows before they are installed, but after looking at the timing of everything we decided that just didn't seem possible. So I am hoping we will be able to do it within the first year.

Green Features Tab

2011-04-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

You will notice above that there is a new Green Features page. It identifies some of the basic design concepts of our home. Check it out.

New renderings and some thoughts about plumbing

2011-04-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Above is the latest rendering that we had Dustin do to give us a better idea of our revised color scheme. The siding will be more industrial-looking than what is pictured as it is vertical barn-side siding. This is pretty much the view you will see as you approach the house from the driveway because the drive snakes around a bit. Thanks Dustin!

Now onto plumbing.

My Dad, Jay, will be doing, and has been doing, many things for this house. He has been my and James' sounding board for a lot of our ideas over the last four years. He will be installing all of the plumbing for the project, as well as the rainwater collection system. The rainwater will be collected from the roof and stored in a cistern for reuse in the toilets and garden use. We are planning on a 2500 gallon tank. We are trying to determine whether or not we can use the rainwater for the washer as well. One of the issues is that the city will not allow the domestic hot water (potable) to be mixed with the rainwater (not-potable). We do not currently have any hot water heating planned for the water supplied by the cistern, so all of our washing would be cold water if we did not have it connected to the city water. My parents thought that this was crazy and that the clothes would not come clean. They do not even think the detergent would dissolve. Dad says that even when you turn your washer to cold water only, that some hot water is mixed in.

Now, it is my recollection that when we lived in Clifton, sharing a house with my sister, that the washer had its own hot and cold water valves and we completely shut off the hot water and washed our clothes that way through the winter as well. James cannot remember. LJ, do you remember? I do not think I am losing my mind on this one. The moral of the story is, I think I would be fine with cold water only.* Please share any thoughts.

*Sidenote: I am not that particular about our laundry. It is not uncommon for me to mix whites and darks when I have small loads of each. I have a friend whose husband has taken over the laundry responsibilities because of her tendency to do the same. He actually separates and washes by color; ie, reds, blues, etc. I am looking at you Julie & Matt. :)

**Sidenote #2: My brother and sister-in-law have passed down so many clothes for Shilo that are in meticulous condition. Carefully folded, socks & hat matching pants & shirt, and the kicker is that they do not have any stains on them. Nada. From infant to toddler stages, they are nearly 100% stain-free. They are not quite so pretty after my use with Shilo. Is it because of my cold-water habit? Maybe it is not related at all. Sorry Nicole!

A couple of notes

2011-04-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

Last night, I was speaking with my dad about what are the next steps now that we have poured the footer. Simultaneously, I was writing a quick update on this here blog and I had to have him clarify: Is it correct to say a footer or footers (plural)? He thought for a moment and said, "Well, I guess it is one footer for the house and another for the garage. So, footers would be accurate."

This conversation highlights the fact that I am winging it when I try to explain some of the building processes that are taking place. While I have spent much time thinking about the green features and systems of our home, I will be learning along the way how they all really interact with each other. If you know anything about construction and have been reading my blog, then I am sure you have already come to that conclusion.

It is also important to note that James, Shilo and I are living with my parents throughout this construction process. This enables me to ask my dad endless building questions. We moved in with them at the end of January. The three of us are in the bedroom that I shared with my sister, Lacy, growing up. Two months in and things are going well. You might think I am crazy, of course, but things are good even. And Shilo loves having everyone around. I am really going to have to build up the excitement for this new house for her.

Footers

2011-04-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

The footers for the house and garage were poured today. Daniel, our contractor, has ordered the ICF forms and those should arrive next Wednesday. In the meantime, my Dad will begin digging to put the underground plumbing in before the wall construction begins.

template

2011-04-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

Bear with me while I work on simplifying the blog template. I did not like the delayed loading of the components of the most recent template.

Footer prep

2011-04-07T04:07:00.001-07:00

Well, things are moving quickly this week so it is keeping me busy on the documenting front. The geotech engineer gave us a green light yesterday so the footers will be poured today. Above is a photo of the trench they created to pour the footer. (photo from James' phone.) Dad is at the property right now setting sleeves down for the plumbing so the pour can start at 10am.

