Category Archives: Utilities

Week 46: Transoms, Plumbing, HVAC, Lighting & Exterior Painting

Posted in Boys' Bathroom, Dining Room, Entry, Exterior Design, Great Room, HVAC, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Master Bathroom, Paint, Powder Bathroom, Rec Room by

This week was quite the week – Matt started off the week saying that our house was going to be a zoo and it definitely was!  Since all of the trim inside has finally been painted, a bunch of the subs could begin their work.

Transoms

The interior transoms were completed this week which included having each piece painted, the glass installed, and putting the final trim up.  They look fantastic too!  I love how they help divide the rooms up but still make the rooms feel open to each other.  We toured a couple of homes that had these and knew that we definitely wanted them in our house.

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Transoms were added and painted this week. We contemplated buying them pre-made but now I’m glad we had them custom made on site…they look fantastic!

Plumbing

A lot (but not all) of the plumbing fixtures were installed this week and they’re looking good!  My mom and I were out there on Tuesday to choose where we wanted each piece of the plumbing fixtures (the slab guys were there to drill the holes).  And then the plumbers were also there to install the fixtures.  My favorite faucets hands down are the ones in the kitchen. We ended up choosing Rohl’s high arc country kitchen faucet with the sidespray and the filtered water faucet.  The filtered water faucet was actually cheaper to install at the sink than to have it built-in to the fridge.  And this way I’m actually gaining fridge/freezer capacity and don’t have to worry about the kids spilling water on our hardwoods.  Plus, it’s such a cute faucet…who could resist?!?

All of the other faucets except for the guest bath sink faucet was installed – and they still need to install most of the shower parts & pieces in the house.

HVAC

The HVAC guys were at the house this week installing our thermostats – of which we chose NEST.  I like that they have one app for everything – including smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and we’re hoping that they stay more up to date with their apps & technology as compared to the other thermostat brands.  We’ve heard good and bad things about NEST but hopefully in the long run it’ll work out for us that we invested in that technology.  The HVAC guys also installed all of the “trim” for the house – including the vent covers and intake vents.  One word of warning – these guys had FILTHY hands – which I can now see all over our white ceilings.  Next time I’d definitely ask them to wash their hands before installing all of the vents – I guess I need to teach more than my kids to do that, apparently it’s not common sense for adults yet.  The HVAC guys also installed our heat pumps this week too – they’re back under the mudroom deck and since we’ve had some warm days – it’s already been tested and the cooling is definitely working!

Lighting

I took a couple days off this week and my mom and I headed to the house to help with the lighting – placement, heights, etc.  There’s so many different lights in the house, and although I’ve labeled them the best that I can, we still needed to be on site to help with the placement.  I absolutely loved picking out all of the lights for the house though.  Matt said that most people would go to a lighting showroom and pick all the lights out from one person and be done with it.  Of course, I did this with the plumbing and really didn’t like it – I ended up having to choose plumbing fixtures from tiny images in a catalog.  So for the lighting I bought everything on my own and just had them there for the electrician to install.  This meant that I could buy them from wherever I wanted and I was able to buy them when places were having sales.  Most of my fixtures I acquired over the last year and did end up getting really good deals on them including some favorites from Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.  But other ones I was able to buy vintage light fixtures and refinish and rewire to make them workable for our home.

Two “schoolhouse” light fixtures I purchased from Second Use in Seattle and they’re actually from Joel’s elementary school in Tacoma!  In September of 2015 Wainwright was demolished to make way for a new intermediate school and Second Use was able to save some of the original fixtures – of which I was able to buy two of them.  After a quick cleaning and re-wiring, they were ready to be installed in our mudroom bathroom and pantry!

Another one of my favorite fixtures are the pendants that we used in the downstairs bar.  I ended up picking up some vintage fixtures from the Midwest on Ebay last year for $17 each!  Score!!  My parents helped me strip three of them down to the original brass.  They were painted over and with years of dirty and grime, it took some real elbow grease to make them shine.  Each one took about 2 ½ hours to strip and I was so thankful that my parents helped me with it, because it would have taken me three times as long without them!

Exterior Painting

Finally the exterior of the house was also painted this week!  Such a transformation to see it all white – finally!  I’m glad that we waited to paint it until now otherwise it would already be showing the dirt from the construction – but boy was I getting tired of seeing the yellowish color of the siding and trim.  Now that it’s all white (Sherwin Williams’ Pure White) it looks even better!  It took me a while to decide on the white – I was originally going to use Benjamin Moore’s Simply White but in the end looked a little to creamy.  I think SW’s Pure White ended up being the best one since it looks like a true white, but not “bright” or blue like some of the others that I tested.

