Glass for the windows or how to really rip your hands up
The glass for the windows arrived the next day, I wasn’t nearly as prepared as I was for the window frames though.
An interesting thing about these windows is the glass comes seperately from the frames. There are some good and part parts to this. The bad, it is obviously more work installing glass than having it all ready. But the good is they weighed a lot less and were easy to carry around. Likewise, if any pane ever breaks, I imagine it will be easier to replace the glass.
Filed under Construction, Products, Windows | Comment (0)VEKA Window Unloading and installation.
The windows arrived on Sept. 18 and I had my dad and father in law to help unload them. They were pretty easy to unload and was pretty uneventful but was great to have them finally in my hands. Doug Merry, the rep from VEKA, then scheduled to come out the following Tuesday to train me how to put them in.
Filed under Construction, Products, Windows | Comment (0)How we decided on VEKA windows
Right now is the crazy part of the schedule where you realize you have two and a half months to get everything done and now deadlines do mean deadlines.
But a major part of the house came, the windows from VEKA! This was a major component and when planning the house I looked at dozens of manufacturers.
What we wanted: European style windows with high energy values. Looking at most U.S. windows the lowest U-value I could find was around .33 from the major manufacturers and these were high priced. The standard around here is usually Pella or Anderson… I think Anderson is good but Pella just seems to have a bad reputation (although they have a lot of options).
We also wanted the tilt-and-turn style window that is all over Europe but illicites “WTF?!” from anyone in the U.S. Likewise for casements and awnings, I hate the little cranks they put on the U.S. models, cranking like crazy and watching the window open sloooowly.
So how did we find the brand we got?
Filed under Construction, Products, Windows | Comments (2)Stumbling on Crestview Doors
Finding exterior doors (and interior ones) has been a struggle. Most stores only stock very traditional doors, with lots of etched windows, carving, etc. And then when we did find a door we liked, they were about $5000 a piece. No thank you.
So a few months ago I found this company in Texas called Crestview (Crestview website) who makes mid-century modern door styles which were perfect. They had a variety of styles we liked and so contacted them and the prices were much more reasonable.
We were originally going to get three doors but decided to keep the top balcony door more of a full window door instead.
After going through the designs, we chose the “Pasedena” model, but the Allendale was a close second choice for me. If the windows were a little bigger I might have opted for it actually but the square windows of the “Pasedena” match the other windows of our house (although you coudl argue the long rectangular windows would mimic the length of the house… I feel like I could start rambling art theory from school again)
The team there was really friendly, answering questions quicker than any other place I had contacted and so it was an easy choice. Only bad point was the speed they’ll get here but seeing how everything else is timing, it should be fine.
So if you are having a hard time finding a unique door at a great price, I’d recommend giving them a look. When the doors come I’ll post actual photos of the door and my impressions then.
Filed under Construction, Products | Comment (0)Roof on, windows coming, concrete slabs poured
Sorry for the looooong silence, so many things happening lately that I haven’t been able to post. I’ll post where we are at now and then backtrack a little with things that have happened between now and then.
Right now, the roof is on and it’s really taking shape as a house. At first just the garage roof was put on and it looked a little goofy but after the roof on the main building was installed and the breezeway, it looks a lot better.
Filed under Construction, ICF | Comments (2)First floor done, second floor to go
Progress has been going fast lately. Once the first floor walls were poured, work started almost immediately on the first floor interior framing and second floor joists. Ramsey-Erdmann started the garage walls and those went up quickly as well.
In the basement, the ejector pump was installed as well as the underground plumbing and next steps are laying the underlayment foam and radiant heat tubes and then the slab can be poured and the steps installed.
Overall it’s going good. When some neighbors asked when I would be done and I replied in November, they were surprised saying they expected it to take about a year.
Coming up:
- Pour the second floor
- Pour the garage walls
- Frame the second floor and roof of garage
That should be over the next week or so. Depending on the weather the work in the basement will probably continue as well.
And I’ll be making my last window bucks…
Filed under Uncategorized | Comment (0)Latest Progress: ICF Main Floor
We’ve slowed down a bit from the raceway start we had in the beginning of July but moving steadily. Right now working on getting the main floor ready for pouring the concrete in the walls. Since there are so many windows on the house, it takes a long time to prep them as well.
The tentative schedule now is to pour the walls tomorrow (7/31) and then the carpenters can come in and do the interior framing, the geothermal crew can dig the trenches and install the tubing, the builders can construct the breezeway and garage ICF walls, and the plumber can finish the underslab plumbing in the basement. Plenty to do and keep busy.
Continue for more photos Continue reading »
Filed under Construction, ICF | Comment (0)Kitchen design ideas
Kitchen’s can be a money pit in a house and I never could understand completely why. Americans hate to cook it seems but for some reason the kitchen is the most important room in the house and people will spend inordinate amount of money in them.
(end of rant)
So when we started thinking about building a house we went to the usual places to get ideas: Menards, Home Depot etc… all great choices for a modern home! We also went on new construction open houses and the homes that cost a million dollars still had kitchens that were trying to match the “warmth of Tuscany” that is the hottest rage right now.
Filed under Kitchen, Products | Comment (0)IKEA kitchen design
We went to IKEA yesterday to order our kitchen. Originally we were planning on going once the house was closed up but I had read that our cabinet style we wanted was going away and so we decided to go earlier. And lucky we did!
Filed under Kitchen, Products | Comment (0)Geothermal heating
I’ve been interested in geothermal heating since about 2001 when the local utility company started advertising it. I read about it and it sounded like a no brainer… until the cost and installation details came up.
I had assumed it would be like buying a new furnace in that you just buy the unit, install it, and voila! instant heating with a ton of savings.
Geothermal heating’s main infrastructure is the underground tubing so when I first learned about it, it was impractical for where we were living. Luckily my friend Ed was planning a house around this time and I got to live vicariously through his build and his experience with geothermal heating.
Filed under Geothermal, Products | Comment (0)