Caffeinated Results

The Mountain Dew and Red Bull seemed to work. The blueboard is all hung (shown below) and plastered (not shown here). No more walking through walls- the real house has taken its form.

Looking down the upstairs hallway from the Master Bedroom

In the Master bedroom, looking toward the closet

Main Floor- the ladder is in the kitchen

Main Floor, looking toward the stairs, dining room and front door

Office in the basement

The shelves below the windowsills are a remnant of the thicker concrete walls along the bottom part of the walk-out basement.

Meanwhile the decisions are still flying at us fast and furious. We're keeping up and trying to stay slightly ahead of the game the best we can!

- J

Daily Reflections

I feel like every time I visit the house I stand in awe of the day's accomplishments. Sometimes big, sometimes small, these raw changes transform the space into something that I either never really thought I'd actually see (which often results in a "Jodes, you won't believe what...") or that I didn't expect to see (which often results in a "John, I'm confused why...").

This past week and a half has garnered many of each type of response:

Saturday/Sunday: This is the basement window along the south side of the house. Insulating the basement became a bit more involved toward the back of the house. 3" of rigid foam exists behind and between the 2x3 studs where they back up to the concrete foundation. Above this, cellulose was blown in behind a mess into the 2x6 studs of the outside wall. Remember that there is an inch of rigid foam on the exterior of the above-ground sections well.

Monday: You are looking at the ceiling of the main floor. 6" of fiberglass provides sound-proofing between levels. The insulated supply lines for the upper zone of radiant heating is visible as well.

Tuesday: As quality insulation was a big part of our hopes for the house, we've tried to use blown-in cellulose where ever possible on the exterior walls. It works better per unit R value than fiberglass (it's all about the installation). This caused some communication issues when something else was placed there instead. The area along the outer wall where the floor joists are supported was one of those places. However after talking with John, he had the sub pull it out and pour foam instead (shown here in the yellow color).

By now most of the cellulose has been put in the master bedroom outer wall, up to the ceiling, dampening out most of the noise.

Another look at one of the forward bedrooms and upstairs bathroom with insulation.

Wednesday: The main level is now quiet as a tomb. Although I suspect that it will not stop Jody from tap dancing again.

Thursday: More sound proofing for the interior walls on the top floor. You used to be able to see through to the back windows from the stairs, and walk through all the walls but alas, no more!

Friday: Oh my gosh!(Okay, maybe I said something else...) Today they not only delivered all the blueboard and plaster but they put it up in half of the 2nd floor. This front bedroom is completely finished, as is most of the bathroom.

A view from the outside corner of the same room. The closet/stage is almost ready to go.

The drywallers have left their jar of peanut butter, jar of jelly and loaf of bread upstairs, so I know they'll be back soon.

- A

Decision-Time for the Wafflers

The inside of "the silver bullet" is taking off as well. The second floor interior is now framed. We did a walk-through today with John, our contractor, and Alison, our architect. It's amazing to see the rooms we envisioned take shape.

Natalie and I on the top floor

From inside the closet, looking through to the bedroom

The decisions are still flying at us fast and furious. This means we spend our weekends sitting in bathtubs (in stores) and our daughter thinks hanging out in shower stalls is a fancy form of peek-a-boo entertainment. And those are the easy decisions. Then there are the ones like how to frame the stairs and how to do the radiant floor heating.

Cucumbers please!

Peek-a-boo!

I'm sometimes flabbergasted that these are still such a challenge to figure out- even with a builder, an architect, and a phd (I know- oceans, not houses) all staring at the same problem. Part of the challenge, obviously, is that the phd spent so much time in school, that the cost-effective angle has to weigh strongly. (That and the fact that he studied oceanography, not plumbing.)

How do you support floating stairs? And where do you put the lightswitches if there's no wall?

John, Alison, and Anthony brainstorming.

So let's see- here's what we have done in the past few days. We picked out a tub, semi-settled on a shower, chose porch materials, selected the basement insulation level, decided on how to build a closet over the stairs (but still maintain headroom), determined where attic access would be, pretty much designed the kitchen, almost committed to cabinets, debated the heating, stairs-framing, and lighting plan, in addition to updating our gotta-figure-out spreadsheet on a regular basis.

-J