Moving dirt

2011-04-06T05:31:00.000-07:00

The hill has been dug out and they are awaiting approval from the geotechnical engineer to begin pouring the footer, hopefully in the next day or so. The house will be earthbermed on the northern wall up to the bottom of the second floor. We want to take advantage of the earth's insulating, heating and cooling effects as much as possible. This did require, however, that the northern wall of the home be reinforced significantly, which of course adds to the costs. With no air conditioning system, we plan to utilize every natural cooling measure possible.

You can also notice that the honeysuckle has already started to turn green. Removing honeysuckle will be my hobby for the next 20 years or so, I believe.

Long Time Coming

2011-03-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the day finally arrived. We purchased this chunk of land 4 and a half years ago and today, we closed on the construction loan. Official groundbreaking should occur as soon as we get a string of a couple dry days. (I say official because we have been working on clearing on and off for years and last summer we were fairly aggressive with the backhoe my Dad operated.)

There have been many times throughout this process that I have been so frustrated. I have not written as much as I would have liked because just jumping through all of the hurdles was exhausting enough. It was mentally too much to try and recap all of the frustrating aspects. But, now that we have closed, I will review some of the highlights:

1st Architect designed us a home that was over double our established budget. We discovered this after putting the designs out to bid with multiple contractors.

Worked with designers and UC student to simplify our design to cut costs. Hired a new architect who was referred to us from one of the contractors so the designs could be formally updated. Put project out to bid. Repeated this step multiple times.

Adjusted our perspectives. We realized that the house that we wanted to build was going to cost more than we originally intended.

Started applying for a construction loan with banks. Applied for a mortgage with multiple banks: Guardian, Park National, Victory, Union Savings, Northside, and Huntington and a few others that we did not get too involved with before they nixed the process. We went through the complete appraisal process with 5 banks. The first four appraisals came in impossibly low.

Then we finally found a solution with Huntington Bank. It still took over three months to finalize the deal with them, but we had a loan officer who took the time to work with us and an appraisor who actually asked meaningful questions and understood that this was not a typical new home construction.

And so here we are. There have been times that I considered just giving up and finding an easier route. Fortunately, we have invested so much time, energy and resources already, that we did not want to just walk away.

Appraisals

2010-12-03T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is a good article on the difficulty of securing an accurate appraisal for a green home. It identifies some of the struggles we have been facing. http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/green-building-blog/green-home-appraisal-woes

Where have we been?

2010-11-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

Plugging away, knocking on the door of bank after bank while at the same time slimming costs wherever possible. But it seems we may be getting close folks. Keep your fingers crossed and send good thoughts to Northside Bank. We hope we have a happy update soon.

Quick Update

2010-08-04T05:53:00.000-07:00

On hot days like today, I have to tell myself that the whole living without air conditioning thing will be okay. It will be an adventure. And we will get used to it, right?

The good news is that our permit has been approved. We are one big step closer to getting started.

The less than good news is that we are still struggling with trying to get a loan approved for the project. Two appraisals have come in significantly less than the cost of construction primarily due to neighborhood comps and undervaluing the green features of the home. We have a couple of avenues we are pursuing but it is definitely challenging.

We did some major cleanup at the property this past weekend with my brother and Dad and the site is really starting to improve. Once you clear away the junk, you can see that we have some nice trees up there.

We had the initial phase of a permaculture design for the site completed by Braden Trauth, local permaculturalist guru. I will share the designs once we get them scanned in.

We chose to place a chain over the driveway primarily to keep people from driving up and dumping garbage. Shortly after we had hauled away a dumpster full of tires, mattresses, furniture, etc. a new load of 6 tires appeared. Those are even more frustrating than the regular scattering of fast food wrappers and whiskey bottles.

There have been times over the last couple of months that I have been completely exasperated with this whole process. It has been nearly 4 years now since we purchased the property and started this project. But as we were working there this weekend, I stood at the bottom of our driveway and looked down the street. I noticed that it already felt like home to me, even without the house.

Living without air conditioning

2010-07-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article about living without air conditioning. As you may or may not know, we have designed our home to not include air-conditioning and are definitely looking forward to trying out some of these techniques.

