Day 78 : Heat pumps

Some more photos from the plumbing activities: Water is hooked up now (see the pressure tank) and the heat pumps are being installed. There will be a 1 ton (12,000 BTUs) pump on the basement floor and a 1.5 ton (18,000 BTUs) heat pump on the main floor.

Water supply pressure tank

Outdoor compressor units for the two mini split heat pumps

Indoor head of the main floor heat pump

Reference photo 2014-08-27

Day 76 : Plumbing progress

While the framing crew is currently dealing with another job site before wrapping up on our house, the plumbers were working on the ducts for our ventilation system, hooking it up to the ERV unit un the utility room (looks quite elaborate, see photo). They also completed the hot/cold water lines as you can see with the red and blue plastic pipes in the photos. In the old house we still had all copper lines. But nowadays, only the very ends of the lines are copper so that any end-point valves etc. can be soldered on. It looked like the system was being pressure tested while we visited today.

Ductwork at the indoor side of the ERV unit

Ductwork and water supply lines below the powder room/kitchen area

Detour ahead: Working around the main load bearing beam in the basement

For our tub in the master bathroom, we needed a larger size hot water heater. With the heat pump unit on top, this looks like quite impressive.

Heat-pump hot water heater

Day 70 : Windows and doors

We are ten weeks into construction since breaking ground today! Hopefully that is more than halfway to move-in day.

The plumbing crew made progress installing the concealed tanks for the wall-mounted toilets

Concealed (in-wall) toilet tanks... not very common in this country (yet?)

At the same time, the framing crew started installing windows and doors. We are still waiting for a few more windows to be delivered this week, but it is looking more and more like a real house now.

It's really amazing to see how a dream on paper becomes more and more a reality!

Dining area window sets

According to the workers, these windows were way heavier than expected. I guess the third glass panel and foam in the frame itself do make a difference. These are all awning and casement windows. No double hung sliders here as they do not close that well. I operated some of the bigger ones (main floor) and the crank mechanism feels smooth and does not translate the weight of the windows at all.

Lowering the ceiling on the main floor has been completed as well. For the living/dining/kitchen area, they used a metal frame that will hold the ceiling drywall just as well as the lumber joists in the bedroom. Now there are only a few smaller things to complete for the framing crew.

Living/dining room with lowered ceiling

Kitchen area with wall brackets to support the cabinets 

Day 67 : More porch details

Here are a few more photos of the porch from Saturday. With that truss design, we will have "cathedral ceilings" in that room. :-)

We will the porch from the kitchen/dining area and then there will be a door leading to the deck. It is just slightly bigger than our old porch and there is plenty of deck space left for our big round outdoor table that seats eight.

The crew also continued framing in the basement and started lowering the ceiling on the main floor as you can see here in the master bedroom. 

In addition, work has started on the plumbing side with the first pipes installed. There is also an electrical box now with two circuits. I am just not sure if power has been hooked up on the utility side of things yet.

Day 65 : Porch construction, roof shingles

This is the week where Huntley Road is closed at the southern end due to a culvert installation. The way to the site from Essex and Jericho is a few miles longer. That and the bad weather on Wednesday kept us from going there more often this week.

I have checked the progress on Tuesday evening, but nothing much happened since Saturday. Only the deck over the garage has been completed at that time:

Wednesday was a complete washout I thought (constant rain, heavy at times), but obviously someone was working on the porch (or three season room). It was shortly after noon when I got there today (Thursday) and the main porch structure was up and a reduced crew was working on the roof trim already.

At the same time, another team installed the asphalt shingles on the main roof. We picked a light grey color to keep the roof cool in the summer (and help slow down Global Warming). 

In the meantime, our triple pane PVC windows have arrived! Well, most of them with the exception of the tempered ones, which will be delivered next week. But the framing crew focussed on the porch roof, so that the shingles can be installed there as well. So the windows (and patio doors) have been placed into the garage for the time being.

I also met the plumbing crew and we discussed duct locations. It is amazing how many details are still left open even after a very good set of architectural plans...

Reference Photo 2014-08-14

Day 60 : Enjoying the view from the new deck

We enjoyed the first sunset today (Saturday evening) on the new deck! It is far from being complete, but usable.

The garage roof (south deck/porch) has been sealed as well in the meantime, so that porch construction can begin.

And here is the water well head that they installed yesterday after we left:

Day 59 : Water well, roof trim and west deck

Perfect summer weather in Vermont today (no rain showers in the forecast for the next few days)... and we witnessed Chevalier (one of the local drilling companies) drilling our well around noon time. We do not have the official report yet, but it looks like we hit water much sooner than anticipated and with a good flow rate. I'll keep you posted with details on that front.