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The exterior painting on the house started this week. I’m loving the way it’s turning out!

We also painted samples for the door color and taped them up there to see how they looked with the overall house color.  Originally I was thinking of painting it black – there’s a lot of white houses with black doors and they look phenomenal.  But I wanted to be able to see the door hardware, and since all of the exterior hardware is oil rubbed bronze, that meant that I’d need a chrome front door handle to be able to see it against a black door.  My friend Sarah was surprised that I was thinking of a black door (since she has one and hates it) and quickly turned me in the direction of having a gray door.  Sarah helped me tons on this one and flipped through her SW color deck and suggested a handful of grays that may work well.  After a quick trip to SW to see which ones she was thinking of, I chose three sample pots.  And after being up on the house, ended up choosing SW’s Serious Gray – it’s the top one in the photo.  I can’t wait to see what it looks like once the door is truly painted, but I think it’s the perfect one – and that the oil rubbed bronze hardware will look phenomenal with it!

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We narrowed it down to three front door color choices – and ended up choosing the top one – Sherwin Williams Serious Gray

Week 43: Tile, Slabs, Drainfield & Downstairs Painting

Posted in Boys' Bedrooms, Exterior Design, Kitchen, Paint, Rec Room, Septic System, Tile by

My absolute favorite tile was installed this week behind the range in the kitchen.  The tile installer did such a fantastic job installing the tile too…it looks fantastic!  This tile is Mosaique Surface’s Artemis Cold – a pattern of honed cararra velato and polished white thassos.  We’re still waiting on some trim tile to border the subway tile in other parts of the kitchen, so until that arrives, it won’t be grouted.

The fireplace tile was also installed this week – originally I was contemplating changing this tile to something different, but after  realizing that we can’t return the tile and whatever I would order otherwise would take a few weeks, I quickly decided against it.  I honestly have no idea how this looks with the slabs on the fireplace hearth because they’ve been covered with cardboard.  Hopefully once grouted and the cardboard is removed they’ll look just fine together though!  If not…I’m sure Joel will let me redo it 😉

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The fireplace tile was installed this week.

The remaining slabs were installed in the kitchen this week as well.  I was actually out at the house dropping of the staircase handrail and they were out there installing the slabs.  It was pretty crazy to see how they lift those giant slabs and get them in place.  Definitely takes some strong guys and a couple of gripper things.  I was glad I was there too – I was able to choose the direction that the veining was running in the slabs.  They look SO GOOD too!!!  We used the same absolute white quartzite that we selected for the other areas of the kitchen.

Outside we also had progress…the septic drainfield was installed this week and once inspected by the county they can backfill it all and we can begin on the final grading of the yard.

Back in the house, all of the trim in the downstairs was also painted this week.  The lower level is completely covered in paper and plastic masking everything off.  Walls, ceilings, floors, it’s crazy.

Week 42: Tile, Trimwork, Stairs, Septic, and Rental House Issues

Posted in Cabinetry, Dining Room, Entry, Flooring, Great Room, Great Room, Kitchen, Laundry Room, Millwork, Moving Homes, Mudroom, Mudroom Bathroom, Permits, Powder Bathroom, Septic System, Tile by

Rental House

This week seems to have gone by so quickly!   One of the major things that happened this week is that we received an email from the property manager from the house we’re renting a couple miles from the build.  He said that the owners of the house want to move back into the house and we need to move out at the END OF APRIL!!!  Matt was anticipating for the house to be finished at the END OF MAY!!  Seriously?  How does this happen to us?  Our 10-month lease ended in January and since then our contract switched over to month-to-month leasing.  And the contract states that we or the owner can terminate the lease with a 20 day notice.  We actually met the owner about 6 months ago when they were visiting from China getting baby gear out of their garage.  Back then he said that we should stay and rent the house for years!  And in January when I told the property manager that we were extending our stay past the 10-month term he said to stay until August.  Now they want to move back from China though?  Something must have changed with his Microsoft job.  Ugh.  And the property manager has no idea either – this totally blindsided him as well.

