Last weekend in August…part 2

Continuing the theme from last night’s posting…the photos here show more of the results of last week’s flurry of activity at the “L” Shaped House. The first photo shows the dryer in the first floor laundry room after Paul finished hooking up the newly routed venting that allows a closer fit to the back wall.

The next photo shows the tall upper cabinet above the washing machine in the first floor laundry room after Paul cut a hole through the ceiling to connect to the laundry chute above. The third photo shows the basement microwave cabinet after Luke (Wire-Rite) finished installing the electrical outlet in the cabinet above and routing the power cord to the microwave.

the fourth photo shows the stacked washer and dryer in the second floor laundry room with nearly every detail completed including paint touch-ups, window hardware, and plumbing hook-ups.

The fifth photo shows the first floor bathroom after Luke (Wire-Rite) finished wiring the light fixture…Pete (Carmichael Decorating) repainted the wall…and Paul mounted the mirror Deb selected. Paul and Nate also removed, re-scribed, and re-mounted the cultured marble vanity top to get a better fit along the back wall.

The sixth photo shows the lockers Paul is building in the mudroom. He has all of the maple trim attached and is just about ready to start sanding and filling. The 18” high upper cubbies and 8” deep hanging wire baskets underneath the lockers should give us plenty of storage for our day-to-day clothing accessories.

The seventh photo shows the French doors and side lights leading to the screen porch from the living room after Paul removed the plastic film protecting the glass. The view through this “wall of glass” at the front of the living room is fantastic and it feels like the amount of light streaming in has increased ten times.

The eighth photo shows the master bathroom after Pete (Carmichael Decorating) finished touching up all of the little “imperfections” he could find (there are still a couple pieces of masking tape on the wall). He has worked the last few days touching up “here and there” throughout the “L” Shaped House.

The ninth photo shows the collection of paint in the basement storage room Pete has to sort through as he works his way around the house touching up walls, trim, and ceilings. It kind of makes you wonder what we are going to do with all these cans of paint after they leave…

The last photo shows the mechanical room in the basement with…I’m pretty sure…all of of our plumbing and mechanical systems in place. Jeremy (Steinkraus Plumbing) finished up all of the “loose ends” on the plumbing system including the drain for the water softener early in the week and Gordie Buhrer showed up Friday to plug it in and set up a program for softening.

Appliances…Upstairs laundry (installation)

John DoBrava came to the “L” Shaped House early this afternoon to (among other things) install the washer and dryer in the upstairs laundry room. The first two photos below show the back corner of the laundry room before and after lifting and sliding the washer/dryer assembly into place.

The next photo shows the hole prepared in the outside wall for the dryer vent before the installation began. The last photo shows John as he “calls” instructions out to Paul who is carefully maneuvering the stacked appliances into place.

After witnessing this installation its easy to see why Paul steadfastly insists washers belong in the basement!

Heating & A/C…Day 12

John DoBrava  (American Air Systems) and Curt Colstrom (Wire-Rite) got together to wire the two thermostats and the air exchange control at the “L” Shaped House this morning. The photo below shows the Honeywell thermostat in the back hallway on the first floor up and running. The Broan air exchange controller is shown mounted just above the thermostat on the same wall. The air exchange control can be programmed much like the heating thermostat to provide varying amounts of fresh air to the house.

The “L” Shaped House…weekend report

The “L” Shaped House saw a lot of change over the last week. While going through the photos I came across a couple of projects that merited publishing. The first photo is an extreme panoramic taken in the mechanical room after everyone (plumbers, HVAC, electricians, and home automation) finished up projects this week. The nice neat work everyone has done contributes to the “organized” feeling in the room.

The second photo shows the last stall in the garage after Luke installed the first two fluorescent light fixtures in the ceiling. We plan to make a couple of “tweaks” to the fixtures before he moves into the remaining stalls but the placement and “amount” of light will stay the same.