Chevalier's drilling rig at work 

At the same time, the framing crew continued with trim work around the house (incl. roof) and they also started on the west deck.

Work on the west deck has started

Roof trim detail

Day 58 : Entry porch and built-up dormer

More progress today despite the rain in the afternoon! In yesterdays blog you could see the roof almost finished up, but there was still a gap at the main entrance. This is where the roof overhang got installed today that serves as entrance porch. There will be some stairs from the south leading up to the platform where Doris is standing.

 

On the other side of the house, the built-up dormer has been built. Its sole purpose is to keep the snow from dumping in front of our porch door (well, and make that side of the house look more interesting, we think). With the shingle packs (in "sierra gray") already sitting on the roof, we expect that they will be installed next.

Reference Photo 2014-08-07

The garage roof (a.k.a. porch/deck) seems to be ready for the membrane installation as well, with trim boards all around.

I hope the rain showers will stop so that the interior can dry out completely before the windows get installed (scheduled for around mid of next week). The roof helps quite a bit, but the open door and big window openings on the west side still collect a lot of that summer rain...

Day 57 : Closing up the roof

We had to meet our kitchen sales person at noon today to take exact measurements. While there, the crew was quite busy installung the piggyback trusses (top section) and closing up the roof. Shingles should be next. We already picked a light grey color that should match well with the siding colors and keep the roof a bit cooler in the summer.

The garage ceiling / deck & porch floor has been closed up as well with a certain slope to make sure that rainwater is running off towards the west side (front of garage). Next step there (probably Saturday) is the installation of the membrane and then the porch can be built on top.

"Rem", our construction dog... one of the crew members brings her along.

I went again in the evening to meet with the crew foreman. There is only a small area of the roof over the main entrance that is still open: The entry porch will be added tomorrow.

The 2' overhang is larger than the typical houses here in the area (they only have1' or less) and makes for a more European look. As does the somewhat steeper roof slope.

2 ft. roof overhang

Reference Photo 2014-08-06

Day 56 : Richtfest

"Richtfest" is a major milestone in Germany when building a house. It means that the roof framing is complete, also known under the term "topping out". It is usually celebrated by installing a little fir tree or wreath, decorated with colorful ribbons, on top of the roof frame and entertaining the construction crew, friends and neighbors with speeches, toasts, and food. There is candy for the kids ("distributed" parade-like, meaning thrown into the crowd from the roof). And of course there's beer for the adults.

This is how a "Richtfest" may look like:

 

We did not have an elaborate ceremony like that, but I brought a case of beer for the crew and we will celebrate the occasion in private later today. I managed to get on site while the crane was there between 6:00-8:30am. There was another major rain shower last night, so the ground (and the lumber) was soaking wet and there was fog in the valley. The fog was a nice backdrop to the sunny skies, but it made for some dirty boots.

Another team from GMP pulled power cables from the road through the pipes to the site. The meter sits half way along the driveway. Otherwise it would have been too long of a distance for a single run. Power is not hooked up yet, though.  

Here are some photos of the truss installation in the morning fog:

Day 55 : Garage

Due to some weather-related delays, the crane for the lifting the roof trusses into place will be on site on Tuesday. Until then, the framing crew worked on the garage.

This is where the porch will be located

We met with the builder today at the site to (a) discover that the hobby room window has been repositioned and (b) to discuss the issue with the main floor ceiling height. There's no chance to change the exterior walls now, but he agreed to install a lowered ceiling (changing some interior walls to 8') with the cellulose insulation sitting right on top of the ceiling as before. The only drawback is that there is some extra lumber that goes into the design and that the house is 1' taller than necessary. This means that the exterior look is different. Still better than having to heat those extra 1200+ cubic feet!
  

Day 54 : Main floor exterior and interior walls

Well, technically this is the status as of day 52. We went on our annual canoe camping trip (last Thursday morning to Sunday), so we did not have the chance to check on Friday. Here's what happened: The fourth main floor wall is up now, plus most of the main floor interior walls. There are some additional walls in the lower floor as well. The crew is also getting ready for the main floor ceiling and roof trusses to be installed. I hope I can catch the crane lifting the trusses into place!

However, we also noticed that a window is not in the proper place and that the main floor ceiling height is not right. Will have to talk to the builder tomorrow to get a few things straightened out...

Approaching the house from the south, along our driveway

West wall installed!

Main floor interior framing

Dining and living room area

Dining room view!