2010-05-16T19:16:00.001-07:00

We dropped off the permit applications three weeks ago and a week ago we received a list of items that needed to be clarified. My bonehead move was that I forgot to include the surveys when dropping off the plans and so they had a ton of questions. It would have been helpful if they had pointed that out when we dropped them off, but it was my fault. Of course, they send their questions via regular snail mail and we have to go there in person with the updates. I am a bit concerned that this additional delay could have been minimized but in the grand scheme of this project, what is another couple of weeks?

Our builder is on standby ready to go waiting on the bank approval and the permit and so we are playing a hurry-up and wait game. But in the waiting process, some of the materials have gone up significantly. Lumber prices have doubled in the last two months so we are working with our builder to search for competitive prices. Meanwhile we had to adjust our loan request to compensate.

The bank is now officially undergoing the appraisal portion of their review for the loan. nervewracking.

The above rendering was completed as part of a sun study analysis to make sure that we had the appropriate protection and exposure throughout the year. In other words, we want maximum sun in the winter and no direct sun entering the windows in the summer.

Latest Renderings

2010-05-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a set of our latest renderings. I think the siding will wind up being slightly lighter than it appears in these images, but it is pretty close. We are mostly settled on the light rooftop color as well. It has taken a bit to get used to it, but I like the contrast.

Selecting a contractor

2010-04-27T06:39:00.001-07:00

This process has been very challenging for us for multiple reasons but two important things to consider:

Ask for references.

Visit a home or construction project that they have completed.

This may feel a bit awkward, but if they are good at what they do, they will want to show off their work. Nothing will sell them better than that.

The Nutter's Green Home

2010-04-27T06:21:00.000-07:00

Nearly 3 years ago, we visited the new home of Krista Nutter on the Ohio Solar Tour. We were lucky in that we showed up early, before the other nearly 200 people that visited her home that day. Because of this, we were able to ask a ton of questions and she impressed us all, including my father which is no small task. We have been following her progress over the years and she is an amazing green resource. Recently, we hired Krista to do some consulting on our project for us and I was kicking myself for not seeking her guidance sooner. She reviewed our plans and gave us some valuable advice. Meeting with her helped us regroup and get our project back on a more green track. We were really wanting to begin construction and were considering compromising some of our values to make that happen. I cannot recommend her enough. Here is a link to her blog. Go back to 2007 to see the construction entries, which I find to be most interesting considering where we are in our process right now.

Next Steps

2010-04-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

We dropped off our loan application last week. We are finalizing the contract with the builder that we have selected, more on that later, and we have to drop that off at the bank. Once we do that, we wait for the bank's approval. A concern lies with the potential problem of comps. When banks are estimating the value of your home, they look for comparable homes in comparable neighborhoods. Banks are unsure of lending you the $ to build a home without a history of other like homes selling for that amount. Other modern/green home builders have sometimes had difficulty securing the loan because of the lack of similar homes.
Below are our revised, hopefully final drawings:

A quick update about clearing

2010-04-18T16:06:00.001-07:00

This first shot is from October 2007. This is at the top of the driveway and the entire drive was pretty similar to this; ie, nearly completely covered. We have been clearing as we can over the years and a week ago we spent the weekend making a big push towards getting ready to break ground. This next photo shows where the house is going to go.

The photo below shows the entrance to our driveway at the end of the weekend.

Tomorrow we drop off our complete loan application and then wait. Tuesday morning we should have the updated drawings and I will share them here when I can.

Things to Consider when building your own home

2010-02-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

These suggestions will be helpful to you if you are like us in any of the following ways:
You are on a limited budget.
You are not well-versed in the building trades, home design or new construction.
You want to build a home incorporating sustainable or unconventional techniques.