The last photo shows one of the Barn Light Electric exterior gooseneck light fixtures above the garage doors. I’ve included it here just because I like the shot!

Heating & A/C…Day 11 (continued)

John DoBrava, Mark, and their crew finished installing the Luxaire furnace and fresh air filtration system at the “L” Shaped House this afternoon. The first photo below shows the furnace assembly installed along the East wall of the mechanical room next to the water heater, softener, and drinking water filter. Mark has done a nice, clean, organized installation.

The second photo shows the front side of the furnace with the covers removed. We elected to purchase the Luxaire Acclimate Series furnace including a modulating gas valve and variable speed blower that promise to not only make the furnace more efficient with fewer starts and stops but also the house more comfortable with longer run times.

The next two photos show some of the details of the Honeywell zone control system we are also installing with the new furnace. This system includes the control box (seen in the first photo) and a series of motorized dampers installed in the ducting (seen at the upper arrow below). John and his crew have plumbed the house to have two zones…the basement and first floor on one…the second floor on the other. Each zone has a thermostat that controls both the furnace and the zone damper(s). The first floor thermostat acts as the “master” while the “slave” is located on the second. The zone control and thermostats work together to provide better (and wider) temperature control throughout the house.

 

The last two photos show the Broan fresh air filtration and heat recovery system installed with the new heating system. This system includes a HEPA filter and blower assembly attached to the heating system in the ceiling of the mechanical room. The system delivers up to 270 CFM of fresh air into the house and can be set to automatically exchange the inside air through the HEPA filter on a programmable schedule. The last piece of the heating puzzle…the fresh air intake…can be seen in the corner behind the networking rack. This insulated hose is connected to a louvered intake on the back wall of the kitchen and delivers fresh combustion air into the mechanical room for the furnace.

Heating & A/C…Day 11

John DoBrava and Mark are back working at the “L” Shaped House this morning preparing for the final heating inspection. One of the items on their list is getting the gas fireplaces up and running. The first photo shows the first floor living room fireplace with the protective cardboard cover removed revealing (for the first time) the ceramic logs and firebrick lining.

The second photo shows the basement fireplace with protective cardboard removed and the decorative front installed. This fireplace only needs Matt Sletten’s caulking to be complete.

I think it looks Great!

Heating & A/C…Day 10

Mark from American Air and his crew were back yesterday plumbing natural gas lines and finishing up the installation of the furnace and central air conditioner. The first photo below shows the furnace assembly with the air conditioning lines plumbed to the evaporator coil and the condensation lines run to the floor drain. They were pulling a vacuum on the system as I visited around noon and planned to have cool air in the house by the time they left yesterday afternoon!

Mark spent most of his morning working on a natural gas distribution system attached to the side of the furnace assembly. The manifold he built distributes natural gas to 7 different devices in the house including the furnace, the cooktop, two fireplaces, the dryer(s), and the forced air heater in the garage. The goal is to have an easily accessible gas distribution manifold that includes clearly labeled lines and valves. The length of some of the gas lines and the number of (possible) appliances requires dividing the house into three separately regulated “zones” (two inside…one for the garage).

Heating & A/C…Day 9

John DoBrava and his crew from American Air Supply are back today installing the furnace and central air-conditioning in the “L” Shaped House. The first photo shows the furnace in place while Mark works to cover the seams in the ducting as he connects the cooling coil to the main plenum. The second photo shows the furnace with the cold air return plumbed to the base and most of the duct work complete.

The last photo shows the central air condenser sitting on the paver patio along the back wall of the house. Once the electricians get power to this unit we will have cool dry air inside!

Heating & A/C…Day 8

The guys from American Air (the heating contractor) were back this morning to get the forced air furnace in the garage up and running. With the doors installed and the heater running the garage was starting to warm up nicely…

I arrived just a few minutes after they fired things up for the first time and got to experience the manufacturing oils being burned off the heat exchanger…things got a little smoky!

