Ready for Rough Inspection!

Check out the stuff in the walls!

Finally, after many months of our sub contractors negotiating parking spots for their trucks and parading all kinds of materials and equipment through the garage and our house, we are finally ready to call for Rough Inspections!

The job of the inspector is to make sure the construction of the structure adheres to all applicable building codes.  Every village and town adopts its own codes for its residents to follow for their projects.  The codes that apply to our construction as mandated by our village are the 2012 International Residential Code, 2012 International Mechanical, 2012 Fuel Gas Code, 2011 National Electric Code, 2004 Illinois Plumbing Code and the 2012 Illinois Energy Conservation Code. Yes, it may be overwhelming, it may feel like a burden to a homeowner, and it does cost money for the inspections.  However, for the past 30 years (I know, where did the time go?) about 90% of my work has been in remodel, and I have seen some horrible results due to lack of wisdom, knowledge, or care when building codes were not applied.  I have seen an attic filled with dryer lint because the builder never brought the vent outside (a fire hazard!), a terribly out-of-level kitchen floor due to an installer who cut the floor joists for a heating duct, and many cases of mold due to poorly installed or worse — flashing not installed around doors and windows.  The worst would be one of Steve’s latest projects; a house that burned down because a previous owner covered live electrical outlets during an earlier remodel.

If I were to buy a new house, I would like to be confident that there were no disasters waiting behind the walls.

Our Rough Inspection will include electrical, plumbing, mechanical, systems.

THE DECK OVER THE GARAGE

When creating a deck over finished space below, we were essentially creating a bathtub.  The roofer installed a water-proof membrane over the sloped floor structure.  Our village code requires not just one scupper (on old buildings they sometimes look like gargoyles) to let the water drain from our “tub”, but a second over-flow scupper as well.  Yes, I know, it does seem excessive considering we have a roof above, however we do have torrential rain storms and heavy snow that does get blown sideways in the midwest.  Until the past week, rain and snow melt did end up on the floor of our garage below. Steve will be framing the finished decking to float above this membrane in the very near future!

SCUPPERS & DOWNSPOUT

Not quite the elegant box I imagined, but I am sure it will serve its purpose well

CONNECTING THE OLD TO THE NEW.

This is the view of our ceiling in our relatively new mudroom.  The space between our utility room and the new addition. It’s too bad that the ceiling will be repaired and will cover up this amazing raceway to the garage. In the ceiling is the work of the plumber, the heating contractor, the electrician and our filtered water supplier.  There are copper pipes carrying water for our radiant heat in the second story floor and the garage floor, copper pipes for water to the bathroom, cables for internet and television, and electrical conduit.

NEW ELECTRIC

 THE VIEW OF THE CEILING AT THE BACK WALL

This is the back wall of the new addition at garage level.  This is the handy work of the electrician and the heating contractor.  A new sub-panel for the new addition involved moving circuits and wires from the utility room to this room. There is a smaller box to the left that will be a 60 amp circuit panel for the circuits we want covered by the new gas-powered generator.  We live in a neighborhood that frequently experiences power outages.  Some last a few minutes, others can last days.  We need to be able to keep the well pump running, as well as the septic system pump, the boiler, the refrigerator, my studio and maybe some lights.  There is also a gas line going out to the generator, the lines from the AC condensor to the AC air handler in the attic in our second story and the condensate line running from the air handler to a drainage pit outside (local code requirement).

ANOTHER WALL OF PIPING

This is the shared wall between new and old. Water and drains run across the top in the soffit, other water lines run down the wall to heating in the floor.

THE GARAGE CEILING

In the ceiling above the garage the heating contractor installed fins that will distribute heat to our bedroom floor from the hot water running in that orange flexible pipe.  The other pipe is conduit that holds the electrical wiring.  The two contractors had to work around each other…Jason waited until Bill (our electrician) was substantially complete with his piping before he would run the water lines.  This done to minimize the accidental puncturing of the water line.

