Kevin has been taping for well over a month on rainy days, and has recently gone into full time tape mode. The majority of house will be ready for sanding within a couple of days, and painting will begin this weekend. The entire house consists of bull nose bead, so there will be no square corners anywhere, including the master BR window seat (below) and kitchen soffit. It is a nice, classy look, well worth the extra bit of effort. More pics and progress coming soon - - -
The garage and utility room have been taped, sanded and painted. The garage is now the "go to" clean storage area for cabinets, vanities, doors, and other finishing products. The utility room was painted so the 62 gallon water pressure tank (the blue torpedo below) could be installed and water brought into the house. This was accomplished by Gould & Sons on July 27. We now pump water to the camper via 125' of heated hose (instead of 225') hooked up to the south hose bib. The water pressure is amazing! The hot water heater is partially hooked up and will be completed once all of the vanities, sinks and fixtures have been installed. Although it totally looks like we coordinated colors of the pressure tank and water heater with the PEX manifold, we did not. (It does look nice, though. LOL.) Our choice for HW heater is a GE Geospring Hybrid air source/electric model. When Matt did our initially energy modeling, this unit estimated an annual hot water savings of $500. Sold. (And - - National Grid is offering a hefty rebate as well.) The hot water line (red PEX) will run along the top of the wall, then down to the hot water heater, for a nice, neat look. (Thanks, Todd!) Additionally, all of the pipes will be insulated and the wiring of the pressure tank will be replaced with two whips in conduit. The used pressure tank Gould & Sons installed on top of the well head "to get us through" lasted for over a year. The foam box and temporary plumbing has been removed, and the well head painted "Gould green". View of the house, just to right of the well head, facing southwest.
Time is zooming by quickly, and we're still putting in 7 days/week, less time for moving services - but that's another story! The back of the house looks great - - The decking under the porch is Trex Transcend gravel path (gray) with a border of vintage lantern (brown); the contrast to signal the edge of the deck before stepping off - a safety feature. Top soil will be brought in to create a slight slope beginning at the house and deck, and gently sloping away from the building. Gutters will also be added to all eaves in the front and back to channel rainwater and melting snow away from the foundation. The porch posts and inside 2x10 beams will be wrapped with rough cedar. The three mini split compressors* were installed off the ground using heavy duty brackets. The line sets (look like black wires coming down the siding) will be covered with a neat and tidy trim cover, once the mini splits have been commissioned. The remaining fascia cover will also be installed once the line sets are in place. *Although three 9000BTU mini splits will be used in this house, HVAC modeling states we only needed ONE. Since the house has a separate master suite and third bedroom, the added two mini splits are for additional human comfort only. We selected Fujitsu mini splits because they just increased their SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) to 33 (a typical window air conditioner has a SEER around 11). The higher the SEER, the lower the energy needed to cool the building. In other words, very cool! The carport area has been sided and ceiling completed. The inside beam will be wrapped with rough cedar. The view above clearly shows the three faux posts that frame the gables in the front of the house. These were all custom designed and fabricated by Kevin, who is master when it comes to working with Restoration Millwork (low maintenance composite trim board). In the foreground - the Lunos eGo* cover looks like a fan vent.
*Lunos eGo and e2 were our choice for heat recovery ventilators throughout the house. German engineered for decades, these HRVs do not require duct work and are easy to install. They are designed to breathe in fresh air for 70 seconds, then reverse, expelling stale air for 70 seconds. Yes, these simple devices are literally the lungs of the house; a necessity when you build a tight house. Lampros Solar from Cambridge, NY used a Solar Pathfinder to verify the house position for rooftop solar readiness. The house faces magnetic south and is ready for solar panels.
The purpose of kick out flash is to move water away from the house. Here it is installed in conjunction with Cor-a-vent, aluminum step flash and Zip tape, where the rear porch roof intersects the main house roof.
The rear deck included typical notching of vertical posts and bolting through a triple flush beam. Bridging adds rigidity and flatness to the finished deck. The perimeter bridge is for picture framing.
We've been working 7 days/week, with minor breaks for errands, food consumption and sleep, but the push is on to finish up the project sometime in August.
Due to the rainy weather, Kevin has been doing much of the taping himself. The garage and utility rooms have been painted so water (via the new pressure tank) can be brought into the house (finally!) We also have a clean, finished room (garage) to store kitchen cabinets, vanities, etc. until they are ready to be installed. A great big thank you to buddy Mike for working with Kevin to install the central vac pipes - - a topic we have discussed way too often, for way too long - - and now it is done. Yay! A sincere (and repeated) thanks to Trevor and Capital Tractor for keeping Jacki's 59 Ford tractor running throughout the winter (plowing) and spring, summer and fall (mowing). She may be old (tractor), but has been in the family since she was newly purchased in October 1959. And, after nearly 56 years, she's still working! Although Jacki will give shout outs to our suppliers when the project has been completed, she would like to to especially thank Aaron and his team for the small town hospitality, quality customer service, and trusting relationships with their customers that truly makes the Greenwich Aubuchon a valued resource for the community. Stay tuned . . . The porch posts were custom fabricated by Kevin, on site, using CertainTeed Restoration Millwork. The composite decking is Trex Transcend in Gravel Path (gray), picture framed in Vintage Lantern (dark brown). The color contrast not only gives the deck a defined look, but is a safety feature that allows folks to see the edge of the deck and know where to step down. The area in front of the porch will be raised with permeable driveway material (and eventually crushed slate) and sloped away from the porch, creating a much smaller step. The jumbo j-block on the porch gable (and over the garage door) will include decorative fixtures with LED lighting (coming soon). The soffit, fascia and siding on the carport and east wall has also been completed. The ceilings of the porches and carport are CertainTeed beaded T2 soffit, which looks like traditional wainscoting (see porch pic above.) We have used this product and the Invisi-vent soffit for many years with excellent, low maintenance results.
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Under the Sun Building and Remodeling, LLCCOMMITTED TO BETTER Archives
September 2022
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