Where have I been?

I have been derelict in my blogging responsibilities.  There has been much progress in the two weeks since I last updated the blog but as I said earlier once the structure is up  and enclosed, progress is less visible.  Nonetheless our crew has completed the siding, roofing, most of the trim
and several new contractors have arrived on site and started their work.  Our HVAC guy was out and we did the walk through, helping us decide where to put the supply vents and the cold air returns.  The heat exchanger will be outside of course but we decided to put the air handler in the crawl space pretty much in the middle of the house right under the living room.  This will provide the best air pressure balance from one end of the house to the other.  At 90 feet from one end to the other, putting the air handler in the utility room at one end of the house would have made for difficult times getting the air flow to balance between one end of the house and the other.

The other challenge has been finding places to put the return air ducting.  When you have an attic this is no problem.  You simply put a big vent in a closet or hallway and duct the air back to the air handler through the attic.  We do not have an attic.  We have a generous crawl space but that means the large (12" - 15") diameter ducting must be built into a chase in a closet or other out of the way place.

We have also done the initial walk through with the electrician.  The things you don't think about!  Every switch, plug, light fixture, needs to be located and agreed that it is a logical and convenient place to be PERMANENTLY installed.  The kitchen is a huge challenge.  Again with no attic there is no convenient place to run wires up.  We are right on the edge in terms of cabinet space due to the open design and all the windows so where to place outlets for convenience and switches for the many many lights etc was difficult.  I think we figured everything out but we will be dealing with these challenges for a few weeks.

My current dilemma is decking.  For the bid we spec'd 2 x 4 clear cedar which is beautiful wood and is naturally rot and insect resilient.  But it is relatively soft and requires frequent refinishing.  I can't seem to get my head around composite materials which is leading me to something like IPE or Ironwood which is a bitch to install and probably more expensive than our base bid of clear cedar.  Gotta decide as the guys are ready to begin the deck framing and we need to know the height of the deck material to make things come out right.

I think Bruce, our contractor, has found a source for the fireplace and wood stove.  Dee found a neat design for the bedroom FP which will be LP gas for convenience and less mess.  The wood stove will be in the living room but it is a neat contemporary design and will fit right in with the overall house design.

Posting some photos of the completed siding and a few other things.  It really is starting to look like a house

In this photo the metal roof was still under installation pending the trim and final tie down.  Skylights are all curbed and water tight.

Siding is complete including corner boards and in this photo you can see the roof trim is up.  

Here we are in the master bedroom looking into the laundry room.  This is were we decided to put one of the cold air returns.  This one is not too obnoxious as it is close to the floor and will be facing out to the hallway.  It will have a small chest in front of that wall so it will not be very noticeable and it takes up very little of the laundry room.

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Today they are working on installing the remaining beams on the pond side of the house.  This is really going to complete the look of the house on that side which will be very dramatic.  Photos of this next episode.