NEW DRAIN

The plumber installed a new main drain to the septic system rather than tie into the old.

VIEW OF CEILING IN THE MASTER BATH

Vents for the drains, and air conditioning ducts, an exhaust fan duct, junction boxes and housings for the recessed downlights all vie for space in the ceiling.

SHOWER WALL VALVES AND PIPING

BATHROOM TOILET ROOM

We are using a wall hung toilet and bidet.  These are the support frames for the fixtures and the tank for the toilet located in the wall.

CHECK OUT THE STUFF IN THE SINK VANITY WALL!

The plumber has run new gas lines to the future generator, the new laundry room for the dryer and to John’s future dream grill on the patio (no more running to the gas station to refill tanks!).  The drain vents have all run up through the roof and have been sealed in by the roofing contractor.  All the new drain lines and vents have been filled with water for the “stack test” required by code for Monday’s plumbing inspection to make sure there are no leaks in any of the pipes.

ROUGH ELECTRICAL IN THE SOFFIT OVER BEDROOM DECK

All the exterior lighting junction boxes and recessed housings are all installed!

There is now no question in my mind, construction always takes longer than anyone anticipates!

• Weather is always an unknown factor when exterior work has to be done.
• Scheduling subcontractors is an incredible balancing act when one group of specialists can’t start until another group finishes their work. Don’t attempt to be your own general contractor and coordinate these trades.
• This year began with a huge increase in demand for residential construction in our metropolitan area.  I will have completed more projects in the first half of this year than I usually complete in a full year.  The demand for skilled labor has increased as well as the ability to find those specialists.  When the economy tanked in 2009, many in our industry either left their profession or moved away to find work elsewhere.  The lead times for delivery of materials have grown leaving the rest of us waiting longer because of the fear of stocking warehouses if demand suddenly shifts.  It’s a great thing to happen, but gearing back up to pre-recession levels is taking time.
• Inspections also slow down work.  No work can happen until the current phase has been approved by an inspector.

I have also come to a new conclusion — remodelling takes longer than new construction!

• Many operating systems have to be reworked, rerouted and reinstalled to tie into the new systems.  My entire second floor had to be rewired to accommodate the new electrical locations in the remodeled half of the second floor.
• A homeowner living in the house while construction is going on slows down construction.  Temporary systems may have to be installed (like plumbing, or electrical) in order to keep the house operating for the owner. A temporary gas line needed to be moved twice for us in order to keep hot water flowing from our gas-powered water tank.  Schedules have to be worked around.  Some owners prefer not to have contractors in the homes before dawn, but rather after the kids are off to school.  There has to be clean-up at the end of the day, tools taken away and stored only to be returned the next day.  Some trades have very large pieces of equipment (like the excavator that was the size of a dinosaur) that are better off staying on site, however, may have to be inconveniently located to still allow owner access to parts of the home.
• Even the flow of construction has to accommodate existing conditions.  It would have been so much more convenient for almost everyone involved on our site if we did not have a septic field located in the front yard!  If we were new construction, the field would have been the last piece put in place. The workers could have parked on the lawn, they could have stored material on the lawn, and they would not have had to worry about keeping that system working during the entire project!

After the inspection tomorrow, we will be onto insulation, sheetroock and then the finishes!  I think we should be able to be completed by the time winter arrives!

More about Siding and Trim

When we began our search for an alternate to matching our existing cedar siding, we started with fiber-cement board siding. We knew we wanted something that looked like Ship-Lap siding but had some kind of modern twist to it.  We requested many samples from many manufacturers and the company with the product we liked most was Nichiha.

A NICHIHA VINTAGE WOOD PROJECT  http://www.nichiha.com/

They have a great product called “Vintage Wood” that would give us the look we wanted with the minimal maintenance.  So off we went to find our product.  We found that the plant that serves our region is in Georgia.  After conversations with a rep, with a distributor and a retail outlet, we discovered that this particular product is not available in our region. What?  But this is what we wanted!  But we can’t have it.  Going back to the drawing board and a few months later we settled on the beautiful garapa boards that I highlighted in my last post.