So now for the first time in the entire build, schedule matters.  Prior to this, Joel and I honestly didn’t care if it took longer to build, we just wanted it done right.  I mean, what’s a couple extra months in the end if it turns out great?  The boys have made some good friends in the neighborhood we’re renting in and it’s so close to the build, that it’s convenient to pop over and check things out.  Now getting done with the build at the end of May when we need to move out at the end of April seems WAY too long though.  Where are we going to live for those 4 weeks?!?  So I did what any person in my situation would do.  Ask our builder Matt, “what’s really going to be left to do after the last week of April?”  I explained our situation and wanted to see if there was any way we could speed things up a little and maybe move in sooner than later.  He took a couple days and was able to push a few things…and now we’ll be moving into the new house the first week of May!  Can you believe that?!?  The first week of May!!!  That means that we’re only between homes for a week.  A week, I can live with.  Can you say, “hello mom & dad?”  They live about 45 minutes away from us without traffic so the commute just to get the boys to school and us to work is going to be horrific.  But the boys love staying there and it’ll be so nice just to move with only having to pack our clothes.  The rest of our stuff can move into the garage of the new house until we get there a week later to unpack.  Although Matt will have the inside of the house finished, we’re not expecting the outside to be completed – we’ll likely still need the deck, driveway and landscaping.  The inside is good enough for me though!

For our final hail mary, we’re still trying to see if we can extend our lease another week so we can move straight from the rental into the new house, but we haven’t heard back from the owner and they’re not returning the emails that the property manager has sent (which has been 4 of them now).  Cross our fingers 😉  At least mom & dad’s is a good back up plan.

New House

Besides the rental house issues, things have been moving along at the house quite well.  There’s so many little details that took place in the house this week. The tile and hardwoods have been completed and that’s all of the flooring until the carpet is scheduled to be installed in the last week of April (just before we move in!).  The stairs were even installed this week and they look fantastic.  It took a few different tries to get the right stain color for the treads, but I think they turned out great.  On Thursday evening, Cameron and I went to check out the house and Matt was there covering the stairs to protect them from all the workers’…and we ended up helping and covering them for him.  Um, don’t say that I never lifted a finger to build the house, ha!

The trim sub consultant keeps on trucking – there’s so much that we’re having them do for us.  Besides installing all of the door moulding and baseboards throughout the house, there were two major accomplishments this week – creating the fireplace surround and starting on the interior transom windows.  First things first the fireplace looks amazing!  Monday morning Matt and I walked through what I wanted the design of the fireplace to be and he made it all happen!  I love how it sits on top of the bench/hearth we have, and that the mantle is so deep.  In our old house there would barely be enough room for Christmas stockings, let alone any other decor.  This one is sure to fit whatever I want to decorate with!

On Saturday, Joel and I went out to check out the progress and one of the trim guys was there working on the interior transom windows.  We weren’t quite sure if we were going to order these or have them built on-site, and now that we went with the latter, I couldn’t have imagined the ordered ones turning out so well.  The first side of the transoms have been installed, then they’ll need to be painted on both sides and glass added.  Then the other side of the transom trim can be added.  It looks so good for them finally to be filled in with moulding though!  All these little details are really making the house come together.

And did you notice that the oval windows in the great room in the last picture now have trim as well?  These were measured for and custom made by a different company and then installed this week.  The same goes true for the arched windows in the dining room and in the entry.

Besides all of the trimwork, they also added some more detail on the cabinetry.  Matt pointed out that if we added crown all the way around the kitchen hood (like I wanted) that the crown would basically touch the other pieces of crown in the coiffured ceiling.  So that’s out of the question…so that’s a bummer.  But I still think it looks good as is without it – definitely my favorite feature in the kitchen, and it’s pretty fun that I got to design it!  Feet were also added to a few cabinets throughout the house – which I also had custom designed based on some pictures of kitchens that I liked on Houzz.

Tile work also continued this week.  Although choosing and shopping for tile was my absolute least favorite thing to do for the entire build, I love seeing it all installed.  Most of our selections were pretty basic, but even seeing white subway tile instead of drywall is fun.  On top of that, the tile my mom and I chose for the backsplash behind the range arrived and I brought that out to the house.  On Wednesday, I met the tiling sub onsite to go through the layout with him.  Originally, we were going to have a different border that had a dark gray bardglio marble liner and then a white chair rail that matches the subway tile backsplash.  Unfortunately though, the bardiglio came in and looked too blue to really coordinate with the beautiful mosaic tile.  So we ended up using a carrara marble chair rail.  We needed it this week though so there wasn’t any time to special order in the profile of the moulding that I wanted.  Luckily, good ol’ Home Depot carries one that will work perfectly.  Not so perfectly is that you have to find the marble in gray and white.  And when you see them at the stores, about 80% of them look white with brown veining.  Ick.  I’m not kidding you – to find the 12 pieces that we needed to frame the backsplash, my mom and I went to 6 different Home Depot stores!  Unreal.  But now that we have them,  I love them and totally worth the drive time to find them. Plus at $6 each, they were about 7 times cheaper than the ones that I wanted to order in!  Score!!!  I hope it gets installed back behind the range soon – I can’t wait to see it on the wall!