Heating & Insulation…Details

Paul has been busy working on getting the “L” Shaped House ready for sheet rocking as well as bringing the mechanical systems on line. The first photo below shows his efforts to bring heat to the whole house with a system that might well make Rube Goldberg proud!

BTW…It works great!

The second photo shows the additional spray-on insulation Paul had applied to the ceiling of the mudroom at the garage wall. He realized that this area of the ceiling could be exposed to cold temps at the bonus room floor and is making sure that the “L” Shaped House is built right.

Heating & A/C…Day 7

The heating folks were back this morning to continue their work inside the house. They installed the fireplace in the living room framing and attached the flue (they also completed the fireplace flue hook up in the basement). Importantly; they fired up the temporary furnace in the basement storage room.

We now have heat!

Heating & A/C…Day 6

The heating and A/C guys were busy today installing the flues for the fireplaces. The first photo shows the basement fireplace sitting on the corner framing with the flue installed in the ceiling, the gas pipe plumbed to the back, and the electrical connection coiled on the wall. The second photo shows the outside vent for the basement fireplace as it exits the house.

The two photos here show the flue for the living room fireplace. The first as it runs through one of the open web trusses and exits the back wall. The second shows the co-axial pipe in the flange at the top of the fireplace framing in the living room. The direct vent system brings combustion (cold) air into the fireplace in the region surrounding the exhaust (hot) air pipe in the middle.

Heating & A/C…Day 5

The heating guys started to install the garage heater and basement fireplace this morning. The first photo shows the Hot Dawg unit heater mounted to the ceiling in the garage and the exhaust pipe through the wall behind. the second photo shows the Heatilator gas fireplace sitting in front of the corner framing Paul installed just this morning. We plan to mount the fireplace about 22” above the floor and have a flush front.

Natural Gas…Day 1

 

The Center Point energy folks connected the “L” Shaped House to natural gas this morning. The photos below show the new gas meter in the front corner of the house and the actual connection taking place as I showed at around noon today.

BSR…Before Sheet Rock

The interior spaces at the “L” Shaped House are all ready for sheet rock. The photo below…taken from the front corner of the master bedroom…shows most of the “behind the scenes” interior elements nicely. The framing, electrical, plumbing, heating/air conditioning, and home automation work will all disappear from view as the sheet rock goes up. I have carefully taken a photo of every wall in the house. Hopefully creating both a permanent record and a helpful guide for adding and fixing stuff later.

Busy Walls…Happy Workers?

One of the consequences of having an open first floor layout is what Paul Winters is calling “busy walls” (some of the workers have a different name for them…). The Electricians, Plumbers, Heating, and Automation guys are all fighting for interior wall space. Walls in the center of the house are particularly desirable and the “L” Shaped House has precious few of them on the first floor.

The first photo below shows two of these walls in the area between the kitchen and dining room. At the left is the narrow stub wall that Mike Kloti and Paul Winters added in the design specifically to accommodate lighting switches. As you can see this wall also provides a path to the second floor for hot and cold water and an inlet for the central vacuum. It is especially telling to note that the heating guy was “kicked out” of this space and had to install his cold air return in the floor right in front of the wall. The interior walls on the right between the kitchen and laundry room are also brimming with electrical, plumbing, heating, and automation infrastructure.

In the next photo we see the wall between the kitchen desk and laundry from an angle that also includes the short stub at the end of the dining room arch. This section of interior wall has the main heating duct to the second floor in front and two cold air returns behind as well as electrical switches & outlets and a plumbing waste line. The third photo shows the foyer closet walls where the heating guy has installed three cold air returns leaving room for only one plumbing vent and a couple of electrical switch boxes.

 

The next photo shows the interior walls where the gas fireplace will be installed between the living room and music room. This space is also housing a central vacuum inlet, a waste line from the master bath, a cold air return, and a bundle of home automation wiring. The last photo shows a pair of cold air returns cut into the living room floor next to the stairway. The heating folks would prefer to place the returns in the walls but once again the open floor plan is forcing compromise.