After looking at homes for a while to do a green renovation, we determined that while a green renovation would have been the more sustainable option, it would be more difficult to get everything we wanted in a renovation with our budget. Shortly after realizing this, we discovered the amazing 3 acre lot in Northside that we now own. That was over 3 years ago. The first thing we did was hire an architect that we met through a friend. Which brings me to tip #1:

#1 Work through your preliminary design needs before you officially hire an architect. Make a list of the basics that you want in your house: how many bedrooms, bathrooms, floors, size goals, etc. Sketch out a basic floorplan after reviewing other homes that you like. Hire someone familiar with autocad or another design program to layout your ideas. It will potentially take multiple revisions to get what you want. There are college students and designers that are much less expensive per hour than an architect and you could work with them initially and then go to an architect, if necessary, once you have a basic layout of what you want.

#2 Green is a buzz word that everyone is using to market their products or services, including architects. Be sure to thoroughly vet your architects before hiring them to confirm the depth of their experience. Ask for references and check out their portfolios. Have they built a green home before? Visit one of their previous projects. If their website features a portfolio of mcmansions or luxury homes, it may be a redflag to consider.

#3 When you have settled on an architect, be explicit about your budget. Get it in writing that your construction should not exceed a certain $ amount. This has been an incredibly painful lesson for us to learn. We were trying to build a home for $200k and our architects assured us this was possible. After multiple years working with the architects, our designs were put out to bid. All of our bids came back over twice our budget and we had no course of action with the architects. We had completely lost confidence in the architect and were not willing to invest more money in them to redesign the home. So, here we were having spent over $20k in architectural fees and a ton of time and all we had was a design that we could not afford to build.

That is enough for now, more to come soon....

Lessons

2010-02-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

When this project is all finished, I will be able to write volumes about what I have learned; particularly about what NOT to do when designing/building your own home!

Where are we now?

2010-01-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the last few months have been spent redesigning and tweaking and tweaking some more. We have been working with contractors this time to get our designs within a buildable budget. Nothing ever goes as quickly as I would like but the feedback that we have received regarding this latest round is encouraging so far. We should start to get some numbers soon.

So what have we changed? Well, we have learned the hard way that angles are expensive. Our previous design had so many angles, and irregular ones at that, that caused a lot of headaches in budgeting. So we tried to eliminate all of the angles to incorporate as much of the previous floor plan in a rectangle. This meant absorbing the stairwell into the main living space of the home and shifting just about everything.

Previous footprint:

New footprint:

Here is one version of the revised exterior:

So much of the correspondence back and forth has been over email and as I am not a designer by any stretch of the imagination, I started to utilize lines in Word. I would put together what I was envisioning and send it to the designer and he would use a legitimate program to create what I couldn't. Not the most efficient way but it worked to communicate what I was thinking. I did not like the garage roof mirroring the house roof so I drew up what I was thinking and sent it off.

And there will be a few minor changes, but here is where the exterior design stands now:

The biggest changes we made to the design were removing many angles in both the footprint and on the roof and the garage will no longer be underground.

Our project is back out to bid so we are hoping that the numbers come back this time in a range that we can afford.

Update

2009-09-09T05:25:00.000-07:00

So the last couple of months have involved much back and forth between James and I and contractors, as well as other building professionals trying to get some concrete estimates so we can keep this project rolling. After hearing it over and over, we have finally come to terms with the fact that we have to do some more revisions to bring the designs within our budget range. Everyone kept telling us that the designs were more complicated than they needed to be and this was resulting in increased costs.

This past Spring we hired Dustin Altschul to help us with the LEED certification and design processes. He is studying Architectural Engineering at UC and has been incredibly helpful as we have utilized his services across a wide range of areas including helping us understand our current drawings and all of the specifications more thoroughly, product selection, LEED consultation, and interior and exterior design. (One of these days I will share his bio here.) Below is a schematic that he created from our plans to provide a more realistic visual of what the house would look like. The color scheme is not updated.

As you can see from the image, there are many angles and heights. This is about to change. We love the way this looks but simplification is necessary. The interior will likely not have to be changed too dramatically. We are optimistic that with our more focused understanding of what is needed to build this house, we will still be able to start soon.

Revised drawings to come soon.

Drafts

2009-07-27T19:42:00.000-07:00

This pile represents nearly three years of trying to get the designs where we want them. We are getting so close to groundbreaking I can taste it.