The painters were also in the house this week.  They’ve set up a Dexter kill room, er, um, a “spray booth” in the downstairs storage room .  That room was ALWAYS creepy with the concrete floors and unfinished walls and ceilings but this tops it.  I can’t wait for electrical finishes to finally put some lights in this space.  It’s beyond creepy and way too dark in there now.

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The painters have set up a spray booth in the storage room downstairs where they can paint doors and whatever else they have. I’m steering clear of this space though until they take down all of the plastic. A little too Dexter-esque for my liking.

And one of my favorite doors was also installed this week!  We have a dutch pocket door between the mudroom and the hallway.  This way we can just pull out the bottom half of the door to keep our dog Bella in the mudroom during the day.  No baby gates needed here!  Isn’t it fantastic?  It’ll be so nice instead of shutting the entire door on her while we’re gone during the day – I hate doing that now in our rental house.

Also, the septic installation began this week.  After getting the septic notice on the title recorded with King County and submitted to the health department, the septic stub-out was released and they were ready to do the install right away.  By Saturday, they had the tank set in the ground.  While Joel and I checked out the progress inside the house, we laid out a blanket and the boys ate their Subway lunch by having a picnic on top of the rock pile.  Little do they know that that’ll eventually be part of the septic drainfield!

Week 41: Private Well Update

Posted in Private Well by

Our lot is located on a private drive which doesn’t have any public water service running to it.  Because of that everyone in our mini-neighborhood has their own private well.  We’ve never owned (or lived in) a house with a private well, but my aunt and cousin just built homes and they each needed a well…so I guess it’s common.  It’s a pretty straight forward process…hire a driller, hit water, send it to the house.  Or so I thought.

After drilling you need to get the water tested for bacteria…yep, sounds like a good idea – don’t want to be drinking ick.  And with that, they also test for nitrates and arsenic.  We paid extra and ran a complete IOC (inorganic chemical) test to show us what exactly was in the water which tested for everything under the sun.  Well, the test went really well, except that we had an elevated level of arsenic.  Arsenic is a natural element which comes from rocks.  And on the eastside where we’re building it’s pretty prevalent.  In fact, all of the homes on our street have arsenic in their well water.  Shouldn’t be a big deal though, just thousands of dollars later and you can have a full house water filtration system installed.

Over the past couple of months we’ve been dealing with all of this.  First we hired Carl Garrison from Garrison Engineering to design the water filtration system for us.  It took a couple of weeks, and after consulting with him on the system maintenance that we were willing to do, we had the filtration system designed.  He was great to work with and I would definitely recommend hiring him if you’re in the need of any filtration system.

Pages from Well Arsenic Treatment Design - Garrison Engineering 12-2015

Water filtration design for our well water by Carl Garrison.

Then we hired Meadow Lake Water Treatment to install the system that Carl designed.  It took a while to get all of the parts and pieces ordered and arrived, but after a few weeks all of it showed up and they installed the system without any hitches.  Since then we had the water retested and there’s no trace of any arsenic.  SUCCESS!!!

Now that we have satisfactory test results, we can finally install our septic system.  That’ll be the final thing we need to do and then we can finish up our site grading.

Here’s the crazy thing though…if we didn’t apply to drill our well before November 15th, 2015 we wouldn’t be able to use our well water!!  King County has recently changed the way they allow wells to be dug.  Before you can even get a building permit, the well must be dug (they give you 6 months to do so) and it needs to have satisfactory lab results…make sense.  But, if the well comes up with an elevated arsenic level greater than 0.1mg/l (10 parts per billion)…YOU CAN’T USE IT!  They won’t even let you install a treatment system any more.  Isn’t that crazy?  You can fully treat the water and make it 100% safe to drink but they won’t allow you to do that any longer.

King County came out with an industry letter (below) which explains the changes “treatment for arsenic level exceedances will not be an option” and even states in there, “We understand that these changes will have profound impacts for some property owners and developers, especially those in areas of the county with elevated arsenic levels.”  That’s so crazy!  If we wouldn’t have put our application in prior to November 15th, we wouldn’t have been able to build because of the elevated arsenic levels and we would have been out the money we paid for the lot.  It would have been undevelopable until public water is run in our street (which may never happen).  Alternatively, I guess you could keep drilling deeper and deeper until you found an aquifer without the arsenic…but that’s such a risky guessing game.  We drilled down to 350′ deep to a confined aquifer – but what if you never find another aquifer?  Then you’ve wasted tens of thousands of dollars drilling for nothing.

If any of you are interested in purchasing land in King County – and if it doesn’t have public water readily available, I would definitely make the seller drill a well and have it tested before purchasing the land.  Otherwise, who knows if you can even build on it!