We had this winter to really think about our new selection, cost was a big mind bender.  This material would more than double our budget for siding.  The other consideration was, ‘would we like it on the east side of the addition’?  The exposed side for coverage above the brick is very tall.  Would 5″ boards become too much for how much we had to cover?  Yes it would, we decided.

So we returned to a new search.  We liked the look of stucco, but were concerned about cost and maintenance as well.  We had stumbled on a lot of photos in Houzz with homes clad in fiber-cement panels.  We liked the clean lines, and the stucco-like finish. We started with James Hardie panels because we knew that Hardie board siding is everywhere in our region.  Apparently, just because one product is shipped here, does not necessarily mean that all products are shipped here. Sigh, the panels are not available in our region.  Well, perhaps, it works the same way in the Nichiha distribution.  We went back to their site and left a message requesting someone contact us.  And they did!  From their commercial product line. Not only did they have their ‘Architectural Block’ product available in the upper midwest, they had several installations in Chicago!  So we were off to the city to scope out the siding.  And we loved it!  The rep sent us the three samples of the board with their stock colors, shipping time: 2 weeks.  We could have the boards customs colored, but the wait was 2 months.  Russ and Ken were available for our project in the next two weeks to hang siding, so we chose a standard color: Tuscan Tan. The other sample he sent left us a little sad…”Vintage Wood”.  Apparently it is now offered as a commercial product and it is now available to us. It was its lack of availability that led us through a 6 month journey sourcing other alternatives. Go figure!

So the siding has arrived and the boys are almost finished with the installation. These panels are 18″ high x 6′ long.  One panel laps over the other.  There is a rubber gasket applied on the outside face side on every panel that seals the overlapping joint.

SIDING DETAIL

SIDE VIEW OF THE SIDING BOARD

The panels are installed on clips like a rainscreen application.  After each row of panels is snapped into place, a new row of clips are nailed to the sheathing to catch the next row of panels. There are no nails in the siding.

The corner boards are factory fabricated with a 90º angle made as one piece, so there is no joint seam at the corner.  There is a channel of flashing bent and installed on site between the corner board and the adjacent panels that runs vertically up the wall.

CORNER DETAIL

THE EAST SIDE OF THE HOUSE

A VIEW OF THE BACK OF THE HOUSE

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE BACK OF THE HOUSE

THE MACHINE THAT BENDS THE FLASHING

This machine was sitting in the garage for about a week before I realized Russ was bending the flashing into the unique shapes needed waterproof our siding.

We are using another composite material for the trim, soffits and fascia boards.  The soffit board has continuous venting.  The holes are apparently small enough to prevent bees from entering the soffits, and the rest of the house.  However, we took no chances, we added a layer of screen over the holes inside the soffit.  The soffit is a light color, John wanted to make sure that light reflected back into the house.  We had the rest of the trim boards colored to match the windows, we may be running out of steam choosing new finishes.

WINDOW TRIM

June 2015

The siding has arrived!

In early May we started receiving siding, soffit, and trim material!  So exciting!

Our original intent was to match the new siding to the existing cedar siding that has been on the house since 1962.  Great idea in concept, not so great in reality.  The original boards are 11″ x 1-1/8″ thick cedar planks.  Just like 2×4 studs are no longer 2″ x 4″ but rather 1-1/2″ x 3-1/2″, cedar plank siding boards are no longer milled to the old dimension, more like 6″ not 11″, and no longer a consistent width but rather they are tapered.

To match the existing would be an endeavor of immense expense to mill custom boards.  This made us sit back and analyze what we really wanted the house to look like.  If we were going to spend more than we budgeted, then we really had to love what we were buying.  We discovered that neither of us really liked the lap siding, nor the woodpecker holes and the nests of bees that the siding offered to our wildlife.