2nd floor Baluster

2009-07-22T19:55:00.000-07:00

Below is the detail for our second floor. There is a cut-out to the 1st floor living area and a hallway that will connect the bedrooms to the small office space above the front entry.

We are looking for a baluster to run the length of this hallway that will keep the space open and yet safe for children. A lot of the modern designs that we like, such as the one below from Trendir, do not seem to be safe for children at all:

Another modern baluster that we like from Elevestair, but again not kid-friendly:

Next is an image of the baluster that we have in our loft. I like how open this kept the walkway, but I do not think that this look would go with our home as it is a bit too industrial-looking.

You will see this from the main living area so it is an important design choice. We are still searching.

Lots of Good News

2009-07-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

We received word that we have been pre-approved for a construction loan! Let's get this party started already.

And our little hood has been highlighted in the New York Times.

We are in the process of making a bunch of design choices so I will share some of those shortly.

2009-06-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe March was our last update. I know it may seem like this project had stalled, but there is so much that has to happen that is not really that interesting to write about. But the good news is that we have received the final drawings and are in the process of receiving bids on the project. After that we go to the bank and see if they will be nice. Here is an image of what the house will acutally look like on the south side. The only thing that will likely change is that the sun shades will not run the length of the house. They will be above each window only and will therefore not require the cabling that you see in this image.

2009-03-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

This piece of equipment was used by the Geotechnicians to drill borings into the ground to determine the structural stability of the construction site. The results of their assessment is now in the hands of the structural engineer for the final details to be added to our drawings. Progress is slow, but steady.

General Contractors

2008-12-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

James and are beginning the process of putting the work out to bid and selecting a general contractor. We have already chosen one contractor to get a bid from, Brian Garry with Green City EcoStruction. If you know of any other contractors that are experienced in sustainable building, please pass on their info. We would like to get at least 2-3 bids.

Working Drawings

2008-08-07T08:07:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are interested, here are the working drawings for the 1st and 2nd floors. There have been a couple of changes, but we believe, hope, this is the final version. We start to speak to General Contractors next week to begin the estimate process.

Just an update

2008-06-10T07:45:00.000-07:00

We have received the final version of our home's designs from the architect and are in the process of reviewing the drawings before sending them out to bid. Many steps need to be taken before the ground can be broken and we are not sure when that will be, but we keep plugging away. This site will become much more active as we sink our teeth into the process, so stay tuned for future updates.

Thank you

2008-04-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Thank you to the anonymous neighbor who cut our grass. We went yesterday to do our weekly cleanup and 1st cutting of the season, only to find that we had received a bit of help. It is nice to have someone else looking out for us.

Streetside

2008-03-12T06:53:00.001-07:00

We try to make it to the property about every other week to walk the property and pick up trash. Glen Parker sees a fair amount of traffic, both pedestrian and automobile, and the side of the road collects enough to require about 15 minutes of collecting each visit. This is a view from the entrance to our lot to the top 3rd of our property lining Glen Parker. I am hoping that as the landscaping continues to improve people will be less inclined to pitch their fast food wrappers and dirty diapers onto the ground, but I am not going to hold my breath. And there is someone who is a huge fan of Wild Irish Rose Whiskey. I continue to find those bottles on a regular basis.

We want to remove the lawn from this section and plant something that requires no mowing. I am thinking wildflowers but my dad thinks that maybe it is too hot between the cement sidewalk and street. I will be attending a Permaculture class this Saturday so maybe they will have some ideas.

2008-02-27T06:38:00.001-08:00

I wanted to go to the property last weekend while there was still snow on the ground so we could take some photos. We did our normal sweep up Glen Parker to pick up the garbage and then walked back into the property. The only tracks we saw were the occasional deer tracks. I have seen deer several times on the property and I hope that we do not run them off totally.

I am ready for it to clear up just enough so we can resume clearing out the underbrush, which we think is mostly honeysuckle and that we hear is fairly common around here. Clearing this out may take the next ten years or so of our lives, but I am hoping to assess better which trees are healthy and plant new trees wherever possible. More winter photos can be found in the Northside property set to the right.

Radio interview with Brian Thomas

2008-02-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

Update: You can listen to James' interview online here or via podcast here.