Week 30: Siding and Last Minute Electrical Changes

Posted in Electrical, Exterior Design, Siding by

The majority of this week was spent on siding the back of the house.  The lower level was sided first, and then the upper level.  They got an amazing amount done.  I guess that’s because it’s really just a whole bunch of lap siding and not too much detail work – actually I don’t think there’s really any detail work downstairs.  The upstairs on the back gable of the great room will have some detailing, but they haven’t even started that this week.

Check out all the progress on the back of the house! Just a little bit more left to do.

Check out all the progress on the back of the house! Just a little bit more left to do.

The scaffolding's there for them to work on the great room gable next week.

The scaffolding’s there for them to work on the great room gable next week.

This is the backdoor to the mudroom with the windows to the mudroom and the mudroom bathroom.

This is the backdoor to the mudroom with the windows to the mudroom and the mudroom bathroom.

Here's a view from the mudroom back door to the back yard - the covered porch here is where the BBQ will end up going.

Here’s a view from the mudroom back door to the back yard – the covered porch here is where the BBQ will end up going.

From the backyard, here's what the covered BBQ area looks like. The electrician convinced me to put a can light in there - I think it'll work great!

From the backyard, here’s what the covered BBQ area looks like. The electrician convinced me to put a can light in there – I think it’ll work great!

The deck still needs to be built, but the outside of the kitchen is all done!

The deck still needs to be built, but the outside of the kitchen is all done!

The top part of the garage has siding, but they still need to work on the part below the belly band.

The top part of the garage has siding, but they still need to work on the part below the belly band.

No real changes on the front of the house, but I had to include at least one photo of it!

No real changes on the front of the house, but I had to include at least one photo of it!

Besides the major progress outside, I think I practically drove Matt crazy with all of the little last minute details that I had to ask about (or have him change) before the insulation goes in next week.  Last week we went to a friend Hans’ birthday party and his wife Jenni was showing me the awesome new Dyson that she received for Christmas.  It’s 100% amazing…super tiny, light weight and cordless!!  Whoo hoo!  Isn’t it sad that at parties we’re now having fun looking at vacuum cleaners??  So sad.  Anyhow, I immediately told Joel that we need to get one.  Only problem…the cabinet in the laundry room that I was planning on storing the vacuum doesn’t have an outlet to charge a cordless vacuum!  So that was priority numero uno to talk with Matt about this week.  And well, you know, since the electricians need to come back, why not add an outlet to the pantry?  And add a ceiling fixture in the mudroom bathroom?  So a couple hundred dollars later and now I’ve got my outlet where the vacuum is stored…I’m blaming Joel for this one – if his buddy didn’t have a party I never would have seen the vacuum! 😉

See that outlet on the right...yep, my future vacuum will plug into that!

See that outlet on the right…yep, my future vacuum will plug into that!

 

And one panoramic of the backyard - have I mentioned how cold it's been here?

And one panoramic of the backyard – have I mentioned how cold it’s been here?

Week 29: Siding Progress & Drywall Prep

Posted in Drywall, Exterior Design, Fire Sprinklers, Siding, Windows by

Lots of siding progress happened this week, including finishing the front of the house!  The only thing missing is that dumb mudroom door.  The correct millwork was added/grooved into the door and it’s back at the house.  We just need the door framers to get it up there…and then the front will be done.  Can’t wait!  The back of the house had a lot of siding progress including being wrapped and just a few more sections need siding.  Tons of progress!

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The front of the house is finally done being sided! I love the way it turned out.

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The garage was the last piece to be completed, and I think it turned out fantastic.

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I walked out on the little deck between the master and the kitchen. Here’s a view looking back towards the master.

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The back of the house has really come along since last week and is so close to being done…just a bit more.

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Every time I see all those windows in the kitchen eating nook, I love it – it’ll be exciting to see all of it sided soon.

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Here’s a view of one of Cameron’s bedroom windows. The trim turned out perfectly!

On the inside, everything is getting ready for drywall, including adding the metal strips at the top corners of the ceiling.  This is so that the drywall is nailed into the ceiling studs/joists as well as the metal brackets which are attached to the walls.  They’ll resist upheave from the ceiling/attic so that the drywall will resist cracking or nails popping.

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All of those metal strips were added between the walls and the ceiling to secure the drywall correctly.

The fire sprinklers also got some insulation around them so that they could be inspected.  The inspection passed with flying colors, and no issues with the design or construction – yay!  Matt said that the insulation is “tented” around the sprinkler lines so that nothing (including insulation) can get between the smoke/fire in the house and the sprinkler heads.  Who knew!

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Insulation was added to “tent” each of the sprinkler lines.

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Just another sprinkler line in the dining room – and I just love that ceiling!