The board side that faced the house had never been stained and had a smooth finish.  The rough sawn side faced the public outward side (a feature we did not care for).  The framing carpenters and our contractor assured us that our boards could be reused for covering our exposed soffits over the deck and front porch, as well to wrap some of the beams that were created to make these overhangs.  So Steve very carefully removed all the siding material last fall and stockpiled it in our garage.

The underside of the roof over the deck on the new addition

I can’t wait to let you see what this will look like finished with our recycled cedar siding!

After hours of driving through random neighborhoods and scouring the pages of Houzz.com, we knew we preferred “ship-lap” siding over the traditional “lap-siding”.  We like the smooth transition between the boards.  Our search led us to discover Wood Haven, Inc. in Perry, Kansas.  Not only did we like what they had to offer, they shipped material to our region of the country.  An important detail to consider when you fall in love with the perfect material!

http://www.rainscreenclip.com/project-gallery/

They have created their own Rainscreen Clip that creates an installation where the fasteners are hidden.  A rainscreen system provides an added layer of defense against the penetration of water into the walls.  An air gap between the back of the siding and the vapor barrier on the sheathing (1/2″ plywood or similar material) helps keep the wall dry and minimize the formation of mold in the wall.

I have to admit, our choice was based on how great the siding looks.  We chose the 5″ garapa material, a Brazilian hardwood that is resistant to rot, decay, insects and fungi.  These were important qualities for us in our choice of wood species.  Wood Haven, inc. has a great selection of wood options.  We are staining our garapa to maintain a rich reddish brown that works well with our exisitng brick.  Because this will require staining every few years, we have limited the use of this material to be used as an accent.  More later on the the products we chose that will require much less maintenance.

After installing the vertical battens that have been predrilled in the factory to accept the clips, Russ can start installing the wood siding.  One of the challenges of this install was making sure the drilled holes on the battens were completely level and lined up with each other.

These clips are drilled into the holes in the vertical battens and the boards are slid into place, supported by the clips.

OVER THE GARAGE

There will be one more layer of stain applied at the end of the project, but we love it already.  I am referring to our constant transformation as our variation on a modern prairie style.  We are seeing a faint light at the end of the tunnel!

It’s finally warm enough for exterior finishes!

After months of living with our Tyvek-wrapped house, there are signs that we may no longer be the offending eye sore on our block.  The neighbors still speak to us, but I am sure they are happy to see trucks parked in our driveway, and endure those parked in the easement along our one-lane wide street, if it means we might actually finish this project!

The masons were the first to arrive this spring!  They were also the last to leave in the fall, those brave souls working under a tent in freezing weather.

With the modifications to our roof where the old met the new, we were forced to move the fireplace chimney to the new roof. The intersection caused the chimney to be a dam that would hold back rain and snow that would rest against it.  Yes, it was almost as difficult as it sounds.  Fortunately, when we renovated the family room a couple of years ago to create my new studio space, we chose to have a sealed gas fireplace. At that time a new flue liner was inserted into the existing clay liner.  The liner, we discovered as we attempted to move it, was not only not tall enough above the new roof, it also was not thermally protected enough to run in a wood framed chimney.  We had the fireplace company come out to replace the not so old liner, with a new, taller & thermally protected liner.

The masons began the season of outdoor work by pouring the concrete chimney cap and prepping the chimney for stone. This gave us hope that the house could look great one day!

Dressing the Chimney

While the concrete set, they began work on the front porch posts.

Dressing the front porch posts

Concrete block sitting on the foundation wall, was built around the posts.

The guys sat up on the roof for several days, stacking stone around the chimney. And it was so worth it!

The awesome chimney!

The finished posts

The masons are gone for a while.  They are waiting for the front door step and the caps on the upper deck to be fabricated.  It was nice having them here and I will miss them.  But I will always remember them every time I drive up my driveway and walk into my front door.  I never dreamed I would own something so beautiful and artful!