 

Week 24: Crazy Weather & Fire Sprinkler System

Posted in Fire Sprinklers, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Permits by

I was traveling for work the majority of last week and this week, and I heard that Seattle has been having a crazy week of weather!  There’s been an insane amount of rain – flood warnings were in place with the torrential downpour.  And on Tuesday there were crazy winds with gusts up to 60 miles per hour.  People all over the Puget Sound (including our new neighborhood) lost power for days.  Due to all of the inclement weather, a couple things were delayed on the project.  First off, the siding company was supposed to be there this week, but they were unable to finish their last job, so that delayed them getting to ours.  Also, the power company (Tanner Electric) was going to transfer the power line from the temporary power pole we have to the permanent underground service to the house.  Needless to say with all of the outages in the area, they had more important thing to deal with than our house.

The combination of the siding and the permanent power line to the house is now on the critical path for our schedule.  We need the power to run the furnaces and get the house dried out, and we need the siding to keep the rain out.

And when it's not rainy and windy, the weather has been freezing!! Check out all the frost in the back yard.

And when it’s not rainy and windy, the weather has been freezing!! Check out all the frost in the back yard.

It's so cold here now - freezing temperatures every day! It'll be so nice to get the heat on in the house...hopefully next week.

It’s so cold here now – freezing temperatures every day! Look at all the frost on the house.  It’ll be so nice to get the heat on in the house…hopefully next week.

Although the weather has been nasty – they did install the fire sprinklers in the house.  In private homes, King County requires fire sprinklers for all homes where a firefighter can’t walk 150′ around the house and touch all sides.  Had I realized this was a requirement, I likely would have shaped the house differently just to avoid the fire sprinklers.  I think they’re such a waste of money and hopefully we’ll never have to use them.  Plus, they just add more things in the ceiling…not exactly my favorite.

The fire sprinkler system has to be designed by a licensed technician, then a permit is needed from King County which shows the sprinkler design.  Once it’s approved at the County, it’s installed in the house and then inspected and approved by the County.

Lots of parts & pieces for the fire sprinkler system.

Lots of parts & pieces for the fire sprinkler system.

The sprinkler system is those orange lines that run throughout the house.

The sprinkler system is those orange lines that run throughout the house.  Here’s the ones in our master bedroom.

 

Just a close-up of one of the sprinklers.

Just a close-up of one of the sprinklers.

In addition to needing fire sprinklers, the placement of them has been such a huge nuisance.  Because we’re having a coffered ceiling in the kitchen, theoretically smoke could get trapped in one of the “squares” in the coffered ceiling and not set off a sprinkler head.  To design around that, we’d either need to install a sprinkler head in each of the “squares” – which would have cost us another $2,500 – or keep the original quantity of sprinkler heads but put them on the beams.  I absolutely did not want to spend a penny more on sprinkler system.  The cost for the system was already higher than our initial estimate from last year, and I hated the idea of having to spend more money on something that is likely never going to be used – and on something that doesn’t give me any value.  It’s not like spending $2,500 to get upgraded appliances, or nicer trim work.  It’s literally spending $2,500 on something that will never be noticed or used.  So no way was that happening.  But that meant we had to install them on the beams to meet the current code – such a disappointment.  The beams are there as a fun ceiling detail in the space – and then with adding the sprinkler heads on them, it only accentuates the sprinklers, not disguises them.  So we’ll end up having four 3″ sprinkler head caps (which will be white) sitting flush on the 8″ wide beam.  It’s not the end of the world, and in this battle of budget versus design…design lost.  Let’s hope more things don’t end up this way!

We ended up having to put a couple of the fire sprinklers right on the beams of the coffered ceiling in the kitchen - despite my liking.

We ended up having to put a couple of the fire sprinklers right on the beams of the coffered ceiling in the kitchen – despite my liking.

Week 23: Ethernet, TV & Audio/Video

Posted in Electrical, Technology by

I told Joel from the beginning – the only thing he needed to figure out was whatever wiring he wanted for the house, ethernet, cable, speakers.  I basically gave him 1 1/2 years to figure it out.  So he mulled over different thoughts that he had, but when did he actually figure it all out…yep, this week.  Better late than never 😉

So he finally nail down how he wanted the audio & video to run throughout the house and integrate with TV’s and Ethernet.  After much research, we decided that we wanted to use as many Sonos products as possible.  Sonos offers a large amount of flexibility when it comes to moving speakers around the house as well as the interface with a good ipad/phone App (ie: no new remote is needed to run the system – LOVE that!), and the ability to add on more speakers as we want/need them.  Another major bonus is that Sonos has created their own “wireless mesh network” to run all of the speakers.  This is a separate independent network that the speakers are connected through, so that we don’t have to use Wifi.  This means that if the boys are downloading something using wifi, it won’t interfere or ‘drop’ our speakers’ sound.  That was a big selling feature for us…such a great idea/technology.

This is a screenshot of Sonos' mobile app. On the left they have three different zones for the house, and all 3 are playing different things. Alternatively, it's easy to make them all play the same thing. User interface is extremely important...I definitely don't want to be figuring out some complex system just to play music.

This is a screenshot of Sonos’ mobile app. On the left they have three different zones for the house, and all 3 are playing different things. Alternatively, it’s easy to make them all play the same thing. User interface is extremely important…I definitely don’t want to be figuring out a complex system just to play some background music.

Here’s the plan that we’ve come up with room by room:

Great Room

We’ll have a TV mounted in the built-in to the left of the fireplace; and have 4 built-in speakers in the ceiling.  The main purpose for the speakers will be to listen to music, not particularly for the TV’s sound to come out of it.  This room really isn’t the main TV watching room (that’ll be downstairs), so hopefully the sound coming out of the TV will be good enough.  If we do end up wanting more/better sound, we’ll add Sonos’ Playbar underneath the TV.  The built-in speakers will run to a Sonos Connect Amp located in the tech closet.  This will make the speakers compatible with Sonos’ system and will enable the great room as a “zone” and be able to be controlled in the Sonos App.  With the addition of the Playbar at the TV, we can then tie the ceiling speakers to the Playbar and the TV sound can come out of all the speakers in the great room.

This is the Sonos Connect Amp which will connect hardwired speakers, and make them integrated with the rest of the Sonos system.

This is the Sonos Connect Amp which will connect hardwired speakers, and make them integrated with the rest of the Sonos system.

Kitchen

We’ll have two built-in speakers in the ceiling which will run to another Sonos Connect Amp in the tech room – then this will be a “zone” as well.

Rec Room (Downstairs)

We are going to immediately purchase a Sonos Playbar to play the TV’s audio in the rec room.  This will also enable the Rec Room to be it’s own “zone” in the Sonos App.  We’ll also run CAT6 ethernet cable and power to two spots above the bar cabinets where eventually we’ll add Sonos Play Speakers.  And at some point, I’m sure Joel will convince me that we NEED a Sonos Subwoofer downstairs too.  Maybe when the boys are older 😉  With this setup, we won’t need to have any built in speakers in the ceiling, and it gives us the flexibility to add speakers as we go.

This is the Sonos Playbar which we will have downstairs in the rec room. It will sit directly underneath the TV. I hope at some point it will be offered in white like the rest of their speaker products!

This is the Sonos Playbar which we will have downstairs in the rec room. It will sit directly underneath the TV. I hope at some point it will be offered in white like the rest of their speaker products!

Outside

We’ll have speakers both on the deck upstairs and the patio downstairs.  Sonos doesn’t currently have an outdoor speaker, but there’s talk of them creating one.  With that in mind, instead of buying and mounting ho-hum outdoor speakers, then buying a Connect Amp to tie it into the Sonos system, we decided to build a shelf (or bracket) for a Sonos speaker to be mounted outside, and power outlet where we want the speakers placed.  That means that on most days we’ll be able to use the Sonos Play Speakers inside the house (maybe in the master or the office), and when we’re hanging out outside, we’ll just put them on the shelf out there.  Then eventually when Sonos creates an outdoor speaker we’ll be ready for it.

Currently, Sonos offers three different speakers, the Play1, Play3, and the Play5. Starting with the Play1, they get larger and more powerful. Sizes are chosen depending on the size of the room and/or how loud you want to play music.

Currently, Sonos offers three different speakers, the Play1, Play3, and the Play5. Starting with the Play1, they get larger and more powerful. Sizes are chosen depending on the size of the room and/or how loud you want to play music.

Other Rooms

Other rooms will have ethernet and cable run for TV (although we won’t actually have TV’s in other rooms…just planning for future use).  And if we want to add in speakers for music or the TV, we’ll just plug into an outlet more Sonos Play speakers…no extra speaker wires needed!

Week 22: HVAC, Electrical & Windows

Posted in Electrical, Great Room, HVAC, Kitchen, Windows by

The HVAC was worked on for the house this week which included setting up the furnaces which will back up the heat pump.  The furnace for the downstairs was placed in the HVAC room downstairs by the boys’ playroom, and it was most efficient to put the furnace for the main level in the attic of the garage.  Besides installing both of those, it looks like the vents have all been placed and all 4 of the cold air returns were also installed (two on each level of the home).

It was most efficient to put the upstairs furnace in the attic.

It was most efficient to put the upstairs furnace in the attic.

The downstairs furnace is located in the HVAC room.

The downstairs furnace is located in the HVAC room.

Electrical work began this week and was laid out based on our walk thru last week.  On Sunday, Joel and I went to check things out…and confirm light switch locations.  A few of them were in the wrong spots, but for the most part things were in the correct locations.

The electrical sub (Modern Wiring) started on the house this week.

The electrical sub (Modern Wiring) started on the house this week.

And even more fun (and with a bigger impact) was that the majority of the windows were delivered and quite a bit of them were installed!  I think they look great, and love the grid layout we chose.  I can’t wait to see all of them installed.  It’ll end up being a couple weeks for all of them to get here.  The windows with the arched tops all have a bit longer lead time than the rectangular ones.

Some of the windows were installed in the front of the house this week.

Some of the windows were installed in the front of the house this week.

Although we're still missing the french doors and the oval windows, the back wall of the great room is starting to take shape.

Although we’re still missing the french doors and the oval windows, the back wall of the great room is starting to take shape.

I love how the windows turned out in the staircase.

I love how the windows turned out in the staircase.

The windows in the informal dining area in the kitchen look amazing! It's too bad that the construction film makes it so we can't see outside anymore. At least that'll protect the glass until construction is finished though.

The windows in the informal dining area in the kitchen look amazing! It’s too bad that the construction film makes it so we can’t see outside anymore. At least that’ll protect the glass until construction is finished though.

Here's what the windows look like from the outside of the house. These ones are above the kitchen sink area.

Here’s what the windows look like from the outside of the house. These ones are above the kitchen sink area.

Besides all of the things happening at the house, my mom and I also went to Canyon Creek Cabinetry on Thursday to figure out all of the cabinets for the house.  We did our initial walk thru a couple of weeks ago.  After that, they drafted up the initial design for the cabinets…but of course I had markups and things that I wanted changed.  So we met up with Andy at Canyon Creek to discuss all of the changes.  He’s going to revise the drawings (and the cost estimate) – hopefully we’ll get those this next week.  Then they’ll be finalized!

Week 21: Electrical Walk Thru, HVAC & Plumbing Progress

Posted in Electrical, Great Room, HVAC, Private Well, Roofing by

I took the day off work on Monday, and my mom and I went to the house at 7:30 am to do the electrical walk thru with Matt and the electrical rep.  Over the weekend I drew up my initial thoughts including locations for overhead lights, wall sconces, light switches, TV’s, internet, and locations that I knew I wanted an outlet.  That gave us a good starting off point, but we made quite a few changes including adding can lights and additional light switches.  From that meeting I had more homework to do – figure out exactly where I want to have bathroom sconces – that means first figuring out bathroom mirrors.  Ugh!  After wrapping up the electrical walk thru we went to look at more finishes like tile and counter tops…which we still haven’t figured all of that out exactly.  More on that another day 😉

Before our electrical walk thru on Monday, I drew up my initial electrical plan for the house

Before our electrical walk thru on Monday, I drew up my initial electrical plan for the house

The HVAC also started this week and the plumbing continued to be installed.  Among other things, the fireplace was installed which was exciting to see!  And the majority of the ductwork was run – including locations that will need soffits in the lower level.  I absolutely despise soffits, but I think ours will be in locations that won’t be too noticeable – mainly limited to storage rooms and the boys’ playroom.  We settled on going with heat pumps for heating & cooling with a furnace for backup.  And we actually decided to have two of these systems for the house – one for upstairs and one for downstairs.  Since it’s always cooler in basements, we didn’t want that temperature regulated by the upstairs temp.  This way, we can keep it nice and toasty down there for the boys.

HVAC started this week!

HVAC started this week!

Lots of parts & pieces :)

Lots of parts & pieces 🙂

I loved seeing the fireplace installed this week...it looks awesome (even if it is all covered up still).

I loved seeing the fireplace installed this week…it looks awesome (even if it is all covered up still).

And our little well house got it's roof on Monday!

And our little well house got it’s roof on Monday!

And it was also Spencer’s 5th birthday on Friday and Halloween on Saturday!  We had lots of fun celebrating with trick or treating at my work on Thursday, a family night out on Friday, and a Halloween Party at my sister’s on Saturday!

Had to sneak this pic in - Spencer was Dr. Forman, and Cameron dressed up as the paleontologist from Jurassic World.

Had to sneak this pic in – Spencer was Dr. Forman, and Cameron dressed up as the paleontologist from Jurassic World.

Pretty Spooky!

Pretty Spooky!  We should have made it a haunted house for the neighborhood…wouldn’t that